Forge of Darkness (Kharkanas Trilogy 1) (51 page)

Hisses of surprise and then consternation rustled behind her.

Sister Syntara stopped abruptly, proffering the Sceptre to Emral. ‘Sheathe it, Sister. Something is happening.’

There could be no argument to that. Emral accepted the iron and blackwood rod, slipped it into its protective shell.

Droplets of freezing water now rained upon them all. Looking up, Emral saw the gleam of frost covering the rounded arch of the ceiling. Shock stole away her voice. Blistering cold water stung her upturned face.

All at once comprehension arrived, a flood in her mind, and with it came wonder. For all that, the taste was bitter. ‘The eye has opened,’ she said.

Syntara’s glare was almost accusing. ‘What eye? This is the Azathanai’s work! She assails Mother Dark’s domain. This is nothing but unveiled power, mocking the sanctity of the temple!’

‘The sanctity of the temple, Sister? Indeed, but not in mockery.’ She glanced back at the train of huddling, frightened priestesses. ‘The procession is at an end. Return to your cloisters. The High Priestesses must seek private audience with Mother Dark. Go!’

They flapped and fluttered away like panicked crows.

‘The procession was not for you to command,’ snapped Syntara.

‘Paint your lines in spit and fury, Sister, if that is as far as you can see. I am not—’

Heavy boots sounded from down the corridor and she turned to see Anomander approaching, behind him his two brothers. Frozen water droplets bounced from their armour like diamond beads.

‘Emral,’ said Anomander. ‘The Azathanai is now through the gate of the city. The river is in flood and water streams down the streets. I would have your thoughts on this.’

‘The Shake, Lord Anomander.’

A low curse came from Silchas Ruin. ‘They invite a war of faiths? Are they mad?’

Syntara was looking back and forth between Emral and the brothers, her expression confused.

Anomander glanced to the barred doors just beyond them, and then he shook his head. ‘That seems unlikely, High Priestess. Their cult looks inward. Not once have they revealed any ambition to reclaim the old temple.’

He well understood the matter, she saw. The quickness of his thinking surpassed even hers. ‘Perhaps you are right, Lord. Then, they must be as disconcerted as are we. Sufficient to consider them as potential allies?’

‘Not reliably, I should think,’ he replied. ‘The impasse is theirs – I imagine there is chaos in the monasteries. One thing the worship of a dead god assures, and that is unmitigated freedom for the priesthood.’

‘But now …’

He nodded. ‘Their plans are awry. They face challenge from a most unexpected quarter.’

‘If they are nimble of thought,’ Emral ventured, ‘they will see the potential strength here, bolstering whatever position they take in matters of the realm.’

‘Profane matters, yes.’ He hesitated, still ignoring Syntara, and then said, ‘I am informed that Mother Sheccanto lies gravely ill – in consequence, I should imagine. And that Skelenal hastens to her side. They are old but hardly foolish.’

Silchas said, ‘Then we must look to Warlock Resh and Witch Ruvera to determine what is to come from the Shake.’

Another sharp mind, Emral noted. She could forgive Andarist’s distraction, although she well knew that among the brothers, the depth of his introspection was a close match to Anomander’s almost mythical talent in that area, although demonstrably slower in its steps. She said to Silchas, ‘I am informed that the Azathanai’s escort is Warlock Resh and Lieutenant Caplo Dreem.’

‘Caplo,’ said Silchas.

‘Yes,’ mused Anomander. ‘Let us think on that.’

‘Sheccanto is afraid,’ concluded Emral. ‘There can be no other reason for Caplo Dreem.’ She regarded Anomander. ‘His eyes will be upon the Azathanai, surely.’

‘Agreed. But this is Sheccanto’s panic, not ours, and I do not see the value of a messenger slain at the foot of Mother Dark.’

‘Lord Anomander,’ Emral asked, ‘can you prevent it?’

‘We have the advantage of expectation,’ Anomander replied, with a glance at Silchas, who nodded and then shrugged.

‘You all hesitate,’ Emral observed.

Frozen rain still fell. Pellets like hail deepened on the floor.

Anomander sighed. ‘With blade in hand, Caplo Dreem is faster than anyone I have ever seen. I could well stand beside him and still fail.’

‘Then stand between him and the Azathanai,’ hissed Syntara. ‘They approach and here we blather on like old hens, wasting time! Mother Dark must be warned—’

‘She knows and needs no more from us,’ said Anomander. ‘Sister Syntara, we hens have much to decide here, yet you persist in pecking the ground.’

‘I am her chosen High Priestess!’

‘Your elevation was intended to ease the burden of administration from Sister Emral,’ Anomander replied. ‘Little did Mother Dark realize your venal ambition, and if you think high tits and a damp nest are the surest paths to power, might I refer you to Gallan’s poem, “Trophies of Youth”? By the poem’s end, even the words fade.’ He faced Emral. ‘High Priestess, I will address the matter of Caplo Dreem before we enter the Grand Hall.’

‘I am relieved,’ she replied, struggling to hide her astonishment at Anomander’s words to Syntara. An elevation to ease administration? She had not known this.
And now … is there regret?

Silchas spoke. ‘What, then, of this matter of an awakened river god?’

Relief was flooding through Emral. These brothers, the first chosen among Mother Dark’s children, made fragile every fear and then shattered each one with sanguine confidence. Each time she looked upon them – Anomander, Silchas and especially Andarist – she saw their father, and the love within her, so shackled, so raw and bleeding beneath her obsessive flagellations, surged anew with defiant strength. Pleasure in anguish, hope in long-broken promises – she could almost feel years fall from her when in the presence of these three sons.

To Silchas’s pointed question, Emral said, ‘That depends, I now believe, upon Warlock Resh.’

‘We shall await them here,’ said Anomander.

‘Too many of us here suggests weakness,’ Andarist observed. ‘I will withdraw. Silchas?’

Silchas turned to Anomander and smiled. ‘The two of us together twice drowns the threat and what needs drowning twice? I am with Andarist. It’s said Captain Kellaras has returned but is waylaid in a tavern by Dathenar and Prazek. Andarist, I suggest we join them. Anomander, shall we enquire from your good captain Hust Henarald’s answer?’

‘Why not?’ Anomander answered. ‘I am passing curious.’

Both his brothers snorted at that, and then they set off.

Emral knew nothing of the meaning of these last comments. Hust Henarald stood outside all political machinations. She wondered what Anomander might want of the man.
Foolish woman! What else could it be? My … if an iron cry sounds in the Citadel, the echoes will travel far
.

But there had been not a moment of hesitation in either Andarist or Silchas. Their trust in their brother’s competence was breathtaking under the circumstances.

Sons of the father
.

But of their mother’s flaws, I pray … none
.

‘Are we to simply stand here, then?’ Syntara demanded.

‘You are not needed,’ Anomander said to her. ‘Seek shelter in Mother Dark’s presence.’

‘You invite me to private audience with our goddess?’ Syntara smirked. ‘I will accept, most assuredly.’ She waved a pallid hand, dismissing them all. ‘Surrender all decorum out here in the corridor, by all means. I shall remain above such awkwardness, since it seems that I alone understand the position of High Priestess.’

‘Would that be on your knees, Syntara?’

Despite the paint on her face, and despite the gloom of the hallway, Syntara visibly paled. Fury burgeoned in her eyes and she spun from them, marching towards the doors. A moment later and she was through. As the echo of the door’s closing drummed down the corridor, Emral shook her head. ‘She’ll not forget that insult, Lord Anomander, and for all her vanity, do not think her harmless.’

‘I was unwise,’ admitted Anomander. ‘However, it is not me at risk of her ire, it is you. For that I apologize, High Priestess.’

‘No need, Lord. I have cut deeper than that many times.’

‘Yet in private, surely.’

She shrugged. ‘With all the spies in this court, I doubt “privacy” even exists.’

‘This is the danger of darkness,’ said Anomander. ‘The world made unseen invites intrigue.’

‘It is no easy thing,’ she said, ‘to carve faith from secular ambition, Lord. The birth of any religion is bound to be tumultuous.’

‘It would be more relaxed,’ said Anomander, as the sounds of people
entering
the far end of the corridor reached them, ‘if Draconus were here.’

And just as quickly, a single comment from him could uproot the world from beneath her feet. She made no reply, no longer trusting her own voice.

Hold up no mirror, lest you like not what you see
.

* * *

As the river crested its banks, pouring murky water into the streets and alleys of Kharkanas, and as shock and alarm rippled ahead of the tide throughout the city, Caplo Dreem and Warlock Resh escorted T’riss on to the main avenue that led out from the wood. Crowds were pushing up from the streets, funnelled by the rising water behind them, and gathering like flotsam along the high ridge that fringed the floodplain, halfway between the city’s edge and the line of trees marking the forest.

Floods were seasonal events in Kharkanas, occurring in the spring. Here, in the depths of a dry summer, and arriving without warning, the upsurge was accompanied by a sense of superstitious fear.

Where the main avenue sloped downwards, crossing the bank of the ridge, refuse-littered water lapped the cobbles directly ahead. Caplo reined in and a moment later Resh followed suit. T’riss drew up immediately behind them. Beyond her, the Shake halted their mounts, silent and pale-faced, ignoring the queries from refugees nearby.

‘Azathanai,’ said Caplo. ‘Will your mount suffer in form, should we ride through this water?’

‘I will walk,’ she replied. ‘The river resists its imprisonment. In this it speaks a truth of nature.’

The warlock’s voice was harsh as he asked, ‘What will the river god demand of this city? Of Mother Dark herself? The banks are walled in stone. The bridges are built. The jetties and piers stand firm against the currents. Must it all be destroyed in the name of water’s freedom?’

T’riss slipped down from the simulacrum. ‘Mother Dark is awakened to its presence. She asserts her domain.’

‘Is this to be a battle?’ Caplo asked her.

The woman studied him briefly, and then glanced up at the sky, as if invisible words were carved across its vault, which she now read out loud. ‘In stirring from sleep, the river god opens eyes upon a much changed world. Even the pillow upon which he rested his head is claimed by another – there is a temple within the Citadel, yes? It once belonged to the river god, but ownership has passed to another.’ She looked down, frowned at the city before them – and of the hundreds of Tiste now climbing the ridge to either side of the avenue, she was oblivious. ‘Even now the flood subsides. Mother Dark’s power is impressive.’

She strode between the two men and moments later walked into the water.

Resh’s sigh was rough. ‘I’ll keep my feet dry, if you please.’

Nodding, Caplo nudged his horse forward.

The procession resumed, this time led by the Azathanai, who cut a path through the swirling flood as if the river’s rising was a gift to her. Above the Citadel, Caplo saw clouds lifting, roiling away.
Steam. Mother Dark banishes. We see here the truth of her growing power
.

They continued on, at a pace somewhat quicker than the subsidence, although by the high waterline on the building walls it was clear that the flood was fast draining. The sound of rushing water was everywhere, as if in the aftermath of a heavy shower.

T’riss spoke without turning. ‘She must heed this lesson. To bind is to weaken. To hold is to make vulnerable, so that just as temples are focal points for worship and sacred gestures, so too are they weak points in a god’s armour. They are where the skin is thinnest, where fingers can touch, one mortal the other immortal. The meeting of lips, the sharing of breaths. Believe with all your heart, but know that your kiss can kill.’

Resh said, ‘Mother Dark is yet to sanctify the temple in her name, Azathanai. This is a matter of some contention. She may not need your warnings.’

They were approaching an intersection, opening out in a rectangular expanse. From windows on higher floors in the buildings to either side, people looked down, tracking their progress. Upon the far end reared the Citadel’s City Gate. There was no one visible in the concourse.

T’riss halted, turned to Caplo. ‘I have heard mention of highborn and lowborn, yet the Tiste acknowledge no royalty. How is this so?’

‘There was a queen once,’ Caplo replied. ‘The last of the royal line. She died on the field of battle. Her husband was not among the nobility, yet greatly revered for his martial prowess. When he fell, mortally wounded, she led a charge of her Royal Wardens in an effort to retrieve his body from the field. It failed. Thereafter, her body was not found, although that of her husband was.’