Reign of Beasts (6 page)

‘Believe it or not, I wasn't looking for you,' he said. ‘I was looking for him.' He nodded in the direction of the brighthounds: Lennoc, the newest Lord of the Court. ‘Lief used to run here at nox. I was hoping his hounds followed the same tradition.'

‘It's no good, you know,' she said, sounding far away. ‘You'll never get them all to choose you. The battle won't be won that way.'

‘But it will be won?'

Ashiol had a lot of practice with these conversations, though Rhian was not, would never be, Heliora. He concentrated on remembering who she was, on not letting the hallucinations get a foothold again. This was Rhian. She had been a background presence in Velody's household, an annoyance more than anything. Velody had been near obsessed with keeping Rhian and Delphine safe, and it had held her back from the greatest obstacle in accepting her place in the Creature Court.

Later, once Velody was dead, Rhian had joined the sentinels in guarding Ashiol as his madness ran its course. He remembered once she had even left him escape for a few precious hours in the sky.

She was the new Seer. It was perhaps understandable that he had hallucinated that she was Hel, his friend and bedmate, former Seer of the Court. But Ashiol could not for the life of him imagine why Rhian let him think it was true.

‘I didn't say that.' She took a deep breath and exhaled. It wasn't yet cold enough at nox for them to be able to see her breath in clouds, but it wouldn't be long now.

‘What are they planning?' Ashiol asked, though he knew
the futility of the question. ‘Poet and Garnet. They have something planned for Saturnalia. What is it?'

Rhian looked at him, her eyes glazed. ‘You have to get on the train.'

He stared back. ‘That's your advice? Time for me to run away? Back to my mother's estate with my tail between my legs?'

‘I didn't say that, either. You don't listen very well to people, do you?'

‘I'm not going anywhere,' he said sullenly. ‘Priest is the one packing up his courtesi and linens and turning tail in the hope that Bazeppe might be shinier than what we have here. I'm not catching a train this or any other nox.'

No matter how much he might want to.

The brighthounds had stopped prancing and were looking up at them both. They blurred together, shaping into a stocky man with a shock of white hair. He nodded warily at Ashiol and said nothing.

‘Lennoc, Lord Brighthound,' said Ashiol. ‘Will you swear allegiance to me as Power and Majesty?'

‘You'll do a better job, will you?' Lennoc crossed his arms belligerently. ‘Why you? Why not Velody or Garnet?'

‘Because I'll bite your throat out right now if you don't,' said Ashiol, not even bothering to sound like he meant it.

Lennoc paused, considering. ‘Works for me.'

He shaped himself back into hound form and bowed his heads before scampering off into the darkness. Ashiol couldn't resist shooting a look of triumph at Rhian.

‘Try that on Livilla, see how far you get,' she said cynically, sounding so like Hel that for a moment he thought he had lost it all over again.

‘Why did you do it?” he asked on impulse. ‘Why did you let me believe you were her?'

Rhian looked sad. He had viewed her simply as a weakness, Velody's weakness. It had never occurred to him that she might also be his.

‘You were safe,' she said finally. ‘I knew I couldn't damage you. But I did, didn't I?' She stood up. ‘Get on the train, before Saturnalia. The answers are there, not here.'

He watched as she walked away, and made no move to stop her.

‘Ash,' interrupted a new voice. He looked up and saw Kelpie glaring at him. ‘Tell me that wasn't Rhian.'

‘I'm pretty sure it was.'

‘We've been combing this bloody city for that wench. Velody's been climbing the walls, Macready's been biting pieces out of the furniture, and you just let her wander off again!'

‘I'm not the Seer's keeper, Kelpie.'

‘That's not what I hear.'

Ashiol rolled his eyes at her. ‘Shut it.'

If he couldn't get all of the Lords on his side, he could at least try for a majority. Livilla or Warlord? Rhian had a fair point about Livilla.

‘Where can I find Mars at this time of nox?'

Kelpie raised her eyebrows. ‘That depends on whether he wants to be found.'

‘He'd be found for you, wouldn't he?'

‘Fuck you.'

‘Kelpie —'

‘No, seriously, Ashiol. Fuck you. I won't be used. I've been loyal as all hells, but you can't make me turn over people's secrets so you can launch some kind of takeover bid against the other Kings. Do you even remember what “sentinel” means?'

‘Garnet used you. Abused you. Broke all the rules about what sentinels were.'

‘Yes,' Kelpie spat. ‘And you're supposed to be different.'

She turned and walked away from him. He watched her go.

Aye, that was what he was supposed to be. Different from Garnet.

V
elody returned home at dawn. There had been no attacks from the sky that nox, thank the saints. Exploding a theatre was obviously enough to keep it quiet for a time. She met Crane and Macready at the end of her street. They looked as tired as she felt. Macready was bright eyed and swaying on his feet.

‘Thank you,' she said. ‘For trying. I know you can't have a lot of trust in me right now.'

‘Don't say that,' Crane said indignantly. ‘You're — we're not going to suddenly stop being your sentinels, you know.'

‘I don't see why not,' Velody said. ‘I stopped being your King. I wasn't here. And now you have loyalty to three Kings to juggle.'

‘Wouldn't be the first time,' said Macready. ‘Don't fret about us, lass. We never expected to have you back with us at all.'

Velody hugged them both, impulsively. ‘I didn't think I would make it, either.'

‘Where were you?' Crane asked. ‘I mean — I saw sandstone in the theatre.'

‘Tierce, you said,' Macready repeated.

Crane flinched at that.

‘I was in the sky,' said Velody. ‘It looked like Tierce, but it was a shadow of the city I remember.' She did remember the city at least now, clearer than ever before. ‘I never saw … them.' The dust devils, vicious and fast and unlike anything they had faced before. ‘Did they come back?' she asked.

Both sentinels shook their heads. ‘Not since the sky swallowed you.'

‘I suppose there's a lot to catch me up on.' She managed a smile. ‘Like how you talked Delphine into being a sentinel.'

Macready wasn't smiling. ‘It was in her all along. All it took was —'

‘Blood, sweat, yelling,' Crane chipped in.

Macready cuffed him lightly. ‘Aye, that.' He was still sombre. ‘There's something else you should know. About Rhian — and Ashiol.'

Velody frowned. ‘He hasn't been bothering her about this Seer business, has he? How has she been coping with it all?' Apart from going missing for a whole day after a near-death theatre experience.

‘Let's go back to the house,' Macready muttered. ‘Discuss it there.'

They headed up the back alley together. As they entered the yard, a figure on the doorstep stood up suddenly. Macready swore.

Velody fell forward. ‘Rhian!'

Her friend looked ragged around the edges, more of a mess even than on that horrible Lupercalia nearly two years ago. At the same time, her eyes were bright and she seemed more alive, more Rhian, than she had been in years.

‘Velody,' Rhian said calmly, ‘you have to go to the train station, right now.'

‘What happened to you?' Velody asked. ‘Are you … have you been all right?'

Macready and Delphine had been so
strange
about Rhian. She had missed something vital, she knew it.

‘If you don't get to the station now, Priest will leave the city,' Rhian said, still sounding so serene.

‘The futures came to you?' Macready demanded, sounding oddly attacking.

Rhian paused, then nodded. ‘Priest is catching a train, with Fionella and Damson.'

Velody barely knew the names of the courtesi. How did Rhian know them? It felt like Rhian was more a part of the Court now than she was.

‘Where is he going?' she asked.

‘The clockwork city,' said Rhian.

‘Bazeppe,' said Macready. ‘Feck, the early train leaves in an hour.'

‘I'll go,' said Velody. ‘The rest of you need to get some sleep.'

‘No,' Crane said suddenly. They stared at him. ‘No more going off alone, Velody. It's not fair to any of us.'

‘It's morning,' she pointed out. ‘I think I can resist the urge to hurl myself into the sky again.'

‘I'll go with you.' Kelpie appeared at the gate. She arched her eyebrows at Velody. ‘Or don't you want my help?'

‘I'd welcome it,' said Velody. She poked Crane in the chest. ‘Sleep. Thank you for your help this nox. You, too,' she added to Macready.

‘All part of the job,' he said.

How intriguing that he was devoting so much energy into not looking at Rhian. Velody had no time to think about everyone's strange behaviour. She and Kelpie headed south at a quick pace, matching each other.

‘It's bad when the Lords start leaving the city,' Velody said in an undertone. ‘Right?'

‘Right,' Kelpie confirmed. ‘Rats leaving a sinking barge and all that.'

‘I should have paid more attention to Priest. After what happened with that devil that possessed him …'

‘You weren't here,' said Kelpie. There was an uncomfortable pause. ‘I don't mean that like it sounded.
Not in a bad way. You can't expect to have sorted things out when you were somewhere else entirely.'

‘They didn't do a great job without me, did they?'

Velody was half-joking, but Kelpie turned a serious face on her.

‘No, they really didn't. I never liked you much. But things are worse when you're not here.'

‘Even if I brought Garnet back with me?'

Kelpie's face closed over and she turned away. ‘Don't know how that's going to turn out. I cried when the sky took him. Felt like a failure. But it was a relief, too.'

‘It might be different this time. He might be different.' But Velody couldn't promise that, could she? ‘I don't know,' she sighed. ‘I don't know who he is, not really. Everything he said and did while we were trapped in that place could have been a lie to make me trust him. I haven't even seen him since Ashiol tried to drown him in the Lake of Follies. Perhaps he caught a train, too.'

Kelpie shivered. ‘Not him. He doesn't back down. Not ever. Especially with people he loves.'

They walked the rest of the way in silence. The morning sunlight was clear and bright by the time they reached the Aurian Gate. Despite the daylight, Velody felt something lift off her shoulders as she crossed through to the other side. ‘Oh,' she said softly. Her animor was still there, pulsing in her veins. She could shape herself into little brown mice if she had to. But something was gone.

‘The sky's different outside the city,' Kelpie said quietly. ‘Isn't it?'

That was it. The sky over the city was something else entirely. It didn't look any different, but she was free here, just as she was trapped when she was within the bounds of Aufleur.

‘Perhaps we should all get on the train,' she muttered.

‘You don't mean that,' said Kelpie.

‘How do you know?'

‘Because you're stronger than any of those stupid men.'

 

Velody laughed. She couldn't help it. She was still laughing when they stepped onto the station platform and saw Priest sitting there, a courtesa on either side of him and a large trunk at his feet.

‘Wish me luck,' said Velody.

Velody stepped forward, her buttoned-up boots making a little noise on the platform. A memory came unbidden: of her brother Sage coming out of the steam, of Cyniver waiting at the side for him to notice her, of that last visit home before everything ended. All temptation to step on a train herself and let it carry her away was gone in a moment. Aufleur would suffer the same fate as Tierce if they didn't stay to fight. Garnet and Ashiol would be at each other's throats — Garnet's homecoming had proved that. They needed her.

The gull courtesa, Damson, slid over to the other side of her Lord as Velody approached, making room for her. Priest looked unsurprised at her appearance.

‘My Lady,' he said with courtesy, though the absence of ‘Power' or ‘Majesty' was tangible.

‘Why would you leave?' she asked. ‘You, of all people?'

‘I seem a fixture among the Court, do I?' Priest asked. ‘If that is the case, dear demme, you have not been paying attention. I have nothing holding me here.'

‘Nothing but an oath,' Velody said.

‘Two oaths,' he corrected her. ‘Both broken by death. Or cancelled out by each other.'

‘I'm not dead,' she reminded him.

Priest looked her over. ‘You died. It is enough.'

‘Are you so sure about that?' she said. ‘Enough to risk becoming an oathbreaker? You know what happened to Dhynar Lord Ferax.'

‘If anything, it is Garnet who has the prior claim,' Priest said, sounding entirely comfortable. ‘Perhaps you should raise the subject with him.'

‘Garnet isn't here right now,' said Velody. ‘Just me. Look me in the eyes, Priest, and tell me that you are willing to walk away from the city, from the Court, from your Power and Majesty.'

He met her gaze placidly. ‘I have done it before.'

‘So why Bazeppe? Is that where you come from?'

She knew he wasn't from Aufleur, but had never detected a regional accent of any kind.

‘I have never been there before,' said Priest. ‘But I hear things. They can use a man like me, I think.'

‘Why?' she said. ‘Why leave? It can't just be hurt feelings.'

Priest shook his head. ‘You Kings. Mad, impatient children. No one in this Court has ever paid any attention to important matters. To the words spilled by Seers, or by the Smith. You have no history, no interest in learning anything, just sky, fight, frig, over and over again.'

‘What do you know?' she demanded. ‘What do you think you know that makes you better than us?'

‘I know that the End of Days is upon us. I know that the salamander has joined the ranks of the Creature Court. I know that a devil climbed inside my skin and no one noticed until I started murdering children.' He blew out a long breath of a sigh. ‘I know that if I stay, this city will kill me. Perhaps elsewhere I can be a great man again.'

Velody could hear a screech in the distance. The train came rattling into sight, around a bend.

She was caught by another memory, her first memory perhaps. Sage, sitting up on the wall at the south station in Tierce, dangling his legs. ‘Ever seen a steam angel, mouseling? Watch as the train rushes in. If you stare at the steam long enough, you can see people in it.'

Little Velody, barely four years old, had stared valiantly
into the steam until her eyes were sore and red from the dust and did not see a thing. Sage laughed all the way home.

Dead, he was dead, the sky had taken him years ago. There was nothing left of her family. He would never have called her mouseling, either — it was a nickname of the Creature Court. Even her memories had been corrupted by this place.

‘This, I believe, is my train,' said Priest as the engine slowed, filling the platform with dense smoke and steam. Velody stared into the steam for a moment, looking for the answer.

Priest moved his head slightly and Velody followed his gaze. Ashiol stood on the edge of the platform, wind blowing his long black coat around him. He was staring into the steam as well. Velody turned her head and saw Garnet at the other end of the platform, posed just as dramatically. They stared at each other, no eyes for anyone else.

‘Go,' she said softly.

‘Majesty?' Priest was surprised enough to let the title slip out.

‘Who am I to stop anyone from escaping this life? Go, Priest. Have my blessing. I hope you find what you're looking for.'

Velody felt tired, so tired. She had thought coming home would solve everything, but she was back to this, to fighting over every moment, every conflict.

Priest hesitated only a moment, then he stood, scooping his enormous trunk up as if it weighed nothing. ‘You are a true King, Velody,' he said. ‘Good luck.' Then he stepped onto the train, Damson and Fionella with him.

The whistle blew, and more steam filled the station.

‘What are you doing?' Ashiol demanded, striding towards Velody. ‘We have to stop him.'

‘Are you deliberately trying to weaken the city?' Garnet demanded, approaching from the other side. ‘Do you want us to become a floating graveyard like Tierce?'

‘Being a King isn't just about gathering strength, or what we have to do,' Velody snapped. ‘It's about looking after our people.'

‘Priest can't just run away,' said Ashiol between gritted teeth. ‘You can't let him go.'

The train began to pull out of the station.

‘You're one to talk,' Velody yelled at Ashiol. ‘You've been trying to run away since you got here. You gave this city to
me
.'

Gone. The train was gone. Priest was gone.

‘You left,' Ashiol retorted. ‘Sacrificed yourself to the sky — what's that but another form of giving up and running away? At least he' — he nodded to Garnet — ‘didn't mean to get himself killed. You both left me here. This is my city now.'

‘And how have you used the time, Ashiol?' Velody hissed. ‘What grand changes have you wrought? You never even took their oaths!'

‘If Mama and Papa could stop fighting for a moment,' Garnet said, sounding far too amused. ‘Let's work this out like seigneurs. Velody has allowed Priest to escape. That leaves us with four Lords. I have Poet's oath.'

Ashiol hesitated. ‘I have Lennoc's.'

‘You have Livilla,' Ashiol and Garnet said in unison, then looked at each other in surprise.

‘Interesting,' said Garnet.

‘Warlord says he will follow me,' said Velody. ‘It comes down to Livilla's vote.'

‘Vote?' Garnet said dismissively. ‘The Creature Court is not a democracy.'

‘Nevertheless, we have a choice,' said Velody. ‘We can try to fight to the death over who leads the Court, or we put the decision in Livilla's hands and find an answer without spilling blood.'

Ashiol and Garnet looked at each other. ‘Fight to the death,' they agreed.