Trinity (30 page)

Kiana and Skaric rode on either
side of him. Kiana stared about, mesmerised by the scale and
devastation of the city. In contrast, Skaric stared directly ahead,
quiet and brooding.

The first few streets were
almost completely decimated, but the farther into the city they
went, the more intact the buildings were. They came to a district
that looked as though it could still be inhabited. The buildings
were crumbling through age and a lack of care but had sustained no
battle damage.

The city was deathly quiet. The
horse’s hooves echoed on cobbles that were hidden beneath layers of
ash blown from the desolate landscape outside the walls. Tattered
remnants of heavy fabric hung mournfully in the windows of too many
houses. Here and there, a door stood open and, as Nidan peered
inside, he could see that belongings waited for owners that had
never returned.

A faded rag doll lay just
within a doorway. It was obviously handmade with yellow woollen
hair and two large button eyes. It wore a red dress that might have
been a bright and cheerful shade before the ash and sun had
deadened the colour. Nidan remembered Brid having a similar doll.
Once it had been loved, but as she had grown older, the doll had
been cast aside. Staring at the rag doll, Nidan couldn’t help but
imagine a child reaching back for it, whilst her father carried her
away from their home. He hoped they had made it to safety.

“
Do you think
they thought they were coming back?” Kiana said.

“
I doubt it.”
Nidan continued looking around the city pensively.

“
Why didn’t
they take anything with them?”

“
To travel
faster?” Nidan looked at her sadly. “We took nothing except my
weapons and a water flask when we escaped Blackoak
Tower.”

“
They probably
just wanted to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible,”
Skaric said in a quiet tone. His voice had a sharp edge to it, but
that was better than the silence he had sustained since the
previous morning.

Did Kiana push you too far?

Nidan looked
towards the castle perched on a hilltop at the far edge of the
city. The outer wall was made from a darker type of sandstone and
had a vast entrance with narrow windows on either side. It reminded
Nidan of a face, staring down at the city ambivalently.
For Kiana’s sake, I hope we find answers
here.
They had come too far to find
nothing.

They carried on through the
streets without talking. The clatter of the horses’ hooves was so
unbearably loud it made Nidan’s head ache.

“
Skaric, is
your head still hurting?” Kiana’s sudden question made Nidan
jump.

Skaric shook his head. “It
stopped when I found my way into Ysia’s realm.” His reply was
matter of fact; he didn’t look at Kiana.

She nodded thoughtfully but
said nothing. Nidan wondered what she was thinking.

He remembered the first time he
had realised he wanted to join the temple of Pios. He had woken
from a terrible dream about Brid, his head pounded fiercely.
Without getting dressed, he had left his house and ran through the
streets to the temple. He had burst past the Guardian at the door,
finally falling to his knees at the feet of Pios’ statue. The pain
in his head had vanished almost immediately, and he had known he
had found his home.

Nidan
shivered.
Will I ever be able to go back
to Pios’ temple?
He took a deep breath and
pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

There was one thing Nidan was
sure of: Ysia had called to Skaric, just as Pios had called to
him.

They were travelling on a broad
street that ran straight through the centre of the city, leading to
the castle hill. Several other tributary roads led off from it into
mazes of abandoned buildings. Nidan glanced down them all, chasing
the dark shadows that kept flitting menacingly at the edge of his
vision. There was no way of knowing if they were real or just his
imagination. Skaric had stopped their death dreams but not the
daytime spectres. The closer they had got to the city, the more
Nidan had seen them. He shivered again but this time he realised it
really was cold.

“
It’s the
middle of summer. It shouldn’t be cold,” he said.

But the temperature was
dropping. He could still sense the heat in the air; the closeness
of it pressed against his skin and made sweat bead on his back
beneath his filthy clothes. Yet he was shivering.

Skaric pulled his horse to a
halt and gazed around. He frowned and began to chew on his lower
lip. “It’s as if Ysia’s realm is close enough to touch. And
see.”

Kiana shuddered so hard that
she involuntarily jabbed her horse in the mouth. It tossed its head
and let out an indignant snort as it came to a halt. Both the
horses were becoming nervous. Even after Kiana had relaxed her
grip, her horse continued to toss its head; its ears were twitching
and its eyes were wide and staring.

“
So the
shadows I keep seeing… are they real?” Kiana said.

Skaric turned to look at her.
“They aren’t shadows. They’re the souls of the dead.” It was the
first time he had held her stare that day. Yet after only a
heartbeat, he looked up at the castle.

Nidan followed his gaze. At the
edge of his vision the black spectres floated past him.

“
They’re going
to the castle?” Kiana’s voice sounded strangled.

Skaric nodded slowly. “I don’t
know why they would, or why Ysia’s realm is so close that we can
see traces of it.”

Nidan rested his hand on his
pommel, rubbing his thumb over Miale’s name. He understood. “Miale
died here.”

The muscles around Skaric’s
eyes twitched ever so slightly. “Her soul must have crossed into
Ysia’s realm here. Maybe that’s why.”

They carried on down the main
road. The houses got bigger the closer they got to the castle.
Nidan stared through the windows as he walked past, catching
glimpses of comfortable armchairs and long oak dining tables.

“
Do you think
there are beds inside?” Kiana said.

Nidan glanced up in time to see
her shudder violently.

“
Forget I said
anything.” Her voice was glum. “I don’t want to go inside any of
them. Not after…”

“
They left,
Kiana. I don’t think the townspeople were slaughtered here.” Nidan
didn’t think his words were making her feel any better.

His stomach was rumbling and
his mouth was parched by the time the road opened out into a large
market square. Broken remnants of wooden stalls sat like skeletons
on the cobblestones. Ash encrusted bunting lay tattered and
discarded on the floor, occasionally flapping in the breeze.

On the other side of the
square, the road led up the hill to the castle. A temple stood at
the bottom of the castle road. It was identical in construction to
the one they had seen in Norlea and just as lopsided. There was a
large gaping hole where a circular chamber should have been. Nidan
didn’t need to go inside to know that it was Ysia’s chamber that
had been destroyed.

An elaborate well stood at the
centre of the market. As they drew closer to it, Nidan saw that it
was triangular, like the hilt and pommel of his sword. On one side
he could see a relief of Miale’s likeness carved into the stone.
She was holding the cup of knowledge and looked directly ahead.
Once she would have had a happy and peaceful expression on her
face, except a century of wind and rain had disfigured the carving.
Nidan touched his hand to his head reverently.

The second side had Pios’ image
carved on it. Despite weathering, it was possible to tell that Pios
had been depicted as an older man, wise and thoughtful in
appearance. Nidan imagined it looked just like the statue in
Ironhold. Nidan curled his hand into a loose fist and held it out
towards the image.

Kiana dismounted and wandered
around to the third side. Her expression became horrified as she
stared at the well. Nidan joined her. With dismay he saw that
Ysia’s form had deep chisel marks gouged into it, completely
destroying her features. He wasn’t sure why he’d expected anything
different. Skaric had dismounted and was standing beside them
before Nidan could stop him. With a blank expression, Skaric
touched his fingertips to his chest, over his heart.

Kiana placed her hand on
Skaric’s arm. “Maybe Ysia didn’t abandon us. Maybe we abandoned
her.”

Skaric continued to stare
forward.

“
It was the
same at the temple in Norlea,” Kiana said sadly. “Ysia’s image had
been destroyed. I expect that every image of her across Gettryne
has faced similar treatment.”

“
Why?”
Skaric’s voice was as stiff and tense as his body.

“
Because
everyone thought that Ysia had sanctioned Miale’s murder,” Nidan
said.

“
But
why
?” Skaric turned to
face them both. “It was a Wolf that murdered Miale,
not
Ysia. The whole of
Gettryne worshipped the trinity. We didn’t claim Ysia as our own
until the war began.”

Kiana threaded her fingers
together. “What if the man who killed Miale was blessed with Ysia’s
magic?”

Skaric looked
down at the ground. “Even if that
was
the case, it seems wrong to blame
her for his actions.”

Kiana shrugged. “Is it? The
Wolves rallied behind Ysia.” She breathed in slowly. “Hatred and
anger cloud people’s judgement. You of all people should know
that.”

Skaric’s eyes hardened to
ice.

“
You said
yourself that the Wolves claimed Ysia, and they stood behind the
man who murdered Miale. What else was everyone supposed to think?”
Nidan said.

Skaric met Nidan’s stare. “What
if Ysia was responsible?”

Nidan opened
his mouth to answer but couldn’t find the words. He had lived his
life believing that Ysia had wanted Miale dead. For the first time
he found himself doubting that truth.
Strange how I doubt it before Skaric does
. “I don’t think Ysia was responsible,” he said after a long
pause.

Kiana looked up at him.

“
Just think
about it for a moment. Everyone believes that Ysia was behind
Miale’s murder and that Pios saved Miale, right?”

She nodded.

“
But I don’t
think that Pios
could
have saved Miale.” He smiled wryly, glanced upwards and then
breathed out slowly. “Pios looks after the body; Miale the mind and
Ysia the soul.”

Kiana frowned. “I know all
that, Nidan. But I don’t see how that proves Ysia’s innocence, or
that Pios didn’t save Miale.”

Nidan smiled. The answer was so
obvious to him, so simple. Why didn’t his companions see it too?
“Gods don’t have bodies, Kiana. There was nothing for Pios to
heal.”

Kiana’s eyebrows raised as her
mouth dropped open. “Miale was in the body of a mortal…”

Nidan shrugged emphatically.
“So? The mortal wasn’t saved. She died. Miale died with her. If
what Skaric believes about souls is true, then maybe their souls
were reincarnated together. And if that’s the case, there’s only
one god who could have made sure that happened.”

“
Ysia…” Kiana
glanced round at Skaric.

He was
frowning deeply as hope exploded in his eyes. “I think Nidan’s
right. You and Miale have separate souls, Kiana. I’ve
seen
it.” He breathed out
slowly. “But why didn’t Ysia just reincarnate Miale’s soul on its
own? Why leave it connected to a mortal soul?”

Nidan shook his head. “That’s
not something I know anything about. I was hoping you’d be able to
think of a reason.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Remember
I was taught that my soul would reside with Pios when I died. But
now I’m pretty sure that isn’t true.” He glanced up again.

Kiana smothered a giggle behind
her hand. “I don’t think Pios is going to strike you down!”

Nidan hoped she was right. “Why
not? I’m saying fairly blasphemous things, aren’t I?”

Kiana’s eyebrows raised as her
eyes practically doubled in size. “Isn’t that half the reason we’re
here? Because the things we’d been told to believe just didn’t add
up?”

Nidan nodded, but Skaric’s
expression was downcast and the muscles beneath his eyes were
twitching thoughtfully.

Kiana turned
and caught hold of Skaric’s hand and stared at him. “We
all
realised that things
weren’t as simple as everyone wanted us to believe. We came here to
find out the truth.”

“
And to
restore Miale,” Nidan said, smiling at the stare his companions
were sharing.

“
We’ve already
found out so much…” Kiana said.

“
But every
answer comes with a score of questions,” Skaric said
bitterly.

“
And we’ll get
those answers. I
know
we will,” Kiana said.

Skaric’s expression was
doubtful as he slid his hand away from hers.

Kiana turned away from him and
busied herself with staring into the dark depths of the well. Pity
stabbed at Nidan’s heart as he watched her run her tongue over her
cracked lips.

“
Do you think
the water will be like the river?” Kiana said.

“
I doubt we’ll
be able to find out.” Nidan stepped up to the well and began to
wind the winch, which whined in complaint. He frowned. “The rope
should have rotted away completely after all these
years…”