He sensed Strategist Vashun approaching well before he heard the hollow tap of his steps through the Hall of Windows. Here he came, a tall gaunt man they nicknamed "Death" on the lower floors, barely fatter than his own skeleton and wrapped constantly in bandages. A capable wizard, however.
Vashun paused by a far window and stared. "There they are again," he said, referring to the line of rebelling troops which had for some reason set up a picket line along World"s End. Vashun sounded amused.
The Arch hobbled over to watch them too. "Who do you think started this nonsense?" he said.
"Someone with faith in Pendulum theory," said Vashun. His hoa.r.s.e voice could hardly be heard.
"You have such faith, do you not?"
"Oh I do," he said, turning his mirthful gaze on the Arch and not hiding the fact that he thought him a fool. "But it is too late to worry about it! As for stopping it with a few thousand men-" Vashun broke out into laughter which made his long stiff body twitch.
"I feel it was Blain," said the Arch.
"Was I a suspect?"
"Of course you were."
"Not any more? You never know."
The Arch"s fist squeezed tighter on his staff. "You are full of mirth today."
"Naturally. The world has reached a point, I feel, where laughter is one of the few options. May I ask, Arch, what is the purpose of those canisters in the hall beyond Vous"s chamber? They came off the airships, did they not? Are they not filled with foreign airs of incredible purity?"
The Arch did not reply. Vashun nodded as though he"d been answered. "The rogue First Captain, Anfen. He put on quite a performance," he said. "It got them talking, down below."
"No doubt."
"Do you credit what he said? That casting with foreign airs could change reality, even change the past? If so, I find your placing of the canisters outside Vous"s chamber to be ... curious. An outburst from him and he could, potentially, burn through all those airs in a second. With perhaps unpredictable results."
The Arch turned to face him, a ripple of anger going up his throat. Through the gem lodged in his eye socket he examined Vashun"s aura for any energies indicating treachery, but he saw no obvious sign. "If what Anfen said is true, I hold a knife to the world"s throat. Not just to humankind"s. To the higher powers" too."
Vashun took this in and was a little while without speaking. "I did not think the loss of Aziel would stir such tender feelings in you. It is a hard thing, to lose control of something cherished. I advise a means of therapy. Take some staff from the lower floors. Not these boring ones, I mean real people with clear minds. Men or women, young or old. Entire families, as you fancy. Tell them to pack their things, they"ve been promoted. Bring them up. Kill them slowly, in creative ways."
Arch remembered long years before, the very earliest days before sipping from power"s cup, when Vashun had been the only one of the inner circle to make moral objections to the castle"s more extreme measures. For a moment, this conversation had been a brief, faint echo of those days.
"You should try it," Vashun went on. "The airs behave interestingly, after such acts. I would like your scholarly opinion on that, once you"ve seen it. And it"s soothing for its own sake. It"s why I can laugh about potential ruin stampeding toward us. Potential, mind. Console yourself, if you will, to know the rebel cities face certain ruin. And forget the girl, Aziel. She"s gone now. Forever. She"s replaceable. She doesn"t matter."
"Arch!" cried Ghost"s voice from the pane of a normal window.
The Arch hobbled toward it, surprised. "Where have you been?"
"Far and wide. Wide and long. Arch, listen! There"s something we have to tell you!"
THE PENDULUM"S SWING
1.
Cold and heat by turns emanated from Aziel"s unconscious body. Eric laid her down on a bed. "Did you see what happened out there?" he asked Far Gaze.
"I know what my eyes claim. They claim this charm captured Shadow. I don"t know if it"s true," the folk mage replied. He slowly reached for the charm about Aziel"s neck, but stopped short of touching it with visible effort.
Eric said, "Siel, get your bow. He"s here."
"Who is?" she said.
"Kiown. Gorb, come. We may have a fight on our hands."
The half-giant stood and stretched. "All right. Hey, Eric. Look! Your shadow"s back." It was true; Eric"s shadow was faintly stretched behind him, cast by one of the hanging light globes that lit the tower"s interior. "Do you feel any different?" said Gorb.
"No, I don"t."
"Pilgrim, I do not order, but advise you not to go out there," said Far Gaze, his eyes not leaving Aziel.
"Why don"t you order?" said Siel angrily. "Have you not worked out you are in charge?"
He ignored it. "I don"t need the mongrel"s nose to scent a trap. You"re being lured down."
"Maybe, but he"ll be the one to regret the trap." Eric inspected the gun, making sure he hadn"t got it wet in the moat. It seemed OK.
"As you like," said Far Gaze, sitting beside Aziel"s bed, still staring at her. "I have saved you from more than enough peril for one lifetime. If you are determined to die, have at it."
Stranger was looking from Aziel to Eric as though she was just beginning to guess at why he"d carried Aziel outside, and why she"d been kept away from the windows. He supposed it wouldn"t be long till she figured out what he"d overheard in the woods too.
"Are you sure it was Kiown? Was anyone with him?" said Siel, slipping her bow around her shoulder as the pair of them went down the steps into the water. Gorb followed, humming a tune as though they were just off hunting.
"I didn"t see anyone else. But even if he has back-up, they won"t be expecting us to bring Gorb."
Eric led them to where he"d seen the lanky redhead to where he was almost certain he had, anyway. Siel crouched to look at the tracks and headed between the trees, pulling an arrow taut. "Wrong way," said Gorb, evidently seeing something she"d missed. He jogged through the trees, branches snapping off on his shoulders. They followed him.
"Is that the one?" said Gorb. At the end of a clearing, Kiown sat with his back to a tree, looking quite relaxed. He affected surprise, pitched an apple core away and belched. "Siel! Eric!" he cried, springing to his feet. "How d"you do? You"ve replaced Doon, I see. Eric, you didn"t tell her about all the ... you know, our secret. Did you?"
Siel raised her arrow but something dropped on her from a tree. A masked woman in leathers wrestled her easily to the ground and soon had a knife at her throat. Eric was caught between Kiown and the newcomer, and ended up firing at neither before something had his arms pinned behind him. The gun dropped at his feet. His hands were quickly tied and he was face-first on the ground.
Gorb peeled the woman off Siel, scooped her in the crook of one elbow and seemed to be deciding on which direction he"d launch her like a catapult, when from out of sight stepped an old man in a shimmering robe of many colours. "Down," he said in a commanding voice, and Gorb froze, bent almost double in preparation for his throw.
Blain put a palm on the half-giant"s forehead and cried in a voice gone high, "Sleep!"
Gorb sank slowly to the ground.
Blood dripped from the Strategist"s eyes. He coughed white puffs of smoke. "Combat magic," he muttered, wiping at his eyes. "Should have taken his offer of horns. No one told me I"d be wrestling giants."
Kiown picked up the Glock, peered at it for a little while, then for some reason put it carefully in Eric"s pocket.
"So this is the Pilgrim," said Blain, crouching to inspect Eric with a waft of burning hair. "Untie him."
"Untie me?" said Eric.
"And free the pretty girl. The giant will wake presently. He"s not hurt. I am your humble captive." Blain bowed sarcastically. He coughed up more smoke. The lean wiry man who had tied Eric"s hands cut the bonds free and smiled at him. "This is called establishing trust," said Blain. "You were at my mercy. You fared rather well. Now I am at yours. Be nice. I am Strategist Blain. I must speak to whoever leads you."
"It will be the dog, Far Gaze," said Kiown, "now that Anfen"s sleeping in the soil." He pointed at his sword, then held it aloft for Siel to see. Old blood was on it. "Say h.e.l.lo. Still haven"t washed it. I"m rather proud of this stain."
"Far Gaze?" said Blain, still wiping blood from his eyes. "Never heard of him. p.i.s.s-ant magician? A soup-maker?" He coughed up more smoke. "Tauk travels here anyway, a day or two away. I"ll talk with him. Word of you has spread, Pilgrim."
Siel picked up her bow. She didn"t appear to know what to do with her hands as she eyed off the sleekly muscled, leather-clad woman who had accosted her. Evelle looked back at her, smiling.
Thaun the Hunter bowed and then he, with Evelle and Kiown, melted into the woods like shadows. "Just a second. Kiown comes up with us too," said Eric.
"Not permissible," grunted Blain. "The Hunters will scout for us. It"s likely to extend our lives, if that matters to you. Many things converge at this point. Wait and see."
Gorb stirred and got to his feet, clutching his head. He looked around in confusion. "What happened?"
"It will all come back to you soon," said Blain, eyeing him nervously.
Eric took the gun from his pocket and pointed it at Blain. "Kiown comes with us."
Blain chuckled, ignored the gun and marched off toward the tower.
"Easy now, Eric," said Kiown, stepping back into the clearing. "The Strategist doesn"t believe in your Otherworld toy. I"ll come along."
Siel"s arrow tip rose to his chest. "Drop the sword."
Kiown offered it handle-first to Eric. "Add it to the collection."
At the water"s edge Blain paused, tugging at his beard while he examined the tower. "Some fine work here," he said, seemingly to Kiown. "That structure is alive and conscious. It glowers at us."
Siel said, "Then take care. We have seen the water rise up and boil when enemies have crossed it."
"It has that and other means to dissuade us," said Blain, prodding his walking stick into the outermost waves. "Let"s see its fancy." He stepped into the water. It remained calm and cool.
Gorb followed Blain closely. "We"ll talk later," said Gorb.
"About?"
"Three hundred years of murder. Bounties. That sort of thing."
Blain sighed. "Very well. As you like. We"ll talk."
"Are you able to watch them from here?" Eric asked Siel as they neared the tower"s base.
She nodded. They went through to the whirlpool beneath but Eric stayed away, instead climbing the tree to the window, not wishing to hear what the winds over the waves might tell him this time.
2.
Blain examined one of the black metal structures as it constantly reshaped itself.
"Do you know what those are?" Eric asked him.
"This place is like a living body. These are its organs," said Blain. "It should be careful whom it trusts so close to them."
Far Gaze watched Blain like a patient hunter watching prey. He"d sent everyone else upstairs the second he recognised the colours of someone in a Strategist"s robe crossing the water. He did not want Blain to see Aziel"s charm, nor the girl herself. Eric and Siel remained with him on the middle floor. Kiown had been tied, blindfolded, and taken upstairs.
"It"s true you have Vous"s daughter?" said Blain, sniffing the air as though he could scent her. Far Gaze didn"t reply. Blain turned to him with arms spread. "I offer myself," he said. "A wealth of information, yours. Given freely. Ask!"
"How long before your forces come?" said Far Gaze. "Why are they not here now? For what purpose do you buy time?"
Blain laughed derisively. "There are ways to buy time less personally risky than this!"
"Indeed."
"My forces are spread across World"s End. A handful of thousands, stolen from Avridis. Little good they"ll do. Very little good. The matter has gone beyond human influence, or very nearly."
"Which matter?"
"The Pendulum"s swing," said Blain. "If you don"t know what I mean by that, we must speak of it now. We can do little or nothing, if I judge right. But you must know what comes our way. Your side and mine wrestled for control of this world, oblivious that a crushing weight was ready to fall upon it. We must for the moment pause, and ask if we wish for a prize to fight over. I need your help. You need mine, if there is to be a world left to conquer. Avridis is our enemy."
"For my side, the prize is lost," said Far Gaze. "The castle has won. So what difference, for us?"
Blain shrugged again. "You have probably lost. It"s not yet over. Close to it, yes. And I do not expect to persuade you. I could pledge loyalty, given my own nest is now shat in." He sat stiffly on a wooden chair. "But I"m well aware that your nest is filled with blood and corpses: my own doing again, at least in part. I"ll offer my pledge nonetheless. So let"s get that little jest out of the way."
It was Far Gaze"s turn to laugh. "I do not speak for what remains of the Free Cities, or the Mayors" Command. That alliance has probably dissolved; the last two cities will fend for themselves. Soon I will run wild and think only of my own survival. Maybe I will let the wolf take over for good."
"But I expect Tauk of Tanton will be here presently. The Mayor comes for him." Blain pointed with his staff at Eric.
Far Gaze said, "Am I right to guess that when Vous first rose up, with Avridis, you were bought off to betray the schools? To aid their destruction from within? Offered your seat of power in the new order? Which now you have renounced?"
Blain grunted a.s.sent.
"A professional traitor, then. Your promises will have little worth to the Mayor, if he comes."
"You can trust my instinct for self-preservation," said Blain, laughing.
"We shall see."