Authors: Kay Kenyon
City Without End (24 page)
Other green-clad Adda tenders were also staring curiously at the scene of people climbing and descending the purple Adda’s ladder. But none of them would realize what they had just witnessed.
Tai had been in the presence of Titus Quinn. He’d seen him help his daughter into the Adda and come back with her to her mansion. It was, at the very least, a conspiracy. And at its most significant, it was a glimpse of the passionate world that would one day be his: a world of heroes. Well, one thing he knew for sure. He wouldn’t be able to question the tender of the Adda with the purple fringe. That man had debarked onto the balcony.
His heart expanding in his chest, Tai didn’t long worry about that missed opportunity. He had seen Sen Ni. He had seen Titus Quinn. It was enough for one day.
On the great understructure of the bridge, blood dripped from Helice’s hands, making her progress slippery and slow. She straddled a glass strut and, hunkered over, pulled herself along it, pressing with her hands lest she move too fast. The strut sloped down. The understructure of the bridge was smooth and empty except at the sides, where an enclosed trough conveyed what Helice imagined was waste water down to the bridge’s footings on land.
The crystal edges of the trough tore at her fingers. She let herself rest when it became apparent no one was following her. She held on to a cross piece that joined the trough, hugging it. Halfway down now, she was closer to the confluence of sea and river, and could pick out individuals on navitar vessels. There was little reason to be on a vessel when the action was in the great Way, but one boat lingered. On its deck stood a massive Chalin man.
This one she knew. It was Mo Ti. He wasn’t looking at her, but rather straight up to the pinnacle of the bridge. Then the ugly suspicion came to her, that Mo Ti and Quinn had formed an alliance. Against all likelihood, Mo Ti the faithful had become Mo Ti the traitor. Because who could he be waiting for other than Titus Quinn? Her soul darkened at the thought that Mo Ti had told Quinn secrets. Her secrets. Oh, the damage done, if Quinn knew! She carefully made her way around the cross-fret and straddled the trough once more, pulling herself along.
In the mansion the servants turned in unison as Lady Anuve burst out the doors and onto the terrace. Her face was terrible to look at. Everyone went to their knees.
“You will find her,” she said in her low, even voice. “Now.”
“Who, Bright One?” one of them managed to say.
“Sen Ni, your mistress.”
The servant turned in the direction of the stairs. Sen Ni stood at her post, stopped in the action of throwing candy to the crowds. “Bright One?” she said. She kept her face calm, despite her desperate circumstance. Titus Quinn was on the premises. Helice, however, was long gone. This dark news had come to her as soon as she had led Quinn and his servant into Riod’s stall to hide. She’d hoped to lure Helice to the stall, but those plans quickly collapsed. Riod was waiting with the news that Anuve had found Helice’s little machine and had been stalking Helice through the mansion. Helice had fled.
Sydney watched as Lady Anuve strode toward her, raking the environs with a quick gaze. “You are here, ah?”
“Yes, Lady.”
“And your servant Hei Ling?”
“I sent her to check on Riod. He’s been ill.”
“And left your post as well, hnn? Some time absent, so we are told.”
“Yes, I threw up my morning meal. Too much candy. Or excitement.”
Anuve paused for a moment, then rushed back into the mansion.
In his stall, questing his mind into Sydney’s, Riod heard the exchange between her and the Tarig female. He turned now to Titus Quinn and his helper.
She comes. The fiend called Anuve.
Quinn knew he’d failed. Helice was gone. And she had taken with her that very useful tool: an mSap.
“Riod, where has Helice gone?”
She is hiding. Amid the city.
“Where?”
She is there, with everyone in the Way.
Yat Pang was already opening a pack, pulling out the repelling rope. He opened the window off Riod’s stall and scanned the outside balconies. “Now,” he said. Yat Pang secured a loop around the railing.
Quinn went to the balcony door and turned back to look at Riod. “Thank you for caring for her when I couldn’t.”
She is Riod’s heart.
Quinn heard this with a mixture of gratitude and envy. He nodded at Sydney’s great protector. Then he motioned for Yat Pang to go first.
“Riod, can you sever the knot on the rope? Let the rope drop over when I’m down?”
Yes
.
Quickly checking for anyone out on the porches, Quinn slipped to the railing. He noted the ship beneath him and Mo Ti holding the end of the rope, stabilizing it. Yat Pang was almost down. Quinn climbed over the rail, grasping the rope. He prayed Riod would untie it, erasing the evidence of their route. Down he went in a controlled slide, the rope jammed between his boots.
As Quinn reached the deck, Mo Ti signaled Ghoris to put the craft under way. The rope fell down next to the ship, coiling into the silver waters.
Behave prudently to be considered wise; Act with decorum to be
thought prominent. Thus you may enjoy the virtues in advance of
having attained them.
—from
The Twelve Wisdoms
R
IM CITY CELEBRATIONS CONTINUED IN THEWAY,
now spreading to side streets, squares, wine dens, and homes. Sometimes Sydney thought she heard remnants of the celebration, but confined to her quarters, she was shut off from the city.
With Helice exposed and Sydney blamed, all pretence of Mistress of the Sway had evaporated. Lady Anuve began her punishments by quartering Riod in an outbuilding, separated from Sydney. His sendings still came to her, but weakly, given his sickly state.
The other punishment she had been lucky to survive.
On Sydney’s balcony Anuve had directed two Tarig to lift Sydney onto the railing. Below her, the sea, a thousand-foot drop. One on each side of her, the mantis lords had held her hands, keeping her balanced and facing Anuve, who sat in a nearby chair.
“One trusts the riding of Inyx gives you strong legs. Tell us, small girl. All your plans, each detail.”
The wind off the sea had rippled Sydney’s silks, causing her to shiver. She had never held hands with mantis lords before. Their bony grips were not as tight as she would have liked.
“You may begin.”
Sydney admitted she’d hidden Helice under the guise of the servant, Hei Ling. Admitted that Helice possessed a machine sapient, a piece of technology that seemed to disturb Anuve, by her close questioning on the subject. Sydney could not accurately describe the quantum sapient’s powers, but she knew that at least at one time the mSap had created a nano assembler. Or the nano assembler had created the computer.
Anuve’s aspect darkened. “My cousins tire. Perhaps one of them will rest, ah?” The lord on her right released her hand. Sydney wobbled. The other Tarig provided just enough balance, though his grip was not tight.
Sydney admitted everything. She admitted that Helice had performed a medical procedure on her eyes, removing the Tarig capability to see through her eyes. Their plan to spy on the Inyx thus had failed because of Helice, and Sydney felt a pang for offering to deliver her to her father.
She split her attention between Anuve and the long drop at her back. She was afraid, but loathing steadied her. To Sydney, Anuve was the same as Lord Hadenth who had blinded her. They were all one fiend, mingling their con-sciousnesses in the Heart. She wondered if individual memories of Tarig outlived their bodies. When a Tarig died and the body was not recovered, as was the case with Lord Hadenth, then surely those individual memories were lost. Despite such logic, she preferred to think of Anuve as Hadenth, to keep her hatred fired and her feet steady.
“Why has Titus Quinn not come to you?”
“He might still, Bright One. Maybe he suspected the celebration was a trap. But he’ll come.” He was reliable at showing up when it suited him.
Anuve failed to ask one question, however:
What is the Inyx role in the traitorous
dreams?
Some things were still secret.
After the questioning on the rail, Sydney had been confined in Riod’s stall. Seeing it empty, she’d had time to worry that he was dead. After several hours the servant Deng had come to give her a blanket and tell her where Riod was. The doors of Riod’s room were locked, but the blanket and the information led her to believe that Anuve would not kill her.
