Dangerous Offspring (43 page)

Swallow swept the room with a look of pure hatred, took a step forward, hesitated, turned on her heel and stormed out. Her progress down the passageway was marked by a vase smashing every few metres. A little while later we heard the clop and crunch as her coach departed at a gallop. Silence returned.

Lightning sighed. ‘I’d just had those replaced. The third time.’

I smiled. ‘Well I’m sure you can afford to have them repaired. Or make some new replicas.’

‘I don’t think I’ll bother this time. Time for a new look.’

‘Lightning, are you sure?’

‘Never more so. And you will all have to get used to calling me Saker.’

‘I think people will still call you Lightning,’ Eleonora said. ‘And Lightning, I
do
want to escape.’

Next morning I took breakfast in the Orangery. I sat at the round, polished table and pressed my toes into the soft moss that covered the ground like a carpet. An orange tree grew through a large hole in the centre of the table, over which its boughs hung low with fruit. The table was laden with all the foods that pass for breakfast in Awia, a variety far greater than I could actually eat. I had no appetite, I was thinking back to what happened the previous night. I still couldn’t understand Lightning’s volte-face. I felt an open rift in the centre of my being, as if he was already dead.

The sun shone through the glass wall which curved up to the panes of the ceiling. Black-painted wrought-iron flowers and tendrils spiralled from the curlicued frames, as if the struts of the glasshouse themselves were growing. More orange and lemon trees with smooth bark were rooted in the clean, deep moss all around me. The air was rich with scent.

An arcaded loggia passage connected the Orangery to the palace just behind me. In front, I looked out down the lawns to the shimmering lake. On the nearest end of the island the tops of tall monkey puzzle trees poked up from the dense woods extending to the shore, where a tiny jetty emerged.

The Queen of Awia appeared at the glass portal, kicked off her shoes and walked across the moss barefoot. As always she looked fantastic, elegant in cream suede, with her sword scabbard swapping the back of her legs. But beneath her soft feathers, her porcelain face and sepia eyes, I thought she was just another thick-skinned tart. She sat down beside me, so the orange tree didn’t block her view of me. A servant appeared immediately and started loading her plate with kedgeree.

I said, ‘The guests have gone. When are you leaving?’

‘Me?’ Eleonora laughed. ‘Oh, no. I’m staying here for a while, Queen’s prerogative. I’m going to do all I possibly can to impress him. And I’m well capable of that.’

I wondered how to warn him. I couldn’t think how without incriminating myself. I said sarcastically, ‘He’d be overwhelmingly impressed by dressage and the lash.’

‘Do you think I can’t change? If Lightning can, I can, of course. The Eleonora you saw won’t be the one he sees. On the contrary, I intend to marry him.’

‘What!’

She continued, ‘But I won’t hide all of my…more wanton side. If I try to act like a maiden, well, he might not like maidens, and that would be a great shame, wouldn’t it?’

‘Your talents lie elsewhere.’

She stifled a smile. ‘You’d be surprised. It’s difficult to break through his romantic pose but there’s a real man under there. I’ve never met another with such a mix of strength, intelligence and perfect self-assurance. A real equal.’

‘I don’t want to know.’

‘And he’s better hung than you. You can tell from the crease of his trousers.’

‘I
don’t
want to know! I can’t believe it! Imagine: sell all your antiques, Lightning, and redecorate with mirrors–Eleonora’s moving in! All the servants must wear leather harnesses and nipple clips!’

She laughed. ‘I’m not that bad.’

‘Well, I don’t
bloody
understand why he chose to lose the Challenge.’

‘I think his leaving the Circle is a very clever move. When we marry, it will be the joining of the two greatest houses in Awia.’

‘Oh, god…’ Realisation began to dawn.

‘Think what he’s doing. When Cyan becomes Eszai, she cannot inherit Peregrine manor, because the Emperor no longer allows immortals to own land. Lightning will keep Peregrine, so reuniting all the scattered lands of his original manor, which has always been his aim. When he marries me he’ll regain Avernwater too, and we will possess all the manors of Awia except Carniss and Wrought. Lightning will not only have united his manor, but the whole of Awia. He will be King, as he should have been fourteen centuries ago. He can fulfil the role he had to relinquish when he joined the Circle, and bring the Micawater dynasty back to the throne, that has lain dormant with him so long. That’s what he always wanted. It’s a long time to wait. We will have a single great manor and Awia will have a degree of stability that has never been seen before. Never!’

‘You’re founding the first absolute monarchy in Awia.’

‘Well done, Jant. You have figured out my aim, at least.’

It did not sound so good to me.

Eleonora added, ‘The Emperor would be pleased.’

‘Would he?’

‘Of course. All the manors would be in Zascai hands.’

‘Except Wrought.’

‘Don’t worry about Tern, I think that would suit San, too. He would like the Castle to keep some degree of control over the weaponsmiths. And with Lightning and I to lead the Awian fyrd, think of all the business they’ll be getting! If Wrought is threatened by anything, it’s the new industries in Hacilith.’

I felt nauseous, staring into the future of a new dynasty. The thought of Eleonora and
Lightning’s
future generations, that I would have to watch, and to serve as an Eszai, for hundreds of years after them, terrified me.

‘I feel time-sick,’ I said. ‘Who knows what will happen?’

‘Whatever happens, you’re shielded from it. Protected by the Castle’s walls, you immortals experience the arrows of misfortune as nothing but a tickle, compared to us. You should even enjoy the experience, because you know you’ll live long enough to see the wheel of fortune turn up once more. You might even see the system change yet again, from our dynasty–though I hope it won’t.’

‘What if Cyan is beaten and Lightning wants to rejoin the Circle?’

‘He would bring me into the Circle too. We could stay together forever and I would be immortal as well. I’ve always fancied it.’

‘But then you’d have to abdicate.’

‘Yes, but we would crown Cyan Queen. Cyan, instead of us, would restart the Micawater dynasty. Lightning can’t lose, really.’

‘Providing Cyan complies with his wishes.’

‘Oh, I think she will learn humility in the Circle. I think she would make a good Queen.’

‘You can’t tell what will happen, Eleonora.’

‘No. But we welcome the uncertainty! Awia is free to change now. The role of Archer can change, too! Saker is no longer holding them back.’ Eleonora took a forkful of kedgeree. ‘And he has such a fantastic body.’

I looked at her, and her eyes were shining. It could be love, or it could be all that seafood.

Cyan was right; for all my show of independence, Lightning had been a father to me. Now with this sudden view of the future he daunted me even more. ‘Where is he? I must speak to him,’ I said, though without much relish.

‘At the boathouse.’ She pointed through the front windows. I put my boots on at the Orangery door and walked out.

On my way down to the lake, I threw up in a random corner of the ivy-clad stone staircase. Great, I thought; the vomit Comet is back.

The ground’s spinning. Wow. It’s been years since it did that. I felt amazing and I didn’t care. I think I’ve come to terms with scolopendium. I’ve been drinking it for months without increasing the dose, so I was sure I could live this way.

This was the scolopendium I took from the barge–the drugs that Cyan bought. I’ve been taking a sip every day since I crash-landed; dissolved in wine in my hip flask. How else do you think I could keep going after the Vermiform’s assault? I know I told Rayne that I had thrown it in the fire, but I lied to her. I lied to you as well.

But that was my only lie. Trust me.

The glorious palace front was clear-cut against the sky. It looked as bizarre as a building from the Shift. But, I thought, ours was a Shift world as well, one of thousands in the continuum, and it was as strange and beautiful as the rest.

I looked for the window of our bedroom, on the second floor of the Eyas Wing, with its curtains drawn. I pictured Tern still asleep up there, her manicured hand brushing the coverlet.

Two floors below our window, Eleonora was eating breakfast alone, her feet on the cool, mossy ground. She suddenly feels indescribably happy. A beam of light sparkles on the lake, shines through the panes and dazzles the glasshouse. Her country! ‘This place is great!’ she says enthusiastically, puts down the coffee cup and decides to go for a ride.

On her way out she passes the bow store, where Harrier is sadly placing his master’s bows back on their racks. His sense of disappointment has left him swirling with the current; Lightning’s skill was a tenet of faith with him, because Harrier himself was a Challenger once. He pauses, then takes his own longbow from its case, holds it in both hands and presses it to his chest, thinking, why shouldn’t I go and join the archers who’ll soon be queuing up to Challenge Cyan? He starts to wipe the longbow down.

A hundred kilometres away, Cyan and Rayne in their coach are crossing out of Awia. Cyan is alternately crying and defiant. She is horrified by what she has done to her father, but she can see no way out. She would see it through to the conclusion. What else could she do? Ornate shadows lengthen behind the coach’s intricate fretwork screens. ‘Daddy lost deliberately,’ she repeats.

‘It crushes me, too.’ Rayne bites her lip. ‘But he gave you t’ chance t’ step ou’ of his shadow and develop your own life. Establish your own name and identity. Isn’ tha’ wha’ you wanted? Don’ yield to preceden’ and t’ power of t’ past. You’ll forge’ him, though I never will…I’ll think of him, sometime in t’ far future.’

Rayne, when she arrives at the Castle, will visit Serein Wrenn, who is currently lying in the hospital mourning the loss of his foot and his friend. He glances up when Mist Fulmer comes in, bringing a tray of beer and cakes. Mist cheers him up by telling him he can still take the wheel of the caravel
Windhover
, on the bright ocean out of Tanager.

Mist walks back to his room via the Breckan Wing roof walk, looking out over the parapet across the plains. ‘At least I’m still here,’ he says. ‘In this great place.’

In the chamber below his feet, those of Tornado are being massaged by his new girlfriend. Sleat in his room is busy polishing armour but looks up and sees them, tiny figures in the window of the opposite building. Tornado and his girlfriend disappear, rolling off the bed and pulling the covers with them.

‘What was that thump?’ thinks the Cook, looking up. Never mind. He checks his watch; he doesn’t have much time. He takes his jacket and hastens out of the ground floor of Breckan, across to the kitchens. The clockwork of the Castle ticks steadily, it pushes years around; the slow hand–centuries.

The Cook hangs up his jacket and begins to prepare a fulsome feast for Cyan Lightning. His kitchens are shaded by the towering Throne Room. When Cyan is made immortal, the Eszai will convene inside, where for ever and ever, the Emperor San is sitting on his throne.

Lightning, his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow, was pushing a flat-bottomed boat over the grass towards a slipway and landing stage jutting out into the lake. He saw me coming towards him, straightened up and wiped his hands. ‘Good morning, Jant. Will you give me a hand with this punt?’

We pushed the boat to the top of the slipway, settling it onto the metal rollers. ‘What are you doing?’

He slid a punt pole out from under its benches. ‘I’m going to the island. To see Martyn, you know. I am going to visit her one last time and explain what has happened. I will say goodbye to her and take my leave. I do not think I will need to visit her again.’ He smiled sadly.

‘I must go back to the Castle, for the ceremony,’ I said.

‘Of course. In two days’ time, when I feel the Circle drop me, I think it will be a fraught moment…I will need to be alone.’

‘Be careful of Eleonora. She…well, she…’

He raised an eyebrow.

‘I think she…you, er…she said…’

‘I can handle her. She gave me cause for hope, when Swallow had not. I’d like to pretend I never noticed her while I was engaged to Swallow but time is now too precious for me to hide from myself.’

Could he really be capable of leaving his palace to chance and future generations whether his offspring or not? I raised a hand to it. ‘Imagine that ruined, all the treasures gone, the roof falling in. How can you tell they won’t squander it?’

‘I think Cyan will look after it. But if not…Look, Jant; who knows what changes she’ll make and what innovations subsequent Lightnings will come up with? Who knows what the discipline of archery will turn into? To think, your Vermiform even laughed at our weapons.’

I understood, though it frightened me. A future without the constraints of Lightning’s authority will be uncertain, but it would be more free.

‘I’m free to change, too.’ His eyes sparkled. ‘I have to adapt, and come to terms with these different times. I’m looking forward to the coming of the modern world.’

I pleaded, ‘You could return to the Circle. If not as Archer, as Swordsman. Wrenn’s been maimed and you’re officially the second-best.’

‘But I don’t feel like Challenging my friend. I no longer feel the lure of the Castle. Isn’t it fabulous!’

‘I barely understand.’

A breeze gusted across the grounds, cooling my face; followed by the low rumble of thunder over Donaise. Saker looked out at the ruffled water. ‘Jant, I remember when you joined the Circle. I was afraid of you.’

‘No!’

‘Yes. I was living here and I hadn’t done anything new for a hundred years. I had settled into a rut. Rayne sent me a letter saying, “Come and look at the man who can fly!” But it’s impossible for a man to fly. You stormed the Circle. I remember you standing on the spire to show us all what you can do. You dived off and we gasped. We thought you’d be killed for certain. But you swooped over the bonfire and vanished up into the sky. I was so shocked, so inspired! I thought I’d seen everything, but you reminded me there was yet more. There will always be more. Thank you, Jant. I hope I have opened your eyes in the same way.’

I nodded, speechless. I hoped being tongue-tied wasn’t going to become a habit.

‘Then I saw you become disenchanted, and we know what you’re like now with the drugs. Try not to be disillusioned; it’s a fate worse than death. You proved that all your other worlds exist. San knew all the time your drug-fantasies were real.’ He shook his head in wonder.

‘The Shift?’ Yes, I wanted to talk to him about that. I said, ‘Remember Dunlin?’

‘The last of the Rachiswaters?’

‘He is in the Shift. Don’t ask me how, because it’s a long story. But if you grow old, and at the very end of your life you don’t want to die, then you can Shift. Take scolopendium–I’ll make it for you–and you can go through and join Dunlin. And if you’re mortally wounded while fighting the Insects, I can ask Rayne to give you enough scolopendium to Shift. That’s more or less what happened to him.’

There was a long pause. Lightning said thoughtfully, ‘Jant, do you know your power?’

‘Huh?’

‘Rhydanne are such a curious people. You have such a clever mind, yet you never see the bigger picture.’

‘What? The Shift? They’re just other worlds, a bit different from here.’

‘No, I didn’t mean that…No wonder San doesn’t want you cornered…but don’t you realise the Emperor is scared of the Shift? I can tell you that much. He knows about things which he really doesn’t want you to bring back, even if they followed you accidentally.’

‘What? The Gabbleratchet?’

Lightning shrugged. ‘He didn’t say. Besides, I know San doesn’t want the truth to be widely known in case people start trying to go there themselves instead of staying here to fight the Insects.’

‘There are Insects there as well. And worse.’

‘Ah, so many new secrets I’m learning–it’s a whole new world…Will you do something for me, Jant?’

‘Yes.’

‘Will you look after Cyan? When she becomes immortal, will you guide her the way I have guided you? You’ve seen so much trouble yourself, you should know how to keep her out of it.’

‘That’s very clever. She’s inheriting your place in the Circle.’

‘Yes. When she is in the Circle she’ll become part of the establishment and she won’t be able to be rebellious any longer.’

I said, ‘In fact, she’s submitting to a much higher authority in order to escape yours.’

‘Well, she hasn’t realised it yet. Even if it’s just for a short time, it’ll do her good.’

In turn, Lightning had cast off the Emperor’s authority. This was
his
teenage rebellion, and San knew it was time to let him leave. He looked stronger and more confident than ever.

‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll look after Cyan.’ He had saddled me with the girl, given me a wayward subordinate to look after. I can’t sleep with her now, can I?

‘Thank you, Jant.’

Incredibly, there had been nine new Eszai in the last ten years. I was one of the older ones now, having to give advice to the new immortals. I hated that, but with a tired resignation I didn’t see that I could do anything about it. ‘Now
I’m
becoming part of the establishment,’ I said.

Lightning grinned. ‘It is the inevitable process.’

‘I never thought it would happen to me but it’s happening at last. I’d never have the guts to leave. I barely understand it.’

‘You can’t. You’re too young.’ He stepped up onto the covered stern and I passed him the punt pole. ‘When you put another thousand years between yourself and your past, you’ll understand.’

‘I’ll never leave the Circle, Saker,’ I said with conviction.

He smiled. ‘Look after Cyan. She’ll need it.’

‘I will.’

He held the pole up and rocked his weight forward, enough to tip the boat onto the slipway. It ran down, spinning the rollers, and splashed into the lake, sending out a wave before it. A cloud of glittering specks rose up from the silt.

Lightning dug the pole in. Standing tall on the back of the boat, he pushed calmly away from the shore without a backward glance. I remained looking out in the direction of the island for a long time after, when he had gone.