Icefall (32 page)

‘I can't fight on two fronts,' said Seth.

Fearna stood sharpening his longsword, watching him. Braon and Sorcha exchanged an unreadable glance. Iolaire and Jed leaned against one another, shoulder to shoulder. Jed wore a slight smile. ‘You don't want a war on two fronts,' said Grian through his teeth, ‘though you've always known you'd have to have one.'

‘Obviously.'

‘And this means you'll do a deal with
Lammyr
?'

I moved a little closer to Seth, keeping my eyes on Grian. Seth lifted a shoulder, very slightly. ‘I don't expect any of you to like it. But hear me out.'

Sorcha snorted.

‘I don't like
this
.' Grian pointed at the Lammyr as if he wanted to shove a finger right through its pallid eye.

‘Grian,' said Seth wearily. ‘It's not like I have a choice.'

‘Oh. Dear me. May I say something?' The Lammyr removed its cap and patted down its strands of lank hair. ‘Because I think this conversation is going to go in ever-decreasing circles.'

It smiled amiably at Seth and Grian. Neither of them said anything. Too busy glaring at each other.

‘Well, then. Here's the thing. None of you have the faintest clue what you're dealing with.' It wagged a bony finger. ‘And I never read that one in the rules of war. Y'know:
Make sure you have no idea what your enemy's up to.
'

That drew Grian's attention as well as Seth's. ‘So,' said Grian coldly, ‘explain it. Not that I have to believe a word that comes out of your foul mouth.'

‘Do you mind if I sit down?'

‘Yes,' said Grian and Seth together.

‘Have it your way.' It gave them a sulky look. ‘I'll tell you what I told Murlainn, back in the otherworld. We've had a small rethink. About this whole war thing.'

Grian wore a sour grimace; he was visibly struggling not to cut its head off. ‘Give me a break. Lammyr won't pass up a war.
Ever.
'

‘It's complicated,' said the Lammyr brightly. ‘I mean, it's not as if there
won't
be war. There's going to be fighting whatever we do. It's not as if you lot need the provocation.'

Behind me, Rory gave a grunt that might have been agreement. I glanced back at him, gave him a rueful wink.

‘I thought you liked to join in,' growled Fearna. ‘Especially when Kate's your Mistress of Ceremonies.'

‘Frankly, there are times we just like to watch.' The Lammyr sighed and dusted down its cap, then twisted it again in its fingers. ‘Let me tell you about Her Loveliness. She doesn't appreciate us.'

‘My heart just bleeds,' remarked Sorcha.

‘I'm sure it will, dear,' it said tartly. Then its face fell mournfully, and it shook its head. ‘That woman takes us for granted. Never bothered to renew that ten-year oath she asked for four hundred-odd years ago. That's just
rude.
'

The silence had grown a sudden edge, an expectant one. I could almost feel it physically, the way the atmosphere shifted. Nobody wanted a Lammyr alliance, but if Kate couldn't have one either, it did change the sallow complexion of the thing.

‘I mean,
we're
not important. I mean, she's never asked
us
if we want a lovely peaceful otherworld. I mean,
we're
not worth a special effort, like the Darkfall is.'

The mass inhalation was audible. ‘What?' said Seth and Grian as one.

I kept my mouth shut.

‘What does she want with the Darkfall?' Sulaire's voice was very small. Because he was often too timid to open his mouth—unless he was channelling Hannibal Lecter in some hotel kitchen, obviously—everybody turned to look at him.

‘Good question,' shouted Oscarach from the back.

The Lammyr put its hand to its hollow cheek in astonishment. ‘You see, it
amazes
me that you'd go to a war when you don't even know
that.
'

Seth gave a growl of frustration. ‘That's what you're doing here, Bonehouse. And I'm getting really tired of the dramatic pauses, by the way.'

‘Langfank, if you don't mind,' it told him snippily. ‘And she's positively besotted with the Darkfall. It's been an awfully long time since she was besotted with
us
.' It looked downright hurt. ‘Oh, she throws us scraps, of course. A village here, a village there. It's the sheer presumption of the woman that gets my goat. If she ruled the otherworld, we'd be under her thumb as much as anyone else, and we'd play only at her pleasure. That's not what Lammyr
do
.' It sounded offended. ‘And did she ever ask if we wanted peace in the otherworld?
She
might want love and affection, but it's the last thing we want. What on earth would we do with ourselves?'

Grian spat. ‘She doesn't want love. She hasn't got a soul!'

‘Don't be silly. You don't need a soul to want the love of millions.' Langfank pouted. ‘I don't know what your obsession with these things is. What do you people
want
with a soul? I mean, what's it
for
?'

Grian opened his mouth, then shut it again.

‘Kate wants rainbows and unicorns.' The Lammyr spread its hands at the ripple of scoffing laughter. ‘She wants unity, she wants world peace, she wants souls that are perfectly happy to be eaten. I'll tell you what she wants.' Its skin tightened over its cheekbones, and two spots darkened to ochre, almost as if it was angry. ‘She wants
everything her own way
.'

We all stared at it. It shrugged lightly.

‘Gosh, she makes me testy,' it said, and crossed its arms.

‘She's got immortality,' I said suddenly. ‘But no power.'

The Lammyr clapped its hands in delight. It even did a little dance. ‘Yes! Aren't you the clever witch.' It turned on the others. ‘Don't you numbskulls get it? She doesn't want to be
queen
of the otherworld. She wants to be a
god.
'

Well, that shut everyone up.

‘And if the Lammyr have no use for peace,' added Langfank, pleased with the reaction, ‘we have even less for gods.' It gave a little shiver.

‘Her clann.' Seth cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Do her clann know about this?'

‘Not yet they don't. Some of them are starting to have their suspicions, but really, who believes what they don't want to know? They wouldn't want some jumped-up new god any more than the Lammyr do, but once she's got her way and she has the otherworld, it won't be up to them. The Darkfall will see to that. I mean, it's not as if she'll tolerate free will.' It inspected its fingernails. ‘Free will is an awfully big threat to anyone's immortality. That's why most gods don't like it. They might
pretend
they do, but just you try exercising your free will in front of a god. Go on and see where they'll put you.'

The clouds seemed to have thickened overhead, and somehow they looked lower, sketched with charcoal. I shivered.

‘So all we have to do is tell her clann,' Sulaire said hopefully.

‘You think they'd take our word for it?' said Seth. ‘I'm not sure
I
believe it.'

‘Oh, suit yourself,' said the Lammyr.

Seth gazed at it glumly.

‘I don't care,' said Grian at last. ‘Kate can take her bloody godhead. I won't be around to see it. I'm still not fighting alongside any Lammyr.'

‘I thought you'd say that.' Seth sighed, and his eyes met the Lammyr's. ‘Plan B, then.'

‘All right!' Braon jumped forward happily, her sword raised.

‘Not that Plan B.' Seth smacked the blade aside, rolling his eyes. ‘Plan B, the new oath.'

I cleared my throat nervously. ‘Oath?'

‘Yup,' said the Lammyr. ‘New oath. No problem. To you this time. And we'll sit this one out. How about it?'

Grian seemed dumbfounded, finally. He cracked his fingers. Stretched his arms. Let them fall back to his sides. ‘Well, that sounds fine to me. Straightforward. Yes?'

‘It can be,' said Langfank. ‘But oaths need ceremonies.'

‘I assure you they don't,' I muttered, thinking of my mother after brutal widowhood and two whiskies. One rash oath straight out of her mouth and it bound her for life, and me for quite a lot of it.

‘They do for us, witchy-girl,' said the Lammyr petulantly. ‘We need a ceremony or we won't play.' It grinned suddenly. ‘Or rather, we
will
play. And you won't like that.'

‘So what is it?' Jed spoke for the first time. His gaze was very steady on the Lammyr. ‘What's the ceremony?'

Seth coughed, and everyone turned to him.

‘They want a challenge.' He avoided my eye. ‘A one-on-one. Single combat. Y'know.'

I felt as if he'd punched me. I had to take a breath and steady my heart. ‘I see.'

‘Not you, Murlainn,' said Braon. ‘That'd be stupid.' She turned to the Lammyr. ‘Not Murlainn!'

‘Yes Murlainn.' The Lammyr folded its arms. ‘Deal or no deal?'

‘This is insane,' snapped Grian.

‘It's
perfectly
sane. He's your leader.'

‘
Quite,
' barked Fearna.

There were a lot of opinions being expressed now, though with the racket, none of them were intelligible.

‘I'm not going to get killed by one bloody Lammyr!' Seth snapped them into silence, exasperated.

‘Look, it's simple,' said Langfank patiently. ‘We fight. To the death, obviously; I mean, where would the fun be otherwise? And then the winner has to kill one of his own kind in cold blood to seal the oath, and boom! Sorted!'

‘You little bastard,' said Jed, studying Langfank with interest.

‘Oh come
on.
' It raised its eyes heavenward. ‘I'm a
Lammyr.
'

‘That's enough.' Seth shoved the Lammyr aside. ‘That's the deal, that's what it offered me in my own bloody office over my own sodding
coffee
. And when the fighting with Kate's done, we get our own dun back, right? The Lammyr leave peacefully.'

‘Which is why we never had to fight for it,' said Grian sourly.

‘Damn right. I need your agreement, though. All of you!' At last he managed to look at me again. ‘But I
cannot fight on two fronts
.'

Jed stood up. He turned a slow circle, studying the whole clann. ‘What kind of a captain do you think Murlainn is?' His soft voice carried amazingly clearly. ‘One Lammyr.
One.
I'll say it again.
Lammyr.
How can you trust him so little?'

A few of the clann still looked doubtful, but most fidgeted, embarrassed.

‘I like you, Cuilean!' Langfank clapped its hands in delight. ‘You think straight, you do.'

‘Shut up,' said Jed. ‘That really doesn't work any more.'

‘But it's
true!
I like you so much I let your little brother go. Four years ago!' It looked brightly at Rory. ‘Remember? Beside the watergate? I could have bitten your throat out,
and
your girlfriend's, but I jolly well didn't!”

Rory swallowed so hard I saw his throat jerk. ‘That was you?'

‘We don't change our minds in twenty-four hours, you know. We've been thinking this over for a
while.
That was a sort of token, you know? A goodwill gesture!'

‘I believe that,' said Jed, picking idly at a fingernail. ‘And I believe it'll stick to a deal. And I believe it'll die in single combat.'

‘But, Cuilean…' began Orach.

‘To be honest,' said Fearna, darting embarrassed glances to his left and right, ‘it makes sense to me.'

The clann were edging into excitement now, and anticipation, and the hope of a new and better war footing. Shrugs, glances, optimistic murmurs were exchanged.

‘You won't have to fight two forces, Murlainn.' Jed sheathed his blade, stretched idly. ‘And we won't lose our Captain. It'll work out, I can feel it in my bones. And my bones are
extremely
trustworthy.'

Hell, even I was almost convinced by Jed's confidence. And why not?

It was just as Seth told us: he hadn't a choice. And things could hardly look bleaker than they did.

*   *   *

And so I never did get time to mourn the black kelpie. I couldn't afford to mourn it anyway; I had time only to feel terror for Seth. The Lammyr's timing was good in that respect.

One Lammyr. One Lammyr.
I repeated Jed's words to myself all that last evening, like a mantra. It was quite soothing.

Seth seemed to regret the loss of the kelpie more than I did, but that was fair enough, because the black was a terrible loss to a fighting unit. But I wouldn't let myself miss it. I was still angry at its capricious desertion. And I kept thinking that we'd already lost more than a horse, that there was every chance we'd lose more lives and likely our own.

Of course, Seth and I had a fight about it. Only a short one: it wasn't as if we needed the thrill.

‘Someone called him, Seth.'

‘That's horseshit, Finn, I'm sorry. He just went. They do.'

‘No. He was called away. Someone needed him.'

‘
You
needed him,' said Seth bitterly. ‘Did that make him stay?'

‘Someone had a prior claim, Murlainn.'

‘Don't start that, Finn. Please. Don't start it.'

So I sighed, and kept my tongue behind my teeth.

None of the fighters spoke about the black, but I knew its loss was a blow to them too. They were even more subdued now, sobered stone-cold by the nearness of a fight. And, I realised, the deal with the Lammyr might shorten the odds in this war, but it had focused everyone's attention that there still were odds, and from our perspective they were hideous.