Orlind (3 page)

Llandry felt a
flicker of alarm. ‘Then why didn’t you wake me sooner?’

‘
It
had not occurred to me that you could accomplish the draykon Long
Sleep in a human body,’ he snapped. ‘Nor that you
would
,
indolent one. Luckily for us both, the possibility occurred to me
in time. I have no idea whether draykon regeneration is
also
accessible to you in this shape you insist on wearing, and I would
not like to test that just at the present.’

It occurred to
Llandry that Pensould was at least as angry with himself as he was
with her. Possibly more so. That realisation made her feel a little
better.

‘
Thank
you for waking me,’ she said humbly. ‘I didn’t mean to
die.’

Pensould sighed.
‘Little ignorant.’

‘
Stop
being angry with me,’ she begged. ‘I can’t bear it.’ Tears pricked
at her eyes, to her intense shame, and her lip wobbled. Her
muscles, left unused for so long, were weak and shaking and her
mind was a disoriented whirl. And all the cares she’d had before
came flooding back to her. She remembered the attack on Waeverleyne
by Isand and two other draykoni. That attack had left her mother
injured and unable to wake; Llandry had exhausted her own body
trying to restore her health. And she knew that Isand’s attack on
Glinnery was only the first of many.

Pensould
softened. He embraced her again, but without the bone-crushing
force he had used before.

‘
Now,
my lazy Minchu,’ he murmured. ‘You live, and so do I. All is well
after all.’

She took a few
deep breaths, enjoying the soothing warmth of Pensould’s embrace.
Then the questions poured out.

‘
How
long have I been sleeping?’ she asked. ‘And what of Mamma? Why
isn’t Papa here? Where is this room? And Siggy! Where is
he?’

‘
You
are in the Library,’ he replied. ‘Limbane brought you here. Your
father is building machines in Waeverleyne. He has left a voice-box
with us, so you may speak with him if you wish, though he is very
busy at the moment. Your mother is with your grandfather. I do not
know how long you have been sleeping. I lost track of the days
while you remained in Waeverleyne; since you have been here, of
course, it is impossible to tell. And as for the furred gentleman
you call Sigwide, he was taken to the kitchens by Master
Limbane.’

That last made
Llandry frown. Her grey-furred orting was stubbornly loyal, and
though he was fond of food she wouldn’t have expected that he would
consent to leave her. Not even if she was unconscious.

‘
All
right,’ she said cautiously. ‘Is... has Mamma woken?’

Pensould shook
his head. ‘Not that I have heard. But I struggle to get your
father’s attention at present. Perhaps something has
changed.’

This was also
poor news. What was keeping Papa so busy? Nothing good, she feared.
And Mamma still lay asleep?

‘
You’re quite right,’ she told Pensould. ‘It is high time I got
up. Help me, please.’ She hung on his arm to steady herself as she
climbed out of bed, alarmed by the trembling of her weakened
body.

‘
How
did
you wake me?’ she asked as Pensould steadied her on her
feet.

He grinned a
little. ‘I employed the same offensive techniques that our friend
Ana used upon me some time ago. She would not leave me in peace,
evil woman, but pulled and pestered until I gave way. I did not
imagine I would have cause to be grateful to her for
that
,
but it is the only method that proved effective, for you were
intent on staying asleep, little indolent.’

‘
Do
you think it would work on Mamma?’

‘
I
don’t know,’ he said seriously. ‘What ails your mother may not be
the same thing at all. She is not full draykoni as you are; there
is more of the human in her. But!’ He held up a hand as she began
to speak. ‘I fully concur that this approach must be tried on your
noble mother at our earliest opportunity.’

Llandry nodded,
satisfied. ‘You’ve been practicing your languages,’ was all she
said in reply. ‘You sound almost as cultured as Lady
Eva.’

Pensould beamed.
‘I’ve had much conversation with her,’ he said. ‘She has spent a
lot of time here, watching over you. Also with Tren, who has been
in much the same state as you, albeit conscious.’

Llandry blinked.
‘Tren? Why? What happened to him?’

‘
But
of course, you won’t have heard.’ Pensould busied himself with
wrapping her in a warm dressing gown and finding slippers for her
feet as he spoke. Llandry listened with renewed alarm to his tale
of Tren and Eva’s errand and its disastrous end.

‘
Griel
stabbed him?’ she repeated in horror. ‘But he is alive?’

‘
Yes,
yes,’ Pensould assured her. ‘It was a close thing for a time, I
understand, but Master Limbane fixed him. He has been recovering
his strength.’

Llandry said
nothing. She was still a little afraid of Tren, though she hoped
nobody had noticed. He was too near her own age, and possessed too
much in the way of good looks and easy confidence for her to be
comfortable around him. But the idea that he might have
died
alarmed her more than she expected. And the fact that he had been
wounded in the defence of Lady Eva appealed to the romantic side of
her nature.

‘
Maybe
I could see him, soon,’ she decided. ‘Both of them, of course. But
first, I want Sigwide.’

‘
You
must allow me to carry you for some of the distance,’ Pensould said
immediately. ‘I know you wish to go to the kitchens at once, and I
have no doubt we will find your disreputable furred friend there,
but it is some way from here.’

Llandry noted
with satisfaction that he made no attempt to dissuade her from
going. ‘If I fall over, you may carry me,’ she said firmly. ‘But
not until then.’

Pensould shook
his head. ‘Straight from extreme indolence to stubborn
over-exertion. A puzzle you are, my Minchu.’

To the relief of
Llandry’s pride, she was able to reach the kitchens without being
carried. They were obliged to pause a few times as she regained her
breath and rested her shaking legs, but at last they arrived. The
kitchens were situated on the lowest level of the Library, and they
were large enough to cater to far more Lokants than seemed to
reside here. A Lokant of the name of Bune presided over them with
astonishing efficiency, aided by a small army of mesmerisingly
complex and clever machinery. Llandry had spent some time down here
before her illness, collecting food for Sigwide and watching the
machines - and Bune - at work.

He saw her at
once as she entered with Pensould, and his broad face split into a
grin.

‘
Well,
Miss Sanfaer!’ he greeted with more than his usual joviality.
‘Limbane gives me the report whenever he comes down, but I’d not
heard you were awake.’

‘
Only
just,’ she smiled. ‘How do you do, Bune? How kind of you to think
of me.’

He was, as
always, urgently busy cooking some great culinary masterpiece, but
he maintained a conversation just as if he wasn’t tending to the
contents of four or five pans and at least two ovens at once. ‘I
could hardly forget, what with that terror of yours driving us all
to distraction.’ He nodded at the far side of the room, where a
cage rested on a wide shelf. Llandry realised with horror that
Siggy was inside it.

With a cry of
dismay she darted towards him, forgetting her weak legs. She would
have fallen had Pensould not been speedily after her, bearing her
up again. He helped her to reach the cage.

‘
But
why is he locked up?’ she asked, casting an anguished look at
Bune.

‘
Nothing cruel’s been done to him, don’t fear,’ said Bune.
‘It’s the only way we could get him to eat. As long as he was
anywhere near you he wouldn’t touch his food. He couldn’t be
removed from you either except by some measure of force, and then
he had to be restrained down here or he’d be straight up to your
room again. Had to keep him here ‘til he was too tired to fight
more, then he might eat a bit.’

‘
Oh,
Sig,’ Llandry whispered. He’d seen her, and she felt his relief and
excitement all mixed up with a powerful rush of affection. But he
didn’t rush towards her as she expected him to, nor did he make any
effort to escape from the cage.

‘
Honestly, we were worried he wouldn’t survive,’ Bune added.
‘He’s that weakened now, what with starving himself and worrying
over you.’

Previously
Llandry would have said that the one thing Sigwide loved most in
the world was not, in fact, herself but his food. Apparently she
had been wrong. Unlatching the cage, she gently lifted him out and
held him close. He was thinner than she’d ever seen him, and
weighed far too little.

She looked at
Pensould, properly taking in his appearance for the first time. He,
too, was thinner; his eyes were shadowed with weariness and his
pale face was newly lined with care.

A sigh escaped
her. Guilt, that all-too-familiar emotion, swamped her again. Her
loved ones loved her more than she realised, but in her fog of a
dream she’d focused only on her own wishes.

‘
Don’t
blame yourself for that, Minchu,’ said Pensould, guessing her
thoughts. ‘You were not in a state for rational
reflection.’

‘
No,’
she said. ‘I suppose not.’

Bune appeared at
her side, with a bowl of Sigwide’s favourite foods in one hand.
‘Here,’ he said, thrusting it at her. ‘It’s fresh. Perhaps he’ll
eat better now.’

She smiled at him
gratefully. ‘Thank you for taking care of him, Bune. He’s more
important to me than I expect anyone realises.’

He winked at her.
‘I know, miss. You get back to getting well, now. From what I hear,
you’ll be needing your strength.’

She nodded,
allowing Sigwide to smell the contents of Bune’s bowl. He showed a
faint flicker of interest, but hesitated.

Llan?
he
said, and she smiled.

It’s
me.

Staying now?

Planning to.

She felt him
relax.
Good,
he approved. Then,
food,
he added, with
a note of interest. To her relief, he began to nibble.

Llandry petted
him, taking care not to interrupt his meal. Her thoughts whirled.
How much had she missed? She must catch up, and right
away.

‘
I
must see Mamma,’ she said. ‘Then we must find out what’s keeping
Papa so busy. I imagine he’ll have all the news about Waeverleyne.’
Her stomach dropped with fear as she said it, though she kept her
voice calm. Last time she had been in Waeverleyne, three draykoni
had attacked the city. She had no idea how long she had been
asleep; how many might now be menacing Glinnery? The realm would
need all her father’s engineering skill to best this foe, and they
would be missing her mother’s diplomatic skills and
connections.

‘
I
need to be stronger,’ she said in frustration as her legs
threatened to buckle beneath her once more.

‘
Peace, Minchu,’ Pensould said gently. ‘Remember that time is
slow in Limbane’s Library. Not so much has happened in the outside
world as you fear; you may rest until you are strong.’

Llandry shook her
head. ‘Not now I’m awake and I know what is happening outside these
walls. How can I lie abed any more, Pensould? We must do
something.’

He sighed. It
occurred to her belatedly that Pensould hadn’t had much rest at all
while she lay unconscious; his weary face showed that. Perhaps he
wished to recover his strength, too.

‘
A
little while,’ she conceded. Pensould rewarded her with a smile,
and Bune handed her a plate of something that smelled
delicious.

‘
Back
to your room now, miss,’ he instructed. ‘Then have a bite of food.
You’ll be amazed how much stronger you’ll feel just for eating
something solid.’ He glanced narrowly at Pensould. ‘The same goes
for you, too.’

‘
Eating,’ Pensould agreed, his eyes brightening. ‘We shall be
sure to do some of that, Mr Bune.’

Chapter Three

‘
I
wish I could persuade you that you’re wasting your
time.’

Eva looked up,
chagrined, at the sound of Limbane’s voice. He’d found her in one
of the smallest laboratories, where she was at work on a small cut
in her own finger. Indeed, he was so adept at tracking her down she
sometimes feared he’d tracered her somehow without her
knowledge.

She looked down
at the sluggishly bleeding little wound in her left index finger
and sighed. He was right, though she refused to admit it. No amount
of work or study could improve her skill at healing; even the
smallest abrasions refused to respond easily to her will. She could
mend a small injury in her own flesh, but it cost her enormous
effort and left her with a headache. It wasn’t worth it.

Her theory that
she would improve with practice only seemed to be resulting in a
lot of headaches.