The Chaos Crystal (60 page)

There was no arguing with a feline when they used that tone. Jojo's ginger tail flicked back and forth impatiently as she stood there, betraying her true feelings. Tiji had two choices here. Let the cat have her way or end up bleeding on the floor, at which point the cat would still have her way.

'Wonderful,' Tiji muttered as Jojo fell in beside

her.

Filled with frustration, Tiji let Jojo lead the way. Together they headed down the stairs. The feline must have sensed something in Tiji's manner that wasn't quite right, because she stayed uncomfortably close to her all the way back through the palace to the stairs, past the now-empty storerooms, down the torchlit corridor and the green, moss-lit stairs to the secret fire chamber below the palace.

Not
that it's much
of
a secret any longer. Every
Crasii in the palace seems to know about it.

Tiji didn't have the will or the energy for small talk as they walked. She was still trying to deal with the news about Azquil and that was proving much harder than she'd ever imagined it could be.

She remembered the blizzard raging around the palace the night she'd been tricked into captivity.

Tides, did he really go out in that? Did he really
perish in the snow, looking for me?

If he had, then this wretched cat had stood by and said nothing while he made his plans to follow Tiji out onto the ice, which made Jojo just as responsible for his death as the Tide Lords.

Her thoughts didn't waver from their dark path as she and Jojo followed the hall until they came to the stairs that led down into the Tide Lords' massive underground chamber — which, if Pellys was to be believed, they had built purely to contain the Tide.

Tiji had been hoping she might find a chance to slip away from Jojo's watchful custody, a hope she realised was utterly futile when they reached the bottom of the stairs, only to meet up with Lukys — complete with pet rat perched on his shoulder — and Maralyce emerging from the chamber.

'Ah!' Lukys said, apparently unsurprised to see either of them. 'You brought the little Scard down. Thank you, Jojo. You can return to the party.'

Jojo bowed, beaming under the benign smile of her master. 'To serve you is the reason I breathe, my lord.'

'Off you go, then.'

Without sparing Tiji so much as a second glance, the feline turned and hurried back up the stairs toward the upper levels, and what — Tiji was starting to suspect — was the Crasii's final meal.

'Whatever you want me to do, you'll have to kill me first!' she declared gamely to the two Tide Lords.

'That can be arranged, you know,' Maralyce informed her a little impatiently.

'But not necessary just yet, I think,' Lukys said with a smile that made Tiji's blood run cold. 'We just need you to hold something for us, my dear, in a little while. That's not too much to ask, is it?

'Hold what?' she asked suspiciously. Lukys hadn't frozen her into a wall just to ensure she'd be on standby with the drinks tray.

'The Chaos Crystal, of course,' Maralyce said, frowning at her question.

In response to Tiji's blank expression, Lukys added, 'Under no circumstances must the crystal come in contact with the ice while we're channelling the Tide. Your job will be to ensure that if Lord Cayal collapses — as he may well do, given he's agreed to take part in the ceremony so he can die — you must take up the crystal so we can finish our work.'

It sounded suspiciously easy. 'What happens afterwards?

'You'll be free to go,' he promised her.

That sounded far too easy.

'If this is such a straightforward job, why not get your pet pussycat to hold it for you?'

Maralyce shook her head. 'We can't risk it with a Crasii. Cayal will be suffering intense pain during the
...
ceremony. If it gets too much for him, he could —conceivably — order a Crasii to take the crystal from him and let it go. He can't give the same order to a Scard.'

'And that's all you want me to do?'

'Nothing more, nothing less.'

Tiji glared at Lukys. 'You didn't have to seal me up in an ice cavern to get me to agree to do that,' she pointed out angrily. 'Azquil is dead because of you.'

'A regrettable accident,' Lukys said. 'But really, would you be here otherwise? Even if we asked nicely?'

'No.'

'Well,' Lukys said. 'There we are, then.' His conversation with her done, he continued up the stairs, on his way toward the storerooms that now contained nothing but tools, and empty barrels that had once held enough food to see all the slaves here through an arctic winter.

Before Tiji could object, Maralyce took her by the arm. 'Come along, dear. Don't fret. There's nothing to be frightened about.'

'I'm not frightened,' Tiji lied, as Maralyce led the reluctant little chameleon Scard toward the chamber. Tiji glanced back over her shoulder at Lukys's retreating back, but the Tide Lord wasn't paying any attention to her. As he walked up the eerie green stairs, he was feeding titbits to the plump rat perched on his shoulder, whispering in a soothing voice
...

'It won't be long now, my dear, be patient. It won't be long now.'

CHAPTER 55

Due to the crumbling coastline, which was melting as the Tide warmed Amyrantha, it took a lot less time to reach the palace than it had the last time Declan made this journey. They arrived just on dawn. From the outside, Lukys's Palace of Impossible Dreams looked the same as it always had. There was nothing different about it, nothing sinister. It was simply impressive.

The palace drew gasps of wonder from everyone but Declan, who had the advantage of having seen it before. He stared it for a long moment from the top of the ridge, wondering if Arkady was in there. He still wasn't sure about that.

And if she was in there, was she alive? Was she frightened? Or had she reconsidered her options and decided Cayal wasn't such a bad prospect after all, and thrown her lot in with him? Was she in there now, asleep in his arms?

'Tides, why build something like that down here at the bottom of the world where nobody else can see it?' Medwen asked, breaking Declan's disturbing train of thought.

They had stopped on the rise overlooking the palace. It was less than a mile to walk from here, and everybody — with the exception of the fur-clad canine who walked beside Declan with a perpetual scowl on his face, and the mortal man here to represent the Cabal — was fully recovered from the magical journey across the ocean from Chelae. With the Tide up as

high as it was, apparently their healing time was greatly accelerated too.

Does that mean,
Declan wondered,
that we'll heal
almost instantaneously when the Tide peaks.

'It's made of ice, Medwen,' Ranee pointed out. 'Where else was he going to build it? In the middle of Ramahn?'

'Wouldn't last more than a few hours in Torlenia's heat,' Krydence agreed, joining his brother in a joke that nobody else found amusing. They seemed unlikely allies, but since agreeing to put aside their differences with Jaxyn and the other immortals to save Amyrantha from destruction, Ranee and Krydence had been the least of Declan's problems. Even Syrolee was being civil. It was almost as if the war between Caelum and Glaeba had never happened. It irked him to realise how much Glaeban and Caelish blood these immortals had been prepared to spend on what had proved — in the face of a greater threat — little more than a distraction.

'You know what she means,' Kinta said, as impatient with their childish humour as Declan was.

'As I understand it, Lukys never set out to build anything this impressive,' Declan explained. 'He brought Taryx down here to help him hollow out the ice chamber, and it was Taryx who decided they might as well do something with all the ice they'd removed.'

'If they built that out of the waste from the chamber, it's some chamber,' Diala said, studying the palace thoughtfully. She squinted, leaning forward a little and then pointed. 'Is that someone on the roof?'

'Where?' Brynden asked, pulling a small telescope from the pouch at his belt, where he seemed to keep — along with more weapons than Declan could name — a number of other useful devices in various purpose- built pouches.

'On the left spire,' Ambria said, pointing. 'I see it too. There's something moving up there.'

Brynden scanned the palace with his telescope until he found what the others were pointing at. 'I think it's Pellys,' he said after a moment.

'So we got here in time?' Syrolee said hopefully. 'I mean, if they'd already started, they'd all be inside, wouldn't they?'

Declan shook his head. 'I'm not sure Lukys wanted Pellys to help. He told me that focusing on the crystal would take more concentration than he thought Pellys could gather. It was half the reason he encouraged Cayal to get Elyssa involved in the first place.'

'And the stupid, love-sick bitch took one look at those misery-laden, suicidal, big blue eyes and agreed to do anything he wanted, I suppose. Tides, I've never understood what women see in Cayal.' Tryan turned to Kinta and Medwen. 'You girls spread your legs for him the first time he looked your way, didn't you? What do you think his secret is?'

Brynden slammed the telescope shut with a growl and turned to Tryan before either woman could answer. Declan was quite sure Tryan had made that comment with the deliberate intention of baiting him.

'Does it matter?' he said, stepping between them. 'The important thing is that Pellys is up there and he's waving, which means we've probably got a way in.'

'He jumped,' Warlock announced suddenly.

They all turned to look at him. The canine had his own telescope out, and had pushed back the hood of his fur-lined jacket so he could get a clearer view of the palace. 'See? There. On the ground below the tower.'

'Why would he jump?' Stellan asked, turning to see if he could spot the body Warlock spoke of, as Brynden opened his brass tube again and trained it on the palace.

Declan couldn't think of an answer. As far as he knew Pellys wasn't suicidal and even if he was, jumping from a tall building wasn't going to do anything to help him die. He squinted a little in

order to focus. There was no longer a figure on the spire waving to them, but an unmoving figure splayed out on the hard-packed snow beneath the palace walls.

'Well,' Jaxyn said, clapping Declan on the shoulder. 'You wanted to know what happens when we try to fly.'

'Do you think he's hurt?' Declan asked in concern.

'The snow would have broken his fall to a degree,' Brynden said.

'Even if it didn't, knowing Pellys, he probably considered the pain of the healing was worth the shortcut,' Tryan said in a tone so disgusted, Declan had to remind himself that Tryan was speaking of his own father.

Tides, do I sound like that when I speak
of
Lukys?

Sure enough, a few moments later the motionless figure at the bottom of the palace walls staggered to his feet. He swayed a little, as if trying to get his bearings, and then he waved at them again and began heading their way, arms and legs swinging vigorously as he fought his way through the snow.

'Let me talk to him,' Declan said, as the Tide Lord approached.

'He barely knows you,' Tryan objected.

'Which is why I should talk to him,' Declan said. 'He doesn't know me well enough to tell when I'm lying, and he's going to want an explanation about what we're all doing here.'

'And as Brynden can't lie to save himself — or the world,' Jaxyn added, surprising Declan with his support, 'there's not much point in asking him to do it. Pellys won't listen to Kinta because she's with Brynden and he doesn't like Brynden much anyway.'

'I should speak to him,' Tryan said. 'He's my father.'

'And you and Pellys haven't exchanged a civil word in five thousand years, Tryan. I can't speak to him for

the same reason. He'll assume I'm lying to him because, well, usually I am.'

'He'll start sulking when he realises Syrolee's brought Engarhod to the party,' Diala said.

Jaxyn nodded in agreement. 'And none of you others has ever had any luck getting much sense out of him. Besides, he's expecting the spymaster anyway, so let him do the talking. It can't hurt.'

Brynden nodded with some reluctance, seeing the logic in Jaxyn's argument.

Declan was stunned by it. He didn't think Jaxyn was either that insightful or that interested in the relationship between the other immortals to have worked it out.

'Fine,' Brynden said putting the telescope away. He didn't need it now anyway. Waving at them excitedly, Pellys was close enough that they could just hear his shouts of welcome, carried to them on the icy wind. 'You speak to him.'

'Tell him whatever you have to,' Tryan added to Declan unnecessarily. 'Just get us inside to see Lukys so we can put an end to this nonsense before they start channelling the Tide and it's too late to do anything to stop them.'

CHAPTER 56

In his mind's eye, Cayal imagined his death would be a sombre occasion, filled with long, meaningful silences, much pondering on the meaning of existence and a sense of awe about his impending demise. He imagined it would be a time of reflection. A time of fleeting regrets. A time filled with hope for a future devoid of all awareness.