The Second God (36 page)

He nodded again, his eyes wide.

“How do you feel now?” Ly said. “Better?”

Sho’s face creased back into bewilderment. “Actually, I do feel better, now. More like my old self.”

Ly voice softened. “I know what it’s like to allow the power to build up, and then – it’s gone, and you feel completely normal again. I know exactly how you feel, Sho, as no one else can. We should not be enemies, don’t you agree?”

Another nod, stronger this time.

Switching to Bennamorian, Ly said, “Drina, I have cleared the path to the bridge. Take these two, and the injured woman and the mages, and go back to Lakeside. Keep Sho well guarded and take no nonsense from Pay. Arran knows enough of the language to translate when you need to talk to them.”

“What about you?” Sudden fear gripped me. “What are you planning?”

There was a burst of excitement in his mind. “Yannassia was right about the blood-bonding – she said it had proved its worth because we are constantly in communication. That is something that I had only just begun to think about, but I was not sure I could spare the time to arrange it. A summoning and then an entire moon… but Sho has solved the problem for me. For Bennamore.”

“I… don’t understand.”

“Sho’s summoning has brought the lion guard here. They are right where I need them, at exactly the right time – tonight is darkmoon. It is perfect.”

“The lion guard? What are you going to do with them?”

He grinned at me. “I am going to blood-bond with them.”

Arran’s indignation was in my head the entire way back to Lakeside.

“Does this mean we will have all these men cluttering up our minds the whole time? How many will there be, anyway? And what will happen when we… do things? Will they be involved too? I do not like this, my love. I have no idea how it will work. Ly is very high-handed just now.”

“I don’t know how it will work, either, darling,”
I said, trying not to laugh out loud, because I was not alone.
“I trust Ly, though. He wouldn’t do anything that would be difficult for the three of us.”

“So will it be the same as it was for us? Will he have to… you know, kiss them? All of them? Drina, I can tell you are laughing. This is a serious matter. Well, it is to me, anyway.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… Look, it’s a different thing altogether with the lion guard. He gives them his blood, but not the other way round. That way, they are subservient to him and he can talk to them whenever he wants. He commands them, in a permanent bonding. It’s not like us at all. We’re equal to him, part of him.”

Long silence.
“That sounds acceptable. How do you know all this? Did Ly tell you?”

“No. I think it comes from his memories. Somehow, I just know.”

“Sweetheart, that sounds crazy. It is bad enough when Ly says things like that, but I thought you were the most sensible of us.”

“I think you could remember things too, if you leave your mind open. It’s probably easier when there’s some physical thing to trigger the memory, but if you think hard enough—”
We’d reached the Kellon’s hall.
“I have to go, darling. I’ll talk to you later.”

As always, I had to take a moment to compose myself before I could think coherently. It was glorious to be able to talk to Arran whenever I wanted, even while he was locked away in his dark cell, but sometimes I wanted to hold him and kiss him so badly it hurt. If he were beside me, I could soothe away all his worries with a touch and make him smile again, and the empty ache inside me would be gone.

Whenever the pain of separation became too much for me, I would dream up ever more ingenious ways I might rescue him, if only I hadn’t given Yannassia my word, if only it wouldn’t endanger the whole carefully contrived plan for the war. There was too much at stake to risk for one man, however precious to me.

But at least he was still alive, I told myself. For a little while, he was still with me.

~~~~~

The Kellon was remarkably relaxed about having a captured
byan shar
and his mother dumped on him without notice, not to mention an injured mage. He shooed Cal off to be tended, despite his protestations that he was fine and just needed to rest for a while.

“Rest in the infirmary, then, where my own surgeon can examine you,” the Kellon said firmly. “I am sure that Lady Mage Kyra has healed you splendidly, but it never hurts to have another opinion on an injury. The guards will carry the injured woman there, and you can go too. And the rest of you,” he added, gesturing at Krant and Harbrondia. “So many mages! You are making our Clan visitors nervous.”

Grumbling, they went.

“Now, Most Powerful,” he said, turning to me. “Tell me what you need for our guests.”

He listened to my terse explanation without comment, produced a dozen burly guards at a stroke, and found a room in the guest hall with wooden walls and a small balcony, not too intimidating for the two of them. At my suggestion, he had beds made up on the floor, with furs for them to use instead of blankets. He even dredged up an interpreter, which was a relief to me. It was slow work, talking by way of Arran’s limited translation skills. Servants produced soup and cold meat and bread.

Then we left mother and son alone. In my own room, I reached for Pay’s mind. She was very anxious, which was natural, but I needed to know what she and Sho were doing. Could I look through her eyes, as Ly could? It was easy with beasts, but people were a different matter. There was palpable resistance before the room suddenly popped into view, showing me Sho sitting slumped on the floor. Pay prowled around examining everything in the room, sliding open drawers, lifting cushions and looking into closets. She clucked, and I read annoyance in her mind.

“What is it?” Sho said, looking up with sudden interest.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. No tricks, no traps, even the food’s good.” She lifted a lid from a dish on the food tray, and slammed it down again. “They’re being very kind to us.”

“And they’re helping Jes. That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Who knows? I don’t know what they want from us.”

“They don’t want
me
summoning, only him.”

“Yes, but what else? What are they going to do to us?”

He rubbed his eyes. “Don’t know. Can’t think about it.”

“We must be very careful what we say to them. Ancestors, you’re so pale, my son.” She rested a hand on his forehead.

“I’m really tired…”

She fussed around him for a while, arranging the bed, and he went straight to sleep. Pay was in bed not long afterwards, and there was nothing more to be learned from them.

The whole time, Ly was summoning. This was a less difficult affair than his previous summoning, when he had targeted war-beasts from all over the Clanlands. This time, it was just the lion-guard, and it would only last for a few hours, since they were already nearby. If I stretched out my mind, I could see them moving towards him, some on the island and others emerging from the black-bark forest and then swimming across. There seemed to be scores of them, but I knew – through memories again, presumably – that only some would be chosen. I had no idea how he would choose, though. Ly’s blood hadn’t given me that memory.

On the island, I could follow the beasts well until they passed beyond the wall, and then everything became blurred. I could barely connect with the lions, and although I was able to detect Ly’s presence, I couldn’t see through his eyes. It seemed I wouldn’t be able to watch the blood-bonding ceremony at midnight.

The Kellon hovered, fetching me wine and plying me with sweetmeats.

“Don’t let me keep you,” I said to him. “You will want to have your evening board, I expect.”

“Will you not join me, Most Powerful?”

“Thank you, but I will have a tray of food here. I can keep watch on our guests.”

He regarded me thoughtfully. “If you will permit the impertinence, I am not sure it is wise for you to be alone. These are momentous times, and perhaps a little company to support you would be helpful? Shall I send for your mother? No, I daresay she is occupied in the infirmary. But your sister, perhaps? Lady Scribe Sallorna will not be far away, I am sure.”

I smiled at him. “You are kind, but I’m not alone.”

He looked around the room, seeing no one, but he forced a smile. “As you wish, Most Powerful. A steward will be stationed outside the door, should you need anything, anything at all. The meagre provisions of my hall are entirely at your disposal.”

“You are very generous, but I have everything I need. Thank you for your efficiency, and also for asking no questions. I appreciate your forbearance more than I can say.”

“Ah, Lady, the benefits of being the youngest in a family. I long ago learned to jump when ordered to, and not to ask why. It is a skill which has stood me in good stead over the years.”

His eyes twinkled, but, much as I liked his good humour, I wanted to be alone. It seemed an age before he reluctantly withdrew, and I could talk peacefully to Arran for a while, a small pleasure in a difficult evening.

Ly came back long after midnight, his hand bound and his face deathly pale.

“It needed more blood than I had imagined,” he said, slumping down the wall to the floor, his eyes closing from weariness.

“I’ll send for some soup,” I said.

“No, I want nothing. Just rest. So tired.”

Then he lay down and was asleep in moments. I dragged pillows and blankets from the bed and curled up beside him, helplessly wishing there was something I could do. I took his hand, and he murmured something, half turning towards me. Eventually, I slept, too.

~~~~~

I woke late, to the steady presence in my mind of Arran, so far away, and Ly, mere paces from me. He was sitting, feet up, on the window seat, his mind busy, as it so often was now. Watching Sho and Pay, perhaps, motionless not far away, and also tracking his lion guard, already on the move.

When he saw I was awake, he held out his hand to me. “Come and sit with me, my wife.”

I climbed onto his lap, and he laughed and nuzzled my neck.

“How are you this morning?” I said.

“Better. Much better. The steward brought me some porridge, and there is brew ready for you on the burner.” With one hand, he pulled my head closer for a long kiss.

“You
are
feeling better this morning,” I murmured.

He smiled, and stroked my cheek. “Everything went well. It could have turned out very badly, but it did not, and now I am back in control. It made me realise that I have not always appreciated you as I should. We need to enjoy these quiet moments more, and not be constantly worrying about the next step.”

“I have no objection to that,” I said. “Is this a roundabout way of saying that you want to go back to bed for a while?”

That made him laugh out loud. “Not until Arran wakes again and we can be sure it is a good time for him.”

“It’s not like him to sleep so late,” I said, fretful suddenly.

“He was awake earlier, and we talked. But he is quite down about things, have you noticed?”

“He has not been given any food for a couple of suns,” I said. “The quantity was dropping off before that, but just lately, there’s been nothing. He still has a little water left in the last flask he was left, but he has to be very sparing with it. So he told me last night.”

“Hmm.” Ly was silent for a long moment. “That is not a good sign,” he said at length, and in his mind I saw mingled fear and sorrow.

“We must hope for the best,” I said, in as cheerful a tone as I could manage. “It seems a little perverse to keep a hostage to deter us from attacking and then starve him to death. So I’m assuming it’s an oversight, or some complicated way to pressure him to do… something.”

It sounded flimsy, even to my own ears, but the alternatives were far worse. I dared not follow that line of thought, or I’d give way to grief entirely. For Arran’s sake, I had to be strong now.

“What happens next with your lion guard?” I said, to distract myself from such dark thoughts. There was a group of lion riders moving to the east, but where they were headed I couldn’t guess.

“It will take a moon for the bonding to take full effect,” Ly said. “I am sending them to the eastern border to start with, and when I see which have taken well to the bonding, I will choose some to send south to Shannamar.”

“To take part in the fighting there?”

“Perhaps, if the Speaker asks for war-beasts, but mainly to convey messages. I will leave some at Kingswell, for Yannassia’s benefit, and the others will be at Greenstone Ford and perhaps Rinnfarr Gap. That way, everyone will know exactly what is going on everywhere.”

“So are we going to Greenstone Ford, too? Or back to Kingswell?”

There was a long silence.

“Ly?” I said in apprehension.

He sighed. “You must go back to Kingswell, I think, to ensure our captive stays out of trouble.”

My stomach knotted with sudden fear. “No! Don’t leave me behind!”

“It may be necessary. We are not just fighting an army here, Princess. If that were all, the armies of Bennamore and the Port Holdings and the Clanlands would be more than sufficient. But we are up against a god. A man who can generate a windstorm can devastate our troops in a heartbeat. The only chance we have is if I can use god-powers, too.”

“Lightning.”

“And mist, yes. But I have no idea how, and we have so little time left to us for me to find out. But Sho’s stupidity has given me some breathing space and I must use it to best advantage.”

“Where can you find out?” I whispered.

“That I do not know, not for sure. But lately, ever since someone mentioned the Wild Hunter Clan and my father, he has been on my mind, and in my dreams, too. The answer is there, I believe.”

“Then will you—?”

Arran woke abruptly, with sudden nervousness. Looking through his eyes, the cell was still blacker than darkmoon, but there were noises beyond the door, voices and keys rattling. Then light, as the heavy wooden door creaked open. Outside a torch flickered eerily. Arran raised a hand to shield his eyes from the unaccustomed brightness. A guard pushed into the room, set a tray on the floor and slid it towards Arran, with a waft of fresh bread and something meaty.

“Thank you,” Arran said. “Thank you very much.”

The guard grunted, and was gone. The door slammed, the keys clanked, silence fell. Arran was back in the dark again, but he was elated.

“Drina? Did you see that?”

“There, you see, they had just forgotten you,”
I said to him.
“What is it, stew?”