Wintercraft: Blackwatch (31 page)
‘Very good,’ said Dalliah. ‘Few people possess a mind open enough to accept the truth of my existence during our first meeting. Even Silas was uncertain, and he and I are very much alike.’
‘You’re not like him,’ said Kate.
‘In certain ways, of course, you are right. Silas was blind to the truth of this world before his eyes were opened, whereas I saw the truth from the very beginning. The veil has shown me everything. All that has been, and all that will be. You may see the same, in time.’ Dalliah reached her bloodied hand out to Kate, who did not take it.
‘Why are we here?’ asked Edgar.
Dalliah looked at him as if a dog had just opened its mouth and spoken. ‘We are standing upon the brink of everything,’ she said. ‘We are about to bear witness to the birth of a new world. Everything that has happened was preordained, the future is the same, and even you will have your part to play.’ She stepped aside and gestured to the door. ‘Please,’ she said. ‘Silas is waiting for us inside.’
Kate stepped forward, but the Blackwatch leader held her back.
‘Our work is done,’ he said. ‘What news do you have of Bandermain? Is he alive?’
‘He is close to death,’ said Dalliah. ‘Had you taken much longer it is doubtful he would have survived. This girl will give him the help he needs.’
‘Where is he?’
A man’s strained voice carried from inside the building. ‘Let her in!’ it said. ‘The girl. Now!’
The Blackwatch leader handed Kate over at once. ‘Take her,’ he said. ‘We have done as ordered. I trust it will be enough.’
‘As do I,’ said Dalliah. ‘Wait here with your men. You two, come with me.’
With three of the Blackwatch and Dalliah Grey surrounding them, Kate and Edgar had no choice but to walk through that door and face whatever was on the other side. Kate went first, determined to lead the way. She could sense Silas close by. The veil, which had seemed faint and erratic since she set foot upon Continental soil, thrummed against her senses, her connection with it strengthening with every step. Kate knew how to recognise a listening circle when she sensed one, but what had been created inside that room was something else. Something older, more primitive and infinitely more powerful.
She stood still just a few steps inside the door and saw the bones lining the walls, the hanging vials, and the dimly glowing carvings on the bloodstained floor that her sensitive eyes could see clearly in the candlelight. The air was thick with energy but there was no listening circle there, no half-life and no shades. This was something she had not read about in
Wintercraft
.
Wintercraft
.
Edgar was beside her. ‘Now that is something I never thought I would see,’ he whispered.
When Kate saw what he was looking at it took a few seconds for her mind to take it in. Silas was lying on the floor on the other side of the room, with a red-coated man standing over him holding the blade of his own blue-black sword to his neck. Silas was conscious, but only just. His eyes were shot with blood as they turned slowly to meet hers and his body was still.
‘Silas,’ she said; her nervous voice was barely more than a breath. She tried to cross the room to reach him, but Edgar held her back.
‘Don’t, Kate,’ he said, looking round the bone-covered walls. ‘There’s something wrong in here. Don’t … move.’
Kate caught the flicker of a warning in Silas’s eyes and stayed still, clenching her fingers into fists as Dalliah stepped between her and Edgar.
‘Bandermain, what are you doing?’ demanded Dalliah.
The red-coated man looked almost as ill as Silas. He was clutching his chest with his free hand, his voice thready and breathless. ‘I have to know,’ he said. ‘I have to be sure.’
‘He is no longer here to satisfy your curiosity,’ said Dalliah. ‘Your men have delivered the girl. You have earned my trust. It is time for you to receive your reward.’
‘No.’ Bandermain held the weapon steady against Silas’s throat. ‘If you can do this to him, what is to stop you doing it to me once I am changed? Look at him. You caused this. His life may be endless, but
that
is no way to live.’
that
is no way to live.’
‘My treatment of Silas is only a precaution,’ said Dalliah. ‘He is a danger to me. You are not.’
‘But I
will
be.’ Bandermain’s voice was growing louder and the strain of talking made him cough hard. ‘No one should have that much power over another life.’
will
be.’ Bandermain’s voice was growing louder and the strain of talking made him cough hard. ‘No one should have that much power over another life.’
‘What’s wrong with him?’ asked Edgar, taking a few steps back.
Bandermain snapped his head round to glare at him, and then turned his spit-soaked lips towards Kate. ‘I knew Silas Dane long before you and your kind got your hands on him,’ he said. ‘His life was his own. He fought and bled for his country and it was an honour to stand against him. Now all it takes is one witch to set him on his back. One witch to poison his life!’
Dalliah stepped forward, pulling Kate with her. ‘This is what you wanted,’ she said. ‘The girl is here. Do not turn your back on what we have achieved together. Leave Silas and accept your reward.’
‘I will find no pleasure in taking the life of an unarmed enemy,’ said Bandermain. ‘But if what you say about Silas is true, he will survive. If not … I must know how far your witchery goes. A swift slice to the neck and I will hold Silas’s head in my hands. Let us see if he is still breathing after that. Let us see if this suffering is worthwhile.’
Bandermain leaned forward and pulled Silas off the floor by his bloodied shirt. ‘I will give you an honourable end,’ he said, raising the dark blade high over his shoulder. ‘Death by the sword. If you survive, I will accept the path I have been offered. I will take this gift and start my life again. To face death – the ultimate enemy – and live … let us see if that truly is a battle Silas Dane can win.’
Dalliah stood watching as the sword reached its height, but instead of saying something to stop Bandermain she looked interested in what he was about to do. She wanted to see what was going to happen next.
‘No!’ Kate and Edgar shouted together as the sword flashed down towards Silas’s neck. Edgar looked away and Dalliah stared wide-eyed as it streaked towards his skin. What came next all happened in a single moment.
Silas’s sickly eyes looked up at the sweeping blade. He snatched hold of the hand holding his shirt and twisted it hard, snapping Bandermain’s wrist and forcing him to let go. Silas fell back, out of reach of the sword, and Bandermain struggled to recover his balance as the glass in the door exploded in a burst of black feathers and splintering shards. Silas’s crow slammed through it and flopped on to the floor, dazed and unsteady on its glassdusted wings. Its claws scratched the stones and it launched itself, screeching and fluttering over Edgar’s ducked head, towards the man attacking its master.
Bandermain did not see the bird coming until it was too late. He brought the sword down again, desperate to deliver a mortal blow, but Silas dodged and struck him hard in the throat, making him buckle and fall. The crow took its chance and flew at Bandermain’s face in a feathered frenzy of beak and claws. The sword slid from his hand as he tried to break his fall and Silas reclaimed his weapon, sweeping it up as he got to his feet. Bandermain yelled in fury as the crow scratched at his face, barely managing to keep its snapping beak away from his eyes.
‘Crow.’ Silas said the word quietly, but the bird still heard him. It ceased its attack at once and fluttered awkwardly on to Silas’s shoulder, out of reach of Bandermain’s grasping hands.
Bandermain glared at the bird with a crazed look of fury. ‘Keep that filthy thing away from me,’ he said, drawing a dagger from his belt with his good hand and spinning it in his fingers.
‘Get used to that feeling,’ said Silas, glaring at Bandermain from beneath his eyebrows as his own neck twitched with pain. ‘You want to know what it is like to live my life? Well, now you are living it. For weeks you have allowed this woman to take you to the edge of death and claw you back from it. You fear death. I see that. But what she has done to you is a far greater cruelty than simply watching you die. You are a tortured man and you do not even see it. You believe that my life is a reward to be handed out for a job well done, but you do not yet know what it truly means to fear something, Celador. No one should live as I do. No one should be denied the death that is rightfully theirs. That is cruelty.
That
is pain.’
That
is pain.’
‘I could have killed you,’ said Bandermain. ‘No one can survive a blade to the neck. Not even you.’
‘Perhaps one day someone will put that theory to the test,’ said Silas. ‘But not you, and not today. You wanted life. I am proof that you can have it, but it does not come without its price. Do you still want what I have? Do you want to look into the current of death and turn away from it forever?’
Bandermain looked at the people around him and pointed his dagger shakily at Kate. ‘You,’ he said. ‘You can heal me. You can take this sickness away.’
‘She cannot heal this disease,’ said Silas. ‘No one can.’
‘She
will
,’ said Bandermain.
will
,’ said Bandermain.
Dalliah pulled Kate closer to the sick man, so close that she could smell the scent of blood upon his breath. ‘She may not be able to heal you,’ said Dalliah, ‘but she can
save
you. You are a worthy man, Celador. I will have need of you when the veil falls. Do not allow death to claim you now.’
save
you. You are a worthy man, Celador. I will have need of you when the veil falls. Do not allow death to claim you now.’
Bandermain looked frailer every moment, until he barely had the strength to hold the dagger, and as he weakened Kate felt the energy in the room change. Silas had noticed it too and, whatever it was, it was having a direct effect upon Bandermain. Kate did not know what to do. Silas had had his chance to take his life, but he’d held back. She did not know if Bandermain was truly an enemy or not, but she could not stand by and watch a man die without doing something.
‘Let me try,’ she said.
‘No,’ Silas said suddenly. ‘Stay away from him.’
‘The only thing Kate will do here is what
I
tell her to do,’ said Dalliah. ‘You cannot afford to waste your time on foolish men, Kate. The veil is falling. If he will not accept the binding there is nothing your Skill can do for him. It will be a shame to see him die like this. I expected more from him. But if he wishes it …’
I
tell her to do,’ said Dalliah. ‘You cannot afford to waste your time on foolish men, Kate. The veil is falling. If he will not accept the binding there is nothing your Skill can do for him. It will be a shame to see him die like this. I expected more from him. But if he wishes it …’
‘No!’ Bandermain grabbed Kate’s arm in a feeble grip. ‘Do it,’ he said quietly. ‘Let me have what Silas has. Let me live. They said you could do this for me. I do not want to die like this.’
Bandermain’s face was wild and terrified. Kate tried not to look directly at him and she looked over at Silas instead, who was trying not to show how ill he was. Just moments ago Bandermain had attacked him, but it was hard to separate who was an enemy and who was a friend in that room.
‘You have the book with you,’ said Dalliah. ‘I know
Wintercraft
is here. It will tell you what you need to do. All you need is a blade.’
Wintercraft
is here. It will tell you what you need to do. All you need is a blade.’
‘Take mine.’ Bandermain handed Kate his dagger, hilt first, and when she took hold of it she deliberately clasped his uninjured hand in hers. She could feel the muscles quivering beneath his skin and could sense the veil hanging like a silvery aura around him, waiting for death to carry him into its current. He did not have long. As soon as she touched him Bandermain began to breathe more freely and the bird-claw scratches faded upon his skin. Kate heard the crack as his broken wrist snapped back into place and Bandermain stared at it as if it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.
Kate could see Silas questioning her with his eyes, unsure of her plan. But Kate did not have a plan. The building they were standing in did not hold a listening circle, but that did not matter. Listening circles were created to channel the veil at places where the barrier between it and the living world was at its weakest. There on the Continent the veil was so far away that it needed to be attracted towards a circle, not pierced by one. With all the bodies buried beneath her land, Dalliah had recreated her own miniature version of Fume: a graveyard inhabited by the restless souls of the dead. Kate could sense hundreds of those souls gathering around her, their presence tingling like eyes on the back of her neck. Every one of them was bound to that place; to the blood that had seeped into the soil, and to the memory of their deaths still hanging over them. Those souls carried the veil with them as Bandermain’s spirit reached out for death.
Kate reached deeper into the veil, letting it flood across her senses in a way that was very different from what she had felt within an ordinary listening circle. The power of what was happening within that building just outside the reach of normal sight overwhelmed her. The candlelight that had glowed gently when Kate first walked in now revealed itself to be a carefully crafted lie, a veneer created by Dalliah to hide the raging maelstrom of destructive energy brewing underneath. Kate did not know how she had not sensed it before, and she was certain that if Silas had known what he was walking in to he never would have entered that room.
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