Draykon (27 page)

'You've brought
it up a few times.'

'Hm.' She ducked
to avoid some low-hanging branches, suppressing a curse as
something scratched her face.

'But you're a
popular figure with the papers,' Tren continued. 'I suppose that
would get to a person.'

'I
suppose.'

'I've been
hearing about your exploits since I was a child.'

'Really.'

'Oh, yes. The
Uncatchable Lady Bachelor: rich, beautiful, intelligent, powerful,
relentlessly unmarried...'

She cast a covert
look at his face. He was carefully expressionless, no hint of
sarcasm discernible. She looked away, allowing herself a small
sigh. 'The papers are equally happy to report my failures, of
course.'

'Were there
any?'

'Naturally.'

'Like
what?'

'Perhaps we could
just focus on the job at hand.'

'Right, sorry.
Where's the Captain?'

'Who?'

'Captain Rikbeek,
Leader of Operation Edwae.'

She frowned,
feeling vaguely irritable. 'Are you always so frivolous in the wake
of death?'

'Haven't
experienced enough deaths yet to be sure. I'll let you
know.'

'Great, thanks.
Rikbeek's up ahead. He's flying fast, which usually means he's on
to something. Since I don't have any better ideas just now, we're
following him.'

'Righto.' He
actually started whistling, damn him.

'How can you be
so cheerful?'

'Moping isn't
something I enjoy.'

'Must you enjoy
everything?'

'It's preferable
to being miserable.' He smiled at her, but she didn't smile back.
His smile faded.

'Do I seem
heartless? I'm sorry. Actually I'm cheerful because I'm unhappy. I
doubt that makes any sense.'

'No... I suppose
it does.'

'I can't bear
tears and distress, so I... avoid them. But I care about
things.'

Remembering his
despair over Edwae, she didn't doubt it, but there was no chance to
reply. They had caught up to Rikbeek; the gwaystrel was whirling in
confused circles overhead. Eva caught a series of scattered,
muddled images from his thoughts, nothing helpful.

'Damn,' she said.
'Whatever he had, he's lost it.'

'What about the
hound?'

She pointed to
the inky black shape near her feet. 'Found nothing. He's been at
heel since we started walking.'

'So we've got
nothing.'

'Nothing but our
wits.'

'Encouraging.' He
glanced about, turning in a full circle. 'I see trees,' he
reported.

'Indeed?'

'With a few trees
mixed in.'

'Come to think of
it, I noticed a few of those myself.'

'So... what
now?'

'Wait for a
little while.'

'Just
wait?'

'You'll
see.'

He shrugged and
sat down, tailor-style, in the soft earth. She watched, amused, as
he rebuttoned the cuffs of his jacket and smoothed his shirt,
picking uselessly at a slight stain. Running his fingers through
his tangled dark hair had little effect: he was still tousled,
wind-blown and untidy. She thought the effect was rather attractive
than otherwise, though she said nothing. She sat too, smoothing the
shortig's short fur under her fingers, heedless of the fate of her
plain cotton skirts.

'What's his
name?'

She blinked,
startled. 'Hm? Who?'

He gestured at
the hound. 'You just call him 'the shortig', or maybe 'the
hound.'

'True. I haven't
had him for very long. Why don't you pick a name.' She was only
half attending to the conversation, her senses busy tracking their
surroundings. She didn't sense any threatening animals nearby, but
that could change.

'How about
"Puppy".'

Eva silently
raised an eyebrow at him.

'Fine, not Puppy.
Bartel.'

'Bartel? Is that
a random choice?'

'I had a dog
called Bartel when I was a child.'

She smiled.
'Bartel. I like it.'

Tren devoted
himself to making "Bartel" aware of his new title, and Eva returned
to her vigil. After a time the quality of the light began,
gradually, to change. The silver-white moonlight lost its shadow of
red, deepening instead into purple. The trees around them rippled
like water and began to shimmer with a brightness that hurt Eva's
night-loving eyes. She closed them briefly. When she opened them
again, the landscape was transformed.

The dark,
twisting trees had vanished, giving way to an expanse of meadow
dotted with gentle slopes and knolls clustered with bushes. Flowers
littered the grasses, resplendent in shades of blue and purple and
green. Some were tiny, some standing higher than Eva's head. The
blanketing cover of leaves overhead had disappeared, and now the
moonlight shone down on them unimpeded. The radiance was verging on
too bright for Eva's eyes, but she knew her vision would grow
accustomed to it in time.

Insects shimmered
out of the air, descending upon the fragrant, newly-opened
blossoms. Furred yellow whistworms clung to the fat stems of the
taller plants, intent on feeding on the insects. Striped
purple-and-grey olifers levered themselves out of their burrows,
intent on feeding on the whistworms. Eva's summoner senses caught
the heavy tread of a muumuk away to the west. She noted its
position carefully, resolved on giving it a wide berth.

Eva inhaled
deeply, enjoying the rich floral fragrance that now filled the air.
The scents of the Lowers were more intense, just as the colours
were more vivid, the lights richer, the shadows deeper and the air
so crisp and fresh the lungs struggled to take it in. She smiled at
Tren, rising to her feet. The shortig leapt to attention as she
shook out her skirts. Tren didn't move.

'Tren? Time to
go.'

'Sorry.' He
jumped up with alacrity. 'If you spent only seven hours under that
tree, I'd say that was pretty restrained of you. How many times did
this happen while you were lying there?'

'I don't
remember. A few. The only thing which didn't change was the
tree.'

'Curious.'

'That's an
understatement for this place. Look over there.' She pointed behind
Tren, away to the northeast. A tower rose far in the distance, tiny
to their eyes, built from a pale stone that shone under the moon.
'I'd say that's worth investigating, wouldn't you?'

'I didn't know
there were buildings down here.'

'There aren't
many. And I'm pretty sure that one wasn't there a moment
ago.'

'What, do they
just... spring out of the ground?'

'Maybe. Who
knows?' She started walking, whistling to Rikbeek. 'Can you unCloak
me? It isn't going to help much under these conditions, and in that
case I'd like to actually breathe for a while.'

'So ungrateful.'
The sensation of the Cloak fading was like a heavy mantle slipping
from her shoulders. She straightened physically, taking a lungful
of air. A mistake; the intense, heady air of the Lowers made her
giddy, and she fell to coughing.

'Thanks,' she
said weakly when she recovered.

'Glad the
experience was a pleasant one for you,' he replied.

Eva set a fast
pace, aware of the swift passage of time in this unworld. Clouds
clustered over the tower, and as they approached a warm rain began
to fall. Tren sighed.

'There goes my
shirt.'

'I'll get you a
new one.'

'That’s two
shirts you owe me. Think you could arrange for an upgrade while
you're at it? I've always liked those silk ones.'

'If you
like.'

When they reached
the base of the tower, a problem emerged.

There were no
doors.

'There has to be
an entrance somewhere,' Tren muttered. 'A clever hidden one, maybe,
that only opens if you sing
The Ballad of Mirella Heartburn
in falsetto while juggling with a litter of kittens.'

Eva grinned.
'Feel free to start singing.' She stood back, looking up at the
smooth stone walls towering above her. A single window was cut into
the walls near the top, a mere gap in the stonework.

'That's the
entrance.'

Tren stared up at
it silently. 'You're not serious,' he said at length.

'Perfectly.'

'Do you number
'climbing like a monkey' among your list of remarkable
abilities?'

'I've a better
idea, actually.' She placed a hand against the smooth stonework of
the tower and pinched her fingers together. The stone moved under
her hand like dough, forming a step. She repeated the process below
and above it until a ladder formed.

Tren stared at
her helplessly. 'I give up,' he said.

'Best not to
ask.' She set one foot against the lowest step and began to climb.
Her skirts immediately tangled around her legs, threatening to dump
her to the ground. She jumped down again.

'Er, Tren. This
is the part where you don't look.' Lifting the hem of her skirt,
she tucked the fabric into her waistband. The fabric ballooned
around her - she probably looked like a walking mushroom - but at
least her legs were free.

'Er,' said
Tren.

'If I fall,
you're to catch me,' she ordered.

'Yours to
command, m'lady,' he said, with a salute.

'I know.' She
smiled briefly, setting both hands to the ladder. She began to
climb, pausing periodically to create the next few steps up. Her
progress was slow but steady, and at last she reached the window at
the top.

It was really
just an opening, square, unadorned, and too small for her to fit
through. Undaunted, she slipped her feet and legs through the gap,
pushing against the wall. She felt the stone stretch and bend
around her as she forced herself through, sliding inelegantly onto
the floor of the room beyond. She turned to see the window shrink
back to its neat square shape.

Tren still stood
below, staring up at her. She gestured and he began, gamely, to
climb. Soon he drew level with her, panting from the effort of the
journey.

'All right. How
did you fit through there?'

'Easy,' she said
briskly. 'Come on, faster. The light will change again
soon.'

'And then what
happens?'

'Then the
building disappears. We might move with it to wherever it goes, or
we might fall a long way into whatever turns up next. It would be
better to be out of here before that happens.'

'Huh.'

Eva stood back as
Tren slid through the window. He made a sound of disgust as the
stonework squirmed around him, reforming itself to let him through.
He stood up immediately, dusting himself off.

'That's a
repulsive experience.'

'There'll
probably be worse yet,' replied Eva cheerfully.

'Great,' muttered
Tren.

Eva circled the
room. Clutter lay everywhere, covering the surface of the table
that rested in the centre of the room, lying in layers over the
cabinets that were fitted against the rounded walls. The furniture
was dusty, the rugs on the floor crusted with mud. Eva paused
before a pair of books lying open on the table.

'It's like
someone lives here,' Tren commented.

'Probably someone
does,' Eva replied. She gingerly picked up one of the books,
handling the worn binding and loose pages carefully. The title was
inscribed in wavering silver ink on the cover.

My
Recollections of the Lower Realms: An Account of a Savant's Journey
Below

Andraly Winnier,
Lokant.

Tren looked over
her shoulder. 'Lokant?'

'Any idea what
that is?'

'None
whatsoever.'

'Hmm. Then you
haven’t heard of this book before?'

'No. And I've
studied the libraries pretty thoroughly.'

She opened it
again, browsing rapidly through the contents. Pages of crabbed,
handwritten script were broken up with sketched images and patches
of colour. She saw many of the acknowledged animal species of the
Lowers catalogued, along with some beasts she didn't recognise. The
author had recorded flora as well as fauna; some of the flowers of
the meadow they'd passed through were there on the pages, minutely
outlined in black and annotated.

'Interesting,'
she murmured. Opening her bag, she withdrew her spare cloak and
wrapped the book in it. She eased the bundle into the bag,
buttoning the flap firmly closed over it.

'That's theft,
you might be interested to know.' Tren was still standing right
behind her, watching her actions quite intently. She moved away,
crossing to the other side of the room.