Quest (37 page)

When they were screened from the road by a clump of bushes, whose dark green foliage showed jagged gaps, she released her grip on Davred's arm. 'Wanton destruction! They are insane!' She briefly cradled a lone blossom on a drooping branch hanging from its tree only by a sliver of bark and fibres. The pounded earth beyond the bushes must once have been a flower bed, but now it was stamped flat. Only a few half-shredded plants still stood around the edges.

Herra stopped again to scrutinise the remains of the house she had loved to visit. She didn’t allow tears to come into her eyes, but concentrated on the facts. 'One end of the building is still upright. Let's go and inspect that. Merryan wil have created a place of safety somewhere, of that I'm sure. Those of us who live outside the temples have been doing that for a while now.' Her own safe place had been under a courtyard, reached both through the cellars or from the outside, but she’d been lucky. She’d never had to use it. After she had 'died', Parin had turned it into a wine cellar. How he had loved his wine! She must stop thinking of him - and her children. They, too, would be dead by now – unless they’d been
chosen
.

Cautiously slipping through the remains of the shrubbery and moving from cover to cover, they crossed what seemed to Davred an endless expanse of garden that lay between them and the house. It was a very large domain, his back felt naked and vulnerable, and at any moment he expected to hear a shout behind them.

'Hide!' snapped Herra suddenly, freezing in her tracks.

As they took cover, a man came strolling round the corner of the ruins, a smal man with a thin sharp face and worn clothes. A cut on his dirty cheek was half healed, and one of his hands was heavily bandaged. In the other hand was a long stick, with which he was poking about in the rubble. Over one shoulder was a sling bag of rough sacking, its few bulges showing that he had found some pickings, even in these ruins.

'He's just a looter,' whispered Davred.

'Is he? I'm not sure. He doesn't somehow fit the pattern of poorfolk. His clothes may be torn and dirty, but they fit too well for someone from the Shambles. And he has an air of- I don't know - confidence, cockiness. But he’s not of the Serpent. I think we'll speak to him.' While Davred was still opening his mouth to protest at her rashness, she
QUEST Shannah Jay 135

stepped forward from behind the bushes. 'Have you found anything worth having, friend?'

The man stopped dead and cast a quick glance around, as if about to flee. Seeing no one but an old man and a rather weak-looking young one, he relaxed slightly, but Herra could see that his muscles were still tensed for action.

'There's not much to be had,' he replied. 'Either the owners hid their stuff, or someone else has been and taken it.'

'Someone's certainly made a mess of the place,' agreed Herra. 'But I was hoping there'd be a few bits and pieces left.'

'You're crazy to risk searching a big domain like this. There's nowhere to hide and you're too old to run. Benner's men are out trying to stop the looting today - except for what they do themselves, of course. You're taking a big risk, old man.'

'So are you.'

'I can run - and faster than you'd think, too.' He nodded to Davred. 'You want to get grandpa here home, young fellow - if you're fond of him, that is.' He flashed them an impudent grin and began to walk on, whistling tunelessly through his teeth. 'Good luck!' he called, as he turned the corner.

'Is it safe to let him go?' Davred worried aloud.

'He may be a thief, but he is not of the Serpent. I can sense the corruption in their souls as easily as I can see your face. I wonder what he was doing here, though?'

'More to the point, I think we'd do well to take his advice and move on. There's no one left here who can help us.'

But Herra shook her head and remained where she was, head on one side, as if listening carefully. At last, she said,

'There's someone inside that end bit of the ruins. One person, I think, and hurt - or desperately afraid.' She turned to scan the garden behind them. Sensing no one around, she abandoned her cautious advance and stiff old-man's gait to scramble over the rubble, balancing like a cat on the larger pieces of masonry. The lower storey of the house had been solidly built of stone, not lath and plaster like the upper level. She turned to beckon to Davred. 'Over here!'

He set off after her, wobbling on the loose stones, grazing his ankle on a jagged piece of wood, wishing that he had the Elder Sister's effortless balance. As he came to a halt in front of the scorched wall, Herra vanished through it. He blinked. He could see no sign of a break in the wall.

'Walk through after me!' Herra called.

Davred took a deep breath and did as she bade him. The wal , which looked solid enough, felt as if it were made of a thick gluey substance, which just al owed him to pass, if he exerted all his strength.

Inside, he paused to blink and wait for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. Backed into a corner was a young girl.

Beside her on the ground lay a woman's body, the head and shoulders covered by a bloodstained cloak. The girl had a dagger in her hand.

'If you come any nearer, I'll kill myself!' she threatened, seeing only their outlines against the light.

Herra uttered one sharp phrase and the dagger fell to the ground.

Hope warred with the fear in the girl's red-rimmed eyes.

'It's me, child. Herra. There's no need to be afraid.'

The girl's defiance gave way to tears, but she kept her distance, hurling words at them, words laden with anguish.

'She said you'd come. She promised someone would find me if I stayed here. Why didn't she wait inside with me?' She was sobbing wildly. 'You're too late! They've killed her!'

'Calm down, child, and tell me what happened.'

'How can I calm down when they've killed her?'

'Come here, child.' Herra's voice was soft and low.

The girl stood stiffly where she was, but sobs still shook her thin body.

QUEST Shannah Jay 136

Herra walked across and held out her arms. Only then did the girl stop resisting and rush forward into those arms.

After allowing her to weep for a moment or two, Herra pushed the girl gently away, wiped her tearstained face and said in her tone of Command, '
Enough!
We have no time for grief now.
You must try to calm down
. Tell me who has been killed.'

'Merryan. My mother. They set a trap, an injured man. She couldn't leave him lying out there in pain, so she went outside after dark to heal him. They were waiting. When she wouldn't reveal her hiding place, they killed her. There were too many of them for her to
still
. And I couldn't help! I couldn't even move! She'd made me promise not to come out. Under Compulsion. I could only stand there and watch. She called on our Brother as she died.' Her voice ended on a child's wail of pain.

Herra sucked in her breath and the sound was spiky with agony. She bent to lift the cloak, then gasped at what she saw. Davred, behind her, reeled backwards in horror. The body was laid out very neatly with its arms crossed over its chest, but Carryn had not been able to hide the fact that her mother's head had been completely severed.

'Merryan!' whispered Herra. 'Oh, my Merryan, may the God our Brother give your soul the peace it has earned!' She touched the cold cheek fleetingly in a gesture that spoke of deep affection, then covered the body tenderly again.

'Did you bring her back here yourself, child? That was bravely done.'

'I had to. They just left her lying there - afterwards. At first they kept watch, so I waited. By the time they left, the Compulsion had worn off.' She shuddered. 'I was s-sick afterwards. I feel sick just to think of what they did to her.

How can the God let such things happen, Elder Sister?'

'I know not, child.’ She put her arm round the girl's thin shoulders and looked at Davred. 'Will you go out and dig a grave for Merryan, Lord Davred, while I comfort this child? We can't leave the body here. It must be given a seemly burial. She deserves that of her Sisters.'

In the carefully-organised university world where Davred had grown up, robots removed the dead swiftly. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to nod and ask, 'Where?'

Herra turned to Carryn. 'Did your mother have a favourite part of the garden, child?'

'She - she liked to sit under the big pandelara tree. She loved its perfume.'

'Then dig the grave there, Lord Davred.'

He went outside again to the desolation of the ruined gardens. First he must find something to dig with. He began to search and was lucky enough to find a battered spade with a splintered handle among the rubble of a garden hut. He had enough skill now to
compel
the metal of the blade back into a semblance of its old sharp line. The earth was soft after a light overnight rain and he inhaled its rich odours as he turned it over. Such physical labour was another new experience, and one which, with a body strengthened by the Sisters' Disciplines, he would have enjoyed in other circumstances. Now he just felt sickened and dug rapidly, trying to forget the sight of poor Merryan's mutilated body.

'You must know about some good pickings, to dig a hole as big as that,' said a voice behind him.

Davred jumped at the sound and dropped a spadeful of earth over his feet.

'Tut! Tut! That's not the way to do it.' The thin-faced man was back. He spoke lightly, but his expression wasn’t unkind. 'Don't kill yourself with the first half of a job, or you'l not have the strength to finish it. Here, let me show you how to dig. You've never done such work before, have you?'

While Davred was still trying to decide what he should do, the man took the spade from him and began to dig. The pile of earth grew steadily, at twice the rate it had when Davred had been wielding the implement.

'Thank you, friend,' said Davred. After all, Herra had assured him that the man was not of the Serpent.

'It's a grave, isn't it?'

'Yes.'

'Someone kill a friend of yours?'

QUEST Shannah Jay 137

'Yes.' Oh, God, let him not think of her bloody neck, raw as a piece of kitchen meat! 'Yes.'

'Bastards've kil ed a lot of people in the last few days. Run mad, they have. Got a coffin?'

'No.'

'Then this should be deep enough. Unless he was a big fellow.'

'No. She was - not large.' Davred had to swallow hard to hold back the nausea that had been threatening to overwhelm him ever since he had seen what they had done to Merryan.

'There. That should do it, then.' The man stuck the spade into the pile of earth. 'Want a hand with the body?'

'Yes. Thank you. But - I think I'd better warn you. They cut her head off. So . . . ' He had to turn aside then and vomit.

The man came over and patted his shoulders awkwardly. 'A Sister, was she, eh?'

Davred struggled against the after-effects of his nausea. 'Why do you say that?'

'They're doing that now to anyone they say is a Sister - to stop them casting their spells.' He spat into the hole, his expression bleak. 'Not nice, that. Not nice at all. They're frightened of whatever's protecting the temple. How do you suppose the Sisters built that invisible wall?' He stared suddenly at Davred. 'But if you're of them, perhaps you know.'

Davred shook his head and used his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. 'How should I know?'

The man needed no prompting to continue. It was as if he were starved of conversation. 'Anyway, I reckon folks've run mad here in Tenebrak. Never seen anything like it. I was in Setherak when the temple there fenced itself off, just the same as here, and there was some rioting. But they never started cutting women's heads off there. Sen-Sether's got the people under better control than Benner has. Sen-Sether was starting to imprison strangers, though, or use them in the shrines.' The man shuddered. 'So I took myself out of Setheron quick as I could and came here, thinking it'd be safe. I mean, it
is
the oldest temple. But now I have to get out of Tenebrak too. People from other claims are always the first to suffer if there's any trouble.'

'We all suffer from Those of the Serpent.'

'Aye. Not so fond of them myself. Wouldn't trust one as far as I could spit. If Benner goes on at this rate, he'l let them destroy the whole city, and what use wil it be to him then, eh? If I hadn't been knocked senseless and had my things stolen, I'd have been long gone from Tenebrak, I can tell you.'

Davred nodded and made a non-committal sound to encourage the man to continue.

'I deal in jewellery, carving and ornaments, by the way - fine stock I had. I’ve an eye for a true craftsman, if I say so myself. And al my stock was stolen by those bastards! Fair breaks your heart to think of it. You wouldn't credit what I had to pay out in bribes when I first got here, either. You'd think that'd be enough to protect an honest trader from being attacked.' He shook his head gloomily. 'Then my deleff ran off and I was stuck.'

'Bad luck, that.'

'The worst. I could have used draft nerids to get out of the city, though, and then waited for more deleff to come to me out of the wildwoods. They always have before. But those greedy devils impounded my wagon. Now, since the temple wal ed itself off, they won't let anyone out of the city who hasn't got a pass and a token from a shrine. And how am I to get the money for that now - or for more trading goods - let alone a token from one of those pits of hell? Have you ever been inside one?'

'No.'

The man shivered. 'Fair makes your flesh crawl, it does. All that stinking incense makes me want to throw up, and I don't like to hear women scream. Don't like to hear anyone scream. There's no profit in torturing people, no sense in it, either.'

'I share your feelings, as any decent person would.' Davred tried to study the little man as Herra had taught him, noting the body signs, looking deep into the eyes, trying to catch the essence of the inner self. This one wasn’t easy.

QUEST Shannah Jay 138

Underneath all that friendliness and volubility, there was something more complex. However, Davred shared Herra's feeling that the man was not of the Serpent. There was something too wholesome and likeable about him. A bit of a rogue, perhaps, but not evil.