The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence (30 page)

Once he was naked, Loki lay down on top of his bed and watched Geburael disrobe himself.
There will be thorns,
he thought. At that moment, even the idea of this strange addition to aruna excited him.

Geburael’s body was smooth; there was no sign of anything thornlike. Loki lay in anticipation of what would happen.

Geburael came to lie beside him and they shared breath once more. Now, Geburael began to caress Loki’s body, at first with a tantalizing gentle touch, away from the more sensitive areas, but gradually moving towards them. Loki arched his body when Geburael touched his soume-lam. He felt he might faint. It had been too long since feybraiha, and he’d bullied his body by denying it this. He reached down and took Geburael’s ouana-lim in his hand. It felt like it had a heartbeat.

Geburael moaned in delight and rolled Loki onto his back. Loki opened his legs in invitation and then Geburael was inside him. The feelings this conjured were exquisite. Loki had never known such physical pleasure. It did not feel contaminated or wrong.

The thorns, when they came, were etheric, Loki realised. He had expected some physical protrusions to burst from Geburael’s torso, but it wasn’t like that. They were part of the aruna vision, not physical at all. When they went into his astral flesh, it was as if they injected some kind of euphoric drug. The experience was so intense, Loki’s corporeal body reacted as if the thorns were real. Blood welled from tiny cuts; his belly became slippery. Geburael cried out and took them both to the highest peak, which to Loki was like a mountain summit above the clouds. In this place, he could see what the clouds concealed from harish eyes below: angels dancing between the stars.

Loki had no idea how long he slept for, but when he awoke he had the sensation that a lot of time had passed. Beside him, Geburael slumbered on. Loki observed him.
The only time you can really look at a har is when he’s asleep,
he thought.
How I wish Diablo had never touched you, Geb.

Loki’s body still reverberated from the wonderful sensations he’d experienced. He looked at his stomach and saw the triangular scars, which were already fading. Was it possible that what they’d done together had cleansed Geburael of what Loki regarded as an unclean feybraiha? He hoped he’d scoured every atom of that vile creature from Geburael’s being. He was sure that Diablo would never share breath with anyhar; that was something new for Geburael. It was his and Loki’s alone. Loki leaned over and touched Geburael’s lips with his own, breathed into him a stream of clear light. Geburael mumbled in his sleep.

Loki intended to take this further, but then he shivered. The air in the room had become somehow hard. It was about to fracture: a portal was opening up. Loki rose from the bed and pulled on his trousers. He stared into a corner of the room that no longer looked wholly stable. Within moments an oval portal pushed reality apart and the Hashmal Zikael stepped through it.

Zikael glanced at the sleeping Geburael, smiled mordantly and then addressed Loki. ‘It is time for your first lesson. You want to learn how to fly, Loki har Aralis?’

‘You’ll teach me to use the otherlanes?’ Loki asked. He started to put on the rest of his clothes.

‘It’s what you asked for, isn’t it?’ Zikael said.

Chapter Seventeen

After Lileem had told the Exile her story, he did not attempt to communicate for some time, but simply lay in his sarcophagus with his eyes open. Lileem and Ponclast kept watch over him. After all, there was nowhere else they had to be.

Lileem was sure that more than the Exile had awoken. She was conscious, on the edge of her perception, of a low vibration in the chamber around her, as if arcane mechanisms were secretly at work.

While Lileem had been speaking, the Exile had kept his eyes on her mouth the entire time. It seemed that the more he heard her speak, the more he understood her. But the effort of that understanding appeared to have exhausted him, or perhaps he was mulling it all over in his mind, working it out. Lileem had no idea; he was an alien being to her. Eventually, he expressed a sigh that made his entire body shudder. When he tried to sit up, both Lileem and Ponclast assisted him. The Exile smiled, slowly, as if he couldn’t operate his facial muscles properly. ‘I wish I wanted a drink,’ he said, which was such a normal and therefore unlikely thing to say that Lileem laughed. It was also spoken perfectly in her own tongue and – she noticed - with her accent.

‘Do you know how long you’ve been here?’ she asked.

He frowned. ‘No. Not yet. Too long. The Codexia Hagak hid me here. The rest of my people were taken to a far less accessible place. It feels like yesterday.’

‘There’s no one here,’ Lileem said. ‘You heard how I came to this realm, but the Codexia is long gone. It’s just a barren place, but I think the library is still alive, in a way.’

He nodded, and then winced, raising a hand to his neck. ‘This body is not made for such privation as it’s endured. I would not have survived in any realm but this one. You can give me healing, yes?’

‘Of course.’

‘I will need this before anything else. The name you can use for me is Ta Ke. You could not comprehend my true name.’ He lay down again and closed his eyes, carefully positioning his arms by his sides.

Lileem exchanged a glance with Ponclast, who shrugged. Together, they put their hands upon the Exile’s torso.

Eventually, they took Ta Ke back to the library. His body was weak, so the journey took a long time, with many stops for rest. Lileem was convinced he would have been in a worse state in any other realm; in this instance, the quirks of the library’s landscape were fortunate. Ta Ke towered over them, even though he was stooped with pain. His long feet, with their absurdly attenuated toes, dragged in the sand.

Lileem took him into the room that had opened within the statue. It was the closest she had to somewhere to take visitors. Really, the whole situation was bizarre.

Ta Ke examined the writing on the walls, and it seemed to sadden him. He touched some of the marks with his fingers.

‘Can you read all the languages?’ Lileem asked.

‘Most,’ he replied.

Lileem and Ponclast sat on the floor and waited patiently, assuming he would eventually offer them some kind of explanation. After he’d walked round the chamber several times, Ta Ke halted and sighed deeply. ‘I am supposed to return to my home realm,’ he said. ‘I am supposed to right all that is wrong.’ He shook his head. ‘I said I would do that. I was obviously a fool. Where are my people?’

‘Can we help?’ Lileem asked.

Ta Ke stared down at her. He smiled. ‘You are such a little thing,’ he said.

Lileem grimaced. ‘A little thing who came to this realm, and who’s been able to read some of the words in the library. Tell us why you’re here, and why you must return.’

Ta Ke inclined his head respectfully. ‘The words that are written here were for you. I imagine you are right, and I should involve you, take advantage of your offer of assistance. Very well. In your tongue, my home is Thanatep. My people are the Thanadrim. We were banished from our home. Let me tell you of our great cities, and of their function.’ He sat down. ‘This will take time.’

Lileem and Ponclast learned all that Loki had learned, and more. Ta Ke spoke of the time when the Aasp breached the veil of security around Thanatep and poured out of the otherlanes with their fearsome
teraphim
and their warrior Hashmallim. ‘Hagak was our archivist here on Shaa Lemul,’ Ta Ke said, thus revealing to Lileem her realm had a name. ‘I sent a message to him when the invasion began. Others tried to reach the Zehk, but it appeared we were unable to contact them in time. You must understand, we did not wish to initiate a great conflict, but my people are not warriors. We could not defend ourselves, and at first we thought the Zehk would object strongly to the Aasp’s actions. We sought their assistance, but the Aasp had planned too carefully. Thanatep was swamped and their operation took very little time to complete. Hagak acted in the only way he could think of. He came for me swiftly and brought me here.’

‘So Hagak was the librarian, then,’ Lileem said, thinking aloud.

‘He had a large staff also,’ Ta Ke said. ‘He was able to conceal me and this chamber, with only seconds to spare. The Hashmallim came here and took away the library staff. This realm was scoured, rendered dead, even though the library itself is a living organism. As you have gathered, it creates itself to a large degree, and this process was initiated by beings of such a high order not even the Hashmallim or the Aasp could close it down. But they did make it very difficult for others to come here, as you have discovered. The library remembers everything. It is a danger to all beings who seek to delude and conceal. There are no untruths in this place.’

‘So, now you want to return to Thanatep,’ Lileem said. ‘Does that mean you’ll try to reactivate the cities?’

‘I am supposed to, I think,’ Ta Ke said. ‘But I fear it is too great a task for an individual to accomplish. Also, I have no idea what condition the cities were left in. But from what you have told me, it is clear that the regulation should be reinstated. Once I am free of this realm, and its restrictions, I will attempt to communicate with those who might assist me.’

‘What I don’t understand,’ Ponclast said, ‘is why the Aasp and the Zehk can’t just take what they want. Why do they need the co-operation of Wraeththu, for example?’

‘The Thanadrim emplaced several safeguards around the realms to which we had access,’ Ta Ke said. ‘We did this simply as a precaution, should anything happen to us or our cities. The physical guardians of a realm, be they good, bad or indifferent in their duties, have a certain amount of control over the commerce of essence. In most cases, they are unaware of it. When the denizens of a realm undergo advancement, this affects the essence, makes it – shall we say – more desirable to those who use it. The advent of Wraeththu and Kamagrian in the earthly realm has refreshed it. Traditionally, it is the territory of the Zehk, but the Aasp were continually contesting that claim. There have always been some realms that the Aasp and Zehk fought over. Ancient contracts were held to be erroneous or outdated. It is a complicated territorial dispute. However, it is interesting to me that the factions’ imprudent and reckless action in your realm has inadvertently precipitated my awakening. They would not have counted on that.’ He sighed. ‘But I am only one. Also, I was never trained in otherlanes travel. If I wished to do so, I would secure the assistance of a
sedu
or a
teraph
, back in the days when they were amenable to such services.’

‘I can do it,’ Lileem said. ‘If you can at least give me some directions, I’ll do my best to find your realm.’

Ta Ke observed her for some moments. ‘You can do this without assistance?’

Lileem nodded. ‘Yes. I wouldn’t say I’m as skilled as a
sedu
, but I have a certain degree of mobility in the otherlanes. Being in this realm for so long has changed me. I can do things few of my kind can do.’

‘Then I will take advantage of your offer.’ Ta Ke frowned. ‘Of course, there is the risk that if I reach Thanatep, the Aasp will still be monitoring it. The moment they sense me, their creatures could come for me.’

Ponclast took the tezarae from a pocket of his robe and replaced them on their plinth. ‘Do you think that the Zehk would want you to reinstate the regulation?’ he asked. ‘If so, it makes sense to try and contact them. Lileem could do that through the
sedim
, couldn’t you, Lee?’

‘Well…’ Lileem began, but Ta Ke interrupted her.

‘The Zehk did not respond to our call for help,’ he said. ‘Hagak and I wondered whether this was because in some ways they were happy to let the Aasp do what they did. After all, they benefited from it too. Both factions are now free to squabble with each other over territory. Before, they were allocated realms under strict controls. No, at this stage, I would not wish to try and contact the Zehk. I will ponder upon how best to protect myself and you, too, Lileem.’ He paused a moment, considering matters. ‘It would be preferable for us to enter Thanatep through the deepest heart of my own city. This might be perilous, but in other ways safer. I would prefer to wait until I feel stronger, but it concerns me that my awakening might have been registered by agents of the Aasp. We should leave as soon as possible.’

‘What I’d like to know,’ Ponclast said, ‘is what the threat actually is to our home realm. Does it make any difference to us whether the Aasp or the Zehk are in control? And if so, what?’

Ta Ke considered these questions for some moments. Eventually he said, ‘There are certain things about the Zehk you do not know. It has always been the rule that the inhabitants of a realm should develop at their own pace unmolested, however tempting it might be to advance them. There has also been continual debate about this rule. Some think that it is a perfectly legitimate -- indeed proper -- thing to share higher knowledge with a lower species and thereby advance them. In the distant past, a group of renegade Zehk came to your realm and took on earthly forms. It was their intention to share their knowledge and interact totally, with the idea of creating a hybrid race. This precipitated a host of problems. The Zehk sought to destroy the rebels and their offspring, but were not entirely successful. That act alone was regarded as inappropriate. The Zehk now feel a sense of responsibility to your realm, because in their opinion most of humanity’s problems were caused by the contamination of their gene pool.’

‘Stop!’ Lileem said. She felt as if a dire ghost stood at her shoulder.

Ta Ke raised his eyebrows, clearly not used to having ‘lower species’ interrupt him when he was talking.

‘Answer me this,’ she said. ‘In your opinion, could Wraeththu and Kamagrian have been created deliberately, in order to replace the human race?’

Ta Ke regarded her thoughtfully. ‘I have been asleep for a long time. I cannot answer that.’

‘An educated guess would do.’