The Inner Circle: The Knowing (29 page)

‘
Torrid!’ El-i-miir
cried as she yanked on the latch. It wouldn’t budge. ‘Let me in,’
she screamed, pounding her fists against the little door. ‘Let me
in!’

The sheets of ice slithered closer, the
ship’s hull deafening as it creaked and moaned under pressure. The
sails became solid, gluing themselves to the masts. ‘Please,’
El-i-miir begged, her breath becoming ragged as the temperature
became such that inhalation was impossible. ‘Please.’ Her flesh
began to stiffen, having lost its elasticity. ‘Please . . .’

*

Seteal threw open the galley door,
ignoring Fes’s cries as she burst out into the cold. She hurried
along the frigid corridor, legs losing strength as they went.

‘
Please . . .’
El-i-miir moaned weakly through the hatch.

Seteal threw herself up the rungs of
the ladder, fumbled with the lock and hurled it open. The cold
sliced at her ears and nose, but she thrust out hands and dragged
El-i-miir down, releasing her to hit the floor with a thud. She
slammed the hatch, shattering sheets of ice that had already begun
to creep inside. But the hatch only kept the cold at bay for a
moment. Ice filled the cracks between the door and the ceiling and
slithered down the ladder coating one rung after the other

‘
Come on.’ Seteal
threw an arm around El-i-miir’s waist and dragged her along the
corridor.

‘
C’mon, darlin’,’ Fes
beckoned from the doorway. ‘Quickly!’

A backward glance told Seteal why
there’d been such urgency to Fes’s tone. Bits of air became visible
as they froze and fell to the ground, only to drift back up and
freeze again. Seteal put her hands in the middle of El-i-miir’s
back, shoved her through the doorway and dove in after her. Fes
slammed the door and locked it.

Panting loudly, Seteal stared at the
door which warped and creaked, but otherwise held. Ice formed in
the cracks, only to immediately start melting. The galley was lit
up to capacity, with countless lanterns and the oven burning. Fes
boiled water on one of the stoves, perhaps intending the crewmen to
drink it should the cold become too much. Steam filled the room and
the men became shadowy figures that wandered about, ghosts without
direction.

Master Fasil dug his bony fingers into
Seteal’s shoulder and slammed her into the wall, using his weight
against her.

‘
Get off me,’ Seteal
shrieked, slapping at Far-a-mael’s chest.

‘
Get a hold of
yourself,’ growled the old man.

‘
I’m sorry,’ Seteal
chocked out. ‘I thought . . . I’m sorry.’

‘
Don’t you ever pull
a stunt like that again,’ Far-a-mael whispered
menacingly.

‘
I’m sorry?’ Seteal
replied. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘
Your life is more
important than hers,’ Far-a-mael hissed. ‘You should’ve let her
die.’

Seteal pulled away in disgust. Perhaps
Far-a-mael was not the man she’d thought he was. She shook her head
and moved over to El-i-miir who breathed noisily where she sat
propped up against the wall.

‘
Here ye go, love.’
Fes waddled over to hand her a cup of tea.

‘
Thank you,’
El-i-miir rasped, rubbing her knees. ‘Thank you,’ she repeated once
Fes had walked away, this time directing it at Seteal.

‘
You’d have done the
same for me,’ she replied dismissively and sat down beside
El-i-miir to rest her head against the wall.

‘
You sure about
that?’ El-i-miir half-smiled and chuckled in relief, only to clap a
hand against her chest and wince.

‘
You’re not so bad,
El-i-miir.’ Seteal nudged the woman playfully. ‘You’re not
completely evil.’

‘
Evil . . . ’ The
colour fled from El-i-miir’s face. ‘Ilgrin . . .’ The word came out
softly but passionately. Seteal looked the woman in the eye and at
last she could see it. El-i-miir had fallen in love.

‘
The silt?’
Far-a-mael made his presence known. ‘What of it?’

‘
He’ll die,’
El-i-miir whimpered as she struggled to her feet, dropping the mug
Fes had given her and ignoring it when it broke at her feet. ‘He’ll
die.’ She stumbled across the room and slammed bodily into the
galley door. She pulled weakly at the handle and clawed at the
wooden surface.

‘
Not now,’ Seteal
rushed over, having witnessed utter repulsion flare up in
Far-a-mael’s eyes. ‘For Maker’s sake,’ she whispered by El-i-miir’s
ear, ‘everyone’s watching you.’

‘
But he’ll
die.’

‘
He’s already dead,’
Seteal spat in an attempt to snap the woman out of her feverish
desperation.

‘
No.’ El-i-miir
winced. ‘I have to save him. I promised.’

‘
Enough.’ Seteal
battered her hand away from the door and pushed her back against
the wall. ‘You’ll kill us all. He’s gone. Don’t do something you’ll
regret.’ She lowered her voice and glanced over to notice
Far-a-mael’s keen observation. ‘He’s dead. He’s already dead. Let
it go.’

‘
Yes,’ El-i-miir
sobbed, resting her weight against the wall and sliding down its
length. ‘I suppose he is.’

‘
Okay, then.’ Seteal
exhaled. ‘Get some rest.’

Taking her own advice, she sat down and
allowed El-i-miir to rest her head on her shoulder. It disgusted
Seteal to her core that El-i-miir could feel such devotion for a
demon, but at the same time, this was the first human emotion she’d
seen from the woman since meeting her. Seteal closed her eyes and
rested her head on her knees. Perhaps love truly did lack
bounds.

*

There had been shouting upstairs.
There’d been thudding and screaming and doors slamming followed
shortly thereafter by an eerie silence. Ilgrin pulled his knees up
to his chest. His teeth chattered and his breath had become
visible. ‘What?’ He said irritably at the small owl staring up at
him from the floor. In response, the bird merely puffed out his
feathers and retracted his head as far as he could. Apparently
Ilgrin wasn’t the only one feeling the chill.

‘
It’s very scary,’
Seeol rasped softly, tilting his head to make eye contact. ‘Does
you think we’ll be safe?’ he asked as the temperature continued to
drop.

‘
I don’t know, little
bird.’ Ilgrin shuddered and wrapped himself in his wings. ‘Come
now,’ he added, having noticed Seeol’s chest moving increasingly
slowly. ‘It’ll be all right.’ He scooped up the bird and held him
to his chest.

‘
Is
not,’ Seeol croaked, his legs giving out so that
he rested on his keel bone. ‘Too much coldness.’

‘
Hold on,’ Ilgrin
leaned down and exhaled over the owl, hoping to warm him with his
breath. But it made no difference. Seeol closed his eyes, tongue
clicking softly between his mandibles. Finally his wings hung slack
and he did little more than occasionally twitch.

‘
Maker,’ Ilgrin
wheezed. His muscles grew weak and his arms became stiff. ‘Don’t
let us die down here,’ he whispered to no one. A loud cracking
sound gave him cause to look up as sheets of ice formed on the door
and walls. Seeol leaned heavily on one side, his claw scratching
weakly in Ilgrin’s palm . . . until it didn’t. The bird’s toes
curled up. Seeol was about to die.

Ilgrin’s breathing became
laboured. He leaned against the wall, eyes focussed on the bird
before him. He needed to acknowledge its last breath. Even an
animal deserved that much. Seeol’s toes twitched and oddly enough
the temperature raised just a fraction.

The bird’s eyes popped open and he
fluttered to the ground where he staggered about in drunken
circles. Ilgrin’s breath caught. Seeol violently shook his feathers
and the temperature exploded to that of a hot summer’s day. He
stared at the owl fearfully. How could this be? The ice came to a
glossy finish in the cracks around the door.

‘
Seeol?’ Ilgrin
swallowed nervously. ‘What did you do?’

*

Seteal woke with a start, her
rest having been haunted by the nightmares she’d come to expect.
She stood and looked about the room. El-i-miir yawned tiredly and
stood up beside her. Far-a-mael, Briel, and Captain Waxnah were
involved in a three-way altercation of sorts. The crewmen seemed
rather unsure of what to do with themselves and avoided involvement
by huddling at the other side of the galley where Fes was brewing
tea.

‘
We can’t stay in
here forever,’ Far-a-mael snapped irritably. ‘We must send out the
most expendable crewman.’

‘
None of my men are
expendable,’ Captain Waxnah snarled. ‘That may well be how you do
things, but not while you’re on my boat.’

‘
The captain be
right,’ Briel interjected. ‘We’ve nah run aground yet. Perhaps we
be safer to stay here until we be sure.’

‘
Quiet, you fool,’
Far-a-mael barked. ‘I don’t need to hear the opinion of one who
consorts with demons.’

‘
How dare ye speak
such blasphemies,’ Briel grumbled. ‘We nah do nothin’ but question
whether its story be true.’

‘
In any case,’
Far-a-mael shook his head disgustedly, ‘we only need to be run
aground once and we’ll be done for. The oven was put out over an
hour ago and we haven’t yet suffered for it. Clearly we’ve drifted
through the heart. We have to go back up.’

‘
Maybe you
should send out one of
your
people, Gil’rei,’ Waxnah
grumbled. ‘Are any of them “expendable,” as you put
it?’

‘
El-i-miir,’
Far-a-mael announced stonily, without turning to look at her. ‘Be a
dear and--’ He was cut off when the only female crewmember stepped
forward to interrupt.

‘
I’ll do it,’ she
said bravely. Seteal had noticed her when she’d arrived, but from
the distance had thought she was a boy, a mistake easily made given
her clothing, lack of makeup, and short-cut blonde hair. ‘Send
me.’

‘
There’s another
way,’ Seteal murmured, half-hoping that she wouldn’t be heard.
Butterflies swam about in her stomach as the men levelled her
beneath their penetrating stares.

‘
If you have an idea,
girl, then spit it out,’ Far-a-mael said impatiently.

‘
I have to show you.
Whatever appears to happen, try not to worry.’ She abandoned her
body, leaving it to topple to the ground like the dead weight that
it was.

‘
Seteal!’ El-i-miir
cried out and crouched beside the body. She turned to address
Far-a-mael. ‘Her aura’s gone again.’

‘
I’m not completely
blind, my dear.’ Far-a-mael rolled his eyes. ‘Well? Wake her
up.’

‘
Seteal.’ El-i-miir
took the shoulders and shook her. ‘Wake up.’

Ignoring El-i-miir’s pleas,
Seteal spun away from her tainted body and surged through the door.
Physical barriers were meaningless. She moved through the ceiling
and onto the deck. Her first impression was that all was well, but
then she noticed long tendrils of frozen air reaching up from the
water, waving about like whips. Once again, Seteal was not
actually
seeing
her surroundings. She didn’t have eyes. Somehow
she simply
knew
the frozen tendrils existed through whatever
Elglair power resided within her.

One of the tendrils slid through the
air, making contact with the boat, freezing it solid. Sheets of ice
slithered along the timber, but fell away as the tendril whipped
back into the air. Seteal moved her consciousness back below deck
where she found El-i-miir hovering worriedly over her still form.
Having the distinct feeling that it’d worked once before, Seteal
decided to try something. She focused her attention on reaching out
along the cord that bound her to the body and made her mouth move.
‘I thought I told you not to worry.’

‘
Oh, thank Maker,’
El-i-miir cried, still supporting Seteal’s limp body. ‘You’re all
right. Seteal? Seteal!’ She shook the body when it spoke no
further.

‘
I’m not in there.
Find me in the Ways.’

‘
What nonsense.’
Far-a-mael crossed his arms. ‘Get up and stop playing the
fool.’

‘
No, I think . . . ’
El-i-miir trailed off, allowing Seteal’s head to fall back and hit
the wall. Seteal frowned inwardly. She’d feel that later. El-i-miir
turned slowly, hands outstretched as though she’d be able to find a
tangible link. ‘You’re . . . somewhere else.’ She turned on her
heels, peering through empty air. ‘I can’t pinpoint you, but I know
you’re close.’

‘
What are you stupid
girls playing at?’ Far-a-mael glowered, but his expression soon
changed and he tilted his head. ‘I’ve never felt such a thing. It’s
impossible. What is this?’

Satisfied that she’d convinced the
others to trust in her abilities, Seteal retired to her body
although revolted by its all too familiar confinement.

‘
Well.’ She rubbed
the back of her head and rose to her feet. ‘I believe we’ve drifted
out of the innermost parts of Cold Wood, but that’s not to say
we’re no longer in any danger. Patches of frozen air are moving
about all over the place, but if we work together I should be able
to guide you safely,’ she directed at the captain. Her heart rate
increased when she noticed the female crewmember staring at her
with an expression of awe.