The Inner Circle: The Knowing (35 page)

‘
Gil’rei?’ El-i-miir
turned to Far-a-mael. Seeol tilted his head so as best to collect
the sound of her voice. ‘May I take over control of the silt’s
horse as we enter the Sixth Cleff?’

‘
Why?’ Far-a-mael
murmured distractedly.

‘
I’m certain it would
impress the elders.’ El-i-miir shrugged. ‘I hope to be graduating
soon and it wouldn’t hurt to gain a little renown.’

‘
No,’ Far-a-mael
stated. ‘You’ve already proven yourself an imbecile. We needn’t
lose the prisoner to confirm it.’

The distance was steadily
increasing and Seeol was unable to catch El-i-miir’s response. He
bounced off the branch and spread his wings in search of a closer
tree, but there were no more to be seen. He landed on the ice and
bounced along its surface after the others. The conversation had
become animated and he didn’t want to miss any details, but he
didn’t risk flying so close for fear of being noticed.

‘
I understand that,
Gil’rei,’ El-i-miir waved her hands with increasingly frantic
gestures. ‘But if you’ll just allow me to take over for one minute
. . .’ El-i-miir’s voice faded as the distance increased yet
again.

She needed to tone it down, Seeol
willed her inwardly. She was behaving too obviously, too
erratically. If he hadn’t already, Far-a-mael would soon figure out
what she was up to. El-i-miir was running out of time to set Ilgrin
free, but getting herself into more trouble was not the way to go
about it. She couldn’t have been thinking clearly.

Seeol decided to act. He needed to
cause a distraction to allow El-i-miir the chance to clear her head
and hopefully take a hint. Inhaling sharply, Seeol twittered the
way other elf owls did back home in Narvon Wood. After doing so, he
leapt into the air and not a moment too soon. With surprising
dexterity, Far-a-mael spun around and threw a knife so hard that
the ice where Seeol had been standing was shattered.

Seeol hurried in the opposite
direction. He’d done all he could for El-i-miir. Now he had to find
a place to hide before Far-a-mael found another knife.

*

El-i-miir knew that being a rei
required an unyielding devotion to her gil. She remembered very
well the oath she’d taken when first entering into the law
enforceable contract.

I
,
El-i-miir of the Eighth Cleff, the Elglair Frozen Lands,
swear to uphold and bind myself in connection to the ancient law of
the gil’rei to obey my gil
,
irrespective of
personal beliefs or wishes. Where he leads, I shall follow. His
order shall be my purpose. I, El-i-miir, hereby swear this oath
upon the true hope of salvation and peace amongst the Ways of the
Lord, so help me Maker.

Behind the oath’s fanciful words
laid the clear and unyielding message that when becoming a gil’rei
a gil attained the legal capacity to put their rei to death. But
Far-a-mael had lied in the most despicable fashion. He’d lied when
telling Seteal that she’d die if she didn’t come to the Frozen
Lands. Because of that and only that, she’d come. El-i-miir
shuddered at the thought of what that one lie had cost poor Seteal.
She’d lost so much and El-i-miir had supported Far-a-mael through
it all. In many ways
,
she was as bad as him.

El-i-miir slowed her horse,
allowing herself to drop behind Far-a-mael. Reasoning with him had
proved useless. Now she would have to resort to other means. Having
promised Ilgrin his freedom and acknowledging that Seteal deserved
hers too, El-i-miir decided on the one remaining available course
of action. The cost would be very great. El-i-miir cast one last
look at the home she’d never see again.

‘
Seteal,’ El-i-miir
said quietly as she dropped back beside her. ‘Slow up with me for a
minute.’

When El-i-miir felt sure that
Far-a-mael was out of earshot, she turned to confront Seteal. ‘I
have to tell you something.’

‘
What’s that?’ Seteal
replied, distractedly. She seemed to be looking for something,
perhaps some sign of Seeol’s presence.

‘
We haven’t been
honest with you,’ El-i-miir began.

‘
About what?’
Seteal’s face became dark.

‘
You’re not really
going to die,’ El-i-miir said slowly. ‘None of that was
true.’

‘
I know.’ Seteal
shrugged.

‘
What?’

‘
I know,’ she
insisted. ‘I figured that out a long time ago. It’s a bit
embarrassing and reflects badly on you both, but I’ve come to
accept it.’

‘
Then why in Maker’s
name haven’t you turned around and gone home?’

‘
Well that wouldn’t
do me much good, would it?’ Seteal frowned. ‘There would be no
demons there.’

‘
I don’t understand,’
El-i-miir shook her head.

‘
It’s all so
obvious,’ Seteal replied. ‘Far-a-mael wants me to help him destroy
Old World and I very much intend to do so.’ She gave Ilgrin a dirty
glance. ‘I’d love to empty his disgusting blue blood onto the snow
and watch him squirm.’

‘
Oh
,
that’s enough,’ El-i-miir fumed. ‘This isn’t you Seteal.
You . . . the real you, is indifferent toward silts. Haven’t you
ever questioned where all this hatred came from?’

‘
That’s not true,’
Seteal retorted. ‘If Ilgrin hadn’t taken me hostage and left me in
the middle of that field, then I wouldn’t have been . . . hurt like
that.’

‘
You might just as
easily blame Far-a-mael,’ El-i-miir said in frustration. ‘You know
what? I like you too much to let him do this to you. Enough is
enough.’

Focusing on Seteal’s aura took only a
little concentration. Locating Far-a-mael’s insidiously implanted
affiliation took a little more practice. ‘There,’ El-i-miir
murmured as she felt the ugly black weaving pulsing and squirming
throughout Seteal’s being.

‘
What’re you
doing?’ Seteal’s eyes widened fearfully as El-i-miir set to work
unpicking Far-a-mael’s knots with her own tendrils of light.
‘Maker
,
please
stop! What’re you doing to me?’

‘
Come
on
,
girls,’
Far-a-mael turned back toward them. ‘We really must be on our . . .
what are you doing? El-i-miir
,
stop!’

‘
Just a second,’
El-i-miir clenched her teeth as she worked on an especially large
knot that’d been doubled over several times. ‘Nearly got
it.’

‘
El-i-miir!’
Far-a-mael shrieked in fury, turning his horse around and setting
off at a gallop. ‘Stop!’

‘
Come on!’ El-i-miir
cried as she struggled with the knot. Finally the cord unravelled,
squirmed about for a moment and then vanished.

‘
Oh,’ Seteal
gasped, clutching at her chest. ‘Oh
,
I . . . can’t.’ Her face became
broken as she again realised the horrors of what she’d been
through. El-i-miir put a hand to her mouth, immediately realising
her mistake. The only thing that’d kept Seteal going was the hatred
Far-a-mael had planted within her. Now she was free--free to feel
the pain she’d suffered without any focus or hatred to hide
behind.

‘
You fool,’
Far-a-mael’s face was red and his eyes bulged in rage. ‘You!’ He
waved a finger in El-i-miir’s face. I’ll see you damned to
Vish’el’Tei.’

‘
What did you do to
me?’ Seteal shrieked the sound bouncing on into the infinite
distance over vast stretches of ice. ‘What did you do?’ She turned
from Far-a-mael to El-i-miir and back again. ‘I wanted to kill
them,’ she cried. ‘I wanted to kill them all and it felt so good. I
felt alive and now I feel nothing!’

‘
This is the real
you, Seteal,’ El-i-miir cried, tears pouring down the sides of her
face. ‘It might be horrible, but what he gave you wasn’t real. You
were living in a fantasy.’

‘
I don’t care.’
Seteal burst into tears. ‘I don’t want reality. Don’t you see? It
hurts. It hurts too much. Give it back. Put it back.
Please!’

‘
I can’t,’ El-i-miir
put a hand over her mouth. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it would be
like this.’

‘
I hate you,’ Seteal
glared at her. ‘And you.’ She jabbed a finger at Far-a-mael. ‘I
hate you more than you’ll ever know. You’re disgusting.’

‘
Seteal.’ Far-a-mael
spread his arms out before him. ‘I was only trying to ease your
pain, my child.’

‘
With hatred?’ Seteal
shouted. ‘You don’t care about me. All you care about is them.’ She
jabbed a finger at Ilgrin. ‘You’re infectious. You spread your
hatred like a disease and I . . . I’m going to tell people. I’m
going to see these elders of yours and make them understand exactly
who you are.’ With that Seteal snatched up her reins and kicked her
horse into a gallop.

‘
Seteal, wait!’
Far-a-mael gripped onto his horse and chased after her as quickly
as possible.

Without wasting another second,
El-i-miir threw herself off her horse and ran over to Ilgrin. She
snatched at the ropes that bound him and started untying them with
shaking hands. ‘I’ve got you,’ she reassured him. ‘We’ll be free.
We’ll run away. You’ll see.’

‘
Quickly,’ Ilgrin
urged once his hands and feet had been untied. ‘My wings.’ His
voice was filled with fear. ‘He’s coming back.’ A glance over her
shoulder told El-i-miir that Far-a-mael had realised what she was
up to and he was now headed straight for them. ‘Get a knife,’
Ilgrin urged.

El-i-miir thrust out a hand,
affiliating her horse instantly so that it trotted over. She threw
open a bag, wrapped her hand around the knife within, pulled it
free
,
and in
one fluid motion sliced the rope that bound Ilgrin’s wings. The
silt wrapped El-i-miir tight in his muscular arms, bent his knees
and threw open his wings.

‘
Don’t move,’
Far-a-mael commanded, his horse having come to a stop just strides
away. ‘Don’t. You’re both going to die anyway, but you don’t want
it to be like this.’

El-i-miir turned slowly to see
Far-a-mael’s pistol aimed directly at Ilgrin’s head. The silt
retracted his wings and stepped away from El-i-miir. ‘I’m sorry,’
he whispered.

‘
If I see so much as
a single tendril sneaking away from your fingertips,’ Far-a-mael
turned to El-i-miir, ‘I’ll shoot him and then you.’

‘
Gil’rei,’ El-i-miir
pleaded. ‘Don’t do this.’

‘
You’re
asking
me
not to do this?’ Far-a-mael laughed hysterically. ‘You’re
in love with a silt, El-i-miir. What has become of you? Have you
lost all sense? And to think, you once showed so much
promise.’

‘
We’re not all the
same you know,’ Ilgrin said sadly.

‘
Actually, I do
know that.’ Far-a-mael nodded. ‘I’m not one of those idiots who
believe you’re all bloodthirsty
,
slobbering monsters. But I also know that as
long as your kind exists, whisps will also exist. And
I
,
for
one
,
am tired
of watching innocent people die. Now move. Both of you.’ Far-a-mael
indicated with the pistol. ‘We’ll go by foot the remainder of the
way.’

Her heart racing, El-i-miir
started taking steady steps toward the Sixth Cleff with Ilgrin by
her side. She had hoped that one day they’d be able to walk
together, but not like this. Her fingers brushed against his for a
moment, before Ilgrin found her hand and closed his around
it.

‘
I love you,’ he
whispered.

‘
I love
you
,
too,’
El-i-miir replied.

CHAPTER
Twenty-Four

Ice

Seteal stumbled away from her horse and
into a small clearing. Somehow she’d become lost in a forest of
tree-like ice formations. Snow had begun to fall and flakes kept
getting caught in her hair. Seteal tore off her protective black
cloak and let it tumble to the snow, revealing a wispy white dress
that immediately formed wet circles wherever the snow made
contact.

In the middle of a clearing
Seteal fell to her knees, acknowledging but not caring about the
bite of the cold. ‘I can still hate them,’ she sobbed, looking
about herself desperately. ‘Please, please
,
let me hate them.’ She slammed
the palm of her hand into the snow. ‘Please.’ She gritted her teeth
and broke down in tears.

She’d been raped again. Far-a-mael had
gotten inside and changed her aura. He’d tinkered with her Way,
manipulating her into respecting him and accepting her abduction.
It was a lie. Even the hatred. That precious hatred was a lie and
now Seteal was empty. She was as frozen as the structures that
surrounded her.

‘
Please,’ Seteal
whispered, closing her eyes and lying down in the snow as the cold
continued to sap her strength.