The Namura Stone (27 page)

They trudged on, their heads clouded by such thoughts, their eyes skimming the landmarks along the way with little interest.

Only Tallen and Bennel were completely alert. Neither of them had forgotten their jobs, and neither of them would let their feelings change their priorities.

Bennel was reliving the scenes on Dessia, wondering if he had been somehow to blame for
Valhai
Diva’s death, wondering how he could have changed the final outcome, but his eyes scanned all directions just in case.

Tallen, who had already been in mourning for Petra, was surprised to find that emotional pain did not have a ceiling. There was, it seemed, always room for more. He had disliked Diva heartily on first meeting her, but had come to admire her spirit, her tenaciousness, and her attempts to change Coriolis despite being one of the dreaded meritocrats herself. Without diminishing the hole in his heart which Petra had left, she caused wrenches of sadness of her own. He glared around him, hating the world more than ever.

They were several miles along the track when Grace came forward to speak to Bennel. She gave Tallen a look, and he nodded, picking up his pace so that he was a good twenty metres in front, out of earshot. Grace had plucked Raven out of Ledin’s arms and was brushing the little girl’s hair out of her eyes with one hand.

“Bennel,” she began, “Six will need somebody to look after Raven – look after the house by the Emerald Lake now, and I don’t think it is the right time to bring strangers into his life. I … err … I was wondering whether you might be prepared to stay with him?”

Bennel stiffened. “Naturally I shall stay with
Valhai
Six. Where else would I go?”

“Good. I am relieved that you will not abandon him. Of course, you won’t be able to look after Raven, not on your own. It … err … it is a great pity you are not married. If you were, I would ask you to take your wife over to Xiantha. As it is …” her voice trailed off and she waited.

Bennel stopped dead in his tracks. The panorama which had suddenly opened in front of his eyes bewildered him. The leap of hope that his heart had given shocked him and made him wary. “W-w-wife?” he repeated.

Grace shot a sideways look at him. “Of course, since that is not the case, I was wondering whether I should ask some of the Namuri to …?”

Bennel lifted his head and examined Grace’s face from under his eyebrows. Then he gave a sigh. “You have been talking to Doctor Vion.”

Grace frowned. “Is it that obvious?”

“A little.” The companion considered. “Do you really mean it? Lannie could come to Xiantha?”

“And the two children. I think it would be perfect. Raven would have a woman to take care of her, and, just as importantly, Six. Also, there would be children living in the same house as Raven. That will make a big difference to her upbringing. She will have Temar, of course, since we live really close, but I think the liveliness of children and teenagers will help Six, too. I am worried about him.”

Bennel looked back at
Valhai
Six and grimaced. “It will not be easy for him,” he agreed. And he suddenly smiled – one of the first smiles Grace had seen him make. “Then I would like to accept, on behalf of my family. You know that it will be their saving too?”

Grace nodded. “I hope your wife – Lannie, isn’t it? – won’t suffer from her horrid attacks on Xiantha. Vion thinks that the climate would agree with her, and although vaniven are used in the carts there, very few come past that part of the Emerald Lake. It is too far off the beaten tracks for normal visitors.” She looked pleased. “So, you will bring them?”

Bennel felt as though a load had been lifted from his shoulders. “I will bring them,” he promised. “When do you want them to start?”

Grace gave a deep sigh. “I think now is as good a time as any,” she answered. “I don’t think Six will eat unless somebody puts a plate in front of him, and he won’t let me. I had enough trouble persuading him to come on this journey. And I have Temar to look after now, too. I can’t take on Six and Raven as well.”

“Then I shall fetch them. Do you want me to go now?”

“I think so, don’t you? If you don’t mind missing the sacred marshes?”

“I’d rather see Lannie and the children.”

“Then, go now. Bring them back with you.”

Bennel nodded. “Thank you.”

“Tell her she will have her work cut out for her. Six is not an easy person, and something tells me he is about to get much more difficult!”

“She won’t mind that. My Lannie is a worker. She will make him comfortable, if he cannot be happy.”

“I know she will. Talk to Tallen about where to meet up; I don’t know the way around here.” Grace handed Raven over to the companion and slipped back to Ledin’s side.

BENNEL LEFT THEM at the crossroads to Mount Palestron, and Tallen was doubly on the alert after that. It was impossible not to think of what had happened last time they had travelled along this road.

Raven was marching along on her own, having clambered down from Bennel’s shoulder just before he left, and she was enjoying the morning sun. Her face only fell when she came to the spot past the crossroads, the place where they had been ambushed by Tartalus’s men the last time they were there. Her eyes went over to Tallen, and she tipped her head on one side.

Tallen caught her glance and inclined his own head slightly. He was surprised that the young girl had remembered so clearly where it had all happened; he had thought her to be too young. But her eyes tracked across the undergrowth to the path the guard had taken when he had run away with her, before Tallen had caught up with him. She opened them wide. Suddenly she ran over to Tallen and took hold of his hand.

“Bad place,” she said sternly. “T’an come with Raven. Here bad place.”

Tallen smiled down at the small person. “You are right. It is a very bad place.”

They must have gone for another few miles before Tallen suddenly held up his hand for silence.

“Tartalus’s men are ahead of us,” he hissed. “What do you want to do?”

Six lifted his head, like an old dog that had smelt some faraway scent on the breeze. “Tartalus?” he murmured.

Grace ignored him. “We should go around. Is there another way?”

“Through the marshes.” Tallen pointed to their right. “But you would have to follow in my footsteps exactly. There is no room for mistake in the quickmire.”

Six shook his head as if to clear it. “We could kill Tartalus,” he said with a tiny hint of hope. “Should have done it years ago.”

Grace looked cross. “We can’t kill Tartalus,” she said. “I’m glad you have suddenly woken up and decided to take notice of things, Six, but even you must see how impossible that is.”

“Why? He deserves it. Ask Tallen.”

The Namuri was clearly in total agreement with Six. He had even taken out his sword and was checking the sharpness of the blade with a pensive expression.

“I don’t have to ask anybody. We have just come from Diva’s funeral. We can’t do anything to disturb the status quo on Coriolis right now. Even if he does deserve to die, we can’t be the ones to do it. Certainly not now, at least.”

Tallen sheathed his sword again with a dissatisfied clunk. His disapproval was apparent.

Six frowned. He was itching to get his hands on Tartalus once again. “I suppose you’re right. But …”

“Excuse
me
!” Tallen had wound between Six and Grace and was now facing them both. “I would just like to point out that those men in front of us are lying in wait for Namuri children, and if they find them, will force them into the quickmire and laugh as they watch them drown. If those men don’t deserve to die, then who does?”

Grace shook her head again. “Not here. Not like this.”

Ledin put a hand on Tallen’s shoulder. “She is right,” he said. “This is not the time or the place. There is Raven to think about.”

“You are wrong. That man should be exterminated now, before he can harm any more Namuri children. You know he should!”

“I do. But Grace is right. Diva is dead. This was her world. We should do what we came to do, and leave.”

Frustration sparked in Tallen’s dark eyes and his jaw moved. “I suppose they are only Namuri children.
They
don’t count.”

Grace gasped and made to take a step forwards, but Ledin put a restraining hand on her arm.

Six flushed red. “Diva was changing things.”

“She is
dead
.” Tallen’s tone was cutting, harsh. “Do you think she would want you to walk away?”

Six stiffened and moved his head slowly, like a bear with a small dart teasing at it.

Tallen pushed his chin out, sensing his advantage. “For Raven. For the Namuri children.” His eyes were defiant. “I swore to get even with Tartalus. And he attacked
Valhai
Diva last time she was here.”

“You’re right. He did.” Six’s words were grim. He felt anger against Tartalus bubble up inside him and tasted bile in his throat. “Let Sacras decide. We will continue on this road, but we will only fight if we are attacked.”

Grace stepped forwards. “You are making a mistake. You shouldn’t do this. What if they get hold of Raven? It is your job to protect her, now Diva is … is …”

Six swatted away the unspoken words. “—And what about the Namuri children? Are they unworthy of my protection? Should I put Raven above them? For Lumina’s sake, Grace, Tallen is right. Anyway, I am not going to take the initiative. I am only saying that if he attacks us, we will defend ourselves.” Six’s face was blazing now, and he was quivering slightly. He wanted to kill somebody, Grace saw, or perhaps be killed himself. He was just hoping Tartalus would give him the perfect excuse.

There was a long pause before she inclined her head and stepped back. “Ledin and I will protect Raven.”

Ledin stepped past her, handing her the little girl as he did. “You protect Raven, Grace. I will stay with Six.” Now the action had been decided, he was clearly not about to miss out on anything.

Grace thought privately that they had all gone mad. She shook her head again and tucked Raven securely to her, settling the girl on her hip. But she said no more.

THEY CAME ACROSS the ambush some hundreds of metres further on. Tartalus had hidden his men crudely, and, now she knew what she was looking for, Grace found it relatively easy to pick them out as they crouched behind the stones. Tartalus himself was some way behind, sitting on a rock, half-hidden by a tree and examining his hands.

The small incoming convoy made its way along the road, its components giving no sign that the waiting Coriolans had been spotted.

When they were level with the ambush, Tartalus’s men stepped out, swords at the ready. Tartalus put away the small dagger he had been using to clean his fingernails and made his way to the centre of the path.

“Well, well. Six of Kwaide. Ex—” he put heavy emphasis on that part of the word, “—consort of Coriolis. Looking for something, Kwaidian? You seem rather out of your way.”

“Are you going to stop me?” Six stepped firmly forwards.

Tartalus’s eyes flickered. He had seven good men here with him, and there were only three of the infidels, together with a woman and child. But the odds were not as secure as he usually liked. Especially when the three men consisted of two Kwaidians and a Namuri, all perfectly motivated to inflict damage, he could see. It was tempting, but perhaps not the right time.

“Now why would I stop you, I wonder? I do hope you haven’t been listening to unsubstantiated gossip. —Sometimes these Namuri will say anything.”

Tallen’s shoulders inflated with outrage, but he held his peace, merely drawing his sword with as much scraping of metal against metal as he could manage.

Six dredged up a grin: the first he had tried since Diva’s death. It looked somehow grotesque on his strained face, very out of place. “I know exactly what you have been doing, Tartalus. And I would be only too happy to stop you.”

“Why, I don’t know what you mean.” Tartalus was already signing to his men. “—When I have come all this way simply to wish you a good journey. Home. You … err … you aren’t planning to stay on Coriolis, I assume?”

“I am not.”

“Then our ways must part, must they not? I would not have you leave believing that we were not affording you the … err … honour that you deserve. And now my dear second cousin is … gone. I am sure you miss her very much.”

Six ground his teeth. He was wondering whether they really needed to wait. Perhaps he should skewer this slimy Coriolan right now? But behind him, he felt Grace shift from one foot to the other, and it brought him back to his senses. He sighed. “Diva will always be with me,” he managed to get through his teeth. “but I … I thank you for your … attentions.”

Tartalus signaled again to his men, who put up their arms and fell into a phalanx. “Then we will be heading back to Mesteta,” he said. “So nice to see you and your … friends again. And dear little Raven. How beautiful she will be when she grows up, will she not? Just like her dear mother.” He licked his lips. “I am sure she will blossom out into a rare prize.”

Six felt the fury surge up inside him again. “If you ever put one of those lilywhite hands on my daughter, I shall kill you,” he said.

Tartalus opened his eyes wide, feigning surprise. “I assure you, I have … other … interests to pursue. I was merely … postulating her future, shall we say? You can’t think I was suggesting anything else?”

Six wondered how he came to be holding his own sword in front of him, how it had got into his hand. “Then postulate elsewhere and about somebody else.”

“A pleasure to see you, Kwaidian. As always.” Tartalus motioned to his guards to move out. “Be careful on these roads. They are so … dangerous.”

“You too, Tartalus.” Six’s words were silky – a promise. “If you step too far off the straight road you might find yourself in the quickmire.”

Tartalus gave a small smile, and then he and his men walked briskly away.

The others watched in silence as they left. There was a general feeling of disappointment and Tallen’s sword hand was shaking.