The Red Queen (126 page)

I smiled at the thought of Lark wanting to stay and serve Dragon, but I thought of Erit too, lost at sea in a storm, and thought how sad it was that Iriny had lost her brother; and that Rolf, whom I had seen holding her in his arms in a dream, had lost Erit, who had been like a younger brother to him. They would have to comfort one another.

My mind had drifted but Jakoby crossed her legs and sat, asking me again about Straaka. I pulled my shawl up about my shoulders, gathered my wits, and then told that story as best I could, from the moment I had come to Straaka and the others at Skylake, to our parting in Midland. It was a long tale but Jakoby did not interrupt me, and the others sat rapt and silent, listening, even Dameon and Ana, who had been there. It was not until I had finished it and seen tears streaming down Ana’s face, that I felt a stab of remorse, for it had also been her story and Swallow’s.

When I finished, Jakoby remained gazing into the fire, which was now no more than glowing embers, and I guessed she was completing the mysterious internal process by which her people managed to commit to memory long tales, even in the words in which they had been spoken. Then she shook herself and rose, saying briskly that she must go to see that the motley crew of shipfolk from all lands were doing all that needed doing, for they had a long hard passage ahead of them at the wrong time of year. We all stood and she said goodbye, then she came at last to me and thanked me for my story. Instead of bowing in the Sadorian way, she took my hand in both of hers and looked into my eyes, saying softly, ‘Some people are not made for ordinary lives, Elspeth Gordie, and I think you are such a one. I am glad to have known you. Fare you well.’

She bowed deeply and strode away. I watched her go, long graceful strides taking her swiftly out of sight, and remembered when I had first seen her at a meeting with the rebels so long ago. Then I looked down and opened my fingers. She had pressed into them the little golden sandcat brooch that I had found in a chamber on Norse Island: her sister’s chamber; her sister’s brooch.

‘That was somewhat gloomy,’ Brydda said. ‘Anyone would think she never expected to see us again, and after all the trouble she took to assure us that she would return.’ He gave a sigh and walked to the cliff to gaze out at the sea to where, just visible by the light of the moon, lay the fleet of Shambalan ships, anchored, waiting.

‘I hope
they
do not take her departure amiss,’ he muttered.

‘I never knew his true name,’ I said to Rushton, as we sat by a fire later still in that long night, keeping vigil till dawn. Dameon was sitting with his arms around Ana, holding her hand in his. Her eyes had been closed, but as if she felt my gaze, she opened them and looked over at me.

‘It was Samuel,’ she said softly. ‘But he told me that he never liked it so well as Swallow. He said Samuel was the name of a dutiful pureblood Twentyfamilies gypsy prince, born of a dutiful, loveless match, but he was not just his duty or his blood. He chose Swallow as his name because it was the name of a free winged thing that flew where it desired.’

We were all silent for a time then, and there was only the crackle of the fire and the soughing of the wind, and under it all the muffled roaring of the sea.

There were only the four of us now, though Dragon and Matthew had been with us for the lighting of the pyre, and many others who had known Swallow, and some who had known him only a little. Still others, like Murrim, had come up to stand with us for a time, out of respect, and to honour him. Dragon had spoken the funeral words of her people over him, having been told them by Maginder. She had spoken the words, she said, not because she was the queen of the Red Land, but because Swallow had been the king of his people and because they had shared the same ancestors. This caused a ripple of puzzlement, for not all that had happened or its long complex history was known to all people, and much that was known was muddled and, I was sure, would become increasingly so as time passed. Indeed I had spoken to Dragon about her own past, and while she had been fascinated by my glimpses of a red-haired child cast up on the back of a great fish, and curled in a cryopod, she had agreed it would be better to let her people believe simply that she was a distant ancestor of the daughter of the last Red Queen.

When we came down at dawn and I went to the chamber where Ana and I had prepared Swallow for his funeral, bathed and washed and changed into simpler clothes, I thought that I did not care how my quest was remembered, or if it was remembered at all. It was done and too many had died, not the least of which was Sentinel herself, whom none knew but me. But I would remember her.

‘And I, Marumanyelloweyes, the Moonwatcher,’ Maruman sent.

‘You can lay aside those names now, dear one, as I can lay aside my name, for I am no longer the Seeker. My quest has ended.’

‘No,’ sent Maruman. ‘All is not done yet.’

When I came out into the yard of the compound, it was still very early and the sky was tinged with dawn colours, the air cool and sweetly scented by the lemon trees growing on the roof. Rushton was standing and speaking with Maginder. I greeted her warmly and agreed to follow her when she said Dragon had sent her to fetch me, wondering a little that she would send the old woman instead of someone younger. As if reading my thoughts, Maginder shot me a rather sly smile and said I need not hold my breath for her. ‘I am old, dearie, but I have all my limbs in working order and my wits are rather more nimble than those of many young folk, leaping about like mad goats.’

Rushton grinned at me over her head, saying he would find me later, and we would go together to the domes, to see if we could find Fey. He did not speak of Gahltha. Instead, he added that he would go and find the compound Brydda had coopted for himself, in which he had promised us chambers where we might get some food and lie down on a proper bed that night.

‘Farseek me when you want me and I will guide you to me,’ he said.

I kissed him and he walked away, turning once to lift his hand before disappearing around a corner, and I thought how sweet that easy parting was, the knowledge that I had only to farseek him and he would be there, close by.

‘Now there is a handsome man with all of his limbs working well, I should say,’ Maginder said, with her sly smile.

I felt my face grow warm, but I laughed and she nodded in satisfaction as if that had been the purpose of her words. ‘The queen is on the island contemplating a palace,’ she said, anticipating my next question. ‘It will take some building but she means to use the Gadfians. It will teach them humility, maybe, though I am not sure what sort of a palace they will make. Yet it will be good for her to raise a palace that her people can admire.’

‘Do some still doubt she is who she says she is, even given how she looks?’ I asked.

‘Well dearie, the trouble is that the pale man mentioned the black arts, and there are plenty of halfblood Gadfians asking how could one person look so like another if there was not sorcery involved, and where did she come from anyway and by what blood lines is she connected to the last Red Queen. But they will be silenced if she can show them the sceptre.’

We had reached the end of the scythe and I gazed at the single greatship anchored in the bay, realising Jacoby must already have left with the
Black Ship
. The lavender sails of the
Secret
were furled, its weapons were trained on the shore, and I shivered, wondering what the shipfolk aboard thought, for the only message they had from the emissary had been flags bidding it wait.

Wait for what? I wondered, with a flicker of unease.

We came soon to the stone bridge and crossed it. Close to the other side, I could see more of the hidden side of the island. Here, oblivious to our approach, Dragon and Matthew were standing facing one another, and their talk drifted to us.

‘I dinna blame ye fer yer words, my queen. I
had
failed ye,’ Matthew said calmly.

‘I told you that you had not failed me. I said it only because I did not want Ariel to imagine I cared about you,’ Dragon said, sounding annoyed, colour in her cheeks.

‘I dinna imagine he supposed that,’ Matthew said, looking almost as expressionless as when he had been under Lidge’s control. Then he caught sight of Maginder and me and bowed to her and greeted me with a rather perfunctory embrace. Even lacking empathy, I sensed he was angry and distracted.

Maginder stepped forward decisively and took his arm, saying, ‘Now help me to a seat. My bones need a rest.’ She ushered him away, and glanced back at me with her sly grin.

Dragon had also been watching them go. She was frowning and there was still a good deal of colour in her cheeks. In truth she looked beautiful in a long ornate gown of red, her hair piled up and pinned with jewels. She caught my eye and some of the tension went out of her. ‘He has done much for me and I mean to reward him for it, but he mustn’t be permitted to imagine I feel as I did when I was a child.’

You are still little more than a child, I thought.

‘I have asked the emissary to come here to speak with me,’ she went on, hooking her hand through my arm and making me walk with her. ‘I thought you might like to hear what he has to say. I have asked them to bring us some food. Matthew does not like it that we will sit on the ruins and eat a picnic. It offends his dignity and he fears the man might do me some harm, but Gilaine begged it. She said she thought he had betrayed her but that she was mistaken, and then something about the emperor and his sisterwife and his brother. It was not very clear but I did not have the heart to make her tell it all again slowly. She wanted to get back to Lidge. But she has made me so curious and Matthew and Maginder say we do have to deal with the emissary and those ships of his, sitting out beyond the Talons, not to mention the one within them, and it might as well be sooner as later. I had to promise that I will have her and Murrim and Rymer and some others of the Redland legion in attendance before Matthew would allow it.’

All of this was delivered quickly and lightly, and I realised that, aside from being rattled by Matthew, she was nervous. That, as much as anything, was why she had summoned me, I guessed. And when I thought of the emissary and the weapons his people had access to, I thought there was good reason for her unease, and for Matthew’s caution. Yet Gilaine defended him, though he had callously cast her off and stood unprotesting when Ariel would have killed her.

‘When will he come?’ I asked.

She gave me a grateful look and said she had told them to come at mid morning. ‘So that there will be food. Maginder said that strictly speaking, there ought to be a feast because the emissary and his people are from another land and therefore they must be seen as messengers of the ruler of that land. It was impossible, but if Gilaine is right and the emissary did not betray her . . . Well, we will see what he says. In any case, Maginder forced me to dress this way. She said it was proper for a meeting with the messenger of an emperor.’ She looked down at her finery disconsolately and it occurred to me that I would need to make my own preparations if I was to attend the audience with her, but first I said, ‘Will you go with me into Luthen’s crypt?’

She stared at me, looking suddenly very young. ‘You want to go there?’

‘I must and I think you must as well.’

She hesitated and then nodded.

The chamber was very quiet as we entered it from the passage leading from the hidden door in the stairwell. ‘Was there ever another door?’ I asked, and she gave me an odd look.

‘It is strange you ask, for yesterday someone called me the Dragon Queen, and Maginder said that there was an ancient tale that the first Red Queen had called herself the Dragon Queen because of some door. But it cannot have been this door for that was made after her brother Luthen died, and she was the queen already.’

The crypt was utterly dark, but after a moment, Dragon brought out one of the small lightballs and squeezed it. The light it gave out was a dim buttery yellow, so that while it illuminated the chamber, it left the end of it, where Luthen’s image was carved, in darkness. I looked at Dragon. ‘He knew where the stone sword was meant to go?’

She nodded, knowing at once who I meant. ‘He told me to give Luthen his sword. I refused and he took it from me and slid it into its place. Then he asked me where the sceptre was. I told him I did not know.’ She smiled wanly. ‘He didn’t believe me and he tried to make me tell him, but he could not get into my mind. The . . . Lidge was not with him then.’ Unconsciously she touched the burn marks on her arms.

‘Do you know where it is now?’ I asked.

Again the smile, but I was glad to see there was a hint of fire in it now. ‘I knew it when he asked. I saw when he put the sword in. The whole of the crypt lit up for a moment, save for one place. But Ariel did not see and I did not tell him.’

‘Where?’ I asked.

She looked suddenly solemn, and went to the door. She knelt and felt along the ornate patterning carved around the door, frowning in concentration. I could see nothing but there was a click and a section of the scrolling came off in her hands. She turned it and laid it on the ground in the sunlight and I saw it: not the lavish and bejewelled thing I imagined a queen would bear as the staff of her office, but a long thin device set within a narrow groove. She lifted it out reverently and I saw that there were wires running along it and parts that protruded from the top, reminding me of the Ekoni staffs. It was clearly some sort of Beforetime device, yet it seemed to me there was something unfinished about it, as if it had been hastily and badly assembled. Certainly it was neither beautiful nor grand.

‘I doubt that will make much of an impression,’ I said, disappointed for her.

But she smiled at me triumphantly. ‘Wait until you see what it will do. But I will not tell you. Not even you. It must be a surprise for everyone.’

‘The thing that still puzzles me is this: if the stone sword was created by Cassy when she was the Kasanda of the Earthtemple, it means she knew this place would be built and that there would be a place for it, or she was here when it was made.’

‘She must have been here,’ Dragon said. ‘Didn’t you say all along that she was here before she came to the Land?’

‘But then was its only purpose to reveal the sceptre? And what need would there be of it, when each Red Queen passed on the knowledge to her daughter?’

Dragon shrugged. ‘Maybe she foresaw that I would have no one to guide me to it . . .’ she said, sounding sad. Then she sighed. ‘Well, we will never know and I supposed even a queen can’t know everything.’ She looked down at the sceptre fondly, then slipped it inside her belt alongside a long dagger with a very beautiful silver hilt and guard. She gave me a direct look. ‘I am glad you made me come in here, Elspeth. I knew I must get the sceptre because my people would need it to believe in me, yet I could not bring myself to do it. It was cowardly and a queen must be brave.’ She lifted her chin. ‘I will summon my people and raise the sceptre tonight. It is not darkmoon but the moon is narrow so it will be dark enough most of the night.’

Dark enough for what, I wondered. But I said, ‘They should not need proof and I think they would very soon find they do not need it, but there is no doubt it will make it easier for you if you can show them the sceptre. Though they might be expecting something rather more dramatic.’ I paused. ‘Dragon, it was not only for your sake I brought you here. I feared to come here too. So much ugliness and pain happened here. And Swallow . . .’ I stopped to master myself. ‘But I had to come, to finish what I had begun.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Dragon said.

I reached into my pocket and lifted out the small plast triangle on its thong, which I had asked Rushton to get when the Redlanders brought out the two bodies from the crypt. I had not asked what had happened to Ariel’s.

‘I must close the Darkest Door,’ I said.

It took us an hour to find the little slot in the corner where the plast triangle fitted, and I felt like a fool when after almost an hour Dragon suggested we try in the gap where the sceptre had been fitted, and of course it was there. I wasted no time in pushing the hacker’s key into place.

‘It is done,’ I said loudly, straightening up.

‘Keyed voice print acknowledged. Input command,’ said the same voice that had spoken before.

‘Are you the Balance of Terror computermachine?’ I asked.

‘I am, Authorised User Elspeth Gordie. What is your command?’

‘I want you to shut down now, completely,’

I prayed the words would be enough, for they seemed too simple to have any power at all. Certainly not the power to end a threat that had been looming over the world for aeons.

‘Command acknowledged,’ the voice said with a crisp finality. ‘Dark Door will be closed in three seconds. Mark three, two, one.’

Then silence.

‘Do you think it is enough?’ Dragon asked.

‘I pray it is, but just in case,’ I drew out the little triangle from its slot. ‘I will burn this. Let us go out now. I have a sudden yearning for sunlight. And then a long bath!’

‘Oh baths,’ Dragon said crossly, climbing out onto the steps and stopping to help me out.

Two hours later, hastily bathed, hair still wet, I struggled into garments, which, on impulse, I had requested from the Gadfian tailor Nareem. I had summoned him to my chamber in the compound Brydda had claimed, with a request to supply clothing for a formal audience with a queen. Gretha and Cora helped me into a long yellow sandsilk tunic, complex golden trews and plain sandals, for the Gadfian way, it seemed, was to begin with plain, well-made garments and then decorate them lavishly according to the occasion. I had been fortunate Nareem had been preparing something for a Chafiri customer about my size and height; the garments had only just been made and so lacked all of the ornate additions Nareem felt were necessary for such an important occasion.

‘So plain! And such an important commission,’ he lamented. ‘If I had more time, Sabra, I could make you magnificent.’