The Red Queen (95 page)

‘What if Darga sniffs out Dragon’s trail!’

‘That is a canny notion,’ Swallow said, and she beamed at him.

‘It is,’ I said, looking at him critically. ‘You will have to be careful, Swallow, for it occurs to me that no one I saw in Redport was dark-skinned as you gypsies are, except Gadfians. In truth you look more like them.’

The gypsy’s handsome saturnine features creased in a smile. ‘That is the role I will play then,’ he said. Indeed, he added, he would become one of the Chafiri, for presumably that would rank him higher than the Ekoni and he would be able to order them about with impunity, once he had learned how to behave.

‘How will you do that when you don’t speak gadi, if Gadfian men use it speak to one another!’ Ana laughed, stirring the pot over the fire.

Swallow gave her his rakish grin and said that he would be a half-breed who had not been properly taught his father tongue. I would have been alarmed at his cockiness if I had not known it was only his manner. In reality he was as careful and meticulous as anyone I had ever met, when there was the need for care. He rejected my offer of the trews I was wearing, saying they were unlikely to be fine enough for a Chafiri. But he did take the hooded cloak, saying it would cover him until he found some more suitable attire.

‘What about you, Elspeth?’ Ana asked. ‘Won’t you need the cloak?’

‘I will wear the dress the slavewomen gave me. But it won’t matter how I look so long as I am with Swallow,’ I said, then I added that we would split up if for some reason Darga could not find Dragon. I would enter Slavetown to see if there was any word of her and Swallow should search in the south of the settlement, where there was a greater concentration of Gadfians. If the Ekoni had taken her captive, he would hopefully hear a whisper of it.

‘I suggest we meet at this Infinity of Dragonstraat, if we do have to split up,’ Swallow said. ‘I should like very much to see it.’

‘It is a very strange name,’ Ana murmured.

‘It describes the shape,’ Swallow surprisingly said. ‘Two circles joined, like a figure eight scribed on its side.’ He scribed it in the dust with his foot. ‘That was a Beforetime symbol for an infinity.’

‘An infinity of what?’ Dameon asked.

‘Of whatever it was applied to,’ Swallow said with a shrug. ‘In the case of my people, it is said that many of them scribed that sign above their Twentyfamilies tattoo, when they followed the D’rekta from this land, as a symbol of their fealty to her quest which is also your quest. It was a sort of pledge for the generations of gypsies who would go on upholding the promise that had been made.’ He drew up his sleeve and revealed his flamebird tattoo, saying that the D’rekta told them the symbol was an unnecessary addition because it was already incorporated in the Twentyfamilies design. ‘See?’ He traced the shape that would have encompassed the birds’ flights, and I was fascinated to see that he was describing a figure eight.

‘The D’rekta must have given the idea to the Redlanders,’ Ana said, sounding entranced. It struck me that her fascination with Beforetimers ensured that she never forgot the stories I had told her about them. She tipped some water into the pot, stirring it over the fire, her expression preoccupied.

‘Did you learn anything about the block?’ Dameon asked.

‘Nothing, but I am almost certain it is caused by a machine,’ I said. ‘Probably by one of those traded to the Gadfians by the white-faced lords – the Shambalans. It may be no more than a side effect of which the Gadfians are unaware. But it seems to me more likely that it is deliberate, and if so, then it must be Ariel’s doing.’

‘I see why you would think that, but why not the Sham – Shambalans? Perhaps they have brought it and set it to block Talents, without the knowledge of their hosts.’

It was not something that had occurred to me, and he was right, though I could see no reason why the white-faced lords would want to block Talents. Indeed, my dream suggested the emissary, if it was he, had known very well about Gilaine’s Talent because she had spoken to his mind. Then I thought how, in another of my true dreams, Matthew had been talking determinedly about reading the mind of one of the shipfolk of the white-faced lords.

‘Perhaps they are pretending ignorance,’ Dameon said, half to himself. Then he shrugged. ‘Not that I can think of any reason for that.’

‘Didn’t you say the Redland slaves believe their Talents flowed from the Red Queen, and that after she died there were no more Misfits?’ Ana asked.

I strove to recall exactly what I had been told. ‘The implication was that there had once been Talented Redlanders, but that there are no more now,’ I said at last. ‘But if this is true, it may be that this machine has been operating for a long time, in which case it might not have anything to do with Ariel. It is also possible that this dearth of Redland Talent has no connection to the blocking machine. After all, there are apparently no Gadfian Misfits either.’

‘But why would there be no Gadfian Misfits and no Redland Misfits, when there are more than ever of us in the Land?’ Dameon asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I said.

‘But you think the block is Ariel’s doing despite being told he is not in Redport?’ the empath asked.

‘He might be here, without some slavewomen knowing it,’ I said. ‘Yet I am inclined to think the slaves
would
know it, since they clearly loathe and fear him. But either way a machine might easily be capable of operating without anyone tending it, or Ariel might have coerced someone to keep it for him, without them ever knowing what it does.’

‘But why would he want it here if he is not?’ Ana asked, handing me a bowl of food.

‘To do exactly what it has done,’ I said. ‘To slow us down and confuse me.’

‘We need to locate it and destroy it,’ Swallow said decisively. ‘If Ariel makes his home with the High Chafiri when he is here, as you say, surely this machine will be in his chamber in the High Chafiri’s compound.’

‘If he has a permanent chamber there,’ Dameon said.

‘I will find this High Chafiri’s demesne,’ Swallow said, suddenly fierce. ‘I will enter it this very night, and if I find any sort of machine, I will destroy it.’

‘If you can manage to break the block, I could farseek Dragon,’ I said.

‘And Matthew?’ Dameon asked.

‘Of course, but the first thing I will do when I get into Slavetown is to ask this Deenak where Ariel usually resides. He must know about the block and he may even know what is causing it, but if so, given he has not destroyed it, it must mean there is no easy way to do so, or he would have done it himself.’

Swallow grunted acknowledgement.

‘You know, it has just occurred to me that Dragon might have gone to Rainbow Island,’ I went on.

‘You said the palace was a ruin,’ Dameon said.

‘Yes, but Dragon would not have known that,’ I said eagerly. ‘She might long to see the palace where she grew up. I asked her more than once about the grave marker of the first Red Queen and her brother, and she knew the question was connected to my quest. She said there was no grave marker for the Red Queen’s brother because his body had never been found but there was a memorial crypt in which the Red Queen was eventually buried.’ I drew in a sharp breath, remembering something else. ‘The location of the crypt was secret because it was where the Red Queen’s sceptre was kept. Somehow the sceptre was her way to reveal her power. Dragon asked her mother to tell her the secret of the sceptre, which she had apparently got from
her
mother, but her mother bade her be patient. And she died before she could pass on the secret.’

‘You think she figured out where it is!’ Swallow said.

‘And she might have gone into Redport looking for you,’ Dameon murmured.

‘She had no idea where to begin looking for me,’ I said. ‘I think she would have gone to see the crypt for herself. To be sure it was there.’

‘So she went there and found the palace had been reduced to rubble,’ Ana said. ‘She must have been devastated.’ She scowled suddenly at the pot and I could smell she had burnt it.

‘About the palace, yes,’ I said. ‘But not necessarily about the crypt, because it’s quite possible it was not
in
the palace.’

‘Maybe that’s why Maruman stayed in Redport,’ Ana said thoughtfully, ‘because he knew Dragon would go there and he knows she has something to do or tell you connected to your quest.’

‘Because he knows she is important to the quest and because he loves her,’ Dameon said gently.

‘There is a connection between them,’ Swallow said. ‘I see it in their aura when they are together. It is not like with Rasial and Gavyn, but it is a connection just the same.’

Rasial, hearing her name spoken, asked what was happening. I told her and she offered to have Fey overfly the settlement once it was dark, to see if she could spot Dragon. She said that she and Gavyn would also seek her out and I understood that she meant they would sleep and use the dreamtrails. I wanted to forbid it, but Dragon had to be found. Especially if she had discovered what the Seeker needed to know, added a cold little voice at the back of my mind.

‘I hate to suggest it, but what if Ariel foresaw Dragon finding this all-important crypt, and had people waiting to capture her,’ Dameon said.

‘That is my greatest fear,’ I said grimly.

‘Even if you are right, if Ariel is not in Redport it is likely Dragon would have been imprisoned somewhere to await his return,’ Swallow said. ‘There would still be time to save her.’

‘We do not know yet what has happened to her,’ Dameon reminded us all gently.

‘Wouldn’t Ariel be more likely to use shipfolk from Salamander’s crew than Ekoni to capture her?’ Ana said, offering me a bowl of food. I noticed absently that there were specks of black in it, but I did not care.

‘The
Black Ship
is not anchored in the Bay,’ I said, beginning to eat.

I suddenly remembered I had not told them of the greatships I had seen far out to sea. They speculated a little about the intentions of the emissary, then Ana said, ‘You know, there is another possibility.’ She continued, unhappily. ‘What if Dragon has been carried aboard a ship and taken to Ariel?’

Swallow shook his head and said with certainty, ‘No greatship has departed Redport since Dragon left here.’

‘You were not watching the whole time,’ I said.

‘No, but no ship would attempt the constrained and dangerous passage between the Talons save when the tide was right, and there has only been one ebb tide. Not only was I on watch the whole time, Dragon had not even left then.’

‘That is some comfort,’ I said. ‘That and the futuretellers’ visions that place Dragon and me together in Redport.’

‘Did you hear that terrible howling last night?’ Ana suddenly asked. ‘It sounded so close.’

I reminded them that the creature Matthew had mentioned in my dreams was trapped in its lair, but Ana did not look much reassured. ‘I don’t understand how a mutant creature can be here when there is no taint,’ she said.

‘It may have been born into a pocket of taint left over from the Beforetime and is now trapped within it,’ I said. ‘The Beforetimers produced many such befouled places.’

Swallow said that he believed the beast must be within the dome closest to the settlement, for that was the only one he had not poked his nose into during the night. Then he asked if I had felt the tremors, and offered the opinion that they seemed to trouble the beast, for it had given its most recent horrid cry straight after a tremor.

I finished my meal as others began to speculate about Quarry. ‘Training slaves to fight seems a risky undertaking, given how greatly the slaves outnumber their masters,’ Swallow observed.

‘That is why they are kept well away from Redport, and apparently the Chafiri have their heart set on the emissary taking them away,’ I said, adding that I had seen no sign of Quarry from the top of the cliffs, and I had hoped to take a closer look that night. ‘If only we find Dragon safe and sound.’

‘I would like to have a closer look at those ruins you saw,’ Swallow said. ‘You are
certain
they are not connected to Sentinel?’

‘I am not certain and yet I am certain. You will understand when you see them.’

Ana asked if I really believed the first Red Queen had existed in the Beforetime.

I said that the slaves believed it, and then I looked at Swallow who said, ‘All that my father passed on to me concerning the D’rekta and the Twentyfamilies was connected to the ancient promises our people made to protect and tend the sacred sites created by the D’rekta, and to let no other allegiance, be it love or land, get in the way of that sworn duty. The only other thing I know for sure is that those who became the Twentyfamilies lived here for a time, and that the D’rekta wed and begot a son, who she later birthed in the Land.’

‘Did he tell you when she devised the ancient promises?’ I asked curiously.

‘I believe they were completed here. I had a dream which my father told me had been of the D’rekta and the Red Queen speaking of the ancient promises, then later I dreamed of Elspeth saying the same words in the same place.’ He looked at me. ‘You know of this, for I told you of it long ago. But I cannot know
where
the place is, save that there are carvings on a wall behind you, for in my dream it was dark night and you carried a lantern.’

‘Why are you so certain it is in the same place in which the Red Queen spoke them?’ I asked him curiously.

‘My father said it was the same place because of the carving. He recognised it.’ Swallow abruptly got up and said he would go and watch the plain from the top of the dome to get some sense of the movement of traffic. ‘Now that you have eaten, you ought to rest a bit. I will come and wake you in an hour or so.’

‘What about Dameon and me?’ Ana asked, helping me to lay out bedding in the shade not far from where Rasial lay.

‘You must remain here with Gavyn and Rasial. If anything goes wrong, I will send Darga back to alert you, then it will be up to you to decide what is best to do. With luck, Swallow will be successful in finding and destroying the blocking machine, and I can farseek you. You should spend as much time as possible on top of the dome, once we enter the settlement, so that I can reach you.’