The Way of Things: Upper Kingdom Boxed Set: Books 1, 2 and 3 in the Tails of the Upper Kingdom (24 page)

She
did not move.

“Would
you
like
to go down now?”

“Yes.”

Still,
she did not move.

“Perhaps
you would like to
lie
down, instead?”

“Yes.”

He took her carefully by the arms,
turned her in a half-circle and walked her toward the narrow bed. She did not
even appear to notice she had moved. He turned her again and hands on
shoulders, pushed her down onto ‘her side’ of the mattress. She sat stiff and
wooden, staring at nothing in particular.

“Lie
down,” he ordered.

“Yes,”
she said, but still, did not move.

With
two fingers, he pushed her to the bed and she curled into a tight white ball around
herself. He found the rough woolen blanket, draped it over her, tucking it into
the folds of her body. One of the more notable effects of the opium was a
sensation of cold and he did not want the Major to be chilled on his account.
Her eyes were closed so he leaned in to her ear.

“How’s
that?” he asked softly. “Are you warm enough?”

“I
will be when you join me.”

“Ah.”

He straightened up, suddenly
feeling much too intimate for comfort. Perhaps the opium allowed more than
Seers to peer into the hearts and souls of others, for in truth, he would have
liked nothing better. But for every good thing there was always a bad, Petrus
had taught him. Yang to each Yin. The toll was far too heavy for such folly,
the cost far too steep. He had paid it once. Never again.

“You
will be warm enough. Sleep well, my wild Empress. I’ll check in on you later.”

He debated on blowing out the
room’s only candle, but decided against it, and quietly closed the door behind
him.

***

The Captain of the Guard was
growing anxious.

It was the beginning of Second
Watch, and the Seer had not yet come down.

The Alchemist and Scholar were
sitting at a far table, braiding each other’s hair and chatting like old
friends, whispering and throwing the occasional sly look at Kerris who was
sitting at another far table, grinning and drinking a bowl of sakeh and
watching them both. All this flirtation conspired to make Kirin quite
uncomfortable.

He
sighed, opened his palm, and the parchment uncurled within.

He
read it again.

My dearest Captain,

It was with great joy that I
received your note. You have indeed proven that my faith in you is not, nor has
ever been, misplaced. And for that, you have my eternal gratitude.

But it is with great sadness
that I must ask one more thing of you and I fear it is a thing that shall pain
you as much as it pains me. I must ask that you not return to
Pol’Lhasa
until you have found this ‘Soul’, this murderer of my Seers. Whatever, or
whomever, has caused these deaths must be found swiftly, and once found,
executed without remorse. I can allow nothing less.

The security of the Upper
Kingdom depends on this one terrible act. And I must ask it of you alone. I
trust you will understand.

My heart forever yours,

Thothloryn Parillaud Markova Wu

It was sealed with the Imperial
seal and the scent of lotus.

He
closed his fist, slipping the note into the sash at his waist and glancing
around the room with furtive eyes. No one had seen. This, no one must see.

 
He clenched his jaw,
breathing deeply as he steeled his resolve. They would find this ‘Soul,’ he was
certain of it and once they did, with his very sword, the Captain of the Guard
would kill him.

It
was madness.

And what was worse, if the vision
of Sireth benAramis was to believed, the man whom the Empress said was never
wrong, then it would not only be madness, but blasphemy.

Kirin rubbed his temple. He had
another headache.

High
above, from a room down at the end of the corridor, he heard a door close and
the footsteps of a long determined stride. Kirin looked up.

Very
much alone, the Seer was coming down the stairs. The Captain rose to meet him.

“Where
is the Major?”

Sireth
regarded him with eyes as sharp and shiny as a falcon’s. Indeed, it seemed to
Kirin that, at this very moment, both eyes could see.

“The
opium,” the Seer began. “It is a raw blend, strong and harsh, not at all like
the sort we use at
Sha’Hadin.
Nonetheless, I am accustomed to its
effects. The Major however is not.”

“Is
there anything else you require?”

“No.”

He
brushed past towards the main hearth, kneeling down beside the fire as if about
to begin another set of meditations. Slowly, methodically, he removed his
gloves.

From
the far tables, Kerris, Fallon and Sherah watched with interest.

It
was a ritual, that much was obvious from the meticulous folding back of his
wide sleeves seven times to the exaggerated depth of breathing. In fact, it
reminded Kerris of a swimmer, preparing himself for a dive deep to the ocean
floor to retrieve some hidden pearl. He grinned at the memory. The Seer’s lips
were moving, uttering incantations or mantras or some other such spells and now
it was the Alchemist who sat forward, ears pricked, straining to catch and
remember every word.

For without warning, the Seer
turned and thrust both hands into the roaring fire.

“Mother!” Fallon jumped to her
feet.

They
were all standing now, watching in awe as the flames hissed and leapt about
within the hearth, over and around the spotted arms. After several moments, the
hands drew back unscathed, pelt unsinged, holding three live coals in each hand
as red as a new morning sun. They were sizzling with heat and smoldering fire
when the Seer crushed them between his palms, sending ash raining to the floor.

Fallon edged closer, her eyes
bright with curiosity and Kerris grinned again.

“Yes, I think I’d need a pipe or
two of opium before doing that...”

“Pain is simply a matter of
perspective.” muttered Sireth under his breath.

Reaching forward, he smeared the
ash across the stone, creating a palette in soot and with eyes closed, he began
to draw.

Fallon
peered over his shoulder.

“Wow,
it’s the Kingdom. He’s drawing the Upper Kingdom!”

Kirin
narrowed his eyes. Sure enough, the Scholar was correct. He could make out the
range of the Great Mountains slicing the palette in two, the southern horn that
was
Hindaya
, the eastern provinces of
Nam
,
Shiam
and
Lan’Landesh
and
all the way
west to the deserts of
Hirak, Hiran
and
Sahood.
The coastlines
were rough but recognizable. To the north, the Lower Kingdom was not drawn in
at all for no cat had ever dared explore those barbaric lands where Pure Races
meant nothing and Dogs bred at will.

After
several minutes of drawing, Sireth straightened up, fixing his falcon-like
stare on the Captain.

“Your scroll,” he said evenly. With
some measure of regret, Kirin removed the tiny parchment and handed it over.

“This is
Pol’Lhasa.
”

Carefully, Sireth placed the scroll
over the exact location of the Palace, high above
DharamShallah
, deep in
the heart of the Great Mountains.

“And this,” he turned back to the
hearth, retrieved a seventh coal and placed it just to the north of the scroll.
“This is us.”

“Wow,”
Fallon breathed. “This is so exciting.”

“Hush,”
said Kerris.

Sherah
was circling them all like a shark, the tip of her tail twitching in
anticipation as she feasted on the mysteries before her. Kirin was certain she
was salivating.

“In several moments, this last coal
will split and as I begin my journey, so it will follow. No one must touch it,
attempt to alter its course or interfere with its path in any way. Is that
understood?”

Kirin
nodded.

“We
are assuming that our ‘friend tiger’ will join us again tonight. As he does, it
will be unlikely that I will be able to communicate in any way to any of you.
Therefore, it is vitally important that no one touch me at any time during the
evening for once the connection is severed, there is no way of getting it
back.”

“Yes,” said Fallon. “Yes, that’s
what happened last night.”

“Hush,”
said Kerris.

“And since none of you possesses
the Gift of Farsight, then none of you can help me if that happens. If the
connection is severed prematurely,
I
shall have no way of getting back and
this ritual will have accomplished nothing.”

“That will not happen,” said Kirin.
“You have my word.”

“Is
it Enough?”

“It
will have to be.”

“I
believe you.” He took a deep breath, held it for a brief second, releasing it
with a rush. “Very well. I will begin. Oh and by the way, will someone please
open the door?”

And
he let drop his hands to his lap and said nothing more.

Fallon
looked to the Captain, eyes wide and questioning. He nodded and she scrambled
for the door, swinging it wide and peering out into the darkness. There was
nothing, save the wind.

She
turned back to the room.

“Nothing.”

She frowned and looked out one last
time, ducking just in time as the falcon soared in over her head, bleating and
catching several white-tipped hairs in its claws. It soared around the room, as
if searching for a snow leopard upon which to perch, finally settling for the
horn of a yak’s head, mounted upon the wall.

Fallon slammed the door.

“That was not funny, you... you
miserable little bird!”

“HUSH!”
said the brothers in tandem, before a sound caused them to look back to the
palette of soot. It was a soft sound, a crackling, sizzling, popping sound, one
which was producing glowing light and heat in its wake.

The
seventh coal was beginning to split.

***

heartbeat growing quiet, faint
and distant, heat and weight falling away, a cloak at sunrise, breath within
lifting, peeling, carrying, up up up above them all, above the Great Room,
between the blackened beams of ceiling, falcon-sharp eyes watching him,
watching, chirrup and cry, a ripple as the roof passed through, cobwebs and
rotting wood, and stars now, many jeweled stars and the moon, familiar friends,
well-traveled roads of cloud and night-sky, one star not a star, a star
prophesied, a prophesy of rejoicing and devastation, a star waking, hungry
,
dying
- there was a tug and like lightning, he was gone

***

“It’s
really splitting. Wow...”

Four eager faces hovered above the
coal, now completely split into two distinct halves. One of the halves began to
rotate, eerily spinning on its axis. Kirin motioned them back, for fear that
some hand or boot might inadvertently block the path if indeed the coal chose
to move. Quickly, he risked glancing at those eager faces. The Scholar was
open-mouthed, fingers busily tugging at her laces, emerald eyes glued to the
coal as if she herself was willing it to move. Likewise, the Alchemist was
intently watching, her golden eyes darting between coal and Seer as if she
could divine his methods and practice them herself. For the first time, Kirin
sensed the curiosity that must surely drive her and for the first time, he
found himself approving. Kerris was sitting a little further back, taking in
the entire room with quick blue eyes, enjoying being caught up in something
unusual, something mutually unexpected, likely as eager to see that little coal
head into uncharted territory as Kirin was to see it stay closer to home.

There
was a yelp as the coal shot like a firecracker between Fallon’s knees,
scuttling away from the map and across the floor.

***

fast, too fast, through clouds
and valleys, violent ripples as mountain rock passed through, swifter than a
falcon’s dive, swifter still, the Great Wall below, snaking like a sidewinder
through the peaks, beyond the Wall now, over deserts as turbulent as a sea,
unfamiliar ranges, golden rock and white-wash, sand and scrub and patches of
sage, faster now, blurring the Sight, pulling faster, farther than a cat should
go, no stopping now, over a small sea, the land below bleeding with color like
paint holding too much water, too fast, to loose, falling apart, falling still

***

“Where did it go?”

“Don’t touch it!” Kirin leapt to
his feet. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it!”

“Oh ho, Kirin!,” Kerris laughed. “I
hope that thing’s wrong or we’ll be riding forever!”

“There!”
shouted Fallon. “There, under the table!”

The
coal was still moving, rattling across the floor like a stone skipping across
the surface of a pool. There was no constant direction however, for it would
turn as sharply as a mountain pony and shoot off in another direction, under
boots, under tables, forcing them to leap and spin to avoid being struck and
impede its path. It somehow managed to navigate table legs and benches quite
easily however, like a river flowing through deep and craggy valleys.

Sherah
narrowed her eyes, and moved closer to the Seer.

“Captain?” she purred.

“Where
is it now?”

“Here,”
barked Kerris, springing onto a bench as the coal shot under his boots. “No, no
there!”

“Captain?”

The
maddened dash began to slow and the half coal skidded back towards the kneeling
forms of Alchemist and Seer, crossing the palette of soot yet again, passing
DharamShallah
, far to the north and west of the Great Mountains
,
passing
even the heart of the Lower Kingdom. Finally, the spinning ceased, its journey
ended at the base of a far bench. Chests heaving, Kirin, Fallon and Kerris
approached the tiny projectile.