Within the circle before him, the dark form opened crimson eyes. Hoofs cracked like iron axe-blades on the stone.
He grasped the apparition’s midnight mane and swung on to the beast’s back. ‘’Ware your child, Mother.’ He drew the horse round, walked it along the ledge a few strides and then back to the mouth of the tunnel. ‘I’ve been among them for so long now, what you gave me is the barest whisper in the back of my soul. You offered scant regard for humans, and now it’s all coming down. But I give you this.’ He swung the horse round. ‘Now it’s our turn. Your son opened the way. And as for his son, well, if he wants the Sceptre, he’ll have to come and take it.’
Ben Adaephon Delat tightened his grip on the horse’s mane. ‘You do your part, Mother. Let Father do his, if he’s of a mind to. But it comes down to us. So stand back. Shield your eyes, because I swear to you, we will blaze ! When our backs are against the wall, Mother, you have no idea what we can do .’
He drove his heels into the horse’s flanks. The creature surged forward.
Now, sweet haunt, this could get a little hairy .
The horse reached the ledge. Then out, into the air. And down, plunging into the seething maelstrom.
The presence, breathing darkness, remained in the vast chamber for a time longer. The strewn scatter of coins and baubles glittered on the black stone.
Then came a tapping of a cane upon rock.
CHAPTER THREE
Time now to go out into the cold night
And that voice was chill enough
To awaken me to stillness
There were cries inviting me into the sky
But the ground held me fast –
Well that was long ago now
Yet in this bleak morning the wings
Are shadows hunched on my shoulders
And the stars feel closer than ever before
The time is soon, I fear, to set out in search
Of that voice, and I will draw to the verge
Time now to go out into the cold night
Spoken in so weary a tone
I can make nothing worthy from it
If dreams of flying are the last hope of freedom
I will pray for wings with my last breath
Cold Night Beleager
SMOKE HUNG IN THICK WREATHS IN THE CABIN. THE PORTHOLES WERE all open, shutters locked back, but the air did not stir and the sweltering heat lapped exposed flesh like a fevered tongue. Clearing her throat against a pervasive itchiness in her upper chest, Felash, Fourteenth Daughter of Queen Abrastal, tilted her head back on the soft, if soiled and damp, pillow.
Her handmaid set about refilling the pipe bowl.
‘Are you certain of the date?’ Felash asked.
‘Yes, Highness.’
‘Well, I suppose I should be excited. I made it to my fifteenth year, let the banners wave. Not that anything waves hereabouts.’ She closed her eyes for a moment, and then blinked them open again. ‘Was that a swell?’
‘I felt nothing, Highness.’
‘It’s the heat I don’t appreciate. It distracts. It whispers of mortality, yielding both despondency and a strange impatience. If I’m to die soon, I say, let’s just get on with it.’
‘Mild congestion, Highness.’
‘And the sore lower back?’
‘Lack of exercise.’
‘Dry throat?’
‘Allergies.’
‘All these aches everywhere?’
‘Highness,’ said the handmaid, ‘are there moments when all these symptoms simply vanish?’
‘Hmm. Orgasm. Or if I find myself, er, suddenly busy.’
The handmaid drew the water pipe to life and handed the princess the mouthpiece.
Felash eyed the silver spigot. ‘When did I start this?’
‘The rustleaf, Highness? You were six.’
‘And why, again?’
‘It was that or chewing your fingernails down to nothing, as I recall, Highness.’
‘Ah yes, childish habits, thank the gods I’m cured. Now, do you think I dare the deck? I swear I felt a swell back then, which must yield optimism.’
‘The situation is dire, Highness,’ the handmaid said. ‘The crew is weary from working the pumps, and still we list badly. No land in sight, not a breath of wind. There is a very serious risk of sinking.’
‘We had no choice, did we?’
‘The captain and first mate do not agree with that assessment, Highness. Lives were lost, we are barely afloat—’
‘Mael’s fault,’ Felash snapped. ‘Never known the bastard to be so hungry.’
‘Highness, we have never before struck such a bargain with an Elder God—’