Part 32 (2/2)

'I cannot say for sure that these things are fictions,' he p.r.o.nounced at last. 'I cannot explain so many of the things I myself have seen. I don't say there's no natural explanation, only that I cannot explain them. I think I'm better off not knowing the truth. I leave that for those better qualified.' He nodded at Che. 'But to suggest that Tynisa Maker is a dangerous lunatic, well, no great change there. I have few fond memories of her, even from before this supposed change overtook her. To bring her here is to invite disaster.'

'Maure and I will ensure that she does no harm.'

'Absolutely not. Not under my roof. You're not risking me and mine,' Gaved snapped. 'You can go back to the cursed Lowlands and get on with your b.l.o.o.d.y business there . . .' He tailed off, because Sef had put a hand on his arm.

'There are ghosts,' she said. 'I have seen them in the deep water, and I have seen them here.'

Gaved bared his teeth at her, but that simple laying of a hand on his arm had drained the anger out of him.

'Tell me this,' Che put in, 'when you saw her last, did she not remind you of Tisamon?'

The Wasp looked at her blankly for a moment, as if reluctant to admit it, but then he nodded. 'Perhaps, a little. But there are reasons . . .'

'Of course, there always are,' Che confirmed.

'We will go to Prince Lowre Cean,' Sef declared confidently. 'He cares about the Maker girl enough, so he will understand. He will believe.'

'Abandon our own house?' Gaved demanded.

'It is a house. It will still be here after they are all gone,' Sef explained reasonably. 'And you must all come, all of you.' Her gesture took in the three Wasps.

'Now hold on-' started Thalric, but Che cut him off.

'She's right, best that you're not here. As you said, you and Tynisa have a good deal of history, and besides, Wasp-kinden are not what we need to confront her with. It would be too good an excuse for her to give in to temptation and draw her sword.'

'Not that she ever needed much of an excuse,' Thalric recalled sourly.

'Quite,' Che agreed. 'Thalric, please.'

Thalric nodded tiredly. 'When she saw the two of us off in Collegium, setting off for Tharn during the war, she was ready to swear all manner of oaths that she would come and kill me if anything happened to you, Che.'

She eyed him wordlessly, but with a single nod.

'Then I swear this: if she harms you whether in her madness or her sanity then I will hunt her down, you understand? If she so much as draws a bead of your blood, then I will see her die in flames.' He was abruptly once more the merciless spymaster, the killer of children, the fatal hand of the Empire, and it was for her, for Che alone, that he would become such a thing again. The feeling of power, having him on her side, shocked her.

'She won't hurt me,' Che did her best to a.s.sure him.

His expression held no confidence in that, and his threat, his promise, still hung in the air as Varmen said, 'Well, then, who's this fellow we're to impose ourselves on? Prince Lousy, was it, you said?'

'Lowre Cean,' Gaved said quietly. 'Prince-Major Lowre Cean.' He gave the name some weight, and waited for the other Wasps to catch up.

Thalric was ahead of Varmen, but it was plain that the two of them registered the name.

'You can't mean their general?'

'Yes, Thalric,' Gaved confirmed, 'none other.'

'The man who crushed the . . .?' Thalric's words tailed off, his eyes drawn inexorably to Varmen. 'The man who crushed the Sixth at Masaki.'

'Pride of the Sixth,' the big Wasp echoed. For a moment the strange pensive expression taking up unfamiliar residence on his face was enough to silence the rest of them. 'Oh, yes, let's go visiting. Why not?'

Gaved shot him a dangerous look. 'He's well liked, loved even. Don't get any ideas.'

'I'm not noted for them,' Varmen replied. 'What, you think I'm going to go take vengeance on him for a whole army? If I was going to do that, I'd dig up our old General Haken and spit on his corpse, I would. But I want to see this fellow. I want to see the face of the man behind Masaki. I knew there was a reason for me to come so far, and maybe that's it.'

When Maure announced, without warning, that the ghost was nearing, presumably with Tynisa in thrall and in tow, Che opened the external panels of the house, so that her sister would see it as an invitation. Oh, she would be suspicious, of course, and it would not take Tisamon's shade to prompt that, but she would enter nonetheless.

Inside, Maure had already made her preparations. A circle was drawn on the floor in bone ash and charcoal, and she had hung lanterns in each corner of the inner room, each housing a constellation of fireflies within. She had marked out the circle with symbols that were not letters but pictograms, which looked frighteningly familiar to Che. Testing the water, she asked the necromancer, 'What do they say?'

'Say?' Maure shrugged. 'They don't say anything. They're just the warding marks that we use, pa.s.sed down from teacher to pupil, generation to generation.'

Che nodded dully, while interpreting, By Ephisemnas Queen of the Veiled Night I adjure you. By Telephian the Wise, Lord of the Seven Guards, I stay your hand. By . . . On and on, a rote of power rooted solely in the terror of ancient names and t.i.tles, but she could sense that power there. First the castle at Leose, and now this. How far did the reach of the Masters of Khanaphes stretch, in their heyday?

There was incense too, little smoking stacks of it on leaves floating in bra.s.s bowls of snowmelt water, and also sprigs of herbs tied to the eaves. Maure caught Che's look and nodded grimly. 'I know, you're wondering which of it works and which doesn't, hm? Well, who can say, but with this visitor I'm not minding to leave any of it out.' Around the edge of the circle, she sprinkled a trail of white powder, and Che wondered if it was ordinary salt.

'And what will this accomplish?' she asked.

'a.s.suming any of it has any staying power at all, it will prevent the ghost from simply striking me dead.'

Che blinked. 'He can do that? Himself?'

'No, but your girl there has a sword, so he only has to put the idea in her head. From Gaved's evidence, she's not exactly inhibited in that way.'

I cannot deny it. Che nodded unhappily. And then Tynisa came stalking into the room, with drawn sword.

She stopped, as though having struck a wall, and stared about her. 'Oh, my word, what's this?' she got out, with a choking sound, and a moment later Che realized that she was laughing.

'Tynisa,' she greeted her sister, feeling a slight tension as she did so. For names have power. 'This is Maure, a friend. She and I are conducting . . . an experiment. I want you to join us for it.'

Tynisa eyed the paraphernalia with contempt, and moved to kick out at one of the bowls, but something stopped her, clearly to her own surprise. 'You called me out here just for this?' Her eyes narrowed. 'Where are Gaved and his woman?'

'Away,' Che said firmly, seeing in that instant how wise it had been to ensure that the Wasps were absent. 'Sit down, please.'

'More ghosts?' Tynisa asked her mockingly.

'Possibly. Will you sit?'

The Spider girl shook her head, her expression pitying, and she seemed about to turn and leave when Maure said, 'Do you not know me, Tynisa? Have you not seen me before?'

'No.' But Tynisa frowned. 'Have I?' Her sword, which had been hanging loose by her side, was abruptly levelled across the circle, directed at Maure's heart. For a moment Tynisa went very still, save that Che could see a slight tremble in her, as though she was fighting with her own body. 'What . . .?' she got out, 'I should . . .'

'You want to kill me,' Maure observed.

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