Part 47 (1/2)

*I thought I'd hear your side of the story first.'

*There's a story? What did she say?'

*I think you need to ask her that, not me.'

*How did she look? Where is she now?'

*She looked pretty happy, actually. Her licence has been renewed.'

*Did she say where she was going?'

*No.'

Skender knew anyway. If she had her licence again, there was only one possible place. *Thanks, Mum.' He levered himself upright. *I'll see you later.'

*No doubt.'

He hurried along the Wall, retracing his steps. As he pa.s.sed Sal and s.h.i.+lly, they had stopped talking and were watching the heavy lifter's progress.

*Look!' s.h.i.+lly said. *It's the body of a hullfish, like the one Os is carved from!'

He barely glanced to his left. Noting the enormous white carca.s.s dangling from the rear of the heavy lifter, but not immediately making the connection with the Alcaide's charmed s.h.i.+p, he simply waved and kept going.

Her licence. Skender's heart beat fast as the cab wound its way to the armoury. It seemed to take an inordinately long time to get anywhere.

A new fear had struck him. What if his interpretation of the argument was wrong? What if the hurt and anger had been on his side, not hers? What if he had misunderstood the situation completely, and he was the rejected one, not her?

He remembered the Magister saying to Chu, earlier that week: The moment I give you your licence back, you will abandon this young man to his fate. Your intentions are transparent to me.

The taxi driver turned around to ask him a question, and for an instant Skender was certain he was the same one he'd charmed three days earlier. His heart tripped a beat and he swore that he would make amends on that score the very next day. But it wasn't the same man. This driver's head was full of grey hair, and his ears hung low under the weight of several gold hoops.

Skender stammered an answer. Yes, he was from out of town; no, he wasn't interested in a good price on Ruin fragments.

*Hasn't Magister Considine frozen trade in artefacts until the flood situation is clarified?' he asked.

The driver took the hint and went back to driving in silence.

Skender stewed all the way to the armoury, wondering how people without his perfect memory coped under the burden of so much uncertainty. It was devouring him from within. He knew he should be deciding what he was going to do in the coming days, but until he had filled the void in his mind he couldn't contemplate anything else. A builder wouldn't begin walls or a roof without finis.h.i.+ng the foundations first. How could he move into the future without a rock-solid guarantee of the past behind him?

Part of him was aware that he might be overreacting. He couldn't help it. He had to know where he stood with Chu. That particular mystery was more alarming than anything to do with Laure, the Divide, the twins, his parents - or anything else that came to mind.

The cab jerked to a halt at the base of the armoury, and he paid the fare. As he stepped out onto the familiar streets, he began to feel nervous. Finding out could be worse than being left in the dark. Perhaps some things were better left forgotten.

*Hey, stone-boy!'

Skender looked up to see Kazzo Niclais sauntering out of the armoury entrance, a folded wing slung under his arm like a plank of wood. Inwardly, he groaned.

*What do you want?'

*Just saw you standing out here, looking lost. You need directions?'

*That's okay. I know where I am.'

*Right, then.' The handsome flyer waved c.o.c.kily and went to continue on his way.

*Wait,' said Skender, ignoring the throbbing in his head. *Have you seen Chu today?'

*Sure have, stone-boy. She took to the air a quarter-hour ago. Testing out her new licence.'

Distrusting Kazzo's word, Skender looked up and around him, seeking her out among the many wings in the air that afternoon. He did recognise her, swooping and gliding like an eagle over the Wall. Part of him ached to be up there too, but that wasn't likely to happen soon. His licence, last seen flying off into a sandstorm with the quartermaster, had been most firmly revoked by the yadachi.

*Will she be up there long?'

*I wouldn't stand out here waiting for her, if that's what you're wondering. It's been a long time since she got to go solo. No offence, but flying with you just wasn't the same.'

Kazzo smirked. Skender didn't have the energy for resentment. *Thanks.'

*No problems, stone-boy.' Kazzo sauntered off a second time, then stopped himself with an afterthought. *Hey, look, just to show there are no hard feelings, why don't you meet us at the Crown and Sceptre tonight. You look like you could use a drink.'

Skender couldn't think of a single use for alcohol at that moment except as an emetic. He squinted up at the brawny flyer, wondering if he was hearing a peace offering or charity.

*Who's we?' he asked, imagining a room full of c.o.c.ky types like Kazzo, overwhelming with their good looks and scraggly beards and coa.r.s.e humour.

*Me and Chu, of course. You can talk to her then. I'm sure that'd be okay.'

*You and -?' He stopped, hearing the subtle inflection in Kazzo's voice. Not charity or peace, but an excuse to use the phrase. *What?'

*You look surprised. Didn't she tell you?'

*Tell me what exactly?'

Holding the wing vertically in his muscular arms, Kazzo came back to Skender.

*Look, don't take this too hard, stone-boy, but you've been led down a bit of a merry path. Chu never wanted to be with you. She was just looking out for herself. And who can blame her for that? Things were pretty tough for a while there. She needed someone to help her out, and she was too wretchedly proud to ask me to take her back. You came along at just the right time. You helped her get her licence back. She needed the confidence boost.' A big hand clapped down on Skender's shoulder. *You did the right thing, man, and you've got a right to feel ripped off. I'm sorry.'

Kazzo did his best to feign sympathy, but there was no hiding a certain amount of gloating. Skender didn't know what to say. He felt as though the box containing all his Chu-related suspicion and paranoia had been torn open and its contents laid bare for the world to see. Every niggling doubt took on a new significance in the light of this possibility. She had made it clear right from the beginning that she hadn't been helping him out of the goodness of her heart; he had been under no illusions on that score, although later he had come to wonder. Now it seemed as if her motives had been even more self-centred than he could have imagined.

Chu had everything back. Not just her licence, but the respect of the other miners as well, and Kazzo. She didn't need Skender any more, and certainly wouldn't leave Laure in a screaming blue fit. Any romantic notions he might have entertained about her testing the updrafts of the Keep's cliff faces were just nonsense.

Some people might say that like should stick with like, she herself had said, or else you're asking for disaster.

He didn't wonder for longer than a second if Kazzo was lying. It all fitted together too well.

All I care about is my own skin ...

*Are you all right?'

Skender was sick of people asking him that. *I'm fine, thanks.' He swore he would be, just to spite them all, as he looked around for another cab.