Part 37 (1/2)
”Of course he didn't.” Parno could have kicked himself. ”The man could barely walk to the door unaided. Who thought he could walk out the gate?” He turned to Dhulyn. ”Was he shamming all along?”
She was shaking her head, slowly, her eyes looking at but not seeing the tables and chairs of the Tarkina's anteroom.
”When did this happen?”
”Just before we arrived. Perhaps ten minutes ago, a little more.”
”What color were his eyes?” she asked. Parno looked to Karlyn, but the man was shaking his head. That was a detail no one would have thought to check.
The silence lifted Dhulyn's eyes to meet Parno's.
”We're going to have to leave him tied up,” she said, indicating the inner room with her chin. ”No matter who he is.”
Twenty-three.
DHULYN LEANED AGAINST the wall behind Zelianora Tarkina, watching the familiar faces around the table. She and Parno could have had seats at the table as well-and maybe Parno would have liked that, she thought, looking sideways at him out of the corner of her eye-but she felt more comfortable on her feet, where she could watch everyone and move quickly, should it prove to be necessary.
They were in the private council chamber in the north tower of the Carnelian Dome. Zelianora Tarkina sat at one end of the oval table, to the right of Bet-oTeb, present as the official representative of her absent father. The Tarkina was pale, and there were lines around her lips that had not been there last night. In no other way did she show the fear and worry that she must have been feeling. The Tarkin-to-be was a copy of her mother, down to the rigidly straight back and the frown line between the eyebrows. On Bet-oTeb's left was Dal-eDal, Tenebroso in all but name, with Karlyn-Tan leaning against the wall behind him, which put the former Steward directly across from Dhulyn herself. To Dal's left was Cullen of Langeron, and the Racha bird Disha paced back and forth upon the table itself, pausing every now and then, turning her head to watch the person speaking.
And to round out the circle of those who knew about the Green Shadow, Gundaron and Mar-eMar sat together at the end of the table farthest from the Tarkina and Bet-oTeb. Dhulyn narrowed her eyes. They were never far from one another, those two, and Dhulyn wasn't at all sure how she felt about that. She told herself it was none of her business. Mar had made herself very useful to Zelianora and her pages, and whatever had brought her to Gotterang in the first place, she now seemed well placed in the Tarkin's court. Gundaron had pledged himself to the Tarkina also, Dhulyn had heard. All she knew for certain was that the boy was looking thinner than was good for him. He also looked older, more thoughtful, as well he might. But he still had trouble meeting people's eyes.
”The Shadow has left the Tarkin, then?” Dal was saying. ”Can he tell us anything?”
Zelianora Tarkina had been murmuring something to her daughter, but at this question she raised her head and looked around the table, taking in each face in turn. Now Dhulyn could see the exhaustion in the woman's eyes, held at bay by the firmness of her mouth. The Tarkina shook her head.
”He is Tek-aKet, of that I'm certain, and Dhulyn Wolfshead agrees,” she said. ”But his mind still wanders.”
Dhulyn cleared her throat. ”It was the same with Beslyn-Tor. He could not focus for more than a few moments at a time.” The Tarkin had been moved to his own chamber, where Corin Wintermoon stood guard beside the bed. She'd been warned not to untie the Tarkin, no matter what was said, or who requested it-and to be especially suspicious if the man became lucid. Now that they knew the Shadow could revisit former hosts, they could not afford to leave Tek-aKet unbound. Though, Dhulyn admitted to herself, it was all too likely the creature could destroy any restraints holding it, if it didn't mind the cost to the body housing it.
”The Tarkin will know things about the Shadow,” she continued, turning to Zelianora and Bet-oTeb. ”Just like the Jaldean did. Things that could help us. We must question him, even if his mind is wandering.” She could understand that their first concern would be for the father, the husband, the leader of Imrion. But they hadn't seen the Green Shadow, or spoken to it. Hadn't see the NOT NOT that it would make of their lives and their world, if they did not find it and destroy it. that it would make of their lives and their world, if they did not find it and destroy it.
Bet-oTeb spoke up, her clear child's voice startling. ”Can't we-could we not find a Healer? Somewhere? I have heard that there are Marked among the Cloud People. Would they be willing to help us?”
Dhulyn was pleased that the child who was to be the next Tarkin spoke of willingness to help, rather than of forcing. That boded well for everyone's future, if they all came out of this alive, and in their right minds.
”There is a Healer in the Trevel settlement,” Cullen said. Disha shrugged her wings and walked up the table toward him in her peculiar rocking gait. ”Disha says that if she leaves now, she can be back before nightfall, but the Healer, even if she's found quickly and is willing to come,” he spread his hands. ”It would take more than half a moon for someone to get here from the mountains.”
”I would be very grateful if you would go,” Bet-oTeb said, addressing the bird directly. Disha opened and closed her wings with a snap, hopped to Cullen's shoulder where she b.u.t.ted his cheek with her head as if she were a cat, and from there launched herself out the open window next to Dhulyn.
”I don't think we have half a moon,” Dal said. ”The Houses are already beginning to ask questions. If Tek is not able to take part in the Dedication Ceremony, they may very well ask for the Carnelian Throne to be set to the Ballot, and if that occurs, we must ask ourselves how likely it is that Bet will be chosen as Tarkin.”
”And where will that leave us?” Bet-oTeb asked.
Dal shrugged. ”At the moment we are holding secure. As Dhulyn Wolfshead suggested, we've let rumors be spread that Beslyn-Tor is stricken with an illness that spreads on the touch. People are asked to report if they've seen him, without trying to capture him themselves. I think a good many people will be happy to do just that, especially since the rumor carries word of a reward.”
”There are still those among the New Believers who may hide him,” Karlyn-Tan said.
”That's so,” agreed Dal. ”But most of the Houses are with us-either really with us, or holding off to see what happens next, depending on their spirit. The conservative faction of the Jaldeans, the Old Believers, are also making overtures toward the Tarkin, now that it's obvious the New Believers have lost so much of their former power. But if Tek-aKet does not regain his health, and a Ballot is demanded . . . ” Dal lifted his shoulders and spread his hands. He turned his eyes toward Parno, leaning against the wall within touching distance of Dhulyn.
”We would lose our leverage, our ability to act freely against the Shadow,” Parno said. ”We stand in a position of strength only so long as we can be seen as acting on the Tarkin's orders. Without him, we have no authority.”
Dhulyn looked between the two men. If it was left to Dal, she realized, there would always be a connection between them, no matter what Parno thought.
”He must be made well again,” Zelianora said. ”There must be a way.”
”Gundaron of Valdomar,” Dhulyn said, turning to look down the length of the table. ”Have your researches told you anything that could help us?”
The boy glanced quickly at Mar before he spoke. ”I'm afraid I know of nothing that might help the Tarkin,” he said. His voice, though quiet, was trained for the lecture hall, clear and carrying. ”At least-there are several indications that this is not the first time we've been visited by this Shadow. The very oldest texts, those which date to the times of the Caids-we always thought they were legends really, myths, but many of them speak of a time of great peril, a time when the world itself was in grave danger. Texts speak of floods and earthquakes, but there's one of the Eshcaidath scrolls-” Here the boy sat up straighter, gaining poise and confidence from the familiarity of reporting on his researches, and looked at Dhulyn, waiting for her nod of recognition before he continued. ”It speaks of an 'undoing', a kind of dissolving, of large areas of land where there seemed to be no land, and where beasts and men died blue, as if their breathing had stopped.”
Yes, Dhulyn thought, her heart pounding. That's what the Shadow had meant, when it spoke of making nothing. What it had done so casually to the small bench in the Tarkina's room, it wished to do to the whole world. Dhulyn thought, her heart pounding. That's what the Shadow had meant, when it spoke of making nothing. What it had done so casually to the small bench in the Tarkina's room, it wished to do to the whole world.
Cullen leaned forward, drawing in his attention from the distance where Dhulyn was sure he followed his Racha's flight.
”The Dead Lands,” he said. Dhulyn found she was nodding along with the Scholar.
”But the peril was overcome?” Zelianora said.
”It was. The people called upon the Sleeping G.o.d, and the G.o.d awoke. When the peril was banished, the G.o.d slept again, or departed, or, well-again the texts differ.”
”But have the same essential meaning.” Dhulyn s.h.i.+fted her weight to her left leg. ”Beslyn-Tor told us. The Green Shadow fears the G.o.d.”
”The New Believers said,” Bet-oTeb said, her girl's light voice trembling, ”that we are the dream of the G.o.d, and if he awakens, the world will be destroyed.”
Gundaron shook his head, his lips pressed together. ”There's just no basis for that idea in any text, book, or scroll. And the Old Believers among the Jaldeans have always denied it. The ancient stories say that the G.o.d awakened to destroy this great evil, this peril. So the G.o.d was was awake, do you understand? It destroyed the peril and then . . .” awake, do you understand? It destroyed the peril and then . . .”
”Fell asleep again?” Parno's voice was a soft rumble.
Gundaron shrugged, and nodded.
”Are we in any doubt that this is the same peril?” Karlyn-Tan asked.
”Given the use it has made of the New Believers, and its insistence that the Sleeping G.o.d not not be awakened, I think not,” Dhulyn said. be awakened, I think not,” Dhulyn said.
”How do we we awaken the G.o.d?” Strangely, it was Bet-oTeb who voiced the question in everyone's mind, as if, childlike, she was not afraid to ask. awaken the G.o.d?” Strangely, it was Bet-oTeb who voiced the question in everyone's mind, as if, childlike, she was not afraid to ask.
Gundaron licked his lips, glanced again at Mar, and seemed to draw strength from her.
”The stories don't say how,” he said. ”Just that the call went out into the world, and the Sleeping G.o.d awoke and came.”
”How can they not say?” Zelianora ma.s.saged her temples with her fingertips.
”It's not unusual,” Dhulyn said. ”It's the reason there are so many commentaries on the old books. The writers take a certain knowledge for granted, they a.s.sume a shared understanding. They say 'the enemy,' without naming or describing the foe-for them, there can be only one enemy, and description is unnecessary.”
”But how could this be?” Dal slapped the tabletop with his hand.