Broken World Book Four - The Staff of Law (16 page)

“
Why?”

“
Because the Mujar was undoubtedly the reason for the forest’s
health, and now the spirits will be angry.” The chieftain tapped
his foot on the tarred street. “You remember why our streets are
tarred, don’t you? You remember the war with the land. The forest
will die without the Mujar, and no one will be able to enter it
now.”

“
How do you know this?” Shugin demanded.

“
Because, unlike you, I’m not stupid.”

The hunter
drew himself up. “The Mujar are our enemies! We’re sworn to rid
ourselves of them!”

“
We have more serious problems to worry about than Mujar now,
fool, like what we’re going to eat. If you’d left him there, we
could have gathered food from the forest, but now we
can’t!”

Shugin
scowled, gripping his spear. “You speak like a Mujar lover. We
can’t allow Mujar to go free.”

“
What harm was he doing? He didn’t come begging in our streets,
did he? We could have used him!”

The hunter
glanced back at his frowning fellows, then at the muttering crowd.
His victory was turning to defeat, and he saw only one way out.
Raising his spear, he hefted it.

“
Mujar lover! You lie! You want to save the yellow
scum!”

Shugin drove
the weapon through the old man’s frail chest with a howl of rage,
and Gallar collapsed like a marionette without strings, dead before
he hit the ground.

Shugin turned
to address the crowd. “I’m chieftain now! I say we can gather food
in the forest. We’ll have plenty, and we’ll make this dirty yellow
scum suffer before we find a Pit for him!”

A muted cheer
went up, no one willing to be branded a Mujar lover and suffer
Gallar’s fate. As the old chief’s daughter sobbed beside her
father’s body, Shugin barked orders at the men, who untied the
Mujar and stretched him out on the tar. They hammered the spear in
his chest into the street, and impaled his hands and feet with iron
spikes. Shugin evicted Gallar’s daughter from the chief’s house and
moved in, ordering a party of gatherers and hunters to visit the
wood and bring back its bounty. Having established his elevation of
rank in the eyes of the people through these few swift moves,
Shugin had time to gloat on his victory. Posting two hunters to
watch the Mujar, he retreated into his new domicile to wait for the
unman’s awakening.

A few hours
later, Shugin grew impatient at the Mujar’s continued senseless
state and emerged once more under the lightning-shot sky with its
scudding brown clouds. He kicked the unman several times to try to
rouse him, and, when this did not work, ordered his men to throw
water in the Mujar’s face.

Law groaned
and gasped, his fingers curling around the spikes in his hands.
Corrupted Dolana tainted Shissar’s healing touch, causing intense
pain. The sickly Earthpower held him in a grip of cloying warmth so
strong that he could not even struggle a little, his limbs leaden.
Turning his head to the side, he sensed the solid greyness under
him, pitted with swelling spots of utter blackness that burst like
rising bubbles and dispersed to be replaced by others. The blue,
gold and silver form of a man squatted beside him.

“
Enjoying yourself, Mujar?” he sneered.

Law turned his
head away.

The Lowman
punched him. “Look at me when I talk to you.”

Law obeyed,
whereupon the man demanded, “What’s wrong with your eyes, Mujar
scum?”

Law braced
himself for the next blow, which thudded into his ribs. The man
growled, glancing around at the guards. Evidently Law’s stubborn
silence made him look bad, and he was determined to get some kind
of response. He gripped Law’s hair and banged his head on the
ground.

“
Did you heal that forest?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why?”

“
To live in,” Law said.

“
So, if you can fix the forest, you can fix our city, can’t
you?”

“
No.”

The man
sniggered. “Oh, I think you will, because if you don’t, I’m going
to teach you the meaning of pain, understand?”

Law’s silence
made the man snarl and jump up to re-enter his house. The young
Mujar’s only sensations were the numbing hold of tainted Dolana and
the waves of pain that washed through him from his chest and
extremities. The golden light raged within his mind, agitated by
the proximity of so much corruption, it hammered at his eyes for
release.

Chanter leant
against the mantelpiece, watching the fire lick at the logs it fed
on. Its warmth soothed him, and his full belly imparted a wealth of
well-being. Talsy and Kieran sat at a table, sipped a young wine
that an enterprising farmer had cultivated on his land and swapped
comments on it. Travain lounged in a deep, overstuffed couch, his
green eyes coldly flicking over the peaceful scene.

Chanter had
been surprised and unhappy to find the crossbreed lurking in the
castle when he had returned from a two-week retreat in the
mountains. He rarely left the valley anymore, firstly because he
hated to see the horrors outside and secondly because the chosen
were safer when he was here to keep order. With the increasing
chaos, he had to augment the strength of his wards and laws. He had
just completed a circuit of the guarding peaks, placing more marks
upon them to renew Mujar laws that faded under the onslaught of the
chaos outside.

Chanter
straightened as a gust of wind billowed the velvet curtains. Kieran
frowned and Talsy glanced up in surprise, Travain sank deeper into
his chair. The wind spirit swirled around the room in an icy
draught before it calmed and engulfed the Mujar in its cold
presence, caressing his skin with frigid fingers. Its soft voice
whispered in his ear.

“
Greetings, beloved of Life.”

Chanter
frowned. “What means this invasion, churlish one?”

“
Be not angry, but be glad, I bring news, for your ears to
hear.”

“
What news is so important that you must come
within?”

The wind
whispered, “Brother yours, beloved of Life, trapped and beaten far
from here. A victim of man, he who gave us hope, now fallen and
cries in pain.”

“
I have heard you.”

The wind
rustled around the room, rippling the curtains with its chill
movement, then rushed out through the open window with a soft
keening. Chanter turned to find Talsy on her feet, her brows
knitted. Travain gazed after the wind with a bemused
expression.

“
You heard?” Chanter asked her.

She nodded.
“What did it mean?”

He stared into
the fire again, unable to meet her eyes. “Truemen have captured a
Mujar.”

“
Another Mujar?” Talsy’s voice rose with excitement, and Kieran
looked thunderstruck.

“
I thought you were the last,” the Prince muttered.

“
Apparently not,” Chanter said, “although I don’t know where
he’s been hiding. I’ve searched this continent and found no trace
of another.”

“
Perhaps he came from one of the other continents?” Talsy
suggested.

“
He must have.”

“
So, where is he? What are we going to do?”

Chanter raised
his head. “He’s very far away, over a month’s journey by land. It’s
too dangerous to try to do anything.” He shrugged. “He’s a
prisoner, undoubtedly trapped by Dolana, and he’ll be in a Pit long
before we can reach him.”

Talsy came
closer to scrutinise his impassive face. “You’d let them torture
one of your own kind, and then throw him in a Pit?”

“
Traditionally, Mujar don’t help each other. Our fate is our
own, and we cannot be killed. Usually, we aren’t even aware of the
fate of others. The winds don’t normally tell us these
things.”

“
Then why did it?”

“
Probably because of the state of the world, and this Mujar
must be the only other one still above ground. The wind was angry.
It seems that my brother created a haven for himself, like this
one, and now it will be destroyed. Even the winds suffer from the
chaos.”

“
We must save him,” Talsy stated, turning to Kieran for
support.

The Prince
nodded. “Chanter can guide us. We’ll set out at once.”

“
No.”

Talsy swung to
glare at the Mujar. “How can you refuse? He’s your own kind, being
tortured! Don’t you care?”

“
No. It’s hopeless to try, and dangerous. He’ll be in a Pit by
the time you get there.”

Talsy paced
the room with swift strides. “There must be something we can do! If
it’s dangerous for us to travel, it must be dangerous for the
people who’ve caught him. Maybe they won’t take him to a Pit, and
if they try, they might perish along the way.”

“
Then he’ll be free,” Chanter pointed out.

“
We must still find him and bring him here, before others catch
him.”

“
You don’t understand.” Chanter intercepted her and gripped her
shoulders, halting her fevered pacing. “The chaos outside is too
bad now. You’ll never get there.”

“
People are still living out there, so it can’t be that
bad!”

“
They stay in one place and fight off the chaos. Moving through
it is far more dangerous.”

“
I don’t care.” She jerked free. “I’m going to get him, alone
if necessary, though I’m sure many will want to help.” She looked
at Kieran, who nodded. She added, “You may not care what happens to
him, but I do. I won’t sit here and let him suffer. You could fly
there and free him in a few hours, if you wanted to.”

“
No I couldn’t,” Chanter denied. “I could get there quickly,
yes, but I couldn’t free him, more likely I’d get caught too.
They’ll have guards with him. I wouldn’t stand a
chance.”

“
Then I’ll go with whoever will come with me,” she said. “I
won’t try to make you do something you don’t want to. Stay here, in
your safe valley, if you wish.”

His eyes
narrowed. “You know I can’t let you go unprotected.”

“
Kieran will protect me. He has the Starsword.”

“
That won’t be enough to fight the chaos.”

Talsy glanced
at her son. “Travain?”

A hush fell as
they all looked at the sullen crossbreed. Travain’s eyes narrowed.
“You want me to help you?”

Talsy nodded.
“You like to use your powers. You’ll be able to out there, as much
as you want.”

His lip
curled. “If I wanted to go out there and use my powers, I’d have
done it already. Why should I?”

“
Because I’m asking you to.”

He sniggered.
“I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”

Kieran took a
step towards the crossbreed, his hand clearly itching to slap
Travain’s sneering face, but Talsy stopped him, shaking her
head.

“
Leave him. We don’t need him. He’d probably try to kill us
anyway.” She turned back to the Mujar. “We’ll gather some men and
set out at first light tomorrow.”

“
You’re really going to brave the chaos, ride all the way to
the eastern shore with a handful of chosen, all to rescue a Mujar?”
Chanter asked, clearly puzzled.

“
Yes.” Talsy raised her chin. “I’d do it for you.”

“
As I would for you, but for a stranger?”

“
He’s not just a stranger; he’s Mujar, maybe the only one other
than you left in the world. We have to try to help him.”

“
Why?”

“
Because we’re the chosen, and when the gods tested me, one of
the tests was whether I would help other Mujar, not only you.
Perhaps this is another test, to see if I’d give up my safe haven
to go out into the chaos and save a Mujar. Perhaps when I do,
they’ll restore the staff.”

Chanter
murmured, “You’d risk your life on such a slight possibility?”

“
What good is my life, stuck here, waiting for the end? If
there’s the tiniest chance that this might change fate, I’ll take
it. Mujar may be content to sit on a rock all day and stare into
space, but Truemen need challenges, and hope. Without them, we may
as well already be dead.”

She gestured
at the startled crossbreed. “My son has turned out to be the
monster you both predicted he would be. Everything I’ve done has
been a failure, and my being chosen hasn’t saved the world. What do
I have to lose? What do I have to live for? Unrequited love? The
sneering of my misbegotten offspring? No!”

She swung and
thumped a table, making everyone jump at the sudden bang. A vase
wobbled and fell off with a crash. “I won’t sit here and wait for
the world to die! If I perish, it makes no difference now. I don’t
care what you say, you can’t stop me! The staff has lain in that
damned room for six years, gathering dust. The gods aren’t going to
restore the laws, they never intended to. I’d rather die in the
chaos then grow old with the memories and guilt of my
mistakes.”

After several
moments of stunned silence, Chanter stepped in front of her and
gazed into her eyes. “Your love,” he murmured, “is not unrequited,
and your mistakes are few and blameless.” He took her hands. “I set
aside this valley for you because you deserve it, and I won’t
desert you now. If you’re determined to find this other Mujar, I’ll
help you. I can’t let you die.”

Aware of
Kieran watching them with bitter eyes, she stifled the urge to
fling her arms around Chanter’s neck and hug him. Instead she
smiled and nodded. “Gratitude.”