Broken World Book Four - The Staff of Law (24 page)

Law stayed in
the castle for a week, wandered its halls and ran his hands over
walls and furniture, curtains and people. Many of the chosen who
came to the castle were startled and uncomfortable when they
encountered the young Mujar and had to submit to his fingers’
scrutiny, although none complained. Talsy was not immune to his
curiosity, and underwent the feather-light touch of his mapping, as
did Kieran. Law discovered the Starsword hanging on the wall in
Kieran’s room and took it down to finger with delighted murmurs,
much to the Prince’s surprise. The youngster reverently returned
the sword to its place when he was finished, and accorded Kieran a
bow. When a cook burnt herself with hot oil in the kitchen, Law
granted Talsy’s Wish and healed it, but she had the feeling that he
kept tally of how many questions she had asked and how many favours
he had granted, and she wondered how large her credit was.

Once he
finished his exploration of the castle, he spent his days
sunbathing in the garden, apparently content, as all Mujar were, to
simply do nothing at all. When Talsy questioned him further about
his blindness, his constant assertion that he could not open his
eyes proved a dead end street that she was unable to steer around.
Life in the valley returned to its peaceful state, the flurry of
excitement at Law’s arrival giving way to normality again. No one,
least of all Talsy, had any inkling of the tremendous upheavals
soon to come.

Events
unfolded at an alarming rate on the day Travain came to visit. Law
perched in a young peach tree, humming a tuneless dirge, while
Talsy sewed a new blouse on the stone bench beneath it. Law’s
silence warned Talsy that something was amiss, and the beat of
heavy wings brought a daltar eagle sailing into the garden. He
stopped his flight with a backstroke and dropped onto the
grass.

A rush of wind transformed Travain, and he approached his
mother. Talsy greeted him, and he flopped down on the grass beside
her bench, plucked a blade and chewed it. As soon as she was able,
she broached the subject of
tallana
, explaining what Chanter had
told her of the mysterious force that surrounded Mujar. While she
talked, she became aware of the pregnant silence emanating from the
peach tree, where Law had not resumed his irritating song. Travain
listened to her explanation, frowning.

“
So how can I control something I don’t even know I have?” he
asked.

“
Perhaps Chanter can teach you.”

“
But I can’t see it like he can, and he can’t change
that.”

“
No, perhaps not,” she admitted, “but there must be a way to
learn how to control it anyway. After all, you can’t see Ashmar.
It’s an invisible Power, but you can control it.”

“
Yes, but I can sense Ashmar; I don’t sense this
tallana
.”

“
Still...” Talsy broke off at a soft thud beside her, looking
around. Law stood on the other side of the bench, beneath the peach
tree he had just descended. His fine black brows almost met over
his closed eyes, and he faced Travain with a distinctly hostile
air.

Travain glared
at the young Mujar. “This must be the one you rescued.”

“
Yes, this is Law.”

“
Why doesn’t he open his eyes?”

She shrugged.
“No one knows. Law, this is my son, Travain.”

Law stepped
closer and pointed at Travain. “You are wrong.”

“
Wrong?” Talsy asked, puzzled. “Wrong about what?”

“
Wrong,” Law repeated. “Against the laws. A creature of the
chaos; a man who is not Lowman; a Mujar who is not
Mujar.”

Talsy slumped.
“Oh, that kind of wrong.”

Travain jumped
up. “I don’t like being called names!”

“
Don’t be angry, Travain, he’s young and inexperienced, and he
didn’t call you a bad name.” Talsy watched her son with deep
concern. Travain looked furious, and she feared a violent
retaliation.

“
You are a forbidden breed,” Law continued, apparently
oblivious to the anger in Travain’s voice and the hostility that
bristled the air. “You are the worst of the abominations, the
creatures that should not be.”

“
Law!” Talsy frowned. “Stop it!”

The golden
fire filled Law’s mind, whipped into a wild tempest by the
proximity of this, the most forbidden crossbreed of all, a creature
of the corruption whose very existence insulted the world. The
whizzing words hammered at his eyes, and he squeezed them shut,
raising his hands to cover them. One line of burning writing
settled in his mind, then whizzed away, then settled again,
allowing him an instant to read it.

“
Abomination!” Law said, and Travain leapt at him, his fists
raised.

Talsy cried,
“Travain! Drummer, no!”

Travain halted
with a snarl, his eyes glittering with rage and humiliation. Law’s
pained expression, and the way he covered his eyes, pressing
against them as if to hold something inside his head, alarmed
Talsy. His mouth worked, and a string of harsh, guttural words fell
from his lips like stones, making her skin prickle and Travain howl
in pain. She grabbed her son, who rubbed his skin as if a million
biting ants attacked him, his face twisted with confusion and
anguish.

“
Law, stop!” Talsy yelled. “You do harm!”

The young
Mujar stepped back and turned away. “No harm,” he muttered in a
strained voice.

“
What the hell is going on here?” Talsy cried, holding her
moaning, frantic son as he scrubbed his arms. “Chanter!
Kieran!”

Law walked
away and sat under a tree, his back to them.

Travain had
calmed a little, his arms and neck red from rubbing, by the time
Chanter arrived on a whisper of black wings and transformed in a
rush of wind. He glanced at Law, who sat with his head bowed, then
took in Travain’s state with a scowl.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
It’s Law. He’s done something to Travain, but I don’t know
what. He spoke a weird language.”

“
Mujar?”

“
No, it was ugly.”

Chanter eyed
the young Mujar. “God words?”

“
Could be. Yes, I think so.”

Travain glared
at Law, still rubbing his reddened skin. “What’s his problem?”

Chanter shook
his head. “I don’t know.”

“
Well find out!” he said, and his father’s eyes
frosted.

Talsy warned,
“Travain, remember what I told you.”

The crossbreed
gritted his teeth and swallowed his rage with an effort, his
breathing slowing as he brought himself under control. He drew
himself up, bowed his head towards his father and made a clumsy
Mujar gesture.

“
Guidance, Father.”

Chanter’s
brows rose, but he nodded. “Granted. Come and sit, we will talk.”
He went over to join Law, who sat cross-legged under the peach
tree.

Travain
hesitated, wary of Law, but Chanter seated himself diagonally a few
feet from the young Mujar and pointed to a spot an equal distance
from both, completing the triangle. Travain allowed Talsy to urge
him to his appointed place, and she settled beside him on the
grass. Law cringed at Travain’s proximity, clasping his eyes.

“
Law,” Chanter said, “why did you use god words against
Travain?”

“
Abomination,” the young Mujar muttered. “He is
wrong.”

“
We know this.”

“
He belongs in the chaos, not here.”

Chanter shook
his head. “This is his home. He was born here; he is the son of the
First Chosen.”

“
And yours.”

“
Yes.” Chanter bowed his head. “My shame.”

Talsy gasped,
opening her mouth to protest, but Travain gripped her arm, stopping
her. His eyes were fixed upon his father, intent on his words.

Law leant
forward. “He should leave.” Removing one hand from his eyes, he
wrote glowing blue words on the grass in angular writing that
looked oddly familiar.

Chanter reached out, and a flash of
tallana
leapt between them, making
Law recoil. Chanter wiped away the words with a sweep of his hand.
“No. You will not drive him out.”

Kieran arrived
and joined Talsy on the grass, and she whispered a brief
explanation to him before Law spoke again.

“
He causes me pain.”

“
Why?” Chanter asked. “And how do you know god words, even
write them?”

“
I have them... in my head.”

“
How?”

“
I don’t know.” Law rocked miserably. “They’ve always been
there, tormenting me, and I learnt to understand them.”

Chanter
glanced at Talsy. “The staff was broken about seven and a half
years ago. Law would have been in his flower, an embryo.” He turned
back to the youth. “Law, what do the words look like?”

“
They swirl, when he’s near,” Law groaned. “Always when there’s
corruption near, they flash and whiz around, making me dizzy. If I
open my eyes, they’ll escape.”

Talsy cried,
“So that’s why he’s blind!”

“
Law,” Chanter said, “what do they look like?”

“
Gold... golden fire.”

The world spun
around Talsy, and she gripped Travain’s shoulder as a surge of pure
joy brought hot tears to her eyes and a huge lump swelled in her
chest. “He’s got the laws! We’re saved! The world is saved!”

Even as her
happiness filled her to the brim, she became aware of the strained
silence that had fallen over the group. Kieran looked stunned and
joyful, his relief tinged with disbelief. Travain appeared puzzled,
but willing to go along with his mother’s happiness, but Chanter
stared at his son with deep sorrow.

Talsy glanced
at Travain, then back at him. “What’s wrong?”

Chanter’s face
became deadpan. “Nothing we can do anything about. You’re right, he
has the laws. He has carried them to us, like a destiny. That’s
where his name comes from, that’s why he’s blind. Justice is always
blind.”

“
So we can restore the staff!”

“
Yes. Not we, Law. The gods have answered you. Your faith has
been rewarded. They saw to it that the laws were preserved within
the mind of a young Mujar and brought to us. You were right, the
wind told me of his plight because the gods willed it, and saving
him was your final test.”

“
So what do we do now?”

Chanter
studied Law. “I’m not sure. If the fire will be released when he
opens his eyes, then we can only hope that if he does this in the
proximity of the Staff of Law, the laws will return to their former
home.”

“
And if they don’t? What if we do it wrong?”

“
What else can we do? Do you have another
suggestion?”

“
No.”

Chanter rose
to his feet, his manner solemn. “Law, come with me.”

The youngster
obeyed, sidling away from Travain. Once far enough away from the
crossbreed, he relaxed and lowered his hands. Talsy and Kieran
followed, Travain trailed behind.

Reaching the
room that housed the Staff of Law, Chanter pushed open the door and
preceded Law into its dusty confines.

The young
Mujar hesitated upon the threshold, his attention riveted by the
ancient, six-foot staff that lay on its bed of dusty velvet. He
approached it, tilting his head to assimilate the Powers that drew
a strange picture in his mind. Talsy exclaimed in disgust at the
state of the room, opening the curtains to let in a flood of
light.

Law stood at
the staff’s foot and studied the image in his mind. The long,
glowing rod of silver Dolana was so pure it was almost white to his
sensitive perception. Within the whiteness he read the lines of
tiny writing etched in gleaming brilliance. The same writing that
lived within his mind in the streams of golden fire. Reverently, he
fell to his knees and touched the cold, gnarled surface of the
ancient bedrock that had been drawn from the world when it was
young and fashioned into this instrument of the gods. He caressed
its carved lines, fingering the tiny letters while he whispered the
words that echoed in his mind. The fire within his brain seemed to
cower in a far corner, acquiescent and dim.

Chanter sank down on one knee beside him, a brief flash
of
tallana
bursting between them before they softened their auras. He
placed a hand on the youngster’s shoulder.

“
Surely you’ve been in this room before? I’ve heard that you’ve
explored the castle very thoroughly.”

“
Not this room.”

“
Why not?”

Law shivered.
“I don’t know.”

“
I see. But you’re not afraid of it now.”

“
No.”

“
Law, open your eyes.”

Law frowned.
“I’ve never...”

“
Now is the time. The laws you carry in your head belong here,
in the Staff of Law. Release them, and the world will be
saved.”

“
The Staff of Law,” Law murmured. “It was lost. They all were.
I tried to see their images, but nothing came to my call, only a
howling emptiness that wept with sorrow.”

“
Yes, the Staff of Law was broken, the laws flung to the four
winds, and the Staffs of Life and Death joined. I thought the laws
were lost forever, and the world doomed to destruction, but you can
put them back.”