Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (16 page)

“Quite a bit, actually,” he replied, though he looked a little surprised that she would ask. “I was lucky in that last dice game.”

“Would you slip away and get rooms for us at one of the inns before we get to the Star Hall?”

Glyndon raised an eyebrow. “Before you’ve even had a chance to talk to them?”

“I want to keep my choices open,” Kayl said. “Will you do it?”

“Of course.” He swept her a bow. “Until later.”

He turned and was gone, leaving Kayl glaring after him in irritation. “Slip away,” she’d said, not make a production of his exit!

“And where is your Varnan friend off to?” Corrana said from behind her.

Kayl shrugged. “He has business of his own in Kith Alunel. He’ll catch up with us later.”

“If he must.” Corrana’s voice held the slight edge that it always did when she spoke of Glyndon. “Shall we continue on our way?”

“Not until Mark has finished his meat-pie. Unless, of course, you want to make apologies to all the people he’ll bump into while he tries to walk and look and eat, all at the same time.”

Corrana lifted one eyebrow and smiled slightly. “I withdraw my suggestion,” the sorceress said. “Purely out of sympathy for your son’s prospective victims, you understand.”

Kayl grinned and bit into her meat-pie. Six months on the road seemed to have given Corrana a somewhat better understanding of both Mark and Dara; Kayl could only wish the woman had achieved as much sympathy for Glyndon, or for Kayl herself.

They finished their meal and went back out into the crowd. Mark and Dara stared wide-eyed at everything and everyone they passed, from bell-covered jugglers to armor-clad guards and wool-wrapped merchants. As a result their progress was slow. Several times they saw litters pass along the center of the street, draped with fine woolens and silks and borne on the shoulders of muscular men and women with expressionless faces. When the first of the litters went by, Dara studied the bearers, then asked, “Mother, are they slaves? I thought Kith Alunel didn’t let people have slaves!”

“No, they’re not slaves,” Kayl told her. “They’re paid for their work. Paid very well, as I remember, which is why only the wealthy or nobility ride in litters.”

“Why do they look so… so…”

“So grim? It’s part of their training. It’s considered improper for a litter-bearer to express an opinion of his employer’s actions while he’s carrying, and even a smile is deemed an expression of opinion.”

Mark looked after the retreating litter and wrinkled his nose. “That’s weird,” he said emphatically.

Kayl laughed. “The people who do it don’t think so.”

“Well, but—” Mark broke off, staring at something behind Kayl, and his eyes widened.

Kayl turned. A tall, platinum-haired Shee was passing a few paces away, his green eyes narrowed into slanting slits in contemplation of whatever business drew him on.

“A Shee!” Mark breathed.

“Where?” Dara craned her neck in an effort to catch a glimpse for herself. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“I said as soon as I saw him!” Mark said defensively.

“You did not!”

“That’s enough,” Kayl said. “There’s no reason for you to start quarreling over the first Shee you see. There are plenty of Shee in Kith Alunel; it’s not like Mindaria.”

Dara brightened and began scanning the crowd, looking for another of the nonhumans. Not to be outdone, Mark joined her. Their efforts were quickly rewarded, this time with the sight of a Shee woman bargaining in the door of an herbalist’s shop. Mark and Dara were immensely pleased with themselves, but the incident left Kayl wondering uneasily just why it was that they had seen only two Shee since entering the city. Surely there should be more, or was her memory playing tricks on her?

Kayl began her own surreptitious study of the crowd. What she saw did nothing to soothe her; she counted only four Shee in two blocks. Wyrds were more numerous, but there had been a Wyrd settlement near Kith Alunel for centuries. She saw no Neira at all.

At the top of a hill the street widened into a square. The middle of the square was occupied by a wide, shallow pool, now thinly crusted with ice and a dusting of snow. On Kayl’s right was the colonnaded front of a theater, with a granite dome, probably a school, beside it. To the left, sixteen shallow steps, flanked by carved pillars, led up to the triple-arch doorway of a huge building. Above the door, three warriors in bas-relief held off seven nightmarish-looking creatures, while behind them a man and woman with their arms full of scrolls escaped.

“What’s that?” Mark asked, awed.

“The Queen’s Library,” Kayl said. “The carving over the door is from the story of Deardan and her brothers—Deardan and Tylmar saving the Scrolls of Knowledge from the Shadow-born. Queen Irhallen the Fourth built it about three hundred years after the Wars of Binding.”

“That whole building is full of
books!”
Mark said incredulously.

“That’s right,” Kayl said, laughing. “They have scrolls and books about everything, from dancing to Shanhar hand-fighting.”

Mark’s ears perked up. “They have books about Shanhar in there?” He looked speculatively at the library. “Maybe I should look inside.”

“I’ll take you there sometime,” Kayl promised.

“Mother, what’s that?” Dara asked, pointing at the theater on the other side of the square. Kayl took a deep breath, hoping the children wouldn’t ask more than she knew how to answer, and launched into another explanation.

Eventually, they turned off of the main street. The soaring arches and pillars of the library and theater gave way to sturdy, practical buildings of mortared fieldstone. Behind them, in the shadow of the city wall, Kayl could see the roofs of the flimsy, four-story tenements that housed the less well off. She frowned; there seemed to be more of them than she remembered. Then Mark distracted her with a question, and she forgot her misgivings for the time being.

They continued on toward the center of the city. Soon houses of carved granite blocks began appearing, some with decorations of mosaic tile around their doors. Beyond lay the pillared homes of even wealthier merchants and the marble halls of the nobility, encircling the great palace of Kith Alunel at the heart of the city.

They turned again, long before they neared the haunts of the rich, and suddenly they were standing in front of the Star Hall of Kith Alunel. Kayl stopped and looked at it, swallowing hard.

It was a low, sprawling building. A wide path of pale gray flagstone led from the street through a tiny garden to a porch, roofed in white marble supported by columns of the same material. The floor of the porch was made of mosaic tiles in shades of gray; beyond was the arched opening that led to the outer courtyard of the Star Hall. From where she stood, Kayl could see the tops of the side domes that would flank the long central hall; they, too, were of white marble. The Star Hall shone in the winter sunlight, like a pearl among the gray-brown rock of the surrounding buildings.

“Is this where we’re going?” Dara asked a little doubtfully as Corrana started up the path toward the doorway.

“Yes,” Kayl said, surprised. “Something wrong?”

“No, not exactly,” Dara said. “It’s just so
grand,
and we’re all…” Her voice trailed off and she waved vaguely at her dusty, travel-stained clothes.

“Don’t worry,” Kayl reassured her. “The Sisters are used to receiving guests in even worse shape than we are.”

Dara nodded, but she still looked unhappy. “Go on,” Mark said, giving her a poke. “I don’t want to stand here all day. It’s getting cold.”

“You stop that!” Dara said furiously. “You never think of anybody but yourself! You—”

“Dara! Mark! Both of you, stop it right now,” Kayl said firmly.

“But I didn’t do anything!” Mark said in an injured tone.

“I don’t care,” Kayl said. “I don’t want to hear a word out of either of you until we’re inside and I’m done talking to the Sisters. Understand?”

“But—”

“Not a word!” Kayl said. “Now come on.” She took their hands in hers and went into the Star Hall.

Two Sisters in medium-gray robes were waiting in the outer courtyard; Corrana had summoned them while Kayl was dealing with Mark and Dara outside. They led Kayl and her children through the front atrium and around the outside of the great hall. Kayl felt as though she were seeing double. She knew the way as well as she knew her kitchen at the inn in Copeham, yet it was somehow strange as well. The hall was narrower than she remembered, and she had forgotten the odd rose tiles that ringed the pool in the atrium. The lighting was too dim, and there were too many doors. Then, suddenly, there was a niche in the wall that fit her memory perfectly, and even that felt strange. Kayl suppressed a shiver of uneasiness and hurried after the Sisters.

The Sisters led them to a small chamber ringed with wooden benches. One wall was covered with a mosaic depicting a stylized eight-pointed star in shades of blue; the other walls were the same polished white marble as the rest of the building. On the opposite side of the chamber were two wooden doors.

“Baths have been prepared for you in the next rooms,” one of the Sisters said, indicating doors in the opposite wall of the chamber. “We will bring clean clothing for you while you refresh yourselves.”

Dara shot Kayl a reproachful look, but was wise enough not to say anything. Kayl thanked the two Sisters and saw them out, then sent Mark and Dara to bathe. As they left the room, she unwrapped her cloak and sank down onto one of the benches. Absently, she undid the cords holding her bundle, and sighed in relief as the weight left her shoulders. She set it on the bench beside her and stared at it.

Coming back wasn’t supposed to feel like this, she thought, but she didn’t know what she had expected it to feel like. She didn’t even know, really, why she had come. She had insisted, when Corrana pressed her, that she only wanted to return the sword of the Sisterhood to the Elder Mothers. But could she give it up? It had been a part of her for so long; even, she now admitted, when she had hidden it beneath the floor of the inn and denied its presence. And if she hadn’t given up the sword on that last, horrible day when she thought she hated the Sisterhood and everyone in it, how could she imagine that she would return it now?

Kayl sighed and leaned back, remembering.

Starlight glimmered on the mirror-smooth surface of the pool in the center of the Court of Stars. Kayl stood alone at one corner of the pool, staring straight ahead of her, trying not to think of the erstwhile companions of her Star Cluster. On the other side of the courtyard, the most senior of the Elder Mothers of the Sisterhood were gathered, their silver robes a dim reflection of the shimmering starlight.

“And is that all of your story?” a voice said from the midst of the silver mass.

“The return trip was uneventful, Your Serenity,” Kayl said. Her voice rasped in a throat worn raw with weeping.

“Then we thank you for your service.” The voice paused. “You have our sympathy as well, for your fallen companions.”

There was a murmur of agreement from the collected Mothers, and for a moment Kayl was comforted. Then another voice said, “It is hard to speak of this now, and harder for you to hear, yet it must be done. Your choices now are two: find among the unfledged and uncommitted students of our order new companion Sisters to form a new Star Cluster, or take your place among the Sisters who serve the Star Halls and go afield no more.”

“I—” Kayl stopped, not knowing what she was expected to say. She didn’t like either of the choices, but she couldn’t say that. Not to the Elder Mothers. She rubbed at her eyes, wishing she weren’t so tired. Maybe when she was rested this would all make more sense.

“You need not make this decision now,” one of the Elder Mothers said kindly. “Wait awhile, until the Varnans have been punished and the first of your grief has passed.”

Kayl stiffened, her weariness forgotten. “What do you mean about punishing the Varnans?”

“Surely it is obvious that the Varnans are to blame for this catastrophe.” The voice was kind, almost soothing. It raised prickles along the back of Kayl’s neck.

“That’s not what I said at all!” Kayl objected. “They didn’t do any better than we did—Beshara al Allard
died
and Glyndon… Those visions of his have crippled him as much as losing an arm would have! You can’t blame them!”

“That is not your decision to make.” Kayl could hear the steel underlying the gentle tone.

“But I am the one who took the Star into the Tower, Your Serenity,” Kayl insisted. “And no one knew about that thing inside. No one!”

“So you have said, and we have heard you.” The voice was dry and noncommittal.

“You’re implying that the Varnans deliberately led us into a trap!”

“It is a possibility that must be considered.”

“But it isn’t true! Your Serenities,” Kayl added belatedly.

“We must be the judges of that. Your duties in this matter are finished,” the Elder Mother said firmly. “And you are tired. Leave us to deal with the Varnans.”

The voice seemed to echo in Kayl’s mind, knocking loose bits of knowledge she had overlooked or ignored. The bits fell together into a horrifying pattern. Kayl shook her head, trying not to believe the words she heard herself saying. “You
planned
this. Right from the beginning, you
planned
to blame the Varnans if anything went wrong!”

“And if we did?” The Elder Mother’s voice was cold. “What is your concern for Varnans?”

“Glyndon and Kevran are my friends,” Kayl said, feeling anger rising inside her. “And even if they weren’t, what you’re saying about them isn’t true. I won’t be a party to it!”

“You question our judgment?”

“Yes!” Kayl shouted. “You can’t do this!”

“We can. It is in the best interest of the Sisterhood.”

“Then the Sisterhood is a lie. You’re no better than the Circle of Silence, or the Varnans themselves!”

There was a stunned silence. Then, “Leave us,” said a cold voice. “You are overwrought.”

“I know what I’m saying,” Kayl said, her anger turning suddenly cold. “I’ve worked for you, bled for you, and nearly been killed doing your precious business, but I won’t lie for you. If this is what the Sisterhood really is, I’m leaving.”