Icefall (35 page)

‘Oh dear.' Kate eyed the patch of scalp she'd cut. It really hurt now, and I hoped she'd leave soon, in case it hurt worse and I started crying. It was only hair, for God's sake.

‘Take the twin: I'll see to him later. Leave the girl till her lover comes. My power. My Bloodstone. My Rory.'

 

Rory

His heart had fossilized inside him. Rory knew there was something beating in his chest but it was hard and heavy and unyielding. A stone. Was that what the mad old prophet had meant when she told Leonora Shiach what to look for? Had she Seen even this?

In which case, why hadn't she warned them?

Old bitch
, he thought coldly.
May you rot. You and Leonora and Kate. My brother is dead, and I can't even cry for him.

‘Rory.' His father sat down beside him on the coarse machair grass.

‘Dad.' His voice was perfectly calm. That wasn't right: but it was the way things were. A misty dawn was bringing the landscape into three lightly glowing dimensions, and something told Rory it was going to be a beautiful day. ‘How's Iolaire?'

Seth nodded towards the encampment. In a glimmer of dying firelight Iolaire sat cross-legged, sharpening his sword, rhythmic and slow. His silhouette looked a little different. Oh yeah, thought Rory. He'd shaved off his tangle of dark hair.

He raked a hand through his own. Needed a cut anyway. It was falling into his eyes, tickling his neck. ‘Sorry. I forgot.'

Seth put an arm round his shoulders. ‘Don't, if you don't want to. It's not life and death, it's a bloody tradition.' The arm tightened. ‘And I'm keeping mine. I haven't got time to mourn. I'm sorry. I can't and I won't. I'll do it when she's dead.'

‘I know. Don't be sorry. I'd better go through the motions, though. How's your sword?'

‘It's fine. No damage…'

‘Laszlo was his father. I Saw.'

Seth's muscles went rigid. Rory heard him take a breath to speak, but clearly he couldn't think of the right words.

Rory said, ‘I wish he'd told me.'

‘I wish it too.' Seth pulled back a little, to look into his eyes. ‘He didn't know.'

‘He's known for four years.'

‘He was ashamed.'

‘He didn't have to be.'

‘He didn't die ashamed,' said Seth.

Rory managed to twitch the corner of his mouth. ‘I know that too.'

‘Of course you do.' Seth hesitated. ‘Rory. I'm glad he let you in at the end. But he's gone and I know how it hurts. If I could, I'd share it.'

‘There's nothing to share. I don't feel it.' Rory looked away, out towards a sea that was calm and silken, burnished by silver dawn, teased by a light wind. ‘We can share anything you like when I've killed her.'

He drew his dirk, tested the edge. His hands were shaking, he noticed. Why was that?

‘Here.' Seth took the dirk out of his hands and stood up. ‘I'll do it.'

Rory clasped his hands around his knees, stared down at the camp and tried not to think. He felt his father behind him. There was a brief silence, a brief hesitation, then Seth grasped a handful of his son's hair and sliced through it, close to the roots. He let out a sigh, as if the worst was over, and cut the next hank, and the next.

Rory closed his eyes. He could feel the gentle tug of Seth's fingers, the give with each swift cut. Cold air on his scalp, the breath of his own world. Funny: he could taste the dawn. He was sure he could. Like ash.

Seth lifted the last lock of blond hair, running his thumb across its silkiness. Holding his breath, he sliced the blade through it.

‘Ah!'
Fiery pain bit into Rory's scalp. Half-rising, he stumbled forward.

Seth dodged his defensive flying fist. ‘What the—'

‘Bloody
hell,
Dad, what did you—' Rory put his hand against his shorn head, where the knife had cut him, but there was no blood. No
cut
. Bewildered, he stared at his palm.

Seth had spun away. ‘Finn?' he shouted.

She was already running up the hill towards them. When Seth met her, she stopped in his arms and rubbed her own head, angry and scared.

‘Hannah's alive.'

‘She hurt her!' screamed Rory.
‘She hurt her!'

He tried to barge past them, race down the hill. Releasing Finn, Seth caught him and wrestled him to a halt. ‘Rory,
calm down
.'

‘Rory, listen.' Finn stroked his shorn head, then took his furious face in her hands. ‘It isn't serious. That's our proof of life. She took some of Hannah's hair. It isn't bad. I promise.'

‘I felt it!
Why can't I feel her now?'

‘Me neither. There's nothing, I've tried.'

‘Rowan. They'll keep her behind rowanwood. Must have taken her out of her cell for that … for the proof. You were meant to feel that, and Finn too. She's not dead, Rory, she's not dead.' Still gripping his son, Seth stared across the machair to the north. Split grey rocks formed a distinct defile in the slope, and in the gap something moved.

‘What?' Despite his misery, Rory looked too.

‘Here we go,' muttered Seth, and unsheathed his sword, and walked back towards the camp.

At the foot of the small hill, Diorras met them. ‘Murlainn,' he said. ‘A visitor.'

The others all had swords drawn as the rider approached across the grassy plain, unhurried, one hand resting lightly on his thigh. Within a horse's length of one another, Seth and the rider both halted.

‘Cuthag,' said Seth.

‘Murlainn.' The rider took his time gazing around the encampment, a slow smile curling his lips as he openly counted Seth's fighters. ‘Is this it?'

‘Get on with it, Cuthag.'

‘Given what I see here, I think you'll be glad of the deal.' Cuthag reached into his jacket and drew something out. Seth took it from his hand as if he was taking a snake. Then he laid it flat on his palm and held it out to Finn. She stroked it with a finger.

‘It's Hannah's,' she said. ‘And Kate's.'

With a high breath Rory pushed forward and snatched it. It was a thin braid of hair, one woven strand of it darker, more coppery. The other two were lighter red.
Strawberry blonde
, thought Rory, a fist of fear constricting his windpipe. He touched the lighter strands. Some were cleanly severed, some had been ripped out by the roots. There was blood on them. He clasped the braid in his fist and looked up at Cuthag with hatred.

Cuthag smiled. ‘Kate feels nothing but sorrow that it's come to this. There is no reason why we should take this to the death. All Kate has ever wanted is the Bloodstone.'

Seth's laugh was derisive.

Cuthag gave an eloquent shrug. ‘Your attitude has always been a stumbling block, Murlainn. Yours, and your idiot brother's. You have no hope of winning.
None.
But Kate is willing to preserve the lives of your clann, her great-great-grandchild, and even of your son. Even now, your queen offers you reconciliation. It's not too late. Deliver the Bloodstone, accept the death of the Veil, and allow your clann to renew their loyalty.' He looked over Seth's head, scanning the silent fighters. ‘Murlainn and Caorann will die, of course, but it needn't be slow. Kate is willing to be merciful. This is our offer. Time to think is not part of it. Kate expects me to take back your acceptance, Murlainn.'

‘Piss off, Cuthag.' Seth spat at his horse's hooves.

‘I see. Your clann may disagree, since your death is inevitable and theirs isn't. Not
yet
.' He looked round the others again. ‘The traitor's interest is somewhat
vested,
you have to agree.'

‘You heard our
Captain,
' called Fearna. ‘Piss off before we cut it off. The bit that hurts.'

Cuthag's smile was thin as he turned his horse. He aimed a special smirk at Finn.

‘See
you
,' he said.

If she shivered, she didn't show it. Her eyes were steady on him.

‘Don't be long,' he called over his shoulder as he rode away. ‘Keep us waiting, you filthy little traitors, and we'll keep you waiting longer for your deaths.'

Seth shot a look at Finn, but she was rigid with fury and he didn't undermine her pride by putting an arm round her. The others were silent. But they didn't look sorry.

‘The man's the very soul of charm,' said Grian.

‘Always has been,' said Orach, venting her feelings with a finger at his fading shape. ‘But I've no intention of keeping the bastard waiting.'

‘Dare I suggest we leave Caorann behind?' said Fearna.

‘You dare not,' spat Finn. And he shut up.

*   *   *

‘Iolaire, you know where the cells are. Between the two of us we know all the entrances, I think. Seven at the last count?'

‘Faramach would know if any more had been opened,' put in Finn, tickling the raven's throat. ‘He's overflown the caverns to check. There haven't.'

Seth raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. ‘I thought you couldn't see his mind.'

Finn only smiled at Faramach. ‘Can now.'

‘Fine.' He shook his head. ‘Look, it's not so impossible. According to Alainn she wants us to fight in the tunnels. She won't meet us outside. Forcing us in will give us all the disadvantage of a siege situation, with the added factor of the Lammyr coming from behind.'

‘We'll have it relatively easy in the early stages,' said Iolaire. His eyes were dull but focused. ‘The entranceways were narrow in my day and they haven't been widened much, as far as I know.' He drew in a patch of sand with his dagger. ‘For the first thirty feet of any of them, you can only properly fight one person at a time.'

Braon craned her head to study the rough sketch. ‘And she won't mind a good few casualties on the perimeter; she'll keep her best around her.'

‘Yeah,' said Seth. ‘It's their numbers that'll wear us down, but that won't happen for a while.'

‘It'll happen eventually,' growled Grian.

‘Yeah. So it's simple. I need Hannah, and Sionnach if he's alive. And I need Kate. Quickly.'

They digested it in silence, for an age. Then Fearna barked a laugh. ‘She's telekinetic! So that'll be no problem, then.'

Seth smiled. ‘I never said it would be easy.'

‘Or indeed possible.' Fearna grinned.

‘Finn?'

They all waited. Finn was very quiet for a moment, and then she said, ‘Yes.'

‘You think you can do it?' asked Seth. He glanced at the raven, which tipped its head and gave a sneering caw.

Finn shrugged. ‘I think I can try. That's all.'

‘
I
think you can do it. So does your bird, by the look of him.'

‘See those eyelashes of yours? Quit it.' But she was smiling.

A hiss cut the darkness, and Seth stood up abruptly. Sorcha, who had been on sentry duty, was at his side. She was blocking, they all were, and alerts could no longer be soundless.

‘Intruders?'

‘One. Just one. She's coming from the caverns.'

Seth spat. ‘Are they having a laugh?'

‘It's Alainn, I think.' Orach rose to her feet.

A slender shape formed out of the darkness and starlight, weaponless, pale hands spread so they were clearly visible. Orach smiled with relief, walked forward to meet her and kissed her cheek. Alainn looked a little surprised, but gratified.

Seth hung back, warier. ‘This isn't a good time to make an appearance, Alainn.'

‘It's going to be a quick one, believe me. I could hardly use my mind.' Alainn shrugged. ‘I take it you know the girl's your key.'

Seth stiffened. ‘She's all right?'

Alainn shrugged. ‘She's all right. So's Sionnach, by the way. But Kate will kill them in the end, and it won't be quick. She's full of bile for you and yours. I'm not the only one who has sympathy with your cause, Murlainn, but you won't find many willing to risk sharing your fate. And there's plenty just gagging to inflict it on you. And your lover.'

‘Nice.' Seth's eyes were icy.

‘Good. You get the idea. If Kate has your friends she'll use them against you and you know it. You have to have them back in your hands before you get to Kate.'

‘No shit, Sherlock,' muttered Grian.

Alainn shot him a glare. ‘Iolaire knows the way, but I can get you straight to Hannah's exact cell, and you're going to need all the speed you can get. The Lammyr will be coming down on you from behind and you're going to have to be so fast, I honestly don't know how you're going to do it. But I'm sure you've thought about that.'

‘Yeah.' Seth exchanged a quick look with Finn. Rory felt a shuddering wave of relief. So Langfank had kept its promise. What his father had said about Lammyr oaths was true.

Unless, of course, Alainn herself was lying.

Seth bit his lip. ‘So what do you suggest?'

‘Iolaire comes with me now.' Alainn pointed at him. ‘Between us we can get your friends back into your hands. Apart from that, it's up to you. And you'll have to guard your back against Langfank.'

‘Iolaire?'

The man stood up. ‘I'll go with her. And slit her throat if she's lying. Believe it, Alainn, you'll die before I do.'

Alainn looked a little startled, but she gave him a wry smile. ‘You seem different, Iolaire.'

‘Yes,' he said coldly.

Rory knew Seth didn't want that subject going any further. He pushed forward, and Seth turned. His expression of relief, though, quickly mutated into grim anger.

‘Oh, no,' said Seth. ‘Forget it, sunshine.'

Rory's gaze didn't waver. ‘I'm going in, Dad. Whatever. So you want me in the thick of it? Or you want me to go for Hannah?'