Spiderwork (13 page)

"My kidnapping, you mean."

"As you wish." The prince struck a thoughtful pose, tapping his lips with one finger. "Come to think of it, that's probably how they'll read the note I left with Geraldo."

Durga was with Magda when Khai's message found her. Lord Ardri was about to leave for the ashram to undertake the liminal gauntlet. This morning. Right now.

In the entry hall the delegates had assembled, weapons in hand, for the short walk. Jake and Khai were fitting their quarrels as Captain Gordon handed quivers to the delegates from Spandau and Ithaca.

The king of Hibernia had his own weapon, a longbow as tall as its ruddy-faced owner. The bow was made of polished yew with horn nocks and inlaid with mother of pearl, an exceptional piece of workmanship.

Durga's heartbeat quickened as she watched Khai check the sight on his weapon with an expert eye. He wore black leather pants and boots and a black sleeveless leather top. Today he had cut back on the adornments: a gold circlet on his head and plain armbands. The carnelian dagger hung at his right hip. A flutter of desire spread over her. She felt herself blush, and she turned away.

"Perhaps I needn't go." The demanding Versailles delegate was behind her. "It isn't necessary for every one of us to risk his neck."

"Shibbing
shibadeh
." His female partner took the crossbow out of his hands. "Stay here and eat strawberries." She noticed Durga watching the exchange and rolled her eyes as if to say
do you see what I have to work with here?

"It's loaded, my lady." Captain Gordon brought her a crossbow. "Careful. The quarrels are poisoned." He looked at the floor around Durga's feet and smiled. "I see I will be able to stay close to you today."

Yes, the magnificent dress had hardly had time to make an impression in its debut last night. Durga was back in her usual fitted jumpsuit with bare left shoulder and loose legs, made for working out. Training shoes. She had copied Char and pulled her hair back in a French braid that reached her waist. Neat. Utilitarian. No yards of silk taffeta between her and anyone.

She pointed her bow to the ground and moved through the group to Khai and Jake. "Where is Garrick?"

"Gone." Khai's smile shot right through her. He made no attempt to hide his feelings. "We were discussing who should witness Lord Ardri's attempt when Prince Garrick announced that there was nothing to keep him here."

"Jake, you're not doing this today because of Garrick."

 
"Not Garrick," Jake said. "I want to do it this morning while Char is busy. If it goes badly, I don't want her to have to see it."

Khai nodded as if this was the most reasonable thing in the world, but Durga didn't think Char would appreciate the gesture. If Khai had only minutes of sanity remaining, Durga wouldn't want to be occupied elsewhere on some meaningless errand.

Shibadeh.
It would not do to think about Khai as Char and Jake must think about each other. The two relationships were not at all alike. She could never have anything close to what Char and Jake had. She was the chosen one, the bridge to the goddess. She might one day take lovers, but Asherah could be her only love.

"The raptor cages are fully manned." Jake addressed the group. "But birds can hide in the kind of low-lying clouds that have come in this morning. These weapons are a mere precaution. The ashram is not far, just beyond the hydroponics facility."

They set out for the ashram, Jake in the lead. Durga came next with Magda. In all these years, she and Magda had never discussed Jake as Magda's son. It was always about his usefulness in rebuilding the world, his fitness to be a lord sheriff, his requests for nails and crossbows and tools and seed.

Magda always called him Jake or Lord Ardri. Never my son. Durga was sure Magda admired Jake. But did she love him? Right now, this very minute, they all might be going to see Jake die. Magda's demeanor was as cool as if she were following the king of Muskova to a Rites of May breakfast.

Khai and Captain Gordon took positions on either side of Durga. She looked at the ground and smiled. A rivalry seemed to have formed as to who would be her protector.

The ashram was a mere fifteen-minute walk, and they all made it with no poobah taken by a raptor. Lydia met them at the entrance with a sour look. "No weapon will cross this threshold."

Durga didn't see why, but as a courtesy she backed the priest. "With one exception," she said. "I suggest that Hibernia might carry the beautiful longbow if its arrows and quiver remain outside." It was a test. She wanted to find out how far Lydia would press her rights as priest of the jurisdiction.

"Agreed." Lydia didn't hesitate. The Hibernian king turned even ruddier with pride over Durga's compliment.

"The witnesses may enter the sanctuary," Lydia said, "but once the meditation begins, you must not speak. This is a matter of respect for the goddess in her ashram, but also for Lord Ardri's safety. He will be entering a highly dangerous psychic field, and we must not distract him."

The sanctuary was spare and invoked a sense of peace. There was no furniture other than scattered low-lying tables convenient for tea. The floor was covered with plain light green carpets, and a couple of acolytes were chasing a litter of pug dog puppies around the pillows strewn all over the floor.

Jake picked up an unlit candle and examined it closely. He gave Lydia a sharp look, which she ignored. The ones that were lit gave off a faint lovely aroma Durga didn't recognize, but she didn't think anything was wrong with them.

The acolytes carried the puppies away in a basket, and the delegates tried to get comfortable with the pillows along the wall.

Lydia asked Jake to lie down in the center of the room. She stood at his feet, and the acolytes gathered to form a circle of meditation around him. Durga joined the circle at Jake's head.

Lydia said, "Emissary, the liminal gauntlet is invasive to all who participate, including those within the circle of meditation. Especially in light of your experience with Sister Maribel, you may want to abstain from today's endeavor."

Across the room, Khai nodded. He remained silent, but his eyes pleaded with her to leave the circle. Which she could not do. First, it would be cowardly to step out of the circle. Worse, she couldn't stand the idea that Lydia, or anyone, had any kind of knowledge of Asherah which Durga didn't possess.

"I am the chosen one," she said. "I am the bridge to the goddess. You say you are a priest of Asherah. If you can't open yourself to me, how will you ever approach her?"

"You are correct, of course." Lydia removed her outer tunic. "I honor your courage."

They sat on the floor and crossed their
legs,
their hands placed palms up on their thighs. With her first deep breath, Durga felt the pull.

Something tugged at her chest, a force or power. An invitation. She didn't feel compelled to go, but she had to know. What was it? Something wonderful. As in Faina's classroom meditation, Durga sensed something wonderful in each acolyte in the circle. The circle glowed like a halo, a halo of god that surrounded a hollow. A hollow like the emptiness Durga had felt in Chita.

The hollow was Jake.

"Breathe, my sister." Lydia's voice in Durga's head. Lydia's wonderfulness was as deep and pure as Faina's had been. Durga inhaled and exhaled. So easy to fall into the flow, into the whirling energy circling the hollow. She was a whirling mass of particle energy.

Lydia's energy particles mingled in hers, and the mingled particles comingled with energy particles of the acolytes.

A wormhole from the profane to the sacred.
Yes. That was it exactly. This whirling tunnel of particle energy was the liminal gauntlet. Durga was the liminal gauntlet.

 
"Lord Ardri." Durga couldn't tell if she had said the words or Lydia had. It didn't matter. She
was
Lydia. And Lydia was Durga.

"Jake," they said together. "I am Jake."

Char was so beautiful last night, and she didn't even know it. When she kicked that asshole and ripped her dress, I wanted to haul her out of that place and drag her up to my bed. Sometimes when I look at her my heart feels like it's been torn out of my chest. It hurts. Why won't she say yes? I have to do better. The bees will change everything.

Bees! Char was with a bee girl today. There were hundreds of hives hidden in Allel. The candles. Durga's eyes met Lydia's.
The candles are made of beeswax.

This was how it worked. Durga's thoughts flowed in the same energy space as Jake's and everyone in the circle. She tried not to think of Khai.

You can't not think of something.
Or someone.
Lydia's voice.
All is well, sister. Breathe.

Durga couldn't pull out of this now. It might kill Jake if she did. She had to trust the circle.

Jordana? Why was Jordana here? But no. It was Rani. Rani when she was Jordana's age.

If Rani flashes those eyes again I hope I don't pee my pants this time. Shib, those things are
scaretastic
. I miss you, Rani. That shibbing DOG. The antibiotics.

"It wasn't your fault, Jake."

"Where am I?"

"The land of shades, Elysium."

"Heaven? Is there heaven now, too?"

"It wasn't your fault. Let the antibiotics go. I was dead when the shot from the disruptor hit my intestine. We just didn't know it yet."

"Rani. I named my daughter after you: Ranigita."

"I love you, my brother. Love binds us. You must let me go now. You're almost there. Let me go. Let the world go. You are alone. This is your leap of faith. Here is the abyss."

Durga's heartbeat and breath sounds were so loud she thought she was dying. Did she scream? Did someone scream?

Lydia's eyes were closed, but Durga sensed that she had returned from the liminal gauntlet. The acolytes moved their heads from side to side, stretching. Their eyelashes fluttered as they came back to the world. Jake was pale. His lips were parted, and his panting breaths were erratic. He was alive. Durga started to probe for his soul.

"Stop." Lydia stood up. "He must complete this task alone."

"What do we do?"

"We wait. Lord Ardri will come out of the liminal state in his own time. We can determine then if he has received a soul. He made it inside. That's a good sign."

"What if he doesn't come out again?"

"We will pray that he does."

Captain Gordon and Khai were sitting together on the floor at one of the low tables, sharing a pot of tea. It was impossible to tell how long the trance had lasted, but it appeared that they were well into their conversation. When they saw Durga, they both jumped to their feet.

"Captain Gordon, Lord Ardri entered the liminal gauntlet. He hasn't come out again, and the priest doesn't know when he will. I want you to stay with him and alert me the instant he has recovered."

"Yes, my lady."

"I'll stay with Jake too." Magda looked as if she had aged years.

"Will you all share in our afternoon meal, Emissary?" Lydia said.

There was a bond of love now between Durga and Lydia and all the acolytes in the circle that felt eternal. "We do have much to discuss, Lydia." The priest had been right about the liminal experience. Durga had come out of it knowing things Lydia surely had not intended. "But not now. Not today. I do have a request that you might think unusual."

Durga left the ashram carrying one of the pug puppies. Khai came with her as a matter of course, and she realized she would have been disappointed if he had done otherwise. He carried their crossbows, and they set off for the citadel in a comfortable, friendly silence.

As they passed the hydroponics building, she remembered the bees and other bits and shards from the liminal gauntlet. Jake's love for Char and for Rani.

Jake was right. If the bees thrived, they would change everything for Allel. The city would have an export in high demand for trade, and not only for honey and the pollination bees would provide for crops. Asherah had mentioned more than once her longing for the smoke from beeswax candles. Every king, prince, ashram, and temple would clamor to buy them.