The Devil's Armour (Gollancz S.F.) (35 page)

The woman’s smile turned melancholy. ‘It is easy to care for such a little creature,’ she said. ‘Look . . . see how contented she is?’

It was true. Poppy had obviously eaten her fill and now seemed blissful.

‘She is a good child,’ agreed Lorn. ‘But not all women
have your skill with her. I’m grateful to you, madam. It’s only luck that brought you and I here together. I’m fortunate that you have your own child.’

The woman’s face darkened. ‘No, sir, you are mistaken.’

‘No?’ Lorn looked at her in puzzlement. ‘But you are nursing . . .’

‘Because there are other infants here that I care for,’ said the woman. ‘I wet-nurse them.’

Lorn didn’t know everything about women, but he knew for sure that a woman without a child couldn’t nurse. ‘Madam, forgive me, but you say you have no baby of your own? How can that be? Your father told me you had a child.’

‘Did he tell you also that my child is dead?’

The casual question made Lorn start. He cursed his stupidity.

‘Apologies, madam. It’s late and I’m tired. I should have realised what you were saying.’

‘Do not be sorry,’ said the woman. She hefted Poppy in her arms, then started rocking her. ‘You were right to think as you did. I had a child recently, a boy. But he died an hour after birth.’ Amazingly, she kept a soft expression as she explained herself. ‘He was my third, you see. All born the same. All dead out of my cursed womb. But I’m of some use here, at least. Until we leave for Mount Believer, I can be a help.’

‘Mount Believer? What’s that?’

The woman glanced up at him. ‘You mean you don’t know?’

‘No, I’ve never heard of that place. It is somewhere in Liiria?’

The woman laughed, but it was a pretty laugh and without offence. ‘Sir, Mount Believer is the healing place! It’s where my father and I are going soon. We’re travelling across the desert with the others. My father’s sick. I’m sick, too. In Mount Believer I will be cured of my poisoned womb.’

‘Cured? Madam, I’m sorry, but you make no sense to me.’

But then he remembered the rumours he’d heard of Jador. He had been far too busy with his war against Jazana Carr to pay the tales much credence, but suddenly he recalled them. It was where Lukien had gone, the Bronze Knight of Liiria. It was said that the city held the secret of eternal life.

‘The city where blind men see,’ he whispered.

‘That’s right,’ said the woman. ‘Then you know why we’re going there. To be healed. Forgive me, but when I saw your baby was blind I assumed you had come here to join us. We’ll be leaving soon, my father and I. And everyone who’s coming with us is gathering.’

‘Madam, this place you speak of – it’s a myth, surely.’

‘Oh, no, sir,’ said the woman. ‘Not at all. Mount Believer exists. Our Liirian soldiers who returned from there saw it with their own eyes! It’s Grimhold, Akan. Mount Believer is Grimhold.’

‘I know about Grimhold,’ said Lorn, ‘and I’ve heard the stories. The place of monsters.’

‘But they aren’t monsters,’ said the girl. ‘They’re wizards! Healers of great power.’ A remarkable sureness lit her face. ‘They’re going to heal my father. He’s got the bone tremors, sometimes so bad he can’t stand up straight. But in Mount Believer he’ll be whole again. We all will.’

The story was outrageous, yet this beautifully naïve girl seemed to believe it.

‘Madam, what’s your name?’ asked Lorn.

‘Eiriann,’ the woman replied. ‘Apologies. I should have told you sooner.’

She was so kind it was hard for Lorn to dissuade her. He said as gently as he could, ‘Eiriann, this place you call Mount Believer – it’s nothing but a legend. How could there be a place like that? A city where the blind can see? No . . .’

‘Yes, Akan, yes,’ Eiriann insisted. ‘It does exist. Even Breck believes.’

‘Impossible. He can’t believe in such a thing.’

‘But he does. Breck knows many things, Akan. He knows the men that returned from Jador after the war. They told him the truth about Grimhold. Even the Bronze Knight lives there still. An amulet keeps him alive! There’s magic there, for all of us!’

‘But I came here with a man who was in Jador. He never told me anything about magic. He never told me anything of the kind.’

‘Yes,’ sighed the woman. Her face grew suddenly dark. ‘There are those who won’t speak of it. They are too damaged by what they did there. Tell me, Akan, this friend of yours – he was a soldier?’

‘That’s right,’ said Lorn. ‘A Royal Charger. His name is Van.’

‘And did Van see many horrible things in Jador? Did he kill people, destroy things?’

‘Yes,’ Lorn admitted. ‘Yes, he did.’

‘Then your friend has been harmed,’ said Eiriann. ‘He does not believe in the magic because he cannot, and if you asked him about it he would deny it. So many of our men who came back are like that. They are so guilty. They believe in nothing.’

Indeed that sounded like Van to Lorn. In the time they’d been together, Van had volunteered little about his days in Jador.

‘And you?’ asked Lorn. ‘You’re going to Mount Believer because you think your womb is poisoned?’

Eiriann scowled a little. ‘Do not mock me, sir. Three children have I delivered, all dead within an hour. What would you call that if not a poison womb?’

‘I would call it the cruellest of fates,’ said Lorn. Spotting one of the larger chairs against the wall, he dragged it forward and sat down before her. Poppy had fallen asleep in her arms, rocked by her gentle movements. ‘Eiriann, I
would never willingly offend someone who has been so kind to my daughter,’ he began. ‘And I should tell you, I know the pain of losing children.’

Eiriann raised her head. ‘You do?’

‘Indeed. I’ve lost children of my own,’ said Lorn without explaining. ‘I know how hurtful it can be. It can turn a heart to stone and a mind to madness.’

‘I’m not maddened, Akan,’ Eiriann assured him. ‘The risks of going to Mount Believer are not a mystery to me. But I won’t be alone. My father will be with me, and many others who seek the healing.’

‘And what about your husband?’ Lorn asked. ‘Does he approve of this folly?’

‘My husband is gone,’ said Eiriann. She shifted her eyes from him, staring down at Poppy instead. ‘After our third son died, he left me.’

At last, Lorn understood. This, surely, was what had driven her to believe such myths. So young and already abandoned. Her husband was a fool, indeed. Lorn wondered what he could say to change her mind, but before he spoke she surprised him.

‘You should come with us,’ she said. ‘This child can be made whole in Mount Believer. Their magic can save her, cure her blindness.’

‘No,’ said Lorn gently. ‘It cannot. And I have business here with Jazana Carr.’

‘What business? Vengeance? Do you really think that’s more important than the life of this child?’

‘Easy, now,’ Lorn cautioned. ‘I’ve given her a life. If I’d stayed in Norvor she’d be dead now, or a slave to the Diamond Queen.’

‘You may have saved her from death, but it won’t be a life. There is no life for people like her, and you won’t be around forever to protect her. Forgive me, Akan, but you are old. What will she do when she grows to womanhood? How will she provide for herself, protect herself from the prowls of men? Have you thought of any of that?’

They were terrible questions which Lorn had never really considered. He had no answer for the forceful girl.

‘I’ve given my daughter everything I have,’ he said. ‘I’ve risked both our lives by coming here. If I could make her be sighted or able to hear I would.’ Lorn looked around the nursery. It reminded him of everything Poppy would never have. ‘I would give anything for her to be normal.’

‘Even forgo your vengeance against Jazana Carr?’

Eiriann had no idea how deep Lorn’s vengeance went, or how much the Diamond Queen had taken from him. Still, he told her the truth.

‘Yes,’ he confessed. ‘Even that.’

‘Then come with us, Akan. I am not lying to you about Mount Believer. It exists. And there is magic there to save this child from a miserable life.’

Lorn shook his head. ‘No. There can’t be . . .’

‘There is,’ urged Eiriann. ‘Ask Breck about it. Ask any of the men who will talk about it. They will all tell you the same thing.’ The young woman held up Poppy and smiled. ‘There is healing magic across the desert. Do you think I would make such a journey if I did not believe? But I do believe, with all my heart I know the stories are true. If you come with us, you’ll be doing your daughter a great kindness.’

For a moment Lorn sat still, unable to take the child from her, paralysed by her confidence. It had been too long since he’d contemplated anything outside his vengeful plans. The spark of hope Eiriann presented was like a blinding light to him. She was radiant in her words, pure-hearted. Believing her would be blissful.

‘What proof have you?’ Lorn asked. His voice fell to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘How do you know, in your heart as you say, that this magic really exists?’

‘I have the word of those who’ve been there,’ said Eiriann, ‘and that is all I need.’

‘That is not enough,’ said Lorn. ‘To be driven by desperation . . .’

‘Akan, if you mean what you say – if your daughter really means as much to you as you claim – then you would take this chance with the rest of us. To cure her blindness! What father would not risk the world for that?’

Lorn had no answer for her. His head was spinning, filled with her hopeful words. Exhausted, he rose and held out his hands. Eiriann handed over Poppy, then looked at him wistfully.

‘You are able-bodied,’ she said. ‘Not many of us are, and there are only a handful of men going to Mount Believer. You would be such a help to us.’

Lorn fumbled with Poppy’s blankets, making sure she was well wrapped. ‘I’m tired, girl. Have you a bed for me?’

‘Yes,’ said Eiriann. ‘With my father and the others.’ She rose from the chair and went slowly to the entrance, pausing there for Lorn to follow. He had disappointed her; he could tell from her bland expression.

‘Eiriann, in the morning I’ll tell you a story,’ he said as he followed her into the hall. ‘I’m going to tell you something about myself that you don’t know yet. After that you might not be so keen on having me accompany you to Mount Believer.’

Eiriann stopped in the middle of the hall, turning to look at him with her bright, emerald eyes. ‘I don’t ask for your sake alone, Akan,’ she said. ‘I’m asking for the child.’

‘And what if I wasn’t Akan?’ asked Lorn. He was so tired, so sick of arguing. All he wanted to do was fall into the arms of this girl who looked like his beloved Rinka. ‘What if I was some villain from across the world? Would you still want me to come with you?’

The girl’s smile did not wane. ‘I don’t think the magic of Grimhold works only on the innocent. Besides, what could you have done to possibly taint this child? Nothing, I think.’ She reached out and touched Lorn’s shoulder. ‘Come. It’s time for sleep. In the morning, perhaps you will see things differently.’

Too weary to argue, Lorn nodded and let the young
woman guide him across the dim hall. He was grateful for her kindness and knew he didn’t deserve it. He knew, too, that tonight his dreams would be filled with her beautiful face, and the awesome possibility that she might be telling him the truth.

Tonight I will dream of Grimhold
, he mused.

He looked down at the child in his arms. For the first time since she was born, he wondered if there might be a way to heal her.

All the next day Van kept to himself. He had been given a bunk in the officers’ barracks, which in truth was only a converted storage chamber in one of the library’s dusty wings, and had spent the night with Murdon and Aric Glass. Aric was the only non-commissioned soldier in the barracks, a favour bestowed on him because of his noble lineage, Van supposed. There were ten other men sharing bunks with them, all crammed into a chamber that should have slept half that many. Van had found his new accommodation barely tolerable. Being around fellow Chargers again was something oddly difficult. They had welcomed him coolly, and Van did not blame them for that. But they had not engaged him in conversation or asked him to join their card games before sleep, nor had they bothered to chide him for being a deserter. Except for Aric Glass, they had all simply ignored him.