The Sword Of Angels (Gollancz S.F.) (80 page)

The place Lukien chose was away from all the other story stones, beneath a tree that reminded him of the apple trees in Lionkeep’s orchard. With Lahkali’s assurance that the stone would be left undisturbed, he set it down near the trunk of the tree and leaned back to study it. Lahkali had already left, telling him that she would return in an hour or so. Lukien stared at the stone, unsure how to begin. In the distance he saw an old woman kneeling comfortably by a stone of her own, a much taller and grander stone that had been carved with runes and gently sloping sides. Her face was serene as she spoke, confidently conversing with some dead loved one. Lukien noticed her casual demeanour, wondering again if this was all some elaborate ruse. Perhaps the dead did not come to the living at all here. Perhaps it was all just some grand imagining.

Finally, Lukien placed his hand on the stone and thought of Cassandra. He had never summoned a spirit before, so he closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling a bit stupid.

‘Cass? I’m not sure what to say. If you’re here with me, please let me know.’ His hand began to tremble. His fingers brushed the stone, gently caressing it. ‘Maybe I was only dreaming up in the mountain, but it seemed so real to me. I was sure you would come, but you didn’t. I don’t know – maybe you never did come to me that one time.’

He kept his eyes closed, making a picture of her in his mind. The picture was static, quiet and unmoving. Without a background, it was colourless. Lukien grimaced, realizing it was hopeless. Until the picture moved.

It was not he who controlled it anymore. The image of Cassandra came alive on its own. Lukien’s hand froze on the stone. When he opened his eyes, the picture remained.

‘I can see you!’ he gasped. ‘Cass!’

‘I can feel you, Lukien,’ said Cassandra.

His whole body swelled with her warmth. Lukien stared into the distance, looking past the trees and rolling lawn to the figure in his mind. Cassandra reached out a hand. The touch was sweet. Lukien melted.

‘You’re here,’ he sighed. ‘Cass, you’re real.’

Cassandra’s face came clearly to him now, very close, as if she were laying next to him. She smiled serenely, her skin untouched by time or disease. ‘I am still here, Lukien,’ she said. ‘I told you I would be. I told you I would always be with you.’

‘Yes,’ said Lukien, remembering. ‘I’ve felt you close. I’ve tried to reach you, so many times!’

She could sense his agitation and quickly moved to calm him. ‘My love, it is the way things must be.’ She moved even closer, almost touching his
nose with hers. For Lukien, there was nothing else in the world but her. ‘I

promised you this place, and you found it.’

‘Yes,’ said Lukien excitedly. ‘We can be together now always!’

Cassandra shook her head. ‘Not yet. I brought you here to find the sword.’

‘I know, but I can’t find it, Cassandra. They won’t tell me where it is, not even Amaraz! But I can stay. Lahkali will let me. I don’t have to go . . .’

‘Lukien, no.’ Cassandra’s face twisted as though she were in pain. ‘My love, you’re not done yet.’

‘But I am! I helped Lahkali. I came here. I did everything!’

‘Except find the sword.’

Lukien stared at her. ‘I don’t want to know where it is. If you know, do not tell me.’

‘I have to, Lukien. I must.’

‘But how can you know? You never knew before! Cassandra, don’t tell me, I beg you.’

Cassandra’s hurt expression grew. ‘I can feel the sword, Lukien. I can feel it very near.’

Lukien put up his hands. ‘Damn it, no! I’m not a pawn anymore!’

‘No, beloved, you’re not,’ said Cassandra gently. ‘You’re a man of honour. And you have a duty.’

‘Duty?’ laughed Lukien. ‘Doesn’t anyone have a duty to me? Not even Amaraz talks to me! Why, Cassandra? Tell me that, will you?’

Cassandra smiled. ‘I have all the answers now, my love.’

‘What?’ Lukien fell backward. ‘Why then?’

‘Because the sword has an Akari. The sword is yours. The Akari is yours.’ Cassandra closed her eyes dreamily. ‘I can feel him, Lukien. I can feel Malator. He’s waiting for you.’

Lukien refused to accept her words. ‘No, Cassandra. You don’t understand. You’re not an Inhuman. I have an Akari. He’s a damned menace, but he’s mine.’

‘You’re wrong, my love.’ The pain left Cassandra’s face, and she opened her eyes with a smile. ‘Malator is your Akari.’

Two hours later, Lahkali returned to the Story Garden. Beneath the tree where she had left Lukien, she found him still sitting alone. His eyes were open, but he was not speaking, and Lahkali knew that his conversation with Cassandra had ended. She took her time walking toward him, making sure not to disturb his contemplation, and when he turned to look at her he smiled. He looked tired, but also immensely pleased. Lahkali returned his kind grin.

‘It happened?’ she asked. ‘You have seen her?’

Lukien nodded, then took the Eye of God out from beneath his shirt. ‘You see this? Soon I won’t need it anymore, Lahkali. I’m going to have an Akari of my own to keep me alive. A proper Akari.’

Confused, Lahkali asked, ‘What do you mean?’

‘The Sword of Angels,’ replied Lukien. His face was serene. ‘It’s mine. It belongs to me, and I know where it is.’

As he walked with Lahkali across the rolling greens of the Story Garden, Lukien felt more than simple bliss. What he felt was indescribable, too much for words, and because he had no words he said nothing. Lahkali’s voice was low and sweet, as though she were reading a sonnet to him. Lukien nodded politely, trying to listen, but his every thought was of his beautiful Cassandra and the brief, dream-like time they had spent together. She had touched him. From her place among the dead she had reached her hand across the void as though she were still alive. Her fingers burned with life and passion. Lukien thought of her and smiled.

Jahan had been right about Torlis. It was indeed a place of miracles. And Lahkali had gifted him with the greatest miracle of all, one that made the river of blood seem like a parlour trick. Lukien floated as he walked, not really caring where the girl was taking him. He had told her about the crypt at the other end of the Story Garden, and she had smiled at him with open pleasure. Cassandra, now part of this strange city, had known at once where the crypt was located, finally ending the maddening mystery. But to Lukien, the revelation was merely one more tiny blessing. He no longer really cared about the Sword of Angels, or about the tale Lahkali was spinning. He had seen Cassandra, and for him that was enough.

The sun continued to shine as Lukien and Lahkali made their way across the greens, over the hills and gulleys of the enormous garden. Lukien walked slowly, not really wanting to reach his destination. Just as Cassandra had told him, they were westward toward the sun, toward the tomb Lukien knew they would find there. Cassandra had told him everything, and he in turn had told Lahkali. The young Eminence seemed relieved as she told her secret tale.

‘When Malator died the tomb was built to keep the sword. His body was burned and his ashes taken to the sacred river. Only the sword lies within the tomb.’

It was a remarkable story, and for Lukien, the end of a mystery. He
nodded as he walked alongside the girl, not saying anything as she unburdened herself.

‘I have kept this secret since my own father died, and he kept it most of his life, just as all the fathers before him, from the time of Faros himself. Faros was the first. He was the Eminence who befriended Malator. When Malator came he asked for Faros to help him. You know this already, Lukien. The Jadori were murdering the Akari, and Malator came here to find allies. But Faros refused.’

‘Of course,’ said Lukien. ‘Why would anyone bring their people to war needlessly?’

‘Ah, but Malator warned otherwise. He told Faros that the Jadori would one day come here to Torlis. One day they would conquer Torlis, just as they would conquer the Akari. That was almost a thousand years ago. We are still waiting!’

‘The Jadori aren’t like that anymore,’ Lukien told her. ‘They were, but no longer. They’re good people. Peace-loving.’

‘As you say,’ agreed Lahkali. ‘But in Malator’s day they were bloodthirsty, and Malator was desperate. He begged the Eminence for help, but Faros always refused him.’

‘And so the Akari were slaughtered.’

Lahkali nodded. ‘Yes, but not all at once. Malator stayed for months here in Torlis, trying to win Faros over. And that’s when he taught us how to commune.’

‘Ah! Tell me about that. You said the Story Garden was a gift.’

‘That’s right, but the garden took time. Malator did not build it all at once. At first he taught only Faros how to speak to the dead.’ Lahkali slowed a little and smiled at Lukien. ‘Faros was like you, Lukien. He grieved for a woman he loved. Malator knew this and gave the magic of the story stones to Faros so that he could talk to his beloved wife again.’

‘You mean he bribed him,’ said Lukien dryly.

‘And it almost worked! After months of trying, Malator had finally given Faros a reason to help him. But by then it was too late. By then the Jadori had won.’ Lahkali paused, considering her own, heavy words. ‘I don’t know how Malator knew, but he did. The story doesn’t explain that. I’ve always guessed it was his magic that told him what had happened to his people.’

‘He was right, though, however he knew.’ Lukien remembered what Raivik had told him of the slaughter. ‘So what happened to Malator?’

‘He never went back to his Kaliatha,’ said Lahkali. ‘He remained here in Torlis with Faros. He was bitter over what happened to his people, and too ashamed to go home and try to find anyone who might have survived. He spent the rest of his life here.’

‘And he built the Story Garden,’ said Lukien. ‘Yes?’

‘That’s right. He worked on it the rest of his life. The story says that it was a gift to all the people of Torlis for being so kind to him.’

‘A generous gift!’ laughed Lukien. ‘But what about the Sword of Angels?’

Lahkali shrugged. ‘It’s yours now.’

‘That’s not what I mean, Lahkali.’

‘I know.’ Lahkali continued walking, looking down at her slippers. ‘Malator could have helped his people. He could have worn the armour that his brother Kahldris made for him. He told Faros of his brother, you see, and of all his evils. Kahldris placed himself into the armour to make a great weapon to defeat the Jadori, but his Malator shunned it.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Lukien anxiously. ‘That’s what Raivik told me. But he told me nothing of the sword, Lahkali, and so far you haven’t either.’

Lahkali glanced ahead. ‘We’re almost there.’

Lukien nodded. Somehow, he could feel it. ‘Cassandra told me that Malator would be my Akari.’

Lahkali smiled. ‘That is a good thing, yes?’

‘Yes,’ Lukien replied. ‘At least I think so.’ Still, the notion made him wary. ‘He’s calling to me. I can feel him.’

‘Malator?’

Lukien stopped walking. ‘Tell me the rest of the story before we get there. Why did he make the sword, Lahkali?’

‘To stop his brother, Lukien. Somehow he knew his brother would survive. Before he died he placed himself into the sword that he brought with him from Kaliatha. That’s what the Akari do, yes? Place themselves into objects to make themselves more powerful? Like your amulet . . .’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Lukien. ‘But I never really understood it. It makes them live on in this world, our world. It makes them strong here.’

‘Malator knew his brother would never die inside his armour, Lukien. He was old by the time he made the Sword of Angels, and so was Faros. He made Faros promise never to reveal the location of the sword to anyone. People who see Malator’s tomb don’t even know what it is. Only the priests know, and even they have no notion of the sword. It is a secret.’

‘But you knew I’d come for it,’ said Lukien. ‘How?’

‘Because that is what Malator told us would happen.’ Lahkali laughed. ‘They are so marvelous, the Akari! They see the future. They are truly like gods.’

‘No,’ said Lukien sourly. ‘They aren’t gods. They just think they are. They manipulate people into doing their bidding, and they never, ever explain themselves.’

‘Be at ease, Lukien,’ said Lahkali. She touched his hand gently. ‘You have your answers now.’