Wintermoon Ice (2010) (15 page)

Suvi smiled and pointed. "Look, Tom. Ludde has come after all. I didn't think he would, even though I made a special trip to his cottage this morning to ask him. I must go and say hello before he runs away." She pulled Tom's arm and he followed, wondering what business had brought Lut Armstrong to Carina.

They passed by the girl that Suvi had noticed from the stage. She sat quietly at one of the tables, watching everything with her amber-colored eyes. The people sitting near occasionally aimed a comment at her, and she would smile and shake her head. Tom had passed her by, following Suvi towards Lut, when he caught sight of her backpack, and the odd-looking red, white and blue patch on the pocket.

Tom caught Suvi's arm. "Go and make Ludde welcome. I will join you in a moment." He waited until she had passed out of earshot, then hurried over to the girl. "Come with me," he hissed at her in English. "Don't let on you know what I am saying."

Her eyes went very wide, but she did as he ordered. Tom led her to Suvi's office and shut the door firmly.

She gave a relieved sigh as she sank into the desk chair. "Thank god, someone who speaks English, at last! I was beginning to think..."

He broke in with angry questions. "Who are you? How the hell did you get here?"

"My name is Tessa Kivelson. And... I don't know how I got here, not exactly. I went through a gateway, and I found myself at Carina."

"You traveled the worlds between? Did you mean to come here?"

"Well no, not exactly, but I am very glad I did. The boy I met on the stairs told me the name of this place, but I think I would have recognized it from Suvi's journal anyway. She was... Is..." Tessa threw up her hands in confusion. "Oh god, regular expressions really don't apply here. The Suvi Markku you know becomes my grandmother -- a long time from now."

Tom Finn rubbed his crew cut worriedly. "Your home is a future place?"

Tessa shrugged. "I really don't know what future and past mean anymore. Ever since I met Jakob..."

His frown grew deeper. "Lut's brother, Jakob?"

"Yes, I guess so. He came to
Cloudy
Bay
to protect me from the Polys."

Tom stood and paced the narrow confines of the office. "Don't tell me anything else! You don't belong here, Tessa."

She raised an eyebrow at this. "And you do? Where are you from --
Ohio
?"

He grinned sheepishly. "You pegged it exactly. Did my accent give me away? Jack, Katy and I live in Litchfield."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"About a year ago, Lut came to see us. He said he needed Jack's help."

Tessa looked mystified. "What for?"

"Lut had been tracking his mother's killer. The trail was old, and cold, by the time he reached here, and he had almost given up. But then, just after he arrived, Severness was attacked by the Grond of Berengarth."

"So what? It was none of his affair, was it?"

Tom shrugged. "Maybe not, but it seemed suspicious to him, when there is nothing in Severness worth taking. Berengarth had just undergone its own revolution, and had an ambitious ruler, the Imperial Commander. There were rumors of new soldiers -- tall, pale and very strong."

Tessa blanched. "Oh, now I get it."

"The local militia didn't have a clue how to win a war against such an enemy. Jack had been a decorated officer during World War II, and he knew how to lead men."

"And you?"

"Katy and I are medical doctors. We thought we could make ourselves useful here."

"Where is
here
, anyway?"

"Nunabind. This is another of the worlds between. But look -- you've got to go back."

She stood slowly, dragging her feet. "But what will you do when the war is over? What about Suvi?"

"I... I don't know what you mean."

"I saw the way she looked at you when she sang. She loves you. Don't you love her too?"

He nodded, with desolate sureness, and then chewed on his moustache. "Tomorrow I have to leave for the front and I don't know when I will be back. I can't expect her to wait for me. Not when..."

A tap on the door silenced him. Suvi poked her head in the door and spoke anxiously to Tom, and he responded in her language. He must have reassured her, for she nodded and quickly withdrew. He turned back to Tessa. "You should leave now, before she starts asking more questions."

Tessa twisted her hands together. "I don't know if I can. What if the door I came through is closed? Or I get lost?"

He smiled at her fears. "You won't need the door, not with me. Make a picture in your mind of the place you wish to go." Tom held out his hand, and Tessa took it, wondering what would happen. She concentrated on the wooded area near the Volvo, hoping the Polys would have ended their pursuit.

After a sickening moment of vertigo, he had her there.

The upturned basin of sky brimmed with stars. Tom stood close beside her under the firs. "I don't know how in the hell you did that, but thank you," Tessa whispered. "I hope things work out for you and Suvi." She laughed quietly at the irony of it all.

Tom smiled too. "When next you see Jakob, tell him we could use his help with the Grond."

Tessa sighed. "I don't know if he would come, not if his brother is there. He told me that Lut murdered his wife. Is that true?"

He shook his head with unmistakable sadness. "The answer is more complicated than that, but Jakob would rather blame Lut than admit his own part in her death. Now I had better be getting back. Farewell, Tessa."

She shook his hand with both of hers. "Farewell, Tom. Thank you so much for bringing me back home."

He turned away from her, and then paused, with a thoughtful expression. "There is a bond between us, from another time. I sensed it just now, when you took my hand. Do you feel it too?"

Tessa stared at his face, searchingly. Pictures formed and dissolved in her mind, of a wrinkled cheek, still-bright blue eyes, a flowing white beard. "More than friends," she offered, after a moment. "I can see you as an old man, maybe..."

"Well that sounds encouraging." But his eyes said he wasn't convinced. "I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I want to give you something." Tom bent, and pulled a dagger from his boot, then held it up in the moonlight. "This weapon has been mine for many a turn of the Gyre. But I think you need it more than me, at least for now."

Tessa took it from him. The knife had a finely worked hilt, with pearl inlays, and a round red jewel inset on the guard. "This is so beautiful, Tom. I couldn't possibly... What would I use it for, anyway?"

"A current of disrupted time runs through this place. Others have come and gone, and there is a residue of darkness that disturbs me. I think you will be in danger as long as you stay here, Tessa." He touched the knife reverently. "The Amaranthine forged this blade, long ago, and endowed it with great power. I hope it will lend you some protection."

"What are the..."

He put his hand over her mouth and pointed towards the hut. Tessa saw someone crossing in front of the window. She walked to the edge of the trees, hoping to get a closer view. "It's all right. That's Jane's Honda parked next to my Volvo. She must be inside."

"Who is Jane?"

"Jane Piper. My best friend. She is a doctor, just like you." Tessa looked at the weapon in her hand. "Are you truly sure you want me to take your knife?"

He didn't respond. When she looked back, Tom had disappeared.

* * * *

She waited in the truck for him, for what seemed like a long time, wondering about the girl. That she had come from his world, Suvi had no doubt, but he had acted as though he didn't know her. Why would he hide something like that? The only answer felt like it would hurt if she knew it.

Tom slipped into the seat beside her. "Did you see her home, Tom?" Suvi asked, softly.

"Yes. I'm sorry you had to wait out here in the cold for me."

"I don't mind. It helped clear my head. And anyway, I know you had a long way to go."

He sighed. "You guessed already, didn't you?"

"Did you know her? Before you came here, I mean?" She didn't say anything else, just sat quietly and waited for the pain to start.

"No, I didn't. She strayed here by accident, maybe -- or maybe not. I don't know. But it doesn't matter now." He took her hand and pressed the rough palm hard against his lips, then held it to his cheek. "This is what matters. You... matter." He took a shallow ragged breath. "Suvi... Oh Suvi, I love you, and I need to know if you..."

Instead of pain, there was joy, and it felt very odd. "Yes," said Suvi, before he had even finished, and again, "Yes, more than anything."

He put his arms around her awkwardly in the confined space of the truck. "I have to..."

She put her mouth over his before he could say anything else, and kissed him until the ache building in her chest wouldn't let her breathe. Then she asked, "When are you going?"

He sat back against the seat suddenly. "How did you know?"

"I could see it on your face when I sang tonight. You looked so unhappy. But it's all right, Tom. I'll wait for you. You know I will."

Tom brought his mouth back down, kissing her with desperate longing. After a moment had passed this way, he whispered urgently, "Suvi... Beautiful Suvi. Listen to me. We can leave here, right now, and then neither of us will have to wait. Please..."

She drew away from him, just a little. "You want me to come to your world, Tom?" The light inside her woke suddenly, with a warning sparkle that felt like pins and needles in her chest.

He laughed, nervously, exuberantly, not caring now what she knew. "Anywhere. I can take you anywhere you want to go."

Suvi thought of the mysteries she had seen from the gateway -- the velvet of a tropical sky, the numberless stars, the bright inscrutability of the moon, the endless field of yellow blooms. He would give them all to her, if she said yes.

But she did not. Suvi sighed. "I can't leave Carina, not while the war is on. And what of your duties? I thought you came here to heal people?"

"I did, I guess. But I would rather go somewhere else -- with you. Don't you want to be with me?"

"Of course I do. But I can't just run away. Carina would fall apart if I wasn't here to keep it going."

His frustration made him thoughtless. "What difference does that make? Jack is going to..."

All right, but you will be careful, won't you? Don't give anything else away, Tom.

He mouthed a curse, but it was too late.

Suvi said sharply, "What is Jack going to do?" When he didn't answer, she shook him. "Is he going to shut Carina? Why won't you tell me?"

"Suvi, please don't ask me anything else. If we leave here, it won't matter."

She slammed her hand into the dashboard. "No!" Suvi's voice dropped to an unhappy whisper. "You know I love you, Tom, but I have to do what's right."

Satisfied, the thing in her chest settled again and slept.

"Fine." He answered dully, without understanding her reasons at all. "Then I will be on the eight o'clock troop transport to
Fareniis
Narrows
. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Oh, Tom." She caught his face in her hands and kissed him again. "I will miss you so much." Suvi held on to him silently, her head buried on his chest. Her shoulders trembled, and he knew she wept. Tom looked out the windscreen, into obscurity, trying to fathom fate's little cruelties.
Why wouldn't she just leave?

Four figures, unconscious of the people in the truck, crept along the alleyway towards the back yard. Tom saw them and stiffened, but didn't say anything. A few seconds later, Lut appeared, in silent pursuit. He passed right by the driver's side, running in a crouch, and carried on round the corner.

Tom whispered to Suvi. "Go back inside and wait for me. I have to check on something."

She raised her head, and stared at him, her eyes rough and red from crying. "What are you...?"

"Shhh... Please, baby, just do as I ask." She went out the passenger side and he followed, leaving the door wide open. Once he had her safely out of the way, Tom scurried through the alley and stole up behind Lut. He gave the low bird call they used as a signal.

Lut stopped and waited for him. "There you are! I thought I might have to tackle these four miscreants on my own."

Tom smiled in the darkness, knowing that Lut would have liked nothing more. "Who are they?"

Lut shrugged his wide shoulders. "A tallish blond fellow, and three others. I first saw them singing on the stage. Some vulgar Snake drinking song, by the sound of it. Got the crowd in a terrible temper, and pretty much broke up the party. Then, afterwards, they all assembled in the South wing. I watched as they headed towards a door in the back. It must have been locked, because I heard a lot of cursing."

"What happened then?"

"The leader announced they would try to find another way into the cellars. And that is when I followed them here. Come on, or we may lose the scent." The two men moved in unison, with an effortless silence borne of many such hunts together. Once they turned the corner, they saw that their quarry had broken into the garage where Billu kept the vehicles. A few moments later they left again, and now one man carried a long item wrapped in a cloth.

Tom signaled to Lut to continue, while he went over to examine the pantechnicon in the garage. Lut, bent low, disappeared out of sight behind the southern wall of the factory. Tom took a small flashlight, and poked amongst the untidy pile of sacks and tools in the truck bed. After a moment he gave a long, low whistle. Fourteen sticks of dynamite, along with fuses and blasting caps, lay hidden in a recess above the wheel well.

A horrible certainty settled over him like a cloud.

By the time he caught Lut, the men had attacked a locked ground level hatchway with a crowbar. Much whispered conversation ensued.

"They are from Berengarth, all right," Lut muttered. "I know their filthy tongue when I hear it. Might be the same bunch that come and go on Ayedeen beach. That blond one looks familiar."