Wintermoon Ice (2010) (27 page)
Read Wintermoon Ice (2010) Online
Authors: Suzanne Francis
"We need to get your brother out of here," insisted Jane. "He's hypovolemic, for sure. Needs oxygen, and a transfusion. God only knows if we can match his blood type, so you'll have to be the donor. And anyway, what about Tessa? She is still wandering round the caves at Anenoa, looking for Ted."
A sudden shower of dust made them all look up. A wreath of faces ringed the hole in the floor, looking down curiously on the scene below.
"Go!" said Tom. "Those are Grond soldiers. I'll stay here and..."
"Now, now, dear boy. What is your hurry?" Tristan signaled with his hand and fourteen rifle barrels appeared through the hole with a crisp snap. "Everyone down on the floor." He pointed to Jakob. "Throw that sword into the corner."
The Serjent trained his rifle on Tom, who froze. "Shall we shoot, Commander?"
Jane looked up from her patient and pushed her glasses up her nose. "What's going on? What do these men want?"
"Shhh... Jane." Jakob drew keth'fell and tossed it beyond the pile of bricks. He stared at Tristan, now dressed in the uniform of the Berengarth High Command. "I might have known you would be behind all this. Why?"
Tristan shrugged. "Why not? I knew this backwater would be an excellent place to hide. It took your brother simply ages to catch up with me. And now I am ready to move again, I have the perfect method of taking my entire army along." He waved his hand at the portal and smiled. "And the government just
gave
it to me!"
"Let the woman and this injured man go. They are locals who accidentally fell into the hole." Tom tried to keep his tone reasonable. "Jakob and I can be your hostages."
"I don't need any hostages. This is all I need." Tristan held up the mirror and waved it gleefully.
He followed five soldiers down the ladder. Two were very pale and very tall.
Theatrically, Tristan peered at his watch. "My, my. Look at the time." He strolled towards the portal, his Polys in tow. After slipping back into Berengarthen, he began issuing orders. "When Branko arrives he will supervise the troop movement. We will meet at the next target in four hours." Tristan shot a careless look back over his shoulder. "Shoot the prisoners once we are safely through the portal."
Two things happened. Tom, who understood his words, flung himself at Tristan. Jakob, who didn't, merely reacted to Tom's movement. He coiled and then jumped high, catching hold of the edge of the crumbling hole. With an angry roar he pulled down most of the ceiling, showering the room with bricks and screaming Grond soldiers.
Upstairs, in the redolent darkness of the oven, Suvi felt the vibration and dried her tears. A feeling stole over her -- a call that she could not ignore. She was needed.
* * * *
They stood on the deserted overlook. Tessa turned around in the bright sunlight, blinking and blinking, as though it was her vision's fault that Jane and Katy had disappeared.
Ted was staring at her. "My god, do you see what this means?"
Unwillingly, she focused on him. "What this...
means
?"
"Yes! You are living proof that inter-dimensional travel is possible. See, this just goes to show..."
"Shut up, Ted. You aren't going to tell anyone about this."
"But..."
"I saved your life back there. You owe me."
A disappointed frown creased his brow, but he quickly smothered it. "Fine. So what are you going to do now?"
She studied his face, noting that his injuries didn't seem as bad as they had in the fearful darkness of the cave. "Can you get back down to the hut by yourself? I have to go... somewhere else. See if I can find Jane."
He tried to look small and pitiful. "My glasses are gone. I can't see without them. Will you walk back down to the car and get my spares?"
Tessa pulled the frames she had found out of her pocket. One of the lenses was mostly intact. "Here, you'll be able to find your way well enough." She handed over the glasses and the key to the hut. "There's a radio inside. You can call the ranger station." She glared at him. "And remember -- you went for a walk and fell. If you say anything else then I'll start talking too. And I won't stop for a long time."
He waved his hands. "Ok. Ok. I won't breathe a word. I promise." Ted watched as Tessa closed her eyes, obviously lost in thought. "What are you doing?"
They snapped open again, irritably. "Nothing. I have to go." She turned and climbed over the railing, heading back towards the gully.
He gave her a ten minute head start, then Ted spoke cheerfully to the cliff side. "Sorry, babe. This is just too big to hide. I have to speak, in the name of science," he added grandly. He scrambled back towards the cave, thinking he could easily remove some evidence from the first of the dead Polys, which he knew lay not far from the upper cave entrance.
It might be hard to convince people at first, but once they know the truth, I will be famous...
He pressed forward eagerly.
* * * *
Tessa had tried to form a coherent picture of the sewer that had first led her to Severnessa, but found she could not. She didn't dare gap shift with such an indistinct image as her guide. But the portal remained -- she had only to pass through it again.
"And anyway," she said to herself as she ducked under the icy splash of the waterfall, "it's possible Jane and Katy came this way as well." But she could see no sign of anyone within the vestibule. "Jane? Are you in here?"
Nothing but echoes greeted her. Tessa moved confidently through the darkness, still calling for Jane. She stopped well before she reached the main cavern, disturbed by the noise she could hear within. Excited shouts and the sound of gunfire made her heart race in fear. She edged forward, until she caught sight of the portal -- and the sewer beneath Carina. The roof had given way, and grey-uniformed men lurched and staggered across the flooded floor. Tom lay face down on the ground, unconscious or worse. Jakob swung wildly with a heavy beam of wood, trying to keep Tristan from escaping. Tristan screamed something unintelligible, and one of the soldiers raised his weapon right in Jakob's face.
She didn't wait to see what would happen next.
In all the confusion, no one saw her emerge from the window, but she had only seconds to regain her equilibrium before diving towards the man threatening Jakob. She caught hold of the barrel just as he fired, and shoved it aside. The round hit another soldier in the back, tearing a hole as big as a grapefruit in his chest. He collapsed with a surprised gurgle.
Jakob snatched the rifle away and quickly aimed at Tristan. "Don't move anything but your mouth. Tell your men to throw down their weapons or I will blow your fucking head off."
Tristan barked an order. The six remaining soldiers dropped their guns and herded themselves into a corner. Tessa squatted beside Jane, who looked dazed and dusty, but unhurt. The fallen beams had made a shelter, of sorts, from the worst of the violence. "How in the hell did you get here?"
"Tom. The hospital told him we had gone to Anenoa," Jane answered, without taking her eyes off the rapidly spreading sewage. "We have
got
to shift Lut. If this filthy water gets in his wound he's done for."
Tessa got to her feet and eased over to Jakob. "Jane says we have to move your brother. Now."
Jakob cut his eyes quickly over to the mass of brick and wood. "How can we? If I help with the beams then my uncle will escape."
Tessa could see the dark stain oozing across the floor, creeping closer and closer to where Lut lay on the ground. "Tell your men to move the debris that is covering the injured man and blocking the sewer," she ordered Tristan.
He gave a cunning smile. "If I do, will you let me go?"
Tessa nodded. "Absolutely."
"Not a chance," Jakob said simultaneously. They looked at each other in annoyance. "Can't you leave well enough alone?"
"Lut will die!"
Jakob stared at his brother's fallen form doubtfully. "Tessa... Lut wouldn't want me to let our mother's murderer run, even if it cost him his life."
She shook her head angrily. "What kind of idiotic revenge could possibly be worth your brother's life? Let him go. Please."
"No. I can't. You don't know what terrible things this man has done. He has killed thousands of people."
Tessa snorted. "And if you let Lut die, he will have killed one more! For God's sake, Jakob." He shook his head again, stubbornly, and Tessa threw up her hands in despair.
He stared down the gun barrel at Tristan as the water rose another half inch. It must have been the stench that made his eyes water. "Okay, fine. Give the order, Uncle." Tristan did, and the soldiers went to work. Tessa picked up another of the rifles and covered them. The men finished quickly, then stood, huddled together with their heads down.
Soft footfalls crossed the ceiling above their heads. No one heard them.
Tom stirred and sat up, groaning. "What happened?"
Jakob answered. "You got hit with a couple bricks when I pulled the ceiling down."
He rubbed the back of his head and winced. "Ow. Feels like it. What did I miss?"
Jakob frowned as Tessa held out her hand to Tristan. "You were just about to give me the mirror, weren't you?"
Tristan shrugged. "I suppose you leave me no choice. But I will have to move in order to do that. So keep your finger away from the trigger, dear girl."
Tessa watched him intently. "Okay. Just do it slowly. Put the mirror down and kick it across the floor to Jakob."
Tom saw the sudden buoyancy in Tristan's eyes. "Tessa, no! It's a trick." But Tristan moved more quickly. He stabbed his finger towards Jakob and glared at him with fierce concentration. The rifle fell from his numbed fingers.
A face appeared at the edge of the gaping hole in the ceiling. It looked angry -- and alien. No one saw it.
One of the Grond soldiers disarmed Tessa. Tristan screamed, "Shoot them all," and then threw himself towards the portal.
Another finger tightened on the mechanism of a prism-shaped crystal. It filled the room with swirling bands of light and color, like a rainbow locked in a thick-walled soda bottle.
"What is that?" Jakob murmured, and then closed his eyes.
Jane lay down next to Lut, with her head on his chest, smiling contentedly.
Tom wrestled with it, rubbing his eyes furiously, trying to fight the enchantment.
"Suvi?"
"Sleep, Tom," she said softly, and he found he could fight no longer.
Only Tessa remained awake. She watched as Suvi came down the ladder and placed the prism on the floor. Suvi turned to her, and their eyes met.
The creature in each of them struggled, feeling the pull of their shared anafireon.
Suvi was the first to look away. There was much work to be done, and she had to do it quickly. The prism slowed time, made thought impossible, but it would not keep a man who had a stab wound in the belly from dying.
She moved amongst the soldiers of the Grond. Suvi had intended to slash their throats, given the chance, but she found she could not murder even her worst enemies while they slept. One by one, she led them to the portal, and then shoved them through. Each would wake in a different world -- lost, but still alive.
But for the Polys there was no mercy. Suvi placed her hands on each beefy shoulder and pushed backwards. They did not struggle or make a sound as they landed in the sewer channel and sank out of sight.
"As for you..." she murmured, looking down at Tristan. He stared back, but his eyes looked blind. Suvi bent and extricated the mirror from his chubby fingers, then tucked it in her pocket. "You have brought death to many, but you will kill no one else."
"Not even
Fyn
?" he asked, in a drowsy voice. "I really want to kill him."
She frowned. "Were you not listening? No more deaths."
"All right."
"Now go. And trouble this world no more."
He stood, like a sleepwalker, and wandered into the portal. The scene had shifted, and now showed a field of vivid yellow flowers. She watched for a long moment as the blooms parted in bright waves, allowing Tristan to move between them. He ran clumsily, frolicking like a child. Suvi sighed and turned away.
Only one thing remained to do. She picked up the prism and tossed it through the window. Bubbles of light flared forth, washing the dripping walls in a froth of pastel. A moment later, Suvi had gone. So had the portal. Tessa sat quietly, waiting for the others to wake.
Tom jumped to his feet first. "What in the hell just happened? Where is Tristan?"
Jakob shook his head. His mind felt like syrup. "Something made me sleep. Sweet Brigga! Look. The
Mebbain
is gone too." He whirled. "Tessa?"
"Here," she said softly. "I'm all right." She stood and went over to Jakob, then put her arms around him. "Please don't be angry. I shouldn't have..."
Jane jumped up, blushing fiercely, and put two fingers against the pulse in Lut's neck. "Save the soap opera. We need to get him out of here. Help me put him on the stretcher."
They did. Jakob frowned. "How are we going to get back? I planned to use the portal."
Tessa spoke up. "It's OK. I can get us there."
Jakob shook his head. "You? How could you possibly know..."
"I don't know how I know, but I've done it before. All I have to do is make a picture in my mind."
Tom stared at her with narrowed eyes. "Why not let her try? I believe she can do it."
"Why?"
He ruffled Tessa's blond hair and grinned. "It's all in the blood. At least I hope so, anyway. And now... I really need to find Suvi."
Suvi and Tessa
Harp children are the highest of the Bright realm, and the hope for the future of Severness. Almost all are privately taught by leading Cloud educators, as well as Harp musicians and artists. If a Harp child should be amongst your students, you must take utmost care with his or her education.
Know Your Students -- a Junior Educator's Handbook to the Soli
, Severnessan Ministry of Stations
A common spiral shell has many hidden chambers.
Powwaw Speak: Shamanic Wisdom of the Irrakish
, Theodore Black, PhD
* * * *
Tom moved through the building, placing dynamite next to what he hoped were the most important structural elements. He carefully connected a blasting cap to each taped bundle, crimping the wire with his teeth. While laying the charges, he spoke Suvi's name, begging her to come out and talk to him, though he dared not raise his voice above a whisper.
She did not reply, nor did he see any sign of her in the raw desolation left by the fleeing Carinians. The warehouse was cavernously empty, and Tom felt his spirits, already low at Katy's departure, sink even further.
He allowed himself one loud, desperate cry. "Suvi! Please... Where are you? We need to talk."
You... talk...
his voice echoed back.
Talk...
An hour later, after he had finished the placement of the dynamite and run the wires, Tom went back into the sewer for one last search, hoping to find some clue to Suvi's whereabouts. He poked around in the corners, wondering about the last glimpse he had had of her face, impassively lit by a swirling rainbow. The waterlogged floor squelched under his boots as he squatted before an indistinct lump lying well away from the collapsed roof. Tom inhaled sharply as he identified the mutilated face.
He gave a long, low whistle. "Looks like a first round knock-out, my friend."
A curiously feminine object shrouded Calaan's neck and chest, lying on top of his regulation officer's greatcoat. Tom recognized it as Suvi's cardigan -- the one with the fancy silver buttons that she had worn on the night they went dancing together.
To find it here, tucked tenderly about the shoulders of the enemy, was more than Tom could bear. He snatched it up and buried his face in the sleeve, which still bore her scent amongst the softness. Lut's mutterings returned to him...
Suvi... Where is my wife?
How was it possible she could have given herself both to Lut Armstrong and this spy in the three days he had been in Fareniis?
Tom's jaw tightened as he dropped the cardigan into the mud and ground his heel into the delicate pearl buttons. The body before him twitched convulsively. Calaan's eye opened a slit. His ruined mouth formed words out of blood and smashed teeth. "
Help me... I want... Suvi...
"
"Well, I wanted her too, pal. Looks like we are both out of luck, doesn't it?"
Calaan tried to sit up, and failed. After his head had fallen back onto the bricks, he whispered, "Not your enemy. Cousin, listen..."
Blind rage brought murder into Tom's eyes. "How dare you? You mangy piece of shit traitor. You are no cousin of mine." He groped for his knife before he remembered that he had given it to Tessa. His sidearm was no use. If there were others in the building, a shot would draw them straight to him. With a whispered curse, he dug his boot under Calaan's back, rolling him towards the sluggish brown water. By the time he hit the stream, with an oily splash, Tom was already halfway up the ladder. He did not look back.
When he returned upstairs, he no longer bothered to call Suvi's name. He worked quickly, knowing that other Grond troops might be on their way. After he had spliced the wires and run the line well away from the building, he attached it to a hand-cranked generator.
He had only to create a spark, and Carina would be no more.
Tom hesitated, wondering if she could still be inside. The sound of vehicles and booted feet, moving slowly through the mud of Wharfan Svaate, brought his head up.
Now or never
, he told himself grimly. He wound the crank until the charge light shone green and placed his finger on the detonator.
* * * *
Jakob and Tessa sat together in a crowded waiting room just outside the surgical suite, holding hands. Occasionally Tessa would say something hopeful or comforting, but he seemed unable to see anything positive about the situation.
"Even if Lut survives..." he began, desolately.
Tessa tried to remain resolutely cheerful. "Which he will. Jane said so."
"He is going to hate me even more for letting Tristan wriggle off the hook again."
She shook her head. "I don't think you did -- let him escape, I mean."
Jakob snorted derisively, then lowered his head when another resident of the waiting area frowned in his direction. "Well, where did he go then?"
Tessa shrugged. "I don't know. But Suvi had something to do with his disappearance. She was in the basement with us, carrying some sort of glowing crystal. I saw a field full of yellow flowers in the portal, and she made Tristan go through. Then Suvi threw the crystal and it disappeared. I think she shut him on the other side."
He frowned. "Why weren't you asleep like the rest of us?"
"I don't know. But... I've seen those yellow flowers before."
His hands clutched at the armrests of the uncomfortable waiting room chair. "So have I." He hesitated, unsure how much more he should say. Just then, the double doors opened wide and Jane came through, wearing green surgical scrubs. Jakob stood and hurried across the waiting room. "Is he alright?"
Jane smiled. "Your brother will be fine. He got off pretty lightly, all things considered. The knife blade managed to miss his liver
and
a bunch of important blood vessels."
Jakob closed his eyes, fighting back tears. "Thank you, Jane. If it wasn't for you, he might have..."
She laughed wryly and shook her head. "All I did was watch. The surgeon did all the work. I think I have used up every favor I ever collected in this hospital. Good thing it's all over."
Tessa joined them. "May we see him?"
"He'll be groggy, but sure. Follow me." They went through another door, and down a long hallway. Jane pointed to a series of curtained alcoves on the left. "That is recovery, through there." She stepped aside to let Jakob enter, then caught Tessa's arm as she tried to follow. "Give them a few minutes on their own. Let's get some coffee from the kitchen."
Tessa watched Jakob bend his head as he went through the curtain and drew it shut behind him.
"Ok." Tessa let Jane drag her down the hall.
The instant coffee tasted like burned cardboard, but at least it was hot. She leaned against the counter, feeling the exhaustion lingering in every muscle. "Do you really think it is over?"
Jane pushed up her glasses and gave Tessa a sideways glance. "Um... Well, there is one more thing."
Tessa frowned. "Don't tell me. I don't think I can cope with anything else."
Jane pretended not to hear her. "It's about Ted. Apparently he's missing."
"He's...
missing
? I left him on the overlook. His face was a little messed up, that's all." Tessa felt her lip begin to tremble. "Does anyone know what happened?"
Jane's arm slipped over her shoulder and massaged her neck. "Search and Rescue found his glasses at the bottom of the gully, close to the entrance of the cave."
She shook her head in confusion. "That would mean he was going in the opposite direction from his car. Maybe he got turned around, or came to look for me. I should have gone with him, like he asked me to. I bet the Polys..."
Jane broke in, ruthlessly practical, as always. "They will keep on searching for him. He's probably just holed up somewhere." She patted Tessa's back. "I am sorry. Maybe I should have waited to tell you, but I really didn't think you would be so upset."
"Not upset? Jane, we were engaged for three years! Ted was once a big part of my future."
"I know. But you have Jakob now..." Jane's voice went suddenly quiet. "Don't you?"
"Yes... I guess so. He was pretty angry at me, about Tristan, but I think worrying about Lut made him forget about it." Tessa wiped her eyes. "Do you want to know something really strange? It has only been a couple of weeks since the night we walked back from Mama Rosa's together."
Jane shook her head. "I can't believe it! Only two weeks? So much has happened."
Tessa's voice went very quiet. "Sometimes I feel like I have known Jakob forever. Longer than forever. But look, here he comes."
Jakob's long stride quickly brought him to the kitchen alcove, but he seemed in no hurry to speak. Instead, he studied the pattern woven into the industrial carpeting, until Jane noisily cleared her throat.
"Well, I talked to him," he said, at last.
"How is he feeling?"
He scowled. "Angry. He insisted we should have let him die rather than giving Tristan a chance to escape. Same old Lut, in other words."
Tessa sighed her disappointment. "Well, you tried your best. Maybe it just isn't..."
His eyes remained fixed to the floor. He deflected her clumsy attempt at comfort. "I'm going back to Severnessa to see if I can pick up the trail. Maybe that portal has reappeared by now."
Tessa's irises became pieces of brittle amber, the pupils trapped like insects within. "What? Jakob, you can't let him run your life like that!"
"It's the only way the two of us are ever going to find any peace. Don't you see?"
She shook her head stubbornly. "No. And anyway, wasn't Tom going to blow up the building?"
Jakob looked grim. "I'll have to stop him."
Tessa opened her mouth to argue, but it was Jane who spoke as she headed back down the hall. "I'll stay with Lut. If he isn't here when you two return, then we will have moved him up to the third floor. OK?" Jakob didn't say anything, so Tessa nodded for them both.
She came to a sudden decision. "You heard Jane. Let's get started."
He stared at her. Then, after a deep, sharp sigh, he said, "It might be dangerous."
"So what? If you are going, then I am going with you." They moved aside as a nurse came into the cramped kitchen and began making coffee. She stared pointedly at them as she leaned with her elbows against the countertop.
Jakob took Tessa's arm and pulled her back into the hall. "Why do you have to make everything so difficult?"
She smiled serenely. "Because I love you."
Jakob's expression wavered between a grin and a frown, seemingly undecided. "And that is your excuse, is it?"
"Yep. The only one I need."
The grin won. He threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine! I give in, now and forevermore. Let's go. You drive."
She took his hand, pulled him into the stairwell. They kissed for a long moment, then stepped away.
* * * *
A cold, hard object pressed into Tom's cheek. "Lower that detonator. Keep your eyes straight ahead."
He let his hands go slack and held his breath, expecting it to be his last. The men surrounding him were Grond and there were thirty or more of them. One frisked him roughly and removed his pistol.
"Shoot him," another man suggested.
A deeper voice, used to command, said, "No! We need him to disarm the explosives. We have no sappers with us."
Tom smiled grimly at this. He stood, and kept his hands raised high.
"You will show us the location of the dynamite. Disconnect this firing mechanism first."
"Sure. Whatever you say." Tom pulled the wires from the generator, and dropped it to the ground.
Someone shoved him in the back, towards the door. A pale flash in an upstairs window caught his eye, but when he looked more closely, it had gone.
Dusk had created deep shadow amongst the rusting heaps of machinery. He led them towards the back of the main room, close to the kitchen. As he walked, Tom thought hard about which of the four charges he should try to detonate -- which one would take most of the building with it and kill his captors.
One by one, Tom disassembled the first three bundles. The men crowding close at his back smelled rankly of dirt, sweat, and fear. "Careful, pig!" one hissed, as he dropped the blasting cap casually to the ground.
"I know what I am doing. I don't want to die any more than you do." He stood and rubbed his back. "The last one is in the dining room. Will you let me go when I finish disarming it?"
"Of course, my friend," said the Grond commander, with the shadow of a smile. He didn't bother to disguise the insincerity in his voice.
Tom reached the fourth and largest charge, attached to a wide, load bearing pillar that stood like a tree in the middle of a brick and cast iron meadow. He slowly knelt before it, hunching his shoulders so the men behind him could not see his hands. It should be easy enough now to ram the sensitive blasting cap down into the main explosive charge and set it off.
A skittering sound above them made his guards mutter. Several raised their rifles.
The Commander squinted into the shadowy roof beams. "Keep your weapons down. It's only a rette in the rafters."
Exhaustion made Tom's hands tremble. "Give me a minute. I have to get this one just right." He lowered the charge and looked towards the stage that had been erected for the festival dinner. The people fleeing Carina had not bothered to dismantle it. He remembered the way she had looked at him when she sang -- and the pure sweet timbre of her voice.
"Suvi..." he whispered, desolately.
"Get on with it!" One of the Grond men kicked him viciously in the ribs.
The pain made his ears ring. It was a beautiful, melodic sound that somehow formed itself into words.
Oh Rose, Oh Rose, my love, he knows,
The secret hid within my heart.
Though far he goes, the tide still flows,
Twixt him and me, when we must part.
Her voice floated down from above, as soft as snowflakes. Even his captors were momentarily entranced. Tom looked up sharply. "Suvi! Get out of here."