Peter Brett – The Core (страница 16)
‘You’ve done your research, mistress,’ Elissa said.
‘I like to be informed,’ Leesha said.
‘Our condolences for your loss,’ Ragen said. ‘Halfgrip’s fame extended to Miln and beyond. The power your people held in the night with his songs was … staggering.’
‘We would like to take the music back to Miln,’ Elissa said. ‘It could safeguard travellers, caravans …’
Leesha nodded. ‘Of course. Nothing would honour Rojer’s memory more than spreading his music far and wide. We’ll send written music back with you for your Jongleurs.’
Elissa bowed. ‘Thank you, mistress. That is most gracious.’
‘It’s the least we can do, considering our friend in common,’ Leesha said.
Elissa raised an eyebrow. ‘Briar?’
Leesha shook her head. ‘The boy Ragen found on the road many years ago, and you raised as your own. Arlen Bales.’
Gared dropped his teacup, and it shattered on the floor.
‘Do you think he’s still alive?’ Elissa asked.
‘Course he is,’ Baron Cutter said. ‘Deliverer, ent he?’
‘No one in all the world loves Arlen Bales more than I,’ Elissa said. ‘He was a brilliant boy, and he grew into an amazing man. But I’ve dried his tears and cleaned his sick. Argued when he was stubborn and seen him err. Saw the hurts he carried and how he blamed himself for them. I don’t know if I can ever see him as the Deliverer.’
‘It’s irrelevant in any event,’ Leesha said. ‘Deliverer or no, he’s set the world on a path we all need to walk.’
‘That ent the Deliverer’s job, dunno what is,’ Wonda said. ‘I’ll eat my bow and the quiver besides, he ent alive. Folk seen him on the road, helping those fleeing Lakton.’
‘No one saw his face,’ Leesha said. ‘That could as easily have been Renna.’
‘Arlen’s wife,’ Elissa said. There were many regrets in her life, but missing the wedding cut deep. If any man deserved a bit of happiness in his life, it was Arlen Bales.
‘Night, that’s right,’ Ragen said. ‘Didn’t think any woman could settle that boy down. What’s she like?’
A pained look flickered over Leesha’s face, and Elissa gave him a subtle kick. Arlen had spoken of Leesha and what they shared – a spark doused by fear and panic.
Ragen lacked subtlety, but he wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t the first time Arlen Bales had fled a woman offering something too joyful for his tortured soul to bear. What kind of woman had finally reached him?
‘Renna Bales saved my life,’ Gared said. ‘Saved us all, when the Deliverer fell.’
‘Fell?’ Ragen asked. ‘Over the cliff with the demon of the desert?’
The baron shook his head. ‘’Fore that. When the minds came for the Hollow on new moon. Went out with Rojer and Renna to scout, and we found a world of trouble. Mind demons were digging greatwards of their own.’
‘Night,’ Ragen said. ‘Corelings can ward?’
‘Only the minds, it seems,’ Leesha said, ‘but their warding makes ours look like a child’s scrawl.’
‘Fought like mad, but there were too many of ’em,’ the baron went on. ‘Only made it back slung over Renna’s shoulder. Rojer told Mr Bales what we saw and he jumped into the sky.’
‘What?’ Elissa asked.
‘Took off like a bird,’ Wonda said. ‘Thousands saw him, floating in the sky, throwin’ lightning at the demons like the Creator Himself.’
Ragen looked to Elissa. ‘How’s that possible?’
‘He was Drawing off the greatward,’ Leesha said. ‘Pulling massive amounts of power and throwing it at the demon wards before they could activate fully. But even a greatward has limits.’
‘One moment he was glowin’ like the sun, then …’ Wonda blew a breath. ‘Out like a candle. Fell and cracked like an egg on the cobbles.’
Elissa gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
‘Thought everythin’ was lost then,’ Gared said. ‘No one was givin’ up, but there wern’t much hope. But then Renna Bales stepped up. Held the last line when every defence was broke. Held it until Mr Bales came back to us. Two o’ them held hands as the tide came in, and threw it back into the night.’
‘Ent dead,’ Wonda said. ‘Man who can walk away from that …’
Leesha pursed her lips, then nodded to herself, getting to her feet. ‘Bar the door, Gar. Wonda, the curtains.’
Ragen, Elissa, and Briar watched in confusion as they were locked into the room and cloaked in darkness. Leesha unlocked a drawer in her desk, producing what looked like a large piece of obsidian, but they could well guess what it was, even before she fitted it into a slot on the wall and a wardnet sprang up around them. It circled the room and crisscrossed the ceiling and floor, casting them all in gentle wardlight.
‘No sound will escape the room.’ Leesha returned to her seat, taking her teacup and sipping thoughtfully. ‘What I say here must never be repeated.’
‘Swear by the sun,’ Gared said.
‘Course, mistress,’ Wonda added. Briar grunted his agreement.
Ragen took Elissa’s hand. ‘You have our word.’
‘Renna Bales came to me the night we learned the Krasians attacked Lakton,’ Leesha said. ‘She told me Arlen is alive.’
‘Knew it!’ Wonda burst, even as Gared roared a laugh, bringing his hands together in a resounding smack.
‘Creator be praised,’ Ragen whispered, but Elissa said nothing, knowing there was more.
‘She also told me they would not come again,’ Leesha said. ‘They’d become too powerful, and were drawing the minds’ attention to the Hollow, just as Ahmann was doing in Krasia. We needed time to grow our defences, and so he left to give us that.’
‘Said it himself,’ Gared said. ‘Told Jardir he was the last piece of business before he took the fight to the Core.’
‘What does that mean?’ Ragen asked.
‘Arlen can mist as the demons do,’ Leesha said. ‘Renna, too, the last time I saw her. He told me he could hear the Core calling to him, could slip down into it like a coreling at dawn.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘But he didn’t seem to think much of his chances if he tried.’
‘Better chance’n any of us,’ Gared said.
Ragen kept his composure, but he was squeezing Elissa’s hand so hard it hurt. She laid her other hand gently atop his, and his tension eased. ‘Gared’s right. How many times has Arlen cheated death? He’ll turn up again, just when we’ve given up, and start the worry afresh.’
Ragen laughed. ‘Ay, that’s my boy.’
‘In the meantime, we need to do as he asked, and grow strong,’ Leesha said. ‘Not something we can do if we’re more concerned with killing one another than the corelings.’
‘We didn’t bring that fight, mistress,’ Ragen said. ‘The Krasians believe Sharak Ka is coming, and the Evejah tells them the only hope mankind has to survive is for all the world to kneel before the Skull Throne.’
‘They brought the fight,’ Leesha agreed, ‘but it’s been brewing for years. Euchor didn’t build his flamework weapons and train men in their use overnight.’
‘No,’ Ragen agreed. ‘He’s long had his eye on subjugating the ivy throne and reuniting Thesa under his rule, but he would never have struck first.’
‘The question then,’ Leesha said, ‘is will he be content to stop at Angiers now that he has it, or will he use the Krasians as an excuse to press south and claim all the Free Cities as his own?’
Elissa exchanged another look with Ragen. ‘He will press. And expect you to follow and thank him for the privilege. The Hollow is too powerful for him to suffer at his doorstep when Angiers gives him a claim to it.’
‘Gettin’ tired of folk who ent ever bled for the Hollow marchin’ in and expecting us to bow and scrape,’ Gared said.
‘You won’t have to,’ Leesha said. ‘Euchor’s weapons won’t work as well here as he thinks.’
‘Because of you,’ Elissa said. ‘Because of your magic.’
Leesha nodded. ‘I have wardings that can render their chemics inert. Flamework weapons are not welcome in my lands.’
‘Will you teach us something of this bone magic, and how the
Gared and Wonda looked to their mistress, but Leesha did not hesitate. ‘Of course. After all, who do you think taught me?’
She looked to Ragen. ‘I know you have retired as a Royal Messenger, Guildmaster, but I beg you take one last commission and act as my voice in Miln before His Grace, Duke Euchor.’
Ragen bowed. ‘I would be honoured, mistress. His Grace will be expecting a full report from us upon our return. You have my word I will hold secrets given me in confidence, and negotiate in good faith on your behalf.’
Leesha bowed in return. ‘The honour is mine. We can discuss details in the coming days. For now, I invite the three of you to transfer your belongings here to my keep.’