The chair the Raen occupied was tattered and rickety. He ought to have been lessened by it, but instead it was the seat that seemed further humbled in comparison to the man’s fine, simple clothing and flawless features.
“Raen,” Tyen said.
“Tyen.” The corners of the man’s mouth quirked upwards. “What are my rebels up to?”
The man’s tone was almost affectionate. His rebels? Tyen thought. He wasn’t sure whether he was more amused or disturbed by the phrase.
“Baluka’s plan is audacious,” Tyen began. He sketched out the decisions the Traveller had made since becoming leader. “He isn’t going to try to conceal the signal from you and your allies, figuring that it’s better to make plans that don’t rely on secrecy. When it is made, all rebels are to meet in one place. We haven’t chosen the location yet. He hopes that if hundreds of rebels are travelling at the same time there won’t be enough allies to stop them all. Then once they are together there will be too many for your allies to defeat. And from there they… well, they attack you.”
Valhan nodded. “They have made progress.”
“What should I do to stop them?”
“Nothing.”
His confidence was amazing. Tyen had begun to worry that the rebels might actually succeed at their aim, thanks to Baluka’s bold plan. Or that they would fail spectacularly and many hundreds of people would be killed.
“Can a battle be avoided?”
“It is unlikely.”
Tyen bowed his head. He was resigned, now, to the fact that he could no longer steer the rebels from a confrontation, that it had never been a realistic aim. He felt sick, thinking of the people he respected slaughtered or hunted down as Yira had been. But I didn’t make their decisions for them. They all know the risk they’re taking. Even if they knew I was a spy, and the Raen was aware of their plans, they would still rebel. They might alter their tactics but whatever change they make will still lead to a lot of people being killed. And they would expect him to join them.
“I suggest you find a reason not to be there.”
Tyen looked up. “They’ll find that suspicious.”
“I’m sure you’d rather I didn’t kill you, but if I don’t there may come a point during a confrontation when they wonder why I haven’t attacked one of their strongest. And I may not be able to prevent my allies doing it for me.”
Tyen sighed. “So no matter what I do, my treachery will be discovered.”
“Yes. I advise you to choose your moment of betrayal carefully.”
“And… afterwards…?”
“Consider your side of our deal fulfilled. I will continue to search for a way to restore Vella. If you wish to join me, you may.”
Tyen’s heart skipped a beat. “I would like that very much.”
The Raen’s smile was slightly crooked. “I’m sure you would.” His serious expression returned. He nodded to a box on the table. It hadn’t been there before his arrival. “I brought this to show you.”
Tyen approached the table. The box was octagonal and about the size of a Beltonian woman’s hat box, but made of polished and engraved wood. A single latch held it closed. He undid it and lifted the lid.
As he saw what was within, his grip loosened and the lid dropped shut with a dull thud.
Heart beating quickly now, he steeled himself and opened the lid again. He had not imagined it. There really was a small child’s head within, its face set in a permanent scowl. The skin of the scalp was smooth, with a faint stubble of fine hair. Shock and revulsion faded as he took in the signs of preservation. Someone had sewn the eyelids and mouth closed with tiny, perfect stitches. Padded cloth around the neck hid whatever means had been used to deal with the skin, flesh and bone where it had been severed.
“The woman I removed this from was born with it attached to her side,” the Raen told him. “It would have been her twin, had it grown into a separate, whole child within the womb. When she asked me to remove it, I saw the potential for replicating Vella’s creation in a limited way–but enough to then test recreating it. Its mind barely existed–neither conscious nor semi-conscious–but enough of it did for me to know whether I would succeed in preserving it. I have stored some information within it that you can initiate by touch.”
Tyen reached out towards it, then hesitated. “Does she have the same ability to read minds that Vella has?”
“No.”
His fingers met the smooth scalp. The skin was dry. He recoiled. Where he’d touched it the skin darkened like a bruise, then the colour shifted and spread to form a word: “Yes.”
“To what?” he asked.
“Nothing,” the Raen replied. “It shows ‘yes’ or ‘no’ randomly.”
Tyen shivered. Such a thing could easily become an oracle to people who did not understand how and why it had been made. Terrible decisions could be made based on meaningless answers.
“Will you destroy it?”
“Yes, it will be unmade when I try to restore it.”
“As a living head? Will it survive without a body?”
“No, but it should live long enough to judge if the method was a success.”
Tyen stepped back. He was both fascinated and repulsed by the head, and sure he’d be even more so by the living re-creation. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t involved in the Raen’s experiments yet.
The Raen rose, walked to the table and closed the box. Tucking it under his arm, he turned to Tyen.
“You will know the result when we meet next,” he said. Then he rapidly faded from sight.
I had best be on my way, too, Tyen thought. He picked up his pack, slung it over a shoulder and pushed out of the world. He paused and looked for the Raen’s path. When he did he nearly drifted back out of the place between in amazement.
Somehow the Raen had all but hidden his passing. Only the slightest trace of a path remained. If Tyen hadn’t been looking for it, he would have assumed it was an old one, made long ago.
He’d never encountered anything like it–no, he could have done so many times but never known.
Nobody had ever said this was possible.
What about you, Vella? Have you heard of anybody hiding their passing like this before?
“Only rumours. Nothing confirmed.”
So not even Roporien could do this?
“Not before he created me.”
So this was how the Raen had visited him so many times without the rebels noticing. If the Raen could move between worlds undetected, he could skim unnoticed as well, though he’d still be visible as a ghostly figure. Unless he knows of a way to prevent that, as well.
Tyen wanted to stay and study the concealed path, but he could delay no longer. Pushing on, he headed for the next world, then began an indirect, convoluted journey to his destination.
What do you make of the head, Vella?
“It is an appropriate test subject.”
But is it wrong for him to experiment on a person, even when that person isn’t even whole or conscious?
“Some people would consider it wrong. Most, in this case, would reason otherwise, since it was not fully conscious and its removal would have killed it anyway.”
And removing it helped the woman it came from. Killing the head does not bother me as much as the Raen re-creating it. That seems… cruel. I hope it does not suffer pain or anguish when it is revived.
“It won’t survive long without a body to sustain it.”
Tyen considered what else had disturbed him about the conversation.
He called the rebels “my rebels”. As if he owns them.
“They aren’t rebelling against anyone else,” Vella pointed out. “Though some are rebelling against the allies more than the Raen.”
That’s true.
He was approaching the world he would meet Baluka in now. Arriving on a ledge of a high cliff covered in vegetation, he caught his breath at the view, still as impressive as when he’d first seen it. He stood on the rim of a
massive crater. The volcano, thankfully, was long dead. The inner surface was made up of countless long crystalline tubes packed together. Dirt had accumulated within the hollows centres, allowing plants to grow.
Where life took hold inevitably humans found a way to cultivate it and settle. Looking down, he traced the network of cables fixed to metal arms extending out of the cliff. Along them ran vehicles of all shapes and sizes, powered either by humans turning wheels with feet and hands, or by animals, or magic. Some were able to carry one person, some as many as twenty. Some were simple constructions, others fancy.
One of the larger, plainer vehicles was approaching the ledge. Tyen recognised it as a public vehicle. It slowed a little as it passed, allowing Tyen to step on board. A man with a beard hanging down to his feet strolled over, his gait matching the sway of the cabin, to extract payment from the new passenger.
Tyen navigated his pack with one elbow hooked around a rail so he didn’t fall whenever the vehicle passed a cable arm. He bartered for an unlimited day-long journey pass, allowing him to go anywhere on the vast transport network. The ticket-seller caught sight of a small red gemstone in Tyen’s pouch, and wouldn’t accept anything else.
Many hours later, when the novelty of the strange form of transport had all but evaporated, Tyen finally neared his destination. Travelling by non-magical means was the best way to avoid being tracked by allies, but it was time consuming and, at times, boring. He had lost count of the number of vehicles he’d ridden in, switching from one to another as he made his way along the cliff. The final leg revived him, however, as it involved an exhilarating slide along a steeply descending cable carried in what was nothing more than a chair hanging from a pulley.
At the end was the entrance to a mine. Here the tubes that formed the crater wall were large enough for people to walk down. Anyone could pay a small fee and scavenge for the leftovers of no longer profitable enterprises.
Somewhere within, Baluka would be watching for him. Tyen paid the fee, shouldered his pack and began the long trek into the depths.
CHAPTER 17
“Inekera’s world lies at the outer edge of the allies’ worlds,” Tyen said.
“Inekera.” Baluka frowned. “Where have I heard that name before?”
Tyen thought back. “A pair of women who joined us during Yira’s time told of how she set up a school for young women to learn sorcery, from which the students tend to disappear.”
“Hmm, we should look into it. That’s not where I’ve heard her name before, though.” The young man stared into the distance, his eyes moving as if tracking an object. Then he blinked. “Ah! Of course!”
“Yes?” Tyen said, when Baluka didn’t elaborate, though he could see the connection in the young man’s thoughts. Ignoring Baluka’s order that Tyen wasn’t to read his mind was the most deliberate action against the rebels Tyen had done since he’d started spying on them. It didn’t feel like he was doing anything terribly disobedient, since he’d been reading everyone’s minds since joining the rebels, but now he had to take extra care not to reveal that he was.
Baluka looked up. “It’s not relevant to what we are doing.” He shrugged. “She tried to kill my fiancée. That’s how I met her. Rielle, that is, not Inekera. The ally had left her to die in a desert world but… How strong is Inekera?”
“Very,” Tyen replied. “She is one of the more powerful allies. Some say she is more than an ally, too. They say she was a trusted friend until recently, when she fell out of favour with the Raen.”
“Interesting. Have you discovered why?”
“I’ve overheard plenty of gossip, most of it dismissed by the people who actually know her. None of it verifiable.”
“How recently did this split happen?”
“Half to three-quarters of a cycle ago. Some say she was the first friend he visited when he returned.”
Baluka nodded. “The timing would be right.”
Yes, very much so, Tyen thought as he picked up another snippet of information about the Traveller’s fiancée. It was in Rielle’s world that the Raen had been trapped for twenty cycles. She had thought of him as a deity–and perhaps still did.
“Learn anything else about her?” Baluka asked.
“Just a long list of her favourite foods, her dislike of pets and babies, and that she had an enormous collection of military armour and regalia from many worlds.”
“Any connection to other allies?”
“Not many. She had one…” Tyen paused. A high-pitched sound was coming from further down the tunnel. Recognising Beetle’s alarm, he sought out other minds close by and found one of a miner not far away, but getting closer. “Someone is coming.”
“Close enough to hear?”
“Not yet. Actually… he heard the alarm and is worried it’s a warning of a collapse. He’s going back.”
As Beetle flew into the room Baluka started, then relaxed as he recognised the insectoid. “I see now why you keep the toy.”
“It’s not a toy,” Tyen said as Beetle landed on his shoulder. “Beetle–go in the bag,” he ordered. The insectoid glided down to the open pack. “Inekera socialises with another ally, Mykre, who lives in a world close by. He isn’t as powerful, but he has worked for the Raen longer. I think he may have mentored her. Mykre and the Raen do not get along, according to rumours. Something about Mykre breaking one of the Raen’s laws.”
“Has he joined the allies hunting for us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think he’ll fight for us?”
“I can’t say for sure. Do you want me to look into it?”
“Hmm.” Baluka scratched his chin. “No. Keep seeking information about the stronger sor—” His eyes flicked to somewhere behind Tyen and widened. “Tyen!”
Soot radiated out from him. Sensing the air still around them both, Tyen spun around. A man now familiar to him, from the minds he had read while gathering information, stood a few paces away, blasting at them with magic.
“Javox!” he said, naming the ally in case Baluka did not know.
“Get closer,” Baluka said between gritted teeth. He was running out of magic fast. Two shadows were resolving into human forms behind the ally. Tyen reached for magic. They were surrounded by a void now, all the magic taken by Baluka or the ally–or both. He stretched further and drew in enough beyond the void to get them out of this world and to the next three or four.
“Fight or run?” Baluka muttered to himself.
“Run,” Tyen recommended.
Baluka cursed, grasped Tyen’s shoulder and gulped in air. The mine brightened to white. Three shadows followed. Tyen reached up and grabbed Baluka’s wrist, then turned to face him.
Let me, he said.
Baluka dragged his eyes from their pursuers to meet Tyen’s gaze. His face was rigid. A fleeting look of doubt and reluctance came and went–an echo of his old distrust of Tyen–then he nodded.
Taking control of their movement through the place between, Tyen doubled their speed, drawing ahead of the shadows. He didn’t stop long enough in the next world to take a breath, but pushed on, even faster, until the worlds were flashing in and out of sight. Only when the shadows had been gone for four or five worlds did he stop so they could catch their breath. They collapsed against the stones ringing an arrival place in the middle of a field.
“That. Was. Incredible,” Baluka said between hauling in and out air. He looked up and found Tyen also bent over, gasping for air. “It’s reassuring. That you. Have to stop. And breathe. Too.”
Tyen managed a rueful smile. “I never. Thought nearly suf… focating. Could ever. Be reassuring.”
Baluka grinned, then straightened. “We lost… them?”
“I think so.”
“They’ll be trying… to pick up the trail.”
“Probably.”
The rebel leader’s eyes narrowed in thought. “They might even separate.” He sucked in a long, deep breath, let it out, then straightened. “Le
t’s go see.”
Tyen recognised the look on Baluka’s face. Excitement and impulsiveness. “Just because I can travel fast doesn’t mean we’ll beat them in a fight,” he reminded him.
“I know.” Baluka nodded. “But some risks are worth taking, for a bit of inside information.”
His tone was that of someone whose mind was made up.
“You want to catch one,” Tyen guessed.
Baluka nodded, and held out a hand.
“Not Javox,” Tyen advised. “The others are probably weaker.”
“There’s no point if it isn’t Javox,” Baluka replied.
Tyen sighed. “Did you catch any of Javox’s thoughts?”
“No. But you did. You said his name.”
“I recognised him. That’s all.”
“Do you think he’s stronger than you?”
Tyen shook his head. “We wouldn’t have got away if he was.”
“So, what are we waiting for?”
Tyen took them in a circle that placed them back on an earlier stretch of their own path, several worlds back. Others had passed that way. The allies in pursuit most likely. They followed.
Soon two paths split from the main one. Tyen continued along the older one, and when they surfaced in the next world, in a market square, they searched minds nearby to see if anyone had been watching the arrival place. It was not uncommon. Even if the local rulers did not have someone noting who used their world’s common arrival places, ordinary people often did so out of curiosity and in the hope of recognising someone famous.
“We’re lucky,” Baluka said. “Javox continued along our trail.”
Tyen had seen the same memory in the mind of a young boy, who’d been amused by Javox’s strange clothing.
Baluka’s grip on Tyen’s arm tightened and they plunged into the place between again.
“Take over,” he ordered.
Tyen obeyed, and they caught up with Javox three worlds later. The ally sensed them in the whiteness and turned to confront them. Baluka swooped in close and grabbed the man’s arm, trying to drag him back into the nearest world. The ally snarled, his face set in a grimace as he resisted. Their path changed and, guessing that Baluka was losing the fight, Tyen took hold of the ally’s other arm and pulled him in the direction the rebel leader had wanted to take him. When it was clear they were about to arrive in a populated courtyard, Tyen skimmed away, searching for a more private place to confront the ally. Diving downwards, he found a dimly lit basement.