I returned to the tower in the early afternoon to find that Rinawne and Myv were there. When I walked into the kitchen, where all of them were seated around the table, Rinawne gave me a look of unfathomable confusion and wonder. In mind touch he sent to me: Are there any more risen dead up your sleeves?
I think this is it, I sent back, although he didn’t smile and turned away from me, as if Peredur’s survival was entirely my fault and I’d kept it hidden from him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Reaptide stole closer to us and while we planned and trained for it, we had to maintain the illusion our everyday patterns were the same as ever. While Rinawne and Myv came nearly every night to the tower, we made sure I still visited the Mynd twice a week to stay for dinner. Wyva was given the story that Rinawne and I were training Myv for a major role in the next festival, which required a lot of rehearsal. This was not, in fact, a lie, although Peredur had more of a hand in his high suri’s education than Rinawne or I. Often, they worked alone. Rinawne sometimes questioned this, imagining I must be uncomfortable with it, but even though I knew that Peredur might take Myv into dark areas of his own mind, give him glimpses of what writhed over the land, I had no fear for his safety.
Rinawne didn’t share this conviction. ‘But you’re his teacher,’ he once insisted. ‘Peredur is... well, he’s damaged. I don’t like him taking over like this.’
‘Peredur is strange and somewhat damaged, yes,’ I said, ‘but I trust him with Myv.’
‘That’s my son you’re trusting him with, not yours,’ Rinawne said darkly.
How else to assuage his fears and doubts but through aruna? I’d not forgotten its power, how it can be used to manipulate a har, turn his mind. I’m not proud of that, but it was a tool I had at my disposal, and I needed to silence Rinawne’s fears. Constantly trying to use words to reassure him was too exhausting. I remembered, with some shame, how I’d often used aruna to silence Jassenah too. That was my gift, blithely misused.
Much as in some ways I agreed with Mossamber’s scathing opinions of the Wyvachi, it grated not to be honest and open with Wyva. Mishaps and accidents were occurring with increasing frequency at Meadow Mynd, although thankfully no more deaths, at least not of hara. Some of the injuries, however, were life changing. One har lost an arm that was crushed completely when an old building fell upon him out in the fields. Others were maimed by falling trees that were centuries old yet seemed to fall dead on the spot, taking sacrifices with them. Part of Wyva’s sheep flock ran down a mountainside into a turbulent part of the river and drowned. Animals gave birth to dead young. Crops developed peculiar blights nohar had seen before. In the house, crockery fell from shelves and dead birds were found upon the kitchen table three days in a row. And the air boiled around us, stifling, making us gasp for breath in the open air in the afternoons. Verdiferel stirred, the rags of his garments comprised of the strands of the egregore, the ysbryd drwg, shifting and coiling in dark purple light beneath the soil.
On Aloytsday, five days before Reaptide eve, my fighting company sat down to put the final touches to our strategy. Rinawne was due to join us but was late. I’d found that when Peredur made a plan, such as our conversation beginning at precisely midday, then he’d stick to it unwaveringly. Ever since he’d asked for my help, he’d assumed a mantle of leadership, as if my compliance somehow gave him permission or the ability to take action he should have taken decades ago. So we began our meeting without Rinawne, which I was content to do, since Rinawne’s role in the proceedings was simply to do what we thought was appropriate for him. I didn’t think we’d make any changes that might include him before he arrived.
We aimed to call the ysbryd drwg to us at the Pwll Siôl Lleuad and bind it into the waters. As the spirit of the pool had a close association with Peredur, this seemed even more appropriate than before. Peredur was interested in my initial festival ideas about containing Verdiferel in a pool. This part seemed fairly simple. We were the bait, Myv especially. There was no reason why the ysbryd drwg wouldn’t heed us. The difficult part would be dismantling that entity, dispersing it, cleansing its energy.
When Rinawne did finally arrive, he appeared flustered. ‘Wyva is getting suspicious,’ he said as he sat down with us. ‘He made a point of cornering me in the...’ he flicked a nervous glance at Peredur, ‘...when I was tacking up Marie, my pony. He asked why I was spending so much time over here. All I could say that I was helping with Myv’s training, learning from it even, and that we were planning the Reaptide rite.’
‘Did he accept that?’ I asked. Really, Wyva was foolish not have become suspicious before.
Rinawne shrugged. ‘He seemed to, but it’s clear he thinks we’re up to something.’ He sighed. ‘Things are strange at home. The house is so haunted it’s ridiculous. Most of the family are jumpy, and so are the staff, yet Wyva continues to waft through the day untouched.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me,’ Peredur said. ‘He’s incapable of accepting reality.’
‘Have you ever met Wyva?’ I had to ask, knowing full well the answer.
Peredur raised his head to me. ‘Not in person. I don’t need to.’
‘Clearly not, if you can make such assumptions.’
I felt Peredur studying me, which was like being patted by invisible hands. ‘I’m sorry, Ysobi. I understand what you’re getting at. My assumptions are based on hearsay. Is that what you want me to say?’
‘It’ll do,’ I said, with the swift mind-touch, Remember who’s sitting here with us.
He sent me a feeling of contrition and said aloud, ‘Then I’ll make more effort to set my prejudices aside.’ I wondered whether he was being sarcastic, but he seemed genuine enough. ‘Anyway, back to our business,’ he said. ‘We’ll enact our own rite, ahead of the Wyvachi ceremony.’ He grimaced. ‘If we fail, maybe there’ll be no Wyvachi ceremony.’
I saw Myv’s mouth drop open, and Arianne reached out to muss his hair. ‘Peri,’ she said warningly.
Rinawne made an agitated sound, looked at me, wide-eyed.
‘Don’t worry, Myv,’ I said. ‘We won’t fail.’
Peredur again poured the waters of gloom into the conversation. ‘Simply trapping it won’t be enough.’
‘What must we do?’ Myv asked, looking at Peredur.
Peredur was still grimacing. ‘Something’s missing... an important piece.’ He shook his head. ‘It’ll come to me.’
‘If I can somehow communicate with the part of this thing that’s Vivi, I’m sure I can reach her,’ Arianne said.
‘You think so?’ Peredur said icily. ‘Like you influenced her so much in the past?’
Arianne winced at the implications. ‘I want to try.’
‘The entity must be dismantled,’ I said, to steer the direction of the conversation away from Peredur’s remark. ‘We have the strength of our will, and we are united. We have more than Kinnard ever had. And I do think Arianne is right – and that is her part in it all.’
Peredur nodded, his expression introspective. ‘Yes, I see what you mean. If we can separate Vivi from the ysbryd drwg, that’s our chance. Then we rip it apart.’
But how do you dismantle many lifetimes of hurt, and blood, and crying in the night, and enmity, and cruelty and loss? We were a peculiar ensemble to tackle this seemingly impossible task. Arianne announced she was going to prepare lunch for us, and Rinawne went to help her. While Myv and Peredur discussed possibilities, their heads close together, I studied the group, removed from it. There was Peredur across the table from me, a kind of fairytale miracle, with golden stones for eyes and hair and skin like a creature of snow. His hands, however, were strong, a pianist’s hands. It was clear that Myv adored him from the start, mainly because of his high hura’s strangeness; Myv was intrigued by things that were different, uncanny. To him, Peredur was an elemental made flesh, brought to life from the waters of a magical pool, who saw with his skin, and through gemstones, and could taste the colour of the fields.
> Myv himself was like a changeling child, and Arianne was a ghost made flesh. Rinawne and I were the roots, the grounding of this bizarre team, Rinawne more than me. He caught my eye at that moment as if catching my thought. He smiled at me sadly, and without even a mind touch, told me with his gaze that he knew our time together was all but over. If I’d feared jealous retribution I’d been wrong. All I saw was resigned sorrow. But what you see will be brief, he told me, again without any means of communication known to Wraeththukind, a simple sureness. My grief will be temporary because I won’t add to what’s out there.
Many times over the past couple of weeks I’d been tempted to ride to The Rooting Boar at lunchtime to see Nytethorne, but I’d stopped myself. What is desire but simple greed? I want that. I have to taste it. Now. I couldn’t have such distractions when I needed to be clear-headed and focused. And yet, I was also aware that all it would take would be for Peredur to say something like ‘Go to him’ and I’d be hauling Hercules from his field and galloping to town before he’d finished chewing his latest mouthful of grass. Thankfully, the last thing on Peredur’s mind was my relationship with his suri.
And yet, fate has its own say in such matters.
The following day, Peredur decided he needed to study the land through the medium of amethysts, which he’d not brought with him. ‘Will you go to the Domain and fetch them for me?’ he asked, apparently in all innocence.
‘Will Mossamber mind me doing that?’
‘I’ll inform him you’re coming,’ Peredur said flatly, turning his attention back to Myv, who was writing some notes for him.
I stared at Peredur for some moments, thinking: Why doesn’t he just ask Mossamber to send them over here?
Peredur raised his head to me. ‘Well, go on. The message is already sent.’ He smiled.
The Domain by day was – as before – overrun with hara, all of whom stopped whatever they were doing to stare as I passed them. There were feathers in the air, a faint smell of burning. Clouds above me looked like dogs racing across the sky. Ember, perhaps instructed by Mossamber, came sauntering out of the house as I approached the front door. He took hold of Hercules’s bridle, by the bit. ‘Go in,’ he said, giving me an intrinsically Ember look of smirky secret amusement. ‘You’re expected.’
I felt strangely funnelled, first by Peredur, now by Ember. I didn’t ask who I was to see or present myself to. Let what must happen, happen.
I went inside the house, and then there he was on those grand and beautiful stairs that were like a stage set, in the dim hallway, empty of sun. ‘Mossamber says...’ he began.
‘Yes, the amethysts....’
Nytethorne beckoned me. ‘Come upstairs. No idea which they are. Looked but there are many purple ones. Purple is right, yes?’
‘Well yes, normally so, but won’t Mossamber know?’
‘He’s not here now.’
‘Oh.’
I went up those stairs for the second time. On this visit I passed several hara, who flicked brief glances at me, before carrying on with their business. I saw no ghosts, although there was a strange film to the air. Nytethorne and I climbed the house in silence.
We reached the upper parts and the corridor that led to Peredur’s tower. ‘You worked out between you what’s to be done?’ Nytethorne asked me.
‘More or less.’
‘Haven’t much time now, have you?’
‘No.’
We’d reached the tower staircase, and again silence fell between us as we climbed, until we came to the bedroom door, which Nytethorne opened. ‘Wanted to tell you from the start,’ he said.
‘Yes, that might’ve been better.’
I stepped into the room, made for the cabinet. Nytethorne remained by the door. I took out the drawers, one by one, until I came to the tray containing purple stones. Some were pure transparent crystal, others milky.
‘Ysobi, I had no choice,’ Nytethorne said.
I turned to glance at him. He’d folded his arms defensively. Beautiful as the stars. ‘It’s fine.’ I gestured at the stones. ‘I’ll take all these, since Peredur didn’t say which ones exactly.’
‘OK. Get more if he needs them.’
‘I’ve been given the key to the Domain,’ I said, smiling. ‘I feel privileged.’ I wrapped the stones in one of the pouches of soft leather that were stacked in a neat pile inside the cabinet.
Nytethorne took a step into the room, like a cautious cat. ‘Mossamber told us to wait, so we did. Had to be sure.’
I put the stones in my satchel. ‘It’s all right, Nytethorne. I don’t need your excuses. This is hardly an ordinary situation and I don’t – and didn’t – expect it in any way to be conventional and logical.’
He shrugged awkwardly. ‘Still...’
‘It’s fine.’ I’d crossed the room to him now, and my words made it acceptable for me to clutch his shoulder briefly. He rocked a little as if I’d punched him. ‘I’d better get going. We’ve a lot to do.’
He followed me down the stairs and when we reached the hall again, he blurted out, ‘Take me back with you. Can’t stand this... doing nothing.’
‘Well... I... It’s not just up to me.’
‘Who, then? Peri? He summoned you to help. You make the calls, I’d say.’
‘He’s quite emphatic about how things should be done,’ I said. ‘And he has far more experience of this matter than me.’
‘You give him strength,’ Nytethorne said, a tremor of anger in his voice. ‘All these years, hidden away, now this. Out of his tower like a bird in flight.’ He made a sweeping gesture with one arm. ‘Take me with you.’
Still I hesitated, wanting dearly to say yes, but mindful of the distraction this would be and how I’d told myself to steer clear. Also, Peredur had been firm on the matter of nohar else knowing about Arianne.
‘Don’t mistake me,’ Nytethorne said. ‘It’s for my hara and this land, not to sidle up to you.’
‘It’s not that...’ I paused. ‘There are things...’ I sighed. ‘Oh, maybe maybe. Peredur says there’s a missing piece, but there are secrets also. One thing in particular he doesn’t want others to know.’
‘You can know but not me?’ Nytethorne asked darkly.
I held his gaze. ‘Peredur is your relative. You know him better than I do. If you think, truly, he wouldn’t mind you coming over, then come.’
‘If you truly don’t want me there, I won’t.’
I sighed. ‘Let’s not play games, Nytethorne. I have what you might call a rag-tag team to deal with this situation. To be honest, personal feelings aside, I’d welcome your... immovability.’
He laughed. ‘My what?’
‘Oh, never mind. Just come. But expect surprises.’
This was a har who’d willingly let himself by pierced by arrows for a Cuttingtide rite, as part of the complex web of rituals that Peredur believed kept the ysbryd drwg at bay. Nytethorne wasn’t a coward. I didn’t believe he’d crumple or run. We might need that strength. Perhaps, even, the distraction of him was part of it all.
On the ride over, I explained about Arianne, not sure how Nytethorne would take this information. I expected him to believe we were deluding ourselves about her, that she must be some maddened human who’d somehow survived unseen, from a family who’d survived unseen, even though that theory was even more unlikely than what I thought to be the truth.
Nytethorne listened to me without commenting. At the end of my story, all he said was: ‘Clocks, you say?’
‘Yes. I think that’s what helped her... come through... the fact I put all the clocks in the room.’
He nodded. ‘She know she’s here for only one reason?’
I stared at him for some moments. ‘If you mean to help us now, yes, she does. We’ve all faced the possibility she won’t remain with us.’
‘Certainty,’ Nytethorne said. ‘She’s just part of what haunts.’
I hadn’t considered that aspect exactly, but I suppose it made sense.
>
Walking into Dŵr Alarch with Nytethorne wasn’t one of the most comfortable things I’d ever had to do. As usual, my four companions were sitting around the kitchen table. Peredur stood up when we entered the room. ‘That’s a very big amethyst,’ he said, in a frosty tone.
‘My choice, Peri,’ Nytethorne said. ‘Told him you’d not mind.’
Peredur shook his head, sighed, and sat down. ‘I suppose not. Where are my amethysts?’
I gave them to him, and he spilled them from their pouch onto the table, causing Myv to exclaim and want to touch them. Rinawne fixed me with a stare that I met only briefly. There was an element of ‘How could you?’ in it, but I had no intention of doing anything Rinawne might find unsettling. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d got to his feet and stormed out, but I could tell he was trying hard not to react in that way.
As the afternoon progressed, and we – or mainly Peredur and Myv – explained to Nytethorne what we hoped to achieve, I felt Rinawne settle down. There was no frisson between Nytethorne and I to upset him, only a polite distance between us. Before Nytethorne left the tower some hours later, he said to me at the kitchen door, ‘I’ll take care. No Wyvachi will see me come here. Don’t fret about that.’
‘I wasn’t going to.’
He smiled uncertainly, nodded, closed the door behind him.
The following day, when Myv arrived at the tower, he had something he wanted to show us. Rinawne wasn’t with him, and Nytethorne hadn’t come over, so it was just the four of us. Myv had a satchel, from which he removed a wrapped object. Reverently, he revealed this to us: a swathe of iridescent cloth. ‘This is the moonshawl,’ he said softly, ‘siôl lleuad that has protected my family for many years.’