52.

The Crooked Piece "... And so the Orphan boy was taken up to heaven to live with the G.o.ds, where he lives still ..."

-from "A Child's Book of the Orphan, and His Life and Death and Reward in Heaven"

VANSEN RODE AS FAR FROM THEM as he decently could, but wished Briony had not insisted he come along. Just the kindness and intimacy with which she spoke to Eneas, the obvious fact of her admiration for the Syannese prince, pained him.

"Do not take them yet," he heard her beg Eneas. "Let me thank them again."

He frowned. "They are soldiers, Princess. They do not expect to be thanked for what it was their honor to perform."

"Most men like to be praised when it is well deserved. I think your soldiers will not think too ill of me if I speak again of their bravery and sacrifice." She rode to the spot where Lord Helkis, Eneas' lieutenant, had a.s.sembled the troops at the crossing of the broad Coast Road. "Men of Syan!" she called. "I have been fortunate enough to ride with you. I count my pride at being allowed to ride as a Temple Dog as second only to the blood of Anglin running in my veins . . . !"

"She will give everything she has to this country of yours," Eneas said, watching the rapt soldiers. It took Ferras Vansen a moment to realize the prince was speaking to him. "Someone must watch over her. Protect her."

Vansen felt a moment of resentment. "We have soldiers in this country, too, Prince Eneas."

The prince laughed and turned toward him. "Did I say that aloud? My apologies, Captain. I meant no slight on you or the men of Southmarch-I only spoke what was in my heart. I knew I would never hold her, never tame her. She is too n.o.ble and singular a creature."

"She is not a creature, Your Highness." Vansen knew it was foolish to argue with a prince, but something more primal was going on beneath the words and he could not easily let go of it, either. "But we will agree that she is singular."

"Fairly spoken!" Oddly, the prince did not seem to take offense. "I meant only that her . . . determination is such a pure thing. Like a bird's need to fly ..."

A great cheer went up, although it faded quickly beside the open, windy road. Several of the Temple Dogs were waving their swords and standards in the air, crowding around Briony to call their farewells, all semblance of military order gone. But men are so few and the world is so big But men are so few and the world is so big, thought Vansen, looking from the knot of soldiers and mounted men to the empty hills. How will we live without the G.o.ds? How will we live without the G.o.ds?

Fool, he chided himself a moment later. he chided himself a moment later. We have exactly as much of the G.o.ds as we have always had. We have exactly as much of the G.o.ds as we have always had.

When Prince Eneas and the others had at last turned south toward their homeland, Briony rode with her retinue back through the mainland city, as empty and haunted as the places Vansen had seen on Northmarch Road that day so long ago, when he rode with Collum Dyer and the poor merchant lad, Raemon Beck.

"I go to meet my brother now," Briony told him. "There is much for you to do back home and Sergeant Dawley can look after me."

Young Dab Dawley, Vansen knew, was nearly as enthralled with the princess as was Ferras Vansen himself, and had no love for the Qar. Vansen had no doubt he would look after her carefully, but that was not his only concern. "No," he said. "You may dismiss me, of course, Highness, but if you will permit me, I would like to see your brother once more. We traveled together for a long time."

"What happened to him behind the Shadowline, dear Captain?"

He shook his head in frustration. "I cannot tell you, not truly. When I saw him last in Greatdeeps he had not changed much from what you knew. A little harder, perhaps. A little quieter. Becoming a man, I would say, because he wouldn't have survived that terrible place any other way." The sun was dropping down toward the tops of the western hills as they rode up Market Road toward the Coast Road crossing just outside the city. "Then Gyir, the fairy I've told you about, gave him a commission to take a mirror from Yasammez to the king of the Qar. I am still not entirely certain why, but it was meant to wake Saqri the queen, so he must have succeeded." He shrugged. "The next time I saw him was a few hours before you did. It was like meeting another person."

"Not entirely." She shielded her eyes against the sun as she looked up the road. "He was always full of secrets. It is just like him to wish to meet me out here, away from everyone else. When we were young we used to hide from our family and servants-or at least Barrick would. But I always found him." She looked so sad that Ferras Vansen almost pulled her to him and kissed her, despite the presence of all her guards and grooms and pages. "We would hide from the world together. I suppose that is what most galls me. Again, he runs away to hide, but this time I cannot go. Someone has to stay. Someone has to play the ruler."

The sun was very low, but the crossroad was still empty. At Vansen's insistence a tent had been erected so that the princess could rest out of the sun and the wind while she waited for her brother, and she was there taking a cup of wine and thinking her own silent thoughts when the scouts brought the news that someone was approaching. It was not the army of fairies Vansen had expected, but a single two-horse carriage that was rattling toward them along the rutted road.

If Vansen was surprised by the vehicle, which bore the crest of the late Duke Daman, King Olin's brother, and a coachman in full livery, he was even more surprised by the pa.s.sengers who clambered down its narrow folding steps when it stopped-the Funderlings, Chert and Opal, followed by their adoptive child Flint.

"Master Blue Quartz!" Vansen said in astonishment. "What are you doing here, so far from Funderling Town?"

Chert did not speak until he was certain Opal's feet were safely on the ground. "I am not certain myself, Captain Vansen. It is all our son's idea-our son and d.u.c.h.ess Merolanna, whose cart this is."

"Good excuse to take it out of the stable, sir," said the coachman cheerfully.

"Did you come to see the princess?" Vansen asked. "Or to say farewell to Prince Barrick?"

Chert shook his head and pointed to Flint, who was already leading Opal toward Briony's tent. "You'll have to speak to the boy. I know it sounds foolish, but I promised I would ask no more questions until he was ready to explain."

Vansen knew the boy's history, so he was not surprised that Chert had been forced to come along, if only because Opal would have insisted. But why the strange child wanted to bring them here of all places, and just at this time, he couldn't understand.

By the time Vansen led Chert into the tent, Opal and Flint were sitting on cushions at Briony's feet. Chert reluctantly allowed himself to be convinced to sit beside them, but Vansen chose to stand beside the door flap so he could hear what was going on outside. He had no fear of Chert and his Funderling family, but he did not much like the notion of more unexpected arrivals.

"Well, Mistress Opal," Briony said, "we have not met before, but you must know that your husband means much to me. He likely saved my life."

Opal colored a little. "Well, he's always up to something, my Chert. It's a bit much for me to keep up with it all, sometimes."

"It has been difficult for all of us lately," Briony said. "These have been confusing, sorrowful times. But if I am not mistaken, we may learn a little more today about some of the mysteries that have plagued us."

"Not from me!" Opal said breathlessly. "Goodness, no, I don't think so ...!"

Briony turned toward the boy. "You have flitted in and out through many of the tales I have been told in the last few days, young Master Flint. Is it time now to talk about you? It is plain enough that whatever your relationship with Chert and Opal, you are not a Funderling by birth."

"That is true, Briony Eddon," the boy said gravely.

Vansen was a little shocked. "Lad, it is polite to address the princess as 'Highness' or 'Your Royal Highness ...'"

Briony lifted her hand. "Generally that is true, Captain. But I suspect we are facing something a bit different than the ordinary here."

The boy nodded. "I'm not Chert and Opal's child, that is commonly known." Watching the boy speak, Vansen felt the hackles lift on his neck and arms. He did not act like any child Vansen had ever known. Flint was not even acting much like himself-surely the child never spoke this formally when Vansen had seen him before.

"Where were you born, then?" Briony asked.

"Here in Southmarch . . . but it was a long time ago, as you measure it. Fifty years and more." The boy nodded. "Merolanna is my mother. My father is Avin Brone, count of Landsend."

Through everything that had happened, Vansen had never seen Briony truly astonished . . . until now.

"Avin Brone?" she cried. "Avin Brone was your father? He was Merolanna's secret lover? But she said the child's father was dead!" Her eyes narrowed. "And whatever else you may be, you are no comfortable old man of fifty years . . . !"

"The Qar took me when I was small. A childless Qar woman stole me from the house of my nursemaid, but they were disturbed in the doing and did not leave a changeling child to hide their deed. They took me to Qul-na-Qar and raised me. Although I aged but little, many years pa.s.sed here during the time I was behind the Shadowline. At last Ynnir the blind king sent me here as part of his pact with Lady Yasammez-if I could bring out the essence of the G.o.d Kupilas to wake Queen Saqri, then the castle and its inhabitants would be spared.

"The queen was dying in slow drifts, like snow carried away by wind even as it falls-but the G.o.d was dying, too, and had been for centuries. Kupilas, as he is called by northern men, had long been failing from the treacherous wound Zosim had given him. But now his true end was upon him, and all who could sense such things knew it. In their place beyond this world, the sleeping G.o.ds could sense it. Even those only partly of the blood of Mount Xandos could sense it, too-Jikuyin, the great one-eyed demiG.o.d that Ferras Vansen met, and even your own brother and father, Briony Eddon."

Vansen was startled to hear his own name, but no more startled than was Briony. "Do you mean to tell me Father and Barrick knew knew what was coming?" she demanded. what was coming?" she demanded.

"No, but the nearness of the dying G.o.d and of the place beneath Southmarch where Heaven touched earth when the G.o.ds were banished troubled their blood and their thoughts."

"But how can a child like you, even if you were were raised by the fairies, know all this-know the business of all the G.o.ds and of my family, too?" A cold, hard sound had crept into the princess' voice, and for the first time Ferras Vansen recognized it for what it was-not contempt but fear: Briony was frightened by what she might hear from this prodigy, and when she was frightened, she hid behind her royal mask. raised by the fairies, know all this-know the business of all the G.o.ds and of my family, too?" A cold, hard sound had crept into the princess' voice, and for the first time Ferras Vansen recognized it for what it was-not contempt but fear: Briony was frightened by what she might hear from this prodigy, and when she was frightened, she hid behind her royal mask.

"That is part of the tale," the golden-haired child said. "It is what comes next-my tale. Only now can I see it whole and clear. It has the shape of a riddle." He nodded, almost with satisfaction. "My first mother asked my second mother to hide me. My third mother stole me from my second mother. My fourth mother took me in when my third mother lost me. And then my tale. Only now can I see it whole and clear. It has the shape of a riddle." He nodded, almost with satisfaction. "My first mother asked my second mother to hide me. My third mother stole me from my second mother. My fourth mother took me in when my third mother lost me. And then my first first first mother saved me." first mother saved me."

Vansen did not like the aura of mystery that hung over the child's speech. Briony's discomfort was clear and the two Funderlings were no happier than she was. "What does that mean, 'First first mother'?"

"My first mother was the d.u.c.h.ess, who gave me to my second mother the nursemaid in one of the farm villages outside Southmarch. A woman of the fairy folk stole me from the nursemaid, even though she had no changeling to give in turn, so the theft was discovered. My third mother in turn lost me to the blind king of the Qar, who had a higher purpose for me than simply to keep the thief-mother's fires tended and her house swept. And when I was taken across the Shadowline, Mama Opal and Papa Chert took me in."

"Yes, we did," said Opal with some feeling. "We wanted you. Didn't we, old man?"

Her husband did not hesitate. "Yes, we did, lad."

"And I have learned things from you that I learned from none of the others," Flint said. "In truth, I needed the wisdom of all my families, because the days ahead proved to be very, very dark.

"When I brought Ynnir's gla.s.s to the place where Crooked had banished the last of the G.o.ds, to the thing called the Shining Man, the vitality of Kupilas flowing into the gla.s.s threw me into a kind of ecstasy. Even a dying G.o.d is made of forces that mankind cannot understand, let alone harness, and a bit of the G.o.d's dying thought touched my own. For just that moment I could see as the G.o.d saw, I could look through mountains as if they were gla.s.s, I could see what might be what might be nearly as well as I could see what was and what had been-and I could see them all at the same instant. nearly as well as I could see what was and what had been-and I could see them all at the same instant.

"And in that instant, though I did not realize it then, Kupilas of the Ivory Hand and the Bronze Hand left a piece of his G.o.dly essence in me left a piece of his G.o.dly essence in me-a seed, as it were. And it has grown in my head and my heart ever since. More and more, it came to shadow my own thoughts with perceptions that were foreign to me-and yet not entirely so-and with understandings that were beyond me also . . . but not completely so. Slowly the presence grew, and slowly I grew with it, until I can no longer tell what is me and what is the seed of Crooked that has sprouted in me. ..."

"It could be just a sprite," Opal said abruptly. "Some sort of earthboggin deviling your spirit. We can ask the Metamorphic Brothers ..."

"The Brothers probably would not help me if they could, Mama Opal," the boy said with a kind smile. "Do not forget, it is in part thanks to me as well as Papa Chert that they no longer have a temple."

"Good . . . !" Vansen laughed, but it was not a comfortable sound. "I nearly said 'Good G.o.ds.' Can any of this be real? My head is spinning."

"Can any of this be true is the question, I think," Briony said. "I mean no offense to you, Flint, but why should we believe you? I have had my eyes opened to many things, but I am still not sure they are wide enough to see the G.o.d of healing hidden in the body of a little boy."

Flint smiled again. "You are right to be cautious, Briony Eddon . . . but I don't ask anything of you. In fact, I'm leaving Southmarch."

Opal's m.u.f.fled cry of despair was immediately followed by a flurry of half-articulated questions from everyone present. The boy waited calmly until the uproar had lessened.

"I can't stay, Mama," he said when they were ready to listen again. He smiled sadly as Chert did his best to comfort Opal. "I've never been this sort of thing before, don't you see? A part of me feels as if it has been released after centuries in a prison. Even the part of me that's just Flint is a confusion of different things-not Qar and not Funderling, neither human nor immortal. I must find what kind of thing I am. I need to go about in the world, to wander . . . to learn."

"So is it you, then, who truly stands behind the defeat of Zosim, the demon-G.o.d?" Briony said. "I have heard many stories of those last hours, but all of them seem to be missing a piece."

"Any one of them, taken by itself, is is missing a piece," the child said. "Without Vansen's courage and wit and the bravery of the Funderlings, no one could have held the autarch back long enough. Without the Qar's sacrifice of so many lives, the Trickster G.o.d would have escaped to the surface and then no one could have halted him. Without the Rooftopper Beetledown giving up his own life, none of it would have mattered. Even with a piece of a G.o.d growing inside me, I did not understand until very late who the true enemy was and what he planned. Did I help here and there? Yes. But it would have meant nothing without the actions of others." Flint smiled and looked up, as if he meant his words for all of them together. "When you wonder in the days ahead if the G.o.ds are with you, think how even the smallest, cruelest whims of a sleeping G.o.d nearly became the end of all things. But if you think that means you are helpless in the hands of Fate, think of this: that same immortal G.o.d, master of fire and deceit, Death's own son, was brought down in large part by a man so small that my Papa Chert used to hold him in the cup of his hand." Flint stood up. "Now it's time for me to leave. Soon your brother will be here, Briony Eddon, and I think you still have things to say to each other." missing a piece," the child said. "Without Vansen's courage and wit and the bravery of the Funderlings, no one could have held the autarch back long enough. Without the Qar's sacrifice of so many lives, the Trickster G.o.d would have escaped to the surface and then no one could have halted him. Without the Rooftopper Beetledown giving up his own life, none of it would have mattered. Even with a piece of a G.o.d growing inside me, I did not understand until very late who the true enemy was and what he planned. Did I help here and there? Yes. But it would have meant nothing without the actions of others." Flint smiled and looked up, as if he meant his words for all of them together. "When you wonder in the days ahead if the G.o.ds are with you, think how even the smallest, cruelest whims of a sleeping G.o.d nearly became the end of all things. But if you think that means you are helpless in the hands of Fate, think of this: that same immortal G.o.d, master of fire and deceit, Death's own son, was brought down in large part by a man so small that my Papa Chert used to hold him in the cup of his hand." Flint stood up. "Now it's time for me to leave. Soon your brother will be here, Briony Eddon, and I think you still have things to say to each other."

"But . . . but why are you telling all this to us now?" The princess looked quite shocked, as close to helplessness as he had ever seen her. She turned to Vansen as though he might have some idea that had escaped her. "And why all the way out here?"

"Because first my parents must release me from a promise I made not to leave. Just as importantly, though, I want you to take them with you to the castle when you go back from here." He said this as though it should have been obvious. "I have learned enough about people to know that they will be sad when I'm gone, especially Mama Opal. Take her back with you so that she can help you care for your brother, little Olin Alessandros. She is a very fine mother. You will see."

Opal, who had calmed herself a little, started wailing again.

"Of course . . . of course I will see that your mother and father are . . . are well taken care of ..." Briony began.

"No," Flint said firmly. "It does not take the G.o.d in me to know that you will be busy in the days ahead. Too busy to be a proper parent to a growing child. Do you want your father's youngest son, who might become either your own heir or your greatest enemy someday, to be raised by servants you scarcely know?"

"But . . . how . . . why . . . ?" Briony held out her hands; Vansen marveled to see the young woman who would in a matter of a tennight or two become queen of all the March Kingdoms rendered helpless by the arguments of a tow-headed child.

"To give things shape," Flint told her. "That is one thing the G.o.ds do. They give shape to the stories of men." He rose. "Now I must go, if you will let me. Papa Chert? You once made me promise not to leave until five years had pa.s.sed. I cannot wait that long."

Chert spread his hands helplessly. "I could not hold you to a promise I forced on you when I did not understand everything. Of course-you are released. ..."

"No! Don't go! It will be dark soon!" Opal cried.

"Mama Opal, do you really think I am afraid of the dark?" The boy looked at her sternly. "Even if I was only as old as I look, I would still have at least ten summers!" He went to her then and embraced her, holding on for a long time. Chert joined them and as Vansen watched, the three whispered to each other, heads close together; Chert and his wife both had tears in their eyes.

"Your other guests have arrived, Briony Eddon," little Flint said at last, pulling away. "I hear them now."

Vansen had only a moment to reflect that he himself had heard nothing, but then one of his guards called for him. He leaned out.

"A large force coming this way up the road," the soldier told him. "I think it's them Qar."

"It is," said Flint. "I will leave you to meet them. Farewell!"

The sun had dropped behind the hills, but although the fire built outside her tent was bright, and was undoubtedly cheering the hearts of Ferras Vansen and the guards waiting for her there, the Qar themselves had built no fires and raised no tents. They waited beside the road in their silent hundreds while their leader spoke with the mistress of the mortal castle they had so nearly overthrown.

The mistress of the castle was also their leader's sister, a fact that Barrick Eddon seemed to remember now for the first time in a very long while.

"I'm sorry," he told her as they made their way slowly along the road, their backs to their obligations. His crippled hand, which had seemed quite cured the last time she saw him, was all white knuckled and cramping fingers, and he carried it like it had begun to hurt him again. "I see now that, in a way, I was blinded by all that has happened. I was wrong, Briony, very wrong-there is much for us to talk about, but we have no time for it now."

"What do you mean? We have all the time in the world. The war is over, Barrick. There is nothing to do now but rebuild, and trust me, there is enough of that to go around. Stay and help us. Do you mean to make me beg?"

He looked at her for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

"Curse you, Barrick!" she said angrily. "Can you never unbend enough to let someone reach out to you?"

"That's not what I meant," he said. "We don't have enough time because we don't speak the same tongue anymore, Briony. I have found some of what I lost-some of what I loved about this place and you-but for us to speak with true understanding, I would have to teach you all that happened to me in the time we were apart, and you would have to do the same so that I could understand everything you think and say. We have become . . . different." He lowered his chin toward his chest as though it were cold, although the early evening was warm and she doubted Barrick even felt cold much anymore. "And I do have to go, Briony. If I stay here, Qinnitan will surely die." He led his sister from the road and through the fringes of the waiting Qar, who watched her pa.s.s with the suspicious eyes of animals. "At Qul-na-Qar I might be able to save her, or at least learn how to keep her close enough that one day I can cure her."

"Qinnitan." Briony tried to swallow her unhappiness. How could so much be changing at the same time, and seemingly forever? "So that's it. Because of this girl you scarcely know, you will go away and I will never see you again? The only real family I have left?"

He stopped. She thought she had angered him and braced herself for his furious words, but when he spoke, it was something quite different.

"I had not thought of that," he said. "I . . . there is a part of me now, a large part, that does not easily remember those things-it has too many memories of its own to protect. My apologies."

She gasped a little at that, frightened. "Merciful Zoria, you sound just like that Flint. He told us he has a piece of a G.o.d inside him."

"He does." Her brother reached out and took her hand; both the unexpected gesture and the coldness of his skin startled her. "With me, it is something only a little less unusual. I am not the same, Briony . . . but a little of what I was has begun to come back, too." He held up his knotted hand; the knuckles were white from being so tightly clenched. After a moment, and with only a small grimace, he managed to uncurl his fingers almost all the way. He showed his hand to her, smiling through his pain, and although she did not quite understand, she knew he was showing her something important. Tears came to her eyes. "Perhaps someday there will be so much of the old Barrick that I will come riding up to the gate, shouting for you to let me back in!" He laughed at the notion. "Maybe I will even bring a wife and children."

"This will always be your home." She didn't want it to be a jest. She could barely keep the tears from overwhelming her. "Always. And I will always, always miss you."

They began walking again. For a while neither spoke.