He pulled his hands down, rested them on the arms of the chair. “You remember what I told you?”
“I remember.” She laid the book aside. “So?”
“Just keep it in mind. That’s all. Chained God. He wanted to leave this pocket.” He spoke quietly, calmly, more of Daniel showing than Ahzurdan, but behind that control he was raging; his eyes were sunk in stiff wrinkles, the blue was dulled to a muddy clay color, the lines from nose to chin were deeper than before, a muscle jumped erratically beside his mouth, “He’s had to give up on that.” A twitch of a smile. “His metal is too old and tired to take the stresses, the rest of him is too adapted to this space to survive the move.” He pulled his hand across his mouth. “Think I could have a cup of that tea?” Another twisted smile as she snorted her disgust, but poured him out some tea and brought it to him with a brisk reminder that she wasn’t his servant and didn’t plan to make a habit of fetching and carrying for him When she was seated again, he went on, “Using what Daniel knew and all the different things Ahzurdan had learned…” He sipped at the tea, rested the cup on the chair’s arm. “… I have worked out a means of opening other gates, one in each of the Finger Vales; he’ll have greater access to his priests and his people.” He cleared his throat, anger had lodged a lump in his gullet it was hard to talk around. He gulped down most of the tea, lay back and closed his eyes. “That’s for later. For now, I’ve managed to widen the gate on Isspyrivo; we can get out with less trouble than we had coming in, though we’ll still have to use that aperture, the others won’t be ready.”
“We?”
He opened his eyes a crack. “Chained God has a deal for you.”
“Why should I listen to anything it says?”
“Because he’s got something you want.”
“And what’s that?”
“He can cut the cord that ties you to the changers.”
“I see. Go on.”
“Caveat first. He can keep you here as long as he wants, Brann. You can annoy him if you try hard enough, you might even hurt him a little, but he can kill you and drain the changers if you force it. He knows everything Ahzurdan knew about you, everything Daniel knew, he knows if he-let you run loose, you’d find a way to make peace with Maksim. You’ve very like Maksim, did you know that? You think like him. There’s a good chance you could talk him into slapping Amortis down so Kori’s brother would be safe. Chained God doesn’t want that. What he wants is BinYAHtii.”
“I won’t have anything to do with that.”
“Why? Because it eats life? Like you?”
“I can handle the guilts I have. I don’t want more.”
“Chained God says he’ll reopen the changers’ energy receptors so they can dine on sunlight again. And he’ll do it before you leave here as a gesture of good faith.”
“What about sending them home?”
– He can’t. He doesn’t know their reality. Slya’s the only one who does, you’ll have to work that out with her.”
“Why should Yaril and Jaril trust him enough to let him fiddle with their bodies? Even if I do agree to his conditions.”
“YOU have more choice than Daniel Akamarino and Ahzurdan had. You can say no. THEY haven’t. If you say yes, he won’t bother asking their consent.”
“Exactly what would the god expect me to do?”
“Stop working against him. Go with me, help me. Persuade the changers to help. Coming here, we are an effective team. We could be one again.”
“If I say no, I spend the rest of my life here?”
“A part of it, how long depends.”
Brann grimaced, looked down at her hands. They were clenched into fists. She straightened her fingers, brushed her palms against each other. “I…” She laced her fingers together, steepled her thumbs. “I made a choice for Yaril and Jaril once, I made it out of ignorance and… well, no matter. I won’t do it again. They’ll have to decide this time.”
Two pairs of crystal eyes were fixed on her as she finished explaining the Chained God’s offer. “That’s it,” she said. “It’s your bodies, you decide what you want done with them.”
Abruptly Yaril and Jaril were glimmerglobes; they drifted up until they were near the ceiling. They merged and the double globe hung there pulsing.
Danny Blue prowled about the oval room, tapping the vision plates on and off as he passed them, looking at the yellow sky outside, the greasy wool that billowed around the ship, glancing between times at the globe. Brann sat on the recliner watching him. There was a stiffness to his movements that neither Ahzurdan nor Daniel Akamarino had had; she read that stiffness as anger he couldn’t admit to because of the compulsion that thing had planted in him. She’d seen this before, in shopkeepers and landsfolk who could not show their rage or even let themselves know about it when an important customer was arrogant or thoughtless, when an ignorant exigent overlord made impossible demands on them. They beat their wives and children instead. She grew warier than before, wondering just how Dan was going to displace that anger and who his target would be. She had a strong suspicion it might be her. Before the merger Ahzurdan had not been liking her very much and Ahzurdan was in there somewhere.
The globe split apart, the parts dropped to the rug, Yaril and Jaril stood before Brann and Danny Blue looking angry, determined and a little frightened. Jaril stood with his hand on his sister’s shoulder; he said nothing, Yaril spoke for them. “We’ll take the chance, Bramble.”
Brann held out her hands. “Come here.” When they had their hands in hers, she thought, *It bothers me, you know that. *
Yariclass="underline" *Let the Valers take care of themselves. Isn’t it time you thought about us?*
Brann: *More than time. You don’t need to say it.* Jariclass="underline" *Don’t we?*
Brann: *No. You’ve decided, I acquiesce. What I’m saying is, help me. You know this thing, this god. Will it be worse than Maksim, feeding more and more lives to BinYAHtii? Or will it let the talisman sit, there to help it defend itself if the other gods attack?*
Jariclass="underline" *Remember what Ahzurdan said about Maksim, that he was possessive about his people? The god’s a lot like that, maybe more so. Been breeding and coddling these folks for millennia, won’t feed them to the talisman; outsiders though, they’d better watch out. * A
quick grin, a squeeze of Brann’s hand. *Just think about Slya and your own folk.*
Yariclass="underline" *What about this, Bramble? After this thing is over, we go find young Kori and tell her about BinYAHtii’s habits; she can pass the word on to her folk. What they do about it is up to them. What about you, Jay? What do you think?*
Jariclass="underline" *One thing we don’t want to do is say word one about this to Danny Blue.*
Yariclass="underline" *You’re being obvious, brother. Of course not, talking to him’s like talking direct to the god. You have anything helpful to add?*
Jariclass="underline" *Nope. ‘S good enough for me.*
Brann: *It’s the best we can do, I suppose.* She freed her hands. “I agree, Dan. Does it want me to swear?”
The Chained God’s voice sounded from a point near where the double globe had floated. “Say what you will do, Brann Drinker of Souls. Specify your limitations and intentions. Swearing is not necessary.”
Brann pulled in a lungful of air, exploded it out in a long sigh. “I will accompany Danny Blue and do what I can to help him, provided always that you do not harm Yaril and Jaril in any way and provided that they can truly feed themselves when you’re finished with them. Is that sufficient?”
“Quite sufficient.” Before the sound of the words had died away, Yaril and Jaril were gone from the room.
14. They Start On Their Way To Snatch The Talisman From The Sorceror.
SCENE: Dawn still red in the east, three mules standing nervously beside the cached supplies, mist thick and thin like clotted cream billowing and surging behind the man and the woman as they emerge from the steep-walled ravine.
Yaril and Jaril flashed from the mist and soared into the brightening sky, gold glass eagles spun from sunlight and daydream, laughter made visible joy given shape, swinging in wide circles celebrating the coming of the sun, the sun that was their nipple now, mother sun.