‘But why the tongs?’ said Tobry. ‘And — what’s that in them?’
‘The red on that black marble is her blood,’ said Rix. ‘Are they trying to put it into her head?’
Tobry blanched and whispered, ‘No!’
‘Tobe?’ cried Rix.
Tobry swallowed, let out a parched croak, then gasped, ‘Have you heard of ebony pearls?’
Rix studied the black, red-flecked object in the tongs. ‘No.’
‘I think that’s one.’
‘What are they?’
‘No one knows much about them, but there are nasty rumours …’
‘For the Gods’ sakes, spit it out.’
‘They’re the most powerfully enchanted objects ever discovered and they have a dreadful origin. They’re incredibly dangerous — any non-adept who touches one with bare skin is liable to die most unpleasantly. And they’re so priceless, I doubt that the chief magian has ever seen one.’
Rix walked around the easel, trying not to look at what he had painted. Finally he said, ‘Who has?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Then why,’ said Rix, feeling sick, ‘are they putting one inside Tali’s head?’
CHAPTER 72
‘They’re not putting it in,’ Tali said quietly.
Rix spun around. She had climbed the steps and was swaying on her feet. Her pale features were stark, her gold-blonde hair hanging lank as straw.
‘I’ve just remembered — ’
She crumpled and was about to tumble backwards down the steps when Rix leapt three yards and caught her. He carried her to the couch, holding her tightly as if it was the only way to save her.
Tobry poured a splash of brandy into a goblet, sat her up and pressed it to her lips.
Tali grimaced, swallowed and looked up. ‘The woman on the bench isn’t me. It’s … it’s my mother, ten years ago.’
‘How do you know?’ said Rix, waves of relief sweeping over him. It wasn’t a divination at all.
‘That’s the cellar where she was killed. Mama made me hide, but then they caught her and — they did it.’
‘You were there?’ said Rix. ‘You saw your poor mother murdered?’
‘I told you that already.’ Tali gave him a peculiar look and took a deep breath, only to shake her head and close her mouth without speaking.
‘If you know more — ’ began Rix.
‘Those are my mother’s killers, at the end of the bench,’ she said in a tight, controlled voice. ‘I was eight. I must have blocked most of it out.’
‘How could anyone block that out?’ said Rix. ‘I’d remember it to my dying day.’
She gave him another strange look. Her arms hung rigidly by her sides and her small fists were knotted. Rix frowned. What was the matter with everyone today?
‘The woman told the man to kill me,’ said Tali, ‘and he came after me with a knife, but I was too good at hiding.’
‘What kind of monster would order a child killed?’ said Rix, slumping onto the other end of the settee. It was horrible, but nothing to do with him. The relief was dizzying.
‘When I saw the new sketch, I remembered the woman … gouging at Mama’s head. She pulled out something round and black with the tongs and …’ Tali frowned, trying to remember. ‘She put it in something.’ Tali shuddered. ‘Then she licked the blood off the tongs, the evil bitch. I remember that!’
‘It’s an ebony pearl,’ said Rix, haltingly. He felt battered, assaulted. ‘Your mother was killed for it.’
‘So that’s what the wrythen wants.’ Tali rubbed the top of her head as if to feel a lump through the skull. ‘Four of my ancestors have died with their heads opened. Four pearls have been taken already, and I’m to provide the fifth.’
‘The master pearl,’ said Tobry.
‘What did you say?’ cried Tali.
‘From what I’ve read about them, each pearl is different from the one before. And stronger. And the fifth pearl is the master. It can be used to unite the others, and command them — assuming one is strong enough to withstand it.’
‘The master pearl,’ said Tali with dawning hope. ‘He wants my pearl.’
‘Kirikay!’ Rix said softly.
‘Where did that come from?’ said Tobry.
‘I heard it when you were unconscious in the cave,’ said Rix. ‘As the caitsthe died, it reached out towards the wrythen, saying, “Kirikay, Kirikay”.’
Tali started. ‘Not Kirikay, Khirrik-ai. It’s the Cythonians’ familiar name for their last and most beloved king — King Lyf.’
‘The oath-breaker who started the war,’ snapped Rix.
‘Or a trusting man terribly betrayed by the Five Heroes,’ said Tobry, ‘depending on who you listen to.’
‘Why was he their last king?’ said Rix. ‘You’d think that, with a war to fight — ’
‘He disappeared and was never found. Without a body, Lyf could not be given the rituals that allowed their sacred king-magery to separate from the king’s soul before it passed on, down through the Abysm. And without receiving that king-magery, no new king or queen could ever be crowned. That must be why the Cythonians are ruled by matriarchs.’
‘Khirrik-ai doesn’t have to mean Lyf, though,’ said Rix. ‘The name could mean any number of people.’
Tobry shook his head. ‘Every king and ruling queen had a different name. They never re-used them, and neither were they bestowed on commoners. It must be Lyf.’
‘So your wrythen, and my enemy, is Lyf’s ghost,’ said Tali.
‘A wrythen is far more than a ghost,’ said Tobry. ‘It has a strong hold on life.’
‘He’s partly solid, too,’ said Rix. ‘I felt it when I put my blade through the bastard.’
‘To burn through Tinyhead’s skull from a distance, and nearly possess me,’ said Tobry, ‘Lyf’s no empty spirit. He’s got real power.’
‘Where would he get it after two thousand years?’ said Rix.
‘He could be a psychic vampire, stealing the life force of anyone venturing inside his caverns.’
‘It explains why he’s attacking my family,’ mused Tali. ‘Lyf must have discovered that certain women of my line were forming ebony pearls, and he wants them for their power. And now he needs the master pearl, my pearl, to unite and control them.’
‘But your mother wasn’t killed by a wrythen,’ said Rix, staring at the sketch. ‘This pearl was taken by real people, so who are they?’
‘I don’t know. They were masked.’
‘Lyf’s after me too, because I used the titane sword on him in the caverns. Traitor’s blade,’ he called it. ‘ Liar’s blade. Oathbreaker’s blade — ’ He broke off, staring.
‘Why does Lyf hate the sword?’ said Tali.
‘I don’t know that either,’ said Rix. ‘But I’ll bet it’s got something to do with the inscription.’
‘We’d better find out who owned it when Lyf was alive.’ Tobry’s eyes narrowed. ‘What were you going to say about the Oathbreaker’s Blade?’
‘Lyf knew me,’ Rix said slowly. ‘He said, I have not seen you since you were a boy. And later he said, You belong to me. He told me to put the sword down, and I started to obey. I had to fight hard to stop myself.’
‘I wish you’d told me this before,’ said Tobry. ‘Lyf must be the presence in your nightmares.’
‘But why choose me, out of all the people in Hightspall?’ said Rix. ‘No one has less magery than I do.’
Tobry shrugged. ‘It beggars belief that all this isn’t connected. And it explains why you keep imagining the murder scene. He’s putting it into your head.’
‘Not all of it,’ said Tali, who was tense as wire.
‘How do you mean?’ said Rix, frowning.
‘You were there,’ she said, almost inaudibly.
‘What?’ Rix was not sure he had heard her correctly.
‘You were there!’ she shouted, her voice cracking. ‘In the cellar. As a boy. Just after Mama was killed.’
‘No,’ cried Rix, a cry of pain because he recognised the truth in her voice. ‘No, it’s not possible.’