Tali dived for the pearls.
But Deroe called them up, high above her head, to him.
CHAPTER 101
Rix woke with the voice ringing in his head. Lyf’s voice.
It is time. Go down.
‘Damn you!’ he said aloud. ‘You’ll never force me.’ But even in his own ears, he sounded unconvincing.
Lyf seemed amused. You divined this night, this scene, this death. You had the chance to seize command of the divination when you painted the scene in the cellar, but you did not. Now it is set and can’t be changed.
‘I won’t do it!’ Rix roared, though he could see no way of escape. Why hadn’t he ridden out to give his life away yesterday? Why had he told his treacherous friends his plan?
In the shadows, a girl cried out in fear. It took some time for him to recognise Glynnie cowering behind the couch, sheltering her little brother with her arms. But before he could speak …
Ten years I’ve worked my compulsion on you, preparing you for this night.
I’ll fight you.
Yes, you will do everything in your power to break the compulsion. And you will fail. You will go down. You will cut the master nuclix from Tali, submerge it in her blood and keep it safe for me.
‘I won’t!’ But the willpower was draining from him as Lyf wrapped the compulsion ever tighter. Only Tobry’s shackle was keeping Rix here now. His shin was chafed to the bone from straining against it.
Call for your sword. I will have my due.
‘Damn you, no!’ But against his will, Rix turned to a wild-eyed Glynnie, who clearly thought he had gone insane, and said, ‘Fetch my sword, girl.’
Clutching Benn tighter, she shook her head.
Good, Rix thought, but the compulsion stabbed him and his treacherous mouth said, ‘Who took you in, at risk of his own life, when the chancellor cast you out?’
‘You did, Lord,’ she whispered.
‘Am I your master?’
‘Yes, Lord.’
‘Then obey me or be thrown into the street.’
Trembling all over, she took the wire-handled sword from the shelf where Tobry had left it and carried it to Rix, holding it out by the tip as if she expected to be cut down with it. At any other time, that would have hurt.
He raised it high, then drove it down with all his strength onto the chain fixing his ankle to the heatstone. The enchanted blade cut through the chain in a shower of sparks.
Get the implements.
What was the point in fighting when he was bound to be defeated? He stalked out, the chain dragging, and down the halls to Lady Ricinus’s rooms. The door was locked; he kicked it open and hacked her tiny desk in two.
A hand reamer tumbled out, along with a woven, green-metal glove and a pair of golden tongs. With these implements she had murdered Tali’s mother and grandmother, and taken their pearls. She had planned to kill Tali the same way and she had shown no remorse.
Don’t touch them. Turn around, walk to the front doors and ride out to face the enemy. Your death means Lyf’s defeat.
But though he fought with all the strength he possessed, Rix took up the fatal tools. He could not stop himself. The compulsion was strengthening with everything it forced him to do and he could not overcome it.
He stalked the empty halls, following the path Lyf mapped in his head, and across to the secret stairs that, worked by a lever, plunged five flights before corkscrewing down through the roof of the cellar to the black bench.
At the top of the stairs Rix stopped, fighting to summon a shred of defiance.
Go down. The voice was softer now. Lyf knew Rix was beaten.
The assumption was just enough to summon a wisp of resistance. Before the compulsion could deny him, Rix pulled the stair lever, pressed the enchanted blade against himself and threw himself head-first down the stairs. Even if the blade did not open him from belly to throat, he would surely break his neck before he struck bottom.
He hoped so. After a life etched in failure, death was all he had left.
But the blade twisted in his hands, turned away from him and, though on the endless plunge he struck every step with head or shoulder or knee or hip, Rix tumbled through the mist of the cellar and landed beside the bench, winded and battered and bruised all over, but otherwise unharmed.
Do it.
Rix had no resistance left. He picked up the bone reamer, the green-metal blood glove and the golden tongs, and looked around for Tali.
CHAPTER 102
As Deroe took hold of the pearls, the eyes in the stone head on the wall went yellow. The trapdoor in the ceiling burst open, then the screw-shaped stairs that Tali remembered from ten years ago spiralled down between her and Deroe, grounding beside the black bench.
Deroe let out a squeal of terror, rolled his hand across the three pearls and the agate wards around the walls flared. Tali sprang at him, knowing she had only seconds to get the pearls, but he scrabbled past the stone raptors with them, slipping and skidding in his panic to get away.
A sword came clattering down the stairs, striking sparks with every impact — Rix’s sword. Tali’s heart stopped for several beats. This must be the time.
The sword was followed by several jangling objects she could not make out in the dim light, then a series of thumps and grunts, and Rix came tumbling through the air to slam into the floor.
The impact would have broken her bones but he sat up and picked up the objects, one by one. Tali recognised the bone reamer, the green-metal glove and the golden tongs. Rusty barbs scraped down the knobs of her spine.
She backed away, trying to make no sound, but Rix’s horror-filled eyes picked her out of the darkness and he took a slow step towards her. He was fully conscious of what Lyf was forcing him to do and it was eating him alive. Away to the left, Tobry was hacking desperately at the transparent barrier.
‘Rix, stop!’ Tobry screamed, until his voice went hoarse.
Rix could not meet his eyes, nor Tali’s. She had never seen a man with a greater longing for death.
‘You should have let Rixium ride out to war.’ Deroe, sheltering behind one of the raptors, let out another incongruous giggle.
‘Rix?’ said Tali, fighting her own urge to scream. She had to stay calm. There had to be a way to get through to him. ‘You’ve got to fight the compulsion.’
‘Been fighting it for ten years.’ Rix’s voice was as dead as his eyes. ‘Lost!’
He turned towards her. One of Deroe’s pearls called to hers and Tali’s gift rose in a flush of anger, though not her own. The anger came from outside her, as if Deroe was manipulating her gift for his own ends, and it was one step too far.
‘Kill him,’ said Deroe. ‘You’ve killed before; I can read the blood lust in you.’
Her hand rose, involuntarily. She fought it down — she would not be dictated to like a slave — and her gift sank with it. Deroe cursed, pointed the parasol frame at the face on the end wall, caressed the pearls and an ultrasonic screech turned the stone nose to powder. Lyf’s yellow eyes disappeared behind a puff of dust.
Cut down Deroe first, said a voice in her head that she knew to be Lyf’s voice, though he was not talking to her.
Rix stopped in mid-stride. His eyes crossed, then he swivelled and headed after the magian. Deroe scuttled away and took shelter behind a low granite pedestal. A square trophy case stood on top, its sides made of crystal so grimy that Tali could not see what it contained.
Deroe’s mouth twisted into a lopsided grin and he began to rub the dirt off the trophy case.
Stop!
Rix stopped, his arms dangling like a run-down clockwork toy. Deroe cleaned the last of the crystal faces, stepped aside, and within the trophy case Tali saw a pair of skeletal feet, severed at the ankles as if by the blow of a sword.