‘Why, Nish? I mean, Cryl-Nish.’
‘I know you lie and cheat and connive, and yes, maybe you did murder the apothek. But I saw you on the wall this morning. You showed courage that I don’t have.’
‘I was terrified! I had to kill it before it killed me. To be eaten by a lyrinx …’ She shuddered.
‘All the more courageous,’ he said softly. ‘You killed a lyrinx all by yourself, Irisis. Not many people can claim that.’
‘A lucky shot,’ she said, still wary.
‘A clever shot! And your operation saved my life.’
‘I might just as well have killed you. I might have been trying to, and make it look …’
‘You didn’t though, did you? No one else knew what to do, yet you knew in an instant. They would have let me die, too afraid to save me. You tried, knowing that if you failed you would be put to death. The perquisitor is not a forgiving man.’
‘A rush of blood to the head. I did not stop to think.’
‘You thought it through in an instant. Can it be that you … love me, Irisis?’
Irisis could not believe that Nish, or anyone, would care what happened to her. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, my spotty little Nish-Nash. Love makes fools of the cleverest of people. I was just trying to buy favour with your father.’
‘And I with your family just now!’ he snapped. ‘If you don’t mind, I’m tired and my neck hurts, and I’m going back to bed. Good night!’
She stood in the shadow cast by the half-shuttered lantern, unmoving. Irisis opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak, then closed it again.
‘What is it?’ he said irritably, holding his neck.
‘Nothing!’ she whispered. ‘It’s nothing.’
She went out, closing the door silently. Irisis returned to the workshop and sat in the dark, turning what had happened over and over in her mind, like stones on a barren plain. She expected to find something venomous underneath. She did not. All she found was cool shadow, and in it things she did not recognise at all.
NINETEEN
That night a despatch came from the scrutator, by skeet. What it contained was not revealed though it appeared to be more bad news about the war. Jal-Nish, pallid and uneasy, held a hasty conference with Fyn-Mah, after which she sent out search parties in all directions.
In the morning Nish learned that Gi-Had had taken a troop of armed men into the mine in pursuit of a lyrinx. Not even the bravest soldiers wanted to venture into the maze of shafts, drives and unstable tunnels, but duty must be done.
Irisis appeared at the door around eight in the morning. ‘Nish, your father bids you come to meet the seeker.’ She went out at once, her back very straight.
‘Wait!’ he called but she took no notice.
Nish dressed as quickly as he could. His neck was nicely scabbed over, front and back, though so painful that he could not turn his head. He felt utterly drained.
Going via the refectory, he collected a handful of millet cakes. Slabs of boiled pork lay on a platter, the thick layers of fat like grey jelly. The thought of eating it was nauseating.
He found Irisis standing outside the seeker’s door. Jal-Nish was not there. ‘Irisis …?’
She cut him off, briefly explaining what the seeker was like and how she must be treated. Nish followed her in. Irisis carried a lantern but kept it fully shuttered, so the room was lit only by scattered rays from under the door. There was no furniture apart from a wooden chair with high arms.
The seeker crouched in a corner. The light was too dim to see her clearly, only that she was hunched right over, enveloped in a shroud-like cloth and rocking back and forth. At Nish’s footfall she started, then began to rock furiously.
Irisis plucked at Nish’s sleeve, drawing him out and closing the door. They went looking for the perquisitor. He was not to be found, however Fyn-Mah was working at a table in the overseer’s office. A pair of carpenters had the smashed door up on a trestle in the hall and were tapping new timbers into place.
‘Jal-Nish has gone down to the mine,’ Fyn-Mah said without looking up.
‘Oh!’ replied Irisis.
‘There is a difficulty?’
‘It’s the seeker,’ said Nish. ‘She’s just sitting in the corner, rocking.’
‘You’ll get nothing from her this morning then. If ever!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve seen it too many times!’ With a sigh, Fyn-Mah laid down her quill. ‘What you’re trying to do is impossible. I told Jal-Nish that before he began.’
‘Why impossible?’
‘The poor child is too sensitive. A whisper is like a shout to her; silk feels like sandpaper; a candle flame hurts her eyes like the noon sun.’
Nish tried to imagine it but could not. ‘A wonder she didn’t go insane.’
‘Her family tried to beat it out of her, then abandoned her to a cripples’ asylum. The things that went on there – well, she doesn’t trust anyone, now. You’re wasting your time.’
‘I might as well go straight to the breeding factory,’ said Irisis.
‘It’s an important duty,’ snapped the querist. ‘Not a punishment.’
Irisis glanced at Fyn-Mah’s ringless fingers. ‘Really?’ she sneered. ‘That’s not how the workers here see it.’
Fyn-Mah went rigid. ‘How do they see it?’
‘One rule for them, another for the powerful. People like you.’
A red flush crept up Fyn-Mah’s face. She closed her eyes for the count of three but when she opened them she was icily calm. ‘The scrutator is furious that Tiaan has not been found. He has a special job for her. Now, if you’ll excuse me?’
They went out. ‘Did you see how she reacted?’ said Irisis to Nish. ‘I was right. She must be taking a preventative.’
‘To prevent children? But that’s a crime.’
‘And I’ll use it against her if I have to.’
He stared up at her. ‘You would dare attack a querist?’
‘What have I got to lose?’
‘Give me a hand,’ he said before they had gone much further.
‘Why?’ she responded listlessly.
‘I can’t stand up any longer.’
She offered him her shoulder. Nish held on, she caught him about the waist, and they made their slow way down to the refectory, where they sat at a long bench furthest from the door. The room was empty, breakfast having finished long ago.
‘It’s not like you to give up so easily,’ he said.
‘This job is impossible, so I’m resigning myself to my new life in the breeding factory. Or a swift extinguishment, should it come to that.’
‘No!’ he cried.
She smiled sadly, touching him on the arm. ‘Enough of that. If you like I could find you a replacement lover. It won’t be easy, with the stigma you bear, but –’
‘I don’t want another lover, you stupid bitch!’ He hurled himself off the bench, swayed, the blood ran from his face and he fell down. As she ran around to him, Nish regained his feet and staggered out like a drunken man, waving her away.
He got as far as one of the warm niches around behind the furnaces, dragged a sweeper lad out by the ear and fell into the deliciously warm space. Someone cried out. Beneath him, a girl frantically adjusted her garments. Nish cursed the pair of them, though he should have looked first. Such places offered the only privacy most lovers got.
Crawling out, he lurched back the way he had come. He made it as far as the door of Ullii’s room, caught the handle and fell through the door as it opened. As it swung shut he swooned on the floor.
Opening his eyes Nish saw a shadow behind his head. What was Ullii doing? He tried to turn his head and felt such a stabbing pain in his neck that he groaned aloud. She backed away. He raised his hand to the bandage. It was wet with blood.
The seeker crouched nearby. She was curious about him. He watched her from slitted eyes, wondering if he might use the incident to his advantage. She might feel empathy. Or contempt that he groaned at what she had suffered in silence.