“There’s another ebony pearl?” said Grandys.
“Yes, Lord Grandys,” said the spy. “My sources tell me that there are five, and it is the fifth.”
“A fifth! And the way magery is failing, I’m soon going to need it.”
So Grandys’ magery was also failing. That was the best news Rix had heard since Glimmering. The command spell must be weakening too, and if he fought it hard enough he might be able to break it again. But this time he would be more careful; he would not reveal that he had done so.
“Where do they come from?” said Grandys.
“Some magians say that ebony pearls just happened,” said the spy, “that they’re a freak of nature. Others believe that Lyf manipulated the lost king-magery so the pearls would form in suitable hosts — ”
“Suitable hosts?”
“Pale slaves — ”
“How can such priceless artefacts form in a people so unworthy?” Grandys cried.
“I cannot say, my Lord.”
“Which Pale slaves?”
“Certain young females. Unusual Pale, you can be sure, though we only have the name of one.”
“How did you learn this name?”
“It was mentioned at the trial of Lord and Lady Ricinus, Lord.”
Grandys clenched a fist. “Lady Ricinus was the mother of my troublesome lieutenant. A noble Herovian, and she was hanged and drawn on her palace gates by this miserable chancellor. He must be put down. And the name of this Pale?”
“Iusia vi Torgrist, Lord. Lady Ricinus killed her and took her pearl ten years ago.”
“Vi Torgrist, vi Torgrist? Where have I heard that name recently?”
“It’s an ancient house,” said the spy.
“I know!” snapped Grandys. “The founding family came on the Second Fleet.”
“But the house is long extinct in Hightspall. It only survives in the Pale.”
“Tell me about the fifth pearl.”
“It has not yet been harvested from its host.”
“Why not?”
“Ebony pearls take many years to grow and mature. They can only be harvested from the host after she comes of age.”
“So the development of the pearl is linked to the development and maturity of the host,” said Grandys. “Go on.”
“My sources say the fifth pearl is the strongest of all. It’s been called the master pearl.”
“The master pearl. To the nub: who is the host?”
“A Pale who escaped from Cython. As far as I can discover, the only people who know her name are Lyf and the chancellor. They’re both after it, of course.”
“But the host has eluded them. The pearl must have given her exceptional gifts.”
“Quite so, Lord,” said the spy. “Will that be all?”
“For the moment.”
Rix heard the door open and close. Then it opened again.
“You heard all that?” Grandys said quietly.
“Yes,” said Lirriam. “Can you name the Pale?”
Grandys did not answer.
“Only two have escaped from Cython,” Lirriam went on, slowly, as though assembling lines of evidence, “and one was a child who could not host a mature pearl. Therefore it has to be the other, Tali vi Torgrist. She gave evidence about the murder of her mother at the trial of Lady Ricinus. Which means that pearls must be familial.”
“I’m remembering something,” said Grandys.
“About the Pale?”
“No, from my crystal dreaming, before Maloch woke me in the Abysm. I was dreaming about Tirnan Twil.”
“What about it?” Lirriam said sharply.
“When the gauntlings burned Tirnan Twil, I dreamed that a Pale woman was there.”
“So what?”
“If Tali is the only adult Pale to have escaped, it must have been her. And if she has the fifth pearl, surely she had the magery to defend Tirnan Twil. But she did not act. Why not?”
“Perhaps she doesn’t know how to use her power.”
“It was her!” cried Grandys.
“You’re beginning to sound obsessed,” Lirriam said with a hint of a sneer.
“The small blonde Pale who refused me at Glimmering-by-the-Water. Before that she cried out. She was distraught at something I’d done. What, what?”
“You are obsessed with her,” said Lirriam. “Don’t let yet another woman impair your judgement.”
“No, this is monstrous!” said Grandys. “It was when I tried to kill the shifter, the mongrel who dived over the cliff and escaped. She cried out in fear for a filthy shifter.”
“Are you saying that Tali held back her magery for him?”
“Yes! Tirnan Twil was destroyed because she’s a despicable shifter lover, and when I find her, I’ll have her for it.”
“And the pearl,” said Lirriam. “Don’t forget what’s important here.”
Rix’s next two spying missions revealed nothing. Was Grandys onto him, and allowing him to compromise himself ever more deeply? If Grandys was, his wrath would be terrible. But Rix could not stop now. He went back for a fourth evening, and this time found a tiny hole that allowed him to see a small part of the bedchamber.
“What do you mean, Tali can’t be found?” said Grandys, stalking back and forth, Maloch in one hand, wine jug in the other. “We know she left Glimmering with the chancellor’s party.”
He hacked a chunk out of the windowsill in his fury. His magery had failed to locate her and he’d reluctantly enlisted the assistance of Lirriam and Rufuss, whose command of sorcery, while not as powerful as his own, had certain advantages in subtlety. He had not wanted to; he did not trust either of them, and especially not Rufuss, whose opalisation had further damaged an already unstable mind.
“She’s been hidden with powerful magery,” said Lirriam. “Under such concealment, she could have gone anywhere and we wouldn’t know.”
“The chancellor knows she bears the pearl,” said Grandys. “Do you think for one minute that he’ll let her out of his sight? I’ll bet he has her at Garramide.”
“If he does, whoever hid her has done it with rare skill.”
“It’ll be the chief magian,” said Rufuss. “What’s his name?”
No one knew.
“It wouldn’t be hard to take Garramide,” said Lirriam.
“We’re not going near it,” said Grandys in a tone that brooked no argument.
“Why not?” said Rufuss.
“I built it for a purpose — ”
“Your adopted daughter has been dead 1950 years,” she sneered.
“But my purpose has not yet come to completion,” Grandys said coldly. “If we attack Garramide, the chancellor might destroy the place rather than surrender. He’s a spiteful little man.”
“I was wondering when you would remember our noble purpose,” said Yulia. Rix started and nearly fell. He had not realised she was there. “I thought you’d lost sight of it completely, in your ceaseless attempts to prove yourself by slaughtering everyone who stands in your way.”
“I haven’t lost sight of it,” Grandys growled.
“I hope not. This land is ours by right — a right laid down in the Immortal Text.”
“Why do you think I’m fighting for it?”
“For the joy of killing,” she said coldly.
“Why are recruits flocking to us by the thousand?” said Grandys. “Why do the enemy cower in terror when they hear we’re coming? Why is Lyf hiding in Caulderon? Because of my name, Yulia!” He hacked into the windowsill again. “My name and reputation. Once they’re established, I’ll continue with our noble purpose.”
“They are established,” said Yulia. “Two thousand years ago, we came here to create the Promised Realm, and we failed. Why was that?”
Rix sat up. What did she mean by create the Promised Realm.
“Because the wrythen petrified us,” Grandys said sullenly.
“That’s not the real reason, and you know it. We failed because you acted like the brute and sadist you are.”