He penciled in new notes on the last three measures. “You must both hum these beneath your breath. Ontro Vobo, yes?”
Areana’s eyes widened, and he saw her swallow hard, but she nodded.
“All right, then,” he said. “Shall we? Mery, if you would begin.”
“Yes, go on,” Robert said. He didn’t turn from the window.
Mery placed her fingers on the keyboard, stretching to complete the awkward chord, and pressed. The notes throbbed in the air, a little menacing but mostly intriguing, illicit, the thrill of doing something a bit wicked made sound.
Mery’s hands grew more sure, and Areana joined, singing words that had absolutely nothing to do with the music but that rang out with a stark sensuality that stirred sudden shameful desire in Leoff, so that as he added his own voice, he found himself helplessly imagining the things he would do to her, the ways he could bring pleasure and pain to her lithe body.
The song was a death spell, but it had to be built. Playing the last chord wouldn’t do anything unless the listener had been drawn to the edge of the precipice.
Until now, the mode had been a modified form of the sixth mode, but now Mery took them with a frantic run of notes into the seventh, and lust subtly became madness. He heard Robert laugh out loud, and a look around the room at open mouths or tight grins told Leoff that they were all insane with him.
Even Areana’s eyes sparkled feverishly, and Mery was gasping for breath as it all quickened into a lumbering whervel and then softened, shifting into the mode for which Leoff had no name, spreading out into broad chords.
The world seemed to sag underfoot, but Areana’s voice was black joy. Fear was gone, and all that remained was the longing for night’s infinite embrace, for the touch of decay, that most patient, inevitable, and thorough lover. He felt his bones straining to slough free of his flesh and then rot like tissue.
The end was coming, but he no longer wanted to sing the extra notes. Why should he? What could be better than this? An end to pain and striving… rest forever…
Distantly, he felt a hand grip his, and Areana leaned close, no longer singing. But she hummed in his ear.
He drew a painful, horrible breath and realized he hadn’t been breathing. Shaking his head, he took up the hastily written counterpoint, though it seemed to cut through his brain like an ax. He doubled over, still humming, trying to cover his ears, but his hands were like stones, falling to the floor, and black spots filled his vision. His heart beat weirdly, stopped for a long moment, then thumped as if it would explode.
He found his face was pressed against the stone. Areana had collapsed beside him, and in a fevered panic he reached for her, fearing her dead. But no, she was breathing.
“Mery.”
The girl was slumped at the hammarharp, eyes open and blank, spittle on her chin. Her fingers were still on the keys, jerking madly but not pressing to produce sound.
Everyone else in the room lay on the floor, unmoving.
Except for Robert, who still stood gazing out the window, stroking his beard.
Forcing his legs to work, Leoff crawled to Mery and pulled her down into his arms. Areàna was trying to sit up, and Leoff drew the three of them together, where they huddled, trembling.
Mery had started a sort of hiccupping, and Leoff tried to stroke her hair with the club of his hand.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m sorry, Mery.”
“Well,” Robert said, turning at last. “Very pretty, just as you promised.” He strode over to the man he’d called Noose, who lay facedown in a pool of his own vomit. He kicked him in the ribs, hard. Then he knelt, touched his hand to the assassin’s neck, and moved on to Lord Respell, who had fallen against the wall in a sitting position. Respell’s eyes were still open, frozen in a look of adoration. Robert drew a knife and cut the arteries in Respell’s neck. A bit of blood drooled out, but it was clear no heart was pumping.
“Very good,” Robert murmured, “All quite dead. Very good.” He strode over to the hammarharp, took the score, and began rolling it up.
“This was just what I wanted,” he said. “I commend you on a job well done.”
“You knew?”
“I thought that old book might be useful,” Robert confided with an awful false joviality. “Not to me, but I had it in mind that you might be able to unravel its secrets, if properly motivated.”
“You’re horrible,” Areana managed to croak.
“Horrible?” Robert sniffed. “Is that the best you can do?”
He slipped the manuscrift into an oiled leather scroll case.
Leoff thought he heard a faint commotion coming from the door. Groaning, he forced himself to his feet and scooped up Mery.
“Run,” he wheezed.
“Oh, come now,” Robert began, but Leoff was concentrating on fighting the vertigo, on staying balanced on his legs. Areana was right behind him.
They broke out into the hall and stumbled toward the stairs.
“This is really annoying,” Robert called from behind.
Leoff tripped on the stair, but Areana caught him. His lungs hurt, he needed to stop, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t…
Why hadn’t Robert died? Had he plugged his ears? Leoff hadn’t noticed anything.
He watched his feet as if they weren’t part of him because they didn’t feel like they were. He knew they were moving too slowly, as in a Black Mary. He remembered Robert’s dagger, wet with blood, couldn’t look back for fear of seeing it cut Areana’s beautiful, soft throat…
Then suddenly they were face to face with men in armor.
“No!” Areana cried, and lurched forward, but the men caught herand then Leoff and Mery—in strong arms.
It was then that Leoff noticed the woman who was with them, the same woman who had come to free him from his cell.
“You are safe,” she said. “Robert is still up there?”
“Yes,” he gasped.
“With how many men?”
“It’s just him.”
She nodded, then spoke to one of the soldiers.
“Take them back to Eslen. Make them comfortable and see that a leic tends them immediately. Her Majesty will want the best for them.”
In a daze, no longer able to resist even if he wanted to, Leoff allowed himself to be carried outside to where many more men and several wains waited.
On the wagon, he let his muscles unfurl and lay back in the warm sun. Mery had begun to cry, which he hoped was a good sign.
“I never gave up hope,” Areana told him. “I remembered what you said.”
“You saved us,” Leoff replied. “You saved me.”
They rested against each other, with Mery between them. The sun on Leoff’s skin felt clean and real, a thing apart from horror.
Except…
“I’ve given Robert something terrible,” he murmured. “An awful weapon.”
“You’ll fix it,” Mery whispered, sounding tired but firm.
“Mery? Are you all right?”
“You’ll fix it,” she repeated. Then she fell asleep.
It was silly, the faith of a six-year-old, but it made Leoff feel better. And long before they reached Eslen, he’d joined Mery in slumber.
Epilogue
Best Work
Neil awoke to clatter and fuss. He was in an airy chamber, lying on good linen, and he felt terrible.
A glance around showed him that he was surrounded by the wounded. He tried to sit up and then thought better of it. Instead he lay there, trying to piece together his memories.
The battle for the waerd; he remembered that pretty well, but everything after was spotty. He thought he’d been on a boat at one point and had heard a familiar voice. Then he remembered leafless trees covered in black ravens, but that might have been a dream.
And then—certainly this was a dream—a very long run down a dark tunnel, crowded with people; some he knew, some he didn’t. Of those he knew, some were dead, some still living.