Текст книги "Incarceron"

Автор книги: Kathryn Fisher

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32

You will thank us for this. Energy will not be wasted on frivolous machines. We will learn to live simply, untroubled by jealousies and desires. Our souls will be as placid as the tideless seas.

-King Endor's Decree

The soldiers came after two hours. Jared had been waiting for them; he had lain on the hard bed in the silent room and listened to the sounds of the Palace through the open casement; the galloping horses far below, the coaches, the scurry, the shouts. It was as if

Claudia had taken a stick to a nest of ants and now they were in a swarming panic, their

Queen injured and their peace gone.

The Queen. As he sat up stiffly and gazed at the men, he hoped he wouldn't have to face her fury.

"Master." The liveried servant seemed embarrassed. "Would you come with us, sir."

Always the Protocol. It saved them from facing the truth. As they led him down the stairs, the guardsmen fell in discreetly behind, their halberds held like staffs of office.

He had already gone through all the emotions. Terror, bluster, despair. Now all that was left was a sort of dull resignation.

Whatever the Warden would do to him had to be borne. Claudia had to have time.

To his surprise they took him past the state rooms, where anxious envoys argued and messengers ran in and out, down to a small room in the east wing. When they ushered him in he saw it was one of the Queen's private drawing-rooms, cluttered with fragile gilt furniture, an elaborate clock on the mantelpiece heaped with cherubs and simpering shepherdesses.

Only the Warden was here.

He was not sitting at a desk, but standing, facing the door. Two armchairs were arranged at easy angles by the hearth, where a great bowl of potpourri sat in the empty fireplace.

It still felt like a trap.

"Master Jared." The Warden indicated one chair with a long finger. "Please sit."

He was glad to. He felt breathless and light-headed.

"A little water." The Warden poured it and brought the goblet over. As he drank from it

Jared felt Claudia's father ... no, not her father ... watching him acutely.

"Thank you."

"You haven't eaten?"

"No ... I suppose ... in all the fuss ..."

"You should take more care of yourself." The voice was hard. "Too many hours working at these forbidden devices."

He waved a hand. Jared saw that the table near the window was covered with pieces of his experiments, the scanners, the imagers, the devices to block alarms. He said nothing. "Of course you understand that all these are illegal." The Warden's eyes were ice-cold. "We have always allowed the Sapienti a certain leeway, but you seem to have been taking great advantage." Then he said, "Where is Claudia, Master?"

"I told you—"

"Don't lie to me. She is not at home. There are no horses unaccounted for."

"Perhaps ... she may be on foot."

"I do believe she is." The Warden sat opposite him, his black satin breeches creasing elegantly. "And perhaps you thought you were not lying when you said home?"

Jared put the cup down. They faced each other.

"How did she find out?" John Arlex said.

Jared decided, quite suddenly, to tell the truth. "The girl in the Prison told her, Attia, Finn's friend. From some records she had discovered."

The Warden nodded in slow appreciation. "Ah yes. How did she take it?"

"She was ... very shocked."

"Furious?"

"Yes."

"I would expect nothing else."

"And upset."

The Warden shot him a keen glare, but Jared returned it calmly. "She had always been so secure as your daughter, sir. Known who she was. She

... cares for you."

"Don't lie to me." The sudden snarl shocked him with its anger. The Warden got up and paced down the room. "There has only ever been one person Claudia has cared for in her life, Master Sapient. And that is you."

Jared sat still . His heart hammered. "Sir ..."

"Did you think I was blind?" The Warden turned. "No indeed. Oh, she had her nurses and her waiting women, but Claudia is far above their level and she knew it early. Every time I came home I saw how she and you laughed and talked, how she fussed with your coat if it was cold, sent for possets and sweetmeats, how you had your private jokes, your shared studies." He folded his arms and stared out of the window. "With me she was distant, reserved. She didn't know me. I was a stranger, the Warden, a great man at Court, someone who came and went. Someone to be wary of. But you, Master Jared, you were her tutor and her brother and more her father than I have ever been."

Jared was cold now. Behind the Warden's iron control was a blazing hatred; he had never sensed the depth of it before. He tried to breathe calmly.

"How do you think that felt, Master?" The Warden swung around. "Did you think I didn't feel it? Do you think I didn't suffer, not knowing what to do, how to change it? Aware that with every word I spoke I was deceiving her; every day, just by being there, by letting her think she was mine."

"She ... that is what she will not forgive."

"Don't tell me how she thinks!" John Arlex came and stood over him. "I have always been jealous of you. Is that not foolish? A dreamer, a man without family, so fragile a few blows would kill him. And the Warden of Incarceron is sick with envy."

Jared managed to say, "I... am very fond of Claudia ..."

"You know, of course, there are rumors about you." The Warden swung away abruptly and sat down again. "I don't believe them; Claudia is willful but not stupid. However, the Queen does, and let me tell you Jared, at the moment the Queen is screaming for revenge. On anyone. Evian is dead, but the plot obviously included others. You, for one."

He shivered. "Sir, you know well that is not so."

"You knew about it. Didn't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"And you did nothing. Told no one." He leaned forward. "That is treason, Master Sapient, and could easily have you hanged."

In the silence someone called outside. A fly buzzed in and droned around the room, hitting the glass and fumbling against it.

Jared tried to think, but there was no time. The Warden snapped, "Where's the Key?"

He wanted to lie. To make something up. Instead he kept silent.

"She's taken it with her, hasn't she?"

He didn't answer. The Warden swore. "The whole world thinks Giles is dead. She could have had everything, the Realm, the throne. Did she think I would let Caspar get in her way?"

"You were in the plot?" Jared said slowly.

"Plot! Evian and his naive dreams of a world without Protocol! There has never been a world without Protocol. I would have let the Steel Wolves deal with the Queen and Caspar, and then had them executed, simple. But now she has turned against me."

He was staring blankly across the room. Jared said gently, "The story you told her ... about her mother."

"That was true. But when Helena died the baby was sickly and I knew it would die too.

And what then of my plans? I needed a daughter, Master. And I knew where to get one."

He sat in the armchair opposite. "Incarceron is a failure. A hell. The Wardens have long known that, but there is no remedy, so we keep it secret. I thought I would rescue one soul from that, at least. In the depths of the Prison I found a woman who was so desperate she was willing to part with her newborn girl. I paid well. Her other children survived because of it."

Jared nodded. The Warden's voice had sunk; he seemed to be talking to himself, as if he had justified this endlessly to himself over the years.

"No one realized, except the Queen. That sorceress took one look at the child and knew."

A sudden understanding came to Jared. Fascinated, he said, "Claudia always wondered why you agreed to the plot against Giles. "Was it because the Queen ..." He stopped, not knowing the words, but the Warden nodded without looking up.

"Blackmail, Master Sapient. Her son was to be the one to marry Claudia. If I had not agreed, she taunted me that she would tell Claudia publicly who she was, disgrace her before the whole Realm. I could not have borne that."

For a moment there was a wistful distance in him, a stillness. Then he raised his head and saw Jared's look and his face went cold. "Do not feel sorry for me, Master. That's something I do not need." He stood. "I know she's gone into Incarceron. For this Finn.

There's nothing for you to betray. And she has taken the Key." He laughed bitterly. "It's as well she took it. There's no way out without it."

Suddenly he stalked to the door. "Follow me."

Startled Jared stood, fighting down a shard of fear, but the Warden stepped out into the corridor and waved the guards away impatiently. The men looked at each other.

One said uneasily, "Sir, the Queen has issued orders that we stay with you. For your protection."

The Warden nodded slowly. "My protection. I see. Then please remain here and guard this door after I enter. Allow no one to follow us down."

Before they could argue he had opened a hidden door in the wainscoting and led the way down some dank steps into the cellars. Halfway down, Jared looked back. The men were watching curiously through the slit.

"It appears the Queen suspects me too," the Warden said calmly. He took a lantern from the wall and lit the candle inside it. "We will have to work quickly. The study, as you've no doubt realized, is the same room here as at home. A space halfway between this world and the Prison, a Portal, as the inventor Martor called it."

"Manor's writings are lost," Jared said, hurrying after him.

"I have them. They are classified." His dark figure paced down quickly, holding the lantern high, its shadows flickering down the wall. He glanced back at Jared's astonishment and allowed himself a smile. "You will never see them, Master." Between the casks the darkness lay deep; far above, the guards' voices seemed to whisper in confusion.

At the bronze gate he jabbed the combination in swiftly; the gate shuddered open and as they passed through, Jared felt that odd shiver of displacement he had felt before.

The white room adjusted itself. Everything was exactly as he had left it. He had a sudden pang of anxiety. What was happening to Claudia? Was she safe?

"You sent her through with no idea of the danger." The Warden flicked the control panel out and touched sensors. "Entering the Prison is hazardous, physically and psychologically."

Shelves slid back. The screen lit.

On it, Jared saw a thousand images. They flickered, a checkerboard of tiny squares, of empty rooms, bleak oceans, far towers, dusty corners. He saw a street packed with people, a hideous den of stunted children, a man beating a strange beast, a woman tenderly breastfeeding a baby. Bewildered, he stepped up below the images, watching them flicker, the pain, the hunger, the unlikely friendships, the savage bargainings.

'This is the Prison." The "warden leaned against the desk. "All the images seen by the

Eyes. Its the only way to find Claudia."

Jared felt a terrible misery soak him. In the Academy the Experiment was considered one of the glories of the ancient Sapienti, the noble sacrifice of the world's last reserves of energy to save the unredeemable, the poor, the despised. And it had ended in this.

The Warden watched him, a silhouette against the rippling images. "You see, Master, what only the Warden has ever seen."

"Why didn't... Why weren't we told ...?"

"There is not enough power. They can never be brought back, all those thousands of people. They are lost to us." He took out his watch and gave it to Jared, who took it numbly and then looked down at it. The Warden indicated the silver cube on the chain.

"You are like a god, Jared. You hold Incarceron in your hands."

He felt the pain inside him throb. His hands shook. He wanted to put it down, to step back, step away. The cube was tiny, he had seen it a thousand times on the watch chain and barely noticed it, but now it filled him with awe.

Was it possible it contained the mountains he saw, the forests of silver trees, the cities of ragged people preying on each other's poverty? Sweating, he held it tightly and the

Warden said softly, "Afraid, Jared? It takes strength to see a whole world. Many of my predecessors never dared look. They hid their eyes." A soft bell.

They both looked up. The screen had stopped flashing; as they stared, the pictures started to flick off, and one in the bottom right-hand corner grew, pixel by pixel, until it filled the whole screen.

It was Claudia.

Jared put the watch chain shakily down on the table.

She was talking to the prisoners. He recognized the boy Finn, and the other one, Keiro, who was leaning back against a stone wall, listening. Gildas crouched nearby; Jared saw at once that the old man was hurt, Attia standing next to him.

"Can you speak to them?"

"I can," the Warden said. "But first we listen."

He flicked a switch.

33

What use is one key among a billion prisoners?

-Lord Calliston's Diary

"It tried to stop me finding you," Claudia said. She walked toward him down the gloomy corridor. "You should never have come Inside." Finn felt awed. She was so out of place, bringing a scent of roses and strange fresh air that tantalized him. He felt he wanted to scratch at some itch in his mind; instead he rubbed a hand wearily over his eyes.

"Come back with me now." She held out her hand. "Come quickly!"

"You just wait a minute." Keiro stood. "He goes nowhere without me."

"Or me," Attia muttered.

"All of you can come then. It must be possible." Then her face fell.

Finn said, "What is it?"

Claudia bit her lip. She suddenly realized she had no idea how to do this. There had been no portal on this side, no chair or control panel; she had simply found herself in that empty cell. And she didn't know the way back there, even if the place was important.

"She can't do it," Keiro said. He came and stared closely at her, and though it annoyed her, she stared calmly back.

"At least I have this." She took the Key from a pocket and held it out. They saw it was identical to the one they knew, though its workmanship seemed better, the eagle perfect in its stillness.

Finn put his hand to his pocket. It was empty. Alarmed, he turned.

"It's here, fool boy." Gildas grabbed at the wall and pulled himself upright. He was gray, his face clammy. He held the Key so tightly in his knotted hands that the skin around his knuckles was white as the bone beneath.

"Are you really from the Outside?" he breathed.

"I am, Master." She walked toward him and reached out her hand for him to feel. "And

Sapphique did Escape. Jared discovered that he has followers out there. They call him the Nine-Fingered One."

He nodded, and they saw there were tears in his eyes. "I know that. I have always known that he was real. This boy has seen him in visions. Soon I will see him."

His voice was gruff but there was a quaver in it Finn had never heard before. Oddly scared he said, "We need the Key, Master."

For a moment he thought the Sapient would not let go; there was a brief interval when both his and Gildas's fingers grasped the crystal. The old man looked down. "I have always trusted you, Finn. I never believed you were from Outside, and I was wrong in that, but your visions of the stars have led us to Escape, as I knew they would, ever since the first day I saw you lying curled up on that cart. This is the moment I have lived for."

His fingers opened; Finn felt the weight of the Key.

He looked at Claudia. "Now what?"

She took a deep breath, but it was not her voice that answered. Attia was in the shadows behind Keiro; she did not come forward, but her words were sharp. "What happened to the pretty dress?"

Claudia scowled. "I shredded it."

"And the wedding?"

"Off."

Attia's arms were wrapped around her thin body. "So now you want Finn."

"Giles. His name is Giles. Yes, I want him. The Realm needs its King. Someone who's seen outside the Palace and the Protocol. Someone who has been right down into the depths." She let her annoyance out in her words, channeled it into anger. "Isn't that what you want too? Someone who can end the misery of Incarceron because he knows what it's like?"

Attia shrugged. "It's Finn you should ask. You might just be taking him out of one prison into another."

Claudia stared at her and Attia stared back. It was Keiro's cool laugh that broke the silence. "I suggest we sort all this out in the brave new world Outside. Before the Prison quakes again."

Finn said, "He's right. How do we do this?"

She swallowed. "Well ... I suppose we ... use the Keys."

"But where's the gate?"

"There is no gate." This was hard; they were all staring at her. "Not... as you think."

"So how did you get here?" Keiro asked.

"It's ... difficult to explain." As she spoke her fingers moved on the hidden controls of the

Key; it hummed, lights moved inside it.

Keiro jumped forward. "Oh no, Princess!" He snatched it from her; she jerked after it, but he had his sword drawn and pointed at her throat. "No tricks. We all go together or not at all."

Furious, she said, "That's the plan."

"Put the weapon down," Gildas snapped.

"She's trying to take him. And leave us here.

"I'm not—"

"Stop talking about me as if I was some object!" Finn's snarl silenced them all. He rubbed a hand through his hair; his scalp was wet and his eyes prickled. His breath seemed short. A fit now would be impossible, but his hands were shaking and he felt it creeping over him.

And then he knew he was falling into it, he must be, because behind Gildas the wall shivered away, and looking out of it, huge and shadowy, was Blaize.

The Sapient's gray eyes surveyed them; his image was enormous in a white room of clean walls. "I'm afraid," he said, "that

Escape is not as easy as my daughter seems to think."

They were still. Keiro lowered the sword. "So that's it," he said. "And look how pleased she is to see you."

Finn watched Claudia turn to the image. He saw now that though the Warden's face was familiar, the scabs had left it; it was thinner, and there was a refined tension about the eyes.

Claudia looked up at it. "Don't call me your daughter." Her voice was hard and cold. "And don't try to stop me. I'm bringing them all out and you—"

"You can't bring them all out." The Warden held her eyes. "The Key will bring only one person out. Their copy, if it works, will do the same. Touch the black eye of the eagle. You will disappear, and reappear here." He smiled calmly. "That is the gate, Finn."

Appalled, she stared at him. "You're lying. You brought me out.

"You were a baby. Tiny. I took a chance." There was a voice in the room; he turned, and

Claudia saw Jared behind him, standing pale and tired. "Master! Is it true?"

"I have no way of knowing, Claudia." He looked unhappy, his dark hair tangled. "There's only one way to find out, and that's to try."

She looked at Finn.

"Not you." It was Keiro who moved. "Finn and I are going first, and if it works I'll come back for the Sapient." He whipped up his sword as Claudia drew hers. "Drop that, Princess, or I'll cut your throat."

She gripped the leather hilt tight, but Finn said, "Do it, Claudia. Please."

He was looking at Keiro; as she lowered the blade she saw him step closer and say, "Do you really think I'd go and leave them? Give her back the Key.

"No way."

"Keiro ..."

"You're stupid, Finn. Can't you see this is a setup! You and she would vanish and that would be it. No one would bother coming back for the rest of us."

"I would."

"They wouldn't let you." Keiro stepped up to him. "Once they had their lost Prince, why bother about the criminal Scum? The dog-girl and the halfman? Once you're back in your palace, why think of us?"

"I swear I'd come back."

"Sure. Isn't that what Sapphique said?"

In the stillness Gildas sat down abruptly, as if his strength had gone. "Don't leave me here, Finn," he muttered.

Finn shook his head, utterly weary. "We can't keep Claudia here, whatever the rest of us decide. She came to rescue us."

"Tough." Keiro's blue eyes were relentless. "She was a Prisoner once—she can be again.

I go first. To find out what's waiting out there. And if it works, like I said, I'll come back."

"Liar," Attia snapped.

"You can't stop me."

The Warden laughed softly. "Is this the hero you think is Giles, Claudia? The man to govern the Realm? He can't even control this rabble."

Instantly Finn moved. He tossed the Key to Claudia; catching Keiro off guard, he grabbed for the sword. Anger roared in him; anger at all of them, at the Warden's smirk, at the fear and weakness in himself. Keiro staggered back; recovering fast, he whipped the blade up and they both had it; then Finn had torn it from his grip.

Keiro didn't flinch as the blade flickered in his face. "You won't use that on me."

Finn's heart pounded. His chest heaved. Behind him Attia hissed, "Why not, Finn? He killed the Maestra. You know that, you've always known it! He had the bridge cut. Not

Jormanric."

"Is it true?" He barely recognized his own whisper.

Keiro smiled. "Make up your own mind."

"Tell me."

"No." His oathbrother held the Key in one fist. "It's your choice. I don't justify myself to anyone."

His heartbeat was so loud, it hurt. It filled the Prison, thudded down all the corridors, in all the cells.

He flung the sword down. Keiro dived for it, Finn kicked it away. Suddenly they were fighting, all Finn's breath gone in a vicious punch to his stomach, Keiro's ruthless skill flooring him. Claudia was shouting, Gildas roaring in anger, but he didn't care now; scrambling up, he flung himself on Keiro, grabbing for the Key. Hindered by the fragile crystal Keiro ducked and then punched again; Finn had him around the waist and down, but as he closed in, Keiro gave a kick that sent him reeling back.

Keiro roiled, picked himself up. Blood welled on his lip. "Now we'll see, brother," he hissed. He touched the black eye of the bird.

A light.

It was so brilliant, it burned their eyes.

It widened around Keiro, it swallowed him, and there was a noise in it, a whine that was painful, a sharp discordant note that cut off instantly.

The light spat out.

And Keiro was still there.

In the shattered silence the Warden's laugh was cool and regretful. "Ah," he said. "I'm afraid that means it won't work for you. Probably the metal components in your body render the process invalid. Incarceron is a closed system; its own elements can never leave."

Keiro stood stock-still.

"Never?" he breathed.

"Not unless the components are removed."

Keiro nodded. His face was grim and flushed. "If that's what it takes." He stepped toward

Finn and said, "Get your knife."

"What?"

"You heard"

"I can't do that!"

Keiro laughed sourly– "Why not? Keiro the Nine-Fingered. I always wondered what

Sapphique's sacrifice was all about."

Gildas groaned. "Boy, are you suggesting—"

"Maybe more of us are born of the Prison than we thought. Maybe you are, old man. But I won't let one finger keep me here. Get the knife."

Finn didn't move, but Attia did. She brought a small blade she always wore and held it out to him. He took it slowly. Keiro laid his hand on the floor, the fingers spread out. The metallic nail looked just the same as the others. "Do it now," he said.

I can t...

"You can. For my sake."

They looked at each other. Finn knelt. His hand was shaking. He put the edge of the blade to Keiro's skin.

"Wait," Attia snapped. She crouched. "Think! It may not be enough. As you said, none of us know what we are made of inside. There must be another way."

Keiro's eyes were blue and blank with desperation. He hesitated.

For a long moment he stood there unmoving, and then he closed his hand and nodded slowly. He looked down at the Key and held it out to Finn.

"Then I'll have to find it. Enjoy your kingdom, brother. Rule well. Watch your back."

Finn was too shaken to answer. A distant hammering made them all look up.

"What's that?" Claudia asked.

Jared said quickly, "It's here. Evian made his attempt and is dead. The Queen's guards are at the door."

She stared at her father. He said, "You must come back, Claudia. Bring the boy. I need him now."

"Is he really Giles?" she asked harshly.

The Warden's smile was wintry. "He is now."

As his words ended the screen went blank. A ripple of movement ran down the corridor;

Finn looked around anxiously. Bricks clattered from the vault.

Then he looked up and saw the tiny red Eye whirr and click on him.

"Oh yes," the voice said softly. "You have all forgotten about me. And why should I let any of my children go?"