Chapter 13
"You were not sent by my sister," said Sodrinye. It was possible the other Sleeper would not come herself on such an errand, given the difficulty in travel. It seemed unlikely, however, that she would choose a priest of the Light as her agent. Not a sincere one. And atronachs are not known for their guile.
"No," said the atronach. "I once spoke with her as I speak with you. This is my home, and the Kyn have done much harm here. What do you want?"
"I am Sodrinye the Sleeper," Sodrinye said. "In Oblivion I would always be a slave or a chattel. Here I am..." She hesitated, searching through fragments of memory. "I think the closest word in this tongue is free."
There was a thoughtful silence. The mortal had stopped whispering, but seemed to be holding her ground beside the atronach. "It is possible you are lying," said the creature of ice slowly. "If you've spoken with Drurinye, you know why she came here. If you meant harm, you might say the same."
"Look at my debtsworn," said Sodrinye. "You can see him better than I can see you." It was blurry still, but she did see his head move as he turned to look at Ebel-Merodach. She wasclose enough to see the other kynaz very clearly. He was staring back at the atronach, but he had lowered his mace. I chose well, she thought sadly. Ebel-Merodach is no slave to bloodlust. He offered me the first drink from his own kill not an hour ago.
"That is Dremora armor," said the atronach. "Not daedric."
"Even so," said Sodrinye.
"What does that mean, Brother Varen?" said the human girl.
"He's not an officer," said the atronach. "Not of a high caste. Though I think he is old for his rank. Look at the length of his horns."
"And of what caste is my sister's debtsworn?" said Sodrinye.
"He is not, in fact, her debtsworn," said Varen. "But he is a kynreeve."
Sodrinye was silent for a moment, recalculating rapidly. She had expected Drurinye to have a powerful protector, but... If he is not herdebtsworn, then she must be his. It could easily have happened. Had Sodrinye herself not taken steps to insure her position with Ebel-Merodach... I would be in his debt many times over. He has preserved my life.
And this means Drurinye's will is not her own. We are Sleepers, not like other Kyn. She will be bound to him in other ways than debt. If the other kynaz were normal, this probably meant any territorial dispute would be with him, not necessarily with Drurinye. And while Sodrinye could easily reach her sister's mind from anywhere on the planet, the same was not true of the unknown kynreeve.
"He is not hers," said Sodrinye slowly. "But you have not been able to harm them."
"It has not been necessary," said Varen. "Onesimus and Drurinye seldom leave their shop in Anvil. They have no designs of conquest here."
"No more have I," said Sodrinye. "I have one kynaz, and one human of whose loyalty I am not certain - "
"What did you do to that man?" demanded the human girl.
"We have done nothing," said Sodrinye, in some puzzlement at this outburst. "he was a prisoner of the Citadel, as I was."
Sodrinye's hearing was better than her sight, but it was no better than human, and she was concentrating closely on the girl and the atronach. She would certainly not have used any other form of detection, because a Sleeper could never bring up the magicka subtly and it would probably have escalated an already-tense situation. An image she recognized as precognitive kept trying to obtrude itself on her consciousness, but to let it occlude her would be to relinquish control as well, and that she dared not do yet. She did not know Menien Goneld was on the stairs until she heard his ragged voice say,
"You arrogant bastard."
The words came simultaneous with the twangof the bow. The atronach who called himself Varen stiffened instantly, and then Sodrinye saw only the blur of motion as he swept himself and the girl away from the stairwell opening.
"No," Sodrinye said. She thrust her arm out in front of Merodach, something she ordinarily could not have done without losing her balance. She could feel the tension in his every muscle, but he held his ground.
"You had better know what you are doing, woman," muttered Merodach, for her ears only.
"Getting shot through the liver hurts," said Goneld's voice. "But any priest in Cyrodiil can heal that. Next time you hit me from behind you'd better kill me, because otherwise I surely am going to kill you."
"Brother?" said the girl tightly. The priest's blocky body was between her and Sodrinye, so that she was likely able to see the arrow; the two of them made one solid shadow to the Sleeper, for the atronach's light had gone out. And now she could feel the taint of blood, and it was very nearly human; his imitation was so precise that Sodrinye had no doubt his blood would be red. The taste of ice was very faint in the air.
"It's all right," said Varen's voice. Sodrinye did not take time to wonder over the meaning of this phrase. She did not normally permit herself to be angry – in a Sleeper that was too likely to be fatal – but her new strength was betraying her. Ordinarily constant fatigue would keep the magicka dammed up inside, would flatten her emotions so that she was hardly able to feel pain or rage or fear, but without that check she could barely contain it. This situation is escaping my control. She felt Ebel-Merodach shift his weight beside her as the power rose.
"Ebel-Merodach has advised me not to toy with Menien Goneld." Sodrinye kept her voice level by strong effort. "It is advice you would be wise to consider. Go now."
"The circle is not closed," said the atronach. "We will meet again." Sodrinye felt the small spike in background magicka as he raised his hand, and then the two intruders vanished in a shower of pink sparks.
Sodrinye breathed, slowly and deeply. The power spiraled away, taking some of her strength with it.
"Goneld, you fool," said Merodach. The human appeared at the foot of the stairs, only just putting up his bow. "You could have killed him and saved us the trouble."
"Doubtful," said Sodrinye. "Even piercing the head will not always kill an ice atronach."
"That was an atronach?" said Goneld. He rubbed one wrist. Sodrinye couldn't see the chafe marks, but she knew they were there. "Explains why he's so bad at tying knots." His voice was still uneven, and Sodrinye held herself still as vision blocked out sight. The Imperial dragged into the citadel, wounded and bound. Goneld lying shackled while churls kicked at his ribs with boots of Dremora steel. Goneld caged in a tall tower in a land hellish and alien to him. The taint of fear and rage, familiar as breath, overlay all.
Sodrinye blinked forcibly, clearing the vision away. "Come closer, so that I can see you," she said. Menien Goneld approached slowly and stiffly, and as he swam into focus Sodrinye saw the muscle jumping in his temple. He stopped a couple of yards away, in view but not in reach.
"What you did was foolish," she said levelly. "My sister thought the atronach was worthy of speech. That means he is dangerous."
"He tied my hands," said Goneld, enunciating through his clenched teeth.
"I understand," said Sodrinye. "I, in your place, have shown less restraint than you did." That is why I have ten souls instead of none at all. "But I am constrained by weakness of body. You are not. If you cannot control yourself you are dangerous to all of us."
"Then kill me," said Goneld. "I'm not who I was when I went into the Kvatch gate. I'm not fit for human company."
"Human company," said Ebel-Merodach. One side of a black lip curled above his jagged teeth.
"You will be," said Sodrinye. "Yours is an adaptable race, perhaps more so than ours." Merodach, to his credit, was intelligent enough not to argue with this. Sodrinye set her head on one side, considering what she knew of Goneld. "Besides, you want to live. You would not have come with us otherwise."
"I didn't know," said Goneld. He turned away abruptly. "It's been two years. Too long."
"There is no too long or too short," said Sodrinye. "There is only now."
Goneld stood with his unprotected back to them for a while, breathing silently. His shoulders twitched once or twice. Sodrinye waited patiently. She had seen kyn who had been summoned into Nirn and kept there in bondage for a long time. They were often a little mad when they came back. It was not at all surprising a human should react the same way, and more besides – not all mortals would torture a summoned kynaz.
"All right," said Menien Goneld finally. He turned slowly to face her again. "So what are you going to do now?"
"Move," said Merodach. "The atronach knows this place. We cannot stay here."
"Yes," said Sodrinye. "And I have only a little time left before my strength fails again. We must go now."