Vengeance

CHAPTER 101

Rix woke with the voice ringing in his head. Lyf’s voice.

It is time. Go down.

‘Damn you!’ he said aloud. ‘You’ll never force me.’ But even in his own ears, he sounded unconvincing.

Lyf seemed amused. You divined this night, this scene, this death. You had the chance to seize command of the divination when you painted the scene in the cellar, but you did not. Now it is set and can’t be changed.

‘I won’t do it!’ Rix roared, though he could see no way of escape. Why hadn’t he ridden out to give his life away yesterday? Why had he told his treacherous friends his plan?

In the shadows, a girl cried out in fear. It took some time for him to recognise Glynnie cowering behind the couch, sheltering her little brother with her arms. But before he could speak …

Ten years I’ve worked my compulsion on you, preparing you for this night.

I’ll fight you.

Yes, you will do everything in your power to break the compulsion. And you will fail. You will go down. You will cut the master nuclix from Tali, submerge it in her blood and keep it safe for me.

‘I won’t!’ But the willpower was draining from him as Lyf wrapped the compulsion ever tighter. Only Tobry’s shackle was keeping Rix here now. His shin was chafed to the bone from straining against it.

Call for your sword. I will have my due.

‘Damn you, no!’ But against his will, Rix turned to a wild-eyed Glynnie, who clearly thought he had gone insane, and said, ‘Fetch my sword, girl.’

Clutching Benn tighter, she shook her head.

Good, Rix thought, but the compulsion stabbed him and his treacherous mouth said, ‘Who took you in, at risk of his own life, when the chancellor cast you out?’

‘You did, Lord,’ she whispered.

‘Am I your master?’

‘Yes, Lord.’

‘Then obey me or be thrown into the street.’

Trembling all over, she took the wire-handled sword from the shelf where Tobry had left it and carried it to Rix, holding it out by the tip as if she expected to be cut down with it. At any other time, that would have hurt.

He raised it high, then drove it down with all his strength onto the chain fixing his ankle to the heatstone. The enchanted blade cut through the chain in a shower of sparks.

Get the implements.

What was the point in fighting when he was bound to be defeated? He stalked out, the chain dragging, and down the halls to Lady Ricinus’s rooms. The door was locked; he kicked it open and hacked her tiny desk in two.

A hand reamer tumbled out, along with a woven, green-metal glove and a pair of golden tongs. With these implements she had murdered Tali’s mother and grandmother, and taken their pearls. She had planned to kill Tali the same way and she had shown no remorse.

Don’t touch them. Turn around, walk to the front doors and ride out to face the enemy. Your death means Lyf’s defeat.

But though he fought with all the strength he possessed, Rix took up the fatal tools. He could not stop himself. The compulsion was strengthening with everything it forced him to do and he could not overcome it.

He stalked the empty halls, following the path Lyf mapped in his head, and across to the secret stairs that, worked by a lever, plunged five flights before corkscrewing down through the roof of the cellar to the black bench.

At the top of the stairs Rix stopped, fighting to summon a shred of defiance.

Go down. The voice was softer now. Lyf knew Rix was beaten.

The assumption was just enough to summon a wisp of resistance. Before the compulsion could deny him, Rix pulled the stair lever, pressed the enchanted blade against himself and threw himself head-first down the stairs. Even if the blade did not open him from belly to throat, he would surely break his neck before he struck bottom.

He hoped so. After a life etched in failure, death was all he had left.

But the blade twisted in his hands, turned away from him and, though on the endless plunge he struck every step with head or shoulder or knee or hip, Rix tumbled through the mist of the cellar and landed beside the bench, winded and battered and bruised all over, but otherwise unharmed.

Do it.

Rix had no resistance left. He picked up the bone reamer, the green-metal blood glove and the golden tongs, and looked around for Tali.