Chapter sixty-four

Amansk

 

The journey had been speedy but exceptionally stressful. Potentilla had been unable to keep her worries to herself and by the time they reached the staging post on the outskirts of Amansk Viola had had enough.  Two days in a cramped coach would have been difficult anyway. She reluctantly resorted to threats.

‘Either you keep this to yourself Lieutenant or one of you stays here’

Potentilla’s face dropped with the force of a sack full of bricks. Dom looked like he wasn’t sure if he cared.

‘Vee…don’t be horrible…’ moaned Potentilla, but all she got back was a glare.

Kath muttered ‘I wish he’d kept his mouth shout about his bloody princess, I really do…’

Hardacre had said almost nothing during the journey. When they had sked him if he was okay he had simply said that he was “a little preoccupied with a number of issues” and that was all that they got out of him. 

They had stepped out of the coach to ‘stretch their legs’. The coachman and his postilion seemed reluctant to hurry so they had a few minutes stomping about in the cold lakeside air.  Kath was admiring the purple coach. Dom was nearby, stomping to keep warm.

‘How did your gods-father get hold of one of these brand new fancy Imperial post coaches?’ she asked

Dom shrugged.

‘He knows everyone and…well…’ he hesitated, ‘...he does have a lot of money…’

‘What does he do?’ asked Kath

Dom smiled

‘I have no idea, but he once told me that I shouldn’t “underestimate the value of compound interest accumulated during a suitably long life”’

‘How old is he, then?’ she asked, in all innocence.

Dom was taken aback, but there seemed to be no reason not to tell her.  

‘Oh, he’s a hybrid’ his voice dropped to a whisper, ‘like me…’

He could hear Kath’s embarrassment. It was painful for both of them.

‘Oh – I’d forgotten that… about the hybrid thing’

Dom shook his head. The several lanterns set up around the coach lit him in multiple directions, so it looked like several Dom’s all moving at once. He wished there really were more of him – it might make life easier.

‘So do I sometimes…’ Most of the time he thought, thank the gods.

Kath ploughed on.

‘So, is he hundreds of years old?’

The shadow Doms shrugged.

‘As old as the oldest human, he says; he thinks he is one of the first hybrids…’

‘No!’ hissed Kath, ‘that’s impossible…’

‘He remembers the first Emperor; back when all humans were slaves…’

‘Slaves?’

‘That’s what he said’

‘But who were they slaves of? The gods?’

Dom couldn’t help but snigger quietly

‘Elves, Kath, they were made by the elves to be their slaves – surely you knew that… I thought you were some sort of historian…’

Kath frowned and shook her head.

‘Yes – but not an ancient one…. And I specialise in objects, not historical facts’

They both looked over at their elven friends. Dom thought with a shiver about a time when he would have been unable to say “no” to his elven lover. But that was an age ago.

‘No wonder there were so many rebellions” muttered Kath

Dom turned away, eager to respond to a call of nature, but Kath wasn’t letting him go so easily.

‘Why didn’t you mention Princess Lily before?’ she asked softly

Dom waited a moment before replying.

‘It didn’t seem important; we were never properly “together”’

Kath wasn’t convinced

‘But why not just tell Tillie that?’

Dom felt his patience, which could be stretched a long way normally, begin to crack.

‘Because it’s none of her business what I did years ago in another life’

There was a moment of stillness. Dom shook his head in frustration.

 ‘Why does it worry you, anyway, Kath?’

‘For entirely selfish reasons’

‘What?’

‘It’s fine for you two – you take your time; you can spend decades sorting this out, but I don’t want to be around it all my life… I don’t want to go to my grave thinking I wonder if he’ll ever get round to telling her…’

‘Telling her what?’

‘That you don’t love her and that you never will’

Dom sagged – he knew this was true, but he couldn’t bring himself to admit it to anyone else.

‘What shall I do?  Don’t want to hurt her – not after everything we’ve been through’

‘Well, if you can’t tell her then stay here. Then she’ll be forced to come with us – maybe she’ll get the message… At the moment neither of you are any use to us, and no-one knows what lies ahead…’

‘I’m sorry – I can’t bring myself to break it off just yet…’

‘Then you’ll have to find a way to leave us. We have to get on with what we need to do without these distractions’

Kath left him and went back to the coach. Around them the coachmen were getting ready to leave.

 

A few minutes later the horses had been changed and they were ready to go. To Viola’s intense frustration, however, there was still a problem. Dom insisted on talking to her, alone. The lanterns had all been stowed so they were forced to walk into a patch of darkness and whisper.

‘Perhaps I should stay here’ suggested Dom

Viola had no idea if this was a good idea or not.  She scowled, but it was too dark for Dom to see her.

‘I wasn’t being entirely serious’

‘Well, all I’m doing is reducing the efficiency of your impetuous number two. I’m not much good for anything else…’

Viola was surprised to hear a note of self-pity in Dom’s voice.

‘You saved our lives…’

‘I’m an effective fire break, I’ll give you that’

‘You’re part of the team’

‘The least useful part…’

Viola wished that she could see his face. Was he fishing for compliments or genuinely undergoing some crisis of self-doubt? She assumed the latter.  She had no time for this.  There was no time for delay. Her thoughts spilled unbidden out of her.  

‘Well, if that’s the way you feel then perhaps you’d better stay here’

‘You only needed my trace, anyway. If you’d been able to then you would have blinked straight to Ortia’

Viola was well aware that this conversation was the result of three days cramped in a coach, but she didn’t seem to be able to control her annoyance.

‘If you really think you have nothing to offer then we’re better off without you. It’s not my job to provide constant reassurance. You know what happened in Klethropolis, isn’t that enough to show you how useful you are’

‘I’m not sure – perhaps I’m permanently damaged’

Viola had a sudden image of Ortia in flames and Marthian, Aurelian and Rem being dragged off to who knows where. There wasn’t time for this.

‘If you are damaged’ she said, quite coldly, ‘then you should probably stay’

There was a light behind them. Viola tuned to see Potentilla standing listening, a torch in her hand. She looked small and freezing cold. This is no place for a desert elf thought Viola. 

‘You must come, darling’ Potentilla said, ‘I need you’

Dom shook his head.

‘I don’t think I should go…’

‘Why ever not?’

‘I thought I was ready again, but maybe I’m not…’

‘Of course you are – and Vee needs us…’

Viola wondered about this – do I? I don’t even know what I’m meant to be doing.

‘We need to hurry…’ she whispered

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Potentilla of Dom, clutching at his arm.

Viola had had enough.

‘Make up your mind quickly’ she growled and picked her way back to the coach, now illuminated only at the front and in the interior.  She climbed back inside. Neither of her two friends said anything. Hardacre sat stone still while Kath fretted, constantly leaning over and peeking out of the window.

 

Viola waited ten minutes and then scrambled out of the coach again, clutching a lantern. It was pitch black and they were nowhere to be seen.

‘Tillie, Dom’ shouted Viola, waving the lantern up and down as if as a wild signal.

There was no reply. She shook her head; maybe this was for the best. In any case there wasn’t time to search for them and get them back. At least they’d be out of danger.

She walked back to the coach and clambered inside. Her two companions stared at her, but she just shook her head. Without any further hesitation, she banged her hand on the side of the coach.

‘Ride on’ she commanded. They hurried off down between the mountains back to her home.  The rocky coaching house where they had changed horses now stood dark and cold, as if no-one had even been there. The wind blew up and brought with it a flurry of snow.