Helliconia Summer - Brian W. Aldiss [196]
The crimson eyes blinked once. The creature growled, ‘We kept you alive through the centuries when Freyr was sick. Much foolish. Now you Sons will all die. You strike away my chains, leave me go to die in tether.’
Laintal Ay gestured to the open grave. ‘Kill him,’ he ordered Goija Hin.
Myk put up no struggle. Goija Hin kicked the huge body into the depression and piled dirt about it with his boot. Then he stood among the tanglewood, facing Laintal Ay, moistening his lips and looking uneasy.
‘I knew you when you was a little boy, sir. I was good to you. Myself, I always said you should be Lord of Embruddock – you ask my mates if I didn’t.’
He made no attempt to defend himself with his sword. It fell from his hands and he went down on his knees, blubbering, bowing his hoary head.
‘Myk’s probably right,’ Laintal Ay said. ‘We’ve probably got the plague in us. We’re probably too late.’ Without another glance, he left Goija Hin where he was and strode back to the crowded city, angry with himself for not striking the fatal blow.
It was late when he entered his room. He stared round it without relaxing his black expression. Horizontal rays of Freyr-light lit the far corner, flaring up brightly, casting the rest of the room into unlikely shade.
He rinsed his face and hands in the basin, scooping up the cool water, letting it run over his brow, his eyelids, his cheeks, and drip from his jaw. He did it repeatedly, breathing deeply, feeling the heat leave him and the self-anger remain. As he smoothed his face, he noted with satisfaction that his hands had ceased to tremble.
The light in the corner slid to one wall and faded to a smouldering yellow, making a square no bigger than a box in which the world’s gold decayed. He went round the room, collecting a few items to take with him, scarcely giving a thought to the task.
There was a knock on the door. Oyre looked in. As if sensing immediately the tension in the room, she paused on the threshold.
‘Laintal Ay – where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you.’
‘There was something I had to do.’
She paused with her hand still on the latch, watching, breathing a sigh. With the light behind him, she could not decipher his expression through the thick dusk gathering in the room, but she caught the abruptness in his voice.
‘Is anything the matter, Laintal Ay?’
He stuffed his old hunter’s blanket into a pack, punching it down.
‘I’m leaving Oldorando.’
‘Leaving … ? Where are you going?’
‘Oh … let’s say I’m going to look for Aoz Roon.’ He spoke bitterly. ‘I’ve lost interest in – in everything here.’
‘Don’t be silly.’ She moved a step forward as she spoke, to see him better, thinking how large he seemed in the low-ceilinged room. ‘How will you seek him in the wilderness?’
He turned to face her, slinging the pack over one shoulder. ‘Do you think it’s sillier to seek him in the real world or to go down in pauk among the gossies to find him, as you do? You were always telling me I had to do something great. Nothing satisfied you … Well, now I’m off, to do or die. Isn’t that something great?’
She laughed feebly, and said, ‘I don’t want you to go. I want—’
‘I know what you want. You think Dathka is mature and I’m not. Well, to hell with that. I’ve had enough. I’m going, as I always longed to do. Try your luck with Dathka.’
‘I love you, Laintal Ay. Now you’re acting like Aoz Roon.’
He took hold of her. ‘Stop comparing me with other people. Perhaps you’re not as clever as I thought, or you’d know when you were hurting me. I love you too, but I’m going …’
She screamed. ‘Why are you so brutal?’
‘I’ve lived with brutes long enough. Stop asking stupid questions.’
He put his arms round her, dragging her close, and kissed her hard on the mouth, so that her lips were forced back and their teeth slid together.
‘I hope to be back,’ he said. He laughed sharply at the stupidity of his own remark. With a final glance, he left, slamming the door behind him, leaving her in the empty room. The gold had died to ashes. It was almost dark, though she saw points of fire in