Kushiel's Avatar - Jacqueline Carey [326]
"Yes." I swallowed. "Hyacinthe, I have the key."
Fear and hope leapt in his too-dark eyes and the boy I'd loved looked out of the face of the Master of the Straits. He bowed his head to hide it, pressing his fingers to his temples.
"Elder Brother!" Quintilius Rousse made his way to the railing, addressing him with the traditional title sailors accorded the Master of the Straits. "I'm here in the name of her majesty Queen Ysandre de la Courcel, Tsingano. Have you grown too proud to let old friends ashore? We're on the Queen's business, breaking this curse of yours."
"My lord Admiral." Hyacinthe lifted his head, mouth twisting in a smile. "Forgive my manners. It is a pleasure to see you once more. My lady . . . my lady Sibeal." He looked at her for a moment, and what was exchanged in that glance, I could not say. "And you, Cassiline."
"Tsingano." Joscelin bowed, arms crossed. "Tsingan kralis."
Hyacinthe went still, then, seeing Kristof. "Why have you brought him here?"
"The Tsingani await your return, Prince of Travellers," I said to him. "Kristof, Oszkar's son is here on their behalf. Eleazar ben Enokh is here for the Yeshuites, who seek the Name of God. Will you let us ashore? “
He paused, then shook his head, as I had known he would. "I cannot, Phèdre. I dare not." His voice softened. "It would invoke the geis."
"And we will break it," I said steadily. "That's why we've come."
"No." His face was set and hard. "It cannot be."
"Then you will have to cross to us," I said.
Something stirred in the depths of his eyes. "You saw what happened before."
I nodded. "Rahab, or an invocation of him. Hyacinthe, it must be. Rahab must manifest to be banished. I will try to summon him if you will try to cross. Will you dare that much?"
His smile was edged with bitterness. "I would risk any part of myself to break this curse. It is innocent blood I will not endanger. Summon him, if you think you can."
"So be it." I turned to Imriel, and bade him fetch my writing case from the stateroom. Everyone aboard the ship was quiet as he did, waiting and watching.
Hyacinthe frowned, perplexed, dark irises waxing and waning. "Melisande's son?"
"Ours, now." I glanced at Joscelin, who smiled quietly. Imriel returned with the waxed leather case that contained parchment, pens and ink. Ti-Philippe unlashed an empty water-barrel and rolled it over unasked, making a writing surface. I opened the case and tested the point of a quill, emptying my mind of aught else. Uncorking the inkwell and dipping the pen, I wrote upon a virgin piece of parchment, forming the acrostic square I'd studied in Eleazar's banned treatise.
RAHAB ABARA HABAH ARABA BAHAR
It was done, and the name of Rahab bounded the cruciform palindrome of Habah—Hu Habah, He-Who-Shall-Come, one of the secret names of the Mashiach. I laid down the quill with trembling fingers and recorked the ink, bowing to the four corners of the globe, acknowledging the One God's dominion. "Rahab do I summon," I cried, giving the Habiru incantation. "As the Hidden Name of the Mashiach does inhabit and summon thee, Rahab who is Lord of the Deep, come thouforth, and answer me, as all spirits are subject unto Yeshua ben Yosef, that every spirit of the firmament and of the ether, upon the earth and under the earth, on dry land or in the water, of whirling air or of rushing fire may be obedient unto the will of Adonai." Leaning over the railing, I let the parchment flutter onto the waters. "Rahab, I summon thee!"
In the depths of the harbor, something stirred. The ship trembled.
"Now, Tsingano!" Joscelin shouted.
He tried, Hyacinthe did; tried, as he had before. Trusting, haunted, he took a step onto the now-churning waters, fearless of the depths. And as it had before, the world shifted. A maelstrom opened, and something moved within it, something bright and shining and terrible. Squinting my eyes, I saw water surge like a vast wing, green and foam-edged, a roiling eye. I opened my mouth, and the Name of God was there, on my tongue.