Broken World Book Four - The Staff of Law (13 page)

“
Try to restore the first law.”

He frowned,
and for a moment their eyes locked, then he swung away, shoulders
hunched. He gazed at the window as if longing to flee, but turned
to face the staff.

Crayash
manifested in a roar of fire that made most of the spectators
cringe and beat at spectral flames, crying out in fear. Travain
gurgled and reached for the flames with chubby fingers. The
manifestation winked out, leaving many embarrassed people glancing
furtively at their neighbours as they regained their composure.

Chanter
approached the staff, stood over it and wrote fiery words in the
air, speaking them aloud at the same time. “Life and Death shall
never mingle.”

With a flick
of his fingers, he sent the burning blue words into the stone. They
settled at the top of the staff, overlaying the etched words, but
did not fit into the law’s lines. The blue fire dimmed, sparkled
and died. A collective sigh of disappointment and despair came from
the chosen, and Talsy’s heart twisted in anguish.

“
Try again!” she cried. “Your words didn’t fit into the words
on the staff. Use the language it’s written in.”

Many people
looked hopefully at the Mujar again, but he shook his head. “I
can’t do that. The laws are written in the gods’ language, and I
don’t speak it.”

Talsy leashed
her frustration and kept her composure when she longed weep. “Then
we must wait for the gods to restore the laws.” She turned to
address the assembly. “They will restore them, for why let the
world die when it can so easily be saved? All we have to do is
wait, but we still have hope.”

A few nodded
at her assertion, but there was no hope in their eyes as they filed
out. Chanter returned to the window to stare out, folding his
arms.

Talsy
approached him and touched his elbow. “I’m sorry.”

“
Sorry?”

“
Regret.”

“
You’ve broken your last regret already,” he said, “now you
offer me another?”

“
What did I do wrong?”

“
Obedience, remember? You made me do what I didn’t want to,
which I told you was wrong and futile.”

She sighed. “I
know. I was desperate. I still am.”

“
I don’t accept your regret.”

Talsy stared
at him, realisation dawning upon her like a sunrise of amazement.
“I’ve offended you! You’re angry!”

“
Yes.”

“
I thought Mujar didn’t get angry.”

He turned to
face her. “You don’t know Mujar, though you think you do. We carry
a terrible rage inside, which gnaws within us and tears us apart
when we’re tortured.”

“
I didn’t torture you!”

“
You forced me to do something against my will, asked for a
wish you knew I didn’t want to grant, but had to, for I have sworn
to grant your wishes. When you asked me to search for the staff, I
was merely reluctant, but this time I was very much against it. I
warned you, and you ignored me. You resorted to formality, to the
sacred words that bind Mujar to their honour. I could not break my
promise, but you broke yours. You’ve abused the bond between us,
and the power I gave you.”

“
You can deny my wishes. You did when I wished for a
child!”

Chanter shook
his head. “That threatened your life, therefore I could not grant
it, but this merely went against my own wishes.”

“
What does this mean? What are you going to do?”

“
Nothing.” His mouth twisted bitterly. “Mujar never do
anything. Isn’t that what you Lowmen say?”

“
How can I make it right?”

“
You can’t. You have destroyed the trust between us. I can no
longer rely on you not to wish for bad things.”

“
Don’t be angry, please. I only wanted to save the world, to
put back what Tyrander destroyed. Is it so bad to want
that?”

“
No.” He smiled and touched her cheek. “But your reasons are
selfish and your methods are wrong. You’ve changed. Gone is the
innocent, unselfish girl I knew. You want the world restored for
your son, and you’ll go to any lengths to achieve that. I’ve done
as you wished and made the staff whole. More than that I cannot do,
yet you would make me do the impossible, and grow angry when I
refuse. If there’s a way to restore the laws, this isn’t it. Once
you thought I was a god, now you order me like a
servant.”

Chanter swung
away as she opened her mouth to protest, and the rush of Ashmar
made her stagger back. The Mujar leapt into the air and transformed
into a sleek falcon that arrowed into the cold skies. Talsy rushed
to the window to stare after him, her eyes stinging with unshed
tears. Travain gurgled and waved chubby arms, smiling. Talsy
lowered her head and cuddled him, resting her cheek on his silken
white hair. A footstep made her turn as Kieran emerged from the
shadows.

She scowled.
“Why were you spying on us?”

He shook his
head. “I wasn’t spying; I just didn’t leave with the others. It
seems you’ve managed to do the impossible.”

Her composure
crumbled, and she rubbed her eyes. “He’s right, I did order him
around. I was wrong.”

“
Yeah, and you’ve changed, especially since Travain was born.
Just remember, without Chanter, he’d have killed you. I know you
think he’s perfect, and with him you don’t feel so reliant on
Chanter. I know you resent Chanter’s longing for freedom and the
fact that he doesn’t love you like a man should, but he’s not a
man, and nor, for that matter, is Travain a Trueman
baby.

“
You, on the other hand, are a Trueman girl, not a Mujar, and
you don’t truly understand him. No one does. What’s more, you’ve
allowed yourself to grow bitter because things haven’t worked out
the way you wanted.” Kieran sighed and wandered over to the window
to stare out.

Talsy glared
at him with a mixture of anger and misery, knowing that he was
right, but unwilling to admit it, even to herself.

Kieran went
on, “You’ve got to let Chanter go. You’ve got to accept that he’s
Mujar, and let him be what he is. Your ploy to burden him with the
responsibility of a child has failed, and that’s made you bitterer.
You mustn’t allow your bitterness to colour your feelings for
Chanter. If you do, you’ll grow to hate him, and neither of you
want that. Love him for what he is, and who he is. Love him like a
brother, a friend, but don’t be bitter because he can never be the
lover or husband you want.

“
I made that mistake with Dancer, and I’ve never truly been
able to get over it. I wanted him to be my protector and guide, a
second father who would look after me in the woods, because he had
all that power. But he didn’t, or couldn’t, and I resented him for
that. That’s what makes Truemen hate Mujar. You’re falling into the
same trap, the Mujar trap. Don’t you see it? The gods sent Mujar
amongst us to bring out the bad in us, and there was plenty to be
brought out. Jealousy, envy and resentment, which turned into
hate.”

The Prince
turned to her, and Talsy’s acrimony drained away at his soft words,
leaving behind immense sadness and self-loathing. She bowed her
head over Travain’s downy hair. “What have I done?”

“
Well, you’ve proven one thing that no one knew before,” he
said cheerfully, making her look up in confusion.

“
What?”

“
Mujar do get angry.” Kieran smiled. “I’ve never seen Chanter
cross before. It was quite an eye opener.”

His words
brought a reluctant smile from her. “He got cross with you when you
hurt the sea monster.”

“
True, but it was all over so fast, I barely had time to
register it. This time he really read you the riot act.”

She wiped her
eyes. “It’s not really funny. Do you think he’ll ever forgive
me?”

“
He already has. He wouldn’t stay mad at his First Chosen, his
little clan, would he?”

Chanter’s pet
name for her brought a surge of memories and the special love she
held so dear. Smiling, she shook her head. “I suppose not.” Travain
grizzled, and she sighed, glancing down at him. “Travain’s hungry,
I’d better find a wet nurse.”

Kieran turned
back to the window. “Get him a cow.”

“
I may have to soon,” she flung over her should as she left,
taking the baby down to the kitchen, where the wet nurses usually
spent their time helping Sheera with the cooking and
cleaning.

Kieran turned
to stare at the Staff of Law, dead and cold on the velvet, the
source of so much strife, and the only redemption for this dying
world. How ironic, he thought, that this simple piece of stone was
the only thing that could prevent the downfall of the world and
restore it, and the most powerful being in the world, the Mujar,
could not restore the staff’s power. What careful god planning had
gone into this strange scenario, as if to prove their ultimate
power? Was Chanter, he wondered, the last of his kind? The Mujar
who had been thrown into the Pits were beyond help now, not only
trapped by surely buried under the moving earth. Surely if there
were others abroad, they would have come to this sanctuary by now,
or Chanter would have found them. Would the gods intervene as Talsy
hoped?

Shaking his
head, he left, closed the door behind him and sealed the staff in
its prison.

Over the next
few weeks, Talsy did everything she could think of to draw the
gods’ attention to the restored staff. She filled the room in which
the Staff of Law lay with fresh flowers every day, sewed velvet
curtains for it and acquired finely woven rugs. She asked two
carpenters to build a wooden cradle for it, and some strapping
helpers lifted the staff into its new, velvet-lined bed, raising
its head four feet from the ground, its foot resting on the floor.
Finally she persuaded an Aggapae artist to paint a massive mural on
the wall behind the staff. It depicted a woman with sultry eyes and
a gentle smile, while the man was a heroic bronzed giant with Mujar
features and an expression of benevolent grace. These were Marrana,
Goddess of Death, and Antanar, God of Life, she assured
everyone.

Chanter came
and went as usual, stayed for a few days before he left again on
his wanderings, saying little of where he had been or what he had
seen. When Talsy showed him the mural, he gazed at it for a long
time, studying it minutely while she held her breath, then turned
to her with a solemn smile just before she ran out of air.

“
What makes you think that Marrana and Antanar look like
that?”

Her eyes
widened, and she glanced anxiously at the painting. “What do they
look like?”

“
I don’t know. I saw Marrana once, but not well. She was veiled
by her mists, and it seemed to me that she had many faces. Antanar
I’ve never seen. He doesn’t show himself, yet he is in every flower
that blooms, every fawn that’s born. He’s Life, in all its beauty
and savagery. Marrana is Death, and her aspect would be sadder, for
although death is not truly sad, it is for those left behind, and
it’s for them that she mourns. Those who die will be born again,
but they will never know the loved ones they left behind
again.”

“
You think I should change it?”

He shook his
head. “No, it’s fine. I’m sure they would be flattered, for you’ve
certainly made them beautiful.”

“
They’re gods, they must be beautiful.”

“
And Trueman,” he teased, as if expecting her to be horrified
at this assumption as well, but this time she had the answer, and
smiled.

“
To us they would be, as to you they would be Mujar, and to a
deer they would be deer and a horse -”

He chuckled.
“That’s right. They are all things to everyone.”

She grinned at
his mirth, delighted by his easy friendliness, which she had feared
lost to her. “Do you forgive me?” The question burst from her, and
she immediately wished it unasked, afraid to destroy the happy
mood.

He continued
to smile. “I forgave you the moment you did it, but forgetting is
another matter.”

“
I’ll never do anything like that again, I swear.”

“
We’ll see.” He clasped her shoulder. “I want to believe you,
and I hope it’s true.” He glanced at the staff. “Don’t lose faith.
It’s what has kept you going through all of this. It’s what made
you so determined to restore the staff. Now you can do no more,
just wait. Perhaps the gods won’t answer you, but maybe they will.
You need hope to cling to. Without it your life here would become
unbearable, pointless. I know I’ve always told you the laws can’t
be restored, and I still don’t believe they can, but you do, and
your belief has already done more than I had thought possible.
Don’t give up now.”

Her eyes
stung. “I won’t.”

Chapter Six

Talsy stood on
the windy parapet and stared out across the valley, letting the
warm summer breeze ruffle her hair. Above her, the long winding
banners of blue silk rustled in the breeze, there to give hope to
the people who dwelt in the valley. They were Mujar blue, one
emblazoned with a golden staff, another with the Mujar mark, the
third with Kieran’s princely symbol, a black sword spangled with
stars. These were the three things that kept order and peace in the
valley: the hope of the Staff of Law, the protection of the Mujar,
and the authority of the Prince. The people survived for them,
worked and kept the peace, obeyed the laws and were grateful for
their lives. Kieran’s authority relied upon the Starsword, whose
powers ensured that no one would defy an order he gave, though he
rarely had to lay down the law. Most of the time, the sword rested
in an ornate bracket upon the wall of his bare room, taken down to
be dusted occasionally.