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Katherine
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I don't know what Camden is on about. When we leave Cade's cell, instead of going upstairs to the Yard or possibly to the offices, he takes me by the hand and drags me further into the dungeons. Why? This will just take us over to-
I stop, jerking my hand back. Camden's grip is solid, as if my wrist is Geillg'a's hilt. He looks over his glasses at me in wordless query.
"Why?" It sums everything up rather nicely. Why this way? Why, when I've already done anything that can be done, and there's nothing left to do?
He looks down, brow creasing as he thinks. Then he looks back up at me. "It's what Elricht would do." His words sound a bit unsure - he's speaking in Radian again. Then he turns and keeps walking, and I decide it's more rational to follow along than lose my wrist or lop off his hand. Elric always could see the future in ways most Poets train years to get close to, Camden included.
We stop in front of Ebrellin-i's cell. Camden drags up two chairs before I have a chance to say anything. The only natural thing is to plop down and sit. I look over to watch my father shiver under the blankets just like he did earlier, and then Camden reaches over and whacks my arm.
"Ow!" I turn and glare at him.
He just grins. "Ye need a distraction. I've some things to talk about, at any rate. And eventually, I'm sure the regent there will as well." He sounds pretty cheerful about that.
"I didn't think, by your experiences and position, that you'd like the Jhe o'Audiva Rocale."
He snorts. "Well, it's nothing personal, right? I like him well enough. He's polite when he's in his own head, or so I've seen. Rather pleasant, and he made Ethrain Jaxhelshon shovel horse manure. All admirable qualities in a man."
I look at him warily.
He tries to grin and keep aloof under my scrutiny, but it breaks down quickly enough. His face shifts to something more serious. "Ebrellin-i knows more than a few things about what happened to my brother, Katherine. I'd like to take Cade's testimony with a grain of salt, of course - I believe it would be best to test it against what Ebrellin-i has to say." He turns towards the cell. "Of course, all that is entirely dependent on him being able to talk. You say that it's a waiting game, but still...when Poets witness things, they happen faster. As Jhe h'Logos is so fond of saying, it is the exact opposite of a watched teakettle never boiling. I just feel it's important for us to be here right now, that's all. A hunch, like Elricht always has. It certainly couldn't hurt to wait here while we compare our notes, right?"
I mull that one over. If a breakthrough actually happened in here...well, I certainly see it being worth the time. I'm oddly more comfortable being here while there's another person with me, even though I'm fully capable of being the Advocate alone. "Alright. I can agree with that. I suppose you had something in mind to discuss?"
His eyes flash. "Indeed. Tell me, have you heard any of Lyric's testimony? Or read that which was written?"
I shake my head. "I haven't read anything, but I was there for his Trial. He was pardoned by the animism, in case you were wondering." By Camden's face, he wasn't very worried, nor surprised that Lyric went to Trial at all. "I've also heard a few things from him, here and there, but you know how it is at testimonies. Crazy, especially for those defending themselves. What is it that you know?" I can go back through the Judge's recall of things well enough, but there really is something to be said for perspective, or just for the knowing twinkle in Camden's eyes right now.
"I only know half of his story, really, but he wrote it very clearly in his journal. A classic example of a budding Poet. He was very sympathetic towards Ebrellin-i. He'd fallen in love with the ruler, just as Jhe Fayegeaux accounted that many Poets did with Ebrellin-i. Of course, Jhe o'Audiva Rocale didn't know what he had. He even took Lyric as a consort, and put a good store of trust in him. By all accounts, we have a good amount of testimony in Lyric, if you want someone to ask questions of."
I nod. "I see. Care to share anything specific?"
"No, but I thought I'd put that out there for you to do. This isn't my work. I'm just here to help you, because I feel that I should. No, the real thing I wanted to share was that Ebrellin-i's other daughter, Rocsui, said many things that did corroborate with what we've learned from Jhe Cade. Tell me, did you know just how set against the rest of the Xaillyndesse family your Father was?"
I frown. "Yes. There were few times when I was ever allowed to visit them, or they me. It's a little hard to remember, since I was quite young during some of those times. He was also...very adept at acting as if nothing was wrong during my visits. It's a little hard to look back on it all with an objective eye. Did I not notice his condition because of my youth, because of my closeness to him, or because he simply hid it so well?" I can't keep myself from looking into the cell. Father's shaking harder, and a sheet's fallen off of him, exposing his arm and the dark marks flowing across it. By gods and spirits, he's gotten worse. They're thicker now, and they're warping--
"It could likely be any of those. By all accounts, though, it seems unlikely now that he was a willing participant in many of his crimes, wouldn't you say?" Camden's voice distracts me from the cell. What was I thinking about? Oh well, Camden's got good ideas tonight, I'll keep paying attention to him. He gestures for me to keep watching Father, though. "Do you want to know just how to tell if someone's been conditioned, Advocate?"
"I know of a few ways, but I imagine you'd like to show me regardless." Father's writhing in his bed now, the marks flowing over him as if they're writing on him. I can make out characters every now and then, but I try not to read them. Those of us that can read Nulspeak, those very few of us, are trained not to read it when we see it unless we absolutely must read it. Reading it activates it - often destroying the reader in the process.
"Aye." I hear Camden rise. There's the jingle of metal links spreading across the floor as Geillg'a is unsheathed. Then the song of metal chiming as the whip soars through the air at Camden's side, and finally a uniquely leather POP as Camden cracks the whip. I expect my Father to jump, or to cower.
Instead, his body goes limp and still, and he quiets. It takes the farthest reach of all my senses just to verify that he is still breathing. The breaths are quiet, long, and tense. His eyes are fixed, staring out at a point of the wall that he happened to be looking at when the whip was cracked. They've lost any focus they had left. Ebrellin-i does not dare blink or make the tiniest movement.
That, dear Katherine, is a man who has been trained to stay quiet or know death. It's not the whip he fears. The whip was the warning, or the order. The pain he feels from the marks is also not what he fears. That's a separate thing entirely. Do you think Nul would need a whip to train his pets? Or is that something that Thelea would rather do?
The questions make me shake, make me even want to throw up, but I repress both urges. Thelea beats her servants, and she has many pets. I'm willing to bet that Ebrellin-i learned to use the whip because of her. Nul would not need it. I think about it. He has the marks of Nul's ownership, but Thelea's training. Nul destroys memories and rules and controls through oblivion. Ebrellin-i's been trained like an animal would be. I wince at the irony of it. Father did love his pets, but they were trained very well.
Aye. Enough of an indication, I think, that Cade speaks the truth in at least that case. Do you think, then, that Ebrellin-i can tell us of the Poets he's kidnapped? Or has that been made into oblivion as well?
I shake my head. The memories may have been made Nul, but they can be regained. He has to fight for them, though. That's the most difficult part of my job - I can't do this for him. Father's hands are beginning to twitch again, the eye on the back of one warping and glaring at me. Camden puts his hand on my shoulder, keeping me from getting drawn in again.
You don't have to do this for him, but ye have to watch it for it to happen, I wager.
Watch what? Father's body curls and he closes his eyes. He cries out, then huddles up, then claws at his pillow. His entire body bends backwards, as if someone's yanking him back by the hair. Slowly, he uncurls, as if he's pulling against some unseen force. His hands dart up to his neck, yanking at a collar that isn't visible, but telling by where his hands are positioned it's very thick. Finally his hands dart down, scrabbling at an unseen force. Camden twitches his whip just as my fingers curl around the hilts of my blades.
Father's hand then swipes down across the back of his other hand, sharp nails raking across the inky eye there, drawing his own blood. I see black seep out of the wound as well as red. Most importantly, I see the eye disappear. Ebrellin-i fought for enough control to put it out himself.
Father's body relaxes into the couch, going slack. His eyes stare up at the ceiling. They have a bit more focus to them now than they did before. In a moment, they close, and his breathing turns regular.
I imagine a bit o' sleep will do him best of all. If those marks can't hurt him like that, he should be able to do the important work himself.
I nod. Camden, did you do that?
Nay. I only came here to watch it. Nul's trick isn't to make something not happen - it's to make people not notice when it happens, so they forget it. Then it's like it never happened at all, and so it didn't. I felt we needed to be here, and it seems I was correct. Tell me if I'm needed here again. The Advocate's business is closely tied in with the Peacekeeper's, after all. If you fail, I get a war I don't necessarily want to fight, but will have to win.
I smile. Fine. We'll make it a date. Come on, it's been a long day and there's still more to do during it.
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