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altered its shape to keep her from falling again. He was still speaking
to her in the strange language that sounded like a storm trying hard to
be gentle. Sia's eyes were closed, but her chuckle was as tenderly
malicious as always. She said, "For what it is worth, my dearest Ben,
my best Ben, you are the only human who ever learned even that much of
my talk. Speak it to yourself sometimes, just to remember me." Ben put
her fingers to his mouth and whispered against them.
Farrell asked, "What happened to Nicholas Bonner? After what he
tried to do, after everything, you were fighting that bubble, those
crystals for him."
Still with her eyes closed, she said, "The crystals of time. I
did a foolish thing. I meant to punish that girl in the way that _we_
punish, that _we_ have to punish such pride. I meant to strip her of
every memory except that she had offended the gods and must do penance
forever." When she looked at Farrell, he saw the huge stone woman with
the dog's head once again, and she smiled, nodding slightly. "But time
is not mine to control," she said, "only to tease a little. Time is
everyone's enemy, especially of the gods. My son got in time's way,
that is all, like any child running into the street after a ball. No
more to it than that, really."
"But you went after him," Farrell persisted. "You tried to bring
him back, you got in the way too."
Sia rested her head on Ben's hand, letting her eyes sag shut
again. "And got run over for my vanity," she answered in a voice too
weary even for impatience. "There was never any hope, not from the
moment he touched those crystals. But he is my son, mine to deal with,
mine to banish, and what is between us is between us alone. So I did
what I could do, but he will never come back anymore. Time has hold of
him at last."
The windows of the room were going out as Farrell watched them,
and the familiar white nothingness was stirring beyond. Sia said, "You
must go now, all of you, quickly. I will hold the way clear for you as
long as I can."
Ben said, "Sia, I am not going." She answered him in the other
language, and he turned away and stood staring at the fading walls.
Sia turned her head to find Julie in the dimness. She said, "You
are very brave and merciful. Kannon will always come to you in your
need." Aiffe stood quietly in Julie's grasp, her eyes terribly
tranquil, frowning as if at a pointless question. Only her mouth
shivered just a bit--a fishing line taken and run out by something far
too massive and wild for its strength.
Julie said, "I don't want her. I don't want the gods ever to help
me. I hate the gods."
Sia nodded seriously, even approvingly. "Of course, that is only
sensible. _We_ are a terrible lot, _we_ have no fairness, no honor, no
sense of proportion. How could you not hate _us_?" Julie looked away in
her turn, and Sia grinned then, momentarily youthful with mockery. "But
_we_ do have charm, and most of _us_ are very good social dancers."
Julie did not answer her.
"And sometimes _we_ grant wishes that people never know they have
made," the old woman went on. She took a ring from her finger and held
it out to Farrell. It was gold, the color of new bread, fashioned in
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the shape of a thick, soft, drowsily coiled serpent with a suggestion
of a woman's breasts. The one visible eye was long and empty, a slash
of a darkness that Farrell had seen before. Sia said, "It is not magic,
it has absolutely no useful powers. It will do nothing at all for you
but remind you of me."
"Thank you," Farrell said. He put the golden snake carefully on
his left forefinger, where it fitted perfectly. Sia spoke to Ben a
second time in her own tongue, but he kept his back turned to her. She
beckoned to Aiffe, who stumbled when Julie let her go, but then came
forward obediently. Sia took the empty, fearless face between her
hands.
"Well," she said, "Let's see. You have conspired against me with
my son, you have tried twice to destroy me, and the second time you had
visions of stealing my immortality, which is probably the worst kind of
blasphemy, when I think about it. In addition to that, you have used
your beautiful little gift for nothing but stupid nastiness. You have
caused one man's death, another's madness and possession, and you have
done worse damage that you do not even know about to people you dragged
back and forth across time for the sake of your pride, your play, your
revenge. And I am expected to pardon you for no reason but to show off
to a friend whose idea of interceding is to tell me that she hates the
gods." She began to laugh again, quietly and truly helpless with mortal
amusement. "What have I come to, indeed, for my last act in this
world?"
Briseis trembled against Farrell's leg. When he turned, he saw
that the corner where she had been cowering no longer existed. The door
was still visible, but white dissolution prowled on the other side.
Sia's voice seemed to be coming more and more from the same void. "This
house is falling, and you have no business here. I cannot protect you--
if you die before you get out, you really die. Go, go on, this minute."
Julie started to speak, but Sia would not let her. "The girl
stays with me, I will do what I can do. What are you waiting for, good-
bye kisses? I am done with hellos and good-byes, done with this place,
done with you. Get out of my house now!"
Each of them looked back once. Julie said later that she heard [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]