Clive Barker - Weave World

The presence of the interlopers had been noted by a few of the assembly, but the lead players raged on, deaf to each other's arguments.

‘What's the name of the man in the middle?' Suzanna asked Jerichau.

That's Tung,' said Jerichau.

‘Thank you.'

Without another word Suzanna stepped towards the debaters.

‘Mr Tung,' she said.

The man looked towards her, and the fretfulness on his face turned to panic.

‘Who are you?' he demanded to know.

‘Suzanna Parrish.'

The name was enough to hush the argument instantly. Those faces which were not already turned in Suzanna's direction were now.

‘A Cuckoo!' the old man said. ‘In Capra's House!'

‘Shut up,' said Tung.

‘You're the one,' said the negress. ‘You!'

‘Yes?'

‘Do you know what you ‘ve done?'

The remark ignited a fresh outburst, but this time it wasn't confined to those at the centre of the room. Everybody was yelling.

Tung, whose calls for control went unheard, pulled a chair up, stood on it, and yelled:

‘Silence!'

The ploy worked; the din died down. Tung was touchingly pleased with himself.

‘Ha,' he said, with a little pout of self-satisfaction. ‘I think that's a little better. Now...' he turned to the old man. ‘You have an objection, Messimeris?'

‘Indeed I do,' came the reply. He jabbed an arthritic finger in Suzanna's direction: ‘She's trespassing. I demand she be removed from this chamber.'

Tung was about to reply, but Yolande was there before him.

This is no time for constitutional niceties,' she said. ‘Whether we like it or not, we're awake.'

She looked at Suzanna.

‘And she's responsible.'

‘Well I'm not staying in the same room as a Cuckoo,' said Messimeris, contempt for Suzanna oozing from his every word. ‘Not after all they've done to us.' He looked at his red-faced companion. ‘Are you coming, Delphi?'

‘I am indeed,' he replied.

‘Wait,' said Suzanna. ‘I don't want to break any rules -'

‘You already have.' said Yolande, ‘and the walls are still standing.'

‘For how long?' said the negress.

‘Capra's House is a sacred place.' Messimeris murmured. It was clear that this was no sham: he was genuinely offended by Suzanna's presence.

‘I understand that.' said Suzanna. ‘And I respect it. But I feel responsible-'

‘And so you are.' said Delphi, working himself up into a fresh lather. ‘But that's little comfort now, is it? We're awake, damn you. And we're lost.'

‘I know.' said Suzanna. ‘What you say's right.'

This rather deflated him: he'd been expecting argument.

‘You agree?' he said.

‘Of course I agree. We're all vulnerable at the moment.'

‘At least we can fend for ourselves now we're awake.' Yolande argued. ‘Instead of just lying there.'

‘We had the Custodians.' said Delphi. ‘What happened to them?'

‘They're dead.' Suzanna replied.

‘All of them?'

‘What does she know?' Messimeris commented. ‘Don't listen to her.'

‘My grandmother was Mimi Laschenski.' said Suzanna.

For the first time since she'd entered the fray Messimeris looked her straight in the eye. He was no stranger to unhappi-ness, she thought; it was there in abundance now.

‘So?' he said.

‘And she was murdered.' Suzanna went on, returning his stare, ‘by one of your people.'

‘Never!' said Messimeris, without a trace of doubt.

‘Who?' said Yolande.

‘Immacolata.'

‘Not ours!' Messimeris protested. ‘Not one of ours.'

‘Well she's certainly no Cuckoo!' Suzanna retorted, her patience beginning to wear thin. She took a step towards Messimeris, who took a firmer grip of Delphi's arm, as if he might use his colleague as a shield should push come to shove.

‘Every one of us is in danger.' she said, ‘and if you don't see that then all your sacred places - not just Capra's House, all of them - they'll be wiped away. All right, you've got reason not to trust me. But at least give me a hearing.'

The room had fallen pin-drop quiet.

Tell us what you know.' said Tung.

‘Not all that much,' Suzanna admitted. ‘But I know you've got enemies here in the Fugue, and God knows how many more outside.'

‘What do you suggest we do about it?' said a new voice, from somewhere in Delphi's faction.

‘We fight.' said Yolande.

‘You'll lose.' Suzanna replied.

The other woman's fine features grew tight. ‘Defeatism from you too?' she said.

‘It's the truth. You've got no defences against the Kingdom.'

‘We have the raptures.' said Yolande.

‘Do you want to make weapons of your magic?' Suzanna replied. ‘Like Immacolata? If you do that, you may as well call yourself Cuckoos.'

This argument won some murmurs of assent from the assembly; and sour stares from Yolande.

‘So we have to re-weave.' said Messimeris, with some satisfaction. ‘Which is what I've been saying from the outset.'

‘I agree.' said Suzanna.

At this, the room erupted afresh, Yolande's voice rising above the din: ‘No more sleep!' she said. ‘I will not sleep!'

Then you'll all be wiped out.' Suzanna yelled back.

The din subsided a little.

This is a cruel century.' said Suzanna.

‘So was the last.' somebody commented. ‘And the one before that!'

‘We can't hide forever,' said Yolande, appealing to the room. Her call received considerable support, despite Suzanna's intervention. And indeed it was difficult not to sympathize with her case. After so much sleep, the idea of consigning themselves to the dreamless bed of the Weave could not be attractive.

‘I'm not saying you should stay in the carpet for long.' said Suzanna. ‘Just until a safe place can be -'

‘I've heard all of this before,' Yolande broke in. ‘We'll wait, we said, we'll keep our heads low ‘til the storm blows over.'

There are storms and storms.' said a man somewhere at the back of the crowd. His voice penetrated the clamour with ease, though it was scarcely more than a whisper. This in itself was enough to make the argument die down.

Suzanna looked in the direction of the sound, though she could not yet see the speaker. It came again:

‘If the Kingdom destroys you ...' the voice said, ‘.... then all my Mimi's pain was for nothing ...'

The Councillors were stepping aside as the speaker moved through them towards the centre of the room. He came into view. It took Suzanna several seconds to realize that she'd seen this face before, and another beat to remember where: in the portrait on Mimi's bedroom wall. But the faded photograph had failed to convey more than a hint of the man's presence; or indeed of his physical beauty. It wasn't difficult, seeing the way his eyes flickered, and his close-cropped hair flattered the curve of his skull, to understand why Mimi had slept beneath his gaze all her lonely life. This was the man she'd loved. This was -

‘Romo.' he said, addressing Suzanna. ‘Your grandmother's first husband.'

How had he known, sleeping in the Weave, that Mimi had taken a human husband? Had the air told him that tonight?

‘What do you want here?' said Tung. ‘This isn't a public thoroughfare.'

‘I want to speak on behalf of my wife. I knew her heart better than any of you.'

‘That was years ago, Romo. Another life.'

Romo nodded.

‘Yes ...' he said. ‘It's gone, I know. So's she. All the more reason I speak for her.'

Nobody made any attempt to silence him.

‘She died in the Kingdom.' he said, ‘to keep us from harm.

She died without trying to wake us. Why was that? She had ev^ry reason to want the unweaving. To be relieved of her duties; and be back with me.'

‘Not necessarily -' Messimeris said.