Stan Nicholls - Quicksilver Zenith

For the poor, magic was the balm that soothed their misery. In side streets and dingy turnings, unwashed children made do with cheap clown glamours that flickered and slurred through their performances. Or tumbling acrobats in washed-out colours that faded in and out of focus. The youngsters’ gaunt elders, dressed in rags, wrung subsistence out of begging. They used rudimentary spells, counterfeit or stolen, to materialise basic musical instruments. Glamoured pipes and fiddles, suspended in empty air, tooted and scraped simple melodies. Passersby flung the odd coin into the paupers’ upturned caps.

There were glamour beggars too, collecting for benevolent leagues that eased poverty, or affected to. These glamours, in clean rags and with scrubbed, smiling faces, were idealised versions of their human counterparts. Consequently their caps overflowed while the real poor were ignored.

Everywhere there were glittering illusions and cunning phantasms to deceive the senses. New glamours were constantly appearing, while others, expired or dismissed, were snuffed out.

Another day of infinitely malleable reality, and it wasn’t mid-morning yet.

Serrah and Tanalvah took it all for granted. They were much more concerned with the level of security on the streets. Watch patrols and militia mingled with the crowds, as was to be expected, but in recent days their numbers had greatly increased. And now there were army regulars at every corner too, and the distinctive scarlet tunics of the paladin clans could be seen on all sides.

Tanalvah did everything she could to avoid attracting attention. She prayed Serrah would do the same.

‘There’s a rumour they’re going to ban weapons in private hands next,’ Tanalvah confided.

‘How could they do that? You listen to too much gossip, Tan.’

‘Kinsel overheard something about it at the concert hall. From a couple of high-ranking administrators.’

‘People wouldn’t put up with it. They’d resist. If anybody tried to take my blade off me –’

‘You’re doing it again. Seeing everything as solvable by violence.’

‘How else would you stop them? Honeyed words and garlands?’

‘What I mean is –’ Tanalvah looked around and lowered her voice. ‘What I mean is that this isn’t the time to be taking any kind of risk. Not with the move so near.’

A wraith-like entity flew past, travelling at speed. Looking vaguely female, it seemed to be clothed in something gauzy that flowed behind it like a tangle of spider webs. It showed no interest in them. Tanalvah guessed it was a messenger glamour.

‘As I’ve been allowed no part, I can’t really do anything to endanger it, can I?’

‘But I’m sure they will. Involve you in the move, that is. With your talents –’

‘Yes,’ Serrah replied cynically, ‘of course they will.’

‘Oh, Serrah … We need you. Whether you have a role in the exodus or not.’

They reached a crossing of two main thoroughfares. Grand carriages swept by, drawn by zebra, stags, panthers, grotesquely large swans and lizards; any of a hundred different exotic beasts the horses had been charmed to resemble.

‘I’m going back to Karr’s place,’ Serrah decided.

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘No. I’ll be fine.’

‘I’m worried about you.’

‘There’s no need.’

‘Well, I am supposed to be at Kinsel’s. Sure you’ll be all right?’

‘I can manage.’

‘If you come across any more roadblocks …’

‘I promise I’ll restrain myself.’ She flashed a fleeting but genuine smile, turned and moved into the throng.

Tanalvah watched her for a moment, then set off in the opposite direction.

It was a short walk to her destination. But Tanalvah took a convoluted route, just in case.

The neighbourhood where she now lived was affluent. It had wide, clean streets and substantial, well-maintained buildings. The magic on display was tasteful and costly, and there were no beggars. Everything about the place seemed designed to make her feel guilty.

When she entered the villa, Tanalvah’s lover was waiting for her.

They embraced, and he said, ‘What’s the matter, Tan? You look troubled.’

‘I’ve been with Serrah.’

‘Ah.’ It was all Kinsel Rukanis really needed to know. He’d been there when Serrah gave way to despair, and he’d seen how she was since. Nevertheless he asked, ‘What happened?’

‘Nothing she hasn’t done a dozen times before. Not that that makes it any less frightening.’

‘No. But we mustn’t forget that if it wasn’t for Serrah –’

‘We wouldn’t be here. I know. If it hadn’t been for that, I’d say to hell with her.’

‘She needs her friends more than ever now. Attempting suicide wasn’t the end of her troubles. Far from it.’

‘At least she hasn’t tried it again.’

‘Really? Don’t you see her reckless behaviour as just another way of achieving her death wish?’

‘I don’t think it’s that simple. Well, maybe it’s partly that. Mostly I reckon she’s … pushing boundaries. It’s like she has to have control, even if it means creating situations where she’s most likely to lose it.’ She shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

‘We don’t need a problem like this at the moment, Tan. Not with the move imminent.’

‘I told her that. She might have taken it in, I couldn’t be sure.’

Kinsel sighed. ‘The Council has enough complications to deal with, seeing as our destination’s causing so much controversy.’

‘That’s not your concern, dear. Let others take the decisions. Don’t fret about it.’

‘I do rather, don’t I?’ He smiled, almost shyly. ‘But it’s only because I care passionately for the enterprise. I wouldn’t want anything to endanger it.’

She smiled back. ‘I know that. Even if we don’t see entirely eye to eye on the place the Council’s chosen.’

‘I think it’s an inspired choice.’

‘In some ways it is. But it has bad associations for many in my former profession. It’s never been that popular with whores.’

‘I wish you wouldn’t –’

‘We can’t change what I was, Kin. I thought we’d agreed to be honest about it.’

‘We did. I just don’t like you referring to yourself that way.’

‘It’s only a word. A description of something I did, not what I am.’

‘Of course it is, my love. And as far as the haven’s concerned we can expunge its history and build something better there. But it doesn’t matter where the refuge is. The important thing –’ he leaned forward and kissed her ‘– is that we share the same dream.’

‘Yes, darling.’

‘I only wish I could do something more constructive to help bring it about.’

‘This is your day for worrying, isn’t it?’

‘Well, there’s not much call for a pacifist in a resistance movement.’

‘Idiot,’ she teased. ‘You’ve done invaluable work for the cause, and risked your life in the process.’

‘I think you’re pitching it a bit high, Tan. Anyway, since Karr pulled me from intelligence gathering I feel like a fifth wheel on a wagon.’

‘I’m glad he did. It was getting far too dangerous. Now you can concentrate on your real talent.’

“The singing? It seems frivolous at times like these.’

‘It brings people respite. Don’t underestimate the value of that, my dear.’

‘If anybody’s getting respite, Tan, it’s the wrong people; the rich, the influential, the occupiers and their followers. What I do never seemed more irrelevant.’

‘So make it relevant.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You have a gift from the gods. It’s a sin not to use it. Take your voice to those who wouldn’t normally hear it. Let the poor have the benefit for once.’