Please don’t make me think about this.’ She was pleading now. ‘Something terrible happened to him … oh, god, I can’t even remember his name.’
Was he a blank? Scab demanded in Vic’s head. It sounded like an odd question to the ’sect.
‘Was he a blank?’
‘What?’
Vic searched around for a way to explain it. ‘Was he biologically entangled with you?’
‘Of course – we were fucking.’
Vic tried to ignore the pang of jealousy. ‘No, I mean—’
‘He was so sweet, sensitive. He was an artist. What was his name?’
‘An artist? What? Like, he did porn or something? So what? Everyone does that.’
She looked up at him sharply. ‘You know what? You’re a fucking arsehole as well!’ Then she stormed out of the observation chamber, taking the bottle of cleaning fluid with her, leaving the smell of cigarette smoke in her wake.
Scab changed the shape of the smart-matter vial into a pipette and the drop of blood ran down to the tip. He had been staring at it for more than an hour now. He lifted it up to his lips and opened his mouth. He held it there. He ’faced another instruction to the vial. All the smart matter connected with the heretical sect’s habitat was oddly truculent, but the pipette eventually changed back into a vial. Scab put the vial down on the bench.
He knew something. No, he sensed something that was just beyond his understanding, something that unsettled him.
As he looked at Talia’s blood in the vial, he felt something that had been foreign to him for a long time. He knew fear.
6
Ubh Blaosc
Cold metal on her skin. Britha’s brain was assaulted by memories from someone else. Some thing else. Contact with the Muileartach, her mother, the All-Mother. Its suffering. Crom Dhubh, so hard to look at. Her head splitting as the crystal crawled into it. Things she would never do: the taste of human flesh in her mouth. Throat after throat slit, the bodies tossed into the water. Killing the boy the Corpse People had captured.
‘No!’
She was in darkness. She tried to scuttle into a corner but found herself in a rounded chamber. Judging by the feel of the metal against skin, the inside of the metal chamber had been carved with various patterns or images. She curled up in a foetal position. She was frightened, but more than that she was disgusted with herself at what she had become. She would kill in battle, a necessary sacrifice to defend herself or to protect her people; but this time she had revelled in it. There was something inside her, speaking to her – the spear, the eaten flesh, Crom Dhubh’s whispers. Bress.
Teardrop was dead, Bress claimed to have killed Fachtna, she had abandoned Tangwen and the others, her people. Cliodna. She had killed Cliodna. The sobs wracked her frame as she remembered what it had felt like when the head of the spear had penetrated her lover’s flesh. Looking into her dark eyes. She had done that.
Sometime later she reached up to touch her head. It was no longer swollen. She felt different as well. Her sobbing had made her ache; she was no longer aware of everything around her. She felt weary. She felt like she always had before. Before Cliodna had done something to her. Before she had eaten of one of the Lochlannachs’ flesh. Before her magics had become so potent.
There was light above her.
She tried to collect her thoughts and cursed herself for her weakness. Bress had lied about Fachtna. She remembered now. There had been stones. She had walked with monsters, warped creatures born of the Muileartach’s womb, poisoned by Crom Dhubh’s great working. They had let her be. They had known her as sister. Then she had summoned great power from the earth. How did I do that? Lightning had danced for her among the stones. A star had gone out in the night sky. How did I know that? And she had been somewhere else. Different stones. There were people all around her, tall, well made, Goidel warriors, male and female. There
Was he a blank? Scab demanded in Vic’s head. It sounded like an odd question to the ’sect.
‘Was he a blank?’
‘What?’
Vic searched around for a way to explain it. ‘Was he biologically entangled with you?’
‘Of course – we were fucking.’
Vic tried to ignore the pang of jealousy. ‘No, I mean—’
‘He was so sweet, sensitive. He was an artist. What was his name?’
‘An artist? What? Like, he did porn or something? So what? Everyone does that.’
She looked up at him sharply. ‘You know what? You’re a fucking arsehole as well!’ Then she stormed out of the observation chamber, taking the bottle of cleaning fluid with her, leaving the smell of cigarette smoke in her wake.
Scab changed the shape of the smart-matter vial into a pipette and the drop of blood ran down to the tip. He had been staring at it for more than an hour now. He lifted it up to his lips and opened his mouth. He held it there. He ’faced another instruction to the vial. All the smart matter connected with the heretical sect’s habitat was oddly truculent, but the pipette eventually changed back into a vial. Scab put the vial down on the bench.
He knew something. No, he sensed something that was just beyond his understanding, something that unsettled him.
As he looked at Talia’s blood in the vial, he felt something that had been foreign to him for a long time. He knew fear.
6
Ubh Blaosc
Cold metal on her skin. Britha’s brain was assaulted by memories from someone else. Some thing else. Contact with the Muileartach, her mother, the All-Mother. Its suffering. Crom Dhubh, so hard to look at. Her head splitting as the crystal crawled into it. Things she would never do: the taste of human flesh in her mouth. Throat after throat slit, the bodies tossed into the water. Killing the boy the Corpse People had captured.
‘No!’
She was in darkness. She tried to scuttle into a corner but found herself in a rounded chamber. Judging by the feel of the metal against skin, the inside of the metal chamber had been carved with various patterns or images. She curled up in a foetal position. She was frightened, but more than that she was disgusted with herself at what she had become. She would kill in battle, a necessary sacrifice to defend herself or to protect her people; but this time she had revelled in it. There was something inside her, speaking to her – the spear, the eaten flesh, Crom Dhubh’s whispers. Bress.
Teardrop was dead, Bress claimed to have killed Fachtna, she had abandoned Tangwen and the others, her people. Cliodna. She had killed Cliodna. The sobs wracked her frame as she remembered what it had felt like when the head of the spear had penetrated her lover’s flesh. Looking into her dark eyes. She had done that.
Sometime later she reached up to touch her head. It was no longer swollen. She felt different as well. Her sobbing had made her ache; she was no longer aware of everything around her. She felt weary. She felt like she always had before. Before Cliodna had done something to her. Before she had eaten of one of the Lochlannachs’ flesh. Before her magics had become so potent.
There was light above her.
She tried to collect her thoughts and cursed herself for her weakness. Bress had lied about Fachtna. She remembered now. There had been stones. She had walked with monsters, warped creatures born of the Muileartach’s womb, poisoned by Crom Dhubh’s great working. They had let her be. They had known her as sister. Then she had summoned great power from the earth. How did I do that? Lightning had danced for her among the stones. A star had gone out in the night sky. How did I know that? And she had been somewhere else. Different stones. There were people all around her, tall, well made, Goidel warriors, male and female. There
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