CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Death of the City

THE QUAKE IN THE HOURS BEFORE THE SUMMER DAWN DID NOT WAKE Keffria. She hadn't been able to sleep. There had been a little bump in the night that she had ignored. This one was different. It started out as a sharp jolt, but it was the long shivering that followed that got her to her feet. Her Rain Wild hosts had warned her that the motion of the trees exaggerated the shifting of the earth below them. Nevertheless, she held onto the post of her bed as she hastily donned her clothes. Selden would think this was great fun, but Malta might be alarmed by it. She would go to her right away. And once there, she would force herself to tell Malta she was returning to Bingtown. She dreaded that. She had gone to see Malta yesterday evening, but found her sleeping. She hadn't had the heart to disturb her. The swelling had gone down from her head injury, but both her eyes were still deeply blackened. Knowing sleep was the best healer, Keffria had tiptoed away.

The healer had insisted that Malta be put in a sunny chamber, far up the tree from Keffria's room. Her path would take her over several bridges and then up a winding stair. She still wasn't accustomed to the gently swaying footpaths. Selden ran back and forth on them all day, but they still made Keffria nervous. She wished there was more light, but it would be a while until the sun penetrated the foliage all around her. She crossed her arms over her chest and kept to the direct middle of the path. She would not think of how the bridge would sway if there were another quake while she was crossing it. She put all such thoughts out of her mind. She realized she was walking with tiny, mincing steps and deliberately tried to normalize her stride. She was glad to reach the winding staircase that twined up the tree's trunk.

She rehearsed ways of telling Malta she was leaving her here. It would be hard. When Keffria left, Malta would be very alone, save for Selden. She had refused to see Reyn at all. She still blamed him. Keffria herself had forgiven him on the Kendry during their upriver journey. She believed the men who had accosted the carriage had gone far beyond their orders to seize the Satrap. The guilt and remorse of the young Rain Wilder as he kept vigil outside Malta's stateroom door had convinced Keffria that he had never intended harm to his beloved. Perhaps in time Malta would see as much, but in the meantime, Keffria would be leaving her children to depend only on one another. The doubts that had assailed her all night returned. She ventured out on the limb that led to Malta's room.

She nodded a brief greeting to a woman who had come to the door of a nearby chamber. The skin of her face was heavily pebbled. Growths wattled her throat and chin. Tillamon, Reyn's older sister, smiled brightly at her. "Quite a bump we had," Keffria observed inanely.

"I hope everyone is all right. Last month, we lost two bridges in a quake like that one," Tillamon observed cheerily.

"Oh, dear," Keffria heard herself reply. She hastened on.

She tapped at the door and waited. There was no reply. "Malta, dear, it is me," she announced and went in. The relief she felt at being off the catwalk evaporated as she stared at Malta's empty bed. "Malta?" Stupidly she went to stir the empty blankets as if they could somehow conceal her daughter. She went back to the door and leaned out it. "Malta?" she called questioningly.

Reyn's sister was still in her doorway. "Did the healer take Malta somewhere?" Keffria called to her.

Tillamon shook her head.

Keffria tried not to be frightened. "It's just so strange. She's gone. She's too ill to be out of her bed yet. And she is never an early riser, even when she feels well." She would not look at the railings by the walk. She would not wonder if a dizzy girl could stagger up from her sick bed and…

The woman cocked her head. "She was out walking with Reynie yesterday," she volunteered. A small smile came and went from her face. "I heard they had made up," she offered apologetically.

"But that doesn't explain why she isn't in her bed… oh." Keffria stared at her.

"Oh, no. I didn't mean it like that. Reynie would never… he's not like that." She was falling over her own words. "I had better fetch my mother," she proposed awkwardly.

There was something going on here, Keffria decided. Something she should have known about. "I think I had best go with you," she replied with a sinking heart.

It took more than tapping to waken Jani Khuprus. When she came to the door in her house-robe, her eyes were both weary and anxious. For an instant, Keffria almost pitied her. But Malta was at stake here. She met Jani's gaze squarely as she said, "Malta is not in her bed. Do you know where she might be?"

The fear that ghosted across Jani's face told Keffria all. She looked at her daughter. "Tillamon. Return to your chamber. This is only for Keffria and me."

"But, Mother," her daughter began, trailing off at the look her mother gave her. She shook her head, but turned and left. Jani's eyes came back to Keffria. The fine lines on her Rain Wild face suddenly stood out more clearly. She looked ill. She took a deep breath. "It is possible she is with Reyn somewhere. Late last night, he became… very worried about her. He might have gone to her… This is not like Reyn, but he has not been himself, lately." She sighed. "Come with me."

Jani led the way swiftly. She had not paused to dress properly or veil herself. Even powered by anger and fear, Keffria could barely keep up with her.

As they neared Reyn's chamber, misgivings assailed Keffria. If Malta and Reyn had settled their differences, they might… She wanted suddenly to stop and think things through more carefully. "Jani," she began as the other woman lifted her hand to knock. But she didn't knock. She simply pushed the door of Reyn's room open.

A heavy smell of brandy and sweat hung in the air. Jani peered in, then stepped aside to allow Keffria the view. Reyn sprawled facedown on his bed. His arm hung over the side, the back of his wrist against the floor. His breathing was hoarse and heavy. He slept as one exhausted, and he slept alone.

Jani's fingers were on her lips as she pulled the door shut. Keffria held her apology in until they were well away from his chamber.

"Jani, I am so-" she began, but the other woman turned to her quickly with a twisted smile.

"We both well know that we have cause to worry with those two. Reyn has come to this passion late in his life. Malta has been distant with him since she arrived, yet I do not believe her heart is cold toward him. The sooner they come to an understanding, the easier it will be for all of us."

Keffria nodded wearily, grateful for her understanding. "But where could she be? She is too ill to be out and about alone."

"I share your concern. Let me send out some runners to see if anyone has seen her. Could she have gone off with Selden, perhaps?"

"Perhaps. The last few weeks have brought them closer. I know he has been longing to show her the city." Keffria lifted her splinted hand to her forehead. "This behavior makes me wonder if I am wise to leave them here. I thought Malta was maturing, but for her to go off like this, with no word at all…"

Jani halted on the narrow walk and took Keffria's arm. Her eyes, still unveiled in the morning's haste, met Keffria's squarely. "I promise I shall care for them as my own. There is no need to foster Selden anywhere else but with us. It will do Reyn good to have the care of a young boy, before he has sons of his own." Jani smiled and the hope on her face took away much of the Rain Wild strangeness. Then an almost pleading look replaced it. "What you offered to do for us yesterday is incredibly brave. I feel selfish to urge you toward it. Yet, you are the only one so uniquely suited to spy for us."