Black Kath's Daughter (The Laws of Power Book 2) by Richard Parks

Author:Richard Parks [Parks, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Canemill Publishing
Published: 2011-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

"As an Arrow Path Initiate your primary business is to seek the Seven Laws of Power. That is primarily to fulfill your obligations under the Debt, but also in part to prevent the Seven from seeking you."

— Black Kath's Tally Book

That night Marta dreamed of faces. Her mother’s. The King and Queen’s. Feran’s. They passed in front of her mind's eye like masks. A rather vaguely female mask for Kerasa, a mask with a frozen, infuriating smile. Their eyes and mouths were empty as they passed in front of the light, flashing bright for a moment as the light came through the empty places. Only the light behind them all remained constant. Marta looked at the light, and it had a familiar shape.

Amaet.

"Is this a dream?"

The glow faded. Amaet stood, again looking not so much like a Power as a human girl. When she spoke, it was with a voice that Marta heard and understood with her ears and not just echoing inside her head as before. The power’s voice sounded just like a human girl’s.

Amaet shrugged. "Yes and no."

Marta put her hands on her hips. "That's no answer."

"You don't really want an answer. You want a meaning, and meaning is an interpretation. Mine will not be the same as yours. Make your own when you can, but for now come with me." Amaet held out her hand.

Marta didn't want to do any such thing, including touching Amaet's hand, but the Power's tone made it clear that refusing was not an option. Marta reached out, felt Amaet's hand close on hers. Marta wasn't sure what she'd expected, but the touch was a human touch, warm and dry. The Power led Marta away from the masks in her former dream but the masks followed, bobbing and floating along like will-o-the-wisps in Marta's wake.

"Your dreams are stubborn things," Amaet said.

Marta said nothing. She was trying to see the landscape Amaet was leading her through, but as far as Marta could tell there wasn't anything to see. It was a vast expanse of black nothing. No motion of animals or birds or anything else. No hills, no rivers. No moon, stars, or sky for that matter. There was no horizon, just a distance that faded into dark mist. There was a continuous stretch of something that could have been solid ground, but didn't feel like ground or anything else since Marta wasn't even touching it. She looked down, and was a little relieved that she still had feet, and hadn't managed to change into some drifting vapor or some such when she wasn't looking.

Marta was even a little relieved that the masks from her enigmatic little dream were following her like goslings in flight; they were comfortable, now. Almost familiar. Hers. Unlike everything else Marta was seeing now.

"Is this the home of the Powers?"

"This isn't anyone's home. It isn't anything at all, really, except a place that is not. It is a means, not a destination. Think of it as a road, though that's a rather puny word for it.

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