Sapphique (Incarceron) by Catherine Fisher

Author:Catherine Fisher [Fisher, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Firebird
Published: 2010-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

18

What makes a prince?

A sunny sky, an open door.

What makes a prisoner?

A question with no answer.

—Songs of Sapphique

“Get me out, Attia.”

“I can’t yet.” She crouched by the wooden bars of the cage. “You’ll have to be patient.”

“Having too nice a time with your pretty new friends?” Keiro sat lounged against the far wall, arms folded, legs stretched out. He looked cool and scornful but she knew him well enough to see that, inside, he was blazing.

“I need to keep in with them. You can see that.”

“So who are they?”

“All women. Most of them seem to hate men—they’ve probably suffered at their hands. They call themselves the Cygni. They each have a sort of number for a name. The number of a star.”

“How poetic.” Keiro tipped his head. “Now tell me when they’re going to kill me.”

“They’re considering. I’ve begged them not to.”

“And the Glove?”

“Rho’s got it.”

“Get it back.”

“I’m working on it.” She glanced at the door of the room warily. “This nest is a sort of hanging structure. Rooms and passages, all woven together. I think there’s some way down to the floor of the hall but I haven’t found it yet.”

Keiro was silent a moment. “The horse?”

“No idea.”

“Great. All our stuff.”

“All your stuff.” She pushed her tangled hair back. “There’s something else. They work for the Warden. They call him the Unsapient.”

His blue eyes stared at her. “They want to take him the Glove!”

He was always so quick, she thought. “Yes, but—”

“Attia, you have to get it back!” He was up on his feet now, gripping the bars. “The Glove is our only way to Incarceron.”

“How, exactly? We’re outnumbered.”

He kicked the bars, furious. “Get me out, Attia. Lie to them. Tell them to throw me over the viaduct. Just get me out.”

As she turned he reached out and grabbed her. “They’re all halfmen, aren’t they?”

“Some of them. Rho. Zeta. A woman called Omega has pincers instead of hands.” She looked at him. “Does that help you hate them more?”

Keiro laughed coldly and tapped his fingernail on the bars. It rang, metal against metal. “What hypocrisy that would be.”

She stepped away. “Listen. I think we’re wrong.” Before he could explode she hurried on. “If we give the Prison this Glove, it will carry out its crazy plan of Escape. Everyone here will die. I don’t think I can do that, Keiro. I just don’t think I can.”

He was staring at her, with that cold, intent look that always scared her.

She backed off. “Maybe I should just take the Glove and go. Leave you here.”

She got to the door before his whisper came, icy with threat. “That would make you just the same as Finn. A liar. A traitor. You wouldn’t do that to me, Attia.”

She didn’t look back.

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