The Power and the Glory

Book 4 Chapter VI: The Truth

Author's Note: Spot the Chronicles of Narnia reference!

Some truths, over time, can learn to play nice
Some truths are sharper than knives
Some truths we only see in the corners of our eyes
Some truths we wish we could hide
-- Sleeping At Last, South

Silence fell after Lian finished his story. Well, he hadn't really finished it, but he apparently didn't feel like continuing. Abi couldn't blame him. She'd had enough shocks today to last her a lifetime. It had never occurred to her that there was a sinister story behind that scar on Gilreon's neck. He'd explained it with "I was clumsy during sword practice and my opponent's sword wasn't as blunt as we thought." Nor had she ever thought that she wasn't the only member of her family to have both become a necromancer and met Death.

All things considered, she'd come out of that meeting better than Lian.

Do you think there's something about Death that drives people insane? she asked Ilaran.

During Lian's story Ilaran had said nothing. Abi couldn't hear what he was thinking, but she could feel what he was feeling and for the last hour that had been complete and utter horror. Now it turned to anger and exasperation.

Really? That's what you're worried about?

Mirio had also said nothing. He was silently examining the stones of the bridge as if he'd never seen anything so interesting.

Lian leant against the bridge wall and stared down at the river. She couldn't see his face, but from the way he held himself Abi could tell he was as tense as someone who expected a punch at any moment. Maybe that was exactly what he did expect. In spite of -- or perhaps because of; one necromancer sympathising with another's mistakes -- what she'd just heard, Abi felt sorry for him.

Unfortunately she let that feeling bleed through to Ilaran, and was promptly treated to an indignant squawk of, What in the name of all the gods is wrong with you?

This silence couldn't last forever, and she supposed she might as well be the one to break it. "What happened then?"

Lian laughed bitterly. It was the sort of laugh that suggested he was trying not to cry. "The guards arrested me. Grandmother wanted to execute me but Mother convinced her to only banish me instead. I'm not really a vampire -- at least not entirely -- and no one could figure out what I am, so they decided I'd just used dark magic and gone mad. I suppose that was true." He took a deep breath. "When I was in the palace cells I finally realised how insane I'd been. After my exile I went into hiding and set out to discover what I'd done to myself. I found that dying and coming back does something to your mind. Or rather, something else gets its claws into your mind. I suppose you could say I was possessed, but I think it would be better to say I was influenced by something."

I told you so, Abi thought for Ilaran's benefit.

He scoffed. You said you thought there was something about Death herself. Not about dying in general.

Close enough!

"I got rid of its influence eventually," Lian continued. "To do it I had to find a way to talk to Death without dying. I do not recommend that. Not that I recommend anything I did, but especially not that. But in the end I was free of it, and banished with no way to go home. I wandered around for a while. Lived in Saoridhlém under an alias then went to foreign countries and different planets. Tried my hand at interfering in politics in Calormen, and in the process discovered that I could use some relatively benign forms of dark magic to heal people. So I decided to become a doctor. Came back to Vanerth, ended up in Gengxin. So," he shrugged, "here I am."