The Witch Woman's Prophecy

35 | Prindah wants Payment |

I didn't wake until late the next day when I must have moved in my sleep as pain gradually began to make itself known to me. I ached in every bone and muscle of my body and my face was swollen and hot, it felt as though I had been out under the midday sun for too long and even my eyelids hurt. All I could hear was a shrieking, whining noise. I groaned when I eased myself into a sitting position. Somebody had left a jug of fresh water next to my bed and I drank several cups one after the other to soothe my raw throat.

I was unclear at first about how I had come to be injured, but memories of the buried metal building and what I had done in it the previous day crept in on me and I groaned in shame, realising this was how I had hurt myself. I recalled picking up the pipe, but had I dreamed the hand showing me how to make the pipe spit out its lightning?

I remembered how strange I had felt on the way to the square and wondered whether it had anything to do with the pellets I had eaten before we left. Maybe eating three at a time was not such a good idea.

Soni had been angry with me for what I had done the day before, but I thought she should be happy, for now I could show the ustel how to make the pipes work. Then I considered what that fire would have done to any person unlucky enough to be in front of it and decided that I would not. I had already killed enough people and I would not be responsible for any further deaths.

I fell back into an uneasy doze which was disturbed each time I moved. Eventually, the pain in my hands brought me back to wakefulness. Blood had begun to ooze though the bandages and I padded downstairs in the dimness of the evening light to find someone to change them for me.

I found Soni sitting at the kitchen table alone. She spoke to me and although her voice was distorted I could make out her words.

'Why did you do it?' she asked.

I looked down at the ground unsure how to answer. 'I don't know. I needed to get into the metal building. Then I realised how to use the pipe, but I didn't know what was going to happen.'

Soni stared at me without blinking for a few breaths, then she put her head in her hands. 'You are lucky to be alive. The two guards who were down in the hole were injured. One has lost his sight, the other lost some of her fingers. Two warehouses next to the square were damaged when the flames set the roofs alight.'

My insides heaved and I put a bandaged hand to my mouth. I never wanted to harm anyone, ever, yet I had done so again. I looked down at the bloody rags that wrapped my hands and tried to find some words that would make things better, but there weren't any.

'The roof of the building was ripped open by the flames from the pipe. It was not what we would have chosen, but it does mean that we are able to examine the inside in daylight, rather than by the light of candles or lamps.'

At least I had performed a service for the ustel, I thought, angry at myself. But some of my curiosity remained. 'What else was inside the building?'

'A couple of chair-beds, similar to the ones we saw in the Temple. A crystal map attached to the wall. Two more pipes like the one you... used.'

I noticed her hesitation. What other words could she have chosen? Injured people with? Almost killed myself with? She fetched some fresh bandages and redressed my wounded hands. My palms and fingers were cut and blistered, but I would recover.

'Here. I made a sketch of the map before it was taken to the Ustelin. It will give you something to think about while you recover.' She handed me a piece of parchment with symbols drawn on it. 'I copied it the best I could, but I did not have much time.'

I thanked her, spread it out on the table and began to pore over it. It showed some rectangles, lines and dots, but there was no way of knowing how large an area it showed. Was it was just Polemmy or did it show more of the surrounding area? There was another of the circle within a circle symbols that had been present on the maps I had seen before.