Watcher's Web

Watcher's Web Chapter 27

People shouted, rose from their seats and scrambled for the door.

Iztho grabbed Jessica’s hand, his palm moist with sweat. "Come, Lady. Stay close to me. If I’m right, that was the last of the council’s recharged pearls. The council doesn’t even have enough light to keep their meetings going. That’s how well they control their people."

Men in white uniforms moved in the grey beam of light that streamed in from the door. Crossbows glittered. Soldiers shouted orders, pushing fleeing members of the audience back into the stands.

Then, amidst the chaos, a small light flickered on halfway down the stairs. A mind light. Not Daya’s, but Ikay’s. Within a few moments, another light followed.

People stopped their mad stumble for the doors and stared at the centre of the hall, where the lights converged above the mediator’s table, lighting her face with a ghostly glow. Most of the council members stood next to their seats.

A gust of warmth flooded Jessica and a pinprick bright as sunlight rose into the air. Daya.

Come, help us. We need to have this meeting. These people need to hear the truth.

In the eerie light, the ring of white uniforms surrounding the floor stood out clearly. Jessica eased herself out of Iztho’s grip and pressed her hands together. The flow of energy came easily now. Several people around her gasped with the brightness of her light. She let it float up, hovering over the heads of the audience. The closer it came to Daya’s light, the stronger the radiance of his energy became. Warm, steady. She let the light circle Daya’s, like a pair of courting dancers, twirling and teasing. Jessica thought of soaring through the clouds.

"Don’t encourage him, my Lady." Iztho’s face looked wary.

Jessica bristled. Encourage what? Didn’t he want the hearing to be concluded, so that he was free to take her out of the city?

At least fifty other lights had floated up, joining those already in the centre of the hall. Most of them were little more than weak glowing spots, but all of them combined cast a steady, even glow over the table. Not a single noise disturbed the silence.

Her eyes on the conglomerate of lights, the mediator sat back down, her face ghostly pale. "It seems we can continue now the, uhm, problem with the lighting has been solved."

Thumbs hooked in his belt, Commander Satarin glided across the floor. The heels of his boots clacked on the wood and with each footstep he came closer to Ikay, who stood at the bottom of the stairs. "You know this state of undress is illegal in the city, as are any appendages?"

Ikay faced him, her expression defiant. She snapped her tail.

"After the hearing, I will make sure that you and all those who have come in here to disturb a civilised meeting are charged with public nudity and flauting of this city’s laws."

His face was a mask of hatred. All of a sudden, Jessica remembered where she had seen him before: in a vision. This man had been in the lab, ordering Daya to be tortured, collecting the energy from him. And he was the man who supported her being brought to Miran. She heard his reedy voice What if I brought you a girl?

And the medico said, She could be made to have two, maybe four children a year …

She breathed deeply, trying to dispel the black spots that danced before her eyes. Her light came rushing back to her and jumped into her skin.

Iztho’s voice rumbled. "My Lady, are you all right?"

Dark images flashed before her eyes. The snarling face of a Mirani soldier, running footsteps through the snow, the firing of a crossbow, an explosion, the voice of a Mirani soldier He’s still alive.