Author: hossgal
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction. The characters here come from the writers and producers of the TV shows Farscape and Firefly. No infringement is intended and no money is being made.
Rating: R for sex and violence.
Recipient: Karen
Fandom: Cross-Over Farscape and Firefly.
Spoilers: um. No.
Summary: Once upon a time there was a woman who fell through the sky and a girl who walked through walls.
Words: 13,700
Story Notes: AU. Written for the Multiverse2004 ficathon, sponsored and chaired by Sabine and Andraste. This story is for Karen (thedorkygirl on lj), who asked for, among other thing, Aeryn (Farscape) / River (Firefly.) I'm not sure if this is what she wanted. It sure wasn't what I thought I would write.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Searose for the beta, and to Maayan for (Red) Shift and KoddiakMax for Every Dark and Lonely Night and to Kernezelda for In the Country of the Blind. Also to The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and Tanith Lee. This is the longest story I have ever written.
The woman who fell through the sky
On the other side of the stars there once was a terrible lord, who was called the Black King by all who knew of him. And once there was a woman who was a warrior, a swordswoman in service to this dark tyrant. This woman was a fierce fighter, with lightning in her eyes and steel in her hands, and she was feared both in the armies of the king and by the armies of the enemies of the king.
The Black King she served held many warriors in his armies and also many magisters and wise men. The magisters studied the movement of the stars and the properties of fire, in order to advise the Black King in his wars and defenses. The woman loved the dance of steel and death, and cared little for the slow creeping through manuscripts and formulas for the secrets treasured by the magisters. Most of all the swordswoman hated and feared the magisters of the dragon men, interlopers from across the sea who held secrets even the magisters of the Black King held to be unholy.
But the Black King valued the words of all magisters and summoned many of them to his castle, to give him council. When the Black King sat in his throne, the swordswoman stood guard and held the Black Spear that was the symbol of the power of the King. And so the swordswoman was often there as the magisters whispered in the ear of the King The woman did not understand the things the magisters said, but she saw the look in the eyes of the magisters, and an answering gleam in the face of the Black King, and her heart grew dry within her. For the woman had given her oath to the King, and forswore to break it.
One day a man came to the woman, a strange man, who spoke in words that twisted around themselves and wove visions in the mind of the listener.
The Black King is mad, the man said, The King is mad and he is infecting all the worlds with his madness. He must be stopped, his power must be broken.
I am a warrior, sworn to the service of the King, said the swordswoman. I am no noble, no wise man to say to the Black King - you must do this, or, you should not do this. I am but a warrior.
Even as she said this, the woman spoke against the trickle of hope in her heart, for she mistrusted the words of the Black King's magisters, and doubted the countenance of the king.
The man smiled then, and said, You are a warrior. You can be more. And though his words were queer and strange, what the outlander man said rang as true as a bell of pure silver. This was a trick of the magisters, which the woman well knew, and the strange man was no friend of her lord, which the woman knew as well. But the woman listened to the man with her heart as well as her ears. She stole away with him, and left behind her oaths, and joined in the outlander's war against the king.
When the Black King found that the swordswoman had gone, he raged furiously, and swore great oaths that made the earth groan to hear them. And the Black King took up the Black Spear, and set it in a rest over his throne, and he said, No one shall hold it in her place, until my swordswoman flees back to me, begging mercy for what she had forsworn.
And the Black King sent word to all his armies, to kill the stranger and to bring the swordswoman back to him.
The woman and the magister - for the strange man was a magister, true enough - won many battles against the king. And in time the magister began to love the swordswoman, to love her for the fierce light in her eyes when she fought, for her steady voice in terrible times, and for the pure hope that flowed in her heart. And the swordswoman began to love the magister for his clever schemes, for his bold risks in times of danger, and for the hope that he caused to flow in her heart. Even in the midst of their war, they found time to share a single cup of joy.
But it came to pass that the forces of the king found a hiding place of the rebels, and the warrior and her magister were forced to flee, carrying only their cloaks. They ran swift as light and secret as darkness, but the men of the king's army pressed close upon their heels.
Finally, when they could run no more, the magister cast a spell, and rent a hole in the sky, and he and the swordswoman fell through the hole to the other side.
The hole in the sky was quicksilver and colder than anything that had ever existed, and it twisted back and forth like a finger of lightening, striking out from a black cloud. The woman fell through the quicksilver hole, faster than the wind, faster than light, and the hole spun and danced and turned back upon itself. And all about was the deep cold.
And the woman was afraid.
The magister fell with her. But when the magister and the swordswoman fell clear of the hole, the man was burnt by the frost of the journey, and he died. As the man fell, his body caught fire from the air, and burned bright as a falling sun through the night, and the woman fell with him, caught in the heat of his passing.
But the woman did not burn. She did not burn because she wore a robe of darkness, which ate the heat and the cold, and permitted neither to pass. But when she came to rest on the earth, the woman had been wrapt in the fire of the burning man for too long, and the heat madness was upon her. She lay on the ground, and her flesh was flush with warmth, and her skin was drenched with sweat, and, for some hours, she had forgotten all that had gone before.
Men of the highlands guard had seen the falling star, and sent word to the emperors of that land. The emperors - for there were three in that land, an emperor of the blue sun, an emperor of the black moon, and an emperor of the pearl of the world - the emperors sent out soldiers and magisters to find where the star had come to earth. The soldiers rode over the hills and across the plains and through the forests and forded the rivers and came at last the place where the woman and the man had come to rest.
The swordswoman was still there, kneeling beside the dead body of the magister. Her memory had returned to her, and while she did not know that she was in a strange land, she remembered that she had loved the magister, and that he had loved her. The flesh had been reduced by the fire to ashes and embers, and the woman's tears made pale clean lines in the grey ash upon her face.
When the soldiers came she did not rise to speak with them, but only wept on, holding the dead body that stank of smoke and rot, and rocking back and forth.
We are here from the emperors of this land, the soldiers said. You are bound by the law of the emperors to come with us, and to truthfully answer all we ask. But the woman would not reply to their demands.
When a magister tried to speak to her, she would not reply. The magisters tried dialect after dialect, all the languages of the known world, but the woman would not answer. Finally one of the magisters stretched forth his hand to touch the dead man, and the woman answered with fists and boots and a voice loud and terrible as a lion's. It took five of the soldiers of the emperors to drag her away, and even as they did she rent the soldiers' robes of black and pearl and broke their faces upon her hands.
No one could understand the woman's speech. She shouted at them, showed them her sword and her dagger, demanded passage back to the place where she had fallen from the sky. But all the soldiers stared at her, eyes wide and ears closed to her words. When the woman tried to flee, the soldiers stopped her. When they stopped her again, the woman killed one of the soldiers.
For that they threw her to the ground and bound her hand, head and foot, and wrapt her in a thick blanket to muffle her screams. Then they wrapt the body of the magister in another blanket, and rode back the long way back to the city of the magisters, the City of White Stone.
There, in the City, women of the magisters unbound the woman and brought her clothing of their own for her to wear, and water to wash. But none of the magister women would speak to the warrior woman, for she roared with the anger of a great beast, and wept like a falling angel, and none of the magister women dared to risk her fury.
When one woman, daring much and speaking softly, asked the swordswoman her name, the word she gave was Iron. They thought the name suited her, with her hard eyes and her killer's hands, so that is what they called her, the Iron Woman. But no matter what name they gave to her, she would answer none of their questions. As the days wore on, the woman stopped shouting. Instead she would pace the corridors and circle the walls of her rooms, speaking in her harsh, growling tongue, walking with her hands folded over her belly. The magisters wondered at this, for the rooms or the corridors would be empty, and still the woman would speak in her foreign tongue.
The emperors sent scroll after scroll, requiring the magisters to report on the people from the falling star. But the man's body had dried into ebony dust, and the woman grew more and more sullen, breaking into odd angers and fits of fury. There was nothing for the magisters to write, and the scrolls were sent back to send to the emperors, still unmarked.
Finally, word came, ordering the magisters to other tasks and providing for the safekeeping of the woman. She was to be locked away. The magisters feared the Iron Woman, feared her face and her anger. But when the appointed day came, the Iron Woman walked into her cell and sat upon the floor without struggle. The door was barred behind her, and the key put away.
Men still came to see the Iron Woman, to look on this one who had fallen from the sky. Some came to teach her the speech of men, so they could converse with her, and learn of the lands from which she had come. But the Iron Woman would not speak with them.
The Iron Woman sat in her cell, sat on the cold hard floor and stared at the wall. She sat every day like this, running her hands over her flat stomach and speaking, low and quiet, in her own tongue. Some times she would stand, and pace the length of the cell for hours. Most rare were the days when she would stand in the center of the cell, and shout at the walls, so that her oaths and despair echoed throughout the City of White Stone.
And then the day came, when the Iron Woman stood and shouted at the walls, shouted until her voice was raw and her heart ached, and when she stopped, finally, chest heaving for breath, in that silence a small still voice answered her.
The girl who walked through walls
Once upon a time, when people sailed the sea of stars in ships of steel and fire, there was a clever little girl. She lived in a large house with her family - a warm house, set among tall cypress trees, filled with many beautiful things that shone in sunlight and glittered in lamplight. In this house lived the clever little girl, and her brother, and her mother, and her father. Her mother and father were wise, as people who have lived some years are wise; and her brother was also clever, but not so clever as the little girl. In all the worlds, there was no one as clever as the little girl.
The little girl loved her lessons, and loved to see new things, and her parents, being wise, gave her many lessons and took her in their fine carriage to see many new places. Wise men and magisters from all the worlds came to the house among the cypresses, and brought things from far away places. The learned men brought the clever girl heavy texts of forgotten languages, musty and crackling with age, and delicate wooden boxes, shaped into puzzles that would only open if one could solve the puzzle of how the boxes were made. The magisters brought the girl strange and mysterious flowers from hidden gardens, and tiny birds in platinum cages that sang songs no one had ever heard before.
And the clever little girl learned her lessons, and questioned the magisters and the wise men about the places they had seen, and she examined the many wonderful things, over and over until she had learnt all their secrets. And she grew even more clever than she had been before.
The clever girl had one brother, a young man just older than she. Even though he was very well learned - for the wise men and magisters would show their wondrous things to the brother as well - he was not as clever as his smaller sister. But this did not make the brother angry, for he loved his sister very much, and she loved him. The brother learned what he could of his sister's lessons, and the clever girl delighted to explain things to him.
Then the time came for the brother to leave the large house among the cypresses, where he had lived with his sister the clever girl and their mother and their father. The brother was to go to learn to be a healer, for many of the wise men had seen that he had the healer's gift, and had counseled the mother and father to permit the brother to study medicine and the ways of the body.
The brother and the sister wept to be parted. Think of me always, the clever girl said, and I will not forget you, do not forget that I love you, said the brother. Then the brother set out on the road, and the sister watched from a high window, as the road narrowed and turned and finally the small mark that was her brother disappeared from sight.
At the school of healing, the brother studied very hard, and was attentive to his lessons, and all the masters of learning were pleased with him. But even though the brother learned many things, he did not all that occurred. What the brother did not know was that, in the very hour when he had set out on the road, magisters sworn to the emperors had come to the house among the cypresses, and taken his sister away. For it was the will of the emperor of the blue sun that the girl be trained in the way of the emperor's magisters, to learn the magics that would search out the enemies of the emperor.
The magisters promised the girl's mother and father that the girl would be well. The girl was amazed at all the things she saw on the journey, and looked upon the place they took her with much interest. This is the City of White Stone, they told the girl. This is where you will learn the lessons of the magisters. And the City was wondrous and beautiful, shining like ice in the morning sun.
But the lessons of the magisters of the emperor of the blue sun were harsh lessons, hard as granite, sharp as shards of crystal. They were not simply spells of deception and disguise, but exercises in creating death and carving wounds. The spells they instructed the girl in burrowed into her mind and scorched her eyes, until the very flesh of her face and the bones of her hands ached.
The clever girl cried out against the lessons, tore the papers and scattered the powders the spells required. She wrote on parchment and sent word to her mother and father, but the magisters had cast spells upon her parents to take away their wisdom. The clever girl spoke to the sparrows in the courtyards and sent them to her brother, but the magisters set hawks upon the sparrows and brought down wild winds to send the sparrows astray.
The clever girl fell into despair then, and would neither eat nor sleep. She sat in her rooms and would not come out. If anyone came to her door, she turned her face away. When no one was there, though, she would slip down the halls and leave secret notes under doors, or else whisper confidences to the pigeons in the garden.
Then the magisters made the scheme of a spell that closed the clever girl in her room, so that she could not come out, and set a compulsion upon her tongue, so that she could speak only in riddles. It made no difference then, who she spoke to, or what words she wrote, for there was no sense and no order to her words.
In desperation, then, the clever girl cast her own spell, and made herself into a gossamer thread, as thin as the whisker of a cat, and as limber as the willow that bends under the wind. She drew herself out fine and small, and slipped between the stones in the walls of the castle, so that she was not in her room, and yet she had not come out. The magisters searched the room and all the halls of the castle, but they could not find the clever little girl.
And there she stayed, in the spaces between the walls, in the narrow corridors and the low passages within the stones. And although she could hear every footstep, every breath, every sob in the darkness, the girl never spoke again to anyone.
Until one day a woman came to the castle, and strode back and forth, and called out in a strange and thunderous voice, and pleaded with the very stones for aid.
The walls of the sky fall away
The cell they had placed the Iron Woman in had been the cell of the clever little girl, but it had been so many seasons that the magisters had forgotten to remember the clever little girl. But the clever girl had not forgotten them.
The girl listened to the Iron Woman walk back and forth, and heard the ring of her boots on the stone. The girl watched the woman sit, and watched her walk, and saw how the woman's hands made a cradle that was empty and a shield that had already been broken.
And the clever girl understood what the magisters had not - when the Iron Woman spoke, she was speaking to her dead. The words in the woman's harsh language were for the magister, the man she had loved, and for the child of the magister, who, like the magister, had died of the fall from the sky. But while the magister had become dust and faded away, the child of the magister had stayed, there near the heart of the Iron Woman.
The clever girl listened to the words of the Iron Woman, and let the meaning of the woman's speech seep into her ears. And so she came to comprehend the strange woman.
And the clever little girl thought to herself - This is a woman who knows the lessons I did not want to learn. The girl was afraid, but it was a thin, trembling fear. And the girl thought to herself, I will not be afraid of someone so sad. So she watched the woman for many days, learning more of the woman's words, and wondering if the woman, all alone in her cell and in her words, wanted anyone to speak in return.
And finally, one day the Iron Woman stood in the center of the cell and shouted at the stones as if they could hear, I require recompense, I demand revenge, I beg justice! Answer me! Chest heaving, fists clenched, the Iron Woman stood there, as the echoes faded away.
And in the silence that was left, a small still voice said, I hear someone call out.
The Iron Woman was so astonished that she nearly fell down. Who are you? she said, shocked from her anger and her madness.
I am not myself, the clever girl said, for she still could speak in nothing but riddles.
Show yourself! Or are you a ghost? Are you my love, come back to make me mad? If you breathe, show yourself!
I am not a ghost, said the clever girl. But I do not breathe.
Then the girl slipped free from her place in the wall and unmade the spell that had kept her hidden. The eyes of the Iron Woman were wide and astonished, as the girl unfolded herself from the thread and became a girl again.
She had forgotten what it was like to be a girl - her skin shrank from the touch of the air, her hands shook, and she held her hands up against the torchlight. Slowly, slowly, she lowered them, and looked at the Iron Woman. To her new eyes, the Iron Woman was stronger than stone, more sorrowful than death, and as beautiful as the morning.
You are not real, the Iron Woman said, her voice full of wonder.
The girl stretched out her hand and touched the face of the Iron Woman, fingertips trembling against the skin.
Yes, I breathe, the girl said.
The dull rasp of a guard's boot sounded through the corridor, and the girl folded back upon herself again, leaving behind only empty space.
The Iron Woman rose to her feet as the door opened. There, stooping through the opening, came a stranger, a dark woman with pale eyes.
This was a bitter, angry woman of the magisters, a dark-hearted woman who had learned well the lessons that had made the clever little girl weep. This dark woman wanted nothing but pain from those she questioned, and did not care for truth or answers. She had heard for many days of the Iron Woman, and how the woman who had fallen from the stars refused all questions, and it burned in her that such a person lived, who would not bow to the emperors. So the dark woman petitioned the emperor of the blue sun to allow her to question the Iron Woman, and now, finally, the petition had been granted.
The dark woman had traveled many miles to reach the City of White Stone, and it was late when she passed the gate. But the dark woman demanded she be taken to the Iron Woman immediately. And so the guards of that place led the dark woman down the winding stairs and through the turning corridors and to the cell that the Iron Woman shared with the clever little girl.
Open the door, the dark woman said, and the guards did. To the Iron Woman she said, You will answer me. What is your name? The Iron Woman looked back at her and would not answer.
Answer me! And she reached across the space between them with a fist of air and struck the Iron Woman. The Iron Woman fell, with a sound like thunder against the stone. When the Iron Woman rose to her feet, there was blood in her mouth and fury in her eyes.
You will not do that again, the Iron Woman said, in her harsh growling tongue.
The dark woman sneered. You will answer me, I know you understand. And she grasped the Iron Woman by the throat.
The clever girl heard all this from her place in the crack in the wall, and she trembled at the words and the anger of the dark magister. But when the Iron Woman cried out, a short, choking sound, the girl came out from the wall.
She unfolded herself and became the clever little girl, standing just behind the dark magister. The girl spoke, A cubit of granite falls as fast as a cubit of straw, and at her voice the magister turned her head, startled and furious at the sound. The girl laid her hand against the magister's cheek, and said, Bleed.
The dark magister did. All her veins opened and blood poured like a river from her mouth, and the magister fell like an empty sack at the girl's feet.
The hand of air holding the Iron Woman slipped away, and she fell to the stone floor.
The girl did not see the guards behind her, faces gone white and afraid. She did not hear the trembling air as they raised their swords. But the Iron Woman saw and heard. Before the guards could strike, the Iron Woman rose to her feet and cried out, a roar that filled the hall. Then she stepped forward, swift as the rush of the wind, and smote down the guards, one after the other. And when the guards had fallen, she knelt and gathered up the first guard's sword, and held it to her like a woman holds a child.
What are you? asked the woman, not looking back at the girl.
I am not myself. I am like you, you and I are alike and the same. She went to the Iron Woman, and knelt beside her, and reached for the Iron Woman with a pale, pale hand. The Iron Woman shrank away, for the hand of the clever girl was wet with the blood of the dark magister.
You are nothing like me, she cried in her own tongue, for this was a madness beyond her own, as the stars of the sky are beyond the stones of the sea.
Yes, I am, said the girl, and she touched the Iron Woman's lips with her hand, and then her own, and she touched the Iron Woman's breast, and then her own. The Iron Woman felt the madness of the clever girl rise over her own delirium as a wave crested over a sea-reef, as a flicker of sun over a dying ember. And then girl took the Iron Woman's hands in hers, all four palms wet with blood, and wound their fingers together. I shall be what you are, the girl said, and pressed her mouth to the Iron Woman.
The girl tasted of salt and copper and yesterday, and when she took her lips away, the Iron Woman said, What do you want?
A place with walls of air, not stone, a roof of clouds, not timber, a floor of the moving earth.
The Iron Woman looked at the open door and said, I desire those things as well. Come with me.
I cannot leave, the girl said, for the spell of the magisters still held her in the cell.
I will bring you out, the woman said, if you become a thread again. And so the girl folded herself into a gossamer thread again, and the woman wound it around her hand, and pulled the girl out of the cell, inch by inch, until only the very tip of the thread was left. But that tip caught on the edge of the door, and stuck, and when the woman pulled on the thread, it broke, there at the very end.
The woman gasped and dropped the thread, for she feared that she had done some grave harm to the girl. The girl unfolded herself then, and became a girl, just as she was. But when she stood and stretched, delight and joy shining from her face, she only had one hand with which to reach to the ceiling. The other arm was gone, with only a hollow place left at the shoulder.
It is no matter, the girl said, and snapped the fingers of her hand. Yellow fire stood on her fingers. I have hand enough to do what needs to be done. Do you know the way to the walls of the City?
The Iron Woman shook her head. No. The way was long and long ago and I was lost the heat madness. I do not remember.
The girl smiled, she who for so long had no mouth with which to smile. I have not forgotten the road to the light.
They walked through the city then, the girl with her hand full of power and the woman with her hands full of steel. The guards that stood against them died on the sword of the Iron Woman, and the walls that stood against them fell down, under the force of the wind and fire in the hand of the girl.
Many of the guards would not face them, and neither would the people of the city, nor the men of the stables, nor the other prisoners locked in the cells of the City of White Stone. They all fled into the night.
But when the last of the walls fell down, the girl cried out, and bent to clear aside a heap of timber and stones. The stones had covered a hole, and from the hole the girl had heard a voice. She drew out a young man, who was pale of skin and dark of hair and who had eyes like autumn leaves at the base of a pool. And the Iron Woman stared at them both, and saw that one was a match for the other.
The girl said, This is my brother. He loves me.
And the Iron Woman reached out a hand and brushed the hair of the young man. To the girl she said, If he loves you, then he must love me as well, for you and I are alike and the same.
The girl smiled and said, Oh, he shall, he shall come to love you as I do.
The journey into night
They left that place, then, as the sun was setting in a sheet of flame and the air grew cold and damp on the mountainside. The Iron Woman walked ahead, holding a sword with one hand and resting the sword on her shoulder. The other arm hung straight down, for the last guard had cut her badly with his blade. The girl and the young man followed after, both of them carrying blankets and scraps of provisions.
As the road went down the mountainside it twisted and turned and trees came up about it. The ground was thick with fallen leaves, and the branches reached over the road to touch hands with the other trees, so that the road lay in gloom. A pale mist gathered under the trees.
The Iron Woman had eyes like a night-flying owl, and the girl had ears like the mink that creeps in darkness, but the young man could not see in the shadow under the trees. The girl put her blanket over her shoulder and led him by the hand, and they went on for a little ways. It is like when we were children together, the young man thought, and my sister would explain the strange and wondrous things that magisters and wise men brought. But even his sister's hand in his could not keep the young man from falling over stones in the road. When he fell, his sister helped him back to his feet, and the Iron Woman would stop and wait for them, looking around her in the darkness for danger.
The woods about them were thick with the pale mist now, and the night was full of the night murmurs of the forest - the mutterings of trees rubbing against each other, the chitter of small insects, the rustle of leaves. But the woman and the girl were silent, and the only sound was the soft chuff-chuff of their feet on the road.
When he fell for the fourth time, instead of only the girl helping the young man stand up, the Iron Woman set down her sword and she took his hand as well. Then she picked up her sword again and, with the young man holding her belt and the girl holding the young man's hand, the woman led them off the road and deeper into the trees.
When they had come a little way off the road, the woman stopped and crouched down beneath an old ash tree that twisted and sprawled over the ground. The girl whispered in her brother's ear and he sat down beside the woman. The girl sat beside him, and the three of them waited there, each listening to the darkness. For a long moment, the young man could only hear the night sound of the forest. Beside him, his sister was quiet, her skin cool, and the woman was silent, her skin shedding heat like a sun-warmed stone.
Then the young man heard a great crowd of horses and riders coming along the road. The sound of the iron horseshoes and of creaking leather rose over the night sound of the forest like a great wave over a shore, until it seemed the sound filled the world.
A frost-pale blue flame came along the road with the riders, lighting the hands and faces of the two lead riders. Beside him, the clever girl pressed her hands to her mouth and closed her eyes. The men with hands of blue fire filled the girl with fear, but she would not say why.
After the men passed, the Iron Woman brought them a little further off the road. There they found a place set between two outcroppings of stone.
The Iron Woman sat down and put down her sword. The girl and the young man sat down as well. Where the stone came up from the ground there were no trees, and the moon shone through the branches and made the pale mist gleam. The girl and the young man shivered. Even when they took out the blankets and wrapped them about themselves, they were still cold. The woman looked at them and then rose to gather sticks for a fire. After she had made a small, secret flame, the girl and the young man huddled close and held their hands out.
Warmed, they smiled at the Iron Woman, and the young man took a bit of cloth, and some water, and washed and bound the Iron Woman's arm. Then the girl and her brother spread their blankets close by the fire. The Iron Woman had no more need of fire, and lay down on their other side, apart from the flames.
While they lay by the fire, the girl and her brother spoke together in soft voices. The brother told the sister how a battered sparrow had fallen through his window at the school of healing, and how the sparrow had passed on the clever girl's message. The girl told him of the terrible lessons the magisters had tried to teach her, and how she had hid in the cracks of the walls. The brother cursed, bitterly, and told his sister of his long journey to find her and the City of White Stone. He had come many miles, and had many adventures, only to be captured outside the walls of the City itself.
I thought you would not come for me, the girl said, and tears gathered in her eyes. Her brother gathered her close, and kissed her tears away, and kissed her again. I am your brother. Though you were taken to the ends of the worlds, I would always come for you.
She shook her head and clutched at the young man with her single hand. I am not what I was, she said.
You are my sister, and that is enough for me.
The girl wept herself to sleep, then, and the young man held her with her one hand tucked close to his heart.
In the darkness, the Iron Woman woke, and rose to stand over the girl and her brother. By the light of the last of the fire she could see the girl, her skin red from the ember light, her hair spread and the beat of her pulse fluttering in her neck. Beside her, holding her like a fragile jewel, the young man slept as well, his breathing deep and slow.
The woman stood for a time watching them, remembering how the girl had touched her own breast and then the woman's, and the taste of her mouth - salt and copper and honey all together. Then the woman remembered what the girl had said, This is my brother who loves me. The Iron Woman went back to her bed and cradled the sword to herself.
The girl brought you out from the City, she told herself. That is enough. And then, Love here is not what I felt with the magister, on the other side of the sky. And although her heart was still parched and dry, she felt more at ease. After some time, she fell back into sleep.
The next day, the three travelers moved on. They walked at the edge of the road, slipping aside when they heard or saw anyone approach. They were all very weary. When the sun was high, breaking through the trees overhead with long golden shafts, the Iron Woman led them off the road and into a sheltered place to rest. Late in the afternoon, they rose and walked again for some hours.
That night, the cold returned and the Iron Woman made a fire again for the girl and the young man. And again the young man held the clever girl as she fell asleep. But this night, the clever girl rose in the night, and woke the Iron Woman with a touch and a kiss.
The girl's mouth tasted as sweet as the Iron Woman remembered, and her one hand was sure and soft in its touch. The Iron Woman held the girl to her with both her hands and returned the kisses, and touch for touch, as quiet as the night sounds of the forest, until both she and the clever girl were spent and trembling. Then the girl rose and went back to her place by the fire, and the woman rolled herself back into her blankets.
They traveled on for many days. And at night the Iron Woman would make a fire for the girl and her brother, and then roll her blankets away in the darkness. Some nights the clever girl would come to lie with the Iron Woman, and sometimes the Iron Woman slept alone. And she kept watching the young man, during the hours of the day, waiting to see if he would, indeed, come to love the Iron Woman as he loved his sister.
The dragon men
The travelers fell into the pattern of the journey quickly, and it was well that they did, for guards of the emperors were often on the road, and all three felt they would be far safer, the further they were away from the ruins of the White City.
They met few people on the road, and spoke to none, for the Iron Woman and the girl both drew stares, and the young man spoke in the healer's cant, so that everyone knew them for strangers. They journeyed on for some days in this manner, walking far in the early day and late in the afternoon, and taking their rest in the heat of the day. For when the sun was high and heat wavered upon the road, making myths of distance and a lie of sight, the Iron Woman would waver, and grow faint, and the madness would come back upon her.
She would walk fast, legs long and feet unsteady, her arms swinging as she called out in her loud, harsh voice. Sometimes, she would not shout, but instead grow quiet, and walk bent over, like a dowager over her cane, empty arms cradling an empty belly. If they walked close, then, the young man and the girl could hear her murmur and groan. Her hands would run over her stomach again and again, and tears would run down her face. The anger and hate in her eyes, then, was far more terrible than the sorrow that filled her waking days.
They would stop then and the sun would pass and the day would grow cooler, and the woman would sleep, and they would continue on in the long shadows of evening. The other two did what they could to make the heat of the day less horrible. The young man and the girl began to know the look of the Iron Woman when she fevered, and the young man found herbs to make a cooling drench to wipe her hands and face. It was only a small thing, not a great healing, but the young man felt finally useful. When the fever was upon her, the Iron Woman would mutter and curse, and strike at the hands that reached to help her. But when it had passed, she would lie still, and let the young man wipe her face and her arms, and smile her thanks.
But one day, late in the morning, the girl found a flower beside the road, and brought it to show her brother. It was a strange flower, bright and gold and red. The girl had not seen the flower before, in all her studies, and delighted in this new thing. But the Iron Woman looked upon the flower and her face went pale. She took the flower from the girl and threw it aside, and urged the girl and the young man to walk faster. When they tried to ask why, she would not answer.
The road wound and twisted and dipped down the valley to run beside a stream. As the road came close to the water, the roadside grew thick with the strange red flowers. It was nearing noon, and the heat was great, making the air waver and colors pale, but still the Iron Woman would not stop to rest. The other two pleaded with her, but she would not listen. Instead she kept walking, long legs swinging in great strides even as she weaved and stumbled. The young man and the girl ran after her, afraid but not knowing why.
The girl stopped suddenly, and the young man and the girl stopped as well, for standing in the road were strange and fearsome beings. They were tall men, if men had the claws of eagles for hands and the teeth of lions in their mouths, and if men had long necks like those of a dragon. All over, their skins were wrinkled and scaled, and some carried bundles of flowers and some carried long spears in their clawed hands.
At the sight of them, the Iron Woman cried out, and waved her hand at the dragon men, as if to send them way. The leader shouted back in a thunderous voice, and the dragon men with flowers in their arms began to back away, leaving only the warriors there to face the three travelers.
Make fire! the Iron Woman shouted to the girl. And the girl waved her hand, and yellow flames appeared. Burn the flowers! And the girl reached out and touched the blossoms growing by the road with her flame.
When the dragon men saw the flowers wither and crumble, they cried out in anguished voices. The ones who carried bundles of blossoms turned and ran away, on down the road, and the spearmen turned as well. Only the last two charged the Iron Woman, spear shafts held high and their huge teeth bared.
The Iron Woman met them together, her sword high and roaring in her language. She killed both of them there, in the dust of the road, but the second one fell upon her sword as he died, and the sword shattered. Away down the road, the rest of the dragon men ran on, and did not look back.
The girl waved her hand again, and the fire went out, leaving only the heat of the sun and the trembling air.
The Iron Woman stood over the body of the dead dragon man, and kicked the sword he had broken. Then she reached down and gathered up his spear. The young man and the girl pulled her away then, off the road and into the deep cool shadows. They walked a long way, until they were far from the smell of the red flowers. There the Iron Woman finally lay down to sleep.
When she awoke, she found the young man was holding her in his arms, and the girl was keeping watch, the dragon man's spear at her side. The young man was asleep, but woke when the Iron Woman moved. When he smiled at her, she smiled back, slow and sleepy.
They asked her, once, who the dragon men were, and why the flowers were so precious, but she would not answer.
The strangers on the road
After the day they were set upon by the dragon men, the travelers took care to keep apart from any strangers. Whenever they came to a crossroads, they would take the less traveled way. When they happened upon a stretch of the road heavy with ruts and the marks of men or beasts, they would leave the road and wait until darkness came. In this way they went a very great distance across the hills and were not attacked again. But one day the travelers came around a curve in the road and found themselves surrounded by a band of brigands.
The Iron Woman was still walking with her spear over her shoulder, but she had fallen back to walk beside the young man and the girl. As they went along, the Iron Woman watched the way the young man's hands moved as he talked, and the way his forehead pinched together as he thought. So when the brigands, who had been following them for a little ways, unseen, suddenly leapt out onto the road, there was no warning.
The Iron Woman had her spear, though, and she stepped between the other two and the closest of the brigands, a tall, thick man with a ruffian's grin and a well-oiled sword in his hand. When the brigand saw the Iron Woman move forward, he laughed and made the sword spin so that it cut the air in a long, wailing hiss. The Iron Woman readied her spear to throw, only to have the young man push her aside and call out to the brigands.
Friends! Do you not remember me? I have found my sister!
At the sound of the young man's voice, the bandits drew back, amazed, all except the thick one who stood facing the Iron Woman. The leader of the bandits came forward and hit the thick one on the head. Fool! Put down your sword? Can you not see it is our friend the healer? For this was one of the adventures the young man had suffered while searching for his sister - he had fallen in with honest thieves, and made fast friends with them.
The other brigands gathered around, greeting the young man and his sister. One by one, there in the middle of the road, they all embraced the young man and the girl, even the thick one. One of the women, the youngest of the bandits, wept as she embraced the girl, and then laughed as she put her arms about the young man. The Iron Woman saw that the brigands meant no harm and came forward, shyly.
This is our friend, the Iron Woman, the young man said. The bandit with golden hair laughed and said, Your friends are always interesting. Beside him, a dusky bandit in worn leathers laughed, her voice like chimes. All friends of our friends are friends of us as well.
The leader of the bandits said, Tell us of your friend, then, that we might know her.
She is like me, the girl said. The bandits looked at each other, for somehow this was not welcome news.
Then the girl said, I broke down the walls and she carried me out into the night. We shall all go together, all of us who are friends. At this the leader of the bandits - a thin man with sad eyes - shook his head, and his eyes grew even sadder.
When we found you, I thought that we could travel on together, as we once did. But the guards of the emperor of the blue sun and the emperor's magisters are searching for the ones that broke the walls of the City of White Stone. Everywhere they search. If you came with us, there would be too many to hide, too few swords to defeat the emperor's guards.
At this the girl began to weep, and all the joy that had filled her body flowed away. She set her face into her one hand and would not look up. The Iron Woman put an arm about the girl's shoulders, and the young man came up and embraced them both.
Surely we cannot leave them here, said the oldest of the bandits, who had draped the worn and ragged cloak of a road-monk over his clothing. They are afoot, and we have horses to spare.
Yes, said another of the bandits, a woman with shining jewels stuck in her hair. We must not leave them unaided. All of them stared at the bandit leader. He stared back at them all, his face dark and sad.
Finally, the leader sighed and said, Yes, we will take them to the next valley, where the road forks. But we must be swift.
The youngest of the bandits and the golden bandit ran off to fetch the horses, and then they were all ahorse and cantering down the road. The Iron Woman did not know how to ride, but sat instead behind the youngest bandit. The young man rode beside them, and from time to time he turned his head and smiled. The Iron Woman tried to lock these things away in her heart, but the joy kept breaking out and she found herself smiling back. The wind of their passing was so swift that they rode through the heat of the day, and the Iron Woman felt no ill of it.
The sun was near setting when the brigands drew rein. Their leader pointed down the road, towards the northern hills. Just down the road are the crossroads, past that we must not go. Leave us now, and take care, for the emperor's guards ride these roads.
The young man nodded, and said, We will. The three travelers slid down, and watched as the brigands turned and rode away. The youngest bandit turned in her saddle to wave good-bye, and the young man and the girl waved back. Then the Iron Woman turned and led them off the road and into the brush, to wait for nightfall.
The bandit-leader's warning was well-said, for three times during the night the Iron Woman heard approaching riders and led the travelers off the road. The second time, the riders had the same pale fire that the travelers had not seen since the first night after they left the City of White Stone.
The girl stared after the riders, who were traveling south, towards the direction from whence the three travelers had come. Two by two, with hands of blue, the emperor's men come riding through, the clever girl said. But she could not say what she had meant. The words filled the Iron Woman with a great unease, and she rose soon after, and led the travelers away, making what speed they could.
The third time the riders came was near dawn, and the riders with pale fire rode with them. The Iron Woman heard the sound of horses well before, as always, and drew the girl and the young man off the road. They lay down in a little hollow, very close to the road, so that they saw the passing riders very well. The fire-lit riders passed first, then a group of soldiers, all passing north.
It was the girl who first saw the prisoners tied behind two of the guards. She groaned out loud, her hands pressed to her mouth. Then the Iron Woman looked closer at the lump tied to the saddle of the nearest guard, and she felt her heart grow dry as sand.
Oh, no, please no, the young man said. The two prisoners were the thick bandit and the youngest one. Both had been beaten, and rode bound and gagged.
The lump on the guard's saddle was the head of the bandit leader, tied by a thong through his hair.
When the riders had passed, the Iron Woman forced the others to their feet and led the way back down the road. By midday they had passed the crossroads. In the distance, black birds circled over a corpse of trees. The Iron Woman made them wait until dusk before she let them approach.
The young man and the girl both wept as they looked upon the bodies of their friends. All five had horrible wounds upon them, but the worst, perhaps, was the traveling monk, who had the rune of the temple hacked into his chest.
Our friends, the other two - they were sore wounded, the young man said. We must find them, that I can heal them.
The head of the leader was not the only one missing.
The Iron Woman stood over the body of the dusky-skinned bandit woman, and touched the dead hand with the toe of her boot. The hand still grasped the fingers of the golden bandit. The body of the golden bandit was across the clearing, pinned to a cypress tree by a score of arrows.
She spoke for the first time in three days, eight words in her harsh language.
The young man looked up, his face still wet with tears. He asked his sister, What did she say?
The girl said, She said, We will find the ones who did this.
The hole in the world
The words were easier said than done, as are all such oaths. First the bodies had to be buried, a long, terrible task in the dark, the night full of the smell of blood. Then the Iron Woman drew them a little ways away and made them sleep and wait hours before they could take the road again. Finally, days passed as the young man questioned farmers and merchants on the road. Where is the keep of the riders of the blue fire? Most would not answer, but only hurry on, with their loads of chickens and firewood and bags of grain. But the young man had spent many months searching for his sister, and he asked his questions well.
When people spoke, he watched the way their eyes moved, and he asked again and again. Slowly, so slowly they began to find the way.
Even so, the girl and the young man would have fallen into despair, if not for the Iron Woman, for she had set her mind to finding the lord of the blue fire and would not be turned aside.
So when the young man grew angry, the Iron Woman sat with him and bathed his face. When the clever girl's words became riddles again and no one, not even the Iron Woman, could understand her, the Iron Woman would hold her hand and stroke her hair until the confusion faded. In this way the three grew stronger as they went, and more resolute.
Finally, one tinkerman stared back at back at the young man and said, I think only evil comes of that place, and only evil wishes to find it. But if you follow the road over the mountains to the valley of the black stream, there, in the north, you will find the castle of the lord of the men of blue fire. Then the tinker walked away, and would not turn aside again.
They journeyed swiftly then, as fast as they could, for they still had to rest in the heat of the day, and the young man could not walk all night. But they knew the road, then, and as it wound further into the trees, and under the shadows, the Iron Woman needed less and less rest against the heat. They still kept their journey secret, and well they did, for the emperor's guards had left watchers behind. But the eyes of the Iron Woman and the ears of the clever girl found all the spies first, and the spies they found told no tales thereafter.
Still, they were a long time on the road, and the young man no longer spoke of healing any hurts of the two bandits, for he thought in his heart that they were both surely dead. The clever girl slept close to her brother at night, and the Iron Woman watched over them both as they sleep. Sometimes still the girl and the Iron Woman lay together and coupled, fast and harsh and both of them weeping, and now they took no notice that the young man would watch them. The Iron Woman thought, as he watched, that they would not be displeased, if he lay beside them, but still the young man kept to himself.
The mountains were tall and rough and the road through them long. Autumn was upon them before the travelers reached the valley of the black stream. And there, as the tinker had said, was a dark castle, a mirror of the City of White Stone, but crafted of black rock that shone in the moonlight.
It is a hole in the world, the young man said, and his voice trembled. But the words he spoke were true, for the walls of the castle were made of the night sky, and though them one could see the worlds beyond the earth.
It is a hole in the world, without cracks in the walls, said the girl.
The three crept as close as they dared, close enough to watch the guards on the castle walls as they strode back and forth. And there was a sight to make the Iron Woman's heart run dry, and the other two to shudder, for the guards on the wall were dragon men. The three watched as the sun rose and the guards changed places, and then they crept away again.
What shall we do? The walls are tall and guarded, said the young man. We cannot get in. The Iron Woman thought so as well, but she remembered the dead bandits in the grove and set her face again.
Turtle closed up all in his shell, won't come out until he will, said the clever girl, and shivered. A great dark cloud had built in the north, and scowled down upon the mountains. The air had grown cold.
The Iron Woman looked around and then came to her feet. The other two followed her, and she brought them to a herder's hut, empty now with the grass was gone and the leaves falling.
We should rest, think. Perhaps in the morning, there will be a plan. The girl told her brother what the Iron Woman said, and they all agreed.
The herder's hut had a stout roof and thick walls. Even though the sun had not set, the Iron Woman lay out her blankets and went to sleep, leaving the space by the empty firepit for the others. The girl lay down beside her brother, but they did not sleep. Instead the girl lay staring at the dead ashes, and the young man lay with his arm about her.
Finally, the young man rose and gathered his cloak, saying, I will gather more wood, even though the stack by the hearth was tall and thick. When the door shut, the girl turned over and spoke to the woman.
You have grown your wings again, your heart is green. Her voice was soft, and full of pain. The Iron Woman did not answer. I do not want you to go. You are like me, and there is no one else like me.
When the Iron Woman still did not answer, the girl reached out a hand. Come here. And even though the girl's voice was still soft as a falling leaf, the Iron Woman rose to her feet and crossed the narrow floor to kneel beside the girl.
Stay, oh, please, stay, the girl said. Her mouth was warm and damp and tasted of ice and salt. The girl's fingers were clever on the woman's clothing, and clever in her hair, and her tongue was clever on the woman's breast. The woman's breath came in hitches and gasps, and she shuddered, closing her eyes against the firelight and winding her fingers in the girl's hair. The girl's tongue traced a line down the woman's stomach, over her ribs and below her navel, making the woman moan out loud.
Stay with me, stay, stay, the girl said, and made the woman cry out again and again. But even though the woman shuddered and writhed against the blankets until she lay worn and exhausted, and even though she took the girl in her arms and pulled the girl's clothes away, and set kisses upon the girl's face and breast and lips, until the girl groaned and panted until she finally cried out loud, the woman never answered her.
Afterwards, the girl slept. The woman lay watching her breath, watching the girl's eyelashes flutter as she dreamed. Then the woman rose and silently drew on her clothes, and went out after the young man.
The trees were thick and the mat of leaves heavy, so that the woman's feet crunched loudly as she walked. She found the young man a little ways off, sitting under a tree. When she came to the young man, she thought she heard voices, but when she stopped and sat beside him, there was no one there.
The leaves at the young man's feet were scuffed and confused, and the earth beneath them was torn. On his face, tears had made clean tracks in the dust. The Iron Woman thought to ask what had happened, but the young man still could not understand her words. Instead she offered him her hand, and he set his in hers.
You are so brave, the young man said. I have loved your heart since the first moment I saw you. The Iron Woman brought her eyes to his, startled and trembling. The young man took her other hand. If we go against the emperor's men, I am afraid. You will die. You must not go with us.
The Iron Woman shook her head. The young man gripped her hand harder and said, If you die, my heart will die. You must run away. He pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers. Do you understand me? I am saying that I love you, as my heart loves my sister.
She nodded, and shook her head, and pulled him to his feet, and brought him back with her, to the hut where his sister slept. When the door opened, the girl woke and sat up, her hair spilling all around her, breast bare and white in the grey light. The woman shut the door and took the young man in her arms, and pressed her lips to his. Then she drew him down with her, down on the blankets beside the girl, and kissed them both, as a woman kisses her love.
They all three spent the night under the same blankets, and nothing was said of the castle, or of the friends they had come so far to find. The Iron Woman wrapt herself with both of them and the girl and her brother lay with the woman turn and turn about. Outside the wind blew and rain fell, but they needed no fire, and they needed no words.
Only the girl murmured, stay, stay, over and over, as she cradled the woman, the girl's breasts cool and tight against the woman's back and the girl's hand cupping one breast. Stay, stay, she pleaded, dropping the words with kisses along the line of the woman's neck. And in the same breath the young man's warm mouth was on the woman's other breast and he whispered, no, go, you must go, even as he leaned over the woman, rocking against her, into her, deep and sure. And the woman kept her eyes upon him, and when he shuddered and cried out, she did as well.
The woman slept with her head upon the young man's chest, and her right hand caught in the girl's fingers. Tomorrow we will free our friends, she thought, just as she fell into slumber.
The Iron Woman woke as the young man was binding her hands together. She twisted and cried out, but her feet were already bound. The young man pushed her down and pulled the knots tight. Beside her, the girl was already tied, a cloth between her teeth and tears welling in her eyes.
Get up, the young man said, his face hard and angry. Get up and walk. He forced them to their feet, and the woman and the girl both found their feet tied so that they could walk in slow steps. The young man led them out the door and down the hill to the road, and straight up the road to the wall of the castle.
The end of time
It was early morning, just after dawn. The birds did not sing, and the sound of the wind in the tree branches was sad and lonely. The three travelers walked slowly, with the young man pushing the other two ahead of him. Once the Iron Woman broke away, and tried to run, hobbling along with her tied feet, but the young man grasped the girl by the throat and held a knife.
Stop! he shouted. Come back, or I will kill her! So the Iron Woman stopped and hung her head and waited for the girl and the young man to come up to her.
The gates of the castle opened as they approached, and dragon men came down from the walls. I am here for the lord of the castle, I have brought him a fine gift! cried the young man, and the dragon men parted to let them through. One guard gave his spear to another, and beckoned for the young man to follow. Two others took the clever girl and the Iron Woman by the arms, and cut the ropes at their feet, so that they all walked swiftly.
The inner walls of the hall of the dark castle were black as slate, and terrible things rolled and twisted behind them. The Iron Woman turned her face away from the walls, and would not look. The girl looked, but only once, and cried out at what she saw. Thereafter she kept her eyes shut, though tears kept falling down.
At the end of the hall was a door, and beyond that door a great echoing chamber. And at the far end of the chamber was a throne of jet stone. The dragon man stopped then, and clapped his hands, and said in a booming voice, All hail and bow before our lord, the emperor of the blue sun!
On the black throne sat the Black King, who had held the Iron Woman in service to him. Over his head still rested the Black Spear. When his eyes fell upon the Iron Woman, he smiled.
My warrior, he said, You have come back to me. The Iron Woman could not curse and scream though the cloth in her mouth, but her eyes glared with hate at the Black King. The King laughed. And still not begging mercy. Such a waste.
Next he turned to the clever girl and said, What is this here? A morsel for the great dragon?
The young man stepped forward and said, This is my sister, great lord. I have brought you the Iron Woman, whom you have hunted all these years. In return, I ask only for the life of my sister and myself. The Iron Woman and the girl both looked at him with shocked eyes. The girl shook her head, and fought against the gag. The king made a gesture - black hand in black leather upon the black throne - and one of the guards pulled the cloth away.
How can you? She loves you! screamed the girl. The young man would not look at her. Instead he spoke softly to the Iron Woman, I told you to run, oh my love, and I am sorry I lied, for I love my sister more than I love you.
If you love me, do not do this! the girl cried. How can you?
At that the Black King made another gesture. A door opened, and more guards came in, dragging the youngest bandit and the thick brigand with them. The clever girl cried out again, her heart breaking, as the youngest bandit tripped and the guards kicked her as she fell. The thick brigand took two long strides and stood over the bandit girl, so that the guards beat him instead.
The Black King waved a hand at the thick brigand and said, I have sent an emissary to your brother. And your brother agreed to my terms. The Iron Woman knew, then, what had happened under the tree outside the herder's hut. The Black King went on, But now that I see you, I think the terms too generous.
The thick brigand turned then, and shouted at the Black King. You set lies in my mouth and gave me untruths to tell! Set us free or I shall come back to this place and break down your walls!
The Black King frowned. Shall you break them with your head? For you have no other weapons left. To the young man he said, One woman for two lives? That is an unfair trade.
The young man's hands shook and he swallowed. We had a bargain, my lord.
The king's eyes narrowed, all the lines about his face closing together. That is not enough.
Then make it two for one, great lord. I give you the Iron Woman, and myself, for the life of my sister.
The king smiled. Done. I accept. As your sister was precious to you, now she shall be precious to me. The young man's face went pale, but he nodded.
You monster! cried the girl. I cast you out, I am not your sister!
That is a pity, little sparrow, for if you are not sister to him, you will not be sister to me, said the king. You shall be my wife instead.
The young man stepped forward and shouted, NO! That was not the bargain! A guard took him by the arm, but the young man pushed the guard away. You promised me her life!
And so I did - and I shall see that she lives a very long time. The Black King pointed at the dragon men. Guards, take these others and slay them. Set their heads upon the wall with the other bandits and rebels.
Again the guard came to seize the young man, but he fought free again. He stepped close to the Iron Woman and set his hand upon the rope binding her hands. My love, I am sorry, but I had to try. Then he jerked on the binding he had made, and the bonds came undone, and the ropes fell away, and the Iron Woman was free.
Stop her! the king cried, standing up at his throne. But he was too late. The Iron Woman had her hands upon the spear of a dragon man, and her battle roar filled the chamber.
What happened after that moment is difficult to say, for there were many dragon men and the Iron Woman moved with the speed of light and her spear flickered like the sting of a serpent. The Black King stood on his throne, shouting for the guards to kill the Iron Woman. But instead the swordswoman danced among the dragon men, stabbing and striking. All about her the guards fell, and with every step she drew closer to the Black King.
The guards left the girl and the young man, and left to strike at the Iron Woman. The young man seized his chance and loosened the bonds on his sister. Even as the binding dropped away, the girl struck at the young man, as though he were a dragon man and not her brother. Instead the clever girl fled to the side of the youngest bandit, and fell to her knees by the feet of the thick brigand, who stood guard still.
The thick brigand called out then in a loud voice, The door - bar the great door! For he had seen the wide door begin to swing open, and knew there were dragon men on the other side. The two girls looked up, arms tight around each other, as the young man ran for the door. The floor was slick with the blood of dragon men, and littered with their bodies and arms, and the young man stumbled and slipped as he ran.
Go, go, said the clever girl, and beat on the leg of the thick brigand to make him hear her. I beg you, aid my brother! For all her anger had slipped away as she saw her brother run, all alone, to stop the dragon men, and she saw that it was a long distance to run, and the door was opening, opening, opening.
The thick man's hands were still bound, and he had far to run as well, but at the words of the clever girl he ran, swift as horses.
Then the clever girl and the youngest bandit cried out together, for a dragon man had thrown his spear across the wide chamber. The spear arched up, up, up, and fell down, down, down, and the spear pierced the back of the young man, just as he reached the door. He fell against the great door, but he could not move it alone. Then the thick brigand struck the door with his shoulder, all the power of his run behind him, and the door began to close.
And through this all, the Iron Woman fought on. She had no sight for the other prisoners of the Black King, nor any ear for the dragon men who stood to face her. All of her vision and all of her thought were for the Black King, standing before his throne.
Now the Captain of the dragon men stood before the Iron Woman. He was a broad, fearsome warrior. For long moments he stood firm against the Iron Woman, and they circled each other, trading each other blow for blow. But the Iron Woman's hate was stronger than the dragon captain's duty, and at last he stumbled, and the Iron Woman struck him down.
Then the rest of the dragon men were afraid, and drew back from the woman, even as she leapt up to stand on the great dais beside the throne.
She stretched out her hand and took up the Black Spear.
You are foresworn! the Black King cried. You have give your word! And the Iron Woman smiled, all her teeth bared, and said, I cast my oath aside, and I grind your word with your bones into dust. And with that word she struck at the Black King with the Black Spear.
But the Black King was no there when the blow would have hit home. Instead the Black spear shattered against the jet throne. And the Iron Woman cried out in fury, calling for the clever girl. Find him! she shouted. Oh, my heart and my help, search and find me the Black King!
Her cry echoed into silence. She stopped then, with the shards of the Black Spear in her hand, and looked across the chamber. It was a terrible sight.
The floor was littered with dead and dying dragon men, and their blood soaked the stone floor as it did the Iron Woman's robe.
Against the far wall stood those dragon men who yet breathed. The warriors crowded close together and trembled when the Iron Woman's eyes passed over them.
But worse, so much more terrible was the tiny group against the great door. The two bandits were holding the door shut - the thick brigand with his boots slipping in the blood as he dug in against the dragon men on the other side and his hands still bound, the youngest bandit straining to reach the bracing bar. Nearly at their feet, the clever girl knelt over the young man. From where she stood, the Iron Woman did not think the young man would live to see morning. Even as she drew breath to speak, the clever girl raised up a face new washed with tears.
The sound of the crosspiece falling into place echoed like a clap of thunder.
Hard on its heels, the clever girl cried out, Oh, that a healer could mend himself! He is dying, he shut the door but he is dying! The Iron Woman crossed the chamber and knelt beside the young man. She thought there would be anger in her heart, but all that she could find there was a great sorrow. For what, she could not say, nor could she say who she wept for, as the tears fell from her eyes.
The young man opened his eyes when the Iron Woman took his hand. Forgive me, he said, and coughed blood from his throat. I had gone so long, so far, following my sister...
The Iron Woman shook her head. You are so brave, she said. I have loved your heart since the first moment I saw you, there amongst the ruins of the City of White Stone.
The thick brigand and the bandit girl murmured in confusion, for they did not understand the Iron Woman's words. The young man's sister bent over her brother and said, She says... But the young man smiled, a ghastly thing with blood on his teeth, and stopped her. I know what she said, he murmured. And then he died.
The clever girl wailed then, and rocked back and forth, her face buried in her brother's cloak. But the Iron Woman choked down the sand in her throat and said, The Black King is fled, and I must find him.
The girl shook her head and wailed on, and again the Iron Woman said, I must find where the Black King has fled. And again the girl shook her head, but then she nodded, and then folded herself into a thread and dropped through a crack in the floor.
It seemed to the Iron Woman an eternity, kneeling there by another dead lover. She remembered her companions, finally, and cut the thick brigand free of the rest of his bonds. Then the girl returned, unfolding herself to show her face still streaked with gore.
He has gone deep, down deep. There is a cave there, a tunnel of white light, within the dungeons. But no where can I find the Black King.
The thick brigand and the bandit girl looked at one another, and the bandit girl said, We saw the terrible men, the dragon men, go into that cave with armfuls of red flowers. But none ever came out.
Show me this, the Iron Woman said. So with all the doors barred, and with the thick brigand bearing the body of the young man, they all made their way down the stairs to the depths of the dungeon. There, just as the others had said, there was a quicksilver cave, and the air that brushed past it was colder than anything that had ever existed.
The Iron Woman picked up her spear. The Black King has fled to the other side of the sky. I must follow him.
The clever girl shook her head, and then nodded. I will go with you.
The way is cold and far, my heart and my help. I beg you, do not risk yourself.
The clever girl kissed the forehead of her brother's body, and then embraced the thick brigand and the youngest bandit again. We go to kill the emperor of the blue sun. Will you care for my brother's body?
Yes, said the youngest bandit. We will set him to lie with the rest of our friends.
With all my heart, said the thick brigand. The clever girl kissed him again, on the end of his chin, and he smiled down at her. Then the clever girl set her hand in the hand of the Iron Woman and said, Go, I will follow.
And so the Iron Woman passed through to the other side of the stars again, and again she fell through the sky and a magister fell with her.
But what happened to them there is another story.