Incarceron Part 106

"I don't need a ransom for my forgiveness. Good-bye, scared boy. Guard my crystal Key."

The cell blurred and opened. He felt as if he were dragged through a blinding concussion of stone and flesh; that huge wheels of iron rumbled over him, that he was opened and closed, riven and mended. He stood up from the chair and the dark figure held out a hand to steady him.

And this time it was Jared.

35.

I have walked a stair of swords, I have worn a coat of scars.

I have vowed with hollow words, I have lied my way to the stars.

-Songs of Sapphique ***

The gate shuddered.

"Don't worry. It will never break."

Calm, the Warden surveyed Finn.

"So this is the one you think is Giles."

She glared at him.

"You should know."

Finn stared around. The room was so white it hurt, the glare of the lights making his eyes ache.

The man he recognized as Blaize laughed lightly, folding his arms.

"Actually, it doesn't matter whether he is or not. Now you have him, you will have to make him Giles. Because only he stands between you and disaster."

Curious, he stepped closer to Finn.

"And what do you think, Prisoner? Who do you think you are?"

Finn felt shaky and filthy; suddenly he knew that his skin was grimed with dirt, that he stank in this sterile room.

"I ... think I remember. The betrothal.."

"Are you sure? Or might it not be that these are memories someone else had, that are now buried in you, filaments of thought trapped in borrowed tissue, that the Prison built into you?" He smiled his cold smile.

"Once we could have found out," Claudia snapped. "Before Protocol."

"Yes." The Warden turned to her. "And that problem I will leave to you."

Finn saw how pale she was, how angry. She said, "All my life you let me believe I was your daughter. And it was all a lie."

"No."

"Yes! You selected me, you educated me, you formed me ... you even told me all that! Created a creature that would be just what you wanted, that would be pliant and marry whom you said and be what you wanted. What would have happened to me afterward? Would poor Queen Claudia have met with an accident too, leaving only the Warden to be Regent? Was that the plan?"

He met her eyes, and his were clear and gray.

"If it was, I changed it because I grew to love you."

"Liar!"

Jared said unhappily, "Claudia, I ..." but the Warden held up his hand.

"No Master, let me explain. I chose you, yes, and I freely admit at first you were a means to an end. A squalling infant that I saw as rarely as possible. But as you grew, I came ... to look forward to seeing you. To the way you curtsied to me, showed me your work, were shy with me. And you have become dear to me."

She stared at him, not wanting to hear this, or believe it. She wanted to keep her anger bright, newly minted like a coin. He shrugged.

"I was not a good father. For that I am sorry."

In the stillness between them the hammering broke out again, even louder.

Jared said urgently, "It hardly matters, sir, what you did or who this boy is. We are all condemned now. There is no escape from death unless we all enter the Prison."

Finn muttered, "I have to go back for Attia."

He held out his hand to Claudia for the other Key; she shook her head.

"Not you. I'll go back."

Reaching out, she took the crystal copy from him and compared the two. "Who made this?"

"Lord Calliston. The Steel Wolf himself."