No purer artist exists or has ever existed than a child freed to imagine. This scattering of sticks in the dust, that any adult might kick through without a moment's thought, is in truth the bones of a vast world, clothed, fleshed, a fortress, a forest, a great wall against which terrible hordes surge and are thrown back by a handful of grim heroes. A nest for dragons, and these shiny smooth pebbles are their eggs, each one home to a furious, glorious future. No creation was ever raised as fulfilled, as br.i.m.m.i.n.g, as joyously triumphant, and all the machinations and manipulations of adults are the ghostly recollections of childhood and its wonders, the awkward mating to cogent function, reasonable purpose; and each facade has a tale to recount, a legend to behold in stylized propriety. Statues in alcoves fix sombre expressions, indifferent to every pa.s.ser-by. Regimentation rules these creaking, stiff minds so settled in habit and fear.

To drive children into labour is to slaughter artists, to scour deathly all wonder, the flickering dart of imagination eager as finches flitting from branch to branch all crushed to serve grown-up needs and heartless expectations. The adult who demands such a thing is dead inside, devoid of nostalgia's bright dancing colours, so smooth, so delicious, so replete with longing both sweet and bitter dead inside, yes, and dead outside, too. Corpses in motion, cold with the resentment the undead bear towards all things still alive, all things still warm, still breathing.

Pity these ones? Nay, never, never so long as they drive on hordes of children into grisly labour, then sup languid of air upon the myriad rewards.

Dare this round self descend into hard judgement? This round self does dare! A world built of a handful of sticks can start tears in the eyes, as the artist on hands and knees sings a score of wordless songs, speaks in a hundred voices, and moves unseen figures across the vast panorama of the mind's canvas (pausing but once to wipe nose on sleeve). He does so dare this! And would hasten the demise of such cruel abuse.

Even a serpent has grandiose designs, yet must slither in minute increments, struggling for distances a giant or G.o.d would scorn. Tongue flicking for the scent, this way and that. Salvation is the succulent fruit at hunt's end, the sun-warmed bird's egg, the soft cuddly rat trapped in the jaws.

So searches the serpent, friend to the righteous. So slides the eel through the world's stirred muck, whiskers a-probing. Soon, one hopes, soon!

Young Harllo was not thinking of justice, nor of righteous freedom, nor was he idly fashioning glittering worlds from the glistening veins of raw iron, or the flecks of gold in the midst of cold, sharp quartzite. He had no time to kneel in some overgrown city garden building tiny forts and reed bridges over run-off tracks left by yesterday's downpour. No, for Harllo childhood was over. Aged six.

At this moment, then, he was lying on a shelf of hard, black stone, devoured by darkness. He could barely hear the workers far above, although rocks bounced their way down the creva.s.se every now and then, echoing with harsh barks from the floor far below.

The last time here he had dangled from a rope, and there had been no careless rain of stones any one of which could crush his skull. And on his descent back then, his outstretched arms had encountered no walls, leading him to believe the creva.s.se was vast, opening out perhaps into a cavern. This time, of course, there was no rope Harllo should not even be here and would probably be switched once he was found out.

Bainisk had sent him back to Chuffs at shift's end. And that was where he ought now to be, hurriedly devouring his bowl of watery soup and husk of black bread, before stumbling off to his cot. Instead, he was climbing down this wall, without light to ensure that he would not be discovered by those working above.

Not a cavern after all. Instead, a pocked, sheer cliff-face and those gaping holes were all oddly regular, rectangular, although not until Harllo reached this balcony ledge did he comprehend that he was climbing down the face of some buried building. He wanted to slip into one of these windows and explore, but he had promised to deliver splints splints to the Bone Miner below, and that was what he would do. to the Bone Miner below, and that was what he would do.

Careful questioning had led him to a definition of 'splints', but he could not find sticks suitable for the purpose of fixing the Miner's shattered legs. Either too feeble and small, or not straight enough; and besides, all the wood brought to the camp was too well guarded. Instead, he had gone to the tailings heaps, where all manner of garbage was thrown. Eyed suspiciously by the old women who'd sold children and grandchildren to the mine yet found they could not sever their ties thus dooming themselves to this fringe-world at camp's edge Harllo had picked through the rubbish.

Often, and especially from the run-off tunnels pumped through layers of sandstone, miners would find piles of bones from long-dead creatures. Bones heavy and solid and almost impossible to break. Skulls and the like were sold to collectors scholars with squinty eyes and too much coin and time for their own good. The pieces already fractured off, broken up and forming a kind of gravel, went to the herbalists for their gardens and the mock-healers for potions and pastes or so Bainisk called them, mock-healers mock-healers, with a sneer ground-up bone's good only for constipation! ground-up bone's good only for constipation! This left the oversized long bones which for some reason were believed to be cursed. This left the oversized long bones which for some reason were believed to be cursed.

Out on the heaps he found two that seemed to have been from the same kind of beast. After some examination and comparison, he confirmed that he had a right one and a left one. They were heavy, thick and ridged, and he hoped they would do.

Between shifts at the main tunnel there was a half-bell when no one was under rock, and Harllo, sweating beneath the weight of the bones, hurriedly carried them in; then, finding an abandoned side-pa.s.sage, he stashed them along with some lengths of rope and leather laces. That had been before his shift, and now here he was, trying to do what he had promised.

Those long leg bones were strapped to his back. His neck and shoulders were raw from the ropes and more than once he had thought the swinging of the heavy bones would tug him away from the wall, but he had held on, this far at least.

And now, lying on this balcony ledge, Harllo rested.

If someone went looking for him and didn't find him, an alarm would be raised. Always two possibilities when someone went missing. Flight, or lost in the tunnels. Searches would set out in both directions, and some old woman would say how she saw him at the heaps, collecting bones and who knew what else. Then someone else would recall seeing Harllo carrying something back to the main tunnel mouth in between shifts and Venaz would say that Harllo was clearly up to something, since he never came back for his meal. Something against the rules! Which would put Bainisk in a bad situation, since Bainisk had favoured him more than once. Oh, this was all a mistake!

Groaning, he slipped over the edge, cautious with his handholds, and resumed his journey down.

And, not two man-heights down from the balcony, his groping feet found another ledge, followed immediately by another a staircase, angling steeply down the wall. One hand maintaining contact with the seamless stone, Harllo worked his way down, step by step.

He did not recall noticing any of this his first time down here. Of course, the candle light had been feeble which made easier catching the glitter of gold and the like and he had gone straight back to the rope. And hadn't his mind been awhirl? A talking Ima.s.s! Down here for maybe hundreds of years with no one to talk to and nothing to look at, oh, how miserable that must have been.

So. He should not be resenting doing all this for the Bone Miner. A few switches to the back wasn't much to pay for this mercy.

He reached the floor and paused. So dark! 'h.e.l.lo? It's me! Dev'ad Anan Tol, can you hear me?'

'I can. Follow, then, the sound of my voice. If such a thing is possible-'

'It is . . . I think. Scratch the rock you're sitting on I'll feel that under my feet-'

'That,' said the Ima.s.s, 'is an impressive talent.'

'I'm good when I can't see. Vibrations, it's called.'

'Yes. Can you feel this then?'

'I'm getting closer, yes. I think I can start a lantern here. Shuttered so it won't spread out.' He crouched down, the ends of the long bones thunking behind him, and untied the small tin lantern from his belt. 'This one's called a pusher. You can fix it on to a pole and push it ahead. If the wick dims fast then you know it's bad air. Wait.' A moment later and soft golden light slanted like a path, straight to where sat the Bone Miner. Harllo grinned. 'See, I was almost there, wasn't I?'

'What is it that you carry, cub?'

'Your splints splints. And rope and string.'

'Let me see those . . . bones. Yes, give them to me-' And he reached out skeletal hands to grasp the splints as soon as Harllo came close enough. A low grating gasp from the Ima.s.s, then soft muttering. 'By the Sh.o.r.e of Jaghra Til, I had not thought to see . . . Cub, my tools . . . for this. The gift is not in balance.'

'I can try to find some better ones-'

'No, child. The imbalance is the other way. These are emlava, a male, his hind long bones. True, they twist and cant. Still . . . yes . . . possible.'

'Will they work as splints then?'

'No.'

Harllo sagged.

The Ima.s.s rumbled a low laugh. 'Ah, cub. Not splints.

No. Legs.' Legs.'

'So you can walk again? Oh, I'm glad!'

'If indeed I was somehow caught in the Ritual of Tellann, yes, I think I can fashion . . . from these . . . why do you fret so, cub?'

'I had to sneak down here. If they find out I'm missing . . .'

'What will happen?'

'I might be beaten not so much as to make me useless.

It won't be so bad.'

'You should go, then, quickly.'

Harllo nodded, yet still he hesitated. 'I found a building, a buried building. Was that where you lived?'

'No. It was a mystery even to the Jaghut Tyrant. Countless empty rooms, windows looking out upon nothing blank rock, pitted sandstone. Corridors leading nowhere we explored most of it, I recall, and found nothing. Do not attempt the same, cub. It is very easy to get lost in there.'

'I better go,' said Harllo. 'If I can come down here again-'

'Not at risk of your hide. Soon, perhaps, I will come to you.'

Harllo thought of the consternation such an event would bring, and he smiled. A moment later he shuttered the lantern and set off for the stairs.

From sticks a fortress, a forest, a great wall. From sticks, a giant, rising up in the darkness, and to look into the pits of its eyes is to see twin tunnels into rock, reaching down and down, reaching back and back, to the very bones of the earth.

And so he rises, to look upon you Harllo imagines this but none of it in quite this way. Such visions and their deadly promise belong to the adults of the world. To answer what's been done. What's been done.

And in the city every building wears a rictus grin, or so it might seem, when the stone, brick, plaster and wood breathe in the gloom of dusk, and the gas lanterns are yet to be set alight, and all the world is ebbing with shadows drawing together to take away all certainty. The city, this artifice of cliffs and caves, whispers of madness. Figures scurry for cover, rats and worse peer out curious and hungry, voices grow raucous in taverns and other fiery sanctuaries.

Is this the city of the day just past? No, it is transformed, nightmare-tinged, into a netherworld so well suited to the two figures walking with comfort and ease towards the gate of an estate. Where stand two guards, nervous, moments from warning the strangers off for the Lady of the House was in residence and she valued her privacy, yes, she did. Or so it must be a.s.sumed, and Scorch and Leff, having discussed the matter at length, were indeed convinced that, being a Lady, she valued all those things few others could afford, including . . . er, privacy.

They held crossbows because who could say what might creep into view and besides, the heavy weapons were so comforting to cradle when clouds devoured the stars and the moon had forgotten to rise and the d.a.m.ned lanterns still weren't lit. True enough, torches in sconces framed the arched gateway but this did little more than blind the two guards to the horrors lurking just beyond the pool of light.

Two such horrors drew closer. One was enormous, broad-shouldered and oddly short-legged, his hair s.h.a.ggy as a yak's. He was smiling or, that is, his teeth gleamed and perhaps it was indeed a smile, perhaps not. His companion was almost as tall, but much thinner, almost skeletal. Bald, the high dome of his forehead bore a tattooed scene of some sort within an elaborate oval frame of threaded gold st.i.tched through the skin. His teeth, also visible, were all capped in silver-tipped gold, like a row of fangs. He wore a cloak of threadbare linen so long it dragged behind him, while his looming companion was dressed like a court jester bright greens, oranges and reds and yellows and these were just the colours of his undersized vest. He wore a billowy blouse of sky-blue silk beneath the vest, the cuffs of the sleeves stiff and reaching halfway between wrist and elbow. A shimmering black kerchief encircled his ox-like neck. He wore vermilion pantaloons drawn tight just beneath the knees, and calf-high snug moccasins.

'I think,' muttered Scorch, 'I'm going to be sick.'

'Stop there!' Leff barked. 'State your business if you have any but know this, the Mistress is seeing no one.'

'Excellent!' said the huge one in a thunderous voice. 'There will be no delay then in her granting us audience. If you please, O orange-eyed one, do inform the Mistress that Lazan Door and Madrun have finally arrived, at her service.'

Leff sneered, but he was wishing that Torvald Nom hadn't gone off for supper or a roll with his wife or whatever, so he could pa.s.s all this on to him and not have to worry about it any more. Standing here at the gate, yes, that was within his abilities. 'Train your weapon on 'em, Scorch,' he said. 'I'll go find the castellan.'

Scorch shot him a look of raw terror. 'There's two, Leff, but only one quarrel! Leave me yours.'

'Fine, but I'd like to see you get two off with them only ten paces away. If they rushed you, why, you'd be lucky to get just one off.'

'Still, it'll make me feel better.'

'Now now, gentlemen,' the big one said, all too smoothly, 'there's no need for concern. I a.s.sure you, we are expected. Is this not the estate of Lady Varada? I do believe it is.'

'Varada?' hissed Scorch to Leff. 'Is that her name?'

'Shut it,' Leff snapped under his breath. 'You're making us look like idiots!' He carefully set his crossbow down and drew out the gate key. 'n.o.body move unless it's to go away not you, Scorch! Stay right there. I'll be right back.'

After Leff slipped out of sight, closing and locking the gate behind him, Scorch faced the two strangers once more. He managed a smile. 'Nice get-up, that,' he said to the jester. 'You a court clown or something? Sing us a song. How 'bout a riddle? I ain't any good at riddles but I like hearing 'em and the way when I do my thinking, trying to figure 'em out, my whole brain just goes white, sorta. Can you juggle? I like juggling, tried it once, got up to two at a time that took weeks, let me tell you. Weeks. Juggling demands discipline all right, and maybe it looks easier to other people, but you and I know, well, just how talented you have to be to do it. Do you dance, too, or stand on your head-'

'Sir,' the giant cut in, 'I am not a jester. Nor a juggler. Nor a riddler, nor singer, nor dancer.'

'Oh. Colour-blind?'

'Excuse me?'

'The guard,' said the other man, the thin one, in a voice even thinner, 'has misconstrued your attire, Madrun. Local fashion is characteristically mundane, unimaginative. Did you not so observe earlier?'

'So I did. Of course. A clash of cultures-'

'Just so!' cried Scorch. 'Your clothes, yes, a clash of cultures all right good way of describing it. You a puppetmaster, maybe? I like puppet shows, the way they look so lifelike, even the ones with wrinkled apples for heads-'

'Not a puppeteer, alas,' cut in Madrun with a heavy sigh.

The gate creaked open behind Scorch and he turned to see Leff and Studlock step through. The castellan floated past and hovered directly in front of the two strangers.

'Well, you two took your time!'

Madrun snorted. 'You try digging your way out of a collapsed mountain, Studious. d.a.m.ned earthquake came from nowhere-'

'Not quite,' said Studlock. 'A certain hammer was involved. I admit, in the immediate aftermath I concluded that never again would I see your miser- your memorable faces. Imagine my surprise when I heard from a caravan merchant that-'

'Such rumours,' interjected the one Scorch rightly a.s.sumed was named Lazan Door, 'whilst no doubt egregiously exaggerated and so potentially entertaining, can wait, yes? Dear Studious, who dreamed of never again seeing our pretty faces, you have a new Mistress, and she is in need of compound guards. And, as we are presently under-employed, why, destinies can prove seamless on occasion, can't they?'

'So they can, Lazan. Yes, compound guards. You see, we have gate guards already. And a captain as well, who is presently elsewhere. Now, if you two will follow me, we can meet the Mistress.'

'Excellent,' said Madrun.

Scorch and Leff moved well aside as the trio filed in through the gate. Leff then locked it and turned to Scorch.

'We never got no audience with the Mistress!'

'We been snubbed!'

Leff collected his crossbow again. 'It's because we're on the lowest rung, that's why. The lowest . . . again! And here we thought we were climbing! Sure, Tor did some climbing, captain and all. But look at us not even compound guards and we got here first!'

'Well,' said Scorch, 'if we'd a known there was a difference gate and compound we would've pushed for that, right? We was ill-informed look at you, after all.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You got orange eyes, Leff!'

'That was a different kind of ill-informed.'

'That's what you think.'

'If you're so smart, Scorch, you coulda asked about being compound guards!'

'If it was just me, I would have!'

'If it was just you, Studlock never would've hired you at all, except maybe to clean out the latrines!'

'At least then I'd be inside inside the gate!' the gate!'

Well, he had a point there. Leff sighed, stared out on the street. 'Look, there's the lantern crew.'

'Let's shoot 'em!'

'Sure, if you want us to get fired, Scorch, is that what you want?'

'I was only joking, Leff.'

There were looks that killed, and then there were looks that conducted torture. Excoriating skin with incremental, exquisite slices that left blood welling to the surface. That plucked eyeb.a.l.l.s and pulled until all the tendons stretched, upon which those long wet ligaments were knotted together so that both eyes sat on the bridge of the nose. Torture, yes, delivered in cold pleasure, in clinical regard.