The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(5)

“Enough!” Kyreth struck his desk with his fists. The room shook and the word Enough spilled down each of the Scrolls on the far wall except one, which wrote, much to Eliza’s surprise, The worst excuse I’ve ever heard. When Kyreth spoke again his voice was very quiet. “Listen to me, Eliza Tok. If the man is what you say, the Emmisariae will arrange to have him prosecuted. We will keep him in one of the guest rooms until then, with a barrier on the door. I will speak to Aysu about the Cra and see what can be done. This is what you wish, is it not? But you must make concessions too. You must accept that we have rules and that there are good reasons for these rules. Eliza, I am most concerned that you have been killing. It is not for you to decide whether a being should live or die.”

“If you only banish them, others just keep coming,” said Eliza unhappily. He was right but she knew no better way to deter the Cra from crossing over. “Lah, if you could make some kind of barrier to stop any of them from ever crossing over...”

“You do not understand what you ask,” said Kyreth impatiently. “If it were so simply done, we would have done it! What can you infer then? Answer me.”

“That it’s nay easy,” said Eliza sullenly.

“Impossible, given the many demands on our Magic,” Kyreth shot back. “I will speak to Aysu about the matter. Now go, Eliza. You hear nothing that I say and I am weary of speaking to you.”

~~~

Eliza was still seething when she left Kyreth’s study and went to find Foss in the Old Library. Charlie was with him and they both looked bored.

“I have been instructed to tell you that the Shade cannot have free rein of the Citadel,” Foss said. “If you bring him here, he is to remain supervised at all times.”

Charlie rolled his eyes.

“Fine.” Eliza plunked herself down in a chair. “Where’s Abimbola?”

“Under guard,” said Foss, with a hint of a smile. “I understand Aysu and Kyreth are meeting this afternoon to discuss the matter of the Cra.”

“You know I’m right, Foss,” said Eliza, eager to make her case again. “The Mancers should have done something about the Cra ages ago. I think you’re all too used to relying on a Sorceress, aye. Ever since my mother disappeared, the Mancers have just had these big missions, like finding me, or maintaining the Arctic barriers, or separating the worlds, but you’ve nay paid any attention to evil beings that are still crossing over and hurting people.”

Foss frowned. “Mancer policy is a complicated matter and not for us to dictate,” he said. “But I am interested in your choice of words, Eliza Tok. Do you believe the Cra are evil?”

“They kill babies,” said Eliza, shocked.

“An unsavory practice, to be sure,” said Foss. “Is a human who dines on veal evil, then? What of the wolf who kills the lamb?”

“Wolves are just animals, aye. They dinnay make choices like intelligent beings,” said Eliza. “And eating veal is nay the same as murdering a baby.”

“So the Cra are evil because they are intelligent, self-aware and feed on other intelligent and self-aware beings?”

“I spec so. Foss, I’m tired and I’ve nay had breakfast and I cannay think about this right now. Are you saying you dinnay think the Cra are evil?”

“I have no fondness for them,” said Foss. “A human life is indeed a precious thing and the Cra should be kept from Di Shang, without question.”

“Lah, so?”

“It is a mere matter of definitions. What is evil? Can a thing be evil in nature? Or does evil reside in choice? The Cra are what they are and cannot choose to be otherwise, in spite of their intelligence. Abimbola Broom, on the other hand, made a heinous choice. Are they both evil? Is one, having an irremediable nature, more evil than the other, who goes against his better nature?”

Charlie put his head down on the table with a thud. “I define evil as the pointless debating of philosophical questions while one’s friends slowly starve,” he said.

Eliza laughed but she was troubled. “Lah, evil is just a word. The point is that the Cra murder babies and have to be stopped.” She paused and added, “Kyreth called them evil, too.”

Foss nodded sadly. “Let us go to the kitchens and see if we can find some food for the two of you.”

“Hooray Foss!” cheered Charlie. “You’ll find redemption for your twisted soul yet!”

~~~

Charlie left at dusk. Eliza went out to the grounds with him to say goodbye. A large raven swooped down and landed nearby. It was promptly joined by another.

“You’ll be back in time, nay?” Eliza asked him, glancing at the ravens. “Even a day or two late will throw everything off.”

“You can count on me, Cap’n.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“But it suits you! Dinnay worry, you’ll nay be stuck here.”

“Why dinnay you stay?” she suggested hopefully. “It might be fun, aye. Or relaxing. Like a vacation.”

“A vacation where everybody hates me except you and you’re too busy to spend any time with me. Tempting, but I think I’ll take off for a while.”

Eliza sighed. “Where are you going to go?”

“Just exploring a bit.”