Instead she turned around and started walking. Toward the Source.
What should have been won by strength of arms can still be won by guile,he told her. She ignored him, though she didn't let go of the noose either. She stepped on a jagged piece of pelvis and nearly fell over but managed to recover her balance.
She took another step and felt the jar grow warm in her hands. The brain inside had no muscles and couldn't spasm but she could feel its consciousness bashing against the walls of the jar, trying to break free.
Lass! Don't quit on me now. I took a chance with your Ayaan and she quit on me too soon. That's why so many had to die. I'm telling you full truth, now. Don't make the same mistake she did, not if you value the things I've given you.
Sarah took another step. Another one. A bubble appeared inside the jar and splattered apart against its lid. She felt Mael Mag Och kick at her hands. It was all in her mind, she knew that, but he was fighting her. He didn't want to go any farther in.
'My mother. My father. Ayaan. Jack. All of my parents, all of them dead. Undead. And then murdered fucking again,' she chanted.
I feel I really must protest. Ayaan isn't twice dead, Jack was just a false persona and your mother'
'You know nothing about my mother! Neither do I! That's the goddamned point!'
She kept walking. The liquid in the jar grew uncomfortably hot. Her chin burned against the metal lid. Her hands ached from his attacks. She took another step and the heat was just too much. She let go and the jar fell away from her. The glass cracked as it struck the carpet of bones. The jar broke apart and half the liquid inside sloshed out. The brain sat in what remained of the jar'a kind of broken-edged cup, half-full of liquid. Steam lifted from between its two hemispheres like a ghostly crest.
Do you think this will kill me?he asked. He sounded quite calm.There's no point to this, whatever it is you may want, lass. I have as many bodies as I like. I have as many'
She shoved the noose back into her pocket. She didn't want to hear anymore. She watched the brain turn white and shrink down as the liquid bubbled and hissed and frothed. She watched the brain boil in its own juices. That was the point. It made her feel a little better. That was the point.
A mountain of flesh that stank like an unwashed cultist grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up into the air. Someone had noticed she was missing and had come to bring her back. She didn't scream. Bodily she was carried back to the Tsarevich's camp, most likely to be killed.
Life had a little surprise for her. Ayaan was waiting near the scaffolding. Sarah was dumped at the lich's feet. Ayaan helped her stand up.
'I didn't like him either, but the Tsarevich had a use for him.' Ayaan shook her head fiercely. 'I hate to play at being the adult and telling you not to meddle in things you don't understand.'
'Then don't. And I'll return the favor.' Sarah refused to meet Ayaan's eyes.
The two women who had attended Nilla as she approached the Source returned. Their wires lead across the valley and up the ridge on the far side. Their faces and hands were covered in a fine powdering of white and yellow dust. A boy with a bucket of water and a ladle ran up to them and let them drink and wash up.
The Tsarevich, still sitting in a wire shopping cart, was wheeled closer to the scaffolding. His head dangled over the side and his knuckles twitched against the bones as he was brought bumping and rattling to the base of the construction.
'This is the master you serve,' Sarah said. She lacked the energy to really belabor the point but she couldn't let it go without comment, either. 'The monster's monster.'