“Why can I not simply—”
“Have you a son or daughter yet, Your Grace?”
“Have I ever mentioned how deeply I loathe that sweetness in your voice like poison?”
“You have always understood that this was a long game. Why so impatient?”
“If Silversun can reveal possible futures to me, why should I not discover what’s in store and adjust my moves accordingly?”
“Several reasons. He doesn’t yet know that you are aware of his special talents. He doesn’t trust you—that abortive move regarding the glassworks was incredibly foolish, unworthy of you.”
“It was my calculation that owning his glasscrafter would be a step towards owning him.”
“The Elf is not the only one capable of fierce devotion. Cayden loves the Cindercliff girl—or, I should say, Mistress Windthistle—as much as he is capable of loving anyone.”
“And yet he didn’t marry her.”
“Do you love your favorite hound the way you love your wife?”
“My wife is not a subject for discussion.”
“She was a clever move, you know.”
“I would not have married her otherwise. I admit I’m pleased you approve of her.”
“Of herself, her person, I neither approve nor disapprove. What I appreciate is her ambition. And what I deplore is the proposition you made to Touchstone regarding a theater. The idea itself is not without merit. But the timing was all wrong.”
“I might have succeeded, if the Wordturner whelp had done his job.”
“That’s debatable. Cayden respects Fairwalk in many ways, but not enough to counter his own instincts. As exceptional as his intellect may be, he would not be able to do what he does in priming the withies—which Mistress Windthistle makes for him, specifically for him and the Elf, knowing and loving them both—if he lacked equally significant emotional depths. You’ve come to know his mind a little. You must understand his heart before you can use him as you think to use him.”
“His heart is of no use to me.”
“That’s where Your Grace is mistaken. Passionate as the Elf is, he would have little to work with if Cayden did not provide. Their partnership is what all tregetours and gliskers aspire to: a connection that amounts to a communion. If what I’ve heard is true, it was that way with them almost from the first. This was an extraordinary stroke of luck for you, of course.”
“And why may I not take advantage of it now, rather than wait?”
“Recollect, please, his ancestors.”
“I remember Lady Kiritin quite well.”
“You remember her. I knew her.”
“But you never told him that you did?”
“Of course not. He’s ashamed of her ruthlessness, though in secret I believe he rather admires her power. But more to the immediate purpose for Cayden, and to the longer purpose for Your Grace, the grandsire, Cadriel, was a Master Fettler. Power of a different kind, but more importantly, power in an environment where Cayden, too, could find success. The other Silversuns … there was a great-grandmother who was quite mad, but it was through her that he inherited the potential. She was one of the last Watersmiths. Not just an Elfen bloodline, but Fae. Cadriel was her only son. Of his two sons, Zekien is a charming fool and the other, Dennet, went mad during the late war.”
“Is Cayden likely to follow them into madness if pushed too hard?”
“That is where the grandsire comes into it. Consider the fettler’s role onstage. Control.”
“Then we needn’t worry too much about shattering him?”
“There is always the possibility. But in my estimation, he’s resilient enough. To resume. Where the poetry came in, I’ve no notion. Once I saw it, I encouraged it, of course. Because I knew—slowly, it’s true—but I knew what he could become.”
“I must confess that I still don’t see what the one has to do with the other. What his need to write and perform plays has to do with my need to know.”
“Are you telling me that this scribbler of playlets can decide my future?”
“Gently, Your Grace, I have not finished. As I have been explaining, in him are power, intellect, emotion, and above all control. He doesn’t want to become like his great-grandmother or his uncle, so he is accustomed to self-examination and self-discipline. I taught him much in this line. He balances his fear against his arrogance, his heart’s pain against his mind’s authority. He knows that he sees only what he has the power to change. Heed me well, Your Grace. He must be broken, his balance overset. His pride and his intellect must work together without encumbering emotions. He must want to bring about the world Your Grace envisions. And before you ask, it has everything to do with what he does onstage. Did you not feel the power of it? More importantly, did you not read what he himself said?”
“Read? Read what?”
“One of the broadsheets. What he said was this: that theater in the right hands can change lives—and that if you can change enough lives, you can change the world.”
“Why do you laugh? What’s so funny about that?”
“I laugh because he knows, and yet he doesn’t know. Such an innocent, for all his posturings! Your Grace, believe me when I say that there is more to be used of this magic of his than the ability to look into the futures. There is so much more.”
LIST OF TERMS
agroof flat on your face; “knocked all agroof”
aroint found only in the imperative mood, get thee gone
ascian (ash-ee-in) a person without a shadow
blash weak or watered-down beer
breedbate someone who likes to start arguments or stir up quarrels
bully-rook a bragging cheater
Caitiff witch
carkanet necklace
chankings food you spit out
chavish the sound of many birds chirping or singing at once; the sound of many people chattering at once
cheverel kid leather
claum to handle with dirty fingers
climp to touch a clean, shiny surface and leave smudges of dirt or grease
clinquant glittering
clumperton clownish, clumsy lout
clunsh mixture of mud and dung
crambazzle worn-out, dissipated old man
cribble to pass something through a sieve; colloquially, to put somebody through the wringer
crizzle flaws in glass
cullion rude, disagreeable, mean-spirited person
dog’s match a quickie
efter thief who robs theater patrons during a performance
feazings the frayed or unraveled ends of a rope
fliting an exchange of invective, abuse, or mockery, especially one in verse set forth between two poets
fribbler foolish, fussy man; also a fribble; to fribble as a verb
frustling shaking out and exhibiting feathers or plumage
gammon to trick or deceive, especially by talking nonsense
giddiot giddy and idiot
ginnel a narrow passage between buildings
gleet slime, sludge, greasy filth
glunsh to devour food in hasty, noisy gulps; by extension, a glutton
grouk become gradually enlivened after waking up
hest command
on tick goods received on credit
quat a pimple; used in contempt of a person
rumbullion an old term for rum
smatchet impudent, contemptible child
snarge a person no one likes; a
total jerk
snup to snap up something of value that someone else has discarded or is selling for a bargain price
snurt expel mucus in sneezing or snorting
tiring room from retire; a private chamber
twiddlepoop foolish, fussy man
wamble the rumble, gurgle, or growl made by a distressed stomach on the verge of nausea; adj., wambling (“a wambling belly”)
yark vomit
TOR BOOKS BY MELANIE RAWN
Spellbinder
Fire Raiser
Touchstone
Elsewhens
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ELSEWHENS
Copyright © 2013 by Melanie Rawn
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Matt Stawicki
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Rawn, Melanie.
Elsewhens / Melanie Rawn.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-2877-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-4690-2 (e-book)
1. Magic—Fiction. 2. Traveling theater—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3568.A8553E47 2012
813'.54—dc23
2012020087
e-ISBN 9781429946902
First Edition: February 2013