hunters_forest | Coldfire re-read: Black Sun Rising

Today we continue with chapter 28 - travel, more travel, a bit of sailing through the Canopy, and a tiny, tiny mind link.

Plot Summary

Our intrepid foursome travels up the coast towards the Canopy, with plenty of bickering and snarking along the way. Ciani and Gerald share a moment and strike a deal, and they all head out to pass through the Canopy. Which is done with much awe and angsting, and almost dissolves Tarrant into nothing. But since we're still at the beginning of the story, they all make it through safely. Damien gets to show off his veterinarian skills, and Senzei finds his sea legs while Tarrant grows progressively more wobbly. As a result of that, Damien strikes a pact with the proverbial devil and offers to feed Tarrant by whatever means necessary.

Quotes

With a thousand years of leisure time on his hands and the nearly unlimited potential of the Forest’s fae, the Neocount of Merentha had completed his most ambitious task. Erna now had true horses.

When a man thinks of killing the Hunter’s servant - or even disobeying him - he must take into account what the master’s reaction will be. Which is very different from how he will act if he imagines that he might, through the luck of a single kill, dispense with the master altogether.” And he added dryly, “It spares me the inconvenience of killing every time I travel. Surely you find that appealing.”
Through gritted teeth, Damien muttered. “Surely.”

Research in the castle’s library had revealed that the Forest was once a fairly normal place, unique only in that it was located near a natural focus of the Earth-fae. The Hunter had changed that.

What kind of a mind did it take to think on that scale? To take on such a project and then succeed with it, rather than making the Forest into a lifeless wasteland, whose survival was compromised by the lack of one special insect, or one minute step in the food chain ladder? The sheer scope of the project was staggering. But with a thousand years of spare time on his hands, a very special man could succeed. A man like the Neocount of Merentha, who had spent his last living years redefining man and God, evolving human society with the same precise attention to detail that he gave to horses and Forest flora...

He shook his head. “You misunderstand me. I can see the Canopy quite clearly from here. There’s no mistaking it. It’s as if the world ends suddenly at that point, as if there’s a line beyond which nothing exists. Oh, I can see the water beyond, and mountains in the distance . . . but those forces which are visible only to the adept’s eye come to a halt in midair, and beyond it is - nothing. Absolute nothingness. A wall of nonexistence, beneath which the water flows.”
“And you think it’ll kill you.”

She met his eyes - and drank in the pain, the power, all of it. “What would you say,” she asked him, “if, when you were dying, someone offered you life? Would you question the terms - or simply grasp at the bargain with all your strength, and live each moment as it came?”
“That’s a loaded simile,” he warned her. “And I don’t think I have to tell you what my own answer would be. What it was, when I had to make that choice.”
“Then you know my response.”

“They can swim,” Tarrant said coldly.
“You sure of that?”
The pale eyes fixed on him with clear, if tired, disdain. “You mean, am I sure they were born with that instinct? I made certain of it.”
He left the captain standing there openmouthed - not unlike a beached fish - as he went to the bow to watch their progress. And Damien thought - somewhat guilt¬ily - that it was nice to see Tarrant’s arrogance directed at someone else for a change.

When he was safely out of hearing, Damien said to Tarrant, “I know heads of state who would give their lives to have half your influence.”
The Hunter smiled - and for the first time since the Canopy there was life in his eyes, and a hint of genuine humor.
“If they truly gave their lives,” he said, “they might have it all.”

“You all right?” Damien asked softly.
The adept stiffened - but if there was a curt response on his lips, he failed to voice it. After a moment the tension bled out of his frame; his shoulders slumped against the rock.
“No,” he said. “No, I’m not.” His voice was little more than a whisper. “Does it matter to you, priest?”
“If it didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”

“You trust me?”
“No,” he said bluntly. “But I don’t think you want me dead just now. Or incapacitated. And I don’t see that you’re much good to us, the way you’re going.”

He hesitated. “Tell me what it would entail.”
“What any channel does. A path of least resistance for the fae, that any Working might draw upon. Such a thing could never be banished, priest. Not by either of us.”
“But if it wasn’t used?”
“It has no power of its own, if that’s the question. Nor would it fade with time. Only death can sever that kind of link - and sometimes not even that.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted a cleric’s blood,” he mused.

Thoughts

I've never noticed before just how much the coldfire gets used in this chapter. I don't think we ever see it used so casually and often again after this. Was she playing with a new toy here when she wrote this?

One thing that has puzzled me from the first time I read the books is that the Forest looks the way it does. Tarrant has such a keen sense for aesthetics that I'd have expected him to come up with a different look for his creation. Why go for this particular style?

Just how many blood-drinking guests do the restaurants in this area have that they regularly stock blood?

The conversation between Ciani and Tarrant fascinates me for what it shows about how he thinks of her. He's willing to risk his life rather than risk turning into a demon, and he trusts her to know about an essential weakness. And he also offers her a way to get the fae back. Isn't that a lot more than his promise of "do no harm to Ciani"?

It's also an interesting perspective on Ciani. She knows who she is dealing with and she knows that she could just as easily get Damien or Senzei to teach her to use the fae. But she accepts it from Tarrant instead. Is it because he offered, or do you think she had other reasons?

The pattern of Damien looking after Tarrant is starting, even though he's still in need of making excuses for worrying here. They're also starting to relax around each other now that they've shared the first bit of danger - seems a bit as if they need to focus to keep the mutual dislike going, and that it slips when they're preoccupied with other matters.