Banner of souls by Liz Williams Read Free Book Online

issues were starting to chew once more at the edges of her psy-che. Where had the Kami come from, for instance? And what was the nature of the transformation that she and the Animus had undergone? Yskatarina's love for her aunt was as strong as ever, but she could feel cracks beginning to appear.
    She made her way to the slits in the wall, painstak-ingly carved with a diamond knife over the course of a sin-gle night, years ago now. She had been ten. The Animus had kept watch. She had never regretted the risk she had run, though if her hands had been made of flesh, they would have bled. It had felt, however, as though her heart itself had begun to weep blood, her implanted conscience reminding her in an incessant internal whisper of how much she owed her aunt, how greatly Elaki was loved, al-most to the point of worship.
    Almost, but not quite.
    She put an eye to a crack and peered through. There was Elaki, wrapped in a black shift with a tall medical cowl, moving slowly about the laboratory.
    Beyond her aunt's shoulder, Yskatarina caught a glimpse of moving starlight: a ship coming in over the wastes of Nightshade. Within the growing-tanks, things twitched long limbs. A black spine crept over the lip of a tank. Elaki batted it back. Yskatarina frowned; it looked too much like the Animus.
    Isti was there, too, the ever-present shadow at her aunt's heels. Yskatarina did not know what kind of thing Isti was, whether machine or bio-organism or hybrid. He was short and squat, with thick fingers and a squashed face. But his loyalty to Elaki was certain, greater even than Yskatarina's own.
    " He is bound to your aunt, as I am bound to you," the Animus had said once, as it clumsily wielded the brush that tore at Yskatarina's long black hair.
    "As we are bound to each other," Yskatarina had said, gently reproving. She stared into the dark wells of her own re-flection, and would not look up at the Animus. The brush had tugged and pulled, but the Animus said nothing.
    "What if Yskatarina fails?" Isti asked.
    "To kill the girl? She will not fail. But I will give her an additional incentive. If she fails, I shall tell her I will have her Animus taken away and returned to the vat."
    Yskatarina felt her heart grow cold and still within her.
    "Would you do such a thing? It is the only success of its kind."
    "I will sacrifice it if I have to. But I do not expect it to be necessary. The threat should be enough to secure Yskatarina's complete cooperation."
    "Have you told her exactly why the girl must be killed?"
    "Of course not. Yskatarina is loyal to me—I made quite sure of that—but there may still be cracks in the blacklight programming. I do not want her to start think-ing , Isti. She shows enough signs of it already. I have told her enough of the truth, which appears to have contented her."
    Listening in the walls, Yskatarina thought of losing the Animus and had to clench her teeth against her tears. Yet her conscience chattered and whispered within: You know your aunt has only your best interests at heart, that she is all-wise; you know that you must love her — must love, must, must ...
    I have told her enough of the truth…
    Conflict chattered and hammered inside her head, bringing lightnings of pain in its wake. The cracks were widening. With a great effort, Yskatarina shut off the inner voice and made her way unsteadily down through the walls. But as she went, she told herself that she would not let Elaki take the Animus from her, whatever she had to do to prevent it.

CHAPTER 3
    Earth
    Upon their return to Cloud Terrace, Dreams-of-War had gone straight to the Grandmothers and informed them of what had taken place. It had not been an easy dis-cussion.
    "She stood there, in the street , while that creature held her hand?" the Grandmothers demanded, speaking as one. "Disgusting! Is she injured?"
    "Her hand is hurt a little. That appears to be all." The Grandmothers' eyes gleamed. They shifted on the bed: two women, joined to each