Part 18 (1/2)

There is nothing to forgive.” Seema smiled. ”I am glad you find my company inviting. Besides, in the weeks to come, I am sure you will be seeing more of yourfriends than you like.”

Too much of us? He's the ugly one!” joked Yago. The ogre took the youngestgirl's hand and turned down the mountain. ”Well see you back at the hut?””Yes.” Seema smiled mischievously. ”Sometime.”She led Atreus along the base of the Turquoise Cliff toward the brink of the upper basin. Soon, they drew close enough to the edge to see down to the mottled floor of the main valley. Along the crimson web of streams and rivers stood scattered cl.u.s.tersof tiny figures, gesturing excitedly and peering toward the upper basin. Only a single stream, cascading down from someplace hidden around the shoulder of the TurquoiseCliff, retained its natural silver.

Atreus stopped and looked down the length of the immense valley, his eyessilently tracing a dozen scarlet waterfalls into the mouths of a dozen hanging basinslike this one.

”Will the stain ever fade?” Atreus asked. ”Or now that Langdarma has seen bloodshed, will its waters run red forever?” ”There is bloodshed in many lands, and their streams are not red. I think it will nottake long for the beauty of Langdarma to wash the stain away.”

Seema guided Atreus to an immense fir growing along the cliff face. Beneath thecrisp smell of sap hung the odor of musty stone, and there was a dampness to theair that suggested the cool breath of a cave. Seema ducked under the tree's low-hanging boughs and disappeared on her hands and knees. Atreus followed, hishuge shoulders and humped back sc.r.a.ping the branch thickets somewhat clumsily.Soon, he found himself sliding down a muddy chute into the mouth of a small cavern.

Seema took his hand and led him into the dank-smelling darkness. The floor wa.s.sometimes soft and level and other times hard and steep, but it was always slick.Several times Atreus slipped and nearly fell, and once the ground completelydisappeared beneath his boot. Seema always seemed to know exactly where she was, cautioning him to duck when the ceiling grew low, or warning him not to trip oversome unseen boulder lying in the path. He was beginning to wonder if this was another mystical Pa.s.sing when they finally rounded a corner and he saw a faint circleof light fifty paces ahead. When the pa.s.sage grew bright enough to see clearly, Seemareleased his hand and led the way out onto a narrow ledge.

Atreus found himself standing many thousands of feet above the valley floor, staring down the length of the broad canyon at a hazy blue cloud he took to be themountains at the far end. The tiny figures he had seen standing along the river banksearlier were mere specks, discernible from the boulders and trees around them onlybecause they moved. The streams and creeks had become a mesh of red threads,and the main river was a scarlet rope snaking back and forth across the valley floor.

”You are not afraid of heights, are you?” asked Seema.

Atreus glanced down and found himself looking at a mot-tied carpet of green woods.He could discern nothing about the forest except its color*not the shape of theindividual trees, nor whether their crowns were pointed or billowing, nor even whetherthey were conifers or deciduous.

”It's too far down to be afraid.”

”Good,” Seema laughed. ”I would not like having to blindfold you on this trail.”

She started along the rocky shelf. Atreus followed as quickly as he could, keepingone hand on the cliff and his eyes on his feet. The ledge had a disconcertingdownward slope and an alarmingly smooth texture, and he had the constant feeling his boots were about to slide out from beneath him. If Seema felt the same way, sheshowed no sign, walking along as comfortably as on the balcony of her own stone hut Atlength, Atreus grew relaxed enough to tear his gaze away from his feet He saw thatthey were curving along the valley wall toward the head of the canyon, where a glistening tail of water fell to the valley floor in a series of step-like cascades, plummeting from one pool to the next until it finally plunged into a small, gleaming lake. It wasthe outflow of this lake that Atreus had glimpsed earlier, a single silver stream in the webof scarlet ”That stream is the source of Langdarma's beauty,” said Seema. ”It will wash awaythe stain of Tarch's murderous heart.” ”But those are the sparkling waters,” Atreus said, pointing at the cascades. ”I thought it was forbidden to bring me here.””It is. Of all the forbidden things I have done, this is most forbidden. But I cannot letyou leave without bringing you here. It is the reason you came to Langdarma.”

She took his hand and led him along the curving wall to the end of the ledge,where a small slot canyon cut up through the cliff to a hanging meadow. Here, overlooking the entirety of the valley's beauty, sat an alabaster palace flanked onboth sides by lotus ponds. The building had an ancient, guileless beauty, with thelower story painted in bright horizontal stripes and the upper decorated in swirlingrelief*s. A second-story balcony room commanded one end, while the other wasdominated by an elaborate open rotunda skirted by two domed gazebos. Connecting the two was a long gallery of scalloped arches and slender columns, withtwo streams of twinkling silver water joining halfway down a Y-shaped staircase, thendraining into a large oval reflecting pond.

”I've seen something like this before,” Atreus gasped, ”after the avalanche!”

Seema nodded and said, ”Of course. Did you not say you had found Langdarma?”

”I did, but after*when I forgot*I thought it was a dream.”

”Langdarma is a dream.”

Seema took his hand and led the way across the meadow to the reflecting pool andknelt in the soft gra.s.s. Even with the tiny stream flowing into the upper end anddraining out the lower, the edges of the pool were as still as gla.s.s. Its silvery surface reflected Atreus's hideous face in perfect detail*every lump, every blotch, everygruesome deformity. He turned his head aside.

”No, do not look away,” said Seema. ”Close your eyes and drink.”

”Drink?” Atreus avoided his reflection as he swung his gaze back in her direction.”That is permitted?”

”Why not? Do you think we will run out?” Seema giggled. ”Drink as much as you like.”

Atreus closed his eyes and cupped his hands in the pool. The water was as cold as a glacier, but he could feel its sparkling magic in his hands. It was a sweet effervescence that tingled down to the bone. A smile crept across his face, then heheard himself chortle in delight.

Seema's palm touched his elbow, urging his hands toward his face. ”What are you waiting for?”

Atreus saw the radiance of the water through his eyelids, silvery scintillations thatpopped inside his mind like bursting stars. He lowered his lips to his palms and drank,gulping the icy water down so fast it made his throat ache. The water filled him with anairy giddiness similar to the first time Seema kissed him, and he felt as if he would float into the air.

”Atreus, look,” Seema whispered as she pulled his hands down.

The face in the water was as unbalanced and misshapen as his own, with the samebeetling brow and sunken eyes, the same enormous nose and twisted mouth, but itwas not him. All of the disparate parts of this face fit together in a natural way that was sincere and unpretentious, n.o.ble in its casual warmth. This face was handsome,rugged, happy, and utterly at peace with its own uncommon character.

Seema peered into the pool beside Atreus, her reflection a likeness of her customaryloveliness. ”This is the way I see you. It has always been the way I see you.”

She turned to look at him, reached up behind his head, and drew his face down to hers. Her lips were warm and sweet and intoxicating, and now that she hadgiven him freely what he had come to steal, he found it impossible not to respond.He slipped his hands under her cloak, felt the heavy softness of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, andlifted the cloth over her head. She raised her arms, letting her silky hair cascadefree as he undressed her, and pressed her nakedness to him, undoing hisclothes as he had undone hers. She touched every part of him, running her warm hands over his burly shoulders and down his broad back, feeling the solidness ofhis stomach, the sinewy strength in his hips, the pent-up ardor of his loins, andAtreus thought he would explode.

What happened then became a blur. Seema pulled him on top and they meltedtogether. They lay writhing in the meadow for an eternity, skin-to-skin, oblivious to the chill breeze or the gurgling water or the pa.s.sing day, sometimes locked inembraces so tight Atreus could not tell where his body ended and Seema's began, sometimes merely resting in each other's arms, exhausted and content, theirbodies drained and their hearts full. They lost themselves in each other, forgot the morning bloodshed and Tarch's evil and the Sannyasi's verdict, and they becameone. If only for a few hours, Atreus learned what it was to be beautiful.

At last, the afternoon light began to fade, and their strength with it. Seema curledinto the crook of Atreus's arm and started to breathe in a deep, steady rhythm. Hepulled her cloak over her and lay holding her until his arm fell asleep and his back ached from lying so still. Using his free hand, he folded her clothes into a pillow andgently slipped them under her head and withdrew his numb arm. She curled into atighter ball and continued to sleep but otherwise did not stir.

Atreus stood and pulled on his own cloak, then looked out over Langdarma. Longcurtains of afternoon drizzle were beginning to fall from the icy sky, cloaking most ofthe valley in haze as gray as the canyon walls. Through the mist, Atreus could see little more than a sweeping swath of mottled green with the outline of a broadriver snaking down its center. With Seema sleeping behind him, it seemed themost beautiful landscape he had ever seen.

Atreus stood breathing in Langdarma's peace and serenity for a long time. Then he closed his eyes and kneeled beside the reflecting pool. At that moment, hewas strong enough to accept whatever he saw, but he had to see it alone. If theimage in the water was ugly, he wanted some time to swallow his disappointment,to put on a happy face so Seema would not think him ungrateful. Atreus leanedforward until he saw the water's radiance twinkling inside his eyelids and openedhis eyes.

The reflection was as handsome as before.

Atreus breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced over his shoulder. Seema was stillsleeping, her lips curled into a dreamy smile. Atreus reached into his cloak pocket and found the vial Ris.h.i.+ had slipped him earlier. He began to feel guilty anddisloyal, though he could not understand why. Seema had told him he could drink as much as he liked, and the whole flask would not amount to a single gulp. WhateverSune wanted with the twinkling water, he did not see how taking such a smallamount could harm Langdarma.

Atreus plunged the vial into the icy water and watched the air bubble rise to thesurface of the pool, then inserted the cork while it was still underwater. When he lifted the flask from the basin, it was gleaming and twinkling just like the onek.u.mara had used to calm Timin's delirious father. He checked his reflection one more time, just to be certain he had not broken the pond's magic, then slipped the flask into his cloak pocket.

A low hissing sounded from the alabaster palace. Atreus glanced toward the sound and saw*or thought he saw*a trio of dark eyes peering out from withinthe second-floor gallery. A ring of black tentacles seemed to be writhing aroundthe three eyes, and between the eyes was something that looked vaguely like anebony beak. Atreus gasped and rose.

”There is nothing to fear,” said Seema.

Atreus glanced back to see her slipping her cloak over her shoulders. She pulled her silky black hair out of the collar and let it cascade down her back, thencame to his side.

”It cannot escape the palace,” she said.

”What is it?”

Seema shrugged. ”Only the Sannyasi knows,” she replied, ”and perhaps not even him.” ”Every beauty hides a greater ugliness,” Atreus said, recalling what Seema had said to him not so long ago.

Seema nodded.

”Every adage has its source.”

Atreus gave an involuntary s.h.i.+ver and asked, ”How long has it been watching?”

Seema blushed. ”Not that long, I am sure,” she said. ”It has no interest in Devotions.” Despite her a.s.surance, she glanced up at the sky and grasped Atreus's hand. ”Come along, now. It would not do for us to be on the ledge after dark.”

They returned to Seema's house to find their friends fast asleep downstairs.Yago woke up long enough to mumble something about staying up half the nightworrying, then rolled over and began to shake the entire hut with his snores.Seema giggled, then took Atreus's hand and led the way upstairs, where he discovered he was not quite as tired as he thought.

The next morning, Atreus awoke at the crack of dawn, roused from a soundsleep by an alarming hollow in the pit of his stomach. At first, he credited his anxietyto the loss of waking from a blissful dream, but when he felt Seema's warm bodycurled against his and looked over to find her smiling in her sleep, he knew thisparticular dream was not yet over.

Atreus lay there without moving for several minutes, trying to recover the peace hehad experienced at the Fountain of Infinite Grace. Finally he realized that what hefelt was guilt As of yet, he had said nothing to Seema about the vial in his cloak,and he did not see how he could. To admit filling it was to admit that he had planned to deceive her all along. Even more than he wanted to be handsome, hedid not want to lose her love. He slipped out from beneath the heavy blanket,collected his clothes, and crept downstairs to dress. Part of him wanted to emptythe vial and return it to the cabinet, but another part whispered that Seema neednever know what he had done, that if he could keep the vial hidden for just twodays, he would have both Seema's love and Sune's grat.i.tude.

On the bottom floor of the hut, his friends were already up, brewing a pot of thegreasy b.u.t.tered tea that Yago loved more than anything in Langdarma. Atreus stopped on the stairs to pull on his tunic, drawing a sly grin from Ris.h.i.+.

”Yago, look at our master. Does he not look content this morning?”

Atreus could not help beaming, but his joy was quickly spoiled by the thought of what he had done to win the compliment. The smile vanished from his lips, and hesaid, ”I wish I felt as content as I look.”