Part 59 (1/2)

”Camaris!” shouted Josua. Tiamak looked up, startled. The prince was staring at a shape beyond the farthest of the Sithi, a tall figure with a long shadow in one hand. The prince hastened around the tarn's rim; the Sithi, their attention pulled away from the pool, moved with him toward the solitary figure. Tiamak hurried after, the pain of his leg momentarily forgotten.

For an instant Tiamak thought the prince was mistaken, that whatever this shape was, it was not Camaris: for a blink of time he saw someone completely different, jet-haired and dressed in strange robes, with a branching crown upon his head. Then the chamber seemed to shudder and tip, and the Wrannaman stumbled; when he had regained his balance, he saw that it was indeed the old knight. Camaris looked up at the approaching figures and stepped back, his eyes wild with alarm, then leveled the black sword before him. Josua and the Sithi stopped beyond its reach.

”Camaris,” said the prince. ”It is Josua. Look, it is only me. I have been searching for you.”

The old man stared at him, but the sword did not waver from its defensive position. ”It is a sinful world,” he replied hoa.r.s.ely.

”I will go with you,” said Josua. ”Wherever you wish to go. Do not be afraid. I will not stop you.”

Likimeya's voice was surprisingly gentle. ”We can help you, Hikka Ti-tuno. Hikka Ti-tuno. We will not stay you, but we can make your pain less.” She took a step forward, her hands held with palms upward. ”Do you remember Amerasu s.h.i.+p-Born?” We will not stay you, but we can make your pain less.” She took a step forward, her hands held with palms upward. ”Do you remember Amerasu s.h.i.+p-Born?”

The old man's lips drew back in a grimace of pain or fear and he drew Thorn back as if to strike. Dark Kuroyi's sword hissed from its sheath as he stepped in front of Likimeya.

”There is no need,” she said coldly. ”Put up.”

The tall Sitha hesitated for a moment, then slipped his witchwood sword back into place. Camaris lowered his black blade once more.

”Pity.” Kuroyi sounded genuinely regretful. ”I have always wondered what it would be to cross swords with the greatest of mortal warriors....”

Before anyone else spoke again the light flared wildly, then the room was plunged into blackness. A moment later light returned, but this time the misty air was blue as the center of a flame. Tiamak felt a freezing wind that seemed to blow through him, and the tension of the air increased until his ears hammered.

”How you do love mortals. mortals. ” The dreadful voice sounded in his thoughts and all through his body; the words felt like insects skittering on the Wrannaman's skin. ”You cannot leave them ” The dreadful voice sounded in his thoughts and all through his body; the words felt like insects skittering on the Wrannaman's skin. ”You cannot leave them alone.” alone.”

Tiamak and the others turned. In the roiling mists behind them a shape was forming, pale robed and silver masked, enthroned in midair above the pool. The sickly blue light did not reach much beyond the water, and the chamber was now walled with shadow. The Wrannaman felt terror seize him by the spine. He could not move, could only pray that he would be unnoticed. Stormspike's queen-for who else could it be?-was as dreadful as any nightmare vision of She Who Waits to Take All Back.

Likimeya nodded her head. She held herself stiffly, as though even speaking took much effort. ”So, Eldest. You have found a way to reach the Pool of Three Depths. That does not mean that you can use it.”

The masked figure did not move, but Tiamak felt something almost like triumph emanate from it. ”I silenced Amerasu ”I silenced Amerasu-I broke her before my huntsman dispatched her. Do you think you are her equal, child?”

”By myself, no. But I have others here with me.”

”Other children. ” ” A pale gloved hand lifted, wavering as the mist swirled. A pale gloved hand lifted, wavering as the mist swirled.

Tiamak was dimly aware of movement on the edge of the circle of figures around him, but could not tear his eyes away from the s.h.i.+mmering silver mask.

”Camaris!” Josua cried. ”He is leaving.”

”Go,” said Jiriki. ”And you, too, Tiamak. Follow him.”

”But what of you?” The prince's voice cracked. ”And how will we find our way?”

”He is going where he is drawn.” Jiriki moved closer to his mother, who already seemed locked in some silent struggle with the Norn Queen. The muscles of Likimeya's face were rippling. ”And that is where you must go, too. This is our struggle here.” Jiriki turned to face the pool.

”Go!” said Aditu urgently. She tugged at Tiamak's sleeve, pulling him off-balance and sending him stumbling toward Josua. ”We will call on the power of the Oldest Tree and hold her at bay as long as we can, but we cannot defeat their plan here. Utuk'ku is already drawing on the Master Witness. I can feel it.”

”But what is she doing? What is happening?” Tiamak heard his voice rising in terror.

”We cannot see that,” Aditu moaned. Her teeth were clenched. ”We have all we can do to hold her back. You and the others must accomplish whatever remains. This is our battle. Now go!” She turned away from him.

The pulsing radiance of the pool grew stronger, and lavender flames kindled along the walls, leaping as though in a fierce wind. The entire chamber felt tight as a drumhead. Tiamak thought he could feel himself shrinking, twisting, being slowly crushed by the forces now unleashed. Something powerful, yet without form or substance, was beating out at him from the misty shape that hovered over the water.

Fumbling as though they were battered by gale winds, the Sithi formed into a line before the pool and linked their hands, then began to sing.

As the immortals' strange music rose, the lights of the pool flickered wildly. Tiamak stared helplessly at the glowing mists, unable to remember how to move. The walls around the pool seemed to bend inward and then push out again, bend in and push out, as though the chamber breathed. On the rim of the pool Aditu staggered and slumped forward, but her brother, who stood beside her, pulled her upright; the song of the Sithi faltered for a moment, then resumed.

In response to their wailing music, something else began to form in the mists of the pool, something that rapidly became entangled with the pale shadow of the Norn Queen. Tiamak saw it as a dim, dark shape with a wide trunk, swaying branches, and phantom leaves that fluttered as though a wind caressed them. Aditu had said ”the Oldest Tree”; Tiamak could sense this huge thing's antiquity, its deep roots and spreading, nurturing strength. For a moment he felt something like hope.

As if in response, the blue lights in the water began to burn even more fiercely, until the glare filled the chamber with blinding radiance. The tree shape grew less substantial. The Wrannaman felt himself sinking down to the ground as Utuk'ku's choking, freezing might surged out from the Pool of Three Depths.

”Tiamak! ” ”

The voice was distant and far behind him; it meant little. Nothing could push through the fog that was filling his ears, his heart, his thoughts....

High above the center of the pool, the Norn Queen seemed a creature made entirely of ice, but something black pulsed at the heart of her, and jagged flares of purple and blue played about her head and glinted from her s.h.i.+ning mask. She spread her arms, then clenched her gloved fists. Kuroyi abruptly shrieked and fell away from the rest of the Sithi to writhe on the ground. The dark-haired Sitha began to deform into impossibly swift-changing shapes, as though invisible hands kneaded him like dough. The other Sithi slumped and fell back; the ghost-tree vanished completely. After a few moments Aditu and her kin recovered themselves and began fighting to close the gap where Kuroyi had been. They struggled as though immersed in deep water, striving to join hands once more. The fallen Sitha had stopped struggling and lay still. There was no longer anything manlike in his form.

Something jerked at Tiamak's arm, then jerked again. He turned slowly. Josua was screaming at him, but he could not hear the words. The prince pulled him up onto his feet and dragged him, stumbling, away from the pool. Tiamak's heart was rattling as though it might burst. His legs did not want to support him, but Josua kept tugging until Tiamak could move on his own, then the prince turned and lurched away in pursuit of Camaris. The old knight was several score paces ahead, walking stiff-legged toward the dark pa.s.sages at the far side of the wide chamber. Tiamak limped slowly after them both.

The song of the Dawn Children rose again behind him, more raggedly this time. Tiamak did not dare look back. Blue light throbbed all across the cavern ceiling, and the shadows bloomed and vanished and then bloomed again.

Despite the strange s.h.i.+fting that seemed to be going on around him, despite the bodiless voices that sometimes shrieked or gibbered in the blackness, Simon did not surrender to fear. He had survived the wheel and then had pa.s.sed over into the void and returned. He had won back his life, but he did not hold it as tightly as he once had, and so, in a way, his grip on it was more sure. What were little things like hunger or momentary blindness? He had been hungry before. He had wandered without light.

The cat padded silently ahead, turning at intervals to rub against him before moving on, leading him slowly through the twisting tunnels. He had long since given his safety over into the animal's care. There was nothing else to do, and no use worrying about it.

Something was happening around him, although he could not tell exactly what that something was. The ghostly presences and strange distortions were even stronger than before, and seemed to come now as regularly as waves das.h.i.+ng themselves upon a beach, sweeping all before them, then ebbing away again. He hardened himself to the sensations as he had hardened himself to his own aches.

Simon felt his way along the black corridors, Bright-Nail sc.r.a.ping the walls like a beetle's feeler, his fingers trailing through dust and dank moss and cobwebs and other things less pleasant. He could do nothing but what he was doing. He had faced the ice-dragon and shouted his name at it, had wandered the emptiness beyond dreams and clung to himself. He could not turn back from the task that was before him, and he would not.

Bright-Nail seemed to change along with his lightless surroundings. One moment it was a simple blade slapping against his hip, then a moment later it seemed to throb in time with the convulsions of the castle depths, becoming for a moment a living thing; at those times, it was hard to tell whether one of them was master, or whether Simon and the sword were, as he and the cat were, two creatures traveling the darkness together in strange partners.h.i.+p.

At such times, he could begin to hear its call in his thoughts; it was a faint presence, only a hint of the song that Guthwulf had seemed to hear, but it was growing steadily stronger. For brief moments he could almost understand it, as though it spoke to him in a language he had forgotten long ago, but which was slowly surfacing from the place in his memory where it had been buried. But Simon did not think he wanted to understand what the blade sang. Perhaps if he wandered long enough, he thought, he would indeed become like Guthwulf, and hear almost nothing but the sword's compelling music.

He hoped he would not be in darkness that long.

There came a time when the cat stopped and did not go on. It wreathed itself around his s.h.i.+ns as though it wished to be stroked; when he bent to touch it, it pushed at his fingers with its muzzle, but did not continue on its way. He waited, finally wondering if he had not put far too much trust in a mere beast.

”Where next?” he said. His voice scarcely echoed: they were still in one of the narrower pa.s.sages. ”Go on, now. I'm waiting.”

The cat rubbed against him, purring. After a few moments, Simon put his hands out and began searching carefully along the walls, looking for something-perhaps a doorway of some kind that did not reach the floor-which might have stopped their progress. Instead, on a shelf of rock set into the wall, nearly head high, he found a plate and a covered bowl.

I've been here before! he realized. he realized. Unless some madman is leaving food all across the tunnels. But if so, bless him, bless him anyway. Unless some madman is leaving food all across the tunnels. But if so, bless him, bless him anyway.

Simon said a prayer of thanks as he took the bread and dried meat and small wedge of cheese from the plate, then sat down and ate enough of each to feel happier and more prosperous than he had in a long while. He drank half the bowl of water, then after a moment's consideration, finished it off. He regretted the lack of a water skin, but if he had to carry the water without one, it might as well be inside him.