Cloak of the Two Winds (18 page)

Her eyes caught Lonn's. "I want you Iruks to bring all your weapons to my cabin this evening and leave them. I will weave designs on them to increase their usefulness."

Lonn nodded solemnly, but Karrol objected.

"Our weapons are fine as they are. We never let anyone outside the klarn handle them."

Amlina answered coldly. "In this case you must make an exception. Your blades and points will not be lethal against creatures of witchery unless they themselves are imbued with witchery."

Karrol frowned and started to answer, but then pressed her lips together. Lonn read no disagreement on the faces of Brinda or Eben.

"We will bring you our weapons," he told the witch.

Fighting against the west wind the
Plover
sailed on toward Kadavel. As hours passed the channel widened, but the shores on either side remained swampy fields of reeds and sedge. No human habitations were sighted that day or the next, nor any habitable land.

But the following morning Eben called his mates to the prow. Lonn, who was running in place and chanting, went with them. Eben had sighted an enormous, distant structure towering over the ice. As the coaster veered to another tack other structures came into view, standing behind the first. It was some time before the shapes of the structures could be made out.

"The first one is a fish," Karrol declared. "With its tail in the air."

There were seven of the giant statues in all, the second also shaped like a fish. The forms of the others were harder to discern, though Lonn thought the last two seemed human. The statues were of black stone or metal, Lonn could not tell which, and colossal. The first fish on its pedestal loomed perhaps two hundred feet above the level of the ice.

As the ship drew closer the Iruks could see more details. The fish was like no fish ever carved by human hand. Its form was bizarre, disproportionate. The face had character, an intelligence in the bulging eyes, appetite in the gaping mouth.

"Ugly," Draven said.

And now they could tell what the other statues showed: a progression, through various stages, from fish to human form. Yet the last statue was not exactly human. The back was elongated, the shoulders slumping. The eyes still bulged and the lipless mouth still gaped. The overall effect was hideous.

Lonn shivered. "Let's go and hear what Kizier knows about these."

The
Plover
was gliding beneath the first huge statue when the Iruks reached the quarterdeck.

"They are called the Serd Monuments of Lustre," the windbringer said. "Gruesome, are they not?"

"Yes," all the Iruks agreed.

"Just so. Sculpted according to a completely nonhuman aesthetic. They represent the transformation of the serds from their fish form to their air-breathing land form. They are among the few artifacts remaining on Glimnodd from the time when the serds ruled."

"If these are examples of their art," Draven said. "I can understand why few others remain. What I don't understand is why these haven't been dismantled."

"Because no one knows how," the bostull answered. "The statues are neither metal nor stone but some unknown, impervious substance. They have survived numerous attempts to destroy them, both by magic and human engineering. They were built to stand till the end of the world, and perhaps they will."

The Iruks' eyes were raised, studying the gigantic monstrosities with morbid fascination. The things reminded Lonn of something from a nightmare, yet he could not pull his gaze away.

"One good thing about passing the monuments," Kizier remarked. "It means we are nearing Kadavel."

That afternoon Amlina sent the cabin boy to summon the Iruks to her quarters. The klarn arrived to find eight of the witch's dangling trinkets hung in a circle above the low table. The Iruks' weapons lay on the table, the knives and swords carefully arranged, the spears neatly packed in their quivers. Amlina, wearing a quilted robe embroidered with orange flowers, gestured at the table.

"You may take back your weapons. I have done all I can to fortify them,"

Each of the Iruks picked up a spear or blade, hefted it or tested the point. Lonn could discern no obvious change in the sword he held, yet he sensed a subtle difference. Perhaps the sword felt a bit lighter and easier to handle. It seemed charged with some indescribable energy.

"You can test the weapons outside," Amlina said. "I trust you'll find them undamaged. I have something else for you."

She opened her jewel box. Inside lay six small moonstones in settings of beaten silver, fastened on leather thongs.

"They are amulets," the witch said, "one for each of you and one for Glyssa when we find her. I want you to wear them around your necks for as long as we are allies."

Draven grinned as he took the first amulet from the box.

"Wait," Karrol said. "I'm not sure we should wear your necklaces. We'll have to talk it over."

The other Iruks said nothing. Draven frowned as he put the amulet back.

"The decision affects the klarn," Lonn explained to Amlina. "Karrol has the right to demand that we talk it over."

"Very well." Amlina laid the jewel box on the table. "But take them with you. And while you discuss whether to wear them, consider this: the amulets were made to protect you against evil. The stones are attuned to the stones in this fillet I wear. They will give you to share in the protective aura in which I enwrap myself. This is not a gift a deepshaper gives lightly, since to extend the barrier can diminish its power."

"We are honored and grateful," Draven told her, with deep feeling.

"Go and have your discussion," Amlina said. "Lonn, I want you to return at sunset and bring Kizier. If you've decided not to wear the amulets, you can return them to me then."

The Iruks gathered up their weapons, Lonn taking the six amulets in his hand, and left the witch's cabin.

"Why are you so contrary?" Draven said angrily to Karrol in the passageway. "You insulted Amlina with your suspicions."

"The witch makes me suspicious," Karrol replied. "Why are you so blindly trusting?"

"Easy," Brinda said. "Let's not fight each other just because we have our swords back. Let's go below and hold a proper meeting."

The klarnmates stashed the weapons in their room, then sat down around the stove. Lonn placed the six moonstones on the straw mat before them.

"I don't trust the witch, and I think I have good reasons," Karrol asserted to start the meeting. "She has Lonn's mind so emptied that he walks around looking half-dead. Draven's turned into her toady, saying yes to whatever she wants without thinking. And did you see how she simpered and slinked with that Tathian admiral?"

"It got us past the fleet, didn't it?" Draven said.

"Yes. But how do we know she hasn't been using that passive persuasion on us all along, showing us whatever face will make us most agreeable?"

"It hasn't made you agreeable," Draven scoffed.

"Stop interrupting. You should be glad one of us is keeping her head. Now these necklaces she wants us to wear. Suppose their real purpose is to sap our wills, make us her slaves? I say no, I won't wear it."

She sat down heavily and Draven jumped up.

"Amlina is our ally," he said. "From the start she's done us nothing but good. She took us on her ship, fed us, made us her partners. All this after we robbed her of the Cloak and brought her this trouble in the first place. Not once has she given us reason to distrust her." He picked up one of the necklaces, showed it around. "Now she offers to share her own magic protection with us. I say we'd be fools to refuse."

No one else seemed ready to speak, so after a few moments Lonn took his turn, quietly and laconically stating that he agreed with Draven's view. After that Eben stood, remarking that Draven's assessment had convinced him also. The witch had not given the Iruks cause to distrust her. Until she did, Eben felt the amulets should be worn. When he was finished there was a short silence, and then Brinda rose and spread her hands.

"It seems the vote's already decided. And I don't disagree with it, mates. But I do think it's good that Karrol is suspicious of the witch. It will keep us on our guard. If it begins to seem these amulets are draining our wills, then we can take them off. Meantime let's wear them and see."

"Suppose we've lost our wills before we know it?" Karrol asked sullenly.

"I believe we would sense it happening in time to prevent it," Brinda answered.

"Then the klarn has decided," Lonn said, placing his hand in the center. "We will wear the witch's amulets."

The others put their hands on his, except for Karrol.

"No," she said. "I always give in to the rest of you, against my own judgment. But not this time."

"The klarn has decided," Lonn told her firmly.

"You can decide however you like," Karrol snapped. "But not for me. This is what I think of the witch and her tricks."

She snatched one of the amulets and jumped to her feet. Before anyone could stop her she had pulled open a window and flung the amulet away.

The mates stared at her, open-mouthed.

"You've wounded the klarn," Draven accused.

"Don't blame
me
for that," Karrol answered defiantly. "It was wounded when we lost Glyssa. It was wounded when you let me skate after her alone."

"But we followed you," Brinda said.

Karrol started to answer, then threw up her hands. A look of hopeless rage crossed her face. She turned away, marched from the storeroom and slammed the door.

Lonn looked around at the others, all of them stunned. To wound the klarn in an act of defiance diminished the group spirit, bled away its protection. But, on reflection, Lonn had to admit there was some truth in Karrol's words.

Normally, during a hunt, the klarn spirit was perceptible, a strength they could feel inside. Since they lost Glyssa it had been different. Lonn had sensed some of the spirit's power after they pulled Karrol out of the sea, and again in the fight with the tusk bears on Windbock. But this voyage on strange seas, the long days of inactivity, and most of all Lonn's training with the witch—all had weakened the klarn. The bond between them now seemed looser, less real.

Hold fast to the klarn
, Belach the shaman had told them. But
could
they hold it together? And would it still protect them?

To Lonn only one thing seemed certain. They needed to find Glyssa and rescue her. And soon.

That evening, Lonn carried Kizier to Amlina's cabin. The witch told him to put the bostull's pail down on the floor and sit beside it. Lonn noted that the desmets and prisms had been rearranged, placed as they were on the night of his initiation. On Amlina's instructions he removed his boots and belt. The witch set a glowing lamp on the floor before him.

"I see you are wearing the amulet." She sat down and crossed her legs. "I'm glad you decided to."

"All of us except Karrol," Lonn answered, and told her how the meeting had ended.

"I am sorry she bears me such ill will."

"She broke the unity of the klarn," Lonn muttered. "It's a bad thing to happen, for all of us. But Karrol is stubborn."

"I hope she won't suffer for her stubbornness," Amlina said. Then her tone lightened. "Kizier tells me you've been diligent in your exercises."

"He has indeed," the bostull affirmed, blinking.

"I don't know what good they've done," Lonn answered.

"Then be not hasty to judge," Amlina said.

"I haven't seen any images of Glyssa, or dreamed of her either."

"I have told you before," the windbringer said. "The Deepmind yields its gifts in its own time, in its own way."

"Relax," Amlina told Lonn. "Straighten your back. Close your eyes. Take deep breaths."

Lonn obeyed.

After a while Amlina's voice returned, quiet and soothing. "I am going to introduce you to the second stage of the training. At your initiation, I used my mind-force to open in you the portal of deepseeing. This time, you will open the portal yourself."

She instructed Lonn to visualize a globe of light, white and brilliant, like sunshine on snow. He was to imagine the globe at the base of his spine. Once he saw it there she told him to picture it rising slowly up his back. With her words to guide him, Lonn saw the globe more and more clearly, felt it warm and tingling, watched it ascend. When the globe reached his head it seemed to burst, filling his brain with dazzling radiance. Distantly, Lonn realized his limbs were trembling.

"Now the light settles and dims," Amlina pronounced. "Slowly it changes, white light to silver. And you are looking at the sea. Everywhere is silvery water, tossing and flowing before your mind's eye, gently tossing and shifting…"

For a long time Amlina kept him watching the sea image. Whenever his mind wandered she would sense it and describe again the waters he must keep seeing. Finally the vision of gleaming water overwhelmed him, dissolving his sense of himself, till there was only the water and no longer Lonn watching it.

So that, when Amlina's voice told him to picture Draven's image in the water, Lonn was momentarily taken aback to be reminded of his own existence. But then Draven's image appeared, clear and solid, and Lonn, wondering at it, forgot himself again.

Amlina asked if he could see Draven and he nodded. She told him to describe the picture and Lonn did so, telling her of Draven's expression and what he wore.

Then Amlina told him to envision Karrol as she was in that instant. Immediately Lonn could see her, seated alone on the forecastle, frowning as she watched the passing shore. He described the picture, and Amlina said it was well-seen.

Next the witch told him to picture his home island and the klarn's house there. Lonn saw the lodge house as it appeared from the shoreline, atop the sloping beach. But the house was partly dismantled and many of the klarn's possessions were strewn across the ground. Gertraun and those other hunters, Lonn knew at once. They had carried out their threat to plunder the klarn's house. A groan of anger rose in his throat. His head started swimming.