What Lies Within (Book 5) (2 page)

   From behind him there was a sound. Something metallic slid, then a dull clunk. He turned and saw that a metal grille had been opened on the door. Peering through was the long, gaunt face of Urch-Malmain.

   'Urch-Malmain, what is this?' demanded Leth in an undertone, striding to the door. 'Why have you taken the Orbsword?'

   'For safekeeping, that is all,' replied the Noeticist blandly. 'I reflected upon my decision to leave it in your hands, and decided it was perhaps unwise under the circumstances. So I removed it, but I am thoughtful and did not disturb your sleep.'

   'Then why is this door locked? Are we prisoners?'

  
'Not at all. I simply don't want you getting in my way. Most especially the children. From what I understand, as a species they are undisciplined and thoroughly irresponsible. Do not fret, oh Leth. I will summon you in good time.'

   He slid shut the door of the grille and Leth heard his uneven footsteps
as he limped away down the corridor outside.

   Sometime later a key grated in the lock and the door opened. Count Harg stood there, backed by two pale Abyss warriors. 'Swordbearer, Master Urch would like to speak to you now. You should come alone.'

  'I will not leave my children,' declared Leth. Galry and Jace were awake now. They were impatient to know what was going on and when they and their father would be going home. Leth was not keen to leave them even for a moment.

   Count Harg gave a sigh. 'Oh, this is tiresome. No harm will befall your brats, Swordbearer. They are irrelevant. Master Urch simply cannot tolerate their proximity and will
be too vexed to speak with you if they are present. Come along now, there is nothing to be gained by resisting.'

   Leth turned back to the children, who watched him with wide, nervous eyes.

   'Father, you're not leaving us, are you?' asked Galry. He struggled to look defiant, but his chin dimpled and his lower lip jutted forward despite himself.

   'It
’s only for a short time,' said Leth. 'To make arrangements for us to leave here.'

   'No!' Jace was up and running to him from the bed, her arms stretched wide. 'No! No! Dadda, don't leave us!'

   Leth held her close, for a few moments unable to speak. 'It's all right, babies. I’m coming back, very soon. You will be safe here.'

   Galry had joined his sister. Both now clung desperately to Leth. Leth turned to Harg, but found no sympathy there. Harg gnawed at a callous on his thumb, his attitude lying somewhere between indifference and contempt. At last Harg said, 'Master Urch does not like to be kept waiting.'

   Leth slowly extricated himself from his childrens' grip, fighting down his own feelings. 'I must go,' he said. 'I won’t be long, I promise. Galry, take charge of your sister.'

   The look that Prince Galry gave him cut him to the quick, yet he had no choice. Urch-Malmain could toy with him if he so desired. He could play with all of them, or simply leave them incarcerated in this chamber. The last thing Leth wanted was to be parted from his children again now, but he knew that to disobey Urch-Malmain could be to invite retaliation formed out of nothing more than sheer spite. After all, Leth had completed the task the Noeticist had set him; as far as he was aware Urch-Malmain no longer had any real need of him, and certainly not of his children. Leth was at his mercy, and mercy was not a word Leth readily associated with Urch-Malmain.

   'Galry, take charge of your sister,' he repeated, his voice growing stern.

   Galry dutifully put his arms around Jace, but the look he gave his father was withering, and Leth whispered, his voice faltering, 'I will be back!'

   He turned and strode from the chamber.

iv

   The chamber of the semi-sentient artefact was abuzz with the sounds of the alien machinery and the unearthly voices of the entities which comprised its inner form. As Leth entered, Urch-Malmain was kneeling to one side of the silvered arch. His crooked spine was curved as he manipulated several beads in a series of small troughs. He did not look up. The invisible entities berated him in shrill tones.

   'Urch-Malmain, it is not our fault! We are doing all we can!'

   'It is not enough!' declared the Noeticist.

   'We have not failed you! The tail is unpredictable. We have never pretended otherwise!'

   'What you are demanding now is not part of our original agreement! We demand new terms!'

   'Yes, new terms!
New terms!'

   They set up a chorus: 'New terms! New terms! We demand new terms!'

   'BE SILENT!' bellowed Urch-Malmain, scrambling awkwardly to his feet. 'Be silent or I will abandon each one of you here for all eternity!'

   He caught sight of Leth and struggled to compose himself. His face was flushed, his movements jerky.
'Swordbearer! Ah! You have come! Please, ignore these pestilent nonentities.' He turned back to the mass of apparatus and stamped his good foot. 'All of you, just calm down now! The matter will be sorted out in good time. But we must work together. Harmony is our aim, that our individual goals may be accomplished to the benefit of us all.'

   The hubbub of voices gradually waned, the entities seeming almost as disconcerted as Urch-Malmain by Leth's arrival.

   'What are you doing?' Leth asked.

   Urch-Malmain glanced back at him. 'We are trying to stabilize the tail.'

   'What?'

  
'The tail. The tail. We are trying to stabilize the tail.'

   'I don't understand.'

   'It will not keep still. It is entirely umpredictable.'

   'What tail? What is it that you refer to?'

   'The tail of the tunnel!' replied Urch-Malmain in annoyance. 'The Portal!' He addressed the entities: 'Is there nothing more you can do?'

   'Not at present. We have put our every effort into it.'

   'I do not understand. With Ascaria's malign influence now eradicated, why is there still a problem?'

   'The problem lies not with the tunnel itself, which is perfect and fully functional,' explained the voice of Aztin, most senior of the entities. 'But due to Ascaria's influence the tail was not stable from the beginning. Her absence now makes no difference in that regard.'

   'But why can't you fix it?' shouted Urch-Malmain.

   'We can.
In time.'

   'Why is it taking so long?'

   'We are doing everything we can. Even now Myg and Florro are travelling the tunnel's length, seeking to pinpoint the anomaly that destabilizes the tail. But they must take great care. A single misjudgement could cause one or both of them to tumble out the other end and be lost. Thus the entire Portal would be destabilized forever.'

   'I still do not understand,' interposed Leth. 'Are you saying that the Portal is still not usable?'

   Urch-Malmain paused and gave a sour sigh. 'Think of this Portal as a great invisible wormhole which stretches across dimensions. Its head lies here, fixed. Its tail is located within our own world. I have stabilized it that far. But it lashes here and there, entirely unpredictably. I require that it remains in one place, preferably a place of my own choosing, so that I might know where I am bound.'

   'It is the Reciprocity that is predominantly responsible for its movements,' said the voice of Aztin.

   'The Reciprocity?'

   Urch-Malmain gave another sigh.
'The Law of Reciprocity; the mutual transfer between domains. When someone passes through from here, the tail seeks out a person of vaguely similar context and brings them here. I have already explained this to you.'

   'So are you saying that the tail's movements are caused by its blindly seeking out another person to pluck at random and transport?' Leth queried.

   'Just so!' chimed Aztin.

   'More or less,' qualified Urch-Malmain. 'In essence the tail is divided, for the mutual exchange has to be simultaneous. It both disgorges and plucks at virtually the same instant. Or rather, when a person enters at one end, the other end must perform before the transfer can take place. But that is another matter. I have conducted experiments to attempt to nullify the necessity of the exchange completely. I think I may be getting closer, but so far real success has eluded me.'

    'Nullify?' said Leth. 'Do you mean it might be possible to step through without some innocent being taken from the other side?'

   'Well, theoretically. If I could only stabilize the cursed tail and prevent it from dividing!'

   Urch-Malmain grew pensive and cast Leth a wary glance, as though concerned that he might have revealed more than he had intended. Leth had noticed this tendency when he had been here previously. Anxious not to lose the advantage he said, 'There was no exchange when Harg and myself transported here from Ascaria's fortress.'

   'The Law of Reciprocity applies only between dimensions, worlds, other time-flows.' Urch-Malmain scratched his nose, growling to himself. He stared ruefully into the complex webwork of the silver arch, then moved aside and spoke in a whisper, one hand guarding his mouth. 'There
lies the clue, I think. Somehow I must fool the Portal into believing that its head and tail both lie within the same world.'

   'How will you achieve that?'

   The Noeticist's look became sly. 'If I knew, do you think I would tell you?'

   Leth said nothing.

   'Still, I am getting closer, I am sure of it,' added Urch-Malmain.

   'Am I then free to go, with my children?'

   'Ah, now that is something we have to discuss.'

   'That was our agreement.'

   'Yes. And you trusted me to hold to it. No, I don't think you did. I don't think so.'

   'You gave me little choice.'

   'No choice at all, actually. But my concern now is in the details. You see, if I permit you to return to your home, you do so with the knowledge that Urch-Malmain of Enchantment is on the loose. I am not sure that I wish such knowledge broadcast.'

   'I am no threat to you.'

   'Perhaps not. Still, if my enemies came to you they would learn of my 'resurrection', would they not? That would not be to my advantage.'

   Leth's unease grew. 'Why would they come to me? They have never done so? I am nothing to them.'

   'No, you are nothing. And yet . . . Times are changing; anomalous events are afoot. One of my kind, Orbelon, has already bestowed his patronage upon you. Another - perhaps more than one - joins with your enemies to ride against you.'

   Leth stiffened. How did Urch-Malmain know about the
Karai and their 'god'? Leth had made no mention of it.

   Leth thought back to when he had been here last and Urch-Malmain had revealed to him how he had come to discover himself trapped in Orbelon's world. The Noeticist had been tricked by others of Enchantment's 'gods' and had been cast here, actually within Orbelon who, defeated and without consciousness, had been sealed inside an Encystment of Perpetual Banishment.

   When Leth had learned this the first vague inklings of a notion had begun to dawn. He had been struck by the possibility that Orbelon might actually be aware of Urch-Malmain - or if not, that Leth could somehow make him aware. By such means, could they keep Urch-Malmain here, trapped, prevented from returning to Enchantment? It was the wildest idea, hatched out of the darkness of deep despair. Leth had had no idea of how such a goal might be achieved. Now that he considered it again he deemed it without hope. He had made no contact with Orbelon, and Urch-Malmain appeared well set to do precisely as he desired. Once the between-worlds Portal was fully-functional there would be nothing to prevent his escape.

   And now, in addition, there was the threat that he would not permit Leth to return.

   Urch-Malmain was still speaking. 'That is my concern, you see. But perhaps we could arrive at a compromise. If, for instance, you simply were not aware of my involvement . . . '

   An icy shard raced down Leth's spine. He caught the inflection in Urch-Malmain's voice and for the first time grew aware of the way the Noeticist was observing him. He averted his eyes.

  
'It's just like hypnotizing chickens,'
had been Urch-Malmain's flippant reply when Leth had enquired about the process by which he stole and/or modified the memories and personalities of his subjects. In the first instance it required only that he arrest his subject's gaze with his own.

   Quite suddenly Urch-Malmain's squinting gaze glittered with a new and chilling menace. He gave a throaty chuckle. 'You will comply, should I so desire it. After all, think of your loved ones.'

   Leth struggled to contain his rage. Upstairs Galry and Jace waited, fearful and alone, not even knowing where they were. He was unarmed. At his back stood Harg and the two Abyss warriors. Several more warriors were present within the Tower of Glancing Memory.

   He could do nothing.

   Urch-Malmain slid around into Leth's field of vision once more, smirking at him. 'You will comply, Leth. Won't you? What else can you do?'