A Darkness at Sethanon (34 page)

Martin sat
resting against a tree. He kissed Briana’s hair as she sank
deeper into his arms. She stared off into some unseen place. Before
them a small brook wound its way through a stand of woods, shrouding
them in soft, cool shadows. Her patrol had broken for a noontime
meal, which was being provided by the local farmers. She and Martin
had stolen away to spend the time alone. The woodland setting put
Martin more at ease than he had been in months, but still he was
troubled. They had made love under the trees and now were simply
finding pleasure in each other’s company, but Martin still felt
a lack inside. In her ear he said, “Bree, I wish this could go
on forever.”

She sighed and
wiggled a little. “I also, Martin. You are such a man as . . .
another I knew. I think I could not wish for more.”

“When this
is finished -”

She cut him off.
“When this is finished. Then we can talk of things. Come, we
must get back.” She dressed quickly, Martin openly admiring
her. She had none of the frail beauty of the women he had known at
home. There was leather toughness to her makeup, tempered by a deep
feminine quality. She was not a pretty woman by any standards, but
she was striking and, with those arresting qualities of
self-confidence and self-reliance Martin saw in her, she was
stunning, even beautiful. In all ways, he had become captivated by
her.

He finished
dressing and before she could move away reached out and took her by
the arm, turning her and bringing her to him. With a deep passion he
kissed her, then said, “I need not speak, but you know my need
and my desire. I have waited for you too long.”

She looked up
into his dark eyes. She reached up and touched his face. “And I
you.” She kissed him gently. “We must return.”

He let her lead
him back to the village. A pair of guardsmen were walking toward them
when they left the woods. They halted and one said, “Commander,
we were about to come fetch you.”

She regarded the
second man, not one of her company. “What is it?”

“The
Protector commands all the patrols to ride out and order the
steadings and kraals abandoned. Everyone is to move at once to the
city. Murmandamus’s army is on the march. They will stand
outside the walls within the week.”

Briana said,
“Orders to ride. We shall split the patrol. Grenlyn, you’ll
take half and head down to the lowland kraal and the river steadings.
I’ll take the ones higher up along the ridge. The moment you
finish, ride back as soon as possible. The Protector will need all
the scouts he can muster. Now go.” She looked back at Martin.
“Come, we have much to do.”

G
amina
sat up, screaming.

Within moments
Katala was in the child’s room, holding her. Gamina sobbed for
a short while, then quieted, as a sleepy William came into her room,
followed by a grumpy-looking firedrake. Fantus padded past William
and placed his head on the bed by Katala. “Was it a bad dream,
baby?” asked Katala.

Gamina nodded.
Softly she said, “Yes, Mama.” She was finally learning to
speak, not always relying upon the mental speech that had marked her
as a special talent since birth.

With her family
dead, Gamina had been reared by Rogen the blind seer, before he
brought her to Stardock. Rogen had aided Pug in discovering that the
Enemy was behind all the troubles besetting the Kingdom, though he
had suffered injury in uncovering this secret. He and Gamina had
stayed with Pug’s family while he recovered, and over the last
year had come to be as members. Rogen had been as a grandfather to
William, while to Gamina, Katala was a mother and William a brother.
The old man had died peacefully in his sleep three months before, but
at the last he had been happy his ward had found others besides
himself whom she could love and trust. Katala hugged and caressed the
child while she calmed down.

Meecham, the
tall franklin, hurried into the room looking for the source of any
danger. He had returned from Kelewan with Hochopepa and Elgahar of
the Assembly shortly after Pug had departed in search of the
Watchers. Their other companion, Brother Dominic, had returned to the
Ishapian abbey at Sarth. Meecham had taken it upon himself to act as
protector of Pug’s family while the magician was upon Kelewan.
For all his fierce appearance and stoic demeanour, he was one of
Gamina’s favourites. She called him Uncle Meecham. He stood
behind Katala, smiling one of his very rare smiles at the tiny girl.

Hochopepa and
Kulgan entered the room, the two magicians of different worlds, alike
in so many ways. Both came and fussed over the girl while Katala
said, “Still up working?”

Hochopepa said,
“Certainly, it’s still early.” He looked up. “Isn’t
it?”

Meecham said,
“No, unless you mean early in the morning. It’s an hour
past midnight.”

Kulgan said,
“Well, we were involved in some interesting discourse, and -”

“You lost
track of time,” Katala said. Her tone was slightly
disapproving, slightly amused. Pug was title holder to the property
of Stardock and since he had left she had assumed control of the
community. Her calm nature, intelligence, and ability to deal with
people tactfully had made her the natural leader of the diverse
community of magic users and their families, though occasionally
Hochopepa was overheard calling her ‘that tyrannical woman.’
No one minded, for they knew he spoke with respect and affection.

Kulgan said, “We
were discussing some reports sent by Shimone at the Assembly.”
By agreement, the rift between the worlds was opened for brief
periods on a regular schedule so messages could be exchanged between
the Academy at Stardock and the Assembly of Magicians on Kelewan.

Katala looked up
expectantly, but Hochopepa said, “Still no word of Pug.”

Katala sighed
and, suddenly irritated, said, “Hocho, Kulgan, you may do as
you like in your research, but poor Elgahar seems almost ready to
drop. He does almost all the training of the new Greater Path
magicians, and he never complains. You should bend some of your
efforts to helping him.”

Kulgan took out
his pipe and said, “We stand properly corrected.” He and
Hochopepa exchanged glances. Both knew Katala’s brusque manner
was born from frustration over a husband absent a year.

Hochopepa said,
“Indeed.” He also unlimbered a pipe, a habit acquired in
his year of working beside Kulgan. As Meecham had once observed, the
two magicians were two peas in a pod.

Katala said,
“And if you intend to light those foul-smelling things, take
them and yourselves out of here. This is Gamina’s bedchamber,
and I’ll not have her room reeking of smoke.”

Kulgan was on
the verge of lighting his and halted.

“Very
well. How is the child?”

Gamina had
ceased her crying and spoke softly. “I’m all right.”
Since she had learned to speak, her voice had never been raised above
a soft, childish whisper, save for her scream of a few moments
before. “I . . . had a bad dream.”

“What sort
of dream?” asked Katala.

Gamina’s
eyes began to brim with tears. “I heard Papa calling me.”

Kulgan and
Hochopepa both looked down at the girl intently. “What did he
say, child?” asked Kulgan softly so as not to frighten the
girl.

Katala went
ashen, but showed no other signs of fear. She was born of a line of
warriors and she could face anything, anything save this not knowing
how her husband fared. Gently she said, “What did he say,
Gamina?”

“He was -”
As she did when under stress, she changed to mind-speech.
He was
in a strange place, far away. He was with somebody? somebodies? else.
He said, he said -

“What,
child?” said Hochopepa.

He said we
must wait for a message, then something - changed. He was - gone? in
an empty? place. I became frightened. I felt so alone.

Katala held the
girl closely. She controlled her voice, but she felt fear as she
said, “You’re not alone, Gamina.” But inwardly
Katala echoed the girl’s thoughts. Even when Pug had been taken
from her by the Assembly to become a Great One, she had not felt this
alone.

Pug closed his
eyes in fatigue. He let his head fall forward until it rested upon
Tomas’s shoulder. Tomas looked back. “Did you get
through?”

With a heavy
sigh, Pug said, “Yes, but - it was more difficult than I had
thought, and I frightened the child.”

“Still,
you got through. Can you do it again?”

“I think
so. The girl’s mind is unique and should be easier to reach
next time. I know more about how this process works. Before I only
had the theory. Now I’ve done it.”

“Good. We
may need that skill.”

They were
speeding through the greyness they had come to call ‘rift-space’,
that place between the very strands of time and the physical
universe. Tomas had instructed Ryath to go there the moment Pug had
signalled the end of his contact with those at Stardock. Now the
dragon sent a mind message.
Where dost thou wish, Valheru?

Tomas spoke
aloud. “To the City Forever.”

Ryath seemed to
shudder as she took control of that nothingness around her and bent
it to her needs in travel. The featureless grey about them pulsed,
and somehow they changed directions within this boundless dimension,
this no place. Then the fabric of grey about them rippled once more
and they were somewhere else.

An odd spot
appeared before them in the grey, the first hint of any reality
within rift-space. It grew as rapidly as if Ryath were speeding
through some physical plane, then they were above it. It was a city,
a place of terrible and alien beauty. It possessed towers of twisted
symmetry, minarets impossibly slender, oddly designed buildings that
sprawled below the vaulting arches between the towers. Fountains of
complex fashion spewed forth drops of liquid silver that turned to
crystals, filling the air with tinkling music as they shattered upon
the tiles of the fountain, becoming liquid again and running into
drains.

The dragon
banked and sped downward, flying above the centre of a magnificent
boulevard, nearly a hundred yards wide. The entire street was tiled,
and the tiles glowed with soft hues, each subtly different from the
next, so that over a distance it appeared a gradually changing
rainbow. And as the dragon’s shadow passed over, the tiles
blinked and glowed, then shifted colour, and music filled the air, a
theme of majestic beauty, bringing a stab of longing for green fields
beside sparkling brooks while soft pastel sunsets coloured
magnificent mountains. The images were nearly overwhelming and Pug
shook his head to clear it, putting aside a soft sadness that such a
wonderful place could never be found. They flew under heroic arches,
a thousand feet above their heads, and tiny flower petals of
sparkling white and gold, glowing rose and vermilion, pastels green
and blue fell about them, a softly caressing rain scented of wild
flowers, as they made for the heart of the city.

“Who built
this wonder?” asked Pug.

“No one
knows,” said Tomas, “Some unknown race. Perhaps the dead
gods.” Pug studied the city as they flew over it. “Or
perhaps no one built it.”

“How could
that be?” asked Pug.

“In an
infinite universe, all things are not only possible but, no matter
how improbable, certain to exist somewhere at some time. It may be
this city sprang into existence at the very moment of creation. The
Valheru first found it ages ago, exactly as you see it. It is one of
the greatest mysteries of the many universes the Valheru have
travelled. No one lived here, or we Valheru never found them. Some
have come here to abide awhile, but none stay long. This place is
never changing, for it stands where there is no true time. It is said
the City Forever may be the only truly immortal thing in the
universes.” With a sad and rueful note he said, “A few of
the Valheru attempted to destroy it, out of pique. It also may be the
only thing impervious to their rage.”

Then a flicker
of motion arrested Pug’s attention, and suddenly a swarm of
creatures leaped from atop a distant building, took wing, and banked
in their direction. He pointed toward them and Tomas said, “It
seems we are expected.”

The creatures
came speeding at them, larger red versions of the elemental beings
that Pug had destroyed on the shores of the Great Star Lake the year
before. They were man-shaped, and their large crimson bat wings beat
the wind as they sped toward the two dragon riders. Calmly Pug said,
“Should we land?”

“This is
but the first test. It will amount to little.”

Ryath screamed a
battle clarion and the demon host recoiled, then dived at them. On
the first pass, Tomas’s golden blade arced outward and two
creatures fell in screaming agony to the stones below as his sword
severed batlike wings. Pug cast blue energies which danced from
creature to creature, causing them to contort in pain as they fell,
unable to fly. As each struck the ground, it vanished in green flame
and silver sparks. Ryath unleashed a blast of fire, and all those
within the blast were withered to ash. In moments the creatures were
gone.

Now the dragon
turned and flew toward a sinister building of black stone, squatting
like some brooding malignancy in the midst of beauty. Tomas said,
“Someone makes it painfully obvious where we must hie to. It
will clearly be a trap.”

Pug said, “Will
we need to protect Ryath?”

The dragon
snorted, but Tomas said, “Only against the most powerful magic
and should that come to pass, we shall be dead and she may flee back
to the real universe. Do you hear?”

I hear and
understand,
answered the dragon.

They swooped
down over a brick courtyard and the dragon circled. Tomas used his
power to lift himself and Pug from Ryath’s back and lower them
to the stones. “Return to the fountains and rest. The water is
sweet and the surroundings soothing. Should anything go amiss, depart
as you will. If we need you, here or upon Midkemia, you’ll hear
my call.”