Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (17 page)

She waited, but no one spoke. Briefly, she was tempted to make some grand gesture, to break her sword over her knee; then she turned on her heel and left. Her boots rang faintly on the tiled courtyard. As she reached the door, she heard a faint, frozen whisper: “Go, then.” Her steps did not falter, and she left the court without looking back.

Kayl sniffed, and wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. She had left the Star Hall next morning, after spending half the night writing everyone she knew, inside or outside the Sisterhood, telling them the truth. And, for whatever reason, the Sisterhood had
not
laid the blame for the disastrous ending of the trip on the shoulders of the Varnans. Kayl had remained in Kith Alunel long enough to make sure of that, then left the city with Glyndon and Kevran. She had been hurt, confused, and bitter; she had given up the work she loved and the only family she could remember. But she had not given up the sword of the Sisterhood. How could she pretend that she would do so now?

With a sigh, Kayl leaned back against the cool marble wall, staring at the mosaic opposite her. It made no impression on her; her eyes saw instead the faces of her friends. Barthelmy, her black witchlocks flying, grinning impishly. Evla, her slanted green eyes cool and serene and her silver-white hair braided close to her head. Varevice, a lock of brown hair escaping her cap, her brows furrowed in concentration. Mother Dalessi, her gray hair in a loose braid over one shoulder, her face creased with smile lines. Kevran, his dark hair falling into his gray eyes, his smile warm and friendly. Beshara al Allard, every blond hair perfectly in place, one eyebrow raised in cold appraisal. Odevan, gray-skinned and hairless, unmistakably a demon.

Perhaps this was the real reason she had come back to Kith Alunel and the Sisterhood, Kayl thought. To lay to rest the ghosts in her memories.

Kayl heard a thump behind one of the doors to the bathing rooms. She turned her back on it, hastily wiping her cheeks. A moment later, Mark came bursting into the outer chamber, wrapped in one of the drying cloths “Because they said they were going to bring us clean clothes, didn’t they,” and Kayl went in to take her own bath.

K
AYL BATHED QUICKLY, REVELING
in the feel of hot water and soap but unwilling to linger too long. When she emerged, she found Mark and Dara dressed and waiting for her. The Sisters had brought them soft, shapeless charcoal gray robes that fell to just above their knees and belted at the waist. Mark looked uncomfortable and out of place; somehow he had managed to belt the robe so that the left side hung significantly lower than the right. Dara, on the other hand, looked entirely at home. Kayl frowned slightly, wondering why that thought made her uneasy. Then she saw the pile of pale gray cloth beside her bundle.

“That’s what they left for me?” she said, startled.

“Well, it’s too big for either of us so it must be yours,” Dara said. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“No, I was just surprised,” Kayl said as she crossed the room and picked up the pile. “Only the Elder Mothers wear silver inside the Star Halls; everyone else wears gray. The shade of the robe indicates rank. The nearer the color is to silver, the most important the person wearing it is. I didn’t expect them to give me one of the lighter shades, that’s all.”

“How come we got dark ones then?” Mark asked, sounding injured.

“Dark gray is for visitors and students,” Kayl told him. “I was a member of the Sisterhood, but you and Dara aren’t.”

“What about—”

“Mark, I would appreciate it if you would save the rest of your questions until after I’ve changed into this,” Kayl said gently. “It won’t take long.”

Mark flushed and nodded. Kayl slipped back into the steamy warmth of the bathing room, carrying the pale gray robe. She stripped hastily, then, with a curious mixture of eagerness and reluctance, she lifted the robe and slid it over her head.

The soft wool grazed the floor when the garment hung loose; belted, the robe was ankle-length. Kayl noted with misgiving that the color was even lighter than she had first thought. She had never gotten past the middle grays while she was at the Star Hall. Why were they giving her a status she had not earned?

Kayl picked up her old clothes and went back out to Mark and Dara. She unstrapped her sword from the back of her bundle and hung it at her waist. The star in the hilt winked up at her as she turned back to her children. “Now, what was it you were going to ask, Mark?”

“What about Father? Would he have had to wear this color?”

Kayl’s lips tightened. “Your father was a Varnan,” she said as calmly as she could manage. “I doubt that the Sisterhood would have let him in at all. Varnans are not welcome in the Star Halls.”

Mark started to say something, then stopped, frowning. Dara looked at Kayl. “Is that why you sent Glyndon away before we got here? I saw you talking in the shop.”

“It’s part of the reason,” Kayl said.

“Mother,” Mark said, and stopped.

“I’m listening; what is it?”

Mark hesitated, then said carefully, “Do I have to wear this?”

“I’d prefer you did, for a number of reasons, but I won’t make you if you dislike it that much,” Kayl replied.

“It’s not that. I just don’t think I ought to take anything from these people if they felt like that about Father. It doesn’t seem right.”

“We’ll be giving the robes back at the end of the visit, but I understand what you mean,” Kayl said, and smiled at his serious expression. Mark had done a lot of growing up on the trip to Kith Alunel. “Go ahead and change, if you feel that way about it.”

Mark nodded solemnly and picked up his bundle. Dara looked stricken. “Does that mean I have to change, too?” she asked, fingering the soft folds of her robe wistfully.

“I’m not making Mark wear the robe, and I won’t make you wear something else if you don’t want to,” Kayl said. “It’s your decision.”

“You’re not going to change,” Dara said accusingly.

“The Sisterhood already knows exactly how I feel about their attitude toward Varnans.”

“Oh.” Dara plopped onto the bench, frowning.

Mark came back a few moments later, dressed once more in his traveling clothes. As he handed Kayl the folded gray robe, there was a knock at the outer door of the chamber. “Enter,” Kayl called.

The door swung open to reveal Corrana. Her robe was the same shade as Kayl’s, and the star of the Sisterhood shimmered on her left shoulder. She looked vaguely disgruntled, as if she did not approve of the task she was set to do. Her eyes swept the little chamber, and she frowned. “I understood there were to be clean robes for all three of you,” she said.

“My son chooses not to be indebted to a group which considers his father’s people their enemies,” Kayl said.

Corrana’s eyes narrowed. “And I suppose that if I say he must remain in this room, you will insist on remaining with him. Very well, then; he may do as he wishes. But if trouble comes of it, the fault lies with you.”

Kayl made a quarter-bow in acknowledgement. Light flashed from the gem in the hilt of her sword.

Corrana’s eyebrows rose. “You choose to wear your sword in the Star Hall?”

“As I wore it when I last was here,” Kayl replied.

Corrana made a small, exasperated gesture. “Come, then.” She turned and left, and Kayl and her children followed.

She led them down a long, straight corridor of white marble to one of the small rooms that bordered the inner court. She threw open the door and said in a disapproving tone, “They are here, Your Serenity.”

Kayl motioned Mark and Dara forward as she went in. Her eyes swept the room, taking in the pale blue hangings on the walls, a bronze gong in one corner, and four chairs, piled high with cushions, grouped beside a closed brass brazier in the center of the room. Then she stopped short. One of the chairs was occupied by a white-robed woman. Her hair was white and the lines on her face had deepened, but otherwise she had not changed. “Mother Dalessi!” Kayl said without thinking. Then she remembered Corrana’s salutation and corrected herself. “Elder Mother, I mean; forgive me.”

“It is good to see you again, daughter. Come and sit down, and let me know your children.”

Kayl drew Mark and Dara forward, noting as she did that Corrana had left them alone with the Elder Mother. “My son, Mark; my daughter, Dara,” Kayl said, then turned to the children and went on, “Elder Mother Dalessi was the first Silver Sister I ever saw.”

Dara’s eyes widened as she bobbed her head in acknowledgement, and she glanced quickly up at her mother. Mark kept his gaze on Elder Mother Dalessi, his expression wary.

“Welcome to you both, Mark Kevranil and Dara Kaylar,” Dalessi said.

“My name is Mark Rondalis,” Mark said with an uncertain frown.

Dalessi smiled. “So it would be, in Kith Alunel and most other countries of the Estarren Alliance, where a child’s name follows his father’s family. But there are other ways of naming; among the Thar you would be named for your mother’s family, Mark and Dara Larrian. We of the Sisterhood make second names of a parent’s name, the father’s for a boy, the mother’s for a girl. So I called you. If I have erred, forgive me. Names are of great importance, and I would not willingly miscall anyone.”

“Oh.” Mark looked thoughtful. “I want to think about that for a while.”

“Of course. But now, come join me. I have a great deal to say to you all, and little time.”

As they took their seats, Kayl glanced toward the closed door. “Corrana—”

“Corrana does not approve of this meeting,” Dalessi said with a slow smile. “She would have stayed, had I allowed it. A little denial of her wishes may do her good.”

“Is that entirely wise?” Kayl said.

Dalessi’s smile faded. “Perhaps not,” she said. “Still, it was necessary. For if she were present, I could not ask you openly: how great has the friendship grown between each of you and her, on your journeying here? Children, you first.”

Mark and Dara looked uncertainly at Kayl. “It’s all right,” Kayl told them. “Tell her exactly how you really feel.”

“I don’t like Corrana,” Mark said positively. “She’s too bossy. And she thinks she knows everything.”

“Well, I do,” Dara offered. “She’s so beautiful and elegant, and she tells me things. Only-—”

“Go on, dear,” Kayl prompted after a moment. “Only what?”

“Only she doesn’t like Glyndon,” Dara said. “And she doesn’t have any reason. He’s nice, even if he is Varnan.”

Kayl looked sharply at her daughter; she didn’t like the thought of Corrana’s attitude toward Varnans rubbing off on Dara.

Before she could speak, Elder Mother Dalessi leaned forward. “Glyndon? Not Glyndon shal Morag?”

Kayl nodded. “He came with us from Copeham. Didn’t Corrana tell you?”

“No.” The Elder Mother pressed her lips together briefly, and Kayl thought that she would not like to be Corrana when Elder Mother Dalessi next crossed her path. Then Dalessi went on: “And you, Kayl—how do you feel about Elder Sister Corrana of the Sussewild?”

“She has been a good traveling companion, and I wish her no ill,” Kayl said slowly, “but I cannot feel at ease with her. She is too much aware of her own ends, and not enough of the desires of others.”

“You have found the center of the knot,” Dalessi said. “Corrana has her own designs and purposes, always, and it is not wise to trust her overmuch.”

“You say that?” Kayl said, startled.

Dalessi nodded. “That one would be a second Varevice Tamela, if she knew how. In truth, she has the skill, but she lacks Tamela’s heart.

“How much of what we ask have you been told?” Dalessi asked abruptly. “And how much have you agreed on?”

“Corrana said the Sisterhood wants me to go back to the tower we found in the Windhome Mountains,” Kayl said. “She said someone has been tampering with it somehow. I agreed to nothing. If it hadn’t been for the Magicseekers, I would never have left Copeham.”

“Magicseekers?”

“Six of them!” Mark said with remembered relish. “And I got to see them right up close.”

“I think you had better give me the details of the things that have brought you here,” Dalessi said.

Kayl did so, beginning with Corrana’s arrival at the inn. She let Mark and Dara tell their own portions of the story, and ended with their entry into Kith Alunel.

“And we saw Shee in the market!” Mark said, satisfaction strong in his voice. “Two of them!”

“Mark gets excited because Shee didn’t come through Copeham very often,” Dara put in with all the worldly-wise superiority of almost-thirteen over just-turned-nine.

“I can understand your interest,” Dalessi said gravely. “Perhaps you would both like to meet our senior drillmaster; she is a Shee. I believe she is free now.”

“Could we?” Mark said eagerly. Dara struggled for a moment with her dignity, then nodded emphatic agreement.

Dalessi rose and crossed to the bronze gong in the corner. She removed a round-headed stick from a nearby stand and struck the gong with it. As the echoes died away, the door opened. A girl of perhaps eighteen, dressed in dark gray, entered and said, “Yes, Your Serenity?”

“Mark Kevranil and Dara Kaylar would like to meet Eshora,” Dalessi said. “Please show them the way.”

“Yes, Your Serenity,” the girl said.

The children got up to follow her. When Kayl did not join them, Dara looked at her. “Mother, aren’t you coming?”

“I’ll catch up with you in a little while,” Kayl said. “I want to talk to Elder Mother Dalessi.”

Dara nodded, and the children left. Kayl waited until the door had closed behind them, then looked at Dalessi. “Well?”

“It is good to see you again, daughter, yet I could wish that the circumstances of your return were otherwise.” Dalessi sighed. “What Corrana has told you is true, but there is a great deal you do not know.”

“You mean there is more to this summons of Corrana’s than someone tampering with the magic of an obscure tower that no one really understands anyway?” Kayl said wryly. “Somehow it’s no surprise. What’s really going on?”

Dalessi shook her head. “The Sisterhood is changing, and the Elder Mothers are not in agreement. I may tell you only this: In three days’ time, you and Corrana will be called before a meeting of Elder Mothers to settle what is to be done regarding the Tower. There will be those who wish to talk with you before then; learn from them, but say little.”