Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (26 page)

Kayl stared at him. Had the trip back to Kith Alunel really been that bad for him? She tried to remember. She had not paid much attention to Glyndon and Kevran then; she had been too wrapped up in her own grief and Barthelmy’s. Did he think she had been avoiding him out of fear that he had lost his wits? “If that’s the way you saw it, I’m sorry,” she said at last. “I wish… I wish I’d known.”

There was a moment’s silence. Kayl turned and picked through her scattered belongings until she found a long wool sash. Bending forward, she covered the crystal with the end of the sash, then picked it up and knotted the sash tightly around it. She wrapped the sash around her waist and tucked the end in, hiding the knot.

“Now what?” Glyndon asked cautiously.

“I’m going to think,” Kayl replied. “And then—I don’t know. I’m going to have to tell the Sisterhood something.”

“Kayl, you can’t!”

“I have to. Don’t you see, this is what the Elder Mothers wanted to know this morning. They were right; things
didn’t
happen the way Barthelmy and I said they did. And if they’re right about that, they may be right about the Tower interfering with their magic.” And she herself might have to rethink her determination not to return to the Twisted Tower, Kayl thought. She put the thought aside, for later consideration, and looked at Glyndon.

Glyndon looked away. “I suppose so,” he said at last. He sounded unhappy and very tired.

“It’s also the only way I can think of to get the Elder Mothers to let us look at that scroll,” Kayl said gently. Glyndon did not answer. A rap at the door announced Mark and Dara’s return. Kayl looked at Glyndon’s slumped shoulders a moment longer, then said, “I’ll talk to you again before I say anything to the Sisterhood.”

“All right.”

Kayl stared at him and tried to think of something else to say. There was another rap at the door; Mark was probably getting impatient. Shaking her head, Kayl rose to her feet to let them in.

K
AYL SLEPT POORLY THAT
night and she awoke before dawn the following morning. The bit of crystal was an unyielding lump inside her sash, demanding a decision. Should she give it to the Sisterhood with a full explanation, or keep it hidden? How would the Elder Mothers react if she told them the whole story? Part of Kayl wanted to dump the whole sorry tangle on the presumably wiser heads of the Elder Mothers; another part had grave doubts about the advisability of such a course.

The mental argument made her restless, and eventually drove her down the stairs to the serving room. She had no desire to wake Mark and Dara with her pacing. There were one or two other early risers below, but they were more interested in their breakfasts than in Kayl. She, in turn, ignored them as she prowled about the room.

She was on her fourth circuit when the door of the inn opened. Kayl turned, curious to see who would be arriving at such an early hour. To her surprise, the dark-cloaked figures were the Elder Mothers Mika and Javieri.

Kayl crossed to them and bowed, wishing they had waited until she knew what her own intentions were. “You’re looking for me?”

“We are,” Mika said. “Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”

“I’m afraid this is it,” Kayl said, gesturing at the serving room. “The children are still sleeping, and I won’t have them waked.”

Javieri raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Under the circumstances, it seems like a minor consideration,” she said mildly.

“To you, perhaps,” Kayl replied.

“Javieri has never had many dealings with children,” Mika said. She looked up at her companion, and her eyes held amusement. “If you had, you’d understand. Wake them now, and they’ll be grumpy as bears for the rest of the day.”

“I defer to your superior knowledge,” Javieri said, smiling. “The table by the hearth?” Kayl nodded acceptance, and they crossed the room and seated themselves. Kayl looked at them expectantly.

“We have come on behalf of the Elder Mothers of all the Sisterhood to ask you to go once more to the Twisted Tower,” Mika said. “And your friend Glyndon shal Morag as well.”

“You want Glyndon, too?” Kayl said, surprised. “Why?”

“For the same reason we want you and Elder Sister Barthelmy,” Javieri said, and hesitated.

“The three of you are the only ones they’re certain can get past the spells on the Tower door,” Mika said bluntly. “There was an expedition about five years ago—”

“Barthelmy told me,” Kayl said. “But she said they didn’t try to go inside.”

“Oh, they tried. They gave up after the spells on the door killed the first two women who went through it.”

“And you think we can do better?” Kayl said incredulously.

“You have already done so,” Mika pointed out. “We think that Glyndon shal Morag and Elder Sister Barthelmy can, between them, duplicate the spells that got your Star Cluster safely inside the Tower fifteen years ago. No one else has succeeded in that.”

“And you will know more about the Tower than either of the first two Star Clusters we sent,” Javieri said.

“The Ri Astar Diary?” Kayl said, looking at them skeptically. “You place that much faith in it?”

“Not in the diary alone,” Javieri said. “We hope to confirm its information elsewhere.”

“You
hope
to? You’ve had it a year or more; why haven’t you confirmed it already?”

Mika sighed and glanced reprovingly at her younger companion. “We have no certainty of our ability to do so, and perhaps we should not have mentioned it. But—the last group who sought the Tower heard rumors of a man, a scholar and wanderer who may know much of the Twisted Tower. He was in another part of the mountains then, and they would not delay their journey to seek him out. We intend that the next expedition shall do so.”

“You must be very sure he knows something worth hearing,” Kayl said, not bothering to conceal her skepticism. “I’d prefer to base a hope of success on something stronger.”

“So would we,” Javieri said soberly. “But we have reached the point where we must grasp at whatever hope is offered, though it break like winter grass in our hands.”

Kayl could hear the desperation behind the level words, but she shook her head. “
If
you can find this person, and
if
he really knows something useful about the Twisted Tower, and
if
he is willing to tell you… Too many
ifs
for me, Your Serenity.”

“It is why I had not planned to mention it,” Mika said.

“There seem to be a number of things you haven’t mentioned,” Kayl snapped. “Such as just what you expect this expedition to do when it reaches the Twisted Tower.”

“I thought Barthelmy had told you that,” Javieri said.

“Barthelmy’s story seems to have missed a few things,” Kayl said coldly. She was angry as much on Barthelmy’s account as her own. Kayl was sure Barthelmy had told the truth as she knew it, which meant the Elder Mothers had been lying to her as well as to Kayl. “That business about trying to get inside, for instance, or why you are so sure the Tower is the cause of your… difficulties.”

Javieri glanced quickly around, checking to make sure no one was within earshot. Mika gave Kayl a grim smile. “You are not making this easy, are you?”

“Why should I?” Kayl retorted. The discovery of the crystal chip had made her willing to listen, even willing to reconsider her determination to go to the Tower, but it had not made her willing to let the Elder Mothers know that she was thinking such things. “Ever since Corrana appeared at my inn you’ve been lying to me and manipulating me. Why should I help you?”

“To save the Sisterhood,” Javieri said, so softly Kayl could hardly hear her.

“After all you’ve done, I’m not sure I want to.”

“You have been one of us; you know the good the Sisterhood does,” Mika said. Her expression was stern. “We make mistakes, but who does not? Do not demand greater goodness in us than you yourself possess.”

Javieri leaned forward. “Even if you do not think the Sisterhood worth saving for its own sake, think what will happen if we fall. The Sisterhood of Stars has long been one of the supports of the Estarren Alliance. If the support collapses, what then? The Alliance is already dying, but slowly; would you see it end in your own lifetime?”

“You think a lot of yourselves,” Kayl said. Javieri’s argument had a certain appeal, but she was careful not to show it.

“Have you no unanswered questions of your own about the Twisted Tower?” Mika said quietly. “No doubts or suspicions about what happened there, even after what happened at the meeting yesterday?”

Kayl hesitated. “You have a good point,” she acknowledged. Better than the Elder Mothers knew, but Kayl had promised Glyndon not to speak of the false memory without discussing it with him first. “But I doubt that your arguments will persuade Glyndon to help, even if you manage to convince me.”

“But if there is a way to stop his visions?” Javieri said softly. “That would persuade him, I think.”

Kayl stared, her thoughts in chaos. If it were possible to free Glyndon from his random fits of seeing, could she deny him that chance? She knew the answer as soon as the question phrased itself in her mind, and again she turned the conversation. “Barthelmy has agreed to go?”

“Yes. I believe she always intended to.” Javieri gave Kayl a sidelong look. “I also will be going.”

“We don’t expect you to make a decision quickly, Kayl,” Elder Mother Mika said. “For one thing, I expect you’ll want a chance to look at this first.” She nodded to Javieri.

Javieri reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a scroll, tied with a silver ribbon. She offered it to Kayl.

Reluctantly, Kayl took it. “The Ri Astar Diary?” she asked.

Mika nodded. “A copy only. You’ll find a report at the end explaining the reasons for our conclusions, and giving details of the proposed expedition. We have another for your friend Glyndon.”

“I’ll deliver it for you,” Kayl said. “Glyndon tends to sleep late.”

Javieri handed her a second scroll. Kayl stared down at the two rolls of parchment in her hands. She felt suddenly guilty for keeping her own knowledge secret; the crystal in her sash dug into her waist. She opened her mouth to tell them.

“No. Do not make this decision on impulse,” Mika said. “Wait until you have read the scrolls and thought about them, before you tell us yes or no.”

Kayl stared in momentary confusion, then realized that Mika had jumped to a mistaken conclusion about what she had been about to say. Her advice was still good, though; Kayl nodded.

“We’ll send someone for your answer tomorrow,” Mika went on. “Or would you prefer to have more time?”

“Tomorrow will be fine.”

“Good. Then we’ll be leaving; I expect you’re eager to look at those.”

The Elder Mothers started to rise, but Kayl waved them back to their seats. “There’s something else you should know before you leave. Dara—my daughter—was stopped yesterday by a man in a green cloak who asked a lot of questions about the Star Hall.”

Mika’s eyes narrowed. “Tell us the whole story, if you please.”

Rapidly, Kayl summarized the incident and repeated the description Dara had given her. “I may be overanxious,” she finished, “but I’d feel better if I knew who he was, what he wanted and why. And if I were sure he wasn’t going to be a danger to my children.”

“I think you’re right to worry,” Javieri said. “This isn’t the only odd encounter someone’s had recently. It’s time they were investigated.” Her eyes were challenging as she looked at Mika.

Mika sighed. “I’m afraid you’re right. It will take Sisters away from other urgent tasks, but it must be done. I’ll see to it as soon as we get back.”

“Thank you,” Kayl said. She walked to the door with them, then went back to the table and sat down. She did not immediately open the scroll Mika had given her. Instead she sat staring into the fire.

The proposed trip to the Twisted Tower would be long and hard, and Kayl knew all too well the dangers that lay at its end. The trip could also be a chance to return to the things Kayl had loved most about her years in the Sisterhood, and it was tempting to concentrate on that. Tempting; but foolish. This trip could never be like old times. Varevice and Evla were dead; the younger, brasher Kayl and Barthelmy had grown and changed. None of them could go back, not really. Kayl realized suddenly that she did not even want to try. She had followed an old dream to Kith Alunel, only to find she had outgrown it; she no longer belonged with the Sisterhood, any more than she belonged in Copeham. If she decided to go to the Twisted Tower now, it would be for Glyndon’s sake, not for the Sisterhood.

Slowly, Kayl picked up one of the scrolls and slid it out of its ribbon. Unsmiling, she unrolled the top of the scroll and began to read.

The first part of the Ri Astar Diary was a long-winded description of Shandel ri Astar’s escape from Sadortha just before the first of a series of attacks by the armies of the Shadow-born. Kayl skimmed until she found the first mention of the Twisted Tower, then backed up several inches and read more carefully.

Shandel ri Astar’s grandfather, one Timlin ri Astar, had apparently visited the Twisted Tower as a young man. The list of his companions on that venture read like a Minstrel’s roll of legends—Karinobra Dragonsdaughter, Philomel the Healer, Nevarra Treewoman and her cousin Taldor of Greykeep, the Minstrel Nerewind, Quain, Macarato Firesword… the list went on and on. Kayl wondered cynically whether Timlin had been exaggerating to impress his grandson or whether Shandel was exaggerating to impress his readers.

Timlin’s other claims might be questionable, but he had clearly been to the Twisted Tower at some time. The description of the valley and the Tower were vivid enough to make Kayl shiver. He and his companions, whoever they were, had fought and defeated the wizard of the Tower, then divided his belongings among themselves. Among the wizard’s possessions was a huge crystal cube called Gadeiron’s Crystal.

Kayl stopped and reread the section carefully. Gadeiron’s Crystal fit the description of the cube her Star Cluster had found in the Tower. She fingered the lump in her sash absently as she waded slowly through the archaic phrasing. Suddenly she stopped. “And they sealed the Tower with the power of the Crystal itself,” read the manuscript, “so that no evil might go out of the Tower and none might enter.”