Mirror 04 The Way Between the Worlds (25 page)

the tiny creature cradled in my arms.
'I never saw Yalkara cry before in all the time we had been together, but now
the tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked. She took me in her arms, touched
my face with her fingers, and I felt her shivery trembling. Only then did I
realise how weak she was, how close to death. She kissed Aeolior, smiled at me
and stepped back into the portal. How the wind howled through the gate that
took her from me! She cried out a rhyme that I did not catch, and was gone
from my life.
'I stared into the gate long after it had closed, until Aeolior cried and woke
me. I had a new art to learn.'
'That evening we went out of lonely, empty Havissard, for I wanted to show my
daughter the sunset over Tar Gaarn, the Aachim city that even in its ruin was
the most beautiful thing ever made on Santhenar. I gave her that, but when we
tried to get back in, Havissard was closed. I had gone out without Yalkara's
gift - this ring - and the protection came down and has never lifted to this
day.
'That was my first failing. Aeolior and I were alone in the great world. But
it did not bother me at the time. I was powerful. No one could harm me!
'So we lived and travelled together, Aeolior and I, and I guarded her like the
precious jewel she was, and the joy I found in her was some compensation for
my loss. But that was in a time when I still accounted myself important, a
mover and a shaper of Santhenar. Oft-times I had to go to
places where it was not safe or wise to take her. I left her in the care of
friends whom I trusted utterly, with so many injunctions to guard and take
care of her that it must have been quite a trial to them.' His mouth curved
down as he tasted the bile of self-loathing. 'But one time, when I returned
from my posturing and spruiking, full of pride and self-importance, I found my
friends dead and Aeolior gone!
'I'm sorry, Llian,' he said, giving him a cool stare. 'I've always blamed the
Zain. There was clear evidence of them at the scene, and they had strong
motives. In those days I was one of their greatest enemies. Twice I exposed
them to the world in their long wandering, causing them to be driven into
exile yet again. Because of me, your people are persecuted to this day.
'Aeolior was still a child when I lost her. The children of the Charon grow
only slowly to adulthood, and she could have passed for a girl of twelve, an
old human child that is, though she was much older in years. Whatever, she was
not yet a woman. She was the very image of Yalkara, even then. I came back
from doing my business and she was gone. She had been well guarded, but not as
well as I would have done. Not well enough!
'A long, long time I sought her: months; years! I could feel her, sense her
sometimes, and it was as if she was in a long dreaming. Once or twice I almost
reached her in my dreams, but always something forced me away. Decades I
sought her, then one night I heard her cry out for me, her screams ringing in
my nightmares. Her terror, her agony, was awful. Awful! Then she was gone
forever.
'Guard your children with your life,' he said, looking at Llian and each of
them with vacant grief.
Llian looked away, busying himself with his notes for the tale. Shand
continued in a bitter voice.
'I had sworn to protect Aeolior and to safeguard the Mirror for her, but a
moment of carelessness undid all that. I failed her and blamed myself, so I
gave away that life forever. I

hid the Mirror and everything that was hers. I renounced the Secret Art, the
way of the powers, and wandered in grief and abandonment.'
He sank his head in his hands and his voice came back muffled. 'My grief was
greater than if Yalkara had left me nothing. And I was reduced to nothing, for
eventually even the Mirror was sought out and taken. You ended up with it,
Yggur. I don't blame you, though the foretelling about Rulke has come to pass.
Aeolior is not here to use her birthright as Yalkara hoped. She is gone and I

am left with nothing. Yalkara gave me part of her life and I'm now older than
ever I wished to be. My strength has faded, my wits with it. I long for death
but life continues to torment me.'
He said no more; he looked utterly broken. No one else spoke either; there
seemed nothing anyone could say.
Shand suddenly jerked upright. 'Yggur, you called her Maigraith. Why? Who is
Maigraith, this disciple of Faelamor that we hear so much of?'
'No, it's not Maigraith,' said Yggur, examining the image on the Mirror. 'I
see that now, though the resemblance is extraordinary! Nonetheless, I believe
I can tell you the rest of the tale, old man,' he went on gently. 'It's a
sorry business. You'll get little joy from hearing it, except perhaps at the
end. I came by the first fragment when I was looking for the Mirror, and found
another with it, twenty years ago. After meeting Maigraith I had my spies seek
out the rest. Though only now, after hearing your story, am I able to put it
all together.
'You were wrong to blame the Zain, Shand. They had nothing to do with it,
though the evidence was cleverly slanted that way. Faelamor took Aeolior from
you.'
'Faelamor?' Shand whispered. 'Are you sure?' He stared at Llian in
mortification. 'Tell me, quickly!'
'There's no doubt whatsoever. After her last battle with Yalkara, Faelamor lay
on her sick-bed for months. She was full of hatred and bitterness for the
age-long defeats of the Faellem, and especially at Yalkara, whom she blamed
for
everything. Somehow Faelamor found out about Aeolior, and conceived a twisted
plan that would revenge her on Yalkara and with luck further her own goal. As
you know, Faelamor was desperate to take her people back to Tallallame, the
world they were cut off from long ago. No longer would she seek some warp in
the Forbidding through which the Faellem could make their escape. She would
shatter the Forbidding and curse the consequences! An old Faellem foretelling
had shown her the way:
'Tallallame, Tallallame,
Your fate rests on the one which is three.
'To break the Forbidding required a special kind of device empowered by the
Secret Art, like the golden flute or Rulke's construct, but the Faellem were
forbidden to use such things. Faelamor's way around the prohibition was to
make a human device, a triune - the one which is three. But triunes were
extremely rare, often mad, and almost impossible to control. The only solution
was to make her own and train it from birth. How could she do that? Then she
learned about Aeolior. I don't know how. She knew that Aeolior was a blending,
a child of Aachan and Santhenar. From her she could make the triune and be
revenged on Yalkara too.
'Faelamor took Aeolior, and, it grieves me to tell you, Shand, treated her
barbarously. When Aeolior was old enough Faelamor mated her, unwilling, to a
Faellem male. Such matings seldom give rise to children but Faelamor found a
way to make it so, and continued the sad business until it did. Eventually a
child was born. Aeolior named her Maigraith, and,' my spy told me, 'even found
joy in her. But Faelamor could not allow the child to bond with the mother or
she would never be able to control it. She tore Maigraith away from her
mother's breast, and in her grief and shame Aeolior killed her Faellem mate as
he huddled beside her, his debasement even greater than hers, then took her
own life.'
'I knew something terrible had happened, when I dreamed her crying out for
me,' Shand wept. 'Aeolior, Aeolior.'
Yggur left him to his grief, speaking quietly to one of the guards. Shortly
servants appeared with mugs of lasee.
Shand drank his in a single gulp, then said to Yggur, 'What did Faelamor do to
my grand-daughter?'
Yggur continued. 'Faelamor took charge of Maigraith and schooled her for the
great purpose. But the Faellem were dishonoured. They drew away from Faelamor,

shunning Maigraith as well. Maigraith lived a long life with Faelamor, and a
lonely one, growing slowly into womanhood. She knew none of her own kind or
even who she was, and though she was far cleverer than anyone around her, and
stronger too, she was afraid to use her strength or her will. When she did, it
was always too much, and drew attention to her. So maybe Faelamor's deeds will
prove her undoing,' Yggur said. 'Maigraith has the talents and the strength
for her purpose, but perhaps not the will.
'The first great task Faelamor set Maigraith was the taking of the Mirror, for
on it, she was sure, the secret of Yalkara's flight could be found. It was in
Fiz Gorgo, when I held her prisoner, that I first guessed Maigraith's origins.
The eyes of the Charon give them away, for they are a most marvellous colour,
indigo and carmine together, though such a hue can never be described.
Faelamor had given Maigraith a potion, the drug kalash, to conceal the colour,
but my Whelm took it from her and while I held her the colour changed back. I
then knew that she was a child of the Charon, but whose ? There had been quite
a few Charon blendings around at one stage, though in the early days, and
again in the Clysm, they were hunted almost to extinction. She might have been
hidden away, barely ageing for centuries, until brought out for this task.'
'She must have been,' said Shand. 'It is 309 years since Yalkara went through
the gate.'
'I didn't know Yalkara ever had a consort,' Mendark said irritably.
'It was our secret. And as I said, I had a different name then,' Shand
replied. 'Several names in fact. I was known as Gyllias in the east, but in
the west, in the days of my power I was called Cheseut, which is my real name
and the one Mendark knew me by.'
'You must be the famous Recorder!' said Llian excitedly.
'I was the Recorder,' Shand responded. 'It took you a long time to work that
out.'
'The rest of Maigraith's story you know,' Yggur concluded.
'Maigraith!' breathed Shand. 'The daughter of our daughter, and I never knew.
Karan often spoke of her. Oh, what a wonderful day! If I could just see her I
would be happy to die.'
Mendark did not look entirely pleased. 'This makes your dereliction of duty
all the greater, Shand,' he said sourly.
'I don't owe you any duty, Mendark!'
'And Tensor recognised her heritage,' Mendark continued. 'Recall his words at
the Conclave, when Maigraith first appeared: Do the Charon spring up again
from the earth? Though I don't think he knew who she was.'
'He didn't,' said Llian. 'Karan also saw Yalkara's face on the Mirror in Fiz
Gorgo, for she mentioned it soon after I met her. But she thought it was an
older Maigraith. I wonder if the Mirror recognised Maigraith even then.'
Shand let out a heavy sigh. 'I have done you a monumental injustice, Llian.
From the very first I blamed the Zain, and I have always doubted you, I
poisoned the minds of these people against you, and Karan too, as I have
worked to bring your people down for centuries. No service I can do you can
make up for this evil, but demand of me what you will and if it is in my power
I will do it.'
'I want Karan back,' said Llian, 'but that's beyond your power. Or anyone's .
. .' He sank his head in his hands and the shackles rattled faintly.
Yggur shouted at the guards. 'Bring hammer and chisel. Strike these chains off
at once.'
They all watched the operation. 'Nonetheless,' Mendark scowled, 'you may not
leave the citadel until we learn the truth about Karan.'
Llian made a rude gesture. He felt so light that he could have floated up to
the ceiling. 'So that's how you knew about the thranx and the void,' he said
to Shand. 'I always felt that there was something special about you.'
'Yalkara taught me many things,' Shand replied. 'The answer to many of your
wonderings, though not all, lies there. I have never stopped longing for her to bring her back, or follow her to Aachan. It's been the passion of my life.
A totally fruitless one!' His eyes closed. He did not speak for a long time.

'Shand!' Yggur said abruptly.
Shand shook himself out of the daydream. 'Does anyone know where Maigraith is
now?'
A Stroll in the Country
'You're looking remarkably well today, Shand,' said Yggur
the following day. They were taking lunch together in Yggur's rather grim
workroom, though the fire was crackling cheerily.
'I feel like a young man again. No, that's not true. I feel reborn;
unfortunately as an old man.'
Yggur laughed. 'Well, there's plenty to be done in your new life.'
'Plenty to be set right! What a fool I've been!' He did not say this bitterly,
but as one whose eyes had just been opened. 'I've got to find Maigraith, and I
know you've an idea where she might be.'
'I have a number of ideas,' said Yggur.
'You mentioned Elludore,' said Shand. "That's a huge place.'
'It is, but Faelamor has been out more than once. Did you know that she
sneaked into our first meeting, after we came back from Katazza last autumn?'
'What!'
'Yes! She was very bold. I didn't realise she was inside until the Council was
underway. You might have wondered at the strange course it took.'
'I remember it well,' said Shand. 'It was full of posturing and taking
positions - political nonsense! I thought you and
Mendark were playing games. I was so angry that I left Thurkad straight
afterwards.'
Yggur leaned back in his chair, reflecting. 'Well, I had to break up the
meeting without alerting her. But she was too clever. Before I could seal the
doors she was gone again. After that I did ... certain things to secure our
meetings. I don't know if she tried again or not.
'I knew her refuge was not far away,' he went on after an interval. 'Elludore
was my guess, and that was confirmed a few weeks ago. Three Faellem came
across the sea from the south-east. I had them followed.'
'We might never find her,' said Shand thoughtfully, 'even if we took an army
in there.'
'Especially if we took an army. But that wasn't what I had in mind.'
'What can two old men do that an army cannot?'
Yggur laughed. 'Quite a lot, I imagine,' he said. 'Is the morning soon enough
for you?'
Shand had never seen him so cheerful. 'I think I can restrain myself.'
They slipped out of Thurkad well before dawn. Yggur was heavily disguised, for
he was all too recognisable. Shand was just Shand - he could look nondescript
or imposing as the mood took him. Today he was like any other old man on the
road. His beard, which he had started growing when he left Tullin a year ago,
was now long and grey. His hair was sheared off roughly at the collar. He had
his knobbly black staff in his hand. His clothes were faded, work-stained
browns.
Yggur was also dressed in drab: green shirt and mud-coloured trews. His jet
hair was powdered to grey and he too was bearded, though his had been made
during the night and glued to his face. He wrapped himself in a long cloak and
pulled a baggy brown hat low over his eyes.
The guards over at the western gate looked sleepy. They
checked the papers, not as thoroughly as they might have, and waved them
through.
'Remind me to send them on marsh duty for a month when we return. They should
never have let you through on that pass.' Yggur's teeth flashed in the gloom.
Shand chuckled, urging his horse into a trot.
'There was a time when I would have had them whipped,' said Yggur, his levity
disappearing. 'In the days of my misery I was as hard as stone.'
'I heard what you ... did to the Second Army,' said Shand carefully.
'Most commanders would have done the same, but I'm just realising that there
can be another way.'