Mirror 04 The Way Between the Worlds (27 page)

sniff. 'I'll be with you in a minute, sur.' Hawk. Cough.
Grisk had lost interest. He handed the papers to Shand, walked back td the
patrol, who had not dismounted, and they continued up the road at a fast pace.
Shand burst out laughing.
'You can laugh!' Yggur said furiously, tearing off the beard. His cheeks were
red and blistered. 'You just about choked
me, and I'm sure the whole roof is gone from my mouth. But . . . thank you!'
On the second night they left their horses at a village near the border of
Elludore. They were heading into the deepest, oldest parts of the wood, places
where there were few paths and mounts were of little use.
'Now comes the difficult bit,' said Yggur, standing under the eaves of the
forest.
Shand had gone back a way and was staring west, where the mountains, a wall of
snow-covered peaks, rose out of forest-clad hills. He was thinking about Karan
and the mistakes of his past.
'Come on!' Yggur called impatiently.
Shand shook himself out of his recurring daydream. "The wheel turns, and turns
again. What will we find in Elludore?'
'Maigraith, I hope,' said Yggur. 'I miss her terribly, Shand. She did so much
for me. After this, I'll never let her go.'
Shand frowned and changed the subject. 'I wonder about this gold of
Faelamor's.'
'So do I. Especially since Mendark is so keen on it.'
'And you aren't?'
'Oh, I'm keen all right. Keen to find out what it really is and where it came
from.'
'You don't believe what you've heard so far?' Shand's expression was studiedly
neutral.
There's something not right about it. I won't be making any golden flute out
of it if we ever get the stuff. But I don't like the idea of Faelamor having
it either.' He shrugged his pack higher.
'Then let's keep our eyes open,' said Shand. He brushed past and led the way
into the forest.
They walked steadily all day, south and west, hardly speaking. The going was
easy in undulating country. The trees were far apart but there was a dense
undergrowth, so that it was difficult to see from the path into the forest.
In the afternoon the ground began to slope upwards, and here the forest became
taller on rich chocolate soils scabbed with old snow. At dusk they reached the
top of a ridge and found that the other side sloped steeply down into a deep
ravine that cut across the path. It was too dark to work out a way around it
so they made camp halfway down, where a tiny spring bubbled out from the base
of a limestone scarp. Shand traced the whorls of aeons-dead creatures in the
stone and shivered.
'Look at this! Did you ever see such beast-forms?'
Yggur grunted.
'How old is Santhenar, that the very life in the seas has turned to rock? This
must be a magical place.'
'There are many such places,' said Yggur, 'but no one has ever worked out how
to tap such old magic'
'Right,' said Yggur after dinner. 'We're here! Where do we start?' He unrolled
a map copied onto parchment and spread it out on the ground. The forest,
mapped in emerald ink, looked enormous. He measured it with his fingers.
'Twenty leagues by fifteen. That's a vast area,' he said gloomily.
'What did your spies tell you?' Shand asked.
'The ones who followed the Faellem? They lost them midway into the forest; on
the second day, or the third. They crossed the river and went west.'
'Beyond this spur?' Shand pointed to a branch of the mountains that extended
east of the main range.
'I'd say so.'
They narrowed their search down to a section of forest a few leagues along a

side. Shand brought out his flask of liquor and they enjoyed a tot each. They
both stared at the map in the firelight. Something rustled in the forest
behind.
'I once knew this forest quite well,' said Shand, pouring himself another
drink. 'We'll find them.'
'I'll have another, if you don't mind,' said Yggur, pushing
forward his cup. Shand poured a none too generous measure. Yggur rapped his
mug against the flask. Shand glanced up, laughed and topped it up.
'I can't help it,' he said with a lopsided grin. 'The first cup is freely
given, but the second, that I begrudge. I had another flask in my pack but it
seems to have disappeared when I travelled with Tallia. If it were anyone else
I would suspect robbery, but not my dear Tallia.'
'Surely not!' Yggur burst out laughing. 'But I'll make sure to savour it,
since you've made clear it's my last. Do you have somewhere in mind?'
'I was thinking that there are places in our search area which would be ideal
for her. Deep and easily defendable valleys, running back right into the
mountains.' Shand scratched his head. 'I once panned for gold in this part of
Elludore. There's still plenty here too. I wonder .. .?'
'What are you thinking?'
'I used to practise the Secret Art, you know.' Shand had a gleam in his eye as
bright as flakes of gold in the bottom of a dish.
'I had guessed,' Yggur chuckled. 'And you have in mind a little .. . geomancy,
perhaps?'
'Where better than in this ancient place?'
Shand was up at dawn, pacing back and forth as he worked out what was
required. 'Get up, lazybones!' he said, nudging Yggur's sleeping pouch with
the toe of his boot.
'I've never been called that before,' grumbled Yggur as he rolled out. 'At
least, not by anyone still alive!'
Shand snorted. 'Climb up there, would you?' He pointed to the cliff face.
'Find me a bowl-shaped stone made from that ancient rock. Then weave a little
boat, from this!' Shand hacked a lock from his beard. 'It will help point to
Maigraith, I hope.'
'I haven't had my breakfast,' Yggur said sourly.
'You haven't earned any! Come on, time's a'wastin'.'
Taking his dinner plate, Shand headed down to the river. 'I may be some time,'
he said over his shoulder.
He walked along the bank for an hour or two before finding a suitable place,
where gravel was trapped in rock riffles underwater. Wading into the frigid
water he excavated material from the very bottom. Shand swirled gravel in his
plate, rocking the dish back and forth as he spilled the coarse material over
the side. He found no gold there, nor from several nearby locations, but
gravel from across the river rewarded him with half a dozen flakes no bigger
than grains of salt, and one larger piece of gold the size of a tealeaf. It
was enough. He headed back.
At the camp, ham and onions and bread were frying in dripping. Yggur had
levered out a lump of stone the size and shape of a washbasin. The strange
petrified life-forms ran through it from front to back. He had also woven the
hair into a tiny canoe and sealed it with tree gum.
'I found this as well' Yggur displayed some shiny yellow crystals on his palm.
'Fool's gold! Let's hope it doesn't make fools of us.'
After breakfast Shand filled the basin with river water, put the true gold in
one end of the canoe and the fool's gold in the other, and rested it on the
edge of the basin. Holding the sides, he concentrated on the reflecting water,
trying to imagine Yalkara's face on it as he had seen it in the Mirror. That
was as close as he could get to Maigraith.
Shand strained with all his will, and once thought that he did see Yalkara's
shadow there. At that instant he slid the canoe into the water. It drifted
halfway across, slowly revolved twice, moved slightly back the other way and
stopped. The end containing the true gold was pointing west of south-west.

Shand did not consult the map. 'I know where they are!'
Several days later they stood on the crest of a limestone pinnacle above a
precipice, staring down into a deep and thickly wooded valley that ran right
up against the sheer
flank of the mountains. The rocks were saturated and moss-hung, for water
poured down them most of the year. The valley was cliff-bound on either side
too, and at its entrance the over-arching bluffs made a gorge with only a
narrow track on one side of the river.
'This is the place,' said Shand.
'I'm afraid,' Yggur muttered. 'I'd sooner go up against the thranx again than
Faelamor. But to recover Maigraith I would . ..'
'I'm looking forward to it,' Shand said with a grim smile. He rotated
Yalkara's gold, silver and platinum ring on his finger.
'But even you, Shand - ' Yggur said doubtfully, 'great as you once were ...'
'Yalkara taught me a lot about her. I have right on my side. And this ring, if
its power has lasted. A form of protection against my enemy, the letter said.
Not that I plan to rely on it. No, woodcraft and cunning will get us into the
valley. Then we will see. But Yggur, may I say one personal thing, quite
frankly? Regarding Maigraith?'
Yggur scowled. 'As long as you don't plan to trade on our friendship!'
'Don't. . . have unrealistic expectations.'
'I've heard enough!' Yggur snapped.
Gyllias
A snowstorm drove the Faellem into the other shelter and Maigraith heard no
more. She drifted in and out of sleep for the remainder of the day, waking at
dusk. The Faellem were by the fire again. Their conversation had moved on, to
tales of the south that reminded Maigraith of long ago. She went out to them.
'We must find a better camp,' said Gethren. 'Even were we to stay, hundreds
can't be accommodated here.'
'There are caves further up the valley,' Maigraith replied, 'where the cliffs
come right down to the river. They're large enough to shelter a few hundred
through the winter, though in cramped circumstances.'
'We like being close together. Food will be the problem. What you have put by
will last our people for less than a week.'
'The hunting is good in the forest,' said Maigraith.
'We'd better get to work.'
That day was hythe, but it passed unnoticed, for here it was overcast and had
been snowing for a week. However at moon-rise Maigraith felt a foreboding and
was shivery afraid all night.
She spent little time with the Faellem, who were busy hunting, fishing and
smoking their catch; gathering from the nut thickets outside the valley;
moving the camp upstream well past her ironstones; preparing the caves. A
fortnight went by.
They began to go further afield now, on hunting and foraging trips that lasted
for a week or more. They had just returned from the first of these, weary but
laden with fresh meat and gatherings, when Faelamor hobbled into the camp. She
moved like a crippled old woman, for her back had been damaged when Tallia
crashed down on her, a fortnight ago.
Maigraith had gone down to the stream to get water. As she returned, bearing
her load in wooden buckets slung from a pole over her shoulders, she saw the
three Faellem standing in curious attitudes. They were arguing violently with
Faelamor.
"Three hundred only!' Faelamor screamed. 'What about the rest of the Faellem?'
'They swore to remain here on Santhenar,' Ellami replied, leaning backwards
like a tree in a storm. 'They will not follow you a single step. Not even if
it is the only way home.'
Faelamor shook from head to toe. Maigraith ducked behind a tree, thinking her
liege was about to have another of her fits, but Faelamor controlled herself.
'And what do you say?' She gave each of them a stare that might have melted
glass.

The Faellem stood up to her. 'Maigraith has told us your dishonourable tale,'
said Gethren. 'As soon as we find the book you lost, we are going home. To
Mirrilladell!'
'Mirrilladell is not home!' Faelamor shrieked. 'We are Faellem. Tallallame is
our only home.'
The three turned as one and walked away, their backs very straight. Faelamor
roared at them but they ignored her.
'Maigraith!' she screamed.
Maigraith set down her buckets. She knew what was going to happen. Faelamor
would humiliate her and remind her how useless she was. Again she would be
stripped of what self-worth she had painstakingly built up.
No, not this time! The Faellem had done her a great favour. Ever since
Havissard, Maigraith had known that there must be more to her life. She had
been carefully preparing herself,
building her strengths, exploring her weaknesses. She was nearly ready to
break away.
'Yes, Faelamor?' she said calmly, emerging from behind her tree.
'You betrayed me! I ordered you to say nothing to them!'
'They are your people!' Maigraith tried to defend herself. 'Why should I not
answer them when they question me?'
Faelamor's rose-gold skin flushed copper. 'Your duty is to me! Only me!'
'Why is my duty to you?'
'Because I fed you, clothed you and gave you the best education anyone on
Santhenar has ever had. I gave a hundred years of my life for you!'
'You didn't do it for me! You did it to further your own wicked plans.'
'It doesn't matter why I did it.'
'The Faellem say that..."
'The Faellem are sheep!' Faelamor said contemptuously.
Maigraith found a better argument. 'I am not your species at all. I cannot owe
any duty to you. I repudiate you utterly.' She held her breath for the attack.
Faelamor's eyes flashed and she raised one hand. Maigraith recognised the
compulsion this time, though she still didn't know how to defend herself
against it.
'You will - ' Faelamor broke off and limped to the mouth of the cave. 'There's
someone out there,' she whispered. Her golden eyes stared into infinity. 'I
know that aura, that defence. Oh, this cannot be! She can't have come back.'
She slid out the side of the cave, bent like a hunchback.
It's just the Faellem returning, thought Maigraith. Nonetheless she felt a
twinge of excitement. Outside the air was still. Sugary flakes of snow drifted
down to coat the rocks. She watched Faelamor creeping up the slope above the
cave, only to vanish in mid-step. Maigraith shrugged, tucked her winter cloak
beneath her and sat down on a log bench at the entrance. Sometimes this spot
was warmed by brief shafts of sunlight.
She took out the silver stylus found in Havissard, absently playing with it,
remembering how she had used it as a focus for her return trip there a few
months ago. She wondered if her two shaped ironstones were still intact. The
Faellem might have knocked them down. They had been very angry about
Faelamor's gate - the forbidden device - but she did not know if they felt the
same way about her own. It no longer mattered. Maigraith needed no such aid
anymore;
She felt in her pocket for the stone egg. It slipped comfortably into her
palm. Maigraith suddenly felt sure that it was as much a focus, and the mouth
of the cave all the structure that she needed, to make a gate. For months she
had clung on here, waiting for some spark to send her on her way. Now suddenly
that possibility became an explosion of liberation. Why not? There was time
for her to make a new life in a new place. Faelamor had told her a hundred
times how flawed she was, how worthless. Well, let her solve her own problems!
Maigraith squeezed the egg between her folded palms, took a deep breath and
focussed on using it to make a gate. Immediately the scene outside the cave
began to drift, the rough brown trunks and brown fern fronds smearing