by Garth Nix
"The fury did not come to him," said Milla.
"He did not want to live after Kirr was slain," said
Malen. "So it is with all Wilders. The fury only fails them when they do not need it anymore."
"I was too slow," said Tal. He looked away. "Too slow again . ."
"You fought well," said Milla to Tal. "Almost like a Far-Raider. But we have all been too slow. We must not let Sushin have any more time to bring foes like this to life again."
"The Codex can't tell where Sushin is," said Ebbitt, appearing from under the Wormwalker, his breastplate pushed well away from his chest, a strange light now clearly visible shining through his rather grimy undershirt. "A power opposes it."
"What about the Veil?" asked Tal urgently. "Is the Veil still working?"
Ebbitt looked down and muttered a question.
"It's hard to read upside down," he complained. "But the Codex is not to be trusted if I keep it anywhere else, so--"
"The Veil, Ebbitt!"
"It's still up," replied Ebbitt with a smile. Then the smile disappeared, instantly wiped away. "But not for long. The Codex reports the Chamber of the Veil is in use. The Veil is being 'shut down,' whatever that is. Three of the Towers are already out, from Violet to Blue. Oh, no! Green is going!"
"Where is the Chamber of the Veil?" snapped Tal. "How do we get there?"
Ebbitt looked down, growled in exasperation, and ripped off his crystal breastplate, sending it clattering to the floor. There, tucked into his shirt, was the Codex of the Chosen, or a miniature version of it. A rectangle of pure crystal, its surface shimmered like the reflection of the moon on water.
Ebbitt pulled the Codex out, tearing his shirt, and set it against the wall. Its edges shimmered and then it slowly spread both sideways and up. In a few seconds it was the size Tal remembered, about as tall as Ebbitt and three times as wide.
"How do we get to the Chamber of the Veil from here?" asked Tal. He knew the Codex only answered direct questions.
Dark lines appeared on its surface. A map, with far too much detail for Tal to quickly take in. But there was also a line of text beneath the map, written in Chosen script and Icecarl runes.
Only one way, follow this spiral corridor to the top of the Seventh Tower.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"How long will it be until the Veil is completely… ah… shut down?" asked Tal almost before he absorbed the answer to his previous question.
Twenty-nine minutes at current speed of procedure, answered the Codex, again in Chosen script and Icecarl runes, presumably so Milla and Malen could read the answer as well.
"Come on!" shouted Tal. He spun around and started running. From the map, there were at least three thousand stretches of spiraling corridor to run up. It should be possible to make it in under twenty minutes. Provided they didn't run into more Wormwalkers or other obstacles…
Milla, Crow, Malen, Adras, and Odris followed Tal without question. Ebbitt coughed and leaned against the wall.
"I'll catch you up," he shouted after them.
When he looked back, the Codex was shrinking and losing its form, becoming a stream of jellylike fluid that was climbing up the wall. Ebbitt pounced upon it and wrestled it back against his chest before starting off after the others at a quick walk.
The corridor wound past several more Wormwalkers, fortunately none of them operational. Tal tried not to slow as he approached each one, though it was hard not to. Instead he called Adras to come close to him, ready to throw him up onto its head if it proved necessary. Milla came close to him, too, with Odris at her side, obviously to mimic his tactic if required.
Crow and Malen ran together a little way behind. Tal had stopped worrying about the Freefolk boy. Either he had reformed completely, or he was not prepared to jeopardize his relationship--and his people's--with the Icecarls by doing anything to Tal.
The corridor narrowed a bit after the next turn, and there were many doors coming off it, one every twenty stretches or so on both sides. The doors were transparent, and as they got close enough, Tal looked left and Milla looked right, in unspoken agreement.
They saw strange things through the doors, but could not stop to look at them. There were many odd-looking machines, of metal and crystal and Sunstones, some of the latter still twinkling and glowing. There was room after room full of animals suspended in clear containers of fluid, animals that Milla recognized as being denizens of the Ice, or distant ancestors of them. There were things like newborn Selski, but not quite the same; and Merwins with no horns; and Wreska only a tenth of the size she knew; and Wrack hounds with strange skin instead of fur; and even shiny Norrworms, no larger than her finger and bundled up in balls of many worms, unlike the huge ones of the distant Ice that defined in pairs.
Onward and upward they ran, the spiraling corridor narrowing with every turn, and the doors showing glimpses of stranger and stranger secrets.
"Ebbitt," panted Tal, "will never get past all this. He'll open a door and forget what he was doing."
"We should have brought the Codex," said Milla. She was not really panting, but it took an effort to speak normally.
"No time to make it shrink," gasped Tal. "Besides, we know where Sushin must be."
Around another turn, Crow suddenly cried out behind them, and half fell, half stumbled against the wall and immediately threw up. Malen stopped, too.
"Too much exertion, too soon," she said, feeling his forehead with her palm. "You must rest for a little while."
"Follow when you can!" shouted Milla, without stopping.
"So, it's just you and me again," said Tal as Milla increased the pace.
"And us!" interrupted Odris. "Why do you always forget us, Tal?"
"He's the Emperor now," said Adras gloomily. "Treats me like a servant."
"I do not!" protested Tal.
"Do too!"
"Save your breath," warned Milla. "It's getting steeper."
The spiral corridor was also winding itself tighter, and there were no more doors. It was like running up a very steep hill.
Tal started finding it harder to breathe, and a stitch began to grow in his side. He pushed his fist into it and ignored the pain. What was a stitch when the Veil was disappearing with every minute.
Then he saw it up ahead. The Veil. The corridor ended in absolute, clearly defined darkness.
"Is that…?" asked Milla as they slowed down.
"Yes, the Veil," said Tal. "Adras and Odris, hold on to each other and on to us. Milla, take my hand. We should go through at a walk, and I'll keep my hand on the inside wall."
All four of them joined hands and Tal reached out to touch the inner wall.
"What if there is a trap inside?" asked Milla suspiciously.
Tal shook his head.
"I don't think you can do anything inside the Veil. It not only takes the light away, but breath as well. It's strange. It is not somewhere you could stay in long enough to set a trap."
Tal took a deep breath, Milla following suit. Then the two of them, and their Spiritshadows, plunged into total darkness.
All sound disappeared with the light. Even the touch of Milla's hand seemed distant and far away to Tal. He could feel the rasp of the stone under his other hand, but it was lessened, too. It would be easy to lose one's way in the Veil, to get turned around and blunder about until breath and senses failed.
It was even worse for Milla. She had expected the darkness of the Ice, but this was different. It was not cold, but somehow it leeched both energy and heat out of her, and made her shiver, something she rarely did from a simple chill. It also stretched on and on for much longer than Tal had said it would. She could feel his hand, but not the Spiritshadows', and even his hand felt strange and inhuman. The Veil was robbing her of breath and she was sure she would never see the light again.
When they burst out of the Veil, out into the Sunstone-lit corridor winding its way up and around ahead of them, Milla gasped in relief and swiftly looked at
Tal to hide the small sign of her weakness. But Tal was gasping, too, and did not notice.
"That was bad," said Odris. "I do not think I would go through alone."
"I've been through three times," said Adras proudly.
"Let's hope it's still there when we come back," said Tal grimly. He broke into a run again, the stitch coming back straightaway.
"Will Crow and Malen make it through?" asked Milla.
"Crow's done it before," said Tal, though it took him a few seconds to get breath enough to answer. "He can help Malen. Or they could wait for Ebbitt, I guess."
Tal looked at his Sunstone, to check the time. "Fourteen minutes gone," he said. "But we must be more than halfway."
They started to run again. Above the Veil, there were no more transparent doors, though there were side entrances every now and then, blocked by solid portals of metal or some material that might be wood.
Tal's stitch got worse, twisting deeper into his side. Finally he had to stop and bend over, almost retching from the exertion.
"I will go on," called Milla, but Tal reached out and grabbed her sleeve.
"No," he gasped. "Sushin is too powerful… and if Sharrakor is there… Adras, please, can you carry me?"
"See, he thinks I'm a servant," grumbled Adras. "I said please," Tal coughed out.
"He did say please," confirmed Odris. "Shall I carry you as well, Milla?"
Milla frowned for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes," she said. "We should have thought of it before. The corridor is high enough, and it will be faster."
"I can't go too fast," said Odris. From the tone of her voice she already regretted her offer. "I get tired as well, you know."
Milla and Tal held up their arms and felt the cool shadowflesh ripple across their wrists as the Spiritshadows gripped them. Adras and Odris were strong in the full, clear light of the corridor, and they lifted the Chosen and Icecarl with ease, and quickly accelerated up and around the bend.
It was much faster than the two humans could have run, though Adras had a tendency to cut corners and smack Tal into the side of the corridor, and Odris dipped every ten stretches or so and dragged Milla's feet along the ground.
After at least twenty more turns around the steadily steepening spiral corridor, Tal was dizzy. His stitch had gone, but he felt just as bad from the dizziness. If they kept going he would be in no state to face Sushin. He wouldn't even be able to see straight, let alone do any Light Magic.
"Stop!" he called. "We must be close!"
The Spiritshadows slowed to a halt and let go of their passengers. Tal staggered around for a few seconds, shaking his head until the dizziness passed.
"It can't be much farther," Tal said again.
He consulted his Sunstone. "Nineteen minutes. We have ten minutes until the Veil is gone."
"We should make a plan," said Milla. "What if Sushin has free Spiritshadows with him?"
Tal nodded. He had seen many free shadows in the Red Tower, above the Veil, brought across from Aenir to be the vanguard of an even larger force that would follow when the Veil fell.
"I think we have to concentrate on Sushin," he said. "Strike at him, as he's the one who can use the Violet Keystone. Adras and Odris can try to keep the free shadows off our backs."
"I cannot offer any better plan," said Milla. "We must hope fate favors us, and be bold and brave."
She held out her hand and turned her wrist up, showing the scars of her oaths.
"We have many vows between us, Tal," she said. "Let us add one more, without blood, for there is no time. Let us go together to save our world."
Tal held out his wrist, similarly scarred, and held it against Milla's.
"Together, to save the world. We will defeat Sushin and Sharrakor!"
Tal met Milla's eyes for a full second, and both of them saw something of themselves in the other's eyes. Somehow the Chosen had become almost an Icecarl, and the Icecarl was almost a Chosen. Emperor and War-Chief, both of them blending the best of their two peoples.
Then they broke apart and started off up the corridor, with their Spiritshadows behind. Two people of the Dark World, striding out together to face their enemy, the enemy of all life under the Veil.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Chamber of the Veil was similar to the room at the top of the Red Tower, only larger and more impressive. It had four wide, arched windows that looked out to blue sky and sunshine. The floor was not checkered, but set with tiny Sunstones that shone with soft violet light that mixed with the golden sunshine.
Tal and Milla came to it sooner than they expected, the corridor simply turning steeply and merging into the floor of the chamber. They ducked down as they saw the edge, then peered up over the lip of the ramp.
There was no tree of bells as in the Red Tower, Tal saw, but there was a somewhat similar pyramid-shaped plinth in the center of the chamber. Parts of it shone like a Sunstone, in distinct colors. With a shock, Tal realized that the entire plinth was actually carved out of an enormous Sunstone, one that must have had a diameter of three stretches or more. He didn't know you could carve a Sunstone into any shape--let alone a pyramid.
As Tal watched, the horizontal band of yellow light in the pyramid went dark, and he saw with a feeling of terror that this was a' progressive darkness, and that more than half of this enormous Sunstone had ceased to shine. Five distinct bands were dark, from the base of the pyramid up, and only two still shone. Orange and Red.
Then Tal saw Sushin. The bloated Chosen was on the far side of the pyramid, holding the Violet Keystone in his hand. He was sending pulses of Violet into the pyramid, pulses that Tal instinctively knew were closing--no, what was the term the Codex had used? Shutting down the Veil.
Sushin's Spiritshadow, a monster of spikes, with four hooked claws and two massive horns sprouting from its head, loomed up behind its master. But there were no other Spiritshadows in the Chamber, at least that Tal could see. He felt a rising hope build inside him. Sushin was a dangerous enemy, but he was alone.
"Attack on three?" he whispered to Milla, and she nodded. Tal saw that the Talon on her hand was already glowing as she held it out from her body.
Tal held up three fingers. Closed one, his heart pounding. Closed two, his heart going faster than it ever had before, red light pulsing in his Sunstone. Closed three--
"Go!"
Everything happened too quickly then. There was no time for thought, only instinct.
Tal jumped forward and fired a Red Ray at the Spiritshadow, because Sushin was protected by too many Sunstones. It hit the thing between the eyes, and it reeled back, clasping its head with two hooked hands.
Milla charged straight at Sushin, the Talon fully extended, a long lash of light twisting and curling from it as if it had a life of its own.
Sushin didn't move. He stood there like a statue, the Violet Keystone on his finger continuing to pulse at the pyramid stone.
The Orange band of light went out. Sushin's Spiritshadow dashed forward, only to be met by another Red Ray from Tal as he advanced. Adras and Odris zoomed ahead, to grab the enemy Spiritshadow.
Milla struck at Sushin with the Talon, and Sunstones flared on every hem of his violet-colored robe. The lash of light from the Talon was deflected, whipping back over Milla's head. Without a second thought, the Icecarl flipped a bone knife out of her sleeve and tried to stab Sushin with a more physical weapon. But the Sunstones flared red, and the knife was burned away in an incandescent flash.
Milla howled in fury and tried to punch the Talon into Sushin's face. More Sunstones flared, this time blue and green, and she found herself picked up by some unseen force and thrown over the Chosen's head. Somersaulting in the air, she landed on her toes and rushed back, as Tal ran forward to join her, half his mind focused on forming the beginnings of the Violet Unraveling in his Sunstone.
Milla struck again first, and was once more thrown aside by Sushin's defensive spells, sliding across the floor with an angry scr
eam. On the other side of the chamber, Adras and Odris were twisting the Spiritshadow's claws behind its back and holding it so it couldn't use its horns or teeth. Then they proceeded to tear it apart, bellowing and thundering with every wrench.
"Stay clear!" shouted Tal. A Violet cloud was spewing out of his half of the Violet Keystone. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it spinning into Sushin.
Every Sunstone on Sushin burst into brilliance as the Violet Unraveling hit. For a moment, it looked like they might resist it, or even turn it back. Then they started to explode, one by one, as the Unraveling bit into them.
Yet Sushin still didn't move, keeping his half of the Violet Keystone on the pyramid. Even as his last Sunstone vaporized and the Unraveling started to eat away at his clothes and exposed flesh, he did not look away or lower his hand.
Then the last band of color in the pyramid went out. All seven bands were dark.
Sushin moved swift as a cavernmouth, turning his part of the Keystone back to bathe himself in Violet light of a different shade from the Unraveling. They canceled each other out, in the very second that Tal and Milla attacked again.
Tal's Red Ray was the strongest he'd ever dared, a finger-thin beam of vicious light aimed directly at Sushin's head. But Sushin caught it on his Keystone, deflecting most of it to the ceiling, though his hand was burned.
Milla came in low, sweeping the lash of light from the Talon across Sushin's legs. With inhuman speed, Sushin countered with a shield of Violet, but he was not quite fast enough and the lash cut deeply into his legs, just above his ankles.
As before, when Milla had thrown her Merwin-horn sword at him, no blood came out of these wounds. But Sushin did fall to the ground, his hamstrings cut. He wriggled like a Wormwalker around the pyramid, shrieking as he scuttled. "No, it's not me! It's not me! Don't kill Sushin!"
Then another voice came from somewhere inside him, a deeper, stranger voice, louder and more horrible than anything that came from any human mouth.
"You have lost! The Veil is destroyed! The time of Sharrakor has come!"
Then it spoke a quick series of words, words that neither Tal nor Milla knew, but somehow still recognized.