"What's the news?" Mrillis called as he stepped away from the others to greet the rider.
"The news?" Nixtan scowled at him and slid down from his saddle. "Half our warriors have been in a panic, scouring the countryside for the last eight days, looking for you."
"Why didn't they contact us through the Threads?" Ceera said.
"They tried. No one could contact you. No one could find you." Nixtan scowled at the star-metal lump hovering over their heads. "General feeling is that thing is blocking you, making you invisible and deaf. I'm guessing you haven't tried to call anyone through the Threads, or you would have figured something was wrong when you couldn't speak, either."
"Now that's an interesting development," Endor murmured, and grinned for the first time since Fiora rode out to travel with them that morning.
* * * *
A tunnel once existed between Moerta and Lygroes, built in the days before star-metal poisoned the land and the Encindi became such troublesome foes. Back in the simple days of easy partnership between Rey'kil and Noveni. It had been constructed like the tunnel between the Stronghold and Wynystrys, so that time and distance twisted, and a journey that took two weeks by ship passed in two days on foot. It differed from the other tunnels in one important feature: it had been constructed so that anyone could pass through. The Noveni did not require the help of the Rey'kil to travel the tunnel.
When the wall of prejudice and mistrust grew between the two nations, the tunnel had been abandoned. When the Encindi began their invasions of Lygroes, the Rey'kil sealed it with magic in the Lygroes end, and the Noveni flooded it from their end, and then sealed it with dirt and boulders. Both sides had worked so hard to forget the tunnel existed, even Le'esha had been unsure it was anything more than legend when she first mentioned it to Mrillis. It had taken her and Breylon long weeks of searching old, fragile, forgotten records to prove the tunnel existed and locate the place where it emerged above the ground on each continent.
The Rey'kil council proposed to open the tunnel. To secure it against Encindi use and to keep enemy enchanters from collapsing the tunnel, the plan was for Ceera to embed fragments of refined star-metal in the walls and floor and weave a protection spell all through it. That would use up the dangerous concentration of power in the star-metal lump.
This project would also solve the problem of how to transport future collections of the refined mineral back to Lygroes.
Digging the tunnel from the Moerta end would be easy, using the collected power of the lump to push aside decades of accumulated dirt and rubble and compact it to reinforce the tunnel.
Reopening the tunnel from the Lygroes end, however, would take the combined power, skill and knowledge of the Stronghold and Wynystrys.
"I should be there," Ceera said for the tenth time, the night they camped in front of the blocked tunnel entrance. "Our mother--our Lady needs us. I should be working with her." She scowled and flung a stone at the glowing lump of star-metal high above their heads. The stone burst into white flames, made a loud cracking sound and vanished in powdery smoke before it touched the lump.
"So should I," Mrillis said. He chose to direct his anger at the blocked tunnel mouth. Centuries of water seeping through, cave-ins, settlement, sediment and plants growing up through the gaps in the rock had served to seal it more solid than bricks and mortar bonded with magic. "They need us, to shield them if nothing else. The ancients put curses in their magic, to keep that tunnel from ever being opened. I don't care what the records show. I don't care that The Book of Stars and Beginnings gave them the knowledge to open the tunnel--it's dangerous."
"Don't worry." Endor didn't even open his eyes. He lay on his back, arms crossed under his head. Judging by the lazy drawl of his voice, he was already halfway asleep. "Sure, Master Breylon and Lady Le'esha are both old, but would they still lead the Stronghold and Wynystrys if they couldn't handle it? They'll be fine."
He just doesn't understand, Ceera thought, and scooted around so she didn't have to look at Endor on the other side of the fire.
They weren't his parents. Mrillis shuddered and quelled a mental image before it became clear in his thoughts.
What is it? She scooted closer to him and took hold of his hand. Something frightens you--and makes you angry.
They overthrew his father. He felt very cold and still inside. Mrillis had read Le'esha's account of the battle at the Nameless One's fortress, and he had caught glimpses of the horrific things Breylon had seen and heard when the High Scholar shared thoughts with him.
You think he's angry about it? Mrillis, he hates his father. The Nameless One was ready to sacrifice him and his sisters to defeat our Lady and the Master. He's said many times that he's glad he was brought to us, instead of having to live with his father.
Yes, he's said it...but the Nameless One is still his father. You'd still love our Lady even if she turned evil, wouldn't you?
Ceera frowned and took a long time answering. She finally nodded and sighed and bowed her head. Do you think he wants them to get hurt doing this?
I think...I think that if you asked him, he'd say no, and he'd mean it. But he's not worried. If they got hurt, he wouldn't be upset. Not deep inside, where we would hurt.
How sad, to be so scarred inside. Ceera shuddered, and her hand seemed smaller and cold in his grasp. If anything happened to either of them--
It won't. We'll hurry through our part of the tunnel and meet them halfway, and they'll tease us tomorrow night about how we worried. You'll see. Mrillis squeezed her hand and lifted it to his lips to kiss the back and palm in pledge. Ceera's eyes widened, and a pink blush lit her cheeks.
* * * *
Mrillis woke before the first silver gleam of dawn drew a line across the sliver of ocean visible at the horizon. The place where they had camped lay half an hour of fast riding up a long, steep slope from the coast. If Le'esha had not shown him the images recorded in The Book of Stars and Beginnings, he never would have known that the lump of hill behind him held the tunnel mouth. The years had covered the opening with silt and then grass and even bushes.
Not anymore. He grinned as he recalled how easily Ceera had stripped away the accumulation of decades with just a flicker of power from the lump. Releasing its power was a chancy thing, but after spending so much time controlling it, she had grown deft at releasing just enough power to do what she needed.
He was proud of her and proud that she depended on him. And proud that though Endor tried to tease and coax her beyond the warm friendship she offered him, Ceera never seemed to notice. If she was too busy to pay attention to Endor's sweet words or even realize he wanted her heart, then she was too busy for anyone else. Mrillis told himself he didn't mind that she wasn't completely his; he was still closer to her than anyone else would ever be.
Today, their names would be linked in history. Again. They had created their plan of action yesterday after they made their camp and settled in to wait for Le'esha and Breylon and the others to take their places at the other end of the tunnel. Mrillis grinned at the growing streak of daylight, remembering. He had always wondered why the decrepit watchtower of Bo'lantier stood in the middle of an empty meadow cut out of a swath of ancient trees, with a strange, high lump of grassy hill facing it. Just like here, the entrance to the tunnel had been covered over and forgotten. Le'esha discovered an ancient memory magic woven around the clearing and tower and hill, in a pattern no one had used in decades. It had taken her and Breylon nearly two weeks to see through the cloaking so they could unravel the magic and find the tunnel mouth.
In that time, Ceera had depleted the lump of star-metal enough that it no longer impeded communication through the Threads, yet still offered them incalculable power to use in their endeavor. Eight of the Rey'kil leaders in Moerta now wore cloak pins in the shape of their family crests, made of star-metal. The ship that left for Lygroes three days ago carried chains for necklaces and bracelets, also in star-metal, to gift to members of the Rey'kil council
.
Ceera had reveled in using her artistic talents for a change. Mrillis had watched over her, maintaining the basket cage of power around the star-metal as she worked the tiny bits into things of simplistic beauty. He had been glad for the enjoyment she took in her crafting work, in direct contrast to the heavy task waiting for them under the sea.
Today, they would begin. They had calculated the time differential between the tunnel entrance in Lygroes and the entrance in Moerta. Five hours, give or take a handful of minutes. These were the spots where the coastline of Moerta and the coastline of Lygroes were closest, thus making the shortest tunnel possible. At noon in Lygroes and at the point when the sun hung completely above the horizon in Moerta, the two sides would begin to dig. One, using magic to cut through stone and drain away water. The other, using magic to cut through magic.
"It will be wonderful to be able to walk home," Ceera said, appearing in silence from the morning shadows behind him. "I wouldn't admit it to anyone, but I didn't enjoy the journey by ship at all."
"Too much star-metal in the sea, and no way to get to it," he teased, and reached back for the hand he knew would be stretching out to him.
He grinned down at her when she stepped up next to him. Ceera slapped his arm, then sighed in perfect contentment and leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder. They stood for nearly half an hour, watching the sun come up, hand in hand, at peace with the world and their place in it.
Endor was too quiet when the rest of their team awoke and joined them to watch the sunrise. Mrillis didn't comment. He supposed his friend had awakened and saw him holding hands with Ceera, and was either too proud to comment on it or had finally realized that he had no chance with her. Over the years, Mrillis had learned the best way to handle little difficulties between himself and Endor was to let them fade away in silence.
They ate breakfast together in silence, until Ceera finished, emptied her cup on the ground, and walked to the newly cleared, raw stone mouth of the tunnel. She picked up the pack from the pile of supplies the team had prepared yesterday, tucked the cup inside the front pocket, slung the pack into place on her back, and then knelt. The rest of their team joined her; Mrillis, Endor, Nixtan, Triska, Endor's younger sister who had shown an amazing talent for storing power and sharing it with others, and five others. Their function was to support the magic encasing and controlling the star-metal lump, keep it aloft and keep it moving forward, while Ceera guided it in digging the tunnel.
Ceera raised her hands to the sun, closed her eyes, and whispered a worship poem that asked the Estall's guidance and protection and wisdom to fall on the day's endeavors. The others echoed her and the star-metal hummed far above their heads. Even with his eyes closed, Mrillis saw the increasing blue radiance of the power it held, as if it was alive and aware and eager for this task.
For all he knew, the metal had become aware, had become part of Ceera's spirit, her dreadful, powerful, willing ally.
When the last word left her lips, Ceera opened her eyes. A triumphant laugh escaped her and she leaped to her feet. Mrillis looked, and sure enough, the bottom rim of the sun had just cleared the horizon. The timing was perfect--but he knew it would be, with Ceera leading them.
In silence, they walked together into the tunnel mouth. Ceera was first, with Mrillis and Endor shoulder to shoulder right behind her and the rest of their team three across, then four, creating a triangle wedge, like the Warhawk used in battle.
The star-metal showered them with sparks as it hit the rough wall of stone and compacted dirt only six steps into the tunnel mouth. It hummed, the sound vibrating in their bones and making the roots of their teeth itch.
Don't know how much of this I can take, Nixtan said in the net of minds that Mrillis had formed, to keep them all joined.
It will happen much faster than you think, Mrillis said, thinking of the day-long effort that had passed in very little time at all, the first time he and Ceera worked the star-metal.
He wondered how long it would take to dig past the compacted plug of stone and dirt, and if there was still water filling part of the tunnel. The plan was for their two parties to meet at the end of the day at the halfway point in the tunnel, where accommodations had been created centuries ago.
We are begun, my dears, Le'esha said. Her voice sounded strange, hollowed out and ringing just slightly sour.
Estall bless you, Mother, Ceera responded.
The Queen of Snows laughed, and Mrillis felt warmth flow over him like her arms had wrapped tightly around him when he was a little boy. He cherished that feeling through the years that followed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The star-metal spun in a wide spiral, digging and smoothing and leaving a faint coating of itself on the tunnel walls. It didn't diminish as quickly as Mrillis had anticipated. There was enough room in the cleared tunnel for four horses to walk abreast, their riders' outstretched arms never touching. The pace permitted by the star-metal was like a stately march, not hurrying, but never letting them pause for a moment as the battle wedge pressed forward. The ground tingled and hummed under his feet, and he felt the presence of the star-metal coating it, spread as thin as air.
Each member of the team reached into their neighbors' packs to pull out skins of water when they grew thirsty. They would do the same with packets of bread, meat and dried fruit, and eat as they walked. At the midway point, where they would meet the tunneling party from Lygroes, legend stated there was a way station built in the rock, with a spring of fresh water for drinking and a hot spring to provide water for bathing. The few records that spoke of the tunnel said a series of interconnected 'bubbles,' formed when the rock was molten eons ago, provided rooms for sleeping.
At the beginning of their second hour of work, just after Le'esha reported that the fourth layer of magic blocking the other end of the tunnel had fallen, Mrillis smelled blood and burning and the rot of a gangrenous wound.
The stench brought on a cascade of memories. Memory flung him backwards in time, to that battle for control of the starshower.
Careful. The Nameless One is close! Mrillis shouted to all their minds. He had let go support of the star-metal to Endor just a few steps before. Though weary, he was free to reach with his mental hands, grasp the Threads and use them to search for the presence of their enemy. Though the Nameless One couldn't use the Threads once he turned to blood magic, he couldn't hide himself from the Threads when he actively used his power.
This was the chance they had waited years for. Mrillis only wished it hadn't come now, of all times.
Le'esha screamed.
Mrillis understood in an instant and fury wiped away his weariness. The enemy didn't attack them. He attacked Breylon and Le'esha and the elders of the Rey'kil, bound together in an intense magic that required their full concentration--and left them vulnerable.
"Mother!" Ceera shouted. Her voice echoed strangely through the tunnel behind them, but it couldn't drown out Le'esha's voice, ringing in the depths of their souls.
The star-metal lump erupted in a geyser of silver-blue sparks and the wall ahead of them melted like wax. Ceera turned to face him, and in her eyes Mrillis saw her desperate need to go to Le'esha, to protect her. He saw her helpless fury and the realization that more than a day of travel through the tunnel still lay before them. They had yet to reach the end of the plug built by the Noveni.
They would never reach Le'esha in time.
We don't have to be there in our bodies, Mrillis cried, and resisted the urge to grasp Ceera by her shoulders and shake her. He reached with a tendril of his thoughts and spun her around, to face forward.
Ceera understood. Her face twisted in a mask of utter concentration and anger. The star-metal glowed blinding bright. Mrillis felt the controlling cage around the lump shred like wet parchment under a hail of arrows. In an instant, Ceera picked them all up in a gust of wind that chilled their bones and scorched their clothes.
Mrillis knew he stood still, one hand
outstretched to support Ceera, yet all his awareness hurtled forward with Ceera. They were an arrow, a sword, a flaming spear cutting through the rock as if it were rotted cheese. The smell of blood and burning and corruption drew them forward like a lure drew a fish.
The rock vanished and flames flickered around them as their unified minds hurtled through the dank, sour air trapped in the tunnel below the sea. Mrillis gasped, fighting the sensation of suffocation that wrapped around him even though his body wasn't there.
They passed through the bubbles in the rock where travelers had once rested during their long journey between continents. The remains of chairs and blankets, metal and wood plates, bronze kettles and stacks of abandoned firewood flared up and went to ash in the heat of their passage.
Be my sword! Ceera shrieked, and Mrillis looked ahead of her to see a wall of sparkling, sizzling power.
Together, Endor cried, and hurtled forward with Mrillis.
Their two mental bodies merged into a blade brighter than the stars, harder than hatred and an unforgiving heart, hotter than Ceera's infuriated fear for Le'esha.
The last layers of shielding magic, established by the ancients at the far end of the tunnel, shattered at the first piercing blow.
Mrillis gasped, feeling his physical body rise up in the air, pulled forward by a drawing wind so intense, he thought they would all be turned inside out. He used all his power to find Ceera, to hold onto her and shield her with everything he possessed. Then, when he was sure she was safe, he reached for the others.
They seemed to fly forever in a place with no air, no light, no heat, no sound. The impact with the ground jolted shrieks out of all of them. Mrillis felt as if he had suffocated in a lake of flame.
The stink of burning and blood and rotted flesh filled his physical lungs.
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