Weavespinner

by James Galloway

  "She's going to cause quite a row flying over the city," Jenna said, her eyes serious, and a bit annoyed. She obviously thought she was going to have to make an Illusion of a manor-sized dragon flying over the city.

  "She's going to use some kind of magic to send herself home," Tarrin told her. "I don't think she'd enjoy flying all the way, especially when she has her own ways of travelling."

  Jenna picked up on his hint immediately, and her expression turned slightly relieved. "Is she going to see you off?"

  "I doubt it," he answered. "She was just waiting on me to get better, then she was lingering because of what happened to me. Now that I'm better and all that's been settled, there's really nothing holding her here. It's not like her to be sentimental enough to go see me off."

  "No, I guess it's not," Jenna said with a smile. She understood perfectly.

  "I need to go tell her goodbye," he said absently. "Before everything starts getting crazy."

  "I'll go with you, brother," Allia said after Jenna inobtrusively elbowed her in the ribs, reaching down and picking up her pack. "I've been meaning to ask her a question, and this will be my last chance."

  The look that passed between them was understanding. Tarrin was going to leave, using seeing Sapphire as the excuse he'd need to disappear for a few moments. Dar said goodbye with his eyes, and Jula put a paw on his upper arm in a warm touch of farewell. Tarrin bridged up into the Weave, and Whispered in such a faint and tightly focused manner that only Jenna and Jula would be able to hear him. "Jenna, go get the imposters and have Dar put the Illusions over them, then either you or Ianelle Teleport with them into the room where Sapphire is. Make sure you fill them in on everything we just said, so they don't look confused. Just make sure you do it fast. I can stall a little with Sapphire, but it's going to look strange if we're in there for an hour."

  "They're already waiting," Jenna told him in a similarly tight manner. "We knew we were going to have to pull a switch, but we hadn't had the chance to get with you and work out the details. Jesmind was with you, and, ah, we didn't want to disturb you," she said delicately. "This is going to work well enough."

  "Did mother get the human ready?"

  "He's a little stiff, but he's ready," Jula answered. "Triana stretched him like taffy with Druidic magic. He's as tall as you now, and he's a very clever and fast-thinking human. He'll do fine pretending to be you."

  Tarrin nodded to Jula, then looked at Allia. "Well, we'd better get moving," he told her. "Where is Sapphire?"

  "The small formal dining room," Jenna answered.

  Tarrin nodded again, then reached within, through the Cat, and made a connection to the vast energy of the All. His intent was all he needed for the All to do what he needed, and that was use the spells of sending messages that Sarraya and Triana had taught him but hours ago. Sarraya, we're leaving, he cast his thought into the All, directing it to send that message to Sarraya. Come find me, and make sure you're invisible. Don't let anyone know you're there.

  I'm on the way,came her immediate response, like her own thoughts filtering into his mind through the All. Triana had been right, the Cat did not reject that strange communion. Because it was a communion with the All, not with the mind sending the messages from the other side of it.

  "I forgot, I need to tell Darvon we're going to be leaving soon, or the Knights are going to slow us down as they try to get organized," Jenna grunted. "I'll be right back."

  Jenna gave Dar a short look, and he seemed to understand. "I'll go with you," he said. "I know that without you here, the Were-cats and Allia are just going to try to get me in trouble," he said, giving Tarrin a friendly grin.

  "I know, they're all just big bullies," Jenna teased.

  Her pack on her shoulder, Allia stepped up with Tarrin as he separated himself from Triana and Jula. "I'll be back in a little bit," he said, but they all knew that he was actually saying goodbye.

  "See you in a while," Jenna said with a look that warned him to be careful.

  The silent look that passed between Allia and Allyn was intense, and Allia's hand flicked in the Selani hand-code. Tarrin was a bit surprised that she'd been teaching it to Allyn already, but then again, it was something he'd have to know to fit in with the Selani. She spoke brokenly in hand language, probably only using the gestures she'd taught to him, but it was enough to get her message across. --Leaving. Be careful. Love to you.--

  His response was a bit unsteadily formed, but legible to Tarrin's eyes. --Will do. Love to you. Return soon.--

  Tarrin suppressed a sigh. He knew that leaving Allyn was not what Allia wanted, but the circumstances left little choice. Allyn's disappearance would be too hard to explain, and he'd only be a hindrance to them in the desert. This was not the time to take Allyn into the desert for the first time. Even with Allia, Tarrin, and Sarraya looking after him, he didn't know enough to not be an extreme danger to himself.

  They parted from the others and walked silently down the hall. Tarrin could tell that Allia was suppressing the urge to turn and look back over her shoulder.

  Sapphire was right where Jenna said she would be, in a large, richly appointed dining room. It was one of the formal rooms where Jenna would entertain royalty, and it was furnished to accommodate the rich. A deeply polished mahogany table was surrounded by what had to be twenty plush upholstered and cushioned chairs, the mahagony chairs similarly polished and with red velvet covering them, complete with shined brass tack rivets holding the velvet onto the wood. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling by a golden chain, a brass contrivance with a multitude of small crysals hanging from it like icicles, each crystal glowing with a soft, pleasing magical light. Four small service tables were set in each corner of the room, stacked with expensive porcelain china, delicate crystal goblets, and gold-plated silverware, all arrayed neatly or stacked in ivory and gold plated boxes on shelves beneathed the burnished cherry tabletops which were covered with delicate lace throw cloths. The room had no other furnishings, but two huge tapestries adorned the walls on either side of the door, one of them a massive depiction of a shaeram, and the other an impressive depiction of the flag, crest, and Lion device that were the symbols of Sulasia. Sapphire was seated at that very grand table, fingers rapping on the polished mahogany of the table idly as she seemed to be waiting. She stood up immediately when Tarrin and Allia came in, and the Selani closed the door behind her. "I was getting worried," Sapphire said. "Is everything going alright?"

  "It seems to be," he said, then he quickly and efficiently Warded the room against eavesdropping, and hid it from any Sorcerers that may be looking for such a thing. "We can speak freely now," he told her.

  "You're quite good at that," she said appreciatively, as he could sense her probing his Ward.

  "I've had enough practice," he said dryly. "We're leaving as soon as Sarraya gets here, and they bring in the people that are going to pretend to be us," he said. "You waiting alone gives us a perfect excuse to disappear for a bit, and that's all we need to pull the switch."

  "I hadn't thought of that, but you're right," she agreed. "How long?"

  "Jenna said she has Auli and this human Triana prepared waiting. She just has to get to them, have Dar put the Illusions on them, and then they'll be Teleported into the room. Sarraya should be here by then. She can move very fast when she needs to."

  "Very good," Sapphire nodded complacently.

  Sapphire wasn't one for idle chat, and for that matter, neither were Tarrin and Allia. So they waited in general silence for several moments, Sapphire's fingers continuing to rap rhythmically on the table after she took her seat once again. That silence was broken when the door cracked open, and the incessant buzzing of Sarraya's tiny wings beating the air heralded her arrival. The door closed on its own, Druidic magic, Tarrin sensed, and then the Faerie's slight weight touched his shoulder as the sound of her wings ceased. "I'm here," she announced. Tarrin couldn't see her, but from the way Allia and Sapphire's eyes seemed to fix on his sho
ulder, he knew she must have returned to visibility.

  "Did anyone see you?" he asked.

  "That's a stupid question, Tarrin," she said chidingly. "Of course nobody saw me. I was invisible, you ninny!"

  "You know what I mean," he said tartly.

  "Then say what you mean," she replied impudently.

  "This had better go quickly," Sapphire noted. "I don't think I would like being in her company for very long."

  Tarrin mirrored that notion. He didn't mind the Faerie's acidic comments and constant badgering, but Sapphire was not the sort to harass. He'd like to get those two separated before Sapphire did something unpleasant to the Faerie.

  But Sarraya seemed to take the hint. She fell silent, and Tarrin was silently thankful that the Faerie wasn't going to be her usually obnoxious self. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait for much longer, for he felt the probing tendrils of a spell reach into the room. They moved very quickly, so fast that only Tarrin could sense and track them, locking into a space on the far side of the room. They enveloped that area like a coccoon, and then the spell triggered, exchanging everything in that space with everything on the other side of the spell.

  To the others, in a wavering flash, three people appeared on the far side of the room. Jenna, and what looked like Allia and Tarrin, complete in every detail, all the way down to the clothes they were wearing, but Tarrin's new closeness with the Weave let him actually see beyond the Illusions, behind them, to the people beneath. One was obviously Auli, and the other was a human man with strong Ungardt features. He was as tall as Tarrin, the result of Triana's tampering, and he moved with a stiffness that demonstrated how unpleasant that had to have been for him. He had a strong jaw and a slightly larger nose than Tarrin, and his hair was red and eyes green. Redheads were quite common among Ungardt.

  "Alright, we're here," Jenna said quickly. "Think they look the part?"

  "Dar had to have done that," Allia said critically, looking the two of them over. "It is absolutely perfect."

  "Who else would we turn to when we need a convincing Illusion?" Jenna smiled.

  "Sir Tarrin," the human said with a nod. "I hope I can act as good as this supposedly looks."

  "Just act like everyone annoys you, and you'll do just fine," Jenna told him seriously.

  "Well, I'm looking forward to this," Auli said in Sha'Kar with a bright smile. "A chance to get out from under mother's eye. A chance for a little honest adventure, not the stuff we made up around here!"

  "I'm sure they'll do their best to make it everything you hope it'll be," he told her.

  "Who cares?" she said with an honest grin. "I've never been on a ship before, and I've never been anywhere that wasn't under mother's rigid control," she said with notes of vast irritation in her voice.

  "This is not your chance to go wild, Auli," Tarrin told her disapprovingly.

  "I know that, Tarrin. I'm just saying I'll be glad to go out and do something new and exciting, that's all."

  "Remember, it is my honor you are borrowing, Sha'Kar," Allia warned in a very dangerous tone. "If you dishonor me, I will repay you for it threefold. Do I make myself clear?"

  Auli swallowed, and then nodded with with an anxious look.

  "Good. I am glad we understand one another."

  "I'll do my best to keep her under control, Sir Tarrin," the human said in flawless Sha'Kar, which surprised Tarrin a little. Triana had obviously prepared him in other ways.

  "Be careful of this one," Tarrin warned him. "You may think you're controlling her, but she'll end up controlling you. She's a dangerous one."

  "Well thank you for warning him!" Auli snapped at him waspishly.

  "It's only fair he understand just what he's getting into," Jenna said with a sly smile. "Darvon told me that you're quite a sneaky little devil, Fox. I think you and Auli are going to get along very well. Being sneaky is what she prides herself on."

  "Oh, is that so?" Auli asked with a sudden bright smile, looking at the Knight Cadet hopefully.

  "Not when I'm carrying Sir Tarrin's honor, it's not," he said grimly. "I admit, I have my share of fun when it's harmless, but this is serious. It's not the time or place for it."

  "You could learn from this one, Auli," Tarrin told her with a steady look.

  "Time is pressing, little friend," Sapphire reminded him.

  "You're right, we can't be in here too long without it looking funny," he nodded. "We have to go, Jenna. Keep everything nailed down around here, and tell everyone that missed me I said goodbye."

  She stepped up and hugged him warmly. "I'll do that. You be careful out in the desert, and make sure you tell me what's going on. The Heart isn't exactly empty anymore now that the Sha'Kar are back, but it's private enough for us to talk without it going any further."

  "I'll send word through Jesmind or Jula whenever I need to talk to you," he said. "Their amulets are linked to mine in a way that won't allow anyone to eavesdrop."

  "That'll work," she nodded, then she turned and embraced Allia. "Keep him safe, sister," she said.

  "Always," Allia answered as Sapphire stood up. "Be careful, little sister, and remember that help is but a call away whenever you need it."

  "Good luck, Tarrin," Auli smiled. "I'll miss you."

  "May the hammer of Karas sweep your troubles clear, sir Tarrin," the human Fox said gravely.

  Tarrin nodded to them and motioned Allia and Sapphire to draw close to him. Jenna stepped back as Tarrin set his will against the Weave and began the spell, weaving it on his side and sending the probes far to the west, to that ruined Dwarven city. The place he wanted to go was the empty square of sorts where Faalken's tomb now stood, for it was a place with which he was very familiar, and it was open enough to let them see everything around them as soon as they arrived. He didn't want to appear right in front of a hungry kajat. That would not be a good thing. The probes found where he wanted to go, and they wrapped around the space on that side. Tarrin completed the spell from his side, and the flows of the Weave surrounded them in a blindingly fast display, weaving and twisting together even as they enveloped the four of them. When they finished their intricate pattern, enclosing them, the weave discharged its energy, and then it exchanged everything in the space enveloped in one side of the weave with everything enveloped in the other side.

  In the blink of an eye, Tarrin, Allia, Sarraya, and Sapphire were transported thousands of longspans to the west, appearing in a windswept ruin of such antiquity that perhaps not even Sapphire could remember it.

  Faster than the span of a heartbeat, the four of them were in the Desert of Swirling Sands, and as soon as he felt the heat of the noontime sun beating down on his uncovered head--the desert was further east of Suld and as such it was later in the day there--and saw the sandy ruins, he knew they had arrived.

  And for the first time in a very long time, he felt safe.

  Chapter 10

  Everything was even in the same place.

  This was the only place in the desert where to which he was absolutely sure he could Teleport, and seeing it again made him go through all the memories anew. It was the broken arena in the Dwarven city that Jegojah had called Mala Myrr, with the collapsed tower on one side and the clear field on the other. Tarrin and Jegojah had fought in this arena, the grandest of all battles it had ever seen, a duel of sword and staff, magic against magic, cunning against cunning. Tarrin had won that battle, and in the course of it had freed both Jegojah's and Faalken's souls of the Soultraps, devices used to imprison them and make them do the bidding of Kravon. Tarrin had spent days memorizing this arena, coming to know intimately where every single pebble was located, to give him every possible advantage in his fight with Jegojah. That exacting familiarization was more than enough to allow him to Teleport back to this place. Since he wasn't very close to where he wanted to go or couldn't see it, it meant that he had to have a good knowledge of the place in order to Teleport there.

  They had only just arrived, but it was like h
e'd been there for years. It had been many months since he'd last been there, but part of him expected to still find his and Jegojah's footprints on the ground. His life had changed in this arena, and it was here where events were set in motion that saved the city of Suld, saved the katzh-dashi from destruction. It had been many months, but the pain he felt at seeing the crypt was almost like new. He, Sarraya, Allia, and Sapphire had appeared facing its magnificent marble walls, gleaming like snow in the midday sun. It had been months since he'd last seen it, but it was completely untouched by the elements. Its white marble was just as brilliantly white, and the inscription etched into it was still clean inside, with no sand built up in it as it tended to do in nooks and crannies.

  Faalken. How he missed his old friend, even now. The only one to die, and who had died because Tarrin, in a fury, cared more about killing Jegojah than he did about protecting his friends. He had been indirectly responsible for Faalken's death, and though he didn't let it consume him, it was a fact that he would never allow himself to forget. Just as he'd worn the manacles to remind himself of Jula's betrayal, he carried inside him a scar that would never disappear, a scar he would never allow to vanish from his mind. It was his reminder of what happened when he lost control, of how those around him he loved could pay the price for his own failings. Creating this wondrous crypt in the ruins of a Dwarven city, a race who had allowed itself to be exterminated in order to save the rest of the peoples of Sennadar during the Blood War, was the least he could do. And it seemed right to lay him to rest here. A new hero to rest beside those of antiquity, to add his name to their countless unknown ones, to remind everyone of the sacrifices that had been made both in the present and the past.

  Tarrin had brooded a long time about the Dwarves when he first came here, he remembered. He had a towering respect for a people who were willing to sacrifice absolutely everything for others, who had been destroyed to the last man, woman, and child in order to defend their home. That was courage, and it was something that everyone on Sennadar, even now, five thousand years later, did not forget. They had been gone five millenia, but the songs and stories of the legendary bravery and sacrifice of the Dwarves still echoed from taprooms and parlors all over the Known World. In their own way, they had had a profound impact on his life. They had built the city where he and Jegojah had fought, but their sacrifice and his memories of this place had had quite an effect on him, and it was here that he had started significantly shaking off his feral nature. On many levels, in many ways, both blatant and subtle, Tarrin owed the long-dead Dwarves a great deal of gratitude and thanks. Though dead five thousand years, their hands had stretched across time and helped shape the present, and Tarrin thought that they would have been satisfied, even happy, to know that they had had one final chance to help protect the world that they had died to save.