15-The Rainbow Door
The road back to Karjan passed swiftly as Hokra told them of his travels, leaving out no detail of Truna or his fight with the beast.
“So, our magic has no limits in this place?” Lydria seemed startled by the revelation and was more surprised when Dravud answered.
“There are only four things in the Nethyn Plains that live, so your magic only draws from you when you encounter one of those four things,” Dravud began to explain. Seeing a look from Hokra, who had only just finished his story, he corrected himself. “There are only four beings who live here; however, Hokra brings up a good point. If you interacted magically with living rock, or anything that ‘lives’ as you see it, then it will react with magic normally as you are aware. For the rest of this,” he spread his arms wide, “this is all dead as are the inhabitants of this place. You can no more kill me than swim the Placid Abyss, because I am already dead.”
“Why did you not tell us this before, Dravud?” Haustis walked by the guide’s side, with Hokra and Lydria in front of them, flanking a rolled rug that floated between them, each of them with a hand on the parcel to help guide it as they walked.
“As a guide, it is not my place to intervene or suggest. I lead where you want to go, and if you have made a discovery, I may confirm it if it helps you on your way.”
“And the guides of each kingdom, they rule over you?”
Dravud picked up slightly at her choice of words but answered in even tones. “Those set to watch over each of the four kingdoms and their own chosen lieutenants, may elect to deal with travelers in their realms as they will. If you break a law, such as they exist, in Herewist, it is not my place to save you from your own folly. As Karjan’s servant, Alabast had the right to deal … to attempt to deal with you, as he saw fit. To stand in his way would cause my own demise. If I intervene, I will be sent back to the beach, not as a guide, but as a new arrival, and I will have no memory of any of this. Eventually, it is almost certain I would choose a path, and that path would almost certainly lead me, ultimately, to the Shade.”
It was the most Dravud had said to them, and they accepted his answer walking in silence until Hokra finally asked how long he had been gone.
“It’s difficult to judge, but I would say no more than a few minutes,” Lydria offered. “You walked down the rug and we could see a shadow of you and then you disappeared. A few minutes later your shadow reappeared, and you came out.”
The landscape they traversed began to look familiar to Lydria, who could pick out the lights of Herewist and knew they were close to the entrance Alabast had led them from. “Does anyone else think it’s a bad idea to arrive at Karjan’s door with her servant rolled up in a rug?”
“All will be fine,” Hokra reassured them. “Something tells me that Karjan is not aware of who hid her ring, and when she finds out she will not be pleased. It may be that Alabast spends far longer in his ice prison than we anticipated.”
“In some respect, that may be a fitting end, however, it is an end that is cruel, even for this place.” Dravud spoke quietly, his sympathy for Alabast surprising Lydria as she was sure he disliked the white guide.
Finding the entrance to Karjan’s home was not easy, but with two wielders and the innate tracking skills of Haustis, it was found without undue difficulties, and magic was used to help open the door that until now only responded to Alabast. They walked silently down the starry tunnel until they came to an antechamber where the spiral stair stood to their right, and to their left, the shimmering light from the door of fire glowed in the hallway, throwing ghastly shadows across the walls. Dravud stood to the back of the procession as Hokra took the lead, stopping only when he was just beyond reach of the door. Lowering his head, Hokra’s collar blazed and the blue light from his neck turned the red shadows into a haunting shade of magenta and caused Lydria and Haustis to shield their eyes. Dravud stood motionless as if he could not see the brilliance in front of him.
Hokra knelt on one knee and reached into the stone floor in front of him, using his magic and his hands he opened a door outlined in blue and pulled from it a cube that reflected the magenta light through five of its sides. Carefully moving his hands across the shimmering surface, he stood holding a long ring, a miniature of the door in front of them. Standing by Hokra’s side, Lydria could see the fire sliding across the face of the ring, to land without damage on the dark black gem beneath it. “In the telling of my tale, I have left out one detail – I have recovered Karjan’s ring. Shall we see her now, then?” Hokra asked, a self-satisfied smile playing across his face.
In a moment, however, Hokra’s smile became forced, and he knew that all their trials to this point hinged on what happened next. Lydria kissed his forehead and told him she trusted his instinct, and then she backed away to stand with the others.
Cradling the gem and ring in his right hand, Hokra lifted the ring from the black diamond base with magic and moved it toward the door. As it neared, the flowing fire stopped and in the middle of the door a space opened; a rectangular space that Hokra fit the ring into with a snap. A thought later and the ring pushed against the door and a noise like air swooping down a tunnel funneled in from the left and washed across the door, taking the fire and leaving only the bands of gems. The ring fell free of its place and Hokra returned it to the black diamond base before it blinked out of their sight, just in time before the door swung open.
Karjan stood by the door, her face radiant and still wearing the skin color of Haustis and reversed eye colors of Lydria. Her beaming smile faltered for a moment as she took in the scene before her, noticing her servant was not among those who waited by the door. She couldn’t hide her surprise that they had opened the door without Alabast, but recovering quickly, she stepped to the side, and invited them over the threshold and into her rooms.
“Well, Dravud, it seems that these three have more mettle than Alabast gave them credit for. They have survived the beast that stole my ring?”
Dravud smiled and nodded his assent. “They are most resourceful.”
“And where is Alabast?” Karjan looked at the three living beings, her tail still as if it held its breath for the response.
Before Lydria or Haustis could speak, Hokra stepped forward and made a motion so that the carpet that had been floating toward the back of the group made its appearance at his side. Hokra bowed low, flourishing his hands at his sides. “Oh, Great Karjan, I have brought you a gift unmatched from the wares of Abulet.” He took a half step back and spread his arms wide over the length of the rolled rug. “Would you care to see it?”
Karjan purred at the Chag and nodded like a young girl, her thoughts of Alabast forgotten as she thought about the present before her. Moving everyone to the side, Hokra made a useful display of showmanship, one that separated his friends to different portions of the room. Making a show of moving the rug to the floor, he placed a brown boot upon the center of the rug and kicked with his leg so that the rug unrolled along the length of the room, its icy contents stopping inches from the feet of Karjan.
Her face moved through a dozen emotions in the space of a single breath. Surprise, concern, confusion…
“What is this?” Her demand was forceful, but it was not raised. “What have you done to Alabast? Who is responsible for this?” Her head rose slowly from the icy tomb before her.
“Karjan, I present to you the traitor Alabast, who has for ages unknown hidden your ring from you and kept you prisoner in your own home. He told the beast Truna, who guarded the ring, that he stole it to imprison a monster in his kingdom.”
Hokra took a step back and Lydria could see the faint glow on Hokra’s neck and realized he had placed shields upon them all, but she was not confident that magic would withstand the fury of someone like Karjan, whose skin even now, shifted quickly between more than dozen shades and permutations before settling on something like the pale white of the fallen guide.
“He is destroyed?”
Lydria spoke from behind the long table before Hokra could begin, “No. In this state, he can see and hear all that goes on around him.”
“Tell me again, Chag, how you name my most trusted servant a traitor?”
Hokra told Karjan everything he had told the others; of what Truna had told him, and what Alabast had confirmed in the basement of Abulet’s shop.
Karjan considered Hokra’s words in silence for a long moment, moving her hand across her brow in what Lydria thought was a very cat-like movement though it seemed natural enough.
“For a long while I have had my suspicions of Alabast,” Karjan said at last. She paced slowly around the ice, noting that it did not melt. “He said he knew of the beast who had stolen my ring. He did not say he was the one to place the beast to guard my ring, nor that he was the one who hid it.”
Lydria watched as Karjan continued moving in slow circles around the frozen form of Alabast, her tail twitching slightly along the floor but never quite touching her servant’s capsule. Lydria could see the connections being made in the face of Karjan as her skin tone darkened and her usually smiling face turned and her nose moved faintly as if she sought to sniff out his duplicity. Karjan thought back to all that Alabast would have gained from her imprisonment. “He has made me a fool.”
Lydria didn’t know how to respond but a warning look from Dravud compelled her to say nothing.
“The people of Herewist saw Alabast only as your servant. Despite his true intent, all he did was in your name, so the people outside this room know only that Alabast was your servant,” Dravud said quietly, letting Karjan know her reputation was not sullied by Alabast’s perfidy.
The guide’s words must have calmed her for she raised her head and smiled slowly, her tail resuming its more forceful pendulum-like movement, and her complexion becoming more focused. “I will require a new servant.” She looked at Hokra. “As it was you who discovered his treachery, it is you who should be rewarded.”
Hokra and the others looked to Dravud, panic in their faces.
The guide went to Karjan’s side and spoke softly so they could not hear and together they walked toward the wall of windows behind her desk. Several times during their conversation Karjan turned and stared at one or the other of them before returning her attention to Dravud with nodding appraisals and grunted agreements. When they finished, the guide resumed his place by the door while Karjan addressed the three travelers.
“I understand that you are on an important assignment and must make haste to Vul. I wish it were otherwise and that you might stay, but you have done me a great service and I would repay your efforts.” She turned to Hokra and bade him step onto a low bench, so his eyes were close to the level of her own. “What would you have from me?”
To Lydria’s surprise, Hokra did not demur from the request but leaned in close so that he might whisper his desire to Karjan who smiled, nodded and inclined her head toward the Chag Ca’Grae. Hokra then produced the ring upon its black diamond base within its painfully clear diamond box and the woman gave a visible shiver as she set eyes upon the ring. With a slowness borne of deep desire, she reached for the ring and slid it over the four fingers of her right hand. The look on her face moved swiftly from one of desire to one of ecstasy, her eyes rolling upward and her tail shaking violently but not actually moving much in either direction. Lydria was reminded of a cat marking his territory, but thankfully there was no mess related to the motion. After a moment, Karjan regained her composure and looked into the Chag’s eyes, closing first her upper eyelid and then her lower. Hokra bowed in recognition of the honor she had given him and waited.
The thick tail of Karjan moved curiously forward, stroking Hokra under his chin as if it were a third hand. “You must be the one who chooses,” she said, watching the Chag closely, her eyes never leaving his own. Without hesitation, the prince reached forward with his thick thumb and forefinger and carefully chose several hairs from Karjan’s tail and pulled quickly. The tail flicked away almost at once, but the woman made no sign or motion she had noticed. She took the strands from his hand and placed them in the diamond box and held it out to the Chag. “If you are sure, just make sure whomever you choose leaves Eigrae with the contents of this box.”
Hokra took the box reverently and bowed again. “Thank you, Karjan. You are worthy of more, but I hope you will be pleased with your new servant.”
Karjan leaned forward and kissed Hokra on his bald scalp and casually ran her hand down the braid of hair at the back of his head. The traditional weave of the Chag Ca’Grae was replaced with an intricate twining into a single strand that was as flat as a sword and much the same shape, tapering to a distinct point. “With your hair braided thus, you will remember me.” She folded his massive fingers over the box and stepped away, dismissing them all from her rooms with a casual wave of her hand and went back to the wall of glass to look at her kingdom.
Hokra moved back to the others and they quietly left Karjan’s apartments, leaving her staring at her ring and her reflection in the enormous panes of glass overlooking her kingdom.
“She has given us passage to Agubend and told me the name of the person there with whom we must speak before we can make our way to Vul Griffis,” Hokra said after they had closed the rainbow door and started along the star-strewn corridor that would lead them on their path.
“We need to find the Eifen Wilmamen.”
16-Gifts
Dravud walked several steps past the rest of the company before he realized they had stopped.
“Wilmamen? That’s Vul Griffis’ lieutenant in Agubend?” Lydria was shocked more by hearing the name of someone she had heard of before than by any connection to the fabled Eifen warrior. To have heard Relin speak of her, Wilmamen was a legendary, heroic figure. When they discovered that it was Wilmamen who made the sword that Wynter now carried, and that Vul Griffis had designed the weapon, the warrior became less a legend and more a criminal.
“What do you know of Wilmamen, Dravud?” Where Lydria was agitated by the announcement, the only Eifen among them, Haustis, remained calm. She, of course, had heard of Wilmamen at the same time as Lydria, but with her access to the spirit world of previous Haustis’ she was, perhaps, likely to understand more than the others.
Dravud tilted his head and considered the question, trying to determine, Lydria had no doubt, whether answering such a question would be considered giving aid to the travelers. Finally, after agonizing seconds of silence, he spoke to all three of his charges. “The Eifen whom you name has earned a high privilege in being the last gate-keeper before arriving at Vul. So, it is to be expected that for whatever reasons, Vul Griffis trusts her more than the others.” Dravud held up his hand to Lydria who was drawing breath to break into his feeble answer. “But the lieutenants of the kingdoms have some measure of free will, even here. That Wilmamen is a trusted agent of Vul Griffis is no more or less indicative of what may happen than what you have seen so far. Rax was trusted to a degree, and Karjan to an even higher degree by Vul Griffis. Yet, each made their own choice as to whether to help or hinder your progress.” Dravud seemed to be getting into a kind of rhythm and Lydria thought it was good that he did not need to breathe because certainly he would not have been able to maintain his litany if he had to pause for air.
“Hokra, when you spoke to Karjan, did she or did she not spare you? By rights, having defeated the monster that guarded the ring, you should have become either her new steward, or the new guardian - futures that are still possible.”
“What? Why would I need to guard something that is no longer there?”
“In the Nethyn Plains, like in many kingdoms of Eigrae, there is an endless cycle of ritual that defies logic and good sense. Kings tax and kill, peasants revolt, kings die, new kings lead well until the next king taxes and kills, and the peasants revolt. It is a circle - wars, palace intrigue, spies - they all exist to set the wheel in motion again and again. This place is inhabited by people from Eigrae. Why should it
function any differently?
“In time, Karjan will find another to replace Alabast and in time, her new steward will steal her ring, and set a creature to watch over it. That you are not that steward, or – not yet – that beast, means that she has her own will to do as she wishes. Her kingdom, like Wilmamen’s, is hers to control and while Vul Griffis may have some authority, his rule is not absolute. If it were, the wheel would stop. Though Griffis has poised himself on the very edge of the darkness, he understands The Grey better than any other being living or dead. He knows the wheel must continue to turn. If all was darkness, he would not stand apart.”
Lydria and the others stared at Dravud long after he had finished speaking, waiting for him to continue. When he did, he spoke briefly before urging them to move again down the road. “You do not know what awaits. I do not know either, for what happens next is dependent upon your actions. But we will never know if we do not move forward, so let us make haste. You have been long in the Nethyn Plains and your time here will exact a price.”
Dravud said no more and did not rise to the question of what price might be called should they delay their mission. What creatures were left in the Shade kept their distance from the four, having decided not to follow the others of their kind who searched for the Sword of True Death. Their madness had become fear now, Lydria could almost feel it, their tenseness, their apprehension, as they watched a power they did not understand pass them by. By the time they arrived at Agubend, they still hadn’t decided which way they should proceed. Lydria wanted to enter by the main gate, while Hokra wanted to find someplace less obvious, a stealthier route into the city. They settled on moving into town by the least-used and poorly-watched back gate and starting their journey by revisiting the only place they knew – the shop of Abulet.
Magic's Genesis- Reckoning Page 15