Through Stone and Sea ndst-2

by Barb Hendee

  "Can she lead us there?" he asked.

  "Right now? Tonight?"

  Though eager, Wynn wavered with doubt. The amphitheater's floor was filling with dwarves who would feast and drink late into the night.

  "Wynn?" a deep voice called out.

  She leaned around Shade's tall form and looked out of the chamber's entrance. Shirvêsh Mallet wandered among the tables, searching, and he didn't look happy about doing so.

  "Do not call to him," Chane whispered. "We cannot pass up this opportunity."

  Wynn was tempted to agree, but she couldn't.

  "We can't alienate him anymore. We may need his aid. If we can't find a way to follow, he's our only link to learn what happened to Hammer-Stag … and maybe why the duchess is here. She seems favored among the religious castes of the seatt."

  Wynn stood, about to leave. Chane opened his mouth to argue, but she shook her head. He closed his eyes in resignation, and she stepped out into plain sight.

  "We're here," she called.

  Chane stepped out as well as Mallet closed on them, his bushy white eyebrows raised.

  "What are you doing in there?" he asked.

  Wynn searched for a quick answer. "Giving you a little time with the others. I know Hammer-Stag was dear to you as well, and we didn't want to intrude."

  Mallet's expression softened. "Never mind such things. I have said my farewells, and we should leave the family and friends to their feasting and telling."

  "Of course," Wynn agreed, glancing at Chane.

  Mouth tightly set, he followed as they headed out.

  Chapter 10

  Sau'ilahk waited in the night, sunken halfway into the wall near an alley's mouth. The amphitheater was too crowded to approach or enter, even by slipping through its stone. He did not know the place; certainly not enough to wander its back ways, seeking some hidden vantage point. But he longed to see the Stonewalkers for himself—and if the meddlesome little sage had uncovered anything of use.

  Killing the thänæ had cost him more than he could have guessed, nearly draining him of all the life he had consumed. He had taken dwarves before, and as difficult as it was, it had never been this costly. In two days of recuperation, he could barely conjure a few servitors of Air to monitor the amphitheater's exits.

  How many times had he thrust his hand through Hammer-Stag's chest? He could not even count, and still the blustering dwarf would not die. In the end, what vital life Sau'ilahk consumed, touch by touch, was a fraction of what he lost in effort. Now he stood exhausted, waiting for any sight of Wynn.

  Evening passed into deep night. Finally, dwarves began emerging from the amphitheater's settlement-level tunnels and higher arches, descending stone stairs and out into the streets. They spread and scattered, talking amongst themselves, or marched on in somber silence.

  Sau'ilahk watched for Chane, who would tower over these short, stocky people. Dwarves kept coming, but there was no sign of the tall undead. Panic began to set in, which only made Sau'ilahk angry.

  Wynn must have been witness to the final rites, but what if she did not come out? And he had not seen any Stonewalkers enter. Had he made a mistake? If they had come and gone another way, had she gone after them? Could he risk slipping inside to look for her?

  Sau'ilahk hung in indecision. Then the air rippled before him as one servitor appeared.

  It emitted three soft tones like a reed whistle and then vanished with a pop of air.

  Sau'ilahk flowed up the building's side, drifting from one rooftop to the next. Before he reached the third entrance on the amphitheater's near side, he spotted a dark form on the street below.

  Shade padded ahead, hurrying out of a crowded intersection. Wynn jogged after the dog and then paused for Chane and a white-haired dwarf in an orange vestment to catch up.

  Sau'ilahk held his place on the rooftop. Even here, the dog might sense him, but would not likely look upward. He let Wynn and her companions pass on.

  Two other dwarves in orange vestments came down the steps from the amphitheater's next high entrance. They fell in beside the white-haired one, and Wynn slowed, dropping back a few paces with Shade and Chane. She hung close to Chane, and her lips moved, as if she were engaged in quiet conversation beyond the hearing of their dwarven companions.

  Sau'ilahk desperately wanted to hear what she said.

  He stilled his mind, calling to his remaining servitors. The air around his head warped and swirled as they joined him. Banishing all but one, he focused his reserves to recommand it and fixed the image of Wynn in his mind.

  Target the gray-clad one. Remain above the target. Absorb all sound. If the target reaches the temple …

  He faltered, so tired that he was not being concise. His mindless creation would not comprehend such references.

  If the target passes inside stone, then return to me. Reiterate all sound and banish.

  The ball of distorted air sped over the roof's edge and up the night street.

  Once Wynn was well on her way, Sau'ilahk followed along the rooftops. At every alley or side street, he watched for her passing along the main avenue. When she slipped beyond sight again, he sped onward, staying ahead of her. He kept changing his position and orientation, in case the dog became aware of his presence.

  When Wynn reached the way station, the old dwarf stepped into the crank house building, walking through it to the lift's landing. Wynn followed through the opening in a wall … made of stone.

  Sau'ilahk could have shrieked in rage as his servitor came rushing back. Wynn passed out of the building's other side, boarding the waiting lift with the others. But she was no longer talking with Chane while in the close company of the three dwarves.

  The servitor began to replay what it had gathered, gruff dwarven voices low and dull behind Wynn's and Chane's whispers.

  "No, it's too crowded!" Wynn said. "We'll go back tomorrow night."

  "The trail will be cold," Chane rasped.

  "Shade may have found a door to their underworld. It has to be where they went … where they would take Hammer-Stag. We don't need to track them. Shade can lead us there."

  "Come along, young Wynn," a deep voice called. "No lagging on such a cold night."

  The servitor popped and vanished.

  It had recorded so little, but enough. The dog had found a way to this "underworld." Whatever it was, Wynn believed the Stonewalkers had gone there. Tomorrow night she would return to follow them.

  But how had the animal gathered or relayed such information?

  The answer could wait. Wynn had finally learned something useful! The cost of killing one dwarf had played out to some small satisfaction. As Sau'ilahk mulled over the best strategy for the following night, his form wavered in the darkness. Or rather the world began to dim as dormancy threatened to take him.

  Sau'ilahk had exhausted his energies more than he realized. He cursed his useless excuse for a form. But if—when—Wynn located the texts, he might finally learn the secrets of Beloved's Children. Somewhere in the world, one of the Anchors of Creation waited in hiding. Once he found it, he would have flesh again after an age of searching.

  Sau'ilahk faded, and his last conscious thoughts tumbled back through centuries past… .

  Sau'ilahk, master conjuror, first of the Reverent and high priest of Beloved, trekked up the mountain's craggy base to a place far above the desert. The day's heat lingered into night but never bothered him, even in his black robe.

  As he passed, minions bowed their heads, from scattered packs of goblins with yellow eyes and repulsive speckled canine faces to the rare hulking locatha, reptilian abominations half again the height of man. Even his own people, from their desert tribes, showed him obeisance.

  But not as much as they once had—not since the night the Children had walked out of Beloved's sanctuary, naked and pale under the full moon.

  Later, their victims in battle rose from the corpse-strewn sands, at least the few still whole enough to do so. The bows to Sau
'ilahk from even Beloved's lowest among the horde were no longer as deep as they had once been.

  He ignored them all as he climbed upward through the darkness. Beloved had called amid his dreams. His reward was finally at hand.

  At the cavernous entrance, pairs of locatha stood to either side beneath burning braziers upon pike-high poles. Covered in thick scales of muted olive green, except for their ocher underbellies of banded plates, they rose from all fours to full height on their hind legs. Each gripped a spear with a haft thick as a man's wrist and a head like a Numan broadsword. Their clear eyelids slowly nictitated over black orb eyes. They lowered their long heads with jaws of serrated teeth.

  Sau'ilahk did not crane his neck to look up at them. That they stood in his presence was another reminder of how things had changed since the Children's appearance. Those pale, blood-gorging, undying ones took his glory and had replaced him in Beloved's prime affection.

  That would change this night, as he stepped into the mountain.

  He paced through seemingly endless tunnels, always downward. He wandered into the deep, where even sparse braziers along the rough walls thinned and were soon gone altogether. There was only darkness as he stepped purposefully through the sanctuary of his god.

  To be called here, after so long since his plea, was a good sign. Though others had come here over the years, some called and some not, only he had ever returned… .

  Except for the Children.

  Finally he reached a chasm, guessing the distance of its near edge by the changing sound of his footfalls' echoes. Uncertain whether he should raise a light, defiling this sacred place, he could not see how else to go on.

  Sau'ilahk raised his hand and filled his mind's eye with scintillating glyphs and sigils. A spark ignited in the air, and he quickly dulled its sharp white to amber, hoping this would be less offensive.

  He stood upon the chasm's lip, but its depth was beyond the reach of his conjured light. It did not go straight down but twisted with broken sides, as if torn open ages ago by something immense that ripped wide the bowels of the earth. Above was the same, a great gash that rose into the peak somewhere high above. Across the chasm on the other side, he saw another wound in the mountain's stone.

  It was so large a dozen pachyderms could have fit through it.

  But there was no bridge to that other side, and that far hollow was so deep his sparse light could not penetrate its pitch-black. Then he heard the grating sound.

  Soft at first, it grew, until he feared the great gash beyond his boot's toe might widen.

  Something moved in the far cavern, shifting on broken stone. He thought he saw the darkness within it glitter, perhaps conjured light catching upon something smooth and writhing.

  Sau'ilahk dropped to his knees, bowing until his forehead touched the chasm's edge.

  "My Beloved," he whispered. "I come as you bade me."

  A grating hiss rolled from the far gash, echoing off raw stone.

  Are you worthy?

  He heard the words only within his thoughts, but they were as breathy as the noise surrounding him. He lifted his head but kept his eyes down.

  Worthy of what? Of his hope, his desire?

  "Yes, my divine sovereign," he whispered, but doubt made him tremble. "Always, I serve. Do you have … Have I given … cause to doubt it?"

  He could not help but raise his eyes a little more. He saw only a still and silent darkness across the chasm.

  Not as yet.

  Sau'ilahk quickly lowered his gaze. It fell upon his own slender, tan fingers, so perfectly shaped like his face, but vanity meant nothing to his patron. Such a small deviance could not be judged a transgression. At times, he could not help reveling in his own beauty. Along with the fear he inspired, all looked upon him with awe. But he quaked, knowing that beauty would fade—unlike the Children, eternal and undying.

  I am pleased … perhaps enough to answer your prayers.

  Sau'ilahk wanted one thing—to never end, to forever see awe in the eyes of all who looked upon him.

  "Eternal life, my Beloved?" he dared ask again.

  Are you so certain of your heart's desire?

  Sau'ilahk faltered.

  The Children were mere tools of bloodshed, powerful, useful, but only because Beloved had made them so. They had not labored as Sau'ilahk had in service and devotion, given with no expectation, until now. Yet they were treasured and favored—gifted by his god. Was it so much to ask that he be allowed to continue, devoted as he was?

  Then just as you have wished … so it is.

  Sau'ilahk grew anxious, and barely lifted his head, waiting … for something.

  Perhaps he expected to feel … anything … different. But he felt the same as he had an instant before. Yet his god had spoken, granting him the one and only boon he had ever asked for.

  Was it that simple now, after waiting so long, suffocating in want?

  Joy crept in like a hesitant child wondering if its parent were truly pleased. Just a little, and then it filled him fully. To think he would be alive and beautiful forever, and he dared to raise his head ever higher. He straightened fully upon his knees as he whispered.

  "My love is eternal as well … my Beloved."

  He meant those words, even as utter relief made him suddenly weary—even as he stiffened when he saw the eyes.

  On the chasm's far side, two pinpricks of light appeared. From a distance, they were no larger than latent sparks in a dying fire. The pair drifted downward like eyes lodged in the head of some figure walking toward the far cavern's edge.

  Sau'ilahk was awestruck.

  He looked upon the barest hint of his god's presence. Such blessing had never been given to any that he knew. He began weeping, not realizing it until the salt of tears seeped between his lips.

  Sau'ilahk had been granted eternal life.

  His beauty would never fade.

  Sau'ilahk recoiled from the memory as he sank toward true dormancy. On the edge of his fading awareness, the familiar hiss rose again in his mind.

  I watch … as you draw nearer … the answer almost within your grasp.

  Despite centuries that had melded love to hate within his devotion, whenever Beloved called, Sau'ilahk could not help but answer. As he vanished into dormancy, to a place between life and death in the dreamland of his god, he whispered …

  "Yes … my Beloved."

  Wynn followed Chane into the temple's entryway, planning to drag him away into privacy as soon as it seemed polite. She knew she'd better force him to promise not to go back to the amphitheater tonight—or he'd just get himself caught. But she made it only a few steps inside when a young shirvêsh trundled up the hallway.

  "Journeyor Hygeorht," he said quickly, "a visitor is asking for you."

  Wynn stalled in confusion. She couldn't guess who'd come looking for her here.

  "Who is it?" she asked.

  The young one shook his head. "She will speak only to you."

  "She?" Chane asked, but the acolyte just shrugged.

  "How long has she been waiting?" Wynn added.

  "Not long," he answered. "She is in the meal hall, when you are ready."

  With a curt bow, he left. Wynn exchanged puzzled glances with Chane and then turned to Mallet.

  "Thank you for letting us join you this evening. Please excuse us, so I can see who has come."

  "Yes, of course," he said. "Off with you."

  The old dwarf looked exhausted, the wrinkles of his face deepening. In part, that was best. Wynn didn't want to counter any more questions about how she and Chane had overheard him in the amphitheater.

  Wynn hurried on with Shade and Chane. Had someone come from the guild, perhaps Premin Sykion or another as equally opposed to her pursuits? She couldn't imagine the duchess had tracked her down. But when she reached the meal hall's entrance, she stopped, hand still on the framing stones. The woman waiting was the last she whom Wynn could've expected.

  Sliver sat at one long table
.

  Grim and dark as the last time, she had her arms folded tightly. She barely turned her head at Wynn's appearance and glared in silence. Wynn wasn't even sure what to say, though Shade growled softly as she inched into the hall.

  Wynn grabbed the dog's tail, halting her, though Chane stepped in as well and stood there, tense and watchful. Wynn brushed him back as she approached her visitor.

  "My apology for the other night," she blurted out. "To learn your home's location, I had to trade stories in a cheag'anâkst. And … with all the ale, I wasn't myself."

  "Save your excuses," Sliver growled, and looked away, staring at the tabletop. "I am here at my mother's insistence. I will have words with you … alone!"

  "Your mother sent you?"

  Sliver said nothing more, but she cast a challenging glare at Chane.

  "I have some fine mint tea in my room," Wynn told him. "Would you please get it for us? And send for hot water."

  Chane's jaw twitched. "No."

  "Please," she whispered. "I'll be all right."

  "Then Shade stays," he said loudly enough for Sliver to hear.

  "I care nothing about a wolf," Sliver returned disdainfully.

  Wynn glanced back. There were moments when she kept forgetting the way other people saw Shade, rather than as the intelligent creature she was.

  Chane pursed his lips and left.

  Wynn sighed once in relief before returning to Sliver. Shade immediately inched in behind her, watching them both.

  "He'll be back with some tea," Wynn said.

  "I will not be here that long. My mother wishes to know why you seek my brother."

  Wynn settled on the bench across from the smith. Looking into Sliver's angry, pain-filled face, she gave up on any further polite conversation.

  "That is a guild matter. But it is important."

  "Have you learned anything for your guild?" Sliver snarled.

  "I mean him no harm. But you would know a good deal more about him than I."

  "I do not."

  Wynn fell silent at that. It raised questions she wasn't sure were safe to ask.

  "No one does," Sliver finally said, her voice turning weak and tired. "The Hassäg'kreigi are little known to anyone. When one of our people joins them … is called to their service … all other ties are broken."