Liath laughed, “I can't imagine Tia'mar lurking, he's too big to lurk. Ahh – no...wait – got it, now I can! Peeping out from behind that big potted palm outside her door, ready to blast Raj...”
“And Shian at the other side, peering through the bushes!”
Between them, the two girls conjured up a very convincing illusion of the Magus and his prelate, hiding in the tall plants around Demora's door, looking more like down-on-their-luck bandits than the highest of their esteemed order.
“Oh, Goddess, I'm not going to be able to look either of them in the eye for ages now without laughing!”
“Me neither,” Ianna chortled. “Come on, let's get something to eat, I'm starving.”
“Shouldn't you be getting ready for studies?” Liath asked, glancing at the sunlight streaming in between the drapes. “It's not far off noon.”
“Annushi gave me a couple of days off to help you get settled back in. But she said I had to make up the study time. And you've got a lot to catch up on too.” Ianna watched, dismayed, as the smile faded from Liath's face.
“I may not be around for much longer,” the young seer murmured.
“Oh, stop it, Lee! Nothing can harm you here – not with all the power around for us to tap into! So don't talk like that. Or I'll...I'll...tell Raj you've agreed to partner him, then you'll have him on your back for the next few weeks – or vice versa! And that'd really piss both Miaa and Saron off!”
“Alright, alright! But don't you let him know I've told you about that. As for those two, the day hasn't dawned when I can't out-anything they can do!”
“Hmmm, maybe,” Ianna said thoughtfully, swinging her legs out of bed.
“Maybe? Blondie!”
She turned, and got Liath's pillow full in the face. “Watch it, Red, or I'll make you eat this!” she threatened, picking up the pillow and bouncing it off Liath's head.
“What on Earth is going on in here?” Annushi demanded a few moments later, staring aghast at the dense cloud of feathers that floated lazily in the air and lightly coated the girls, bed and floor.
Liath spat out a mouthful of duck down and peered through tangled hair at the seer standing in the doorway to her bedroom.
“Well,” Annushi prompted, “I'm waiting.”
“Er, nothing,” Liath ventured, as Ianna bit her lip to stop giggling.
“Nothing?”
“A...slight...mishap?”
“Well you can both clear this 'slight mishap' up before either of you leave this room. And when that's done, the pair of you come and see me.”
“Yes, Annushi,” they chorused as the seer turned on her heel and strode out through Liath's sitting room. Outside in the hallway, Demora raised an eyebrow in question.
“Pillow fights,” Annushi smiled. “It's going to take them ages to tidy up in there.”
“The young are so adaptable,” the High Priestess stated. “Their ability to live for the moment never ceases to amaze me. More so with the seers since they have so much contact with the future, and hardly ever give a thought to the past. I remember you being the same. Not that you've changed much.”
“I was never as bad as those two!” Annushi replied indignantly.
“You used to create havoc with that brother of yours...”
“And I remember a certain young officiate who used to accompany us – you. Plus Tia'mar, Druin, Casel and Lymol. And Ulric when he was at the Academy.”
“Yes, and look at the result of that little liaison. Did you ever tell Balin who his father was?”
“No. If he hadn't taken after me in looks, I might have done. I never even told Ulric. Not in so many words, although he probably guessed.”
“Probably,” Demora agreed drily.
***
On the third day of her return to the Temple, Liath was given an assignment by Master Jaran. Since she'd flatly refused to foresee for the time being Demora had decided to let her catch up on her studies. So while Ianna gradually went back to her own routine, the part Akashiian was sent to the Archives to work. In the relative peace and quiet of the vast hall, she realized something which had been mildly bothering her for the last two days.
“I'm being watched,” she muttered, and on the pretext of finding a book for her assignment, left the table and strolled over to the nearest shelf-lined wall. She picked out the first book her fingers touched, leaned one shoulder against the end of a shelf where she had a good view, and scanned the hall while pretending to read.
That's a magus over there, she thought, and he's wearing the colors of an officiate. Looking damned uncomfortable in them too. Serves him right.
She replaced the book and resumed her seat at the end of a long work table, soon becoming engrossed in her studies. The atmosphere in Thesa was calming, the sleeping potions from the healer-prelate Rowena banished her nightmares, the Goddess gave her peace, and the seers gave her love. She was beginning to look and act like her old self again, and no one mentioned the shadows the others of her order saw. She kept all thoughts of the darkness tightly contained at the back of her mind, refusing to let them loose.
And then she remembered the passage beneath the archives.
If I give that magus the slip, she mused, I can sneak down there and carry on exploring. He's not high up in his order yet, a novice, I think; maybe a good illusion'll hold him long enough. Providing Anni stays out of the way.
She collected her books, put them on a shelf for later, then strolled out to the stables where she saddled her horse and Ianna's. Before the young magus could catch up, she created an illusion of Ianna sitting in the saddle, mounted her stallion and with perfect timing left the magus under the impression she was out riding with her friend.
Minutes later, she returned both horses to their stalls, unsaddled them and sneaked back into the Archives.
Chapter 21 – Starstone
Although capable of many things, Liath did not have the knowledge or skill to remove the magi's workings – at least not without bringing down a large part of the tunnel in the bargain.
If I can't move it, or go round it, she thought, standing in front of the first obstacle, then I'll have to go through it. This breeze does.
She rested her hand lightly against the invisible barrier, testing the slight resistance. Very slowly, exerting as little pressure as possible, she let her hand ease in. There was a tightness, and a feeling of dipping into icy water.
Carefully edging sideways, holding her breath, she slid at a snail's pace into the barrier, gasping slightly at the first chill constriction around her body, then having to wait until the barrier relaxed with painful slowness after her sudden involuntary movement.
In the end, she just let herself fall, none too gracefully, through to the other side. Left behind, the were-light blinked out of existence.
Flexing her shoulders, stiff and cramped from moving so slowly, Liath conjured up another light and followed it down the tunnel. When it hit the next obstruction, the light simply imploded, briefly haloed with miniature forks of lightning. Liath stopped and stared at the faintly glowing barrier, eyebrows raised.
“I wonder if anyone else has been stupid enough to come down here?” she muttered.
Warily stretching out her hand, she held it palm out, a finger's length from the face of the barrier, feeling the energies bound and held in place by the magi's formulae, gauging the strength and complexity.
Miniature lightnings jumped across the small gap, bringing a frown to the seer's face. She raised her other hand, positioning it alongside the first, took a deep breath – and a small risk – and began the slow process of transferring the barrier energies through her body into the tunnel behind. Sparks colored the air like rainbow fireflies, her hair drifted lazily around her face, and the smell of ozone hung heavily in the close rock confines of the narrow passageway.
When the last of the power had been drained through her, she gave a small, thankful cry and slumped against the tunnel wall, her whole body tingling unpleasant
ly. She flexed her fingers and rubbed her hands together, sending a few more tiny lightnings and sparks flying into the air.
“I'm glad I don't have to do that every day,” she stated, willing another glowing sphere to guide her way. The were-light that appeared was larger than the previous ones, and pulsed with power, a mute reminder that all the magi's energy had not been completely dissipated. She followed it, and hoped there weren't going to be any more hold-ups.
But there were, and the next kept her on the wrong side of it for over two hours, until she finally lost patience and blasted her way through. Lucky that there were no faults in the rock at that point, otherwise she could have spent a long time buried beneath tons of rubble; the rest of her life perhaps.
Beyond that was a blank stone wall; the end of the tunnel.
“Shit!” she spat, glaring at it. “No one would go to all that trouble just to protect a rock wall! So, there must be a way through this, too.”
Conjuring more lights, she studied the wall closely, but without touching. It appeared to be a perfectly natural end to the passageway. There was no pattern, no design or diagram, either on it, or anywhere near that indicated a way through or how to move it; no irregularities that suggested levers, buttons or other devices. There were no cracks or seams between the end and surrounding walls, no sign of hinges on the ceiling or floor, nor marks in the dust.
“All right, Liath, let's see if you're as good as you think you are,” she murmured, placing her hands on the rock, closing her eyes and opening her mind.
“Got you!” she smiled a few moments later, seeing the mechanism which operated it. Moving her left hand to the correct position, she pressed firmly.
With a creaking groan that sounded as if the whole tunnel were collapsing, the wall slowly moved, pivoting on a central axis. Liath waited until the echoes had died down, then stepped over the ridge of dust that had collected over the years at the base of the door.
Behind her, one by one, the were-lights winked out, unable, like the rest, to follow her from one side to the other. The rows of footprints vanished as though no one had ever passed that way before.
Left in pitch darkness, Liath tried in vain to summon another light, becoming increasingly annoyed when nothing materialized. She went through all the various methods she knew, but each one failed.
“Right,” she muttered angrily, raising one hand. “I call fire!”
Then she took a hasty step backwards as the walls of the short narrow tunnel suddenly burst into roaring flame. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rock slab slowly begin to pivot back and jumped forward, lightly grazing her shoulder on its rough edge. She spun on her heel and watched suspiciously as the door closed in complete silence, before turning back to the burning walls. She walked down the center of the short tunnel, untouched by the fire that died and went out as she passed, leaving black smears on the walls and a sulphurous odor in the air.
The passageway turned a sharp right angle, and another barrier, glowing green, presented itself to the seer.
“This is ridiculous!” she snapped, after running out of suitable curses. “Much more of this and not only am I going to miss dinner, but breakfast too! And people'll be wondering where I am this time. Now, do I go back and risk being caught lying and get into trouble for snooping – or do I go on? Oh, what the hell...”
Ignoring her previous refusal to foresee, she held an image of herself in her mind and looked a few minutes into the future. Then a few minutes more when she 'saw herself still trying to pass through the green barrier. What came next was surprising enough to jerk her back to the present.
“Whoa! That's risky!” she breathed. “But, it obviously works.” Rubbing her hands together and flicking off a couple of tiny sparks from the ends of her fingers, she moved closer, and began inscribing a large geometric shape in the air in front of the green barrier. Making sure the glowing diagram touched the barrier and filled as much of the tunnel space as was possible, she created an exact replica of the matrix the magus had employed on the lawn weeks ago. After all, his had travelled more successfully than hers had.
When it was completed, Liath stepped back a pace and made ready to jump through when it – and the barrier – moved forward in time.
The matrix flared yellow, the barrier looked sick, then both dulled and vanished with a dull plop. The seer whooped and dove through the odd shaped gap they left, landed on her shoulder and rolled a short way in the dust.
“Logically, that should never happen,” Liath observed, sitting up. “But that's the great thing about a paradox.” Then she sneezed violently as dust drifted up her nose. As the echoes from that bout died down, shape and barrier, both seeming much worse for their ordeal, reappeared. She stood up and brushed down her tunic and pants, the sound of her slapping dust from the material concealing almost all the faint cracking noises surrounding her.
She froze suddenly, slowly lifted her eyes to the ceiling, and in the light from shape and barrier, saw what was happening.
“Oh, shit!” Turning, the young seer leapt off up the tunnel as pieces of rock began to break loose from the ceiling and crash to the floor. The ground tremored briefly, stopped, then shook like a dog ridding its coat of water. More rocks fell, Liath toppled off balance, scraped hands and knees, then was up and running again, shouting out for fire to guide her way.
Past a bend in the tunnel, she skidded to a halt. In the dust that billowed out from the cave-in, a few feeble flames clung to the groaning walls, and cast shadows into a wide crack across the stone floor.
Liath glared balefully at it, then rubbed specks of dust out of her eyes.
“In a moment, I shall panic,” she stated, lifting a corner of her tunic, spitting on it and using the damp cloth to clean her bloodied palms. “But first, let's see if there's a way out.”
Walking gingerly towards the ragged edge of the crack, accompanied by the flames, she peered down, then took a few hasty steps backwards. Under its streaked coating of dust, her face paled. “Now, I'm going to panic,” she said in a small voice.
The crevasse had not been caused by her meddling; the edges of it were old, not freshly pulled apart by the tremors. The sides were steep, almost sheer, and smooth–and very, very deep. It stretched from wall to wall, and was at least eight feet across. A strong breeze blew up from the depths.
Liath sat down in the middle of the floor and stared blankly into space. Minutes later, she looked into her futures again. “I can't do that!” she exclaimed, and took another look, just to make sure. “I suppose I must, then.”
She stood up, wincing at the stiffness in her bruised and scraped knees, spent a little time loosening them up, then went back to the edge of the crevasse and tested the rock for stability. It seemed firm enough, and the far side looked the same.
It was the bit between which really bothered her.
All that empty space, just waiting for someone stupid enough to try pass over it.
Whispering a short prayer to the Goddess, she backed off as far as she could, took a few deep breaths, then sprinted towards the crevasse. There was a timeless moment when she hung in the air above the deep, deep pit – then she was across, landing hard on her scraped knees, skinning her hands again, thrown forward by her impetus. Rolling over onto her back, she muttered heartfelt thanks to the deity and waited for her heartbeat and adrenalin level to return to something near normal.
Climbing a little painfully to her feet, the dusty seer limped on, almost praying that the end of her quest was near to hand. After this, she could stand life being boring for a while.
Cautiously rounding the next corner, she saw a glowing orb hanging in the air. At first, she thought it was a were-light, until, walking closer, she saw it was the shape of a three inch long, slender triangle. Beyond that was a blank wall. The end of the tunnel – again.
“Is this it?” Liath asked in disbelief. “I've been through all that – for this?”
Quite understandably, she had been exp
ecting something a little more spectacular than a small, bright purple, triangular object. Walking round to the back of it, she saw thin veins of gold marbling the glow. Completing the circuit, she stood in front of it, scraped hands curled deep in her pants pockets, wondering what the triangle was and what it was for. Finally, coming to the conclusion that no amount of speculation was going to solve the puzzle, she reached up to touch it.
A scream – pain and shock – tore from her as the marbled stone burned with enough heat to fuse her fingertips to its surface.
Ordinary heat had never harmed her before, but this was unbearable. She was still screaming when the purple gem vanished and she plummeted head first into a black pit.
Chapter 22 – Heart of Anraun
Faceless forms, like spurts of steam, hissed past. Voices, so high pitched they were almost beyond hearing range, whined like angry insects around her head.
Her whole arm was on fire–fingers charred to smoking blackened stumps – her hand a mass of peeling, bubbling skin. She could taste the stench of cooked meat and boiled blood.
In the rushing dark, with phantasms whirling round her, Liath writhed in agony, in wild, panic-filled pain as the fire spreading through her body ate its way, finally, into her brain.
Then, abruptly, it was gone.
Her descent slowed. The voices deepened. Misty forms took on shape and features. She drifted through the realms of the dead, recognizing words and faces in tantalizing glimpses until she eventually realized who they were.
It was a succession of deceased High Lords, some bearing little resemblance to the portraits she'd recently seen in her study, others, in perfect likeness.
Liath wondered if this were a nightmare, or just an accidental trip into another dimension. Still with these thoughts in her mind, she slowed down even more, body drifting lazily, neither up nor down, but in a direction new to her and virtually indescribable.
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