“I am your master, monster,” Tane retorted. “And the magic cannot stop us now that we are inside. And anyway, he only told you that to keep you away.”
“I don’t believe you,” Vagner said. “He does not lie to me, or force me into the form of a helpless girl child, then abandon me in a tower of flames to die…”
Vagner suddenly felt Tane reach through his bond to the demon, hissing Vagner’s True Name with acidic vengeance. A pulse of fire burned a path across the demon’s nerves. Vagner opened his mouth to howl in pain as he dropped to his knees, but no sound came, for the same power Tane used to punish the demon gave the bloodmage the power to silence Vagner as well.
“Do not mock me if you wish to live, beast!” Tane snarled inside the demon’s head. Vagner slumped to the floor. By the Barbed One’s Tail, if he could just put an end to this pain and be free of it forever…
Then calm washed over the demon, building a shield around him. Protective warmth soothed the demon, singing his True Name. At first, he thought Alaric had discovered his plight, but then, he realized the presence had a certain “otherworldlyness” to its essence, almost demon-like in it power. And yet, Tane did not notice Vagner no longer felt the terrible pain the bloodmage wrought.
“What?” the demon thought.
“Be still. Say nothing,” the other’s voice whispered in Vagner’s mind. “Let him think he still causes you pain. Pretend to promise to obey him…”
Tane stood over the demon, wearing a wretched smile. “Choose, beast,” Tane said. “Do as I say, or die now!”
“I will do as you say,” the demon responded, and felt Tane’s attack retreat. Gingerly, Vagner rose to tower over the man.
“Good,” Tane said. “Now, work your illusion, demon, so they will not see us following them…”
Whoever you are, I hope you are hearing all this, the demon whispered in his deepest thoughts.
“Patience,” the other replied. “We will both have our sweet revenge before this day is done.”
Vagner could only hope that was the truth. He wove his illusions so he and Tane would appear invisible to all eyes.
Then slowly, they made for the nearest set of stairs and began to climb.
~
Something briefly brushed Alaric’s senses; the impression that all was not so well in his slightly less than perfect world. But as quickly as the sensation came, it was gone. It had a familiar essence, though.
Ronan?
Ronan did not respond. His lack of communication made Alaric frown. He’d come to accept the Bard’s spiritual company as though it were a natural part of himself, and only now that it was silent, did he realize he missed the chatter.
“Well? What shall we do now?” Shona asked.
“I think we should start by looking at all the pillars,” Alaric said.
Cautiously, he walked across the grey stone of the platform to the nearest one of the outer columns that rose from cardinal points along the lower platform’s edge. There were words and symbols carved into it’s inward face, and he suspected the others would be marked in the same way as well. Gently, Alaric touched the bottom lines. Shona stayed close, watching with a hint of trepidation mixed with her own curiosity.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen runes like these,” she said, “though they do look a little like the ones we saw on the statues on the stairs.”
“They are,” Alaric said. “And they are also like the ones on the demon skin map in the library of Dun Gealach.”
“I wonder what they say,” she said.
Alaric took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Magic buzzed around him, and he let it flow. The column began to glow under his hand. He sensed it even through his eyelids as he heard Shona gasp and felt her hitch back. Alaric opened his eyes to find the glow had spread so that he sparkled with a multitude of firefly lights. And within it, he sensed a vague, sentient warmth, like a sleeper rousing from a long, hard slumber.
“Alaric?” Shona said, and her voice carried an edge of panic that her eyes revealed more clearly.
“I’m all right,” he assured her. “It means me no harm…In fact, it knows me…”
“Knows you?” she repeated, her concern still evident. “Do you mean…it’s alive?”
“Well, yes and no,” he said, watching the lights dance across his fingers when he moved them. “I think it’s an elemental spirit…or maybe, just a memory of one. It’s hard to explain. There’s something bittersweet about it, like cinnamon on my tongue. I feel a life force, but it’s like no essence I’ve ever encountered before.”
Or have I?
Hail Champion of Light!
Alaric gasped when he heard that disembodied voice rising from the depths of the menhir. He quickly pulled away from the stone, rushing over to Shona’s side and turning back to face whatever presence they were about to encounter.
The columns surface took on a fiery glow, and a figure appeared to draw out of that stone. Taller than any many, it had the clean figure and handsome face of one. But its hair fluttered about its head as flames, and its eyes were burnished coals of red-gold.
Hail Champion of Light.
“Uh…greetings?” Alaric said carefully.
But the creature went on as it if was unaware of Alaric’s words. Instead, it raised a flame-licked arm and pointed a finger toward the heart of the platform as it spoke.
Listen and know.
Four bridges cross the water bright,
But only one will not drown you.
Threefold paths open the ring of earth,
But only one will not bury you.
Twice time, the fire will part its flames,
But only one gap will not burn you.
Air has but one opening among the many
That will not suffocate you.
Only by choosing wisely,
May you enter the Center of All Thing.
Just follow the path of the Sun in all
And you may enter with ease
But should you take the sinister path
The burning womb awaits your fall.
With that, the fiery figure faded back into the column. Only then did Alaric remember how to breathe again.
“Horns,” Shona whispered. “What in the name of the Lady the Silver Wheel was that?”
Alaric shrugged as he took a deep breath. “I’m not really sure. Some sort of message, I imagine.”
“But what does it mean?”
“Sounded like an ancient riddle.”
“A riddle,” she said. “That’s just wonderful.”
Alaric managed a faint smile. “If will be more wonderful if I remember how to solve it.”
“What about Ronan?” Shona asked. “Surely, he could tell you.”
With a frown and a shake of his head, Alaric said, “Ronan is asleep.”
“Asleep! At a time like this? How dare he leave us like that? If I could get into your head, I would give him a piece of my mind.”
“He said only one of us could enter this place,” Alaric said. “My body, so my mind must be awake, I imagine.”
“Well, we can’t just stand here, can we?” Shona put her hands on her hips and looked around. “Let’s see if we can sort it out…”
Alaric nodded and stepped over near the column once more to study the writing. Now he could see that one of the symbols on the face did look like a map, and under that map was a rune in the shape of a flame. He stared at it thoughtfully, then glanced over his shoulder at the nearest of the four bridges crossing the moat to the upper platform.
“Four bridges…only one will not drown us,” he muttered and narrowed his eyes…What was it Ronan had said about the illusions in this place? “Three of those bridges are not real,” Alaric said aloud.
“So which one do you think it is?” Shona asked.
“That’s a very good question,” Alaric agreed. “Let’s walk around and check the other columns. Which way do you want to go.”
“Me?” she said, sharply rai
sing eyebrows. “I’m not the Avatar here. Besides, what was it that elemental said about following the path of the sun if we didn’t want to fall into the fiery womb?”
“Oh…yes,” Alaric said. “So I guess we walk sunwise.”
“I would think so,” she said.
They started around the edge of the platform, and Alaric did notice there seemed to be a faint pattern, like the growth rings of a tree, etched into the stone at his feet. The one he followed led in an arch to the next menhir. Alaric stopped and looked at the inward face of the column. This one carried the same writing, and the same map, but instead of a symbol that looked like a flame, it bore one that looked like water. Alaric put a finger to it as realization dawned.
“Water’s cardinal point is to the west,” he muttered.
“And fire is south, and air is north and earth is east,” Shona said. “Even a green apprentice knows that much…”
She paused and looked at him, then pointed back towards the stone they had left behind.
“Fire to the south. Water to the west.” She smiled. “And I bet that stone is air and the one on the other side is earth!”
“Exactly,” Alaric said with a smile. “Which gives us cardinal points for the riddle. So which bridge do you think will hold us up?”
“The bridge closest to water,” she said. “We’re supposed to cross here…” She pointed in towards the bridge that was indeed facing this way.
Alaric nodded. With the water column to his back, he started straight at the bridge. Shona trotted along behind him until he stopped. Close as he was now, the bridge didn’t look so solid. In fact, it seemed as though someone had carved it out of very clear ice. Like a still pond, it stretched across the gap. He knelt at the very edge and barely touched it with a finger. It rippled.
“Horns,” he muttered.
“What? What’s the matter?” Shona said and leaned over to look.
“This looks like its made of water,” he said.
She crouched beside him and touched it for herself, and gasped to see it ripple even more.
“Oh, my…you’re right…”
“It doesn’t look very solid,” he said and stood up.
“Maybe we should go on around and try the other side?” Shona suggested.
It was a thought, he had to admit. Earth was more solid than water. But the elemental being, or whatever it was, said four bridges of water…
Alaric sighed. He was not going to get anywhere at all standing here. It briefly occurred to him that there might not be a reason to even go on. As confounding as this was, surely Tane had failed…
But some small part of him did not agree with such a hopeful assessment of the matter. I have to be certain the Dragon’s Tongue is there. I have to be certain it is safe…
He took another deep breath as Shona stood up again. “It’s got to be this one,” he said, and gingerly put one foot on the edge of the bridge.
It jiggled, and he tensed, expecting he was about to be plunged into the moat, and hoping his childhood swimming skills would be to his advantage, when the surface grew firm under foot. Still uncertain, he put the other foot there as well. It gave just a moment, sending a sinking dread swirling through his stomach, and then it held.
A glance at his feet told Alaric the loose rippling surface was merely part of the deception. His boots weren’t even getting wet. “Come on, it is this one,” he said, and turned to offer Shona his hand.
She looked dubious, her face set in a tense mask. But she came forward and clasped his hand, and he felt her trembling like a new pup. She followed as Alaric took cautious steps forward and up the rise. The bridge of water remained firm beneath his feet. So strange, he thought, and he looked down to make sure he wasn’t going mad. No, the water was as solid as ice, though it rippled as he walked. He suddenly felt like one of the skimming spiders he used to watch skating across the surfaces of puddles and ponds.
Twenty steps upward, and suddenly, he had reached the other side. There, he stopped and looked back. The surface of the bridge still rippled a bit, then grew calm.
“Well,” he said, noticing his own voice was a little higher pitched than normal. “That…wasn’t so bad.”
“That was fantastic!” Shona said, and suddenly clapped her hands with delighted relief. “Etienne will never believe this…”
Alaric sighed, suddenly wondering about those they had left behind. He so hoped they were all right.
“Well, let’s just hope we remember which one to cross when we go back,” he said. “Maybe we should leave something to mark the way…”
“Sorry, as I told Master Fenelon, I left the breadcrumbs at home,” she said, and he chuckled, turning so she could not see the words brought a mist to his eyes.
Horns, he did hope the others were alive.
“Well, we’ll just have to improvise,” he said softly and pulled one of his gauntlets from his belt where he had tucked them earlier. He dropped it beside the edge of the bridge and looked back down…And stopped.
The lower end of the bridge had started to ripple again. Frowning, Alaric stared at the motion as it expanded across the smooth surface. But then, it faded, and he shrugged. A breeze, he told himself. Or a tremble in the ground. He had felt a few.
Besides, he had more important things to concern him. Where they stood now, he could see the ring of earth that rose like a rath.
Time to work on the next part of the riddle. He started on, moving sun-wise, as he pondered the riddle of earth.
~
You idiot! Tane hissed in the demon’s mind. Vagner winced at the sharp retort that wrapped itself into his True Name like the lash of a razor. You almost gave us away!
Sorry, the demon thought back. In truth, he had hoped to do just that, but he dared not tell Tane so.
Sorry is a mild word to describe your miserable efforts, Tane thought back.
Vagner grimaced. Well, he was sorry in so many ways. Sorry he was being forced to deceive Alaric. Sorry he had gone back to look. Sorry he had not bitten Tane’s head off before now, and damn the consequences. And ever so sorry he had allowed himself to fall into Tane’s trap in the first place.
I deserve to be banished to the darkest pits of Annwn!
Then again, being a demon, maybe he should rethink that threat. The darkest pits of Annwn would likely be a more pleasant place than the situation he found himself in just now.
For one thing, Tane would not be there…Or would he? Hard to know what plans Arawn might actually have for a bloodmage like Tane, and Vagner was certainly not so eager to ask the lord of death and doom for any particulars…
“Let’s go now,” Tane whispered softly and tapped Vagner’s shoulder.
The demon sighed and stepped onto the bridge of water once more. Surprisingly, it held him up as though it were composed of stone, but his footsteps created enormous ripples that rocked them just a little, and part of him was tempted to jump and see if he could actually make a splash…
Tread gently, you fool! Tane hissed in Vagner’s head and lashed at him again.
I am a demon, Vagner thought back. I am not a gentle creature.
Practice makes perfect, Tane said.
Only if it involves biting off your head, the demon thought to himself. He took more careful steps, still causing the bridge of water to jiggle, but not so wildly as before. And he would not say that he was not happy to reach the other side. In spite of its strength, he would rather have something “visibly” solid underfoot.
“Well, well,” Tane whispered softly, and pushed at the gauntlet Alaric had left on the next tier. “A trail…” The bloodmage pushed it again with his toe, this time heaving it over the edge of the platform and into the moat.
“What did you do that for?” the demon insisted softly.
“They won’t need a way back, will they?” Tane said with a sneer. “Now come on before we lose them.”
I’d like to lose you, the demon thought.
Hopefully, that chance
would come.
SIXTY
They were not giving up. Etienne could sense her growing fatigue. How Fenelon could keep going was something she could not understand. Oh, the Lunari beads still thrummed with sufficient power, but she could tell they were fading a little.
How long must we keep this up, she thought. How long can we do this?
“Surrender now,” Turlough shouted above the rush of the falls. Using a spell to enhance his voice, no doubt. “Those Lunari stones you stole will not last you much longer.”
“Neither will the flying spells on that platform if he keeps abusing them,” Fenelon quipped as he leaned forward and braced hands to his knees. So far, he was making prime use of the abundance of water around them to enhance his own attacks. While he could draw no essence from it, he could at least use it as a weapon. But Turlough apparently had a few tricks of his own involving stone. More than once, Etienne had been forced to step aside when large boulders flew through the water and smacked into the rocks over her head. They missed without harming her, thanks to her own deflection spells, but she got the impression Turlough wasn’t really trying to aim them at a specific target. Just use them as a terrible distraction.
“I said surrender!” Turlough snapped angrily.
“Oh, go jump in the river, Uncle,” Fenelon snarled back. “You want me, you’ll have to come in here yourself and get me!”
Etienne wished she dared to use her scrying spell. She would love to have seen Turlough’s expression.
Or not. Another smaller boulder came splashing through the falls, directed at Fenelon with more accuracy than before. He threw himself aside with an excited yelp. She deflected it with hardened air.
“Close, Uncle, but not close enough!” Fenelon taunted with a grin, then said in a lower voice, “Too close, actually.”
Horns, maybe we should surrender before Turlough does manage to hit one of us, she thought.
She would never say that to Fenelon, though. It was very unlikely he would agree.
~
Earth turned out to be a lot simpler to pass, for only one opening lined up with the eastern menhir, while the other two were at odd angles with the cardinal points. Fire was easy as well, though Alaric felt uncomfortable traversing the path that opened and closed to the south of the ring of white flames. At least, it did not close as he and Shona were passing through it, but he could still feel the intense heat.
Dragon's Tongue: Book One of the Demon-Bound Page 46