What Lies Within (Book 5)

by Martin Ash

  The hubbub of voices gradually waned, the entities seeming almost as disconcerted as Urch-Malmain by Leth's arrival.

  'What are you doing?' Leth asked.

  Urch-Malmain glanced back at him. 'We are trying to stabilize the tail.'

  'What?'

  'The tail. The tail. We are trying to stabilize the tail.'

  'I don't understand.'

  'It will not keep still. It is entirely umpredictable.'

  'What tail? What is it that you refer to?'

  'The tail of the tunnel!' replied Urch-Malmain in annoyance. 'The Portal!' He addressed the entities: 'Is there nothing more you can do?'

  'Not at present. We have put our every effort into it.'

  'I do not understand. With Ascaria's malign influence now eradicated, why is there still a problem?'

  'The problem lies not with the tunnel itself, which is perfect and fully functional,' explained the voice of Aztin, most senior of the entities. 'But due to Ascaria's influence the tail was not stable from the beginning. Her absence now makes no difference in that regard.'

  'But why can't you fix it?' shouted Urch-Malmain.

  'We can. In time.'

  'Why is it taking so long?'

  'We are doing everything we can. Even now Myg and Florro are travelling the tunnel's length, seeking to pinpoint the anomaly that destabilizes the tail. But they must take great care. A single misjudgement could cause one or both of them to tumble out the other end and be lost. Thus the entire Portal would be destabilized forever.'

  'I still do not understand,' interposed Leth. 'Are you saying that the Portal is still not usable?'

  Urch-Malmain paused and gave a sour sigh. 'Think of this Portal as a great invisible wormhole which stretches across dimensions. Its head lies here, fixed. Its tail is located within our own world. I have stabilized it that far. But it lashes here and there, entirely unpredictably. I require that it remains in one place, preferably a place of my own choosing, so that I might know where I am bound.'

  'It is the Reciprocity that is predominantly responsible for its movements,' said the voice of Aztin.

  'The Reciprocity?'

  Urch-Malmain gave another sigh. 'The Law of Reciprocity; the mutual transfer between domains. When someone passes through from here, the tail seeks out a person of vaguely similar context and brings them here. I have already explained this to you.'

  'So are you saying that the tail's movements are caused by its blindly seeking out another person to pluck at random and transport?' Leth queried.

  'Just so!' chimed Aztin.

  'More or less,' qualified Urch-Malmain. 'In essence the tail is divided, for the mutual exchange has to be simultaneous. It both disgorges and plucks at virtually the same instant. Or rather, when a person enters at one end, the other end must perform before the transfer can take place. But that is another matter. I have conducted experiments to attempt to nullify the necessity of the exchange completely. I think I may be getting closer, but so far real success has eluded me.'

  'Nullify?' said Leth. 'Do you mean it might be possible to step through without some innocent being taken from the other side?'

  'Well, theoretically. If I could only stabilize the cursed tail and prevent it from dividing!'

  Urch-Malmain grew pensive and cast Leth a wary glance, as though concerned that he might have revealed more than he had intended. Leth had noticed this tendency when he had been here previously. Anxious not to lose the advantage he said, 'There was no exchange when Harg and myself transported here from Ascaria's fortress.'

  'The Law of Reciprocity applies only between dimensions, worlds, other time-flows.' Urch-Malmain scratched his nose, growling to himself. He stared ruefully into the complex webwork of the silver arch, then moved aside and spoke in a whisper, one hand guarding his mouth. 'There lies the clue, I think. Somehow I must fool the Portal into believing that its head and tail both lie within the same world.'

  'How will you achieve that?'

  The Noeticist's look became sly. 'If I knew, do you think I would tell you?'

  Leth said nothing.

  'Still, I am getting closer, I am sure of it,' added Urch-Malmain.

  'Am I then free to go, with my children?'

  'Ah, now that is something we have to discuss.'

  'That was our agreement.'

  'Yes. And you trusted me to hold to it. No, I don't think you did. I don't think so.'

  'You gave me little choice.'

  'No choice at all, actually. But my concern now is in the details. You see, if I permit you to return to your home, you do so with the knowledge that Urch-Malmain of Enchantment is on the loose. I am not sure that I wish such knowledge broadcast.'

  'I am no threat to you.'

  'Perhaps not. Still, if my enemies came to you they would learn of my 'resurrection', would they not? That would not be to my advantage.'

  Leth's unease grew. 'Why would they come to me? They have never done so? I am nothing to them.'

  'No, you are nothing. And yet . . . Times are changing; anomalous events are afoot. One of my kind, Orbelon, has already bestowed his patronage upon you. Another - perhaps more than one - joins with your enemies to ride against you.'

  Leth stiffened. How did Urch-Malmain know about the Karai and their 'god'? Leth had made no mention of it.

  Leth thought back to when he had been here last and Urch-Malmain had revealed to him how he had come to discover himself trapped in Orbelon's world. The Noeticist had been tricked by others of Enchantment's 'gods' and had been cast here, actually within Orbelon who, defeated and without consciousness, had been sealed inside an Encystment of Perpetual Banishment.

  When Leth had learned this the first vague inklings of a notion had begun to dawn. He had been struck by the possibility that Orbelon might actually be aware of Urch-Malmain - or if not, that Leth could somehow make him aware. By such means, could they keep Urch-Malmain here, trapped, prevented from returning to Enchantment? It was the wildest idea, hatched out of the darkness of deep despair. Leth had had no idea of how such a goal might be achieved. Now that he considered it again he deemed it without hope. He had made no contact with Orbelon, and Urch-Malmain appeared well set to do precisely as he desired. Once the between-worlds Portal was fully-functional there would be nothing to prevent his escape.

  And now, in addition, there was the threat that he would not permit Leth to return.

  Urch-Malmain was still speaking. 'That is my concern, you see. But perhaps we could arrive at a compromise. If, for instance, you simply were not aware of my involvement . . . '

  An icy shard raced down Leth's spine. He caught the inflection in Urch-Malmain's voice and for the first time grew aware of the way the Noeticist was observing him. He averted his eyes.

  'It's just like hypnotizing chickens,' had been Urch-Malmain's flippant reply when Leth had enquired about the process by which he stole and/or modified the memories and personalities of his subjects. In the first instance it required only that he arrest his subject's gaze with his own.

  Quite suddenly Urch-Malmain's squinting gaze glittered with a new and chilling menace. He gave a throaty chuckle. 'You will comply, should I so desire it. After all, think of your loved ones.'

  Leth struggled to contain his rage. Upstairs Galry and Jace waited, fearful and alone, not even knowing where they were. He was unarmed. At his back stood Harg and the two Abyss warriors. Several more warriors were present within the Tower of Glancing Memory.

  He could do nothing.

  Urch-Malmain slid around into Leth's field of vision once more, smirking at him. 'You will comply, Leth. Won't you? What else can you do?'

  Leth contemplated reaching out to grasp the Noeticist's throat and throttle the life out of him. It was a hopeless notion, and Urch-Malmain smiled as if aware of it.

  'Leth?'

  At that moment there was an outcry from behind Urch-Malmain's back. Elements of the Portal's apparatus had begun to glow, and the voices of several entities cried out at
once, 'Fluctuations! Urch-Malmain, there are fluctuations! There are tamperings!'

  'What?' Urch-Malmain spun around and lurched towards the arch of the portal. 'Fluctuations? Tamperings? What do you mean?'

  'Someone or something is aware of the Portal's tail. They are trying to influence it?'

  'How? To what end?'

  'That may be why we have had such difficulty!'

  'What are they doing? Where are they?' yelled Urch-Malmain.

  'We do not know!'

  'Who are they? What do they want?'

  'We do not know that either. We cannot identify the source, we are merely aware of its presence.'

  Urch-Malmain stamped and swore. He threw his good arm above his head. 'Does someone know I am here?' He turned and glared at Leth. 'I will deal with you later. Harg, take the Swordbearer back to his chamber.'

  TWO

  i

  Leth was trapped. It had been plain from the outset that to rely upon Urch-Malmain's word would be unwise, hence Leth had spent each hour of each day anticipating duplicity in some form. But the greater horror - greater even than the fear of death - had, for him, always lain in his awareness of the Noeticist's talent for altering the minds of others.

  Now the horror was upon him and he lacked the option to resist. He no longer possessed a reliable weapon, and was a prisoner in Urch-Malmain's stronghold. The possibility of allowing the unformed miscreant god into his mind turned him cold with revulsion. No matter the Noeticist's silky reassurances, Leth would be changed forever, reformed as some new creature, blindly and unquestioningly obedient to Urch-Malmain's will, capable of wickedness of any magnitude. And he would not even know it.

  As he watched his children and his anxiety deepened. Their joy at his return had been effusive, and as is a child's wont, they were utterly oblivious to the weight he carried.

  'Dadda, when are we going home?' Jace wanted to know.

  And Leth could only murmur, 'Soon, my precious. Soon.'

  His words sounded dull and hollow.

  In his mind, as he sat on the edge of the bed, he went over and over all his previous conversations with Urch-Malmain, seeking there a hope, anything that might buy him a reprieve. He had to make the Noeticist believe that he was more useful to him now, as he was, rather than in some altered state. Somehow he had to dissuade him from entering his mind.

  Or he had to find a way of escape.

  But escape to where? Back into the bleakness of Orbelon's world? It was here, in the Tower of Glancing Memory, that the only hope of returning to Enchantment's Reach lay.

  Orbelon, Orbelon, why have you abandoned us here? Why have you made us suffer all this, only to fail now?

  Or was your sole purpose in bringing me here simply to have me slay Ascaria, with no regard for my subsequent fate or the fate of my children?

  That thought had come to Leth in recent days: that Orbelon had brought him to this world only to rid himself of Ascaria and the malign influence she exerted upon and within him.

  But had Orbelon actually been responsible for bringing him here?

  Leth recalled, days earlier, as he had journeyed with Lakewander towards the Shore of Nothing, he had heard a voice. Orbelon's voice, he had been all but certain. Distant, as though carried on a wind, though there was no wind - calling him: 'Be strong, Leth. I am seeking you.'

  Had it been real? Lakewander had heard nothing. 'A sound intended for your ears alone?' she had wondered aloud, when he spoke of it.

  So might it have been his imagination? Was his need to find Orbelon, the Creator of this strange world in which he found himself, so overriding that he had allowed himself to be deluded into believing Orbelon had spoken directly to him?

  It struck Leth that he had come this far without Orbelon's assistance. Why should the god intervene on his behalf now?

  And again the taunting thought: Had Orbelon abandoned him here? Or could there be something else afoot? Was it possible that Orbelon was himself prevented, for reasons unknown, from doing anything to help him?

  Despite his recent sleep, Leth was bone-weary again. He allowed himself to sink back on top of the bed. As he did so he experienced a momentary disturbance of his senses. There was a feeling of the air close around him having shifted. He thought of the stirring of unseen wings.

  Twice in recent days he had experienced something similar. The first occasion had been when, with Galry and Jace, he had traipsed the empty blue domain that, as far as he was then aware, was all that comprised Orbelon's World. He had had the impression that something ghostly had brushed against him, the briefest flicker just whispering past his ear.

  Later, as he was about to set out with Lakewander from her home (which, uncannily, she and her people called Orbia – the same name as Leth's own palace in Enchantment's Reach) he had experienced it again. He was waiting on his sleek black stallion, Swiftwind, clad in the sapphire armour. This time the sensation had been more pronounced.

  Now he blinked and peered into the air before him, trying to make out something that was not there.

  The impression had already passed. He gave up and lay staring at the ceiling.

  Orbelon! Orbelon! We are lost and afraid. We need you, as your world needs you too. Why aren’t you with us?

  ii

  Urch-Malmain returned to Leth's chamber as dusk was gathered outside.

  'Have you given the matter more thought, Leth?'

  'I have thought only that what you propose is unnecessary.'

  'I am sorry, I do not see it that way.'

  'I am no threat to you.'

  'You are a wild card, potentially disastrous.'

  'How so? Surely you intend to make your presence known in Enchantment anyway?'

  'At the proper time, but not before.' He slid around a little, his dark eyes intent. 'It will be painless, Leth. I can assure you of that.'

  A servant had entered a few moments earlier and lit candles and a lamp, which now cast faint, slowly wavering shadows about the chamber. Galry and Jace sat to one side, sharing a single carved ebony chair. They listened, silent and attentive to the exchange between their father and the ugly, misshapen man in the black robe, though they understood little of its true import.

  'Think of your children, Leth.'

  Again Leth could barely contain his fury. But a pair of Abyss warriors stood alert inside the door, and besides, he knew that if he was to have any hope at all he must remain calm and in control.

  He swivelled slightly, towards the window, for Urch-Malmain was again trying to place himself in his line of vision.

  'You want to go home, don't you, Leth?'

  'There are things I wish to discuss.'

  'Hmm. I had not considered debating the issue, heh-heh-heh. But if it amuses you, why not? I have a little time to spare while those incompetent entities endeavour to put themselves and the artefact to rights. What did you wish to know?'

  'When you first brought me here, you spoke of someone having been brought here through the Portal, in your own words, someone who might be of interest to me.'

  'Ah yes, I had quite forgotten!'

  'Is this person here now?'

  'As far as I am aware. Certainly, there has been no opportunity for escape. Would you like to meet?'

  'Very much,' said Leth, deeply intrigued despite his agitation. A little of the tension slipped from between his shoulderblades at the realization that, at least for the moment, he had gained himself a respite.

  'It might prove an interesting diversion, though I fear you will find this person rather unforthcoming' commented Urch-Malmain, and turned to hobble from the room. 'Leave your brats here, though.'

  Urch-Malmain, with his two guards in tow, led Leth along the corridor then down a short narrow stairway, along another short passage and up a flight of twisting stairs. They air was chill. They ascended two levels and at length paused outside a low, dark iron portal. Urch-Malmain motioned to one of the Abyss warriors, who took down a key from a hook in the stone wall and un
locked the door. With a lamp in his hand the warrior pushed the door open and led them inside.

  They entered a small, bare chamber which Leth at first took to be empty. Then he saw, in the gloom in one corner, a figure lying upon a rude litter of straw and sacking.

  Urch-Malmain crossed the room, hailing the person. 'Come along now, ruffian, rouse yourself! I have brought you a visitor.'

  He bent over the prisoner, prodded with a short staff, bent a little further, then straightened, frowning. 'Oh. He appears to be dead.'

  Leth strode to Urch-Malmain's side. He looked down. Lying on its back, staring sightlessly at the ceiling, was the body of a Karai. The open eyes, once bright as gems, were now lifeless and dull. Leth noted the insignia upon his padded leather jupon: he had been an officer of some rank.

  'What did you do to him?' Leth growled.

  'I? Nothing!' Urch-Malmain replied, his tone offended. 'But it is queer. After he arrived here, he was as I said, most unforthcoming. I could get barely a word out of him. All he would say, no matter what questions I put to him, was "I am the dead". I thought him rather foolish, if not actually feeble-minded.'

  'You did not 'alter’ his mind'?'

  'I had other things to think about. And as I say, with so much else going on I had all but forgotten him until you reminded me.'

  Leth considered. He had heard tales of the Karai, their extraordinary pride as warriors. It was said that they believed themselves incapable of defeat or capture by an enemy. Hence, a defeated Karai was not a Karai, but a non-thing, shamed and humiliated beyond tolerance. In his own, his former comrades' and his people's eyes, once bested he was already dead.

  Leth recalled that under such circumstances of capture or defeat individual Karai - specifically those of the warrior caste - were said to be capable of inducing their own death. He had never before encountered this phenomenon, and had deemed it a probably spurious tale devised to augment the aura of mystique that surrounded the Karai. In fact he had never before been face to face with a Karai and he looked upon the fissured white features and lustreless eyes with some fascination. The death was a waste, but Leth could at least accept that Urch-Malmain's surprise and declaration of innocence were probably genuine.