Phoenix in Shadow

by Ryk E. Spoor

  “A fascinating story,” said a quiet voice with just the hint of a hiss in it. “You may well be correct.”

  Poplock found himself nearly face-to-face with a mazakh standing over six feet tall; it took no acting at all to jump in startlement and scuttle around behind Tobimar’s neck; Tobimar himself twitched a bit, as might be expected given the two encounters he’d had with the so-called snake men.

  “Ahh, Hiriista, good to see you could make it!” Halgen said warmly. “Tobimar, Phoenix, this is Hiriista Twice-Hatched, one of the finest magewrights in all the Seven. Hiriista, Tobimar, Adventurer of Zarathanton, and the Phoenix, Justiciar of Myrionar.”

  “An honor,” Hiriista said, bowing fluidly with a pose similar to that which Miri had used. Viewed when not attacking, Poplock could appreciate the severe beauty of the creatures; not really snakelike, they were more like very tall hopclaws—bipedal reptilian creatures with colorfully patterned scales, a long balancing tail, and two arms with powerful hands; Xavier had said they reminded him of something called ‘velociraptors.’

  “And comfort your pet,” Hiriista went on, “I am not in the habit of eating toads.”

  “Duckweed will appreciate that,” Tobimar said, reaching up and giving Poplock a reassuring pat. Poplock relaxed visibly, and gave an inward smile. Using his original given name made him sound a lot less suspicious than ‘Poplock,’ if anyone guessed what that meant. “So you think I may be on the right track?”

  “In some of the few ancient writings unearthed,” Hiriista said, “I have seen a very similar phrase, something like ‘Justice and Vengeance were as near as the other side of the mountain.’ And your story mentions your interest in the number seven, which is surely of interest here.”

  “But was there a ‘seven’ before Kaizatenzei itself?” Kyri asked. “Because I get the impression that Kaizatenzei as you know it is much more recent than the last Chaoswar.”

  Hiriista hiss-shrugged. “I do not know your ‘Chaoswars,’ but it is true that Kaizatenzei is not ancient. And yes, there are ruins of towers, from which it was said that light used to shine and protect all about them, found in the cities of the Seven Lights, and only in those seven cities—aside of course from the Unfallen Tower in Sha Kaizatenzei Valatar, the capital. Indeed, those cities were founded around these ancient towers, and there is reason to believe that there is, or was, some special virtue associated with them.”

  He restrained himself from exchanging glances with the others, but he knew Kyri and Tobimar did so; that confirmed their suspicious about the Seven Stars almost completely. “You mentioned ancient records?”

  “All the most ancient records are kept in Sha Kaizatenzei Valatar. If you would learn more on these subjects, I would suggest you travel there.”

  “We had already expected to do that, but you give us even more reason to do so,” Kyri said. “If I might ask, what exactly is a ‘magewright’?”

  “You know not the term? A magewright is one skilled in all the arts of magical creation and use—alchemy, gemcalling matrices, summoning arrays, mystical constructs, symbological circles, and so on. Halgen may exaggerate—”

  “He does not,” Miri put in.

  The mazakh bowed. “I shall argue not with one of the Lights. Then I am indeed quite adept in these areas.”

  “You’re a gemcaller?” Tobimar said, asking one of the questions Poplock really wanted to ask. “I’ve heard of it, vaguely, but apparently it’s hard to make it work where we come from. I’ve generally only heard it mentioned in connection with Elyvias, which is itself if anything harder to reach than Kaizatenzei.”

  “In truth? I am surprised. It is one of the most useful and formidable arts, for those who can master it, but it does require considerable preparation initially. I would demonstrate, but not here; it is not something to do casually.”

  “Then perhaps another time?”

  “Certainly; are you a student of things magical?”

  “I dabble a bit,” Tobimar said honestly. “Mostly I just like to see everything I can, as does Phoenix.”

  Miri suddenly stood up. “Ohh! The Lady of Lights says she will come!”

  All eyes were focused on the diminutive Light. “Now?” said Reflect Helgen, eyes wide. “Oh, Miri, I’m hardly prepared to—”

  “Piffle. She knows perfectly well what the situation is, but people from outside? She’s not going to wait until they can make it all the way to Valatar!” With a “shoo” gesture, Miri waved others back until she had a clear space twenty feet across. “All right!” From one of the little tubes or arrays of crystals on her belt she took a large, water-clear gem. “TO ME!”

  She threw the crystal on the ground and it exploded in brilliant, multicolored light that dazzled everyone, Poplock included. When the light faded, Poplock saw to his startlement a tall woman, as tall or taller than Kyri with hair red as bright coals, in gold-trimmed crystal and cloth armor similar in style, if not details, to Miri’s. She held a staff of crystal as well, a staff that shimmered through the hues of the rainbow, and there was a great sword slung over her back. She had none of Miri’s bubbliness, but instead had the same serious demeanor and appearance of quiet strength that characterized Phoenix Kyri.

  Summoned by a crystal that size? I’d say it’s impossible, but I just saw it!

  Things are really starting to get interesting!

  CHAPTER 18

  Tobimar didn’t have to look at Poplock to know the little Toad’s eyes were even wider than normal. It has to be that thing about it being easier to focus magic into solid objects; they can use much smaller crystals for summoning living beings.

  The red-haired woman immediately bowed deeply to Kyri and Tobimar, again in the same way as Miri. Tobimar imitated her and saw Kyri do the same.

  “Welcome to Kaizatenzei, Phoenix, Tobimar,” the woman said in a warm, rich contralto. “As I am sure my Miri has told you, I am Shae, Lady of the Seven Lights.”

  “Lady Shae, it is an honor, and I admit to also finding it astonishing—your arrival, that is.”

  She laughed. “Oh, we had rather hoped it would be. Especially Miri, she loves her surprises.” She reached down and took a crystal, this one a lovely shade of blue, from her own belt. At this range, Tobimar could see that the crystal came from a slanted cylinder with multiple slots in it, each slot just the right size to hold one of the crystals; Shae and Miri each had several of these devices. “The summoning crystals are somewhat complex to make—alas, we cannot make them for ordinary travel, any more than we can use our singing arrays to allow everyone to speak with each other across the miles—but they allow my Lights, myself, and a few select others to be able to travel where we are needed swiftly, to aid each other as we can.”

  Since she held it out to him, Tobimar reached out and gingerly took the shining crystal in his hand. “This one is for Miri, I would guess.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “A guess, or a deduction?”

  “A bit of both, I suppose. I don’t know enough to be sure, but you have so much emphasis on lights and colors—I saw that your armor is essentially clear crystal,” though, Tobimar noted to himself with some relief, not clear beneath, or I might find it extremely distracting, “while hers is mostly pale blue, so I would guess that the other Lights have similar armor in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, and violet.”

  “Well and correctly reasoned,” Lady Shae said with a nod. “And from her expression I think the Phoenix had made a similar deduction. But I suppose quick wits would be a requirement to survive the Pass of Night.”

  “It certainly doesn’t hurt,” Kyri said wryly. “Though some might say it also takes a lack of wisdom and self-preservation.”

  Tobimar was still studying the gem, trying to think of things Poplock would ask. “So, can just anyone use these, or only you and the Lights?”

  “Oh, anyone can,” Miri answered. “If you threw that on the ground and said ‘To Me!’ I’d appear right there. Please don’t do that, it’d be such a was
te.”

  “Of course not,” Tobimar agreed. “I was just wondering. And you have to come? You can’t choose not to come?”

  “Actually, you can choose not to accept the summons,” Lady Shae said. “In that case, the crystal will not break. However, I would be very loath to refuse such a summons; after all, I have to presume that these would never be used without either prior agreement, or a true emergency. However, if I was in the midst of something I could not leave, I could—and at least once, I did—refuse a summons.”

  “Amazing,” Tobimar said, handing the summoning crystal back to Shae. “Where we come from, such tricks of teleportation are severely constrained, and to do this . . . I think it would take crystals larger than your head.”

  “Truly?” Shae looked astonished. “So even magic is not the same everywhere? There is so much we do not know, and so much we are just now starting to rediscover.” She glanced aside and smiled. “Hello, Reflect Halgen. My apologies, I was so interested in our new arrivals that I have neglected to greet you.”

  “Quite understandable, my Lady. Will you be staying the night?”

  “I wish I could. Unfortunately, there are so many things left to do, and in fact I’ll be working for some time tonight.”

  Kyri raised her own eyebrow. “Ruling Kaizatenzei is that demanding?”

  Both Miri and Shae burst out laughing. “Oh, now, I am terribly sorry for that impression! No, no, the Seven Lights demands far less of my time than you might think. I am also a researcher, somewhat along the lines of Hiriista there, and much of the research throughout our land comes in the end to me. So much to read, to test, to experiment on, to understand.”

  So their leader is also a . . . magewright? Sage at least. Don’t want to pry too much, though; if they’re not what they seem, we want to also seem less than we are. “Tell me, if you would—what are the Seven Lights? I mean, I have seen their names on the map, but I don’t know what they mean.”

  “Ah, of course you would not. Just as light itself can be shattered by crystal into separate hues, which the sages number at seven, so there are seven great sources or types of light: sunlight, starlight, moonlight, stormlight, forestlight, firelight, and earthlight—or, respectively, ruratenzei, kalatenzei, syratenzei, vomatenzei, murnitenzei, hishitenzei, and alatenzei.”

  “I understand most of those, but what are stormlight, forestlight, and earthlight?”

  She nodded. “Perhaps the less obvious, yes. Stormlight is lightning and other similar illumination seen during great storms; some have also said the rainbow is part of this, but others argue against it. Forestlight is the radiance of the firefly, the log-lantern, the glowing fire that is cold and eerie of hue that can be found in the depths of woods and sometimes the marshes. Earthlight,” she smiled, “well, that is the light of the interior, the fire that wells up from the Earth itself.”

  “Many, such as my people, also consider the light of molten iron and other metals being worked to be part of the earthlight,” Hargen said.

  Poplock had been right. Those names showed at least three separate language influences, none of them pure; the rhythm of most of the words and names reflected the classic Artan, which constructed almost all concepts into triads—the most familiar being Nya-Sharee-Hilya, Surviving the Storm of Ages, or their homeland Ar-Tan-Nya, The People Who Survive, sometimes just translated as We Survive. He could easily hear the other words dividing that way—Kaiza-Ten-Zei, Voma-Ten-Zei, for instance.

  Then there were language roots, like the ancient Sauran for thunder and lightning, vomat, found in vomatenzei or stormlight, and the Odinsyrnen word ruri meaning sun and echoed strongly in ruratenzei.

  There had been a unique language spoken here, and somehow—he’d bet in the last thousand years or so—it had been slowly replaced with the language that most of Zarathan spoke. And as they’d already discussed, that couldn’t happen by accident. Someone—or something—had quite deliberately guided the language to dovetail with something that the other inhabitants didn’t even know existed.

  He realized he’d missed something in his reverie, snapped back to the present. “Pardon me, Lady Shae; I was thinking about your concept of lights, as light is also terribly important to my people, and became distracted.”

  She smiled. “Forgiven. I understand you believe that here, in this very valley, may be your own people’s ancient homeland?”

  “Yes, Lady Shae. I hope to be able to verify that.”

  “If it can be verified, that will be at Sha Kaizatenzei Valatar, and now that I have seen and sensed the two of you myself—”

  “Sensed?”

  The big woman laughed again, the sound echoing through the hall, and suddenly stopped, her eyes twinkling yet dangerously sharp and narrow. “Oh, yes, my friend. Do you think I would bid my Miri to use a crystal simply to satisfy my curiosity and greet a few travelers? No, no; it was far more than that. I have the safety of my people foremost in my mind. I knew that Miri is excellent in judging these things, but the idea of someone reaching us through the Pass of Night? That was utterly unprecedented, Tobimar of Zarathanton. I could take no chances; I had to see you, bend all my senses upon you and see if you were, indeed, what you appeared, or something foul with a fair seeming atop, if you catch my meaning.”

  Dangerous indeed. And is she what she appears to be, or not? “And?”

  “And as I was saying, now that I have sensed you, I know you for who you claim to be; adventurers with hearts of light, not of darkness. You, in particular, are surrounded by an aura of light, Tobimar, but your companion as well; even your little pet shines strongly, and by this I know your mission is not one of ill. So I say to you, come—come to Sha Kaizatenzei Valatar, and I will welcome you there, and I shall command the vaults of the past be opened to you to search.”

  Kyri bowed to Lady Shae, Tobimar mirroring her. “We thank you for this generous invitation. I don’t suppose we could use those crystals to get there, though.”

  “Oh, that would be convenient, yes. But no, I am afraid not. Master Wieran would have to calculate your matrix, manufacture the crystals. Perhaps when you arrive, you can ask him, if he has the time.”

  “We have heard his name several times; it sounds like he can work miracles.”

  Miri nodded, the bow in her hair bobbing. “Miracles is close enough! Though he’s a bit . . . difficult.”

  “But men of genius—as he is often wont to remind us—are often a bit difficult,” Lady Shae said. There was a note of . . . exasperated affection in her voice. “Still, without him we would not have accomplished a tenth of what we have.” She glanced at a shimmering sphere across the room, which Tobimar realized must be a clock of some sort. “I must bid you farewell. It will be some time before we meet again—for the journey will not be a short one, no matter the route you take.”

  Lady Shae hesitated, then made a decision. From another of the cylinders she produced two perfectly clear crystals. “Miri, here—to replace that which you used,” she said, giving one to the blue-crystal-armored Light.

  Then she turned to Tobimar and, to his astonishment, placed the other in his hand. “For you, Tobimar, and your companions. You are unique, and the light in your spirits has brought hope and joy at the knowledge that the world beyond the mountains is not all as that forest which surrounds us. I give this to you as a symbol and shield—a symbol of trust, and a shield to protect you in case anything dark pursues you even here.”

  “I . . . Lady of Lights, I don’t know what to say.”

  She smiled. “Your reaction confirms my impulse. Keep it well. I can see you will not use it frivolously.”

  He bowed again and placed the precious crystal immediately into a small pouch at his side. “I do have to wonder what would happen if you were summoned at a more . . . delicate moment.”

  Hargen coughed, Miri looked shocked, and a gasp ran about the room. For a moment, Lady Shae just stared, but then she threw that magnificent head of red hair back and roared with laughter. �
�Oh! Oh, Tobimar, if all Adventurers are like you, we have been sorely deprived!” She went into another fit of chuckles, and Tobimar could see everyone else relaxing slowly. “You mean, perhaps, if I were in my bath? Then I must regret to inform you that the summoning includes the clothing and equipment of your matrix, with only certain variations, so even were I to begin clad in nothing but mist, I would arrive full-clothed as you see me here.”

  Tobimar felt his face red-hot, but he had asked the question quite deliberately; not only had he gained some knowledge of how the devices worked, he’d also gained insight into the Lady’s character, and that of those around her. They weren’t afraid of her, they were afraid for me, by their expressions, which means that she has some reputation for temper but none for cruelty.

  Still not a sign of the rot that must be somewhere at the center of this place.

  Lady Shae stepped back, and a space cleared about her. “Miri, I know you will have other errands to attend to, but I make them your responsibility; make sure they arrive safely at Valatar.”

  Miri bowed low. “It shall be done, Lady of the Lights.”

  Shae returned the bow, then raised another crystalline device, something like a small net of colored diamond, to her lips. “Pertrelli, now,” she said; a moment later, she vanished in a fountain of light.

  Everyone was left staring for a few moments; Tobimar felt a small weight slide down and off him, and knew that Poplock had taken advantage of the distraction to move off. I somehow doubt he’ll find much here, but it’s worth at least looking around.