Haplo wasn't paying attention. The Patryn had been studying the Sartan who stood guard at the door, calculating the odds on jumping the man and making good his escape. The chances were slim, almost hopeless, but it beat hanging around here, waiting for Samah to give him another bath.
He tensed, prepared to attack. Samah turned suddenly, spoke to the guard. Haplo forced himself to relax, tried to look nonchalant.
“Ramu. Take these two to the Council Chamber and make them ready for the sending. We must cast this spell immediately, before the mensch attack. Gather together all the members of the Council. They will all be needed to perform magic of this magnitude.”
“What spell of sending?” Haplo was instantly on his guard, thinking it had something to do with him. “What's going on?”
Ramu entered, stood beside the door.
Alfred walked forward, Orla at his side. The two moved calmly, with dignity. And for once, Haplo noted in wonder, Alfred didn't fall over anything.
Haplo moved to block Alfred's path. “Where are they sending you?”
“To the Labyrinth,” Alfred answered.
“What?”
Haplo laughed, thinking this was some bizarre plot to trap him, though for what purpose he couldn't imagine. “I don't believe it!”
“Others were sent before us, Haplo. We are not the first. Long ago, during the Sundering, the Sartan who discovered and embraced the truth were cast into prison along with your people.”
Haplo stared, dazed. It didn't make sense. It wasn't possible. And yet he knew Alfred was telling the truth. The Sartan couldn't lie.
“You can't do this!” Haplo protested to Samah. “You're sentencing them to death!”
“Drop the concerned act, Patryn. It will gain you nothing. You will be joining your ‘friend’ soon enough, after we have questioned you fully concerning this so-called Lord of the Nexus and his plans.”
Haplo ignored the man, turned to Alfred. “You're going to let him send you to the Labyrinth? Just like that? You've been there! In my mind! You know what it's like. You won't last two minutes. You or her! Fight, damn it! For once in your life, stand up and fight!”
Alfred paled, looked troubled. “No, I couldn't…”
“Yes, you can! Grundle was right. You were the dragon, weren't you? You saved our lives on Draknor. You're powerful, more powerful than Samah, more powerful than any Sartan who has ever lived. The dragon-snakes know it. Serpent Mage, they call you. He knows it. That's why he's getting rid of you.”
“Thank you, Haplo,” Alfred said gently, “but even if what you say is true, and I did turn myself into a dragon, I can't remember how I did it. No, it's all right. Please, understand.”
He reached out, rested a hand on the Patryn's muscle-clenched arm. “All my life I've been running away from what I am. Either that, or fainting. Or apologizing.” He was calm, almost serene. “I'm not running anymore.”
“Yeah,” said Haplo harshly. “Well, you better not faint either. Not in the Labyrinth.” He jerked his arm away from the Sartan's touch.
“I'll try to remember.” Alfred smiled.
The dog whimpered, crowded close, rubbing its muzzle against Alfred's leg. He patted it gingerly. “Take care of him, boy. Don't lose him again.”
Ramu stepped between them, began to chant the runes.
Sigla flashed, blinding Haplo. The heat drove him back. When he could see again, the red runes of warding burned before the door, blocked the windows.
The Sartan were gone.
HAPLO LAY BACK DOWN ON THE BED. NOTHING HE COULD do except wait. His skin was starting to dry. The sigla on his body were visible once again, faintly. It would take a long time for his magic to return fully, time he guessed he didn't have. The Sartan would be back soon, douse him with water, then try to force him to talk.
That should prove entertaining.
In the meantime, he supposed, he should try to get what rest he could. The loss of his magic made him feel tired, weak. He wondered if this w's a real, physical reaction or only in his mind. He wondered about other things, lying on his back, attempting to comfort the grieving dog.
Sartan men and women in the Labyrinth. Sent there with their enemies. What had happened to them? Presumably, of course, the Patryns, in their fury, would have turned on them, killed them.
But what if they didn't? Haplo mused. What if those longtime enemies were forced to put aside their hatred and their anger and work together in order to survive? And what if, during the long, dark nights, they lay down together; sought comfort in each other's arms, a respite from their terror? Could it be that, long ago, Patryn and Sartan blood had mingled?
The thought staggered Haplo. It was too overwhelming to comprehend. The possibilities it presented were too confusing.
His hand stroked the dog's head, which rested on his chest. The animal's eyes closed, it sighed and nestled near him, on the bed. Haplo was almost asleep himself when the world rippled.
His eyes flared open. He tensed, alarmed, panicked by the terrifying sensation, yet unable to move a muscle to combat it. The ripple effect began at his feet, spread upward, carried sickness and dizziness with it. He could only watch, feel it, helpless to act.
Once before, he'd experienced this. Once before, the world around him had rippled. Once before, he had seen himself, without shape or dimension, pasted flat against his surroundings that were themselves as thin and brittle as a dead leaf.
The waves spread above him, bending the room, bending the walls, the ceiling. The red warding runes that barred the doors and windows winked out, but Haplo could not take advantage of their absence. He couldn't move.
Last time, the dog had vanished, too. He grabbed hold of it. This time, it remained, dozing quietly, sleeping through everything.
The ripple effect passed as swiftly as it had come. The red warding runes flared again. The dog snored.
Drawing a deep breath, letting it out, Haplo stared up at nothing.
The last time the world had rippled, Alfred had been the cause. Alfred had entered Death's Gate.
The Patryn woke suddenly, body tingling with alarm. It was night, the room was dark or would have been, but for the glowing runes. He sat up, trying to remember, isolate the sound that had brought him wide awake from a deep sleep. He was so intent on listening that he didn't notice, at first, the sigla on his skin gleaming a bright blue.
“I must have slept a long time,” he said to the dog, who had itself been roused from slumber. “I wonder why they didn't come for me? What do you suppose is going on, boy?”
The dog seemed to think it had some idea, for it jumped off the bed and padded over to the window. Haplo, having the same idea, followed. He drew as close to the runes as he could, ignoring the magical heat that burned his skin, his own magic unable to protect long against it. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he squinted against the sigla's flaring brilliance, tried to look outside.
He couldn't see much in the night; shadows running through the shadows, darker shapes of darkness. But he could hear their shouts; it was the shouting that had wakened him.
“The wall is breached! The water is flooding our city!”
Haplo thought he heard footsteps at the door. He tensed, turned, prepared to fight. It was foolish of them to have allowed him to regain his magic. He'd teach them how foolish.
The footsteps hesitated a moment, then began to retreat. Haplo walked to the door, listened until the sound faded away. If there had been a Sartan guard, he wasn't there now.
The runes of warding were still strong, however, still powerful. Haplo was forced to draw back from the door; fighting the heat was draining his strength.
Besides, no need to waste his energy.
“Might as well relax, boy,” he advised the dog. “We'll be out of here, soon enough.”
And then where would he go? What would he do?
Back to the Labyrinth. To look for Alfred. To look for others…
Smiling quietly, Haplo returned to his bed,
stretched out comfortably, and waited for the seawater to rise.
BOTH SARTAN AND PATRYN MAGIC IS BASED ON THE THEORY of possibilities.1 A contest between the two can best be described as a lethal version of a children's game known as Knife, Paper, Stone.2 In this game, each child provides himself with three objects: a small knife, a piece of paper, and a rock. These objects are hidden behind the back. Opponents face each other and, at a given signal, both grab an object and bring it forth in mock battle. The goal is to try to guess which weapon out of three possible weapons the opponent will use this round and be prepared to counter his attack.
The various outcomes are determined thus:
Knife cuts paper. (Whoever produces the knife wins this round.)
Stone crushes knife.
Paper covers stone.
Knife, Paper, Stone is, of course, an extremely simplified version of a magical battle between Patryn and Sartan, each of whom would have at his or her disposal innumerable possibilities for attack and defense.
Ancient duels between the two were rarely fought “in hot blood” as was the fight between Samah and Haplo. Both races had their images to consider and a battle would take place only after a challenge had been issued and accepted. A Patryn was always ready to fight in public view. A Sartan might agree, but only if he or she felt that such a public display of prowess and courage would prove instructive to the mensch.
Public duels were held in arenas and provided absolutely marvelous shows, although the presence of a crowd rather hampered some of the more spectacular magical effects. It would never do, for example, to call down a lightning bolt on one's enemy and mistakenly electrocute half the audience. Thus these public battles rarely ended in death, but were similar to a chess tournament where one opponent attempts to place the other in checkmate.
Private contests were much more serious, fought on a more lethal scale, and almost always ended in death for either one or both opponents. They were held in secret places, known only to the two races, where destructive forces could be unleashed without endangering innocent bystanders. Sometimes the two fought alone, but more often family members and members of the Council attended to serve as witnesses. They were never permitted to intervene.
It should be noted here that the Sartan Council was always publicly opposed to these duels and would endeavor, until the last moment, to stop the fight.
Despite the limitless number of possibilities available, most wizards generally followed a set pattern, based on the dictates of logic. The first spells to be cast were usually either defensive or distractive in nature. They were easy, requiring little effort on the part of the spellcaster, and enabled him to study and feel out his opponent. Thus, a Sartan wizard might attempt to distract his enemy by sending a million snakes into combat; the Patryn might counter by surrounding himself with a wall of fire.
Such distractions and defenses would give way to powerful offensive spells and equally powerful defenses. Opponents were required to see an attack coming and react to it within seconds, all the while guarding against attacks (such as lightning bolts) against which one could not defend oneself. The slightest miscalculation, the blinking of an eye, a momentary weakening, almost always proved fatal.3
1See “Magic in the Sundered Realms, Excerpts from a Sartan's Musing,” in Dragon Wing, vol. 1 of The Death Gate Cycle.
2One theory holds that this game was played by mensch children desirous of emulating Sartan (or Patryn) heroes.
3Excerpt from a treatise, untitled, discovered in the library of the Sartan on Chelestra.
(From a report given by Ramu, son of Samah, to the Sartan Council of Seven. This report was submitted sometime early during the session in which Alfred first reported to the council. The text, as well as other artifacts, was later found in Alfred's possession. How he came by them remains a mystery. The footnotes appear to be Alfred's and are consistently expressed in the tongue of the mensch—an interesting fact in itself)
Brother Sartan of the Council:
I beg to put before you, my brothers and sisters, a report on the state of our realm as it pertains to the seamoons it contains, known to us as the durnai. I humbly submit this report and beg your understanding should it fall short of your needs and expectations. May the runes grant us insight and wisdom in our governance of creation.1
I beg to set before you a summary of this realm's structure. I shall then endeavor with my limited and inadequate ability to compare its expected state with that currently found.2
ORIGINAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY PLAN OF OUR REALM
Our Realm of Water consists of a great sea surrounded by ice. In the midst of this sea moves the seasun, a great glowing sphere of phosphorescent light that illuminates and warms the waters about it. Its motion melts the ice around it and leaves the sea to freeze again behind it. Many creatures inhabit this sea—greatest among them being the durnai, upon which the mensch live.
The Seasun
The seasun is powered primarily by energy coming through a rift3 from the Realm of Fire. Until the Death Gates open at Jran-kri,4 this rift provides only sufficient energy to keep this realm alive. Only by achieving Jran-kri will the durnai be awakened and the ice melted permanently.
The seasun moves in a predestined cycle through the water. This cycle is nearly one thousand years long, thus accounting for the long sleep5 of our people and our recent revival. Originally this motion was intended to act to circulate the waters of the great sea following Jran-kri. The durnai would circle the seasun, and the seasun would move about the water in a circular countermotion. The intention was to keep the waters circulating and to aid in the recycling of materials from other realms.
The Goodsea
Though it is thought of as a sea, it is actually not composed of water. The Goodsea is made up of a clear oxygenated emulsion liquid. Mammals may breathe it directly without drowning.
The Goodsea is filled with a variety of small prokaryotes, eukaryotes, plankton, and similar species designed specifically to react chemically with waste products that were to have been rift-dumped into this location after the Jran-kri. Forms of kelp were also grown in vast fields, creating free-floating forests. All of these produce useful byproducts naturally which are then absorbed as fuel energy by the durnai.
The effect of these small creatures is to perform the first stage in a refining process of waste materials. The byproducts of these sea creatures, being of lighter density than the sea, tend to float toward the nongravity6 of the durnai. These byproducts are then absorbed as dumai food— the final process before exporting refined materials through another rift in the center of each durnai to the great refining mechanisms in the Realm of Sky.7
There are other creatures of the water as well. The dolphins, intelligent and rather overcommunicative, never have to surface for air as in our previous world,8 as they breathe the emulsion directly. Other water mammals such as whales, serpents, mermen, seals, sea lions, and manatees abound. Normal sea creatures such as fish, kraken, hippocampus (water steeds), sea horses, rays, and other common marine creatures have been adapted to this environment as well. Plankton in the emulsion absorb the carbon dioxide from the various creatures' exhalations and reprocesses it back to oxygen.
Biosphere (The Durnai)
In the Sundering, we created the durnai—biosphere creatures of titanic size—which were to float randomly in their hibernation sleep. These durnai are living beings, created by the Sartan at Jran-ai to be an integral part of their overall plan. During Jran-ai, the durnai would remain in hibernation, awaiting the increased luminance of the seasun to be brought about at Jran-kri.9 Until Jran-kri, the durnai were to remain in this state of deep sleep, occasionally drifting back to be frozen in the ice, only to be thawed again eons later— still hibernating—as the seasun would complete its circuit through the ice.
The original plan was to have the mensch act as caretaker parasites working in a symbiotic arrangement inside the durnai. The mensch would cultivate the interior surfaces of the bio
spheres, which, in turn, would keep it healthy for its chemosynthesis.
Once awakened, the biospheres would interact with the emulsion sea to recycle biological and chemical waste products from the other worlds back into useful biosynthetics, gases, and chemicals. Drawing their energy from the phosphorescent sun in the realm, the durnai “mountain roots” would channel the chemicals from the sea to the underearth. These roots appeared to the inhabitants as craggy mountains thrusting up from the sea and into the cavern ceiling above. In fact, these “mountains” are more analogous to bones with marrow structures thrust into the sea. The roots would then pull the chemicals and waste products up into the durnai— not unlike the roots of a tree—and convert these into useful chemicals for their own life sustenance and, as a byproduct, chemicals and other substances that would be disposed of through the natural rift in the core of the biosphere. This rift, connected through netherspace to the Realm of Air, would then supply needed source materials to the great machine there.10
The Shores/Outer Durnai Layer
Resembling craggy rock mountain walls thrusting down from the valley roof, the shores are analogous to bone structures pushing down from the biosphere's center. The shores both form pockets of atmosphere and penetrate the sea along great mountainous ranges.
These mountains curve down from the nongravity to form shores where the sea surges along in undulating waves. Here the transfer action presses the chemicals and other gathered materials into the bone channels, where it is conducted into the foundations of the durnai.
Most importantly, the crystalline formations at the base of the mountains act as gatherers of light energy from the phosphorescent sun in the realm, thus supplying the needed photosynthetic energy for the process of life in the durnai.
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