Jackie opened her eyes and found herself in the meditation chamber again. She had the cold sweats and Owen looked pretty much the same. Byar's back was slumped, and his touch on their shoulders was heavy, as if he might have fallen otherwise.
"What does it mean?" Owen managed to say. He looked at Jackie; his earlier anger had been replaced by fear.
"I . . . I don't know."
"They were all there." He closed his eyes tightly, formed his hands into fists. "Gary, Aaron, Devra, Anne, Steve . . . I heard them again. They didn't die."
"Yes they did. It was a—" Jackie began, then stopped. She wasn't sure exactly what in the hell it was. A dream? An alternate reality?
Two alternate realities, actually: First, the battle at Cicero; except it had turned out differently—presumably because Owen had the power of anGa'riSsa. And second, the confrontation between servants of esGa'u and esLi at Sharia'a— except the defenders were preparing to give up the gyaryu to the esGa'uYal.
Most of the observers of the Dsen'yen'ch'a had flown off, either on their own or due to some signal from Byar. He took brief flight, making a slow circle around the perimeter of the room, and then settled back in front of the two humans.
"I beg your indulgence," he said. "se Owen, se Jackie, I think we should retire and contemplate this Ordeal so that we can decide how to proceed."
"Proceed?" Owen said, opening his eyes. "I know damn well how to proceed. Admiral Hsien is leaving Zor'a System in two Standard days, and I'm leaving with him. I've had enough of study and Ordeal and Sensitive tests.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said to Jackie. "Unless I'm ordered not to, by someone in the chain of command, I'm going back to active duty." He looked toward the esLi disk, then back at Jackie. "There are still enemies out there, and I'm going to help kill them."
Chapter 19
FOLIO 182: SCROLL 9, LEAVES 14-20
(14) . . . WHEN THE BROTHERS HAD TIRED OF THE [shield of esga'u]
ENTERTAINMENTS OF THE CITIES OF THE COAST,
THEY CARRIED THEIR FLIGHT INLAND TO THE CITIES
ALONG THE SPINE OF SHAR'TU, THE GREATEST OF WHICH
WAS SHR'E'A. IN THOSE DAYS SHR'E'A WAS A CITY OF
WARRIORS, AND WAS RENOWNED FAR AND WIDE
THROUGHOUT THE LANDS OF THE WORLD.
SHARNU HAD HEARD A TALE OF THE FAMED SWORD OF [sword if Shr'e'a]
SHR'E'A, A GREAT WEAPON SAID TO HAVE BEEN FORGED
IN THE MORNING OF THE WORLD, AND WHOSE WIELDER
WOULD RECEIVE WISDOM FROM ALL
OF THE MIGHTY WARRIORS WHO HAD HELD IT BEFORE; [gyu'u'aryu (?)]
THEN . . . HE DECIDED THAT, SINCE HE WAS THE
GREATEST WARRIOR [OF THE PRESENT] DAY, THAT HE AND
HIS BROTHER HESYA SHOULD JOURNEY TO
SHR'E'A TO OBTAIN THE SWORD . . . [Challenge of the Deceiver]
. . . AND THAT, IF THE WARRIORS OF SHR'E'A WOULD [unknown wing]
NOT YIELD THE SWORD UP, SHARNU AND HESYA WOULD
EACH [WORK] ACCORDING TO HIS TALENTS TO BRING
ABOUT THE FALL OF SHR'E'A AND THUS SECURE THE SWORD.
. . . FOR, WHILE THE [UNTRANSLATABLE WORD] OF [unknown wing]
THE INHABITANTS OF SHR'E'A MIGHT [NOURISH?] THE
BROTHERS' [UNTRANSLATABLE WORD], THIS MIGHTY
SWORD IN THEIR TALONS WOULD BE SWEETER STILL.
(15) . . . FLEW OVER THE BROWN LANDS RAVAGED [Ravaging of esHu'ur]
BY THE RECENT WARS UNTIL THE SPINE OF SHAR'TU WAS
IN SIGHT. THE GREAT CITY HAD ELEVEN TURRETS
SHEATHED IN BONE, SAID TO BE TAKEN FROM
THE SKELETONS OF THOSE WARRIORS THAT HAD BEEN
DEFEATED BY THE SHR'E'A'I OVER THE CENTURIES. [Warrior at Rest]
(16) [untranslatable]
(17) [damaged] . . . THE EMERGENCE OF THE ARMY OF
SUNSET ON THE PLAINS OF SHR'E'A . . . AND
[UNTRANSLATABLE] DID PLACE [UNTRANSLATABLE] ON
THE LAND . . .
THE [IMAGE?] PLEASED SHARNU GREATLY, AND [Strength of Madness]
ALSO IT BROUGHT [UNTRANSLATABLE PHRASE] TO HESYA,
AND EVEN SHARNU WAS [DISTURBED?] AT
THE WING-POSITION OF HIS BROTHER AS THEY DISCUSSED
THE MATTER . . .
(18) . . . SHARNU'S SORCERIES OF DESPAIR HAD [Ur'ta leHssa]
SETTLED ON SHR'E'A, AND THOSE WHO COULD STILL GO
ABOUT, SHOWED LITTLE WILL OR EMOTION AS THEY
PERFORMED THEIR DAILY TASKS. MANY OF THE
RESIDENTS SIMPLY REMAINED IN THEIR HOMES, OR
SOMETIMES IN THE STREET WHEREVER THEY FELL, EYES
TURNED, UNSEEING, TOWARD THE SKY.
BUT STILL THE WARRIORS OF SHR'E'A DID [Defiance of the Warrior]
NOT OPEN THE GATES TO SHARNU AND HIS ARMY OF
[UNTRANSLATABLE WORD] THAT SURROUNDED THE CITY.
SHARNU'S RAGE KNEW NO BOUNDS, AND HE SUMMONED
HESYA TO HIM TO SPEAK OF THIS.
(19) "BROTHER," HE SAID TO HESYA, "THESE [Patience of Despite]
SHR'E'A'I HAVE A STRONG WILL, BUT THEY CANNOT
RESIST FOREVER; STILL, I AM WEARY OF THIS SIEGE, AND
WILL NOT WAIT UNTIL THEY YIELD. IF THE
STRONG ARE CONSUMED BY THE [UNTRANSLATABLE [unknown wing]
WORD] OF OUR ARMY, ONLY THE WEAK WILL REMAIN TO
SERVE US WHEN WE TAKE THE CITY. WE MUST LEARN
WHENCE THEY DRAW THEIR STRENGTH, AND
TAKE IT AWAY." [unknown wing]
THE TALENT OF HESYA SERVED THE SAME [Challenge of the Deceiver]
MASTER AS THE TALENT OF SHARNU, BUT IN A DIFFERENT
WAY; INSTEAD OF [UNTRANSLATABLE WORD], HE WAS
GIVEN TO FAIR SPEECH AND DIPLOMACY, AND UNDER
THE GREEN BANNER OF TRUCE HE ENTERED SHR'E'A WITH TEN
OTHER WARRIORS OF [UNTRANSLATABLE], WHOM HE
HAD PICKED FOR THIS PURPOSE.
HE SPOKE POLITELY TO THE WARLORD AND PRAISED
THE FINE CITY. INDEED, HE SAID, THE PEOPLE WHO
SERVED WITH THE [UNTRANSLATABLE WORD] ARMY OF
SUNSET OUTSIDE HAD NO DESIRE TO DESTROY SHR'E'A,
BUT RATHER TO LEARN FROM ITS STRENGTH; AND IF THEY
HAD THE USE OF THE KNOWLEDGE PROVIDED BY THE
LEGENDARY SWORD, THEY COULD OVERCOME THE
[UNTRANSLATABLE WORD] ARMY, AND THAT MUCH
HONOR WOULD BE GAINED . . .
(20) . . . ON THE FOURTH SUN WAS SUSPICIOUS
STILL: BUT AT LAST HE GAVE IN, AND CAUSED THE [Sorrow of Deception]
SWORD TO BE BROUGHT FORTH AND ESCORTED
OUT OF THE CITY IN THE COMPANY OF HESYA . . .
. . . IN FULL VIEW OF THE CITY, THE [idju'a'ru( ?)]
[UNTRANSLATABLE WORD] FELL UPON THE ESCORT,
AND WHEN THE BATTLE WAS OVER, NEITHER THE SWORD NOR
HESYA WAS TO BE SEEN . . .
. . . WHEN THE WARRIORS OF SHR'E'A SAW THE SWORD [Ur'ta LeHssa]
OF THEIR CITY IN THE TALONS OF SHARNU THEY
REALIZED THEIR DOOM, AND OPENED THE GATES TO THE
INVADER, AND THE BLOOD OF THE DISHONORED FLOWED
THROUGH THE GUTTERS FOR MANY SUNS . . .
The clouds near the horizon made the light that passed through the windows a dirty-orange color. Jackie carefully placed the folio back on the high reading-desk, removing the talon-gloves from the holes in the pageturner. With no talons of her own, it was a necessary substitute, permitting her to manipulate the controls and read the manuscript. She pulled the gloves from one hand and then the other, setting them on the desk beside the ancient manuscript, and took up the stylus for her comp.
That's what we saw in Owen's Ordeal, she thought. We saw the servants of esGa'u coming into Shr'e'a under the truce banner.
Sharnu = Shrnu'u, she wrote on the pad. That seemed fairly clear. Shr'e'a would be Sharia'a—the Spine of Shar'tu was still called that, and corresponded to the descriptions in the folio. And the Sword of Shr'e'a had to be the gyaryu. She had seen it during Owen's Dsen'yen'ch'a—and
now she knew what happened next.
"Hesya," she said softly, aloud, to no one in particular. He was the esGa'uYe who had come into Shr'e'a, the one she recognized as a servant of esGa'u. Who the hell was Hesya?
And what in the world had happened to the legend in the intervening time? In the classical literature of the People, seLi'e'Yan didn't mention a great "Sword"; the warriors were forced to witness atrocity outside their walls. A young warrior, Dri'i, had roused them to anger and then they stood fast, for hatred of Despite. The army of esGa'u was commanded by Shrnu'u HeGa'u, and in the classical story he had no brother. On top of all that, the outcome of seLi'e'Yan was completely different: Sharia'a withstood Shrnu'u's attack. They won.
The version of the legend in front of her was completely different. There was no young warrior to rouse the anger of the warriors of the city: And they had held—and then given away—the Sword of Shr'e'a.
. . . a great weapon said to have been forged in the Morning of the World, and whose wielder would receive wisdom from all of the mighty warriors who had held it before . . .
It was the gyaryu. It had to be.
Jackie ran her hands through her hair, looking around the scriptorium. From across the room she saw Byar HeShri flying toward her. Stopping short enough to offer a brief, respectful wing-configuration to her, he settled on a perch opposite the stool that had been provided.
"You have finished your reading," Byar said, gesturing toward the scroll. "For the third time." She rubbed a reddish spot on her left hand where the talon-glove had pinched a bit. It was the only way for a human to read the older zor folios, which were rolled and unrolled by touch-sensitive controls accessible by inserting talons into a device attached to the reading-frame. "The missing passages and the unfamiliar words and wing-positions are a problem, but the story is clear. But, it's not the same outcome as in seLi'e'Yan we know—not at all."
Byar glanced at the scroll and then back to Jackie. His wings indicated curiosity. "But it is the same as what we witnessed during the Ordeal. The gyaryu appears, and si Dri'i does not. The Law of Similar Conjunction suggests that the new ability of se Owen represents the difference between the two disparate versions of the legend."
"So, Owen gets the anGa'riSsa talent and . . . the legend changes?"
"Essentially, yes."
"Except that the legend is even more different: Sure, Dri'i is missing; but the Army of Sunset itself is different. As for the Sword—it's handed over to the esGa'uYal. There's more to it than just adding in an angry warrior."
"Granted. There is more to this than a simple change." Byar's wings moved to a position that conveyed concern. "I am interested in knowing how you came to consult this particular passage."
"I found a reference to it in The Shthe'e Codex: the hiShthe'eYaTurr."
"'The Flight Over Mountains,'" Byar said. "What si S'reth once called 'The Flight to Nowhere.' S'reth had great regard for Loremaster Shthe'e HeChri, but he dismissed the Codex as a pile of artha-droppings, disorganized and contradictory."
"Well, it's certainly disorganized." Jackie touched a display control on the desk and a small holo appeared in the air between them. She adjusted the view and the holo melted to show a single page, heavily annotated with her own reference markers. "I found this entry using a fuzzy-logic search, starting where I think si S'reth may have left off." She jabbed a spot with her finger. "There are half a dozen obscure references having to do with earlier redactions of 'Standing Within the Circle,' dating back to the pre-Unification period. That would be well over eight thousand Standard years ago, older than any written human record still extant.
"It's clear that si S'reth would've made it to this point eventually, but I don't know what he would have found. If he'd been at the Dsen'yen'ch'a . . . Damn. There's no point in even thinking about that."
"No indeed," Byar said. He held his wings in a position of reverence to esLi. "May I suggest that you fly the path? Review what we know."
The expression "fly the path" chafed a bit, but Jackie ignored it; she knew what Byar had meant. "All right, let's assume that the esGa'uYal—our enemies, the folks that gave me the sword and are now seemingly trying to kill me to get it back—have some relationship with these two brothers, Sharnu and Hesya. We know that Sharnu is now called Shrnu'u HeGa'u. Who's Hesya in the current incarnation? The accepted version of seLi'e'Yan doesn't mention him . . . and does mention Dri'i, the young warrior who teaches the warriors the Shield of Hatred.
"The Law of Similar Conjunction would make Owen out to be the avatar of Dri'i, just as I'm supposed to be the avatar of Qu'u.
"From what I read, Shrnu'u is only the most prominent esGa'uYe. He has the Despite version of the gyaryu." Byar signaled his assent. "But there must be others in his host, other villains, demons, whatever."
"I believe that there is a complete list in the Hyne'e TaLssa," said Byar. "The author apparently went quite mad while compiling it, but there are several sixty-fours of esGa'uYal listed." He leaned forward slightly and touched the display control and then issued a verbal command. Another holo replaced Jackie's annotated one. "This book is post-Unification and is not often consulted, but it may provide us with an answer."
Jackie took the stylus and drew a link between her comp and the displayed holo and then scrawled the name Hesya in the Highspeech. "Search," she said.
The holo blurred for a moment and then focused in on a section of the page.
"Four matches at probability five-eighths or higher. First match," a soft zor-voice said. "Hesagu HeGa'u. Soldier of Despite. Mentioned three times in seLi'e'Yan; Servant of esGa'u; slain during the siege of Sharia'a."
Jackie looked at Byar, whose wings remained impassive. "Proceed," she said to the air.
"Second match: Hes Hsu. Demon of the Air. From the Ga'anth, mythological treatise." The holo mentioned a date only a few centuries old. "Based on the traditions of Nest HeSa'an. The research done for the Ga'anth used several eights of references to passages and compilations in Hyne'e TaLssa. Do you wish a summary of these references?"
"No. Proceed."
"Third match: HeHsye. Splinter nest from Nest HeChri." Byar's left wing elevated a centimeter at the mention of his nest. "All of its members were captured and sent to Ur'ta leHssa according to Loremaster Ka 'ash."
Jackie turned to Byar. "Mean anything to you?"
Byar nodded. "Ka'ash was widely read when Hyne'e TaLssa was first published. But his work is now largely discredited."
Jackie shrugged. "Proceed," she said to the holo.
"Fourth Match: Hesya HeGa'u. The One Who Weaves. Deceived the Legion of Golden Light during the War of Despite. He then betrayed his cousin Shrnu'u before the siege of Sharia'a. Mentioned in seLi'e'Yan four times"
Jackie leaned forward to examine the indicated passage. "Hesya HeGa'u . . . appeared among the Legion of esLi as a warrior-sage, but betrayed them at the Battle of Tha'era by providing a copy of their battle-plan to Shrnu'u HeGa'u—"
"Tha'era was the battle that destroyed the Legion," Byar said. "It led ultimately to the siege of Sharia'a in seLi'e'Yan. Of course." His wings moved to a posture of affirmation.
"Wait . . . Apparently this Hesya also betrayed Shrnu'u by leading him to believe that the inhabitants of Sharia'a could be defeated by an extended siege rather than a direct assault, when an attack might have taken the city. Let's see—When he was discovered to have acted against esGa'u, he was imprisoned in Ur'ta leHssa, but he escaped by . . ."
She let the sentence trail off and looked out the window at the setting sun. Byar leaned over and glanced at the page.
"He pierced the Icewall," Byar said. "Then esLi imprisoned him on the Plane of Sleep."
Jackie had a moment of recognition, remembering her mind-link with Ch'k'te on Cicero—and her words to the High Chamberlain just before her own Dsen'yen'ch'a.
Now it was Byar's turn to look away. "The Plane of Sleep," he repeated, almost as if to himself.
"Didn't you just—?"
"Of course," Byar said, making a gesture in the air with one talon, seemingly tracing something. "Of course: the Servant of esGa'u who attacked me on the Plane of Sleep. 'Relish your little victory . . it said to me. 'We will claim you in the end . . .'
"Clearly another servant of esGa'u was freed by our actions. At least one other. This one may be even more dangerous, as he can appear to be a friend, yet he has betrayed both sides in the past."
" 'Betrayed both—' " Stone, she thought. Hesya. He's not Shrnu'u at all: He's Hesya, "the One Who Weaves."
She looked down at the gyaryu hanging at her belt: Stone's gift, returning it to her from the Plain of Despite . . . from Center.
"Master Byar," she said, gripping the edge of the desk with her hands, "are you aware of the . . . inhabitants of the gyaryu?"
"This is not a subject I should discuss, se Jackie—"
"I need your advice, damn it," she interrupted, as his wings rose in a posture of deference and then dropped again. "There's a little bit of the hsi of each of the previous holders of the gyaryu—in the sword. I can talk to them, ask their advice.
"I have assumed that the oldest hsi in the sword belongs to Qu'u himself. But if every person who held the sword left some hsi behind, then Hesya is in the sword as well.
"Stone must be in the sword also," she said, perhaps to herself. "The person who would not explain to me why he was there, why he was letting me take the sword . . . Some part of his hsi is in here." She touched her hand to the hilt.
"Stone . . . or Hesya HeGa'u," she finished. Outside, the light seemed to fade, as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun.
Byar shivered, remembering another conversation not too long ago.
"And, perhaps, other esGa'uYal." She pulled her hand away from the hilt as if afraid it would burn her.
"se Jackie." Byar's wings moved to the Posture of Polite Approach. "I . . . do not know the inner secrets of the gyaryu, but it seems to me that if it contains the hsi of your predecessors . . . this represents a considerable force in the service of esLi." His wings altered to a position of reverence. "It would be difficult for a servant of esGa'u, no matter how strong, to overcome it."
The Dark Ascent Page 32