Silverthorn

by Raymond Feist

  “My title is Keeper of the Gates, Highness. I may admit any to the abbey, but no one with evil intent can cross the portals without my leave. Once upon the grounds of this abbey, those who sought your life became subject to my power. They took a risk attacking you so close to the abbey. It was a risk that proved deadly to their cause. But further conversation on this and other subjects must wait upon the Father Abbot.”

  Martin said, “If everyone else is at chapel, you’ll need some help disposing of those corpses. They have an irritating habit of coming back to life.”

  “I thank you for the offer, but I can manage. And they will remain dead. The magic employed to topple them cleansed them of the controlling evil. Now you must rest.”

  They left the stable and the monk led them to what appeared to be a barracks. Gardan said, “This place has a martial look to it, brother.”

  Entering a long room with a single row of cots, the monk said, “In ancient times this fortress was home to a robber baron. The Kingdom and Kesh lay far enough away for him to be a law unto himself, pillaging, raping, and robbing without fear of retribution. After some time he was turned out by the people of the surrounding towns, made bold by his tyranny. The lands below this escarpment were given over to farming, but so deep was their hatred of the baron that this keep stood abandoned. When a mendicant friar of our Order of Wanderers discovered this place, he sent word back to the temple in the city of Kesh. When we sought the use of this place as an abbey, the descendants of those who had turned out the baron had no objection. Today only those of us who serve here remember the history of this place. To those in the towns and villages along the Bay of Ships this has always been the Abbey of Ishap at Sarth.”

  Arutha said, “I assume this was once a barracks.”

  Dominic said, “Yes, Highness. We now use it as an infirmary and a place for occasional guests. Make yourselves comfortable, for I must be about my own tasks. The Father Abbot will see you shortly.”

  Dominic left and Jimmy fell onto one of the cots with an audible sigh. Martin inspected a small stove at one end of the room and found it lit, with the makings for tea next to it. He immediately set a pot to boil. Under a cloth he found bread, cheese, and fruit, which he passed around. Laurie sat examining his lute for possible travel damage and began tuning it. Gardan sat down opposite the Prince.

  Arutha sighed long and deeply. “I am on a ragged edge. I fear these monks will have no knowledge of this Silverthorn.” For an instant his eyes betrayed his anguish, then he again showed only an impassive expression.

  Martin cocked his head to one side as he thought aloud. “Tully seems to think they know a great deal.”

  Laurie put up his lute. “Whenever I’ve found myself close to magic, priestly or otherwise, there also I’ve found trouble.”

  Jimmy spoke to Laurie. “That Pug seemed a friendly enough fellow for a magician. I wanted to speak to him more, but…” He left unsaid the events that had prevented it. “There’s little about him that seems remarkable, but the Tsurani seem to fear him, and some of the court whisper about him.”

  “There is a saga begging to be sung,” answered Laurie. He told Jimmy of Pug’s captivity and rise among the Tsurani. “Those who practice arcane arts on Kelewan are a law unto themselves, and whatsoever they command is done without hesitation. There is nothing like them on this world. That is why the Tsurani in LaMut hold him in awe. Old habits die hard.”

  Jimmy said, “He gave up a great deal to return, then.”

  Laurie laughed. “That wasn’t entirely a matter of choice.”

  Jimmy said, “What’s Kelewan like?”

  Laurie spun a rich and colorful story of his adventures on that world, with the eye for detail that lay at the heart of his craft, as much as did good voice and playing skills. The others settled in, relaxing and drinking their tea while listening. They all knew the story of Laurie and Pug and their part in the Riftwar, but each time Laurie told the story it was again a riveting adventure, one with the great legends.

  When Laurie finished, Jimmy said, “It would be an adventure to go to Kelewan.”

  “That is not possible,” observed Gardan, “I’m glad to say.”

  Jimmy said, “If it was done once, why not again?”

  Martin said, “Arutha, you were with Pug when Kulgan read Macros’s letter explaining why he closed the rift.”

  Arutha said, “Rifts are wild things, spanning some impossible no-place between worlds, possibly across time as well. But something about them makes it impossible to know where they’re going to come out. When one is fashioned, then others seem to ‘follow’ it, coming out in the same general area. But that first one is the one you can’t control. That’s as much as I understand. You’d have to ask Kulgan or Pug for more details.”

  Gardan said, “Ask Pug. If you ask Kulgan, you’ll get a lecture.”

  “So Pug and Macros closed down the first one to end the war?” said Jimmy.

  “And more,” said Arutha.

  Jimmy looked around the room, sensing they all knew something he was not privy to. Laurie said, “According to Pug, there was in ancient times a vast evil power known to the Tsurani only as the Enemy. Macros said it would find its way to the two worlds if the rift was left open, drawn to it as steel to a lodestone. It was a being of awesome strength that had destroyed armies and humbled mighty magicians. Or at least that is what Pug explained.”

  Jimmy cocked his head to one side. “This Pug is that important a magician, then?”

  Laurie laughed. “To hear Kulgan tell it, Pug is the most powerful practicer of the magic arts there is since Macros’s death. And he’s cousin to the Duke and the Prince, and the King.”

  Jimmy’s eyes widened. “It’s true,” said Martin. “Our father adopted Pug into our family.”

  Martin said, “Jimmy, you speak of magicians as if you’ve never had dealings with one.”

  “I know better. There are a few spellcasters in Krondor, and they tend to be a questionable lot. There was once among the Mockers a thief known as the Grey Cat, for his stealth was unmatched. He was given to bold theft and filched some bauble from a magician who viewed the deed with considerable disfavor.”

  “What became of him?” asked Laurie.

  “He’s now the grey cat.”

  The four listeners sat quietly for a moment, then comprehension dawned and Gardan, Laurie, and Martin burst into laughter. Even Arutha smiled at the joke and shook his head in amusement.

  Conversation continued on, easy and relaxed, as the band of travelers felt secure for the first time since leaving Krondor.

  The bells sounded from the main building and a monk entered. Silently he motioned for them to come. Arutha said, “We’re to follow you?” The monk nodded. “To see the Abbot?” Again the monk nodded.

  Arutha was off his cot, all fatigue forgotten. He was the first out the door behind the monk.

  The Abbot’s chamber befitted one given to a life of spiritual contemplation. It was austere in every aspect. But what was surprising about it was the bookshelves upon the walls, dozens of volumes at every hand. The Abbot, Father John, seemed a kindly man of advancing years, slender and ascetic in appearance. His grey hair and beard showed in stark contrast to dark skin that was lined and wrinkled like carefully carved mahogany. Behind him stood two men, Brother Dominic and one Brother Anthony, a tiny stooped-shouldered fellow of indeterminate age, who constantly squinted at the Prince.

  The Abbot smiled, his eyes crinkly at the corners, and Arutha was suddenly put in mind of paintings of Old Father Winter, a mythical figure who gave sweets to children at the Midwinter’s Festival. In a deep, youthful voice the Abbot said, “Welcome to Ishap’s Abbey, Highness. How may we help you?”

  Arutha quickly outlined the history of the last few weeks.

  The Abbot’s smile vanished as Arutha’s story unfolded. When the Prince was finished, the Abbot said, “Highness, we are gravely troubled to hear of this necromancy at the palace. But as to the trage
dy that has befallen your Princess, how may we aid you?”

  Arutha found himself reluctant to speak, as if at the last his fear of there being no aid overwhelmed him. Sensing his brother’s reticence, Martin said, “A conspirator to the assassination attempt claims a moredhel gave him the poison used, one prepared with arcane skills. He called the substance Silverthorn.”

  The Abbot sat back, sympathy evident in his expression. “Brother Anthony?”

  The little man said, “Silverthorn? I’ll begin looking in the archives at once, father.” With a shuffling step, he quickly departed the Abbot’s chambers.

  Arutha and the others watched the bent figure leave the room. Arutha asked, “How long will it take?”

  The Abbot said, “That depends. Brother Anthony has a remarkable ability to pull facts seemingly from out of the air, remembering things read once in passing a decade before. That is why he has risen to the rank of head Archivist, our Keeper of Knowledge. But the search could take days.”

  Arutha clearly didn’t understand what the Abbot was speaking about, and the old priest said, “Brother Dominic, why don’t you show the Prince and his companions a little of what we do here at Sarth?” The Abbot rose and bowed slightly to the Prince as Dominic moved toward the door. “Then bring him to the base of the tower.” He added to Arutha, “I will meet with you shortly, Highness.”

  They followed the monk out into the main hall of the abbey. Dominic said, “This way.” He led them through a door, then down a flight of stairs to a landing from which four passages branched off. He took them past a series of doors. As they walked, he said, “This hill is unlike those around, as you must have noticed when you rode here. It is mostly solid rock. When the first monks came to Sarth, they discovered these tunnels and chambers underneath the keep.”

  “What are they?” asked Jimmy.

  They came to a door and Dominic produced a large ring of keys, which he used to open the heavy lock. The door swung open ponderously, and after they had stepped through, he closed it behind. “The original robber baron used these excavations as storage rooms, against siege, and to hoard booty. He must have grown lax in his defense for the villagers to have laid successful siege. There is enough room here for stores to last years. We have added to them until the entire hill is honeycombed with vaults and passages.”

  “To what end?” asked Arutha.

  Dominic indicated they should follow him through another door, this one unlocked. They entered a large vaulted chamber, with shelving along the walls and free-standing shelves in the center of the room. Each shelf was packed solid with books. Dominic crossed to one and took down a book. He handed it to Arutha.

  Arutha studied the old volume. It had faded gilt lettering burned into the binding. There was a faint resistance when Arutha carefully opened it, as if it had not been handled in years. On the first page he saw alien letters of an unknown language, painstakingly written in a stiff script. He lifted the book before his face and sniffed at it. There was a faint, pungent odor on the pages.

  As Arutha handed the book back, Dominic said, “Preservative. Every book here has been treated to prevent deterioration.” He gave the book to Laurie.

  The widely traveled singer said, “I don’t speak this tongue, but I think it Keshian, though it is unlike any scribing of the Empire’s I know.”

  Dominic smiled. “The book is from the south part of Great Kesh, near the border of the Keshian Confederacy. It is the diary of a slightly mad but otherwise insignificant noble from a minor dynasty, written in a language called Low Delkian. High Delkian, as best we can ascertain, was a secret language limited to priests of some obscure order.”

  “What is this place?” asked Jimmy.

  “We who serve Ishap at Sarth gather together books, tomes, manuals, scrolls, and parchments, even fragments. In our order there is a saying: ‘Those at Sarth serve the god Knowledge,’ which is not far from the truth. Wherever one of our order finds a scrap of writing, it or a copy is eventually sent here. In this chamber, and in every other chamber under the abbey, are shelves like these. All are filled, even to the point of being crowded from floor to ceiling, and new vaults are constantly being dug. From the top of the hill to the lowest level there are over a thousand chambers like this one. Each houses several hundred volumes or more. Some of the larger vaults hold several thousand. At last tally we were approaching a half-million works.”

  Arutha was stunned. His own library, inherited with the throne of Krondor, numbered less than a thousand. “How long have you been gathering these?”

  “Over three centuries. There are many of our order who do nothing but travel and buy any scrap they can find, or who pay to have copies made. Some are ancient, others are in languages unknown, and three are from another world, having been obtained from the Tsurani in LaMut. There are arcane works, auguries and manuals of power, hidden from the eyes of all but a few of the most highly placed in our order.” He looked about the room. “And with all this, there is still so much we don’t understand.”

  Gardan said, “How do you keep track of it all?”

  Dominic said, “We have brothers whose sole task is to catalog these works, all working under Brother Anthony’s direction. Guides are prepared and constantly updated. In the building above us and in another room deep below are shelves of nothing but guides. Should you need a work on a subject, you can find it in the guides. It will list the work by vault number—we are standing in vault seventeen—shelf number, and space number upon the shelf. We are attempting to cross-index each work by author, when known, and title as well as subject. The work goes slowly and will take all of another century.”

  Arutha was again overwhelmed by the sheer size of such an undertaking. “But against what ends do you store all these works?”

  Dominic said, “In the first, for the sake of knowledge itself. But there is a second cause, which I will leave for the Abbot to explain. Come, let us join him.”

  Jimmy was the last through the door, and he cast a rearward glance at the books in the room. He left with the feeling that he was somehow gaining a glimpse of worlds and ideas heretofore unimagined, and he regretted he would never fully understand most of what lay beneath the abbey. He felt somehow lessened for this realization. For the first time, Jimmy felt his world a small one, with a much larger yet to be discovered.

  —

  Arutha and his companions waited for the Abbot in a large chamber. Several torches threw flickering illumination upon the walls. Another door opened and the Abbot entered, followed by two men. Brother Dominic was the first through, but the other was unknown to Arutha. He was an old man, large and still erect in his bearing, who despite his robes seemed to resemble a soldier more than a monk, an impression heightened by a war hammer hanging from his belt. His grey-shot black hair had been left to grow to shoulder length but, like his beard, it was neatly trimmed. The Abbot said, “It is time for plain speaking.”

  Arutha said with a bitter edge, “That would be appreciated.”

  The unnamed monk broke into a broad grin. “You’ve your father’s gift for blunt speech, Arutha.”

  Arutha studied the man again, surprised by his tone. Then recognition struck. It had been more than ten years since he had seen this man. “Dulanic!”

  “No longer, Arutha. Now I’m simply Brother Micah, Defender of the Faith—which means I crack heads for Ishap now as I used to for your cousin Erland.” He patted the hammer at his waist.

  “We thought you dead.” Duke Dulanic, former Knight-Marshal of Krondor, had vanished when Guy du Bas-Tyra had assumed the viceroyalty over Krondor during the last year of the Riftwar.

  The man called Micah seemed surprised. “I thought everyone knew. With Guy on the throne of Krondor and Erland near death from coughing sickness, I feared civil war. I retired from office rather than face your father in the field or betray my King, two unthinkable choices. But I made my retirement no secret.”

  Arutha said, “With Lord Barry dead, it was assumed yo
u’d both fallen by Guy’s hand. No one knew what had become of you.”

  “Strange. Barry died of a seizure of the heart and I informed du Bas-Tyra of my intention to take holy vows. His man Radburn stood at his side when I gave my resignation.”

  Martin said, “That would explain it, then. With Jocko Radburn drowned off the Keshian coast and Guy banished from the Kingdom, who would have the truth to tell?”

  The Abbot spoke. “Brother Micah came to us a troubled man, called by some agency of Ishap to our service. We tested him and found him worthy, so that now his former life as a noble of the Kingdom is a thing of the past. But I asked him here because he is both a valued adviser and a man of military skills who may help us understand what forces move in the world these days.”

  “Well enough. Now, what business have we besides finding a cure to Anita’s injury?”

  “The understanding of that which brought her to injury, that which seeks to end your days, for a start,” answered Micah.

  Arutha looked slightly abashed. “Of course; forgive my preoccupation. I would welcome anything that made sense out of the madness my life has become over the last month.”

  The Abbot said, “Brother Dominic has shown you something of our works here. He may have mentioned that we count many auguries and other works by prophets in our collection. Some are as reliable as a child’s moods, which is to say not at all. But a few, a very few, are true works of those whom Ishap has given the gift of future seeing. In several of these volumes, among the most reliable we possess, a reference is made to a sign in the sky.

  “There is, we fear, a power now loose in the world. What it may be and how it may be combated are yet unknown to us. But this is certain: it is a fell power, and at the end either it shall be destroyed or it shall destroy us. That is inescapable.” Pointing upward, the Abbot said, “The tower above us has been converted to study the stars, planets, and moons, using clever devices built for us by some of the more talented artificers in the Kingdom and Kesh. With them we can chart the movements of all the bodies in the sky. We spoke of a sign. You may now see it. Come.”