Shadow and Light

by Peter Sartucci

  They scrambled to it. The falls were wide enough for both to crowd against it, licking the raspy rock as they filled their mouths with blessed clear water. Kirin scraped up handfuls of water and tried to rinse mud off his face and clothes. Terrell, cautious of the spider still spiked into the top of his head, put his hands in the flow and gently washed his face and hair between gulps. Then he ran his fingers over the wall beneath the water. *This is artificial!*

  Kirin’s fingers traced the rectangular stones under the water’s flow, slick with travertine and moss. *Yeah, somebody sure built it.*

  Terrell looked around, pointed to a steep flight of steps that Kirin had not noticed, carved in the rock wall beside the falls. *There must be a proper stream above.* The prince darted over to the ladder-like stair and climbed. Kirin followed.

  Together they topped a beveled stone dam to find a pond jammed wedge-like into the plateau. The upper end was choked with reeds but the water at their feet lay deep, clear, and inviting. Kirin dropped his pack, unbuckled the sword belt and dropped that too, then dove in buskins and all. After an instant’s hesitation Terrell stripped off his own weapons but waded in more cautiously, keeping his head and the spider above water.

  *Bless Mother Umana for this!* the prince’s mind said as he opened his clothes and washed himself fastidiously. *I’ve never gone so long without a bath, not even in winter.*

  Kirin wordlessly agreed. He didn’t quite dare disrobe, not in this strange place, but he loosened his drawstrings and scrubbed himself as best he could while still clothed. Then he dived deep. Waving fronds as long as his forearm carpeted the bottom and little fish darted about. A turtle perching on a rock ate one of them and then gave him an inscrutable look. Kirin surfaced and blew, splashing for the sheer joy of it.

  Tension from Terrell’s mind warned him. *We’re not alone.*

  Kirin turned himself in the water to see what Terrell stared at. A woman stood on the shore next to one of the trees that shaded the pond. She wore a gray goatwool mantle and hood over black hair and copper-colored skin. Her forehead was graced by a single joined black eyebrow and the gray eyes under it gazed on him with a look of great satisfaction. He remembered that face in a rural theater, on the family’s performance-trip more than a season ago.

  *The fortune teller!*

  *You know her?*

  *Not exactly. She told my fortune once.* A chain of memories flashed through Kirin’s mind and Terrell caught them. *She said I’d know loss and need guidance, and she was right about that.*

  Terrell snorted silently. *Easy prediction. Those are true of everybody. What’s she doing here?*

  *Duermus live in the desert, so this must be her home.*

  *I’m not sure I like the look on her face. What is she so pleased about?*

  *Father Haroun save me if I know.* Kirin swam toward her, found footing on a long ridge of rock that led up out of the water to her feet. He stood up waist deep in the water a few yards away from her and made a clumsy bow while water dripped from his hair.

  Before he could speak she said urgently, “You are both in danger, especially the yellow-haired prince. Come with me at once.”

  “Fenman’s troops?” Terrell asked as he waded up the sloping dam toward their weapons.

  Kirin waded towards her and asked, “Are more soldiers coming up this canyon?”

  “Not Gwythlos--” she barely got out when the brush crackled, and half a dozen copper-skinned men swarmed out onto the dam. Terrell dived for the sword that he’d left on the shore. Two Duermus got there before him and seized the weapons and Kirin’s pack. The rest grabbed Terrell and dragged him out of the water.

  Kirin tried to lunge toward him, stepped off the ridge into deep water and floundered. By the time he got his feet under him again Terrell recognized that the odds were hopeless. He allowed two men little older than him to pin his arms behind him.

  *Better stay there,* he warned Kirin. *No sense letting them catch you easily.*

  Kirin hesitated, waist deep in the pond again. A Duermu man in a sand-colored burnoose walked up to Terrell. Curved sword and dagger hung from his broad leather belt. He stood no taller than the rest, perhaps twenty years old, and displayed the same copper skin on hands and face. His hair and beard were black, and he moved with the prowl of a leopard.

  *A war leader,* Terrell thought. *He knows how to use those blades, I can see it in his walk. Be very careful of this one, Kirin.*

  The other Duermus gave way to the leader with swift tugs of their forelocks. He scowled at the prince, then at Kirin dripping in the pond, then stared at the fortune teller with unconcealed pleasure.

  “Jina.” The war-leader had a deep voice and the next words from his mouth were unrecognizable. Kirin caught only the word “prizes.”

  He saw chagrin flash across the woman’s face and she rattled something back, addressing the man as “Herrip.”

  Herrip grinned and replied with obvious glee. The grin faded as he turned his gaze on Kirin again and spoke in accented Silbari. “Come here, boy.”

  “The water’s fine,” Kirin drawled back, letting his hands drop down into it. “Why don’t you join me instead?”

  Herrip barked a laugh. “The God sent me visions of you. I Saw you swimming in the sea far away. Water is your element, not mine.” He made a gesture and a man drew a long knife and held the point at Terrell’s throat. “No, boy. You come here, or this yellow-haired one bleeds.”

  *Don’t do it!* Terrell thought sharply. *If he has us both, he can do anything he wants!*

  Kirin thought frantically for a moment, then smiled with a confidence that he didn’t feel. “Did your visions include this?”

  The Shadow that he’d sent through the water lunged up the dam’s slope and caught Herrip around the knees. The man gasped and before he exhaled again Kirin surged the Shadow farther, till the knife-man and the two holding Terrell were also snared. His men muttered in consternation as the Shadow rose and fell in little heaves like the panting of a great beast, barely under control.

  “I can kill all four of you with a thought,” Kirin told them loudly, overriding the shocked voices. He forced away the memories haunting the back of his mind and shouted, “If any of you harms Terrell, I’ll do it!”

  Herrip’s stern face melted into a weirdly happy smile. “You truly are the two that I Saw. Your deaths will bring the war that breaks Silbar and Empire, and sets us Duermus free. Against that, what do any of our lives matter?”

  Kirin’s gut twisted in terrified anticipation. If he drank four lives at once, would the madness that Ymera warned of overwhelm him? What if the men kept coming and he had to kill all of them? He gulped and prayed for strength. “I’m warning you!”

  “Herrip, stop!” Jina shouted, her hands raised in helpless protest.

  “Kill them both,” Herrip calmly ordered.

  CHAPTER 50: TERRELL

  “No,” said a penetrating voice.

  Terrell had been about to fling himself sideways in a bid to escape the knife. At the word he checked his motion.

  An old man in a dun robe had stepped out of the bushes. The elder addressed a stream of words to the pair holding Terrell. They dropped his arms as if they were hot coals. Terrell stayed ready to bolt and carefully watched the knife man. That one sheathed his weapon and bowed to the old man. Herrip’s mouth creased in a thin line and his face went blank. Terrell rubbed his wrists and tried to watch everybody at once.

  Kirin’s afraid that he’ll go mad if he kills too many men with his Shadow. But he was willing to risk that to save me, and I could tell that he meant it. I could feel him nerving himself up like a man going into a battle. Is that only because he needs me to save his father?

  The old man looked at Kirin and said in Silbari, “Strange mage, I ask you to free our men. They are guilty only of impetuous youth. They will not threaten your companion further.”

  Kirin hesitated.

  Terrell thought at him, *I think he means his words literally
, Kirin. Look at the young men’s postures, the respect they’re showing him in the way they stand. He has got to be some kind of authority among these people, maybe even their ruler.*

  *If you say so.* Kirin drew his Shadow back into the pond and waited tensely. Herrip’s eyes narrowed but he said nothing and did not move.

  Terrell walked up to the old man, nodded his head in a formal bow and said, “I am Prince Terrell DuRillin DiGwythlo, Governor of Silbar by grace of my father Emperor Brion and my mother Queen-Empress Shyrill. Whom do I have the honor of addressing?”

  The old man stared at the glittering spider on his head for a moment, and then looked at him with an annoyed expression. “Spare me your fine words, Prince. We know of you and your companion. The Elders have listened to the paths proposed by Herrip and Jina, and today we choose. You will come with me.”

  He pointed at Kirin, crooked a finger. “You also. Come.”

  *Highness?* Kirin thought at Terrell a little desperately. *Should we trust this old man?*

  Terrell thought furiously for a moment, but there were still a dozen men here ready to obey the elder’s words. *I think we must.*

  Kirin waded out of the water and through the waiting men, his Shadow fitfully wreathing him like a black mist. Terrell saw several of the men flinch away and make the Sign Against Evil like a devout Silbari. Kirin took up a position at his side, turned a little away to watch Herrip. *Highness, don’t let that one near you. We surely can’t trust him.*

  *Agreed.* Terrell looked at the men who had Kirin’s pack and their weapons belts, then thought better of demanding their return. He turned back to the old man and said, “Where are we going?”

  The old man had been staring at the spider again, frowning. He answered only, “You will see,” before he turned on his heel and led them through the chest-high bushes.

  Terrell discovered a winding trail, invisible from only a few feet away but plain while he walked on it. A dozen yards later they passed through an opening in a fence of woven sticks into a pasture spotted with black and white goats. The old one moved with surprising speed and Terrell had to stretch his stride to keep up.

  Kirin kept pace with him as easily as before, and silently asked, *Are we heading toward bigger trouble?*

  *Almost certainly,* Terrell replied wryly. *But also, opportunity. The old man clearly isn’t friendly, but he isn’t letting Herrip kill us either. If I can think of a way to appeal to him and these Elders, maybe he’ll show us a direct path to Sulmona. These folk must know this country better than either of us.*

  To himself he thought, I don’t like the way he stared at the spider. He clearly doesn’t know what it is, but doesn’t like it, perhaps for that very reason. I suspect telling him will diminish the strength of any arguments I make, so I’d best keep quiet about it and act like I always wear glittering head-jewelry. He hoped that Chisaad couldn’t manipulate him through it. Or see what I’m doing either; that would leave me nearly as much a prisoner as before!

  He glanced back over his shoulder at Jina, who looked both happy and distressed at this outcome. Beyond her, Herrip’s impassive face gave little away, but a small smile flickered across it as he caught Terrell’s gaze. Terrell turned back to watch the path while a little chill stole up his spine.

  Kirin, seeing the image in Terrell’s mind, remarked, *Herrip doesn’t look unhappy.*

  *Then he sees opportunity too.* Terrell sighed.

  *Dung.*

  The path led them through another pasture of goats and sheep, then up over a rocky rise. The sides and top bore widely spaced incense cedar trees a yard thick and fifty feet tall. Dried fronds crackled underfoot and the trees’ smoky scent mingled with animal dung and the sharpness of wild sage. Overhead wispy clouds scattered before the Two Suns’ relentless glare.

  Terrell looked around as they picked their way through the dry spacious forest and over a ridge of eroded rock. Five canyons came together here to make a star-shaped basin, perhaps half a mile across and ringed by towering cliffs and sculpted peaks of sandstone. *A hidden valley,* he remarked. *I don’t remember my teachers ever mentioning such a place.*

  *I thought the Duermus were just goat herders.* Kirin waved his arms to either side as they descended again with Jina behind them. *But look ahead. I didn’t know they had anything like this!*

  The route took them between irrigated fields watered by little stone channels. A maze of such covered the heart of the valley. They passed fruit trees dripping yellowed autumn leaves and being gleaned by women in robes the color of camels. The women wore blue mantles to shield themselves from the hot sun. Their copper-skinned arms never stopped moving even as they gossiped in musical voices. Some of the older women pointed at the two of them and made warding signs against evil. Hushed words were exchanged, and frightened glances.

  Kirin flinched at that and Terrell caught the edge of a bad memory flashing through the acrobat’s mind. *Damnit, Highness, they’ve seen people like us before, and not in a happy way.*

  Terrell nodded. *At a guess, they remember my blond hair and your pointed ears on Imperial troops, probably after the Battle of Black Pass and before Mother and Father’s marriage ended the war. There was plenty of fighting and looting here east of the Amm, and slave taking too. If those are the only Imperials these folk ever saw, then little wonder they fear us.*

  Kirin hunched a little and his hand groped for the belt knife he didn’t have. *That’s not good. They’re afraid of losing what little they’ve got, and frightened people are halfway ready to kill.*

  *Unfortunately true,* agreed Terrell, then he added: *Seeing this fertile place makes me wonder what other secrets they have.*

  *And how they’re going to feel about us learning them,* Kirin answered.

  Terrell carefully did not look back at the armed young men following them.

  The old man led them into a narrow grove along a canyon floor, willow and other trees planted and coppiced to win as much lumber as possible from the miniature forest.

  Ah, Terrell thought. They grow the cedars for big logs, and these for the small uses.

  The air cooled in the dimness and the old road reappeared. It had been walled up several feet above the channel, where a trickling stream wandered between banks glistening with fresh mud. Drops of water trembled on every leaf tip.

  *This is bizarre. It rained here,* Terrell thought wonderingly to Kirin. He reached up to wet his hand by brushing water from the leaves. *But not back there where the flood hit us!*

  Kirin shrugged. *That’s how rain is in Silbar. Sometimes you’re under it, sometimes it passes you by—but that doesn’t mean you’ll be either dry or safe.*

  *I never thought of a rainstorm being like a passing army,* Terrell answered thoughtfully.

  *Better,* Kirin averred. *Rain brings life. Armies bring death.*

  *Or,* Terrell answered him archly, *they stop enemy armies from bringing death to us.*

  Kirin didn’t answer the jibe, but Terrell sensed his mind working.

  He’s intelligent, the prince thought. But poorly educated and saddled with the prejudices of his class. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised. At least he was clever enough to find and rescue me.

  Trees vanished as the canyon tightened until the walled channel and the raised road twisted along between sheer cliffs. The pavement, now barely wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side, bent sharply with the stream. Terrell pointed up at a little stone building perched thirty feet up atop a cliff across the channel.

  *Archer’s redoubt. From there they can easily pour arrows and spears down on this road. Anybody here shooting back has a much harder shot. And look above us—another one, with openings to drop rocks on us.*

  *So, whatever’s ahead is well protected?* Kirin asked him.

  *Very well protected. I don’t see any way to get at those redoubts from down here. There must be tunnels, or perhaps paths we can’t see across the slopes above us. It would be expensive to conquer this approach, though wi
th enough men and engineering it could be done.*

  *Let’s not be thinking about attacking people who outnumber us, please?* Kirin sent back a little desperately, reminding him that they had no weapons. More men and women had joined the procession, over fifty people walked behind them now. *I don’t think I can kill them all and survive.*

  The two soldiers rose in Kirin’s memory and Terrell winced at his pain. *I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to torment you with an impossible task. I’m wondering why the old man shows us all this. Is it to impress me with their strength, as a negotiating position? While we’re disarmed and surrounded.* He shook his head in frustration. *This is a painfully weak hand to play.*

  The canyon abruptly pinched down until they could stretch out their arms and touch both walls at once. The road became a series of stone slabs laid above the stream, like the treads of a giant staircase. Gaps between the treads were more than wide enough to catch a careless foot. The water gurgled hollowly beneath them. The sheer walls folded back on themselves and the road climbed steeply. A quarter-mile after leaving the hidden farmland, they passed through a tall arched gate.

  Terrell noted the stone slabs ready to be dropped across the passage, and the murder holes in the ceiling overhead. Several men on the parapet gazed down at him sternly. Do they think I’m the vanguard of an attacking army? But the old man said they know about us. Probably they had watchers tracking us as we approached. They certainly know how helpless we are right now, unless Kirin uses his Shadow against them. But that would leave him carrying their memories too. How many can he carry before he goes mad?

  He thought again of the horrifyingly vivid memories Kirin had already shown him, and his gut clenched. A madman with Kirin’s powers could be an unprecedented horror.

  I must find some other way out of this. But the more they let us see, the less willing they’ll be to let us go. Father Haroun, lend me your wisdom!

  On the gate’s far side the canyon opened out again. It took Terrell a moment to make sense of what he saw. Elaborate doorways, ornamented windows, and monumental carvings in the sandstone walls. Tall second- and third-floor windows wider than a grown man’s reach. Women and children staring down at him.