Part 28 (1/2)
”Yes. And before I go, I will either see the balance restored, or see an ending! You and your precious sisters served my purposes by finding the lost pieces of the Sceptre. Powerful as I am, I was unable to do that. The talismans had been concealed by the sin-dona, so that no human would ever again use them as tools of aggression. When the Flower's magic led you to them, I was quite surprised. I had intended for Orogastus to use the Cynosure of the Star Guild to hunt the talismans down. Instead, I had to use the Cynosure to save him from you.”
”We only defended ourselves against his evil magic-”
”Enough of this nattering! Why should I justify myself to a young upstart? You and your sisters are as cowardly as the original College of Archimagi. Their solution to the first world imbalance was to command the people to flee into the outer firmament! Since you are also afraid to use the Sceptre, you are irrelevant. Only Orogastus matters now.”
”My sisters and I did not fully understand the nature of our destiny nor that of the talismans. Given time, we might well have seen that the Sceptre is the world's only hope, and found a way to use it safely.”
”Time!” barked the old man contemptuously. ”There is no time! Orogastus now has the Burning Eye and the Three-Headed Monster. He must be given the third piece of the Sceptre at once-and he must use it. The earthquakes that herald the end have already begun. Soon the continental crust will fracture in a thousand places. Newborn volcanoes will belch forth their dust, darkening the sun and poisoning the frozen sea for all time. Only the Sempiternal Ice will endure!”
Having made this awful p.r.o.nouncement, he faltered, seeming to be overcome with a profound weariness. He waved one gnarled hand feebly, and two Sentinels of the Mortal Dictum appeared from the viaduct inside the grotto. The living statues with their crown-helms and belts of s.h.i.+ning blue and green scales stood side by side, serene and deadly, with golden skulls tucked beneath their left arms.
”Haramis,” Denby whispered, ”give me the Three-Winged Circle. Command it to rest harmlessly in my hands and I will set you free at once, so that you may rescue your sisters Anige! and Kadiya. Refuse me and they will both meet an atrocious death.”
She rose again to her feet, touching the trillium-amber of her talisman, which hung on its chain at her neck. ”No. I think you are bluffing.”
”Am I? See for yourself.”
He stepped up to the world globe and touched it. The geographical features vanished and the globe became a great scry-sphere filled with pearly vapor. The mist congealed into images, and Haramis saw a dismal chamber containing many instruments of torture. Chained to one wall and sitting in a pile of straw was Kadiya, her face blank with hopelessness. She was watching as a squad of laughing guards headed by a Star Man dragged in four unconscious prisoners. One was a redheaded individual unknown to Haramis, another was King Ledavardis of Raktum, the third was Prince Tolivar, and the last was Anigel herself, whose dirty garments were half torn from her body. The villain wearing the Star dropped the Queen roughly upon the straw and began fastening rusty manacles to her wrists.
Haramis cried out in horror, and the vision within the globe was instantly extinguished.
”They are in Sobrania,” Denby said without emotion, ”captives of the new Empress, Naelore, who seized the throne of that country after personally decapitating her brother Denombo. You should know that tomorrow morning your sisters and their companions will be tortured to death... unless Orogastus has your talisman in hand by sunrise.”
”He-he would never do such a thing!” Haramis a.s.serted. ”Not even for the Three-Winged Circle.”
”Perhaps not,” the Archimage of the Firmament conceded. ”But I a.s.sure you that the lovely Naelore will do so with enthusiasm, now that a mysterious magical voice has planted the notion in her mind. The Empress is most vexed because Oro-gastus neither attended her coronation nor otherwise a.s.sisted in the consolidation of her power following the coup. Instead, he closeted himself in a room of the imperial palace with the two talismans. His purpose is to refamiliarize himself with their operation... so that he may find you.”
”Me?”
”You.”
”To-to compel me to surrender my talisman to him?”
”Not even that. The besotted imbecile would merely bespeak you sweetly, to continue his futile attempts to convert you to his point of view through what he thinks of as logic. And love.” Denby gave a snort of derision. ”Faugh-he is a disappointment! A sentimental fool who must be goaded back onto the correct path of action. The Empress Naelore will see to it-with my help.”
”I-I don't understand.”
The old man began to laugh uncontrollably, and only when his mirth trailed away into a coughing spasm did he regain control of himself. ”Oh, it's such a delicious irony. Naelore has an unrequited pa.s.sion for Orogastus, just as he has for you, my dear! The Empress has already presented her beloved sorcerer with Kadiya's talisman. Poor woman-she was so crestfallen at his aloof response. She thinks now that if she were able to give him your talisman as well, Orogastus would be more grateful. Especially if such grat.i.tude were a condition of her bestowing the gift... as the mysterious voice in her ear suggests.”
”You vile manipulator!” Haramis cried out in loathing. ”Must you treat everyone like a game-piece?”
”Evidently, yes. It's very tedious.” He held out his brown hand. ”'The Circle. Give it to me now, or take responsibility for the final conquest of the Ice.”
”You arrogant bully!” she cried. ”I don't believe that Orogastus is the world's only hope-and I think that you yourself also have doubts. You are so proud and so consumed with guilt that you refuse to give consideration to any solution but your own!”
”Give me the Circle,” he repeated, ”or I will command the sentinels to take it from you. As you well know, they are able to kill.”
”You would violate your Archimage's oath?” she asked him steadily, already knowing the answer.
He said, ”Don't be silly. I would do whatever is needful.”
Abruptly, Haramis rushed at the old man with arms stiffly outstretched, giving him a sharp push that sent him staggering back into the arms of the sentinels, squeaking with surprise. Before he could act to stop her, she darted into the grotto's interior and said, ”Viaduct system, activate!” She stepped through the black circle and disappeared.
”You shall not defy me!” Denby screamed. ”Not like she did!” He limped to the viaduct and entered it, calling out to the two sindona to follow.
He had programmed this magical portal to open into his own study in the Dark Man's Moon. When he emerged he saw Haramis striding toward a round door beside the big observation window. It was the same one he had bade her beware of when they first met, six days earlier. He shouted, ”Stop!”
”My trillium-amber will open any lock,” she said, turning to face him. ”Even this one.” She lifted the wand, and the golden droplet nestled amidst the wings glowed in response.
”Don't!” he wailed, standing frozen between the two sentinels. ”That hatch is a relic of the Days of Vanis.h.i.+ng and opens now into the airless void between the Moons. We will both die if you open it, and the talisman will be lost forever!”
”Then so be it,” Haramis said. ”At least your diabolical game will end. Let our world meet whatever fate that the Triune intends-not one that you dictate.”
”Stop her!” Denby shrilled to the sentinels.
Before Haramis could command the door to open, the right arms of the sindona whipped up, their fingers pointing directly at her. She saw two beams of near-invisible light lance out, stop a scant handspan away, and reflect back as her trillium-amber flared. A stunning explosion rocked the room. Blinded and coughing in a sudden cloud of dust, she fell against the closed hatch, clapping her hands to her face in an instinctive gesture of protection. She expected instant death; the sentinels should have blasted her body to ashes, leaving only her seared cranium intact. But instead she heard a great clatter, as though a devastating hailstorm a.s.saulted the room. Finally there was silence, broken only by a faint bubbling moan.
Lowering her hands, she saw through the dust that the study was in ruins, except for a small area immediately surrounding her. The leather chairs had been shredded, the desk and table and sideboard reduced to kindling, the bookshelves toppled and smashed, the ancient scientific instruments battered into shapeless, twisted metal. On the floor were deep piles of sharp ivory-colored fragments, mingled with colored bits of blue and green mosaic. A single undamaged golden skull had rolled to her feet.
He lay half-buried in the rubble, bleeding from a hundred wounds. Haramis went to him and knelt, lifting his head. There were no recognizable features within the mask of dusty gore save for his mouth.
”I will call a consoler,” she began, ”one of the sindona healers-”
”Too late.” The words were barely discernible. ”The Black Trillium... I might have known... older than the College, older than the Star... Three Petals to wield and the Sky Archimage to guide, if you wish it, Haramis... love is permissible, devotion is not... I only wanted to save it... the poor world.”
”I know.” She cradled him in her arms. The droplet of amber was dazzling bright. ”Tell me how I may return.”
”Nerenyi's... viaduct.” The two words were forced out with his last breath. Then Denby Varcour, last hero of the Vanished Ones and Archimage of the Firmament, pa.s.sed safely beyond.
She summoned one of the sindona consolers to effect her own healing from the ordeal of the fasting. It was necessarily incomplete, for what she most needed was restful sleep; but afterward she was able to eat and drink and don her white tunic and trousers and her cloak of office in preparation for departure. When she left her apartment, she was astonished to find a throng of other living statues waiting in the lobby outside. There were seventeen servers, twelve bearers, five messengers, another consoler, and twenty-two sentinels.
”These servants are ready,” said the consoler who had attended her, ”to obey you without question now that the Archimage of the Firmament is no more.”
”Will you show to me the operation of the viaduct transport system,” Haramis asked, ”so that I may choose my destination upon entering?”
One of the messenger sindona stepped forward. ”I can do that readily, Archimage, provided that you use a viaduct capable of being programmed. Some systems have a fixed routing. It will require some twenty hours of study for you to learn the programming process.”
”So long?” Haramis exclaimed in dismay. ”But I must rescue my poor sisters and the others before the sun rises in the land of Sobrania!”
”The viaduct within the chamber of Nerenyi Daral is one of those that is fixed,” the messenger said. ”It will transport you to the place where you wish to go if you simply step into it.
Furthermore, if you take me with you when you travel, I will be able to reprogram other viaducts according to your commands.”
”Thanks be to the Flower!” She gave a great sigh of relief and thought hard for a moment. Then she said, ”All of you save this one messenger wait here until I order you to attend me.” The gently smiling heads nodded in compliance. ”You,” Haramis said to the chosen sindona, ”lead me at once to the viaduct of Nerenyi Daral.”