Part 3 (1/2)
”But if you have time before it happens, why can't you just move everyone somewhere else?” the small woman, Soffann Dra, asked, her pretty brow creased in thought.
”That way it won't matter what happens to this world.”
”My dear young woman, there are uncounted millions of people living on this world,” the wizard answered, trying not to show how ridiculous the question was. ”There aren't wizards enough to move even a quarter of them, which means there would have to be those who were left behind. Would you want to be the one to decide who will live and who will die? Without knowing good from evil, kind from vicious, intelligent from r.e.t.a.r.ded, industrious from hanger-on? Would you take them at random, first come first served, encouraging them to trample each other in their desperation to get to safety? Would you have them first fight and kill each other, and then take only the survivors? The decision would be one many would find fascinating, but I'm not quite up to fascination of that sort.”
”Then the thing was done by an enemy of yours, rather than of this world's,” said Kadrim Harra, the red-haired boy who continued to sound so unboylike. ”As Zail T'Zannis has said, one who desired the destruction of a world would see to mat destruction with the utmost possi- ble speed. As the choice of speed was possible yet disre- garded, agonizing antic.i.p.ation must be the true reason for the act. To know of the coming destruction and yet be powerless to halt it, must truly cause unbearable pain for you.”
”No more unbearable than the rending of my soul,”
Graythor said, his face now expressionless, his gaze aimed inward, his hands curled in silent fury around the arms of the chair. ”Yes, the one who did this is an enemy of mine, one who knew how I would take it. Millions of people, knowing me responsible for the safety of the Tears, will die cursing my name with their last breath. Those who are able to breech the dimensions will do so, taking knowl- edge of my infamy with them and spreading it as far as there are ears to hear, eyes to read, fingers to sign, minds to merge. If that was simply the payment demanded for the survival of this world I would gladly make it, but mat simple an expiation will not be allowed me. I have no choice other man to die with those people whose death I caused, or live on in safety in another dimension, remem- bering what it was I left behind me. Death, of course, would be the far better choice, but there are those else- where who also depend on my survival for their own- Most likely I'll find that I've been given no other choice than to live on and remember.”
”Or to end the horror before it begins,” said the bronze- eyed man, Rikkan Addis, in the hardest voice I'd ever heard, his eyes glowing with fury. ”I don't need to know what sort of monster would kill a world full of people just to hurt a single individual; all 1 need to know is where that monster is so that I can find it. What do we have to do?”
Graythor looked around at the circle then, his face lightening with the beginnings of hope, and every face looking back at him reflected Rikkan Addis* statement of challenge. They were all pledging themselves to him with- out reservation, and from that pledge the strength flowed back into him as though it had never left. His hands slowly uncurled from the chair arms, and a smile of silent thanks creased his face as he nodded again.
”The first part of what you must do is simple,” he said, his voice now filled with relief and enthusiasm.
”You all must follow the trail of the balance stone across the dimensions, to the place where it was taken and is now being kept. The stone leaves a-a-spoor, I suppose you could call it, wherever it happens to pa.s.s, one that Targa Emmen Su Daylath won't have any trouble following. The rest of you will simply follow her.”
All eyes suddenly went to the only one of us who hadn't yet spoken, the big woman who sat next to me. Targa Emmen Su Daylath smiled a faint, unself-conscious smile di the attention, but still didn't say anything. She had dark, calm eyes in a face mat was pleasant rather man pretty, very long, light brown hair worn straight back and held high in a flowing tail by a ring of bone, a yellow leather s.h.i.+rt that was fringed all over, and a wide, yellow leather
breech that was held close to her body by the thin string of leather knotted around her waist. Her legs and feet were entirely bare, but she didn't seem to be self-conscious about that, either.
”Once you reach your destination, the best way in will either be found or devised by Kadrim Harra,” Graythor continued, now sending everyone's eyes to the redheaded boy. ”It will also be his job, with others of you, to guard against unexpected physical attack with weapons. Once inside, you will find many locks and closings which will require the talent of Soffann Dra to open; when she does, Zail T'Zannis will then be able to take the stone from its remaining safeguards. Laciel will take you all through the dimensions to reach your destination, as well as guard you against magic. Rikkan Addis will be in charge of the expedition, and will organize the efforts of the group as a whole. Tonight, after dinner, I'll give you what few details I've been able to gather, and you'll leave in the morning.
Are there any questions?”
With the promise of details to be given later, no one felt me urge to ask questions that might prove to be unneces- sary. Graythor nodded with satisfaction, then rose from his chair.
”I'm sure you could all use some time to rest and refresh yourselves before dinner,” he said, raising one hand. ”As each of you pa.s.ses me, I'll attach a thread which you may follow to the room a.s.signed to you. Just go through that doorway to the right, and up the stairs you'll find beyond it. If you need anything, ring for a servant.”
They filed past him one at a time to get their threads, then trailed out of the room in the same individual way they'd sat in it. I followed them with the Sight until they were all upstairs, then turned back to look at Graythor.
The wizard was sitting in his chair again, both hands over his face and eyes, and I couldn't keep quiet any longer.
”Now that they're gone, I want the truth,” I said, the words as harsh as I could make them. ”I want to know what happened, and why you can't go after the stone yourself.”
”You've grown since the last time I saw you, Laciel,”
he said with a sigh. dropping his hands to send a benign, light-eyed gaze toward me. ”You're much larger and pret- tier now, but not a millimeter more tolerant. I suppose tolerance comes with greater age than you've yet achieved.”
”Tolerance my-foot!” I snapped, running thin on pa- tience that hadn't been very thick to begin with, letting my fists find my hips. ”It isn't possible for anyone to have stolen mat balance stone, and even more impossible for anyone to keep you from following to take it back. You're the strongest wizard alive, Graythor, except for those who were Protectors before you, and they don't count. Protec- tors are made incapable by the Tears themselves of touch- ing the Tears to do harm! There is no one who could keep you from reclaiming the stone, so why haven't you gone yourself?”
”I can't tell you,” he said, and the way he looked directly at me showed a hint of the strength he was capable of. ”There are things you're not yet ready to leam, young lady, and that's one of them. Since 1 know without a single doubt that if/ go I'll fail, you six will have to do me job for me. Are you afraid you won't be able to succeed?”
”This is too important not to succeed,” I answered with me scorn I felt, folding my arms in annoyance. ”Unlike you, I'm convinced 1 could do it alone, which wouldn't be a bad idea. I have the sort of motivation you made sure to remove from the others. While I'll be picturing all the untalented people I know dying slowly in terror, they'll be picturing the same thing happening to nothing but a bunch of strangers.”
”You think I could have made them believe they were striving for their home dimensions?” he asked, those eyes still locked to me. ”That might have been possible for a short time, but what would have happened once they began talking to each other and exchanging information?
They all come from the same continent in their respective dimensions; what do you think would have happened when they found that the geography matched but nothing else did?
They're not stupid, Laciel, and it wouldn't have taken them long to discover that they all came from different places. Once that happened, they'd begin to wonder what else I'd lied to them about, and the expedition would start falling apart. Getting the stone back will take all of you- despite your own opinion to the contrary-and that means keeping you all together.”
”You're still hiding something, I can feel it,” 1 mut- tered, trying to match the look 1 was getting. ”And that goes beyond the questions you've flatly refused to answer.