Part 7 (1/2)

Auris shrieked.

And Liefas skin crawled as he understood at last. Penn had not lied. But she had not told the whole truth, either. And whatever the Piper claimed, Penn knew that this was the same as lying.

Auris and his people were swaying, backing towards the statue as though for protection. aFoulness is in your mouth!a Auris howled at Jasmine. aYour mind is crude, your heart is mean and shrivelled. You are a savage, whose eyes are not fit to see the beauty of Pirra!a aJasmine, do not answer! Let him be!a Lief cried urgently. aJasmine, the raft-dwellers knew this would happen. They are using usa”to break the illusion and destroy the dome! The dome depends on belief! Doubt cracks it. Doubt will destroy it!a But Jasmine was not listening to him. She was moving after Auris, shouting at him, beside herself with anger. aI am not a savage, and this is not Pirra!a she shrieked. aYou pretend not to know that, but you do, you do! Outside this pretty dream of yours, there are monsters crawling and breeding in filth! There are caverns, and a great sea, and thousands of people who live in darkness because youa”a Thunder rolled and crashed above them.

aYou have been sent by the unbelievers!a Auris screeched, his bulging eyes dark with terror. aYou are spies for all that is wicked and faithless! You have come to destroy me!a And with that final word, the surging, fading crowd around him simply vanished, the flickering colours and shapes draining away into the gra.s.s like the phantoms they were.

Auris screameda”a scream of pure anguish that chilled Liefas blood.

aWhat has happened?a Barda roared over the cracking of the thunder. aThe people! Where have they gone?a aThey never were,a Lief shouted back, his stomach churning with horror. aThey a were part of the illusion. He is alone here. Who knows how long a”a aOne by one the last of them failed me and died,a cried Auris. aBut I kept the faith! Alone I kept Pirra alive, harnessing the magic of thousands to keep its beauty perfect. Then you came. Spies and traitors! Saying what must never be said, speaking of things that must never be admitteda”a There was a flash of dazzling light and an ear-splitting crash. A jagged black crack opened in the sky, zig-zagging down to the trembling horizon like a bolt of lightning.

Auris shrieked and fell to the ground at the base of the statue. Desperately he stretched out his arms to it, his bony fingers clawing the air.

The split groaned and widened as the magic trapped for so long within the dome began escaping with rus.h.i.+ng fury. Brilliant rainbow light could be seen through the gap as the cavern walls outside exploded into life, and colours dimmed for centuries gleamed.

Lief, Barda and Jasmine threw themselves to the ground, gripping the earth desperately as the force howled around them, tearing at the rags of trees, the faded tatters of flowers, gra.s.s, distant purple hills a Then, suddenly, there was utter silence. But it was not the peaceful or exhausted silence of an ending. It was heavy and tense, as though everything was holding its breath. Waiting a Cautiously, his skin p.r.i.c.kling, Lief raised his head. The vision of Pirra had been swept away. Only the huge gla.s.s statue remained, rising into thick, still air which seemed to have been drained of colour. Auris lay face down at the statueas base, the tips of his fingers just touching the knife-like folds of the robe where they met the ground.

Everything was bathed in a weird half-light. The hills on the horizon had disappeared. Great branching clumps of fungus, tall and thick as ancient trees, hunched where trees once stood. Tiny ferns and mosses covered the clay and cl.u.s.tered along the banks of a deep and silent stream.

In the distance, the jagged tear in the fabric of the dome was now a gaping wound. At the top, it shone with rainbow light. But lower down it was deepest black.

That is strange, Lief thought slowly.

aLief!a Startled, Lief turned to see Barda scrambling to his feet and backing away to stand with his back to the nearest clump of fungus. Bardaas eyes were fixed on the tear in the dome. Jasmine, too, was jumping up, reaching for her dagger.

aWhata”?a Lief began. Then he saw their faces change, and heard, behind him, a distant scratching, tearing sound.

He spun around. And realised why no light had been visible through the lower part of the hole in the dome. Something had been pressing against it. Something huge and black that was now ripping its way through the gap, leg by spiny leg.

Arach!.

16 - Terror.

With a low growl, the Arach forced itself fully through the gap in the dome. It rose on its back legs, huge, dwarfing the towering clumps of fungus that dotted the horizon.

It lurched forward abruptly, and to his horror Lief saw that another Arach was pus.h.i.+ng through the gap behind it. Rainbows shone briefly through a tangle of black legs and a bloated body. Then the second Arach was through the hole, which was quickly blocked by a third.

aThey are escaping from the light!a exclaimed Jasmine.

Of course! Lief thought. The Arach came from caves. They live and breed in dimness. They cannot bear bright light. Now that the caverns are lit by magic once more, the dome is the only place left for them to hide.

For the dome had not been brightened by the rainbow brilliance that shone behind the tear in its fabric.

It was as though the half-light that hung above the island stifled the brighter light, and prevented it from entering.

Five Arach now loomed on the horizon. And more were coming. The first arrivals had begun moving forward. Their ma.s.sive bodies swaying on their long, spiny legs, they were feeling their way, moving awkwardly on the unfamiliar, solid ground.

aThey are coming this way,a Jasmine exclaimed. aPerhaps the statue attracts them. Or perhaps they can smell prey.a aThat is not a pleasant thought,a said Barda grimly. He looked thoughtfully at his sword. Large and heavy as it was, it seemed as small as a needle compared to the approaching beasts.

aWe cannot fight them, Barda,a Lief muttered. aAny more than we could fight the Sand Beasts in the s.h.i.+fting Sands, or the Glus in the Maze of the Beast. We would not last a moment!a aWhat else are we to do but stand and fight?a Jasmine hissed furiously. aYou have seen them run, Lief. They would catch us in an instant if we tried to flee! Are we just to lie down and wait for them to eat us?a aWe must hide,a said Lief. aThe light is poor. We must hide and hope they pa.s.s us by so that we can creep away.a aHide?a Jasmine exclaimed, looking around at the low ferns, the spa.r.s.e clumps of fungus. aThere is nowhere to hide!a Lief pulled off his cloak. aThere is,a he said. aJust as there was, not long ago, in the River Broad when an Ak-Baba was overhead. Just as there was in the s.h.i.+fting Sands when Grey Guards were approaching. Have you forgotten so soon?a Jasmineas green eyes flashed. aI have forgotten nothing,a she said abruptly. aI thought you had, however.a Lief stared at her, hurt and confused. He could not understand her meaning.

Barda cleared his throat. aIf we are to hide, we should do so at once,a he said. aThe creatures are moving slowly, but their strides are huge. They will be upon us very soon. What of Auris?a Lief tore his eyes away from Jasmineas and glanced over to where Auris lay beside the statue. He thrust the cloak into Bardaas hands. aYou and Jasmine take cover,a he said. aIf he still lives, I will fetch him.a aKeep low! Take care!a Jasmine called softly after him as he began to run.

Obediently, Lief lowered his head. At least she cares whether I live or die, he thought. But why did she say that, about my forgetting our quest for the Belt? How could I ever forget?

Auris was rigidly still, and his eyes were closed. But as Lief drew near enough to the statue to feel its strange, radiating warmth on his skin, he realised that the last of the dome-dwellers was not dead, or even unconscious.

Auris was chanting under his breatha”so softly and rapidly that Lief could not catch the words.

aAuris,a Lief urged, touching his arm. aAurisa”come with me. There is danger here.a Auris screwed his eyes more tightly shut, but made no other sign that he had heard. He did not lift his head, or move his fingers from the hem of the statueas robe. Did not stop, for a moment, his frenzied whispering.

Lief glanced nervously at the approaching Arach. The creatures were closer now. There were at least ten of them, crawling in a wedge-shaped pack with the first, and largest, in the lead.

aAuris!a he said sharply. He tried to pull the Piper away from the statue, but the thin fingers immediately clutched at the razor-sharp gla.s.s and gripped it tightly. Blood ran in streams into the ground, but still the whispering voice did not pause.

Lief bent closer, straining to hear.

aThespellmustholdthespellmustholdthespell aa One phrase, endlessly repeated.

aLief!a Barda and Jasmine were beckoning urgently from behind the fungus where they had taken cover. Lief could hardly see them. As always, his cloak had taken on the colour of its surroundings. It was disguising them perfectly.

He turned and was shocked to see how close the Arach were, how far they had crawled in just a few moments. They had quickly become used to the solid earth under their feet. They were moving steadily, confidently.

They still had not seen him. But any moment a Desperately, hissing warnings and commands, Lief tried again to drag Auris free. But the Piperas bleeding fingers gripped the warm gla.s.s like steel bands, and his babbling chant did not cease.

It was no use. In despair, Lief left him and crawled to where Jasmine and Barda crouched anxiously waiting.

aHe will not move,a he said, creeping under the cover of the cloak with them.

aIt is his choice,a Jasmine answered calmly. aPerhaps he thinks the magic of the statue will offer more protection than a hiding place.a Lief shook his head. He had a lump in his throat which made it hard to speak. aI do not think so,a he said. aI think he is using the last of his power, and the power of the Pipe, to try to hold onto all that remains of his world.a He had a sour, burning taste in his moutha”the taste of defeat, anger and guilt. He thought of Penn and the Piper. Were they still watching from their boat beyond the seaweed band? Or were they already hastening back to the rafts, delirious with joy because they had regained for their people the light and magic so long denied them?

aFor all the Piper of the rafts knew, there were thousands of people inside the dome,a he muttered, his eyes on the approaching Arach. aThousands, whose lives would have been destroyed by what he did. By what we did, in ignorance.a aHe was fighting for the lives of his own people,a said Barda in a low voice. aLike any good commander, he seized a chance for victory when it came.a Lief thought of the Piperas glowing eyes as he spoke to Penn about the visitors.

They could be our salvation.

aAnd like any good commander,a Barda went on, even more quietly, ahe knew that sacrifices would have to be made in the cause. Unfortunately, we seem to be the sacrifices in this case. The beasts are not going to pa.s.s us by.a The Arach were almost upon them. They had slowed as they neared the statue, and now they had stopped completely.

aIt is the warmth,a breathed Jasmine. aThey stayed close beside the dome not just because of the food, but because it was warm. They like the statue for the same reason. They will probably try to nest around it.a Lief felt sick. Was it so? Were they condemned to crouch here, with no chance of escape, helplessly watching the slaughter of Auris? Knowing that the second part of the Pirran Pipe was lost forever because of something they themselves had done?

He watched with horrified fascination as the largest of the Arach moved closer to Aurisas motionless body.

The creature was gigantic. Monstrous. Its eyes bulged from its glossy black sh.e.l.l, gleaming red. Its fangs slowly opened and closed, dripping venom.

Its two front legs reached out delicately, took Auris in their grip, and tugged. Aurisas hands tightened on the gla.s.s. He did not stir.