Part 50 (1/2)
And Celestine suddenly remembered the words he had spoken to Galizur in the Faie's dream.
”Take me. But spare her. She didn't ask to be born my child.”
After an eternity apart, father and daughter had at last been reunited.
Buffeted by a blast of a cold, sere wind, Celestine struggled forward, one hand raised to protect her face from the swirling, stinging dust.
”What is this terrible place?” she cried, struggling to make herself heard above the howling of the wind.
”This is the Rift between the worlds,” said the Faie. said the Faie. ”And all this chaos has come about because I have been absent too long. I kept the balance between the Realm of Shadows and the Forest of the Emerald Moon but, since I left, the darkness has leaked in and the balance has broken down. This is the reason I have to leave you, Celestine. ”And all this chaos has come about because I have been absent too long. I kept the balance between the Realm of Shadows and the Forest of the Emerald Moon but, since I left, the darkness has leaked in and the balance has broken down. This is the reason I have to leave you, Celestine.”
As the wind died down and the clouds of grit settled, Celestine saw a man's body lying in the gloom in front of them.
”Who is that?” she cried, coming to a halt.
”A young magus who gave his life essence to help Prince Nagazdiel.” The voice came from the Drakhaoul's body, yet Celestine heard from the pa.s.sionate tone that it belonged to the Drakhaoul's mortal host.
”Who are are you?” She turned to confront him. you?” She turned to confront him.
With a convulsive s.h.i.+ver, Nagazdiel's Drakhaoul form separated itself from its host and reappeared, towering over Celestine. His host dropped to his knees by the body, head lowered. She saw that he was clothed only in his loose, waist-length hair-brown, save for a silver-white streak over his temples.
”Forgive me appearing like this before you, Celestine.” He spoke so familiarly to her that she almost forgot her surprise at his drastic transformation. ”Lady Azilis-I beg you-please restore this young magus.” He slowly raised his head and Celestine saw with shock his ravaged face, a long scar running from brow to cheek, where his left eye had been.
”R-Rieuk Mordiern?” she said in sudden recognition.
”I know you must hate me for the wrongs I did you,” he said. ”But this boy, Oranir, is innocent of any crimes against you. He doesn't deserve to die.” And gently he slipped his arms around the young man's dust-covered body, raising it in his arms.
”I made him a promise, Azilis,” said Nagazdiel. said Nagazdiel.
”Celestine?” The Faie was asking her permission. The Faie was asking her permission.
Celestine bowed her head a moment, torn, remembering the bitter grief he had caused her. But he had braved the Inquisition's fires to save her. ”You came to my rescue, Rieuk,” she said at last. ”How can I refuse?”
She knelt beside him and placed her hands on the young magus's forehead and breast. Closing her eyes, she felt the Faie's energy flowing through her in a clear, pure stream. And, to her delight, she saw the dark-lashed lids begin to flicker open and eyes that were black, yet streaked with a touch of flame, stared up into hers.
”Lady Azilis?” he whispered in a dust-choked voice.
”Ran!” Rieuk said brokenly.
”Rieuk?” Oranir tried to lift one hand to touch his face; Rieuk caught the hand in his own, lacing his fingers through Oranir's. The wind began to gust again. ”But you... you died in the Rift. Is this... the Realm of Shadows?”
When Jagu had been serving his term of duty at Ondhessar, he had heard the legends of the Towers of the Ghaouls, but he had never ventured this way. From the air they looked like ancient tombs of some lost civilization, standing guard over the desert.
Linnaius brought the sky craft expertly down among the strangely formed towers and pinnacles of volcanic rock. Jagu marveled at his skill in handling the craft in the perpetual gloom.
”We may meet with a hostile reception,” the Magus said as he climbed out of the craft, ”but this is our pa.s.sport.” He took out from his robes a leather-bound book.
”Is that Celestine's grimoire?” Jagu asked, but Linnaius had already set off at a surprisingly brisk pace for an old man, disappearing into the gaping entrance of the nearest tower.
Jagu had no option but to follow him, biting his lip as each step he took jarred his mangled hand.
”It's been many years,” came the Magus's voice triumphantly back to him in the echoing void, ”but I haven't forgotten the secret way to the shrine.”
”Stop right there, Kaspar Linnaius!” A flash of light illuminated the dark interior and a violent tremor ran through the ground beneath their feet, throwing them off-balance. Shaken, Jagu looked up to see three venerable men coming toward them from the upper floor of the tower. The foremost held a torch whose flickering flame was reflected in the glitter of their eyes. Jagu's mage mark began to pulse again. He knew he was in the presence of the Magi of Ondhessar.
CHAPTER 14.
”Lord Estael.” Linnaius held aloft the grimoire. ”We have to hurry. This may be our only chance to restore Azilis ... and our fading powers.”
”And why should we believe you when you've tricked us so many times before?” The one Linnaius had called Estael came toward them. ”I wondered when you'd come looking for the new Lodestar.”
Lodestar? Jagu wondered what secret thaumaturgical code this could be; even in his years of training with Pere Judicael, he had never heard the name before. Jagu wondered what secret thaumaturgical code this could be; even in his years of training with Pere Judicael, he had never heard the name before.
”And who is this?” Estael stared forbiddingly at Jagu. ”He's not a magus. We only allow initiates beyond this point.”
Having come so far, Jagu was not prepared to be turned away. He held up his left wrist, showing the mage mark, which gleamed like quicksilver in the gloom. The magi muttered to each other, evidently unsure what to do.
”Believe me when I say that this man's presence is essential,” interrupted Linnaius dryly.
”Very well; I'll lead the way.” Estael raised his torch high, revealing a tall archway that opened onto a spiral stair. ”Follow me.”
”This is where we must make our final farewells, Celestine.” The Faie faded from Celestine's body and reappeared before her in the pale, translucent form of a young Enhirran woman. She held out her hands to Celestine. The Faie faded from Celestine's body and reappeared before her in the pale, translucent form of a young Enhirran woman. She held out her hands to Celestine.
”Is this your true likeness, Azilis?” Celestine asked, trying to hold the aethyrial fingers in her own. ”You look so much like that famous opera singer, Maela Ca.s.sard.”
”We made a great success together, didn't we?” the Faie said, smiling affectionately at her. ” the Faie said, smiling affectionately at her. ”We took the Imperial Theater by storm.”
”All this time you've been my guide and my protector,” Celestine said, trying to hold back the tears. ”But above all you've been my friend, my closest friend, dearest Faie. I don't know how to say farewell. It's so hard to let you go.”
”But you don't need me anymore,” the Faie said softly. the Faie said softly.
”I don't even know how to break our bond. Don't I need the book to set you free?” And she had left her father's grimoire at Swanholm, with all her belongings.
”Someone's coming,” warned Rieuk.
A vast wasteland stretched into the darkness; Jagu could just make out the jagged outline of tall tree trunks, their branches snapped off and scattered across the ground.
”You mustn't stay here for long,” warned Linnaius. ”The at mo sphere of the Rift is treacherous for mortals, even those cursed with a mage mark.”
But Jagu had detected a familiar glimmer of light up ahead and went hurrying toward it. Two figures hovered in the clearing, giving off a scintillating radiance that hurt his eyes: a slender woman and a tall man, whose bearing was more like that of one of the Heavenly Guardians than the Drakhaoul he had seen carrying Celestine away from Lutece. By their radiance he spotted Celestine, still in her charred s.h.i.+ft, her feet bare, like his own. Kneeling in the dust beside her were two men, both magi, he guessed from their long hair and glittering eyes. And he felt the mage mark begin to burn so fiercely that, looking down at his wrist, he saw it was giving off a faint phosph.o.r.escent light.
”You,” he said in astonishment. ”It was you.” you.”