Part 18 (1/2)

'Chaneen! Chaneen!' came cries from the palace halls. Pastel, her blind minstrel, was hurrying toward them, his face distraught. The interruption disturbed Chaneen's invocation. She watched as the G.o.ddess wavered on the waters and then vanished. Janier jumped to her feet and grabbed Pastel.

'We were to be left undisturbed, 'Janier said. 'Have you news from the battle? Speak!'

Pastel trembled in Janier's hands and was unable to answer. He had been blind since birth, and Chaneen had yet to discover how to cure him. Of all her children, he was the only one who was handicapped. Nevertheless, what his eyes couldn't see, his mind understood, and arranged in beautiful verse. Chaneen alone knew that Pastel sang his songs mainly for Janier, because he loved her so much.

'Be at ease,' Chaneen said. 'Your company is always welcome. Tell us of the battle.'

Pastel turned in the direction of her voice. 'The guards did not want to bring you this news, but I felt you should know it as soon as possible. Please forgive me, my Queen.' Janier shook Pastel. 'Tell us!'

'The Asurians have all but conquered the mountains,' Pastel said, trembling. 'Already those of us left inside the Garden can hear their flying darts.'

'We're not beaten yet, 'Janier said.

'Yes,' Pastel moaned. 'Forgive me, Janier. Tier has fallen. He was taken on the last wave of attack.'

'Is he dead?' Janier cried.

I don't know,' Pastel said. 'He was alive when our warriors last saw him, but he was badly injured. The Asurians bound him and carried him away.' Pastel lowered his head. 'I fear he is dead.'

'You fear!' Janier shouted. She shoved Pastel to the ground and glared at Chaneen. 'Tier has fought and fallen while I stayed here with you and did nothing. I could have saved him! Why didn't you tell me of your power earlier, Chaneen?'

Chaneen slowly stood and helped Pastel to his feet. 'Do you have to ask? Now you have your own loss to mourn. I already had my own. I was afraid to lose you along with Rankar.'

'You were afraid' Janier said, angry.

I was afraid for you.' Chaneen tried to take Janier in her arms, but her sister shook her off.

'You area coward, 'Janier said bitterly. 'You wouldn't even go forth to save your own children.'

The change in her sister was frightening. Chaneen shook her head sadly. I couldn't save them. I can't kill. The flame wouldn't come out of me for that reason. Don't hate me, Janier. I'm not the enemy. I'm your Queen, your sister.' She held out her hand. 'I'm sorry.'

'You're sorry! I don't want your sorrow. You could have saved Tier.' Tears streamed from Janier's face and she faltered in her accusations. But then she touched the ring Chaneen had placed on her finger and she grew hard once more. She looked to the west, to the burning mountains, and spoke in a cold voice. I must go. Stay here, Chaneen. I don't need you. I will bring the fire.'

Janier left the palace then, running as fast as her anger.

Janier!' Pastel called. He tried to follow her but tripped and fell. Chaneen helped him up once more.

'No,' Chaneen said wearily. 'Let her go.'

'But I must help her.' Pastel stood and felt his way forward, b.u.mping into a pillar.

'You can't catch her, and you were not born to fight. Stay inside the palace until the outcome of the war is decided. Janier may yet save us, where I have been unable to.' Chaneen sat back down by the waters. 'But leave me for now, Pastel. Janier thinks she doesn't need me, but she is wrong. I must be with her in my thoughts.'

Pastel wept. 'Yes, my Queen.' He bowed and turned away. 'I will pray for her safety.'

'We will pray,' Chaneen agreed. She closed her eyes and meditated. She meditated for days. But whenever she reached for Janier in her mind, she felt waves of heat, and saw the cold eyes of Kratine mocking her.

Janier found her warriors in retreat when she arrived at the front of battle. One final valley lay between the enemy and the Garden. Janier spoke with the captains who had survived her husband, and found Pastel's information correct. Tier had been wounded and captured, but there was a possibility he was still alive.

Janier gave orders that the Sastra were to retreat to top of the last slope, and to there stand and prevent the Asurian front line from advancing. It was her purpose to allow the Asurians to fill the valley below. Her warriors did as they were told, surrendering the portion of the valley they had fought all day to hold. Thinking that the Sastra were on the run, the Asurians swarmed into the valley, and it was as if a sea of green scales swayed below Janier's feet. How she hated the sight of them!

When Janier deemed the moment was right, she raised Chaneen's ring and called upon the Fire Messenger. From seemingly nowhere, a cloud of incandescent liquid materialized above the valley. Then in a rain of death, it fell upon the screaming Asurians. Their end came swiftly. In moments everything in the valley was turned to ash. There remained not even the skeleton of a tree. On the far side of the valley, the enemy who were left alive immediately recognized what had happened. They remembered Rankar's wrath from the previous war, and turned and fled in the direction of the desert.

Janier stood above the ruin and laughed loudly. She drew her sword.

'See those murderers running in terror back to their master? They are fools! Even he cannot save them. Come my warriors, and let us put an end to these snakes. It is Janier who leads you now. And I bring the fire!'

Accompanied by the remains of Tier's once great army, Janier chased after the Asurians. Yet the latter had always been quick, and now they had a great fear driving them on. It was difficult for Janier to keep up with them. Many times she invoked the Fire Messenger, and each time he responded, laying waste to the land immediately in front of her, and whoever was on that land. But the Asurians had already scattered, and none of her bolts were as devastating as her first. And little did janier understand the size of the enemy. She killed thousands, tens of thousands, yet thousands remained.

Two days after the turn in the battle, the Asurians poured from the mountains onto the desert, running for the bridge Kratine had opened by his magic arts, trying to escape. Again and again Janier brought the fire, catching many of the enemy, yet allowing many more to pa.s.s beyond the range of her fire.

It was at the beginning of the desert that Janier halted her troops, remembering Chaneen's warning that Kratine might come forth to lead his army. For a moment she felt uncertain. But as she scanned the horizon, she saw no sign of the Asurian King, only signs of victory. Once more she called upon the Fire Messenger, melting the few unfortunate beasts that struggled behind their comrades. The sun was bright in the sky. Her power felt unwavering. Urging her warriors forward, she resolved to allow none to escape.

Another two days pa.s.sed. Finally Janier reached the bridge that led to Asure. The sand before it was burned black from her bolts of flame. The bridge appeared to her eyes as a span of impenetrable shadow, stretching across a bottomless gorge. Her endurance and the strength of her warriors had not wavered with the great distance they had come, and now behind them lay the ashes of the bulk of the enemy. Still, she knew many Asurians had crossed over the bridge. She thought of how those that had escaped would breed once more, and form yet another army. She also thought of Tier, possibly alive on the other side of the bridge.

Janier summoned her people and stepped boldly onto the bridge. However, there she hesitated once more, filled with sudden doubt. She was no fool. Why had Kratine left the bridge open, she asked herself? She was wary of a trick. Plus she had not forgotten what Chaneen had said about how the Fire Messenger would depart if she left her own land.

Janier studied her warriors, trying to come to a decision. Those who had survived this long were the strongest, she knew, a brave people. They were not like Chaneen.

Janier still could not understand how her sister, with the power to save them all, had stayed hidden in the Garden and allowed so many to die. Chaneen may have been wise, Janier thought, but she was also a coward. She was not like Rankar, or Tier, or herself. And what did it matter if Chaneen was right and the Fire Messenger did desert her when she crossed over into Asure? Janier had been a fighter long before the Fire Messenger came into her arm, and her warriors were brave, and their swords were sharp. There couldn't be much left of the Asurian army, she thought. They would fall easily, and perhaps afterward she would be able to rescue her husband.

'See their foolishness!' Janier called, standing upon the threshold of Asure. 'They were so afraid of us that they forgot to take down their bridge. 'She stepped forward. 'Come, let us put a final end to Asure and its people.'

Janier and her warriors crossed over the bridge.

Sitting alone by the waters of her palace, Chaneen slumped to the ground. She felt the Fire Messenger leave, and the bond between her and Janier break.

SEVENTEEN.

The Gorbachev looked dead.

Mars was waning. Against the backdrop of the darkening globe, the Russian s.h.i.+p s.h.i.+mmered like a spot of mercury deposited on b.l.o.o.d.y canvas. It was two miles away and drifting without weight-bestowing spin. That meant Carl Bensk had no up or down, and that Was a bad sign.

Lauren floated inside the Nova's main airlock with Gary. Jim was over at the Gorbachev and trying to get inside the locked front hatch. He had been there four hours; a long time in a s.p.a.ce suit. Jim thought the lock on the Gorbachev's airlock might be broken. Bill believed the Russians had given them the wrong code. ”Bill also suspected that the Gorbachev was b.o.o.by-trapped. That is why the Gorbachev was two miles from the Nova and not two hundred feet.

'I wish we could help Jim somehow,' Lauren said.

'If Jim can't trip that lock, n.o.body can,' Gary said. 'I just hope the d.a.m.n thing doesn't blow up.'

'You don't think Bill's right, do you?' Lauren asked. Cooperation between the U.S. and Russia was at an all-time high. Missiles were down, visas were up - Lauren didn't see why so many people still saw Russia as an enemy. It annoyed her.

'No, I wasn't being serious,' Gary said. 'Bill's just paranoid. That's what makes the military mind. Don't worry, Lori.'

From a speaker in the corner of their airlock, Jim said, 'Now I know how Gandalf felt at the gates of Moria.'

'Who?' Lauren said.