Part 11 (1/2)

Through the pain, Tal tried to repeat the words Crow was speaking. He knew that they must get to Aenir. They had to find Adras and Odris, who must be dying there. They had to get back and repair or raise the Veil again, and prepare for Sharrakor's invasion...

Milla followed the words without thinking of anything else. The words and colors were all that mattered. She had to survive. Her people were depending upon her. She had failed them already and had not defended the Veil. She must live to reverse her defeat...

Malen finished the Prayer to Asteyr. But she did not feel its success. Sharrakor must have returned to Aenir to avoid the spell. He was not lurking, somehow invisible.

Malen saw Crow sitting with Tal and Milla cradled against him, with waves of many-colored light was.h.i.+ng across all three of them. She saw Sus.h.i.+n dead or dying next to the pyramid, blood flowing freely now that the shadow in him was gone.

Then she saw a flash of light at the very apex of the pyramid. It had been completely dark, but now the top began to s.h.i.+ne with a weak red light. Malen watched it, thinking the light might spread, but it didn't. Only the top glowed.

She heard a noise behind her and whirled around, suddenly afraid. She was effectively alone, a Crone disconnected from her mothers and sisters, without s.h.i.+eld Maidens or hunters to protect her.

It was Ebbitt, puffing and straining as he climbed the ramp. He saw Malen staring at him, wild-eyed, and Sus.h.i.+n behind, the almost totally dark pyramid, and the rainbow-coc.o.o.ned trio of Crow, Tal, and Milla.

”What happened?”

Malen s.h.i.+vered and found herself unable to speak, the words caught in her throat. Ebbitt rushed past her, and after a further glance at the three who had clearly gone to Aenir, he knelt beside Sus.h.i.+n, his Sunstone glowing as he called up healing magic. Ebbitt's Spiritshadow sniffed at Sus.h.i.+n, then wandered over to sniff at the point where Adras and Odris had pulled apart Sus.h.i.+n's spiky Spiritshadow.

”He... he had a shadow in him,” blurted out Malen. ”Sharrakor. A dragon. He made Adras and Odris disappear and Tal and Milla fell down. We were watching and Crow used Light Magic and I tried the Prayer of Asteyr but Sharrakor said the Veil was destroyed and he'd come back...”

”The Veil isn't destroyed, it's just fraying at the edges,” said Ebbitt sharply. There was no indication of his usual dodderiness. ”The Red Keystone is keeping it going, at least for a while. Though not as strongly as it should, perhaps. What did Sharrakor say about coming back?”

”He said he'd come back and finish the war,” said Malen. ”Oh, I'd better... I'd better report...”

She stood up straighter and put her hands to her head. But the more she tried to reach the other Crones, the more she heard Sharrakor's awful voice, and his threat, that he would find her...

”That'll hold you,” said Ebbitt.

Sus.h.i.+n opened his eyes. ”Thank you but that will be quite...” His voice trailed off and an expression of total bewilderment spread across his face. ”Where am I? Who are you?”

”Rest now,” soothed Ebbitt. ”You've had an accident.”

”I was in Aenir,” said Sus.h.i.+n. ”Having breakfast with Julper Yen-Baren. He was going to help me climb to Yellow...”

He paused for a moment.

”I dreamed,” he said after the pause. ”A terrible dream. My head was opened and a stranger poured himself inside--”

His voice was getting more and more shrill as he spoke, building toward hysteria. Ebbitt hastily raised his Sunstone and a green light fell down on Sus.h.i.+n's face. The Chosen's eyes closed and he slumped back against the pyramid.

”I'm not sure whether it will be more merciful to help him live or die,” remarked Ebbitt. ”I suppose as in so many things, fate will decide. Imagine his last memory being breakfast with Julper Yen-Baren! More than thirty years ago. I bet it was a rotten breakfast, too. Julper was a mean fellow. Come on, then.”

”Come on?” asked Malen. ”Where?”

”Aenir,” said Ebbitt impatiently. ”You'll have to share my Sunstone for the transition. Just stare at it and repeat what I say.”

”Aenir!” exclaimed Malen. ”I can't go there!” ”You'll be needed,” said Ebbitt. ”From what I read in the Codex.”

”What do you mean?”

”Ah, that would be telling,” replied Ebbitt.

”Yes it would!” said Malen, stamping her foot. ”So tell me, you... you old h.o.a.rder!”

Being called a h.o.a.rder was a serious insult among Icecarls, for sharing food and essentials was a central part of any clan's survival. Ebbitt, however, was not offended.

”Oh, put like that, I suppose,” he said, rubbing his nose. ”Having got rid of the Veil, or close enough, Sharrakor's next step must be to undo the Forgetting. Since it was your Crones--or the historical equivalent--that did the Forgetting in the first place, it seems to me that you'll be required.”

”But I'm only a young Crone,” protested Malen.

”You're the only Crone who's right here right now,” answered Ebbitt, taking her arm. ”Just stare into this Sunstone.”

”But I should inform--”

”No time for that!” cried Ebbitt. His Spiritshadow had sidled up to his side, and his Sunstone was already changing color, beginning the sequence that was part of the Way to Aenir. ”They'll figure it out. Remember, say the words after me!”

He started reciting, and Malen, despite herself, stared into the Sunstone and repeated the words. Aenir! She was going to Aenir, where no Icecarl save Milla had been for a thousand circlings or more!

Neither of them noticed a trickle of silver slide out the back of Ebbitt's s.h.i.+rt and roll across the floor. The Codex of the Chosen had spent too long in Aenir, and it had no plans to return.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.

Tal, Milla, and Crow fell onto a stone platform that wriggled under them and tried to crawl away. The weaker suns.h.i.+ne of Aenir fell upon their changed bodies, the Aeniran versions of themselves. They were a little shorter, and slimmer, and their skin glowed with a slight l.u.s.ter.

The pain was still with Tal and Milla, but to a much lesser extent. Tal could feel Adras somewhere. Too far away, but not totally absent. So the Storm Shepherd was still alive, thank the Light.

Tal sat up and looked around. They didn't seem to be in immediate danger, though the stone slab moving under him was a bit creepy. It was not the only apparently solid object that was moving. The remains of a nearby wall were also slowly s.h.i.+fting away, trailing old mortar.

”Ruins,” said Crow. He was standing up, shaking his head a little as he looked around him and down at his changed self. ”So this is Aenir. I always wanted to see this.”

”Can you see any enemies?” asked Milla. She stood up, too, then sat down again rather too quickly and began ma.s.saging her legs and doing exercises with her arms.

”No,” replied Crow. ”At least I don't think so. There are a lot of stones moving around. Very slowly. Where are we, anyway?”

”A ruined city,” said Tal, which was pretty obvious to everyone. At least that was what it looked like. You never could be too sure in Aenir what anything really was, as opposed to what it seemed to be. Certainly they were surrounded by many ruined buildings, and there were plenty more as far as he could see, rising up into the hills around.

”What happened?” asked Milla. ”I felt Odris... wrenched... away. It was worse than when the Merwin gored me.”

Tal shook his head.

”I'm not sure. Somehow Sharrakor sent them back here. But they're coming. I think.”

”Yes,” confirmed Milla. ”I can feel Odris getting closer. But they are far away.”

”We failed,” said Tal, after they were both silent for a moment. ”The Veil is gone.”