make your way north, I also desire you to wind-search for the two thieves. Your natural ability along that line is probably greater than that of anyone else in Cathra.’
‘But Cathra is a large nation,’ Snudge protested, ‘and we can’t be sure which route the two outlaws have taken. If they head directly to Zeth Abbey and Kilian, I might have a chance of scrying them out. But perhaps they went in some other direction entirely, or even escaped in a ship. They might be under orders to hide the trove in some remote spot where Kilian will retrieve it later.’
‘Let’s hope not,’ the king said, looking glumly into his cup.
‘Your Grace, you must think about the wisdom of asking Queen Ullanoth for help. There’s danger – but if she finds the two men with her Loophole, you can send pursuers straight to them. You don’t have to tell her what the villains stole – only that they attempted to kill Lord Stergos. As soon as the trove is located, it must be destroyed. This is the only safe course. Lord Stergos knows it, and so do you. Inactive moonstones can be crushed without danger and rendered useless. We may presume that the book-medallions can be destroyed in a similar manner, and the pages burnt.’
Conrig groaned at the prospect, and Snudge knew that his niggling suspicions about the king were correct. He still toyed with the notion of using the things himself.
‘I must think about what to do,’ Conrig said. ‘If Ulla somehow seizes the trove…’
‘That’s why the stones must be smashed and the books burnt, sire,’ Snudge emphasized. ‘To keep them from her, from Kilian, and from Beynor.’
‘Yet I must be sure in my mind that I’ve made the right decision. I’ll take one more day to think on it further, for I’m so weary now that my wits fail me. Leave here tomorrow at an early hour, but only after conferring with Earl Marshal Parlian. Travel to Tarn via the Great North Road and the Wold Road through Frost Pass. Break your first day’s journey at Teme, and I will then tell you my decision about consulting Ullanoth. You may go now.’
Snudge bowed. “Very well, sire.’ He turned and started for the door.
‘One final thing,’ the king said. ‘I know you told me that your Concealer sigil was lost. I’m also aware of your deep misgivings about moonstone magic. But if it should happen that your sigil were found…I’d be most grateful if you’d use it once again in my service.’
Snudge stiffened, but he refrained from turning back to meet the king’s eyes. ‘I doubt it will ever be found, Your Grace. But be assured I’ll do everything in my power to carry out my duties faithfully.’
The darkness was not absolute. The outcroppings of frost mottling the cave walls had a faint glow, and the auras of the three visitors outlined their subtle bodies in dim colors that changed with the fluctuation of their emotions.
He himself was visible only by reflected light, a shapeless, eyeless hulk chained to the rocks with gemlike fetters of bright blue-glowing ice. His enemies had forced him to retain the Salka form he had assumed during the Old Conflict, since it was capable of physical suffering. And so he had suffered in both body and spirit for over a thousand years, while denied the sky.
But the foe could not take away his great oversight or his voice, which kept hope alive as one helper after another failed in strength or was struck down. These latest three souls were among the best he’d ever found. He’d cherished them specially and sustained their human fragility while they implemented his instructions. Because now, after what had seemed an interminable series of failures and setbacks, it seemed that there was a real chance he might finally succeed in severing the unnatural link between the Sky Realm and the groundlings.
Did you bring the small book?
‘It’s here.’ Ansel drew the ancient volume from his belt-wallet and set it down on the rime-encrusted cavern floor. The disk of moonstone fastened to its crumbling leather cover was lifeless, but still capable of drawing down the power of the foe. ‘There remain the two books hidden in Gala Palace, Rothbannon’s transcription from the Salka archives, and the archival tablets themselves, sequestered in the vaults of the Dawntide Citadel.’
Thalassa Dru, have you brought contributions from the Green Men and the Worms of the Morass?
‘I have only a few this time, unfortunately, and all of the lesser sort.’ She emptied a pouch containing a dozen dead moonstone carvings onto the floor next to the book.
Still, this is a worthy effort. Every stone that is obliterated weakens the link…And you, my dear Dobnelu. What do you have?
‘I have gleaned three minor stones from the sea. And this, which one of my friendly wolves discovered deep in the wilderness of the Stormlands and brought to me.’ The hag tossed the lesser sigils onto the heap, but the fourth she held up before the featureless dark face of the One Denied the Sky. It was a small wand carved from pale stone, covered with minute lunar symbols. ‘I’ve never seen one of these, Source, but I believe it to be a Destroyer, perhaps a relic of the Barren Lands phase of the Old Conflict.’
Ah! So it is! Blessings be upon you, Dobnelu, for ridding the world of one of the most evil of the Great Stones, and thus confounding the Pain-Eaters. My souls you have all done very well. Now shield your eyes, while I unite with the Likeminded and dispose of these abominations.
The humans pressed their hands to their faces. A dazzling burst of light illuminated the enchained hulk of the One Denied the Sky for an instant. Then the cave was restored to its former state of tenebrous gloom. The book and the sigils were gone, as usually happened. But something else had occurred that caused the auras of the three humans to flare amber and sea-green with surprise.
‘Your chains,’ Ansel exclaimed.
The two women echoed him in a wondering chorus. ‘Your chains!’
The blazing sapphire color of the transparent ice manacles pulsed and then slowly faded, as though the links were being filmed over with grime. After a moment the internal luminescence once again increased, but it was significantly duller than before.
‘Their radiance diminishes,’ Ansel breathed, hardly daring to believe it. Can it be that their strength also grows less?’
‘Are you still tightly shackled?’ Thalassa Dru asked.
The huge form shifted, straining at the links, but to no avail.
Alas, my souls. I’m held fast, as always.
‘But this must mean something,’ Ansel said.
True. I think it’s necessary that I consult immediately with the Likeminded about this strange occurrence. Forgive me, but we must forgo our usual hours of meditation and discussion. Perhaps when you come to me the next time, I’ll know more…Dear souls, I thankyou for once again enduring the ordeal of crossing. Now return to your own world.
‘Farewell,’ said Thalassa Dru, and vanished.
‘Farewell,’ said Dobnelu the sea-hag. But instead of disappearing, her fragile form staggered as if from a blow, and her aura flared violet and flame-red, betraying sudden fear. ‘I cannot go back! The way is closed to me. Why? Source, what has happened?’
Ansel opened his arms to her and embraced her, while gazing at the Source with stunned disbelief. His own corona had dimmed and reddened.
The thing manacled by ice stirred, and its utterance was full of sorrow. I did not see it happening! I was distracted. Oh, my poor dear Dobnelu! Your entranced body has died.
The violet of her aura deepened and she spoke in a tremulous wail. ‘While my subtle body remains alive…trapped here in this netherworld beneath the icecap? Oh, heaven help me! I didn’t think such a thing was possible.’