Jack Of Shadows

by Roger Zelazny

  which-once-had-moved, currents of blazing cloud dropping fires along its way.

  The landslide did not stop it any more than the tempest could.

  It picked its way among the strewn boulders at the mountain's base and for a moment regarded the final ascent.

  There led the trail; there must it follow.

  High, high-set, walled and well guarded ...

  But in addition to its strength it possessed a certain cunning.

  ...And its one emotion.

  "Win or lose, it's working," Jack said; and although Evene did not reply, his soul did.

  "You lose. Whether it is the world's gain or loss is another matter. But you lose, Jack."

  ... And as he gazed into the lightening east, Jack felt that this was true.

  For the sky had grown pale of something other than volcanic fires and storms. Within him, he felt his power begin to break. Turning to the west, he saw again how far the black orb had fallen, and the dawn exploded in his mind.

  As his power slipped away, the walls of Shadow Guard began to crumble.

  "We'd best flee now."

  "What do you care, spirit? You can't be harmed. I'll not flee. I say this tower will stand against the dawn."

  Below him, stones and masonry raining into a courtyard, a wall gave way, revealing the interiors of several chambers. Jack heard the cries of his servitors and several rushed across the courtyard. There came another shaking of the ground and the tower itself swayed slightly.

  Jack faced the pink-skied east once more. "The Key That Was Lost, Kolwynia, is lost again," he said. "This time forever."

  For he had tried a simple spell and it had failed.

  He heard a roaring, as of waters unlocked, and a far portion of the citadel burst and was scattered.

  "If you will not flee, then what of the girl who stands by your side?"

  Jack turned toward Evene, having almost forgotten her presence. He saw that a curious look had come onto her face.

  At first, he was unable to fathom her expression; and when she spoke, he noted that the timbre of her voice had changed.

  "What is happening, Jack?"

  As she spoke, he felt her body stiffen and sway slightly away from him. He immediately relaxed his arm to accommodate her movement.

  In an instant, it filled his mind. With the slipping away of his magical powers, the spell he had laid upon her so long ago was coming undone. As the dawn spread over the troubled world, her mind cleared proportionately.

  He began to speak, hoping to occupy her full attention, to keep her from suddenly considering her changing condition.

  "It is my doing," he stated. "The seven listed in the Red Book of Ells would not cooperate in maintaining the Shield against the outer cold, so I slew them. I was mistaken, however, in considering them expendable. Though I had thought I could manage it, I proved incapable of performing the feat on my own. There was but one alternative. I destroyed the Great Machine which maintained the world as it was. Now, we darksiders, drawing our legends from that near-incomprehensible thing called science, say it is a Machine that drives the world. The daysiders, equally superstitious, see the world's core as filled with fire elementals and molten minerals. Who is to say who is correct and who, incorrect? Philosophers on both sides have often speculated that the world of the senses is an illusion. It does not really matter to me. Whatever the reality from which we appear to be permanently isolated, I journeyed to the world's center and effected a catastrophe there. You see its results all about you now. Because of my actions, the world is beginning to rotate. There will no longer be a darkside and a lightside. Rather, there will be both darkness and light in succession in all portions of the world. The darkness, I feel, will always hold in some form the things we have held, and science will doubtless prevail in the light"

  That is, he added mentally, if the world is not destroyed.

  He wondered, at that moment, what it was like in the lands of light-back at the university- to have evening come on, then darkness, to see the stars. Would Poindexter think it an elaborate semester's end prank?

  "This way," he went on, "there will be no need to shield against the cold or the heat. The warmth of the star about which we move will be distributed rather than concentrated. I-"

  "Jack of Evil!" she cried, backing quickly away from him.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw that a blazing orange arc had appeared above the horizon.

  As its rays fell upon them, the tower trembled, quaked, began to rock violently. He heard the sound of falling stones within the tower itself, felt through his boots the vibrations of their dislodgment... . And Evene crouched, and her eyes were wide and wild behind the masses of her now freed hair, which the wind whipped past them ...

  ... And he saw that in her right hand she held a dagger.

  He licked his lips and backed away.

  "Evene," he said. "Please listen to me. I can take that toy away from you, but I don't want to hurt you. I've hurt you enough. Put it away, please. I'll try to make-"

  She sprang at him then, and he reached for her wrist, missed, stepped to the side.

  The blade went by; her arms and shoulder followed. He seized her shoulders.

  "Jack of Evil!" she said again; and she slashed at his hand, cutting it.

  As his grip weakened, she broke free and was upon him, thrusting for his throat.

  He blocked her wrist with his left forearm and pushed her away with his right hand. He glimpsed her face as he did so, and there were flecks of foam at the corners of her mouth; lines of blood crossed her chin from where she had bitten her lip.

  She stumbled back against the balustrade and it gave way, almost soundlessly.

  He lunged toward her, but arrived only in time to see her billowing skirts as she fell toward the courtyard below. Her scream was brief.

  He drew back when the tower's shifting threatened to topple him, also.

  The sun was now half-risen.

  "Jack! You've got to leave! The place is falling apart!"

  "It doesn't matter," he said.

  But he turned and headed toward the stair-well.

  It searched the corridors, after having entered the citadel through a gaping hole in its northern wall. It left the bodies where they fell, whenever it had to slay. At one point, a section of roofing fell upon it. It dug its way out and continued on.

  It crouched behind rubble as brigades of water-bearers rushed by to quench flames; it concealed itself in niches, and behind hangings, furniture, doors; it glided like a ghost and slithered like a reptile.

  It picked its way through the debris until it located the trail once more.

  High, high it led, and winding ...

  There would it go.

  The sky split by the light, the broken balustrade so clear in his mind, the flower of her skirts blooming behind his eyes, her spittle and blood the ink of his indictment, the thunder of the tortured land a form of silence by virtue of its monotony, the shattered stones sharpened by dawn's shadowy clarity, the winds a dirge, the movements of the decaying tower an almost soothing thing now. Jack came to the head of the stairwell and saw it ascending.

  He drew his blade and waited, as there was no other way down.

  Strange, he thought, how the instinct to survive prevails, no matter what.

  He held the point of his blade steady as the Borshin sprang up the final steps and attacked.

  It pierced the creature's left shoulder, but did not halt it. The blade was torn from his grasp, as the Borshin struck him, knocked him over backward, leaped for him.

  He rolled to the side and managed to achieve a crouched position before the creature attacked him again. His blade was still in its shoulder, gleaming in the light; no blood lay upon it, but a thick, brownish fluid was oozing slightly about the edges of the wound.

  He managed to dodge the second onslaught and strike it with both hands, but the blows had no apparent effect. It felt as if he were striking a pudding that would not splatte
r.

  Twice more, he succeeded in evading its attack, kicking its leg once in the process and jabbing the back of its head with his elbow as it passed.

  Next, it caught him loosely, but he jostled the blade within its shoulder and escaped with a torn tunic.

  Crouching, circling, attempting to keep as much distance as possible between them, he scooped up two pieces of masonry and leaped backward. It would have had him then, save for his leap. It turned with great speed, and he hurled one of his new found weapons, missing.

  Then, before he could recover from his throwing stance, it was upon him, bearing him over backward.

  He struck it about the head with his remaining weapon, until it was dashed from his hand. His chest was being crushed, and the creature's face was so near his own that he wanted to scream, would have screamed, had he the breath.

  "It is unfortunate that you did not choose properly," he heard his soul saying.

  Then the creature's one hand came to the back of his neck and the other to his head. They began a twisting motion.

  As the blackness rose from his middle and the tears of pain mingled with the perspiration on his face, his head was turned in such a fashion that he saw a thing which gave him an instant's wonder.

  The magic was fled, but this dawn was still like twilight. He had been able to function in Twilight, not as a magician, but as a thief.

  Because of his power within shadow...

  ... No blade could touch him there, no power harm him.

  The rising sun, striking a section of balustrade, cast a long dark shadow that fell but a foot away.

  He struggled to reach it, but could not. So he flung his right arm as far in that direction as

  it would go.

  His hand and half his forearm fell within the shadow.

  The pain was still there, and the creaking of vertebrae; he still felt the crushing weight upon his chest.

  Only now, the old, dark feeling entered him and flowed through his body.

  He resisted unconsciousness; he stiffened his neck muscles. With the strength he had drawn, he twisted and pushed until he had dragged his entire arm and shoulder into the shadow. Then, using his elbows and heels, he managed to force his head within the potent shade.

  He pulled his other arm free and his hands found the Borshin's throat. He dragged him into the shadow with him.

  "Jack, what is happening?" he heard his soul say. "I cannot see you when you are in shadow."

  After a long while. Jack emerged from the shadow.

  He leaned heavily upon the nearest balustrade and stood there panting. He was smeared with blood and a gummy, brownish substance.

  "Jack?"

  His hand shook as he reached within what remained of his tunic.

  "Damn ..." he half-whispered, hoarsely. "My last cigarettes are crushed."

  He seemed as if he were about to cry over the fact.

  "Jack, I did not think you would survive-"

  "Neither did 1.-All right, soul. You've bothered me long enough. I've been through much. There is nothing left for me. I may as well make you happy, anyhow. I give you my consent. Do what you would."

  Then he closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, his soul had vanished.

  "Soul?" he inquired.

  There was no reply.

  He felt no different. Were they truly united?

  "Soul? I gave you what you wanted. The least you can do is talk to me."

  No answer.

  "All right! Who needs you?"

  Then he turned and looked out over the devastated land. He saw how the slanting rays of the sun brought color to the wilderness he had wrought. The winds had subsided somewhat, and it was as if there were a singing in the air. For all the wreckage and smoldering, there was a blasted beauty to the place. It would not have been necessary that it be racked so, had it not been for that within him which had brought pain, death and dishonor where it had not been before. Yet, out of the carnage, or rather, overlaying it now, was something he had never seen previously. It was as if everything he looked at contained the possibility of perfection. There were smashed villages in the distance, truncated mountains, charred forests. All the evil was upon his head, for he had indeed earned the title he had borne. Yet, out of it, he felt, some other thing would grow. For this, he could take no credit. He could only bear blame. But he felt

  that he was no longer precluded from seeing what might come now that the order of the world had been altered, from feeling it, delighting in it, perhaps even-No, not that. Not yet, anyhow. But the succession of light and darkness would be a new order of things, and he felt that this would be good. He turned then and faced the sunrise, wiped his eyes and stared some more, for he felt it the most lovely thing he had ever seen. Yes, he must have a soul, he decided, for he had never felt this way before.

  The tower ceased its swaying and began to come apart about him.

  I meant it, Evene, he thought. I even said it back before I had a soul. I said I was sorry and I meant it. Not just for you. For the whole world. I apologize. I love you.

  ...And stone by stone, it collapsed; and he was pitched forward toward the balustrade.

  It is only fitting, he thought, as he felt himself strike the rail. It is only fitting. There is no escape. When the world is purged by winds and fires and waters, and the evil things are destroyed or washed away, it is only fitting that the last and greatest of them all be not omitted.

  He heard a mighty rushing, as of the wind, as the balustrade snapped and its rail slipped forward. For a moment, it was an intermittent thing, similar to the flapping sound of a garment hung out to dry.

  As he was cast over the edge, he was able to turn and look upward.

  Falling, he saw a dark figure in the sky that grew even as his eyes passed over it.

  Of course, he thought, he has finally looked upon the sunrise and been freed ...

  Wings folded, his great, horned countenance impassive, Morningstar dropped like a black meteor. As he drew near, he extended his arms full length and opened his massive hands.

  Jack wondered whether he would arrive in time.

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: 2a3ffeb6-6c1a-1014-9a17-f73753f56995

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 12.06.2008

  Created using: Text2FB2 software

  Document authors :

  traum

  About

  This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.

  (This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)

  Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.

  (Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)

  http://www.fb2epub.net

  https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/