Tauran stood and glared at Kaanyr. “Where did you get that blade? Garin might die from that foul thing!”
Kaanyr sneered. “Oh, you’re quite welcome. Glad to come to your rescue, noble angel.”
Tauran took a step toward Kaanyr, but Aliisza was between them in a flash. “Stop!” she shouted. “What’s done is done!”
Tauran hesitated, still glaring.
Kaanyr tightened his grip on his blade, but he didn’t strike the angel. He wondered which of them Aliisza thought she was protecting. Him or me? He stared at her, feeling jealousy boil up again. It’s time she sees the truth, he decided.
He gave the deva a surly smirk and waved his hand in dismissal. “You’re so weak. I should have killed Garin. It would have been the smart thing to do. You should slay this fool right now”—he pointed at Micus—“and be rid of his pestering. But I abided by your wishes and spared them both.”
Tauran’s eyes narrowed, and he clenched both hands into fists. “I should slay you right now and be done with your foul, corrupt influence.”
Kaanyr turned to Aliisza then. “Do you see?” he said, pointing at Tauran. “Do you see what you’re getting tangled up with? He will never love you. Not like I do. He can’t; he’s too bound by honor, too caught up in doing what’s right. And you’ve got the blood of a demon flowing through you. What can possibly come of that but ruin?”
Aliisza stared at the cambion, wide-eyed. She worked her mouth to retort, but nothing came out.
Kaanyr waved his hand, dismissing her, too. “Fool alu,” he grumbled.
“Enough,” Kael said quietly, placing a hand on Tauran’s shoulder. “We’ve worn out our welcome here. Those archons didn’t want any part of us by themselves, and they retreated inside again. But they will be back with reinforcements. We must go. We have to find Zasian.”
Tauran’s jaw flexed, then the anger seemed to go out of him. “Yes, of course,” he said. “Thank you for reminding me, Kael.”
Kaanyr shook his head in disgust. “I guarantee you, they will be trouble again. Your foolish benevolence will come back to haunt you. Mark my words.”
Tauran ignored him. “We must be gone before Micus awakens,” he said. “Vhok, can you fly?”
“As a matter of fact,” the half-fiend answered smugly, “I can.” He took hold of the new cape he had donned and spread it out behind himself. “Lead on, O wise Captain!”
Tauran gave Kaanyr a sidelong glance, but he did not rise to the bait. “Let’s go, then.” He took to the air.
Beside him, Aliisza still stared. He met her gaze and saw searing anger.
“Bastard,” she spat. “You’ll never change. You’ll never get those self-righteous, condescending blinders off your eyes and see the wider world around you. I should have known better than to start believing you could.” She took to the air without a glance back.
Damn straight I won’t change, Kaanyr thought, staring after her. I know who I am.
Tauran led them. As they flew, they passed countless wondrous sights, but Kaanyr did not notice them. He struggled to come to grips with the fact that he was losing the alu. He did not want it to matter so much, but it did.
Maybe it’s because of whom I’m losing her to, he thought. I just don’t get what she sees in him. What can he possibly offer her that I cannot?
The four travelers drew near the edge of the city, and Kaanyr realized the entire community sat beneath a massive, shimmering dome of some transparent substance. Beyond it, a sea of blackness filled with countless stars stretched forever. Where it met the ground, numerous gates punctured it, and Tauran led them to one such portal—a massive pair of valves. As they neared the gate, the angel dropped low and landed.
“We can reach the Eye this way,” the deva said as he walked to the towering doors, which stood open. There were surprisingly few people passing either in or out of the gate. “It exists in a set of caverns, below the city.”
“Will they let us through?” Aliisza asked. “Do you think they’ve heard about what happened yet?”
“I don’t know. We’ll find out. Be ready, but don’t get jumpy. Any of you.” He looked directly at Kaanyr.
The cambion gave a mocking, ingratiating smile and nodded. “As you command, O Captain.”
The hound archons guarding the great gate wore different clothing from those that had been at the Palace of Myriad Amazements. Instead of livery and weapons, they dressed in simple robes, like the monks of numerous orders on Toril. They eyed the four visitors as Kaanyr and the others approached and one of them moved to greet them.
“Welcome, strangers. Have you come to pay homage to Savras the All-Seeing?”
Kaanyr noted that a symbol of a scrying globe filled with eyes adorned the breast of the creature’s robes.
“Yes, and also to seek his wisdom,” Tauran answered. “May we enter?”
The archon studied them all for a long moment. “You do not seem likely followers of He of the Third Eye.”
“Our need is great,” Tauran said, “and our generosity greater,” he added, holding out his mace. “An offering for the honor of entering.”
The archon’s eyes widened. “Your need must be great, if you are willing to surrender this,” he said. He took the holy weapon and studied it for a moment. “It is useless to us, angel. You know that. None but your kind may wield it. It holds no value for any but you.”
“Perhaps, but it is all I have to offer, and isn’t the point to give more than you can afford?”
The archon smiled. “Indeed. It is a symbol of all that. Very well. You may enter the Eye. Do you know the way from here?”
“I think we can find it.”
The archon nodded and stepped aside, motioning for them to pass through the gates.
Once they were beyond the portal, they found themselves on the edge of a plateau. The path before them wound toward the bottom, a switchback that disappeared from sight because of the steepness.
Kaanyr noticed Kael was smiling. “What are you grinning at, fool knight?” he asked.
Kael didn’t answer, but Aliisza grabbed Tauran’s arm and turned him toward her.
“How could you do that?” she demanded. “You gave up your sacred mace! An angel never does that!”
“Never by choice,” he said. “But our need is great.” Then he produced a similar weapon, which he had kept hidden in his tunic. “But that wasn’t my mace.” He smiled. “It was Micus’s.”
Aliisza giggled.
Kaanyr grimaced. “Very deceptive, deva,” he said. “My bad influence must be rubbing off on you.”
Tauran gave the cambion a haughty stare. “Much more than I would like, cambion.”
Chapter Fifteen
The four of them took to the air then, flying down the side of the great plateau upon which Dweomerheart rested. No land stretched beyond its base. Instead, the whole thing floated in the great field of stars. The night sky stretched out both above and below.
At the bottom of the trail, they came to a wide ledge jutting out from the side of the plateau. A large cave mouth led into the depths from there. A second pair of guards stood on either side of the darkened entrance. As the group landed, one of them bowed.
“Welcome to the Eye,” he said. “Search for the truth in all things great and small, my friends. Enter and fill your minds with knowledge.”
Tauran led the way through the passage from the cave entrance. As they walked, Aliisza noted the width of the path down the center of the tunnel. Compared to the rougher area of the floor on either side, it was smooth as glass and slightly concave, like a trough.
Many, many pairs of feet have passed this way.
The tunnel ran straight and descended slightly. At regular intervals, torches illuminated the way. Ahead, Aliisza could see the passage level off and the torches end. When they reached the flat area, Aliisza slowed a step or two, awed.
The path ended at a large wooden dock. A hound archon stood at its near edge, watching them approach.
Numerous small boats had been tied off to the dock. Each boat bore a boatman, another hound archon dressed in the robes of Savras and who stood in the rear of the craft, waiting. Beyond the dock, water stretched out into an immense cavern, easily as large as some of the great chambers and halls of the Underdark. Scattered throughout the vast emptiness, dozens—no, hundreds—of torches twinkled faintly. They filled the cavern like stars, both near the water’s surface and high overhead.
Aliisza felt very small.
“What is this place?” Kaanyr asked in a near-whisper. “Where does it all go?”
“It is the Third Eye,” Tauran answered. “The embodiment of Savras’s knowledge. The whole place is a honeycomb of tunnels, chambers, and sinkholes. It goes deeper, too. Beneath the water.”
“Where do we start?” Aliisza asked. She was overwhelmed with the enormity of the task. “How will we know what to look for?”
Tauran advanced to the dock. “I don’t know,” he said. He stepped up to the greeter. “We have come seeking knowledge,” he said.
The hound archon, his muzzle gray with age, nodded. “May you find it, then,” he said. “Do you understand the patterns? The dangers?”
Tauran shook his head. “We have never visited before.”
“Few come twice. Trust your insight. Do not rely solely on your vision. Let the inner force of your desire for understanding be your guide. More, I cannot say.”
Tauran cocked his head to one side, pondering. “It’s up to us, our instinct, to know where to go,” he said. “In every choice, something is revealed. About ourselves, about others. Is that it?”
The hound archon smiled, but said nothing. He merely bowed again.
The angel turned back to his companions. “We have to go on our gut feelings,” he said. “If we envision what we need to learn and open ourselves to the subtleties of our subconscious, the veil may be lifted, and we may find what we seek.”
“Sounds like a game that’s hard to win,” Kaanyr said, frowning. “Lots of opportunities to get lost.”
“Some that pass through here do not return,” the archon said. “Perhaps they never find what they seek, or perhaps they find … something else. Something unintended. Whatever the outcome, you are the guide, you must steer the course.”
“Are you certain this is what we want to do?” Kaanyr asked. “Is it worth the risk of vanishing in this maze?”
As Aliisza stared out over the water at the distant twinkling lights, she found herself agreeing with Kaanyr’s caution. I’ve never been afraid of the dark before, she thought. What’s different about this place?
Tauran gazed levelly at the cambion. “I have surrendered everything I hold dear to right this wrong. What do you think?”
“Well, good for you, angel,” Kaanyr said. “I’ve given up quite a bit, too, and may yet give up more. I still want to think about this before we just plunge into the darkness forever.”
“I know of no other way to get ahead of Zasian,” Tauran said. “So long as we keep following his breadcrumb trail, we play his game. If we succeed at this, we may have the means to stop him. I’m committed to that possibility. And you are, too.”
Kaanyr glared at Tauran, but he said nothing more.
Aliisza watched the cambion and imagined his mind working, trying to figure out a way to bypass the angel’s control over him. She was still furious with him for his boorish attack earlier, but at that moment, when she so feared passing deeper into those caverns, she actually felt a bit sorry for him. I have a choice; he has to go in there whether he likes it or not. Still, he might actually learn something about himself …
But that’s what you’re afraid of, isn’t it? she asked herself. Seeing too deeply into your own heart.
“Quit fighting it,” she said softly to Kaanyr, so no one else could hear. “Trust me; I know of what I speak.”
“How could you stand it?” Kaanyr whispered. “How could you put up with his sneering, condescending arrogance?”
So, he begins to understand at last, she thought, trying not to smirk. He finally sees how much he betrayed me. “You’d be surprised,” she said, staring pointedly at her lover. “I’ve had lots of practice.”
Kaanyr caught her look and snorted, but she saw his faint smile nonetheless. He inclined his head at her, acknowledging her point. “Let’s go,” he said, following Tauran.
The angel walked along the dock, studying the different boats. He paused a couple of times, examining a particular craft more closely, but he would move on again after a short time. When he’d traversed the entire row of boats, he shrugged.
“I’m no closer to picking than I was before,” he said. “This may take a while.”
Aliisza thought for a moment. Then inspiration struck. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
Tauran frowned. “Which boat feels right.”
The alu shook her head. “No,” she said, “not like that. Look at me. Now, what do you want to do more than anything?”
Tauran bit his lip. “To catch Zasian.”
“How?”
“By knowing what he’s planning.”
“Exactly,” Aliisza said. “Feel that. What is Zasian planning?” She looked at her other two companions. “Fix that in your mind.”
The alu followed her own advice. She closed her eyes and imagined the priest, pictured his face. She watched him, studied him, waited for him to act. Then, she imagined which boat would carry her to Zasian, to his next step.
The choice came to her suddenly and clearly.
Aliisza opened her eyes just as Kael said, “It’s that one.” He was pointing to her own choice.
“Yes,” Kaanyr agreed, and Tauran nodded beside him.
“Let’s go,” the angel said, and they boarded the boat together.
The boatman untied the moorings and pushed the craft away from the dock. The boat moved into the open water and began to pick up speed on its own. The archon stood silently at the stern, occasionally dipping a single paddle into the water to adjust the heading slightly, but he did not row or pole the craft forward.
“Where are we going?” Kaanyr asked. “Or must we choose that, too?”
“I think we do,” Kael said.
Aliisza filled her mind with images of Zasian again. She pictured him planning, plotting, scheming. As she did so, subtle hints came to her about the way to follow. The course the boat set seemed to acknowledge her thoughts.
Or maybe Tauran’s, or all of us, she thought.
Whatever the circumstances, whenever she glanced at her companions, they all were just as keenly observant of where the craft was taking them, and they all seemed equally as content.
The boat glided along the black water, leaving the docks far behind, until Aliisza could not remember which set of torch lights indicated its location. She peered all around, studying the various points of light. Most seemed to lie along the shores of the subterranean lake, but many more sat up high, perhaps on shelves of cave wall or hanging from the ceiling. She was never certain, for they didn’t illuminate much. They simply hovered, distant pinpricks of light against a tapestry of night.
The alu stared down into the water. It was as black as the very depths of the earth, and she could see nothing there—until without warning, they passed over a point where faint light shone up from far, far, below. At first she thought it was just a trick of her mind, a reflection from overhead, but when she looked up and saw dozens of other pinpoints of light there, she knew the water somehow did not mirror them.
Whatever was down there was real, and deep.
“That way,” Tauran blurted after they had been traveling for some time. “We need to go over there.” He pointed to a set of lights slightly up from the water level.
Aliisza frowned. It did not feel right to her. “Are you sure?” she asked, sensing that they should keep going straight.
“No,” Kael said, “I don’t think that’s right.”
Tauran looked at them. “Concentrate,” he said
. “I know that’s where we ought to go.”
Aliisza focused her attention once more on Zasian and his impending actions, but the sense that they should continue straight grew stronger. Before she could express her disagreement, though, Kaanyr spoke up.
“No, you’re leading us astray, angel,” he said. “We need to visit those lights over there.”
Aliisza opened her eyes to look where the cambion pointed and felt just as confused. “Both of you are wrong,” she said. “We need to keep going forward.”
“I agree with Aliisza,” Kael said. “It’s somewhere ahead, not to either side.”
“No,” Tauran argued, adamant. “I can feel this. It’s right.”
“And I say you’re all wrong,” Kaanyr countered. “I am certain we must go this way over here.”
Aliisza frowned. “Boatman,” she said, “what are we doing wrong?”
The archon bowed his head slightly at being addressed. “It is said that sometimes, different beings seeking the same knowledge must visit different points of the same path. Perhaps each of you is right, in his or her own way.”
The four companions looked at one another.
“I know that what I seek is over there,” Tauran said, pointing in the direction he had desired before. “I don’t know what each of you is imagining, but if we want to stop Zasian, we will find the answers there.”
Aliisza knew she felt just as strongly that she would only find what she was looking for if she headed the way she wanted to go. “Boatman,” she said, “must we travel within your craft to reach our goals?”
The archon frowned. “I know of no one who has left a boat before,” he said, “but then, I have only been serving as a guide for eleven hundred years; not long at all. I am not aware that it is forbidden or impossible.”
“Then I propose we each take our own way,” Aliisza said. “We each believe we will find Truth where our imaginations are taking us. Let’s go our separate ways and find what we seek. We can meet back at the dock when we’re finished.”
“I don’t like it,” Tauran said. “It could prove disastrous.”
The Fractured Sky Page 23
