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shattered it, this time before it was well started on its journey.
“Let us speak to your leader Sovag!” he shouted.
“And let you destroy him with that accursed thing in your hand?”
“It can be used only for protection,” Teron called back. “I do not use it to destroy needlessly.”
The silence that followed told Teron a conference was being held. He glanced toward Eldra. Her eyes had been closed, but now they were open and he could see a deep sadness filling them.
“Korox and Roosk have prepared the Whitelanders well,” she said. “They believe we are here to,open the Gate and free Udrig.”
Teron cried out again: “Let us speak with Inge, who escaped from Fenn. She will tell you who we are and why we’ve come.”
“If we allow you to land, you do so as our prisoners and with your hands empty of that accursed stone smasher.”
Teron laid the spellstaff on the deck. “Agreed.”
Davok swore. “You are a fool, spellmaker. I say give one good sweep with that staff and rid us of them.”
"And leave no Guardians of the Gate?” Teron answered.
The current continued to sweep them onward, around curve after curve in the narrow, walled channel. They broke into gentle water filling a wide bay. Piers jutting outward were lined with fishing boats, but there was space near the left end, and Teron had Davok steer them there.
A half-dozen men in tunics reaching from shoulder to knee and leggings laced well up their calves stood waiting. Each man carried a sword and a spear; none showed signs of friendliness. Behind them, tied sahrs showed how they had come so quickly down from the cliff top.
One was taller and wider than the rest. He strode for
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ward when they stepped from their small boat. “I am
Skoog, leader of warriors.”
“Teron, spellmaker of Korv, recently joined to die Seventh of Erul.”
Davok growled angrily as one of the warriors passed them and picked up the spellstaff. Teron said softly, “Do as they order. The time for fighting is not yet.” “Will there be a time?”
“There will,” Teron promised.
Roped onto sahrs, they were led along a winding path through the chill of coming night. Teron said, “It won’t be long now. Once we meet Sovag and have Inge speak for us, they’ll understand the truth.”
Skoog glared at him. Tnge. You’ll see her soon enough. You’ll be in the same prison. And may Inge and the traitors that she brought with her rot along with you!”
XV
THE VALLEY OF THE WHITELANDEBS was like a long, narrow gash hacked into a hunch of stone. Looking up at the toothed mountains tipped with frozen white rain, he no longer wondered at the country’s name; he wondered that men had managed to survive here. There was little land flat enough for cropping, and a fair portion of that seemed to be used to graze their few meat animals.
Since Skoog rode just ahead of him, Teron asked, “How do you Whitelanders keep from hunger in the time of long nights?”
Skoog scowled back at him. “That’s a poor question
for a wizard to ask.”
“I’m no wizard,” Teron told him. “I’m the spellmaker of Korv.”
“How many spellmakers has this Korv?” Skoog asked with rough mockery. “At least two—Korox and yourself.
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Does it produce spellmakers as some countries produce
grain?”
Teron attempted no reply but set to work freeing himself from his thong bindings. Having done so, he directed his sahr alongside Skoog’s.
“Guards!” Skoog’s high coloring paled.
“Have no fear,” Teron mocked in his turn, but softly. “I won’t cast a spell on you. But I might on that impostor, Korox. Spellmaker, is he! Sidris! He knows not the least part of spellmaking. And if he’s ever been to Korv, I’ll willingly bare my neck to that sword you carry.”
Skoog hesitated before he said, “Korox warned us to beware the smoothness of your tongue. Now submit.”
Teron glanced around. Four of Skoog’s warriors had surrounded him, but they held their sahrs well away from his. He grinned. “Release the Seventh and Davok of Fenn. We came to see Sovag. May we not be comfortable on our way to Noreth? We have no intention of flying off into space.
Skoog bound the spellstaff securely to his saddle on the side away from Teron. Then he said to the guards, “Make the others comfortable.” He turned back to Teron. “I have your promise that none of you will seek to escape.”
“Yes,” Teron said, and added in the singing White- land tongue, “A man who holds not to a promise is no man.”
To his surprise the guards drew further back from him. Even Skoog moved away, and he used his free hand to draw a cabalistic sign. “You speak a sacred language, wizard. Take care!”
Teron said offhandedly, “I am the second son of the spellman of Korv, and thus a spellmaker. But I am also a scholar, as spellmakers are ordained to be. This is a truth any traveler can tell you. Does Korox make the same claim? Can he use your sacred tongue?”
Silently, he hoped Skoog wouldn’t test him further. Beyond memorizing the contents of the Zarza Compen
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dium of Aphorisms and learning the moving, ancient Saga of the Whitelands, Teron’s knowledge of the language was nil,
Skoog scowled instead of answering. Teron prodded him back to the original subject. “What of the answer to my question? I can’t believe that people empowered to hold Udrig in his prison would starve themselves through the long darkness.”
“We preserve meats and fish and grow enough grains for our needs,” Skoog snapped. “Now save your tongue trickery for Sovag. Im a warrior, nothing more.” Teron let his sahr drift back until he was alongside Eldra and Davok. She whispered, “What was the reason for all that, Teron? Were you seeking to anger him?” “No, to plant suspicion of Korox in his mind.”
“It is useless,” she said. “While you railed at him, I probed. Without realizing it, he has become Korox’s man. His is a simple mind, even as he admitted just now.”
“What of Korox?” Teron demanded. “Have yon been
able to seek him out?”
“He has his mind well guarded, just as it was when he passed over us on the Cold Sea.”
“The time will come when he drops his guard,” Teron said. “Then we must be ready so we can learn what he plans to do.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand why he hasn’t sent drig against us. Your sun spell was superb but not drig destroying.”
“It sent them running for safety,” Eldra said absently. “I cannot understand Korox’s methods either. We must just wait and see.”
Before riding away from her side, Teron said, “When we are in Sovag’s presence, try to determine how deeply Korox has affected him.” He grinned at Davok. “And you stay quiet. They hate you as a slave-taker and an invader. They only think I’m a liar.”
Davok nodded, and Teron moved alongside Skoog once more. They rode along the valley in silence. As they neared the far end, Teron saw that the mountain
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walls split apart to form a narrow opening, hardly visible at this distance. Skoog pointed a little to the right of the opening, “Noreth.”
Teron saw the little city just before Skoog spoke. It sat on a flat; a small compact community surrounded by stone walls. The buildings were low, with sharply pitched roofs. One rose slightly above the others and Teron assumed it was the castle.
Their party entered the well-guarded gate and passed along narrow streets sparsely peopled by the curious. Despite the fact that some of the Whitelanders had dark hair while others had hair as pale as daylight, there was a likeness between them which Teron could not immediately account for. It did not simply arise from the surface similarity of their faces which appeared to be flatter than those of peoples living alon
g the edge of the Warm Sea. The strange resemblance was deeper than that And then he knew what made them so homogenous: the brooding tiredness that dragged at their bodies, drained animation from their faces. He had seen the same elsewhere but never lying shadowed in every man. The terrible necessity for all to work harder than they could to survive. The mantle of want lay heavy on all Whitelanders.
“If,” Teron remarked to Skoog, “your people had the land of Fenn and this Valley, they would have soil enough to grow more grain and raise more meat. They wouldn’t have to work themselves to the point of exhaustion throughout their lives.”
“The land of Fenn!” Skoog said scornfully. “Korox has promised that when he has brought Eliff to destroy Udrig, we will have one of the richer lands by the Warm Sea. For then we need no longer guard the Gate.”
“Korox is a mighty man—with his tongue,” Teron remarked, and fell silent.
The larger building Teron had seen as they approached Noreth was indeed the castle. They stopped in front of it. All three prisoners ware escorted inside.
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Slcoog led the way, six guards flanking Teron and Eldra but none of them walking close by. The guards with Davok not only stayed close to him, they took tons pushing and shoving him with apparent pleasure.
In the central room seated on a simple hide chair was a thin, dark-visaged man. He wore the same garb as Skoog but a medallion of beaten gold hung from a heavy chain around his neck. On the medallion, as on the wall above him, was the stylized head of a fully antlered yarbuck. The man gazed at the approaching group with cold, expressionless eyes.
Teron whispered to Eldra, “Seek to learn his thoughts.”
Skoog inclined his head slightly, “Sovag, I bring the impostors Korox warned us of.”
“We came of our own free will,” Teron interrupted. “Ask your warrior, Skoog, if I did not cast my ropes aside as if they were spider webs. We could have left had we chosen.”
“But you did not. Why?” The voice of Sovag was the voice of cold reason.
“This is Eldra, the true Seventh of Erul,” Teron said. “I am spellmaker of Korv with the blood of.Vacor thin but true in my veins. She and I are joined so we may aid Eliff in destroying Udrig, who grows stronger with each turn of Zarza about its axis. We are here to prevent Udrig’s strength from growing great enough to consume all Zarza.”
“Does he not speak just as Korox said he would?” Skoog demanded.
“What proof have you that you tell the truth and Korox lies?” Sovag asked reasonably.
Teron said, “Before I give that proof, let me ask what your intent toward us is.”
“Tonight you shall be imprisoned with those White- land people who fell under your power in Fenn. If by the morrow you haven’t proved to me that you tell the truth and that Korox—who came to us from the sky above—has lied, then you will all be taken to the Place of Destruction. It is the law. Those who commit treason
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or sacrilege or threaten the Guardians of the Gate must be sent to the Place of Destruction.”
“Already he has committed sacrilege,” Skoog thundered. “With my own ears, I heard him use the sacred tongue.”
Teron said in singing Whiteland speech,
“And two will come from the heavens Blown on the sky wind.
And two will come from the sea Blown on the water wind.
And two will be evil,
Seeking to free mighty Udrig.
And two will be good,
Seeking to help those holding Udrig . . .”
“Sacrilege!” Skoog cried. “From his own mouth you heard the sacred speech!”
Teron said, “Before you fall asleep this night, Sovag, ask yourself—which two are. the good and which are the evil.”
“I have the answer already,” Sovag said.
“Answers may be right or wrong,” Teron mused. "What is the answer to this question: to whom would Eliff have given the gift of your Saga in the sacred speech, a good man or a bad man? Has Korox sung of the old time before your fire as you would sing?”
“Any child knows the tale of how Eliff imprisoned Udrig,” Skoog sneered.
“In the Whiteland speech?” Teron asked.
"You claim this?” Sovag demanded.
“I claim it,” Teron said. “As the second son of the spellman of Korv, trained as scholar and spellmaker, I claim it. I deny that Korox can claim as much.”
Sovag waved a hand at Skoog. “See them to their prison. I will hear this honey-tongued one again in the morning.”
“Korox foretold their tale. I say we waste time,” Skoog
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said. “Send them to the Place of Destruction this night.”
“I gave him until the morrow,” Sovag said. “I will not change my word.”
On foot and closely guarded they were led through Noreth’s streets to the city hall which held the prison. Skoog put the three of them into a single, small cell. He slammed the heavy wooden door that separated them from the city.
“You wanted to speak with Inge,” he shouted. “Then do so. She is in the cell on your right.” His laugh boomed out. “If you can talk through solid stone, wizard.” _
As soon as Skoog and his fellow warriors departed a soft tapping came from the right hand wall. One of the stones making up the wall wriggled as though alive. In a moment it was drawn from sight and Inge’s face appeared in its place.
“Skoog is as big a fool as he sounds,” she said. She smiled. “Welcome, Teron and Eldra.” Her eyes moved past them. “I see that the prisoners have a prisoner of their own,”
Davok scowled. “I am their ally against Korox.”
"You think Korox fears him?” Inge demanded of Teron.
“No. But he may become useful,” Teron murmured, stepping close to the wall. He shivered, rubbing his hands over his arms. “It is chill in here. How do you Whitelanders keep warm during the long darkness when the white rain falls and stays on the ground?”
Inge showed surprise. “Why from the warm waters of the Place of Destruction.”
Teron frowned his lack of understanding, and she said, “The Gate that imprisons Udrig in his valley of ice lies at the far end of the Sacred Vale. In front of the Gate is the Tube.”
“Ah,” Teron murmured. His mind went back to the time when, as a scholar, he had learned the Saga of the Whitelands. It seemed very long ago. “Do I recall rightly? After Udrig was imprisoned by those from suns be
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yond Zarz—those who served Eliff.” His memory yielded to his efforts:
“And from the depths of Zarza From the depths of its bowels,
The heaven spirits brought the Tube..."
“Ah, you sing like a true Whitelandcr,” Inge said. “We don’t understand where the Tube goes, but the ground behind it is full of cracks and small pools of burning mud. From the cracks come jets of steam and boiling water. It is this heat we tap with clay pipes and bring into our city to heat us through the long darkness."
Eldra said, “All my life I have heard of the imprisonment of Udrig and the vigilance of the Guardians of the Gate. Are they the ones who tend the Tube? And what is it? What does it do?”
“No one knows,” Inge said. “But when the night is very dark, you can see a faint, pinkish light come from the opening of the Tube. It spreads across the mouth of the valley of ice, and up over its top like a lid to the ice mountains that hold the valley. And inside is Udrig."
Teron said:
“And from the Tube comes the power,
The power that is the Gate, the Gate that imprisons Udrig.”
He murmured, “A faint, pale pinkish light. I have seen the same from my spellstaff. Perhaps it is the same power but many times greater.” He nodded. “So it must be. For the men from the heavens who imprisoned Udrig gave to the first spellman of Korv the black box and the spellstaff—and both were to be used only for good fo
r all time.”
“If this power from the Tube weaves a cover over Udrig’s valley, how then do the drig get free?” Eldra demanded. “Are they not part of Udrig himself?”
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“I think the drig must be manifestations of Udrig’s mind just as the liffi are manifestations of ElifFs,” Teron reasoned. “They cannot be physical parts of him.”
“The ancient tale has it that there are tiny spaces where the Gate does not seal tightly against the walls of the valley of ice,” Inge said. “And it is through these spaces that the drig are able to come and go, carrying Udrig’s wishes and bringing back strength to nourish him. But I do not truly know. No one here has ever seen such a thing.”
Davok rumbled sourly, “If this is true, how can a spirit caller such as Korox expect to free Udrig?” He laughed coarsely. “What will he do, stuff Roosk into the Tube to stop the power?”
“It is no matter for joking,” Inge said sharply. “The task of the Guardians is to see that the mouth of the Tube is not blocked.”
“How could it be?” Teron wondered.
“Over the centuries the white rain has built up on the slopes of the Sacred Vale. At rare intervals some of the white rain breaks loose, bringing rock into the Vales with it. Then the Guardians rush out and free the mouth of the Tube, although usually the power gushing upward is enough to do the Guardians’ work for them.” She shuddered. “But if a large enough mass should block the Tube, even for the space of a few breaths, then surely Udrig would be able to free himself.”
“It must be a way to block the Tube for those few breaths that Korox seeks,” Teron said. He turned to Eldra. “We must enter Korox’s mind and learn his plan. The very life of Zarza will depend on the strength of our joining.”
XVI
“CAN YOU REACH him at all?” Teron stood with Eldra at
the barred window that looked across the flat fields to the high mountains. The night was heavily clouded, but
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Teron thought he could see a faint pinkish glow through the gap that opened into the Second Vale.
“He is not far away,” Eldra said, “but I cannot penetrate his thoughts.”
“Perhaps together...” He took her hand.
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