What Lies Within (Book 5)

by Martin Ash

  Leth recalled what Anacissia had said the night before: that the woman he sought, the mother of his two children, was alive and seeking him. She had spoken with such conviction, though she could not truly know of whom she spoke. How could he give credit to her words? And even if he did - and his need was so great that he clung more fully than he was aware to the hope that she had inspired - even if he did, where was he to begin to search? And what perils was he subjecting Galry and Jace to?

  The notion passed briefly across his mind of leaving the children temporarily in the care of Anacissia and Bicault. He had little doubt that the kindly couple would be more than happy to take them, and it would leave him better able to concentrate on the tasks that lay before him. The childrens' lives were at risk as long as they remained with him. Count Harg, if he had survived the shademorgs, would stop at nothing to find Leth again. And if he had perished, Urch-Malmain would send others, equally heartless and determined. Thus, would Galry and Jace not be safer for the time being with Anacissia and Bicault?

  Leth pondered this, then abruptly rejected the idea. He could not bear to be separated from his children again. Bicault's situation was far from safe. Leth had already made provision for him and his family to leave their home. If they did so, and took Galry and Jace, how would Leth ever know where they had gone?

  'Sir Clun, take Linka,' said Bicault, breaking the flow of Leth's thoughts. 'You will need her. We can purchase another mare - indeed, with what you have given us we can buy a whole herd and more!'

  Leth shook his head. 'You have yet to realize coin from the ring and wristlet, and there is nowhere close by where you can safely do that. You will have need of Linka. I want only what I came with, plus perhaps a few provisions to keep hunger at bay.'

  'Well then, you must take this also, and I will accept nothing but 'yes',' Bicault urged. In the flat of his hand he held a small leather pouch, open at the neck. Leth saw coin within. 'Gorro did well at market. It will enable you to buy a horse of some description along your way, to ease your journey. Take it. We have sufficient coin.'

  Leth hesitated, for a moment embarrassed, then accepted.

  'The village of Little Sprike lies about two leagues northwest of here,' Bicault said. He pointed into the woods. 'If you go that way you will come to a forest road that leads directly there. Seek out the farmer, Jalibir, and mention my name. He will sell you a decent mount at a fair price. Can you use a bow?'

  Leth nodded. Bicault unslung his own bow and quiver of arrows. 'Then take these. I have another at home.'

  Leth took the bow and arrows, then rose and gently coaxed his two children to their feet. He took the sapphire armour and some items of food and a water flask from Linka's back. Bicault helped him to strap on the armour. Gorro had climbed down from his tree and joined them. He passed his eyes admiringly over the armour. 'Such craftsmanship. I’m no expert, yet I would say it has been fashioned by an extraordinary hand.'

  'I think you would be right,' said Leth, but offered no further explanation.

  'The warriors who held you captive, Sir Clun,' Gorro said, 'if they live are they likely to come to our home again, seeking vengeance?'

  Leth considered. 'They did not set eyes on either of you, hence they have no reason to connect you with our escape. Nor will they expect me to return to you. No, they believe me bound for Enchantment's Reach, so I see no reason why they would seek you out. All the same, there are good reasons why you should leave your home, at least for a while, reluctant though you may be. I have explained as much to your father. These are troubled times, Gorro. Wyslow Water is no longer a safe haven for you. I charge you with the task of prevailing upon your parents to heed my advice.'

  Gorro nodded sombrely, then held out his hand. 'Go well then.'

  They grasped hands, then Leth turned and warmly embraced Bicault. 'A man is rich when he knows he has friends such as you.'

  Bicault stood tearfully, but could barely find words. He ruffled the children’s hair. 'You be careful now. All of you.'

  He turned, taking Linka's tether, and walked away with Gorro behind. Leth watched them go, holding his children’s hands, his heart full in his breast. Bicault and Gorro stopped once and turned and briefly waved, then moved on and were quickly swallowed by the forest's deep.

  Leth heaved a sigh. He looked up through the trees at the bright sky, then slung Bicault's bow and quiver across one shoulder, and with Jace and Galry once more at his side, walked away into the shadows.

  SEVEN

  i

  In Triune's tower, somewhere within Enchantment, Queen Issul paced feverishly back and forth. The three Triune children were before her, making meticulous adjustments to the golden disks which hovered about the edge of the energetic haze within its circlet of incandescent filaments. In the haze two scenes could now be discerned, alternating in accordance with Triune's modulations of the disks.

  The first scene was static. It showed the dense woodland where the tail of the worm hung in the air: the opening of the Portal from Orbelon's world through which the knight clad in armour of sapphire blue had tumbled with Issul's two young children, Prince Galry and Princess Jace. The portal opening had faded from the flaring purple glare that had marked their arrival, to become a barely perceptible cloudy smear again.

  Triune had declared that the worm's tail had been stabilized. 'It is not by our doing. For reasons we cannot be sure of Urch-Malmain has elected to hold it steady in this one place, wherever that may be.'

  The second scene also showed the forest, but it was not stable. It presented the view of the second seeking eye which, in response to Issul's and Orbelon's requests, Triune had dispatched to the worm's tail in the hope of tracking the sapphire knight. This second eye had arrived at the site of the portal opening within a couple of hours of the knight and children coming through. The seeker immediately commenced combing the surrounding forest, but it was a device designed for observation rather than tracking. It lacked the ability to seek out with any degree of precision the minute telltale signs left by the sapphire knight. Hence within minutes its search had become more or less random.

  Sometime later there had been another event at the worm's tail. Six warriors were seen to arrive through the portal. Their leader was a tall man of notable pallor, quite young, with long dark hair, a neat black moustache and eyes almost as vibrant blue as Triune's. The other five were grim-visaged fighters by their appearance, of non-human origins.

  The six acted with immediacy and purpose. They scoured the area in the close vicinity of the portal, quickly determined the direction the sapphire knight had taken, and set off in pursuit.

  'Call back the second eye!' Issul had cried. 'It must follow these warriors. They will be easier to track and are plainly searching for the knight.'

  Triune had complied, but it took almost an hour for the second seeking eye to return to the portal. Issul had pleaded with Triune to send the first seeker - which still observed the tail of the worm - after the six warriors while their trail was fresh. But Triune feared losing the portal, and refused. By the time the second seeker arrived the six were long gone. Hence the seeker set out after them with barely any more success than before.

  But earlier, minutes before the appearance of the sapphire warrior and Issul's children, the observers had witnessed another curious phenomenon. Orbelon had positioned himself beside Triune's circular black tablet in order to briefly observe Urch-Malmain. Urch-Malmain had been seen to be in a cell-like chamber in which, from all appearances, he was unwillingly confined. He was hammering at the door and shouting, though no sound was actually carried via the black tablet. Also in the chamber were two bloodied warriors, one apparently dead, the other grievously injured. And lying upon a litter to one side was, to Issul's mystification, a Karai corpse.

  'What is happening here?' she had whispered, and no one answered. All eyes were glued intently to the scene before them.

  Then the middle-child Triune had stepped over and passed a hand above the
tablet. Its surface rippled and was returned to vertiginous empty obsidian in which nothing could be seen, though a sense of endless depth prevailed. 'Prolonged surveillance increases the risk of Urch-Malmain's detecting us, and hence taking steps to avoid us,' Triune explained. 'We must not lose him now. We will observe again in a little while.'

  Triune moved away; the three children mused to themselves. 'This is most extraordinary. Urch-Malmain, trapped within a chamber? His powers must be greatly reduced.' All three turned to Orbelon. 'Does he remain within you? Are you sure?'

  'In regard to Urch-Malmain I feel as I felt before. It is my belief that he remains trapped within my world.'

  'But within a cell?' The three white-haired child heads shook questioningly.

  Subsequently, as the tripartite god worked with the golden disks, Orbelon stationed himself again at the black tablet. With Issul and Shenwolf beside him he reported that Urch-Malmain was no longer in the cell. The Noeticist was apparently instructing the six warriors who, moments later, came through the Portal.

  'This sapphire knight, then, whoever he may be, has fled Urch-Malmain with my children,' declared Issul. 'And these others have been sent by Urch-Malmain to find them, or him.'

  'That would be my estimation,' Orbelon agreed.

  'And . . . what? Bring them back? Kill them?'

  Nobody answered.

  'And the sapphire knight - he is the one I saw in the forest, when I was Gordallith's prisoner. Does he menace Jace and Galry, or is he their saviour? And Leth? Orbelon, where is he?'

  Orbelon slowly twisted his bundled head from side to side. 'Nothing is clear just now.'

  'We must consider this,' Triune said. 'We wonder, why did Urch-Malmain stabilize the Portal?'

  'Can it have been the knight who stabilized it?' enquired Orbelon. 'And Urch-Malmain now maintains its stability while his warriors pursue and reclaim the knight, and perhaps the children?'

  'The entities who comprise the Portal should take instructions only from their employer, Urch-Malmain.'

  'Unless he has greatly displeased them, or broken their compact in some way.'

  'We must give it more thought.'

  'No, we have to do something, immediately!' Issul declared.

  The three Triune children turned as one to look at her. 'Why? And what?'

  Issul took a moment before replying. She was beginning to perceive that Triune's questions were not prompted by malice or capriciousness, but rather by an infuriating alien curiosity that was in essence almost innocent, not unlike that of a child. She collected her thoughts and said, 'Apart from the simple fact that they are my children, who I dearly love and for whose lives I fear, I feel that it can only be useful for you to speak to these warriors. They are servants of Urch-Malmain, and almost certainly denizens of Orbelon's world. Furthermore, it would be useful to know how and why Urch-Malmain comes to be in possession of a Karai corpse.'

  Triune mulled upon this, then the middle child said, 'Tell us, tell Triune, in what way would this bring us benefits?'

  'Well surely you can see that!' she flared, her exasperation rising.

  The three children put their heads together in brief murmured conference, then turned back to her. 'We are not sure that we have true union with these things.'

  Orbelon said, 'It may not be to our best advantage to actually reveal ourselves to these warriors. If they are planning to return to Urch-Malmain it would be better that they had no tales to tell.'

  Issul's voice shook. 'They may be going to kill my children!'

  'I do not know what we can do,' said Triune.

  'Let us go there.' The voice was Shenwolf's, who had been standing quietly beside one wall, observing and listening. Now he walked across to stand at Issul's shoulder. 'If you will do nothing else, at least let us go, Queen Issul and I, so that we may try to locate and rescue her children.'

  'Are you not losing sight of your goal?' Triune enquired. 'You brought Orbelon here in order that you might empower him by reuniting him with his Soul. We too seek Union with our Soul. Yet now you want to go off chasing bandits in the woods.'

  'My argument is that you might by this means learn more about Urch-Malmain,' Issul persisted. 'And surely you want that? He was one of those responsible for disempowering you - you and Orbelon - and severing you from your Souls. He may even know where your Souls are to be found.'

  'No, that is not your argument,' the tallest Triune child replied stiffly. 'Your argument is that you are prepared to drop all else so that you can be reunited with your offspring. Emotion has overcome reason. It is a common failing among creatures of the realized world.'

  'I have brought Orbelon here, as I agreed to do. But beyond that I can be no help,' Issul remonstrated. 'You know that I can’t travel within Enchantment.'

  The Triune child motioned with a hand towards Shenwolf. 'He carries protection: Urch-Malmain's talisman. We have similar items.'

  'And then what? You don’t know where your Soul lies. Would you have me search all Enchantment?'

  'Strymnia knows,' said Triune.

  'But she is not within your grasp, and Urch-Malmain is.'

  'We have already explained, she may be.'

  'Then why would you send me to her?' Issul shouted.

  Triune's six fabulous blue eyes stared at her. 'Are you angry?'

  Issul turned away, barely able to speak. Were they playing games? Triune? Orbelon? Perhaps even Strymnia and Urch-Malmain? She - Issul - was of no consequence. Her land, her people. . . these things meant nothing to them. They existed only to continue their age-old conflict. Whatever they did, knowingly or not, was subservient to that end. How could she ever hope to understand or gain the help of beings like these?

  Orbelon seemed to be looking at her keenly. 'No, not I, Issul. Surely you must understand that by now?'

  She stared back at him in astonishment. Does he read my thoughts?

  'Think, Issul,' Orbelon said. 'Think of all I have told you.'

  Through a clamour of new thoughts Issul was aware of hearing Triune say, 'We believe we will wait awhile. Our seekers will continue to seek. We will see what transpires.'

  A shift, a blur before Issul's eyes, and she understood that she was elsewhere.

  ii

  She stood in a round chamber which had neither windows nor doors. Shenwolf was at her side.

  The chamber was sparsely furnished, containing only two palliasses and a simple wooden table with a pair of chairs beneath. The floor was a single massive stone slab, relieved by a plain green rug at its centre. The walls were formed of interlocking stone blocks, the ceiling an unadorned, unbroken low dome of smooth grey marble. Issul emitted a cry of anger and frustration, which reverberated dully in the mild air.

  A wisp appeared and asked if they wished to eat or drink.

  'I want to return to Triune!' Issul declared vehemently.

  'That is not my role. I come only to offer refreshment,' replied the wisp.

  Issul said nothing more. Shenwolf admitted to both hunger and thirst, then watched in amazement as the requested foods appeared on platters, coming through the stone wall itself and floating to the table.

  When the wisp had gone Shenwolf examined the wall where the food had appeared. He found it to be solid. He tested elsewhere, with the same result. Shaking his head he tried the food. It seemed normal and tasty. He abandoned all attempts at explanation and sat down to eat.

  Issul took but a few mouthfuls. She could barely swallow. She drank a little water, stood, strode across the chamber, then returned. Eventually she seated herself on one of the palliasses, her head tipped back against the wall. Hours passed. Issul found little to say. From time to time she rose as before in a sudden burst of pent-up energy and furiously paced the chamber, then sighed and threw herself down again. Shenwolf too kept his thoughts more or less to himself. Eventually Shenwolf, and then Issul, slept, uneasily and for only short periods at a time. And when Orbelon appeared before her, Issul could not be sure whether she was awake
or dreaming.

  'What’s happening?'

  'We have been in discussion, Triune and I. I have also been reflecting ever more deeply upon this ineffable wonder of what I have become. How it has come about . . . the meaning of it. . . Such a paradox. A world, a universe even, existing within me, somehow becoming, out of dormancy and unconsciousness and eons of striving without knowing that this had to be the true purpose of that striving. So fragile, and yet without the conflict of my kind it could never have been . . . I begin to see a new pattern for we, who are the manipulators of Creation and the profound, awesome energies of Potentia, transforming everything that seeks to be.'

  Issul gripped her lower lip between her teeth. Marvel or not, just now her interest in Orbelon's state was low, but she made no comment.

  'Now a conjunction, a point of merging and exchange between worlds,' Orbelon continued. 'They are no longer separate. Is this more than it appears? Is it in the great cosmic weaving, a component of the design?'

  'You're the god. You tell me,' riposted Issul caustically.

  'Now, Issul, child, cynicism does not become you. I know you are not blind to the wonder of this.'

  'Perhaps. But as you dwell now upon the world within you, as you dream of seeing it grow and become, seeing it find its purpose and potential, so I feel about my children. They came from within me. They are my life and my world, as much as is Enchantment's Reach, and moreso than I am myself. I want them to grow and become and discover themselves and what they might achieve. But I have seen them taken from the unknown dangers of your world and cast helpless back into the dangers of this. They are menaced, if not by the sapphire knight who brought them here, then certainly by the warriors who pursue them, and by the conflicts that embroil our land. I know all this and can do nothing, for I am trapped here, waiting while gods contemplate creation.' She broke off, her voice catching in her throat. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. She pressed her fist against her upper lip, looking away. Her eyes fell upon Shenwolf curled upon his palliasse, oblivious to the conversation.