by Rick Shelley
Bay stopped right in the intersection, and Silvas dismounted.
"Lord Silvas, what has happened to us?" one of the humans in the group, March the miller, reeve of the village, asked.
"Someone has thrown a veil over us, Master March," Silvas said. "The world beyond is still there. We are merely cut off from it for the time being. An outsider wouldn't even know that our valley is here. The roads bend around us, as if we had disappeared from the face of the earth."
"We can't get out, and outsiders can't get in?" That came from one of the esperia, a farmer, first cousin to Koshka.
"Not at present, Eschmin," Silvas said. "It takes an effort even for me to penetrate the veil, and I have more power than I dreamed of a week past."
"Who attacks us?" March asked.
"I don't know of a certainty that it is an attack, or exactly who has cut us off from the world," Silvas replied. "I assume that it was one of the gods. It would take godly power to do this, or to make it difficult for me to pass through?"
"One of the gods?" Eschmin asked, an edge of fear showing in his voice.
"One of the old gods," Silvas said. There was a trace of a smile on his face now, but it was a grim smile. The villagers knew, on a superficial level at least, what had happened to Silvas and Maria, that they were themselves now gods. "It may even have been for our protection that the veil was erected," Silvas continued, though he could not convince himself that it was true.
"But how can we get goods in from outside?" March asked. "We don't make everything we need here."
"Salt, especially," Eschmin added. "Where will we find salt?"
"If the way remains blocked to normal commerce long, I'll see that we get whatever is needed," Silvas said. "The way is not closed to Maria and me."
"I have a cousin over in Darping on Wey," March said. "What will the folk there think when our village is missed?"
Silvas uttered a short laugh. "If the situation remains, we will become a myth, a reality outsiders cannot prove. But be at peace. I feel no threat in this fruity sky. So far, it is merely an annoyance."
"Will you be able to clear the veil from our sky?" another villager asked. "Will things ever be as they were?"
"It's too soon to know for sure," Silvas said. "But this valley is under our protection, and that is no mean blessing. And now, we have to check the rest of it. When I have word, I'll make sure you all hear what I learn."
Each of the other ways out of the valley was similarly blocked. On foot, Silvas and Maria could press through the veil with only a modest effort of will, but they could not rip the airy fabric of the barrier. It remained intact, hiding the valley of the Seven Towers from any mortal eyes.
Finally riding back to the castle after examining the last blocked road, Maria put words to the thought that she and Silvas shared.
"It seems we're not to be left in peace, after all."
Bay commented, "The battle is not over."
"I think we need to hold a Council, as quickly as possible," Silvas told them.
CHAPTER TEN
Bay withheld comment. A formal Council when they were not involved in the problems of some town or village away from the Glade was exceedingly rare. There had been one after the death of Auroreus, when Silvas became master of the Seven Towers. There had not been another until Prince Richard took the Cross and called for men to join the Second Crusade, and Silvas had debated answering the call. Those had been the only two instances in all of the centuries that Silvas had ruled the Seven Towers.
You speak of a Wizard's Council. But what of a Council of gods? Maria asked as they rode back toward the Glade.
Silvas turned to her and smiled. "It will be interesting to note any differences."
Bosc was, as usual, waiting in the bailey for the horses when Silvas and Maria returned to the Seven Towers.
"We won't wait for night, Bay," Silvas said as he dismounted. "Bosc, Maria and I are going to summon a Council, within the hour. I'll come for you as always. Sleep is no longer necessary." He had not sought that information. It was simply there, in his mind when it was needed.
Bosc looked startled, but quickly recovered. "Aye, lord. Whene'er you call."
"Fine. Do you know where Braf is? I'll want to speak with him before the Council."
"I'll find him for you, lord," Bosc said.
"Wait, never mind. I'll see to it," Silvas replied. He called Braf's name in his thoughts. Come to me in the library. He felt Braf's instant reply, and the surprise that accompanied it.
"We should have something to eat before the Council," Maria said as she and Silvas entered the keep. Satin and Velvet were waiting for them.
"I'm sure Koshka has something waiting for us." Silvas reached down to pet the cats. "We have work to do in a while, kittens." They angled their ears toward him and settled down quickly. Work always came before play.
"In the small sitting room," Maria said after probing outward to find where Koshka had their food. "Do you want it in the library instead?"
"No. We'll go to the library first to speak with Braf. Then we'll have time for our light repast before the Council."
Braf Goleg caught up with Silvas and Maria before they reached the library in the tower.
"What is it, lord? Something about the veil that hangs over us?"
"Bide a moment, Braf," Silvas said. "It will wait until we're comfortable."
In the library, Silvas and Maria sat on chairs close to each other and relaxed. At Silvas's insistence, Braf squatted near them. He was much more comfortable squatting than he ever could have been in a chair. Chairs were alien to gurnetz anatomy.
"What is it, lord?" Braf asked again.
"I have a request to make of you," Silvas said.
"Whatever you want of me, lord. You know that."
"Answer not before you know what I ask," Silvas said. "This is no command, nor anything to volunteer for without careful reflection. I will ask more of you now than I ever have before, friend Braf."
Braf hesitated for an instant before he nodded, but Silvas and Maria both felt the apprehension that flashed through the gurnetz's mind. "Ask what you will, lord." Braf's voice was softer than Maria had yet heard him speak.
"I ask you to be a permanent counselor to Maria and me, a member of my Wizard's Council," Silvas said.
"As Bay and Bosc are, lord?"
"Yes. You know the implications?"
"Mayhap, lord, but perhaps you should spell them out so I make no mistake?"
"Of course. There is power in this, Braf, but the responsibilities, and the price, are considerable. Bay and Bosc have been my counselors for hundreds of years, since the death of Auroreus. Barring disaster, they will continue to be my counselors for as long as I live and hold power."
Silvas paused then, watching Braf's eyes closely, giving the warrior time to consider the implications of what he had said. Wizards were not immortal, though their lives might be prolonged far beyond the span of Methuselah if they had been favored by one of the gods. But gods...
"And generations of my children, and their children, will age and die while I go on as I am?"
Silvas nodded slowly. "It's a heavy price, Braf, too heavy for many. I will not gloss over that. In time, it must lead to a separation, however hard you struggle against it. Your family will grow more and more distant until they scarcely recall that you are their ancestor. And there can be greater danger in Council than you have ever known defending the walls of the Seven Towers. I would welcome you warmly as a counselor, but I don't demand it. This must be your own free choice. I can't in good faith even counsel you to accept. There is no disgrace if you decline this burden. I'll not think less of you. Think carefully before you answer."
Braf rested his forearms on his legs and looked at the floor between his feet for a moment. Then he stood and paced across the library and returned to his previous spot, his eyes still on the floor. He turned toward Silvas then, but he was slow to raise his eyes.
"Lord, I've been your
servant since I was a pup. I know no other life. I ask nothing else. If you want me as your counselor, I can only accept and thank you humbly for the honor."
Silvas stared into Braf's eyes for a long moment before he nodded. "I thought such would be your answer. I honor your courage, as I always have. See to the disposition of your guards. I will summon a Council shortly. I'll come for you when the time is right. There, in Council, I'll ask you again for your decision. Nothing is final until that time. Think carefully over what you have agreed to. There will be no shame if you change your mind. A decision like this requires every opportunity for reflection."
"I will think on't, lord," Braf said, still subdued. "But I have taken my decision." He turned and left the library, his eyes still downcast.
"A hard decision for anyone," Maria whispered.
"I know." Silvas stood and reached for Maria's hand. When she stood, they embraced, briefly. "I feel for him. Braf takes such delight in his children."
"He will stand by his decision," Maria said.
"Yes, but there will be times when he doubts the wisdom of that choice. It took many tens of years for Bosc to fully accept it."
"And Bay?"
Silvas shook his head. "Bay is unique. There is no other like him in all the worlds I've seen. There have been times when I've almost felt as if I were his counselor."
—|—
Koshka had provided much more than a light snack for Silvas and Maria. There was almost a full meal waiting in the small sitting room—meat and cheese, bread and green onions, and ale, rather than wine. The last amused Silvas.
"He must think we have heavy work, indeed, ahead of us," he said after allowing himself a full laugh. "Or great thirst after our riding."
Maria took a long drink of the ale before she replied. "A good choice, perhaps. I am quite thirsty."
They ate quickly, unsuspected hunger pushing aside any delicacy of etiquette.
"Even if we no longer have real need of food, our state has certainly not robbed me of the desire," Maria said. "I have more appetite than I ever had before."
"Nor have I lost the craving for good food," Silvas agreed. They both laughed.
"Laughter," Silvas said then. He raised a hand, one finger pointed up. "It comes easily to us, even with the veil over our valley."
"As if there truly is no danger to it?" Maria asked.
Or danger blocked so completely from our view that we can't even see it, Silvas replied.
The rest of the meal was subdued.
"An hour and a bit more has passed," Silvas said eventually. "The others will be looking for me. For us."
With work about to begin, their minds were once more as one, attuned perfectly. They rose from the table together and climbed the stairs into the tower, going to the workroom above the library. This time, Silvas carried his wizard's staff, a thick quarterstaff tipped with silver on one end and iron on the other. Satin and Velvet accompanied them, and went directly to their protected circles along the perimeter of the workroom.
Maria went into the center of the pentagram with Silvas. They stood back to back, touching. When Silvas spoke the initial spells of defense and activation, Maria spoke in perfect unison. The two of them moved as if they were physically one, turning to the points and sides of the pentagram for each stanza of the preparatory spells, and when they sat, still back to back, the movement was identical. Seated cross-legged in the central pentagon of the display, they spoke the spells of separation as one. Both rose from their physical bodies in perfect Doppelgängers.
Maria looked down at the physical body she had left behind. She could see her mouth still speaking the words of the final spell. This was a first for her, and Silvas gave her a moment to satisfy her curiosity. They then held hands as they walked out of the pentagram and through the wall in their spirit bodies.
Bay was in his stall, sitting with his legs folded under him. Bosc was reclining on a bale of hay at the side of the stall. Unlike normal horses, Bay could be trusted not to gorge himself on any fodder left within reach. Silvas and Maria extended their free hands toward Bay, and he stood in the spirit and walked off through the wall, leaving his physical body behind. Then they gestured to Bosc, and he also rose out of his body to follow Bay.
Silvas and Maria went through the wall in another direction and came upon Braf Goleg in an upper room of one of the corner towers. There was no lapse of time in the passage. They had gone directly from workroom to stall as if they had been separated by only one wall. They passed from stall to tower the same way. Braf saw them come in through the wall, and he was obviously startled that he could see straight through them.
"Lie down and close your eyes," Silvas instructed. Braf quickly complied. "Breathe easily, as if preparing for sleep."
Silvas hesitated for only a moment before he continued. "Now stand up."
Braf stood up, coming out of his body.
"Look down at yourself," Silvas said. "Don't be alarmed. This is normal for a Council."
Braf looked closely at his physical body, noting that the chest still rose and fell in normal respiration. After a moment, he turned away from his resting body and looked to Silvas.
"I am ready, lord."
"Go through that wall to the others. We'll be right behind you."
—|—
The Council met in a place that had no true physical existence. It appeared to be a room, but it was too vaguely drawn to belong in the world of material being. The boundaries where ceiling, floor, and walls met were unclear, merging into each other in a way that made the junctions impossible to define with any great precision. The room was lit by an equally undefined light, showing neither source nor shadow. In the center of the room there was a round wooden table. Three chairs faced it, all on one semicircle. Silvas sat in the middle chair. Maria sat at his right, and Bosc at his left, equally spaced. Bay and Braf Goleg stood on the other side of the table. Even in the spirit, Braf would have found a chair uncomfortable. In the Council chamber, Bay did not seem so overwhelmingly large. Bosc and Braf seemed more of a height with the humans.
There was an almost palpable serenity to the room. Neither Bay nor Bosc showed any curiosity over the fact that Braf stood in Council with them.
"I have invited Braf Goleg to become a permanent member of this Council," Silvas announced. "You know of his faithful service as commander of our guard, and of his ancestors for untold generations. He has the mind and the heart to be part of this Council.
"Braf Goleg, I ask you again, with all of the cautions I spoke of earlier: Will you accept this responsibility?"
"I will, lord," Braf said.
"Do you accept it freely, knowing the dangers and cost?"
"I do, lord."
Silvas lifted his hands as if in priestly benediction. A rainbow of lights arced between his hands, then vectored across the table to surround the gurnetz, settling into the body of his spirit and making it appear—momentarily—almost solid. When the rainbow faded, Braf's form returned to the same near transparency as the others.
"You are now one of us, Braf. It has been many long years, centuries, since we have welcomed someone new to our numbers. The last was Carillia." Mentioning her name now, in Council, brought an unexpected pain to Silvas. He paused, willing his heart to remain calm, pushing aside the insistent memories of Carillia that flooded his mind.
"Maria is here now, not in Carillia's place, but because she shares the final gift of Carillia with me. She is me and I am her, in a way that none of us have ever known. We welcome you, Braf Goleg, and we thank you, with all that we are and have."
"I am yours to command, lord," Braf replied.
"We have much to consider," Silvas said, taking a slow look around the table. "Since the last time we met in Council, the Battle for Mecq has been concluded, Carillia has died, Maria and I have inherited her final gift, my old bonding to the Unseen Lord of the White Brotherhood—and my long missions in his behalf—are ended, we've been to the Shining City of the gods, a
nd the valley of the Seven Towers has been somehow quarantined. The villagers cannot leave the valley. Outsiders not only can't come into the valley, they can no longer even see it from beyond. I've felt no immediate threat from this barricade, but it is certainly an inconvenience to our people. It was probably intended as an insult to us. Unfortunately, even an insult can be dangerous among those with whom Maria and I must, to some extent, deal—the few who have the power to erect such a barricade. An insult not adequately countered is considered a sign of weakness to these gods, an invitation to further action. On a broader scale, there is the new state of our world to consider, the way that Britain and Ireland have apparently been sundered from Europe and turned about. Is there danger in this?"
As he talked, Silvas noticed differences between this Council and all of the sessions that had come before, when he was merely a wizard-potent. His words now served merely as introduction, or index, to each topic. Pictures seemed to float in the room as illustrations, as necessary, and more information touched each of the minds at the table with him. Communication was more complete, less subject to misinterpretation. Council had never been so inclusive before, not even when Carillia had spoken. Carillia had masked her divinity until the morning of her death. Silvas and Maria wore their new divinity openly.
"I am a newcomer to this Council," Maria said when Silvas finished speaking. "But I will not speak as you might expect a newcomer to. All of Silvas's past is open to me. We are one as much as we are two. I experience his memories as clearly as he can, and he experiences mine. But I do bring a new point of view. Aside from this shared past, I have my own past, my own outlooks. My body may be young. My spirit no longer is.
