Sands of the Soul s-5

by Voronica Whitney-Robinson

  Slowly, his hands turned brown, and Tazi realized he had nowhere to expel the toxin. She dropped the book and grabbed his hands. Tazi could feel some numbness at the point of contact and even saw her skin discolor, but before any more venom drained away, Steorf opened his eyes and realized what was happening. He yanked his hands free.

  "What were you thinking?" he demanded of Tazi, but she smiled when she saw his color was somewhat improved.

  "What I have to do," she answered. "Just like you, I'm doing what I have to for us.

  "I'll be fine," she assured him as she handed him back Ciredor's writings.

  Steorf gave her an unreadable look and started to sift through the dark works. Tazi could see that his eyes were clearer and he was no longer confused. Both she and Fannah kneeled beside him in the sand, their presence the only support they could offer him. Rather than feeling that same lingering frustration, Tazi thought she could actually sense Steorf drawing on their quiet strength.

  After some minutes, Steorf said, "Either I'm still out of my head, or this bit here is starting to make sense."

  "What does it say?" Fannah asked.

  "Most of this is really a treatise to his goddess. In fact, he goes on at some length about her and her virtues."

  "Shar is a goddess of darkness, though," Tazi said.

  "That is partially correct," Fannah replied. "Darkness is her element, but she rules over hidden pains and buried jealousies."

  "Why would anyone follow her?" Tazi asked.

  "Who can say what drives the soul or why anyone would do anything?" Fannah cryptically answered. "But I do know that she can bring relief and soothe deep pains."

  "She takes away pain?" Steorf asked curiously.

  "No," Fannah corrected him, "that's not quite accurate. It is more like she dulls the pain, and her followers simply live with it as a way of life. Sort of a perverse acceptance, really. She hates light and hope, I think, most of all."

  "Perhaps it is my pain that has helped me to finally understand Ciredor's writings better," Steorf murmured. "It has brought me closer to him."

  "How do you know so much about her?" Tazi wondered.

  "Remember," Fannah explained, "Sharess was once under her influence before she broke free. Our church was careful to school us in Shar's ways so that we can always recognize the dark one and never fall victim to her touch again."

  Tazi nodded at that.

  "Perhaps that's what makes you so special to Ciredor," she considered. "You are the ultimate representation of something Shar lost. A gift of loss to the very goddess of loss herself. I hate to admit it, but in his own perverse way he has probably found the only gift of value anyone could offer her."

  Fannah remained silent, and Steorf gave Tazi a cold look. She felt suddenly guilty. She had gotten caught up in Ciredor's thinking. It was the first time Tazi had spoken so objectively of Fannah's worth, as though she had forgotten what was at stake for her Calishite friend. The moment stretched out awkwardly, and Steorf buried his attention back in the writings.

  "There's more," he announced triumphantly. "He goes on about Shar for a stretch,"-he pointed to the marks on the vellum he had read-"and here is where he mentions discovering the perfect location for his heart. This has to be about the minarets."

  "What does it say?" Tazi asked, eager to have broken the strained silence.

  When she glanced at Fannah, Tazi could see her friend had never taken offence. You truly do see the person behind the words, she thought.

  Steorf squinted at the text and wiped at his forehead, distracted. Tazi scrutinized him and realized he was still far from well.

  "He says that the towers are perfect jewels within the desert and goes on about the views that he has. It seems he sees Spinning Keeps and rubble and somehow this is all so romantic to him."

  "What was that last part?" Fannah asked, instantly alert.

  "It said something about a Spinning Keep," Tazi told her.

  " 'And from the west I can almost see the Spinning Keep of Siri'wadjen, and from the east I can still imagine the former grandeur of Teshyll though it is all rubble now,'" Steorf recited.

  "I know where he is," Fannah said. "It makes perfect sense."

  "Where?" Tazi asked.

  "Ciredor has claimed the minarets in the very heart of both the Teshyll Wastes and the Calim itself, not all that far from where we are," she told them.

  "Then this is it," Tazi pronounced. "Now to decide the best way to proceed."

  She pondered the question, considering both Steorf and Fannah.

  "I have a suggestion," Fannah offered.

  "Please," Tazi urged.

  "The only path that makes any sense now is to take the Trade Way. It is mostly intact from here, and that will help us immensely."

  "And announce ourselves to Ciredor," Steorf added.

  Before Fannah could say anything more, Tazi told him, "I think he has always known where we were. When that worm attacked us, I was struck by the feeling that time and time again it turned to you."

  She fixed Steorf with a hard look.

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "The creature had more than one opportunity to kill Fannah or me, but it didn't. There wasn't a single time that thing used lethal force against us, but the same cannot be said for you.

  "Ciredor sent that thing," she concluded. "Obviously, he views you as the greatest threat, perhaps because of your sorcery."

  Steorf lowered his eyes.

  "Yes," he said sarcastically, "my all-powerful abilities."

  "Maybe there's something in this-"she held up some of the parchments-"that he didn't want us to find out. Well never know for certain, but I do know he wanted you eliminated. If he didn't have our exact location, he knew enough. He wanted me to bring Fannah to him," she said, disgusted. "He couldn't even be bothered to take her himself."

  "So?" Steorf asked.

  "So," Tazi replied with a steely resolve, "nothing has changed. Like I said before, let's bring this to him, and let's end it once and for all."

  "The Trade Way?" Steorf asked.

  "Fannah?"

  The blind woman turned her head from Tazi to Steorf and included them both in her white stare.

  "I think it is best. As I told you, the stones were constructed with powerful magic imbued in them. The desert worms cannot penetrate them, in case Ciredor tries to send any others. I think that the walking dunes would have the same difficulty as the worms.

  "Of course," she added, "it leads directly to the minarets we seek…"

  "And Ciredor," Steorf finished.

  "Then that's the way," Tazi said. "We will strike at the heart."

  She rose to her feet, as did Fannah.

  The women reached, in unison, for Steorf. He tried to swat their hands away.

  "If you're getting cranky," Tazi teased, "then you must be feeling a little better.

  "Save your strength," she said seriously, disregarding his efforts to stand unaided.

  She got him to his feet and pulled his left arm over her shoulder.

  "Please," she asked him, as much with her soft, green eyes than with her voice.

  "I never seem to be able to say no to you," he said, and for the first time in the history of their relationship, Steorf actually smiled at her.

  "Which way?" Tazi turned to Fannah, all businesslike again.

  "I am a little disorientated," the blind woman admitted. "Which way is the sun setting?"

  Tazi and Steorf turned to find the burning orb and were suddenly very aware of a growing gloom.

  Finally, Tazi said, "I believe it is toward your left."

  "What's wrong?" Fannah asked but then answered her own question. "It has cooled off, but it's too soon. We're not at sunset yet."

  Tazi scanned the horizon where the sun should have been and saw only a ghost of an outline. The star was obscured by a swirling haze, ever darkening. In the distance, Tazi heard a faint howl.

  "There's something to the west," she announced.


  Fannah stood perfectly still, with her head to the side, like a bird listening for a predator.

  "Sandstorm," she whispered. "Tazi,"-she turned toward her friend-"we have got to hurry now. Time is almost up. We should be able to reach Ciredor's minarets before the storm falls on us."

  Without any further preamble, Fannah took Tazi's arm and started to pull her two companions toward the west.

  As she had told them, the Trade Way was not far.

  *****

  The three came across what must have been a magnificent road at one point in its history. It was wide enough to accommodate three fully packed carts. Time and the desert, however, had taken its toll. Huge chunks of the pavement were broken, and sharp pieces stabbed up from the ground. A few sinkholes had erupted, and the threesome had to carefully maneuver their way around the gaping pits of sand and rubble. Not far from where they stood, though, Tazi and Steorf could see the twin minarets.

  "This path is huge," Steorf marveled.

  Tazi noticed he was trying not to place all his weight on her, but she tugged slightly on his arm.

  "It's all right," she told him.

  He looked at her, and in the fading light she could see that his gray eyes were clouded with pain and there were deep smudges under them.

  "You need your strength, too," he reminded her. To Fannah, he remarked, "It looks like you could ride six abreast on this road."

  "During the Way's halcyon days, I understand it was a marvelous route."

  To their left, Tazi and Steorf could see that the swirling sands were getting closer and closer. What surprised Tazi was the amount of sound the storm generated even at a distance. For the most part, the desert had been a deadly, but silent enemy.

  Not any longer, Tazi thought.

  "The storm is nearly upon us," Fannah remarked, her sharp ears missing nothing.

  "We've got to get to the towers," Steorf said, "as quickly as we can."

  Tazi watched how rapidly the darkness grew.

  "We've run out of time," she declared, and the maelstrom engulfed them.

  CHAPTER 16

  THE MINARETS

  "Where are you?" Tazi screamed.

  She, Steorf, and Fannah were on the Trade Way for only a short time when the sandstorm from the west reached them. At first Tazi thought it wasn't too bad. The sun hadn't set yet, and with the three of them side by side, Tazi didn't understand Fannah's extreme concern. It was not comfortable, by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't that bad, and the towers weren't that far away.

  We can do this, she thought.

  "I think we'll be all right," she told Fannah, raising her voice over the wind.

  Fannah shook her head in disagreement.

  "This is just the edge of the storm," she said. "It's only going to get worse."

  As they moved forward slowly, following the track of the Trade Way, the wind picked up as Fannah had warned, and Tazi started to revise her opinion. She and Steorf had to squint to keep the scathing grains out of their eyes. Tazi was certain she was losing layers of skin to the blasts of sand that only got stronger. The three had no choice but to hang onto each other, and at one point a wild gust tore Steorf's sack off his shoulders and tossed it behind them.

  Tazi turned to follow its tumbling course, one hand shielding her eyes.

  "I'll get it," she yelled to Steorf.

  Part of her still hoped the writings contained some clue of how to destroy Ciredor, and she didn't want to lose their last weapon against him.

  "Forget it," Steorf replied.

  Fannah simply shouted, "No!"

  Nevertheless, Tazi broke from their grip and trotted after the sack, which turned end over end just out of her reach.

  The wind pushed Tazi to the left, as though a giant hand shoved her, and she had to compensate for that as she ran. The sack, however, blew farther away. Eventually, as the sun started toward the horizon, Tazi lost sight of it. She slowed down and realized that Ciredor's writings were lost to the desert storm.

  And so was she.

  Tazi turned around and could only see growing darkness.

  She shouted for her friends, but the wind had reached such a frenzied pitch, Tazi couldn't even hear her own voice. She cupped her hands around her mouth and tried again, but there was only the scream of the storm. She stood and swayed as the winds buffeted her body.

  Curling her hands around her eyes, she desperately searched for any sign of Steorf and Fannah, but she saw nothing but ever-changing patterns of sand. It was dizzying. There was no end to the desert, no sky, and no ground below. There were only howls. She felt as though she was back within the gate. Her heart was pounding, and Tazi could taste her fear.

  That won't do me any good, she told herself sternly. Fannah and Steorf need me.

  Without budging an inch, Tazi tried hard to calm herself.

  I'm sure I didn't go that far, and as soon as I gave up on the sack I turned sharply around. If I'm right, she reasoned, then I need only to keep walking in a straight line and I'll get back to Fannah and Steorf.

  But if I'm wrong, she thought, I'll walk off into the storm.

  With that in mind, Tazi started the tricky march back.

  The wind continued to push her from side to side, so she tried walking as best she could heel to toe to keep a straight course. She dropped to her knees once and tried to see if she could still feel the paved Way, but the wind and the sand made it impossible for her to tell. She gave up on that and went back to her original plan.

  Time lost all meaning to her, and Tazi knew she was close to panicking. It had taken her too long on the way back and she was certain she should have found her friends by now.

  She stopped and tried to scan the distance. Having very nearly given in to despair, she thought she heard something just above the whine of the wind.

  "Steorf!" she screamed back and listened.

  The faint sound grew a little louder, and she cried out, "Keep calling!"

  Tazi was certain it was her friends. She lowered her head against the gusts that buffeted her and walked like someone drunk, with great, staggering strides. She looked ahead, and two shadowy shapes remained constant while everything around them was chaos. Tazi marched harder and nearly collapsed into her friends' waiting arms. The three clung to each other for a moment.

  "What were you thinking?" Steorf finally shouted into her face.

  "Ciredor's book," she started to explain. "I had to try to retrieve it."

  "Let the winds have it," he told her. "We could have lost you."

  "Not a chance!" she shouted back, a crooked grin fixed on her face.

  "We can't let go of each other," Fannah cried. "Not even for a second or all will be lost."

  "How are we going to find the towers now?" Steorf asked.

  Tazi was momentarily worried as well. She realized they were traveling blind in the storm-and there was her answer.

  "Fannah, you're going to have to lead us the rest of the way," she cried.

  In the near darkness of sunset, Tazi wasn't sure but thought Fannah nodded to her.

  "Hold on," she told Steorf and Tazi.

  The three leaned into the wind and lumbered forward. Tazi kept a tight grip on Steorf and Fannah. To her, the disorientation only grew worse the darker it got. There was no frame of reference anywhere, and Tazi turned over all responsibility to Fannah, hoping that her blind friend's sense of touch and hearing, much sharper than either hers or Steorf's would guide them through. Lost in a situation where she was simply passing through time, odd thoughts fluttered through Tazi's mind. Strangely enough, she couldn't seem to get a fable out of her mind.

  When she was very young, her father had once told her a story of children lost in the woods. As a grown woman, Tazi could see the story for what it was-a cautionary tale meant to scare her into sensibility-but when she first heard the account, Tazi had wept uncontrollably, leaving her father very flustered with a teary three year old.

  As Tazi recalled,
her mother had been the only one who could console her by telling her that a guardian spirit looked out for all lost children. In the midst of the storm, Tazi smiled as she followed her spirit to safety.

  "Can you see anything?" Steorf yelled to her, jarring her from her reverie.

  "Nothing yet," Tazi called back to him. "But if anyone is going to be able to find this, it's Fannah."

  "I hope so," he called out and clutched tighter to her arm.

  Undaunted by the raging storm, Tazi watched how Fannah never hesitated in their course. She wanted to ask her just how she was guiding them but decided the fewer distractions Fannah had, the better off they'd all be.

  The swirling grains and incessant howling were almost nauseating to Tazi. She tried closing her eyes, but it only made matters worse.

  Maybe she can feel the pavement under her sandals, Tazi guessed, or maybe she's marching in the original direction we started in, since this tempest can't disorient her in the same way it does us.

  Her curiosity got the better of her, and she tried to get Fannah's attention.

  "Fannah," she called, and bumped into Steorf.

  The mage had stopped walking.

  "What happened?" she asked him.

  "Look there," he replied, pointing ahead.

  Barely discernible in the twilight was a large shape looming in the growing darkness.

  "The east minaret," Fannah announced.

  Tazi swallowed hard.

  "You did it," she called to Fannah.

  The three marched side by side up to the entrance. So close to the edifice, Tazi was able to make out some details, despite her reduced vision. The tower was about forty feet tall, as Fannah had said. Tazi reached out and brushed her hand against the surface, feeling stone and brick.

  "I think we can let go of each other as long as we're touching the building," she told Steorf and Fannah. "But no one step away alone, understand? We need to find the entrance."

  She laid both her hands on the wall and leaned her head against it, desperately needing the feeling of stability the minaret offered to stop her churning stomach.

  When she felt better, Tazi joined Steorf and Fannah as they each slid around the building, feeling for a door.