I have to find out. I must know for certain. Then my mind will be at rest. I can laugh at my fears. Or prepare to face them.
No, stop thinking like that. Beneath the bandages, you will find sores, as he said.
Alfred waited. Limbeck and Hugh returned to their beds, Hugh casting a glance in Alfred’s direction. The chamberlain pretended to sleep. The prince had drifted off, seemingly, but it might be well to make sure. Limbeck lay awake, staring up into the top of the vat, worrying, afraid, repeating to himself all his resolutions. Hugh leaned back against the vat’s side. Taking out his pipe, he stuck it between his teeth and gazed moodily at nothing.
Alfred did not have much time. He propped himself on one elbow, keeping his shoulders hunched, his hand held close to his body, and faced Limbeck. Raising his index and middle fingers, Alfred drew a sigil in the air. Whispering the rune, he drew it again. Limbeck’s eyelids lowered, opened, lowered, quivered, and finally shut. The Geg’s breathing became even and regular. Turning slightly, keeping his movements smooth and stealthy, Alfred faced the assassin and drew the same sigil. Hugh’s head dropped. The pipe slipped from between his teeth and fell into his lap. Alfred’s gaze turned to Bane, and he made the same sign; if the child hadn’t been asleep before this, he was now.
Then, facing Haplo, Alfred drew the rune and whispered the same words, only now with more concentration, more force.
The dog, of course, was most important. But if Alfred’s suspicions were right about the animal, all would be well.
He forced himself to wait patiently a few more moments, letting the magical enchantment draw everyone down into deep sleep. No one moved. All was quiet.
Slowly and cautiously, Alfred crept to his feet. The spell was powerful; he might have run round the vat shouting and screaming, blowing horns and beating drums, and not a person there would have so much as blinked an eye. But his own irrational fears held him back, halted his steps. He sneaked forward, moving easily, without a limp, for he had been shamming the pain in his knee. But as slowly as he moved, the pain might have been real, the injury truly debilitating. His heart pulsed in his throat. Spots burst and danced in his eyes, obscuring his vision.
He forced himself on. The dog was asleep, its eyes closed, or he never would have succeeded in creeping up on its master. Not daring to breathe, fighting suffocating spasms in his chest, Alfred dropped to his knees beside the slumbering Haplo. He reached out a hand that shook so he could hardly guide it to where it must go, and he stopped and would have said a prayer had there been a god around to hear it. As it was, there was only himself.
He shoved aside the bandage that was wound tightly around Haplo’s hand.
There were, as he had suspected, the runes.
Tears stung Alfred’s eyes, blinding him. It took all his strength of will to draw the bandage back over the tattooed flesh so that the man would not notice it had been disturbed. Barely able to see where he was going, Alfred stumbled back to his blanket and hurled himself down. It seemed that he did not stop falling when his body touched the floor, but that he continued to fall and went spiraling down into a dark well of nameless horror.
CHAPTER 38
DEEPSKY, ABOVE THE MAELSTROM
THE CAPTAIN OF THE ELVEN SHIP CARFA’SHON1 WAS A MEMBER OF the royal family. Not a very important member, but a member nonetheless—a fact of which he himself was extraordinarily conscious and expected all others around him to be likewise. There was, however, one small matter of his royal blood that it was never wise to bring up, and this was an unfortunate relationship to Prince Reesh’ahn, the leader of the rebellion among the elves.
In the halcyon days of yore, the captain had been wont to state modestly that he was nothing less than a fifth cousin of the dashing young and handsome elven prince. Now, following Reesh’ahn’s disgrace, Captain Zankor’el assured people that he was nothing more than a fifth cousin and that was stretching a cousin or two.
According to the manner and custom of all elven royalty, be they rich or poor, Captain Zankor’el served his people by working hard and energetically during his life. And, again in the manner and custom of those of royal lineage, he expected to continue serving them at the time of his death. The lords and ladies of the royal family are not allowed to slip peacefully into oblivion at their deaths. Their souls are captured before they can flutter away to spend days in eternal spring meadows. The royal souls are then held in stasis by the elven wizards, who draw upon the souls’ energy to work their magic.
It is necessary, therefore, that wizards constantly attend the members of the royal family, ready at any time—day or night, in peace or during a raging battle—to grab up souls should death occur.2 Wizards designated for such duty have a formal title, “weesham,” by which they are referred to in polite society. Generally, however, they are known as “geir”—a word whose ancient meaning is “vulture.”
The geir follow the royal elves from childhood to old age, never leaving them. A geir comes to the baby at his birth, watches his first steps, travels with him during the years of his schooling, sits beside the bed—even the bridal bed—every night, and attends him in the hour of his death.
Elven wizards who accept this duty that, to the elves, has become sacred, are carefully trained. They are encouraged to develop a close personal relationship with those over whom their wings spread a dark shadow. A geir is not allowed to marry, and thus the charge becomes his or her entire life, taking the place of husband, wife, and child. Since the geir are older than their charges—generally being in their twenties when they accept responsibility for infants—they frequently assume the additional roles of mentor and confidant. Many deep and abiding friendships grow between shadow and shadowed. In such instances, the geir often does not long outlive his charge, but delivers the soul to the Cathedral of the Albedo and then creeps away himself to die of grief.
And thus those of the royal family live, from birth on, with the constant reminder of their mortality hovering at their shoulders. They have come to be proud of the geir. The black-robed wizards mark royal status and symbolize to the elves that their leaders serve not only in life but also after death. The presence of the geir has the additional effect of increasing royal power. It is hard to refuse the elven king anything he wants with that dark-robed figure standing always at his side.
If the members of the royal family, particularly the younger members, are somewhat wild and foolhardy and live life with a devil-may-care attitude, it is understandable. Royal parties are often chaotic affairs. The wine flows freely and there is a frantic, hysterical edge to the merriment. A glittering, gaily dressed elf maiden dances and drinks and lacks for nothing that will give her joy, but, look where she will, she must see the geir standing, back to the wall, the geir’s gaze never leaving the one whose life—and most important, death—is in the geir’s trust.
The captain of the elven watership had his attendant geir, and it must be admitted that there were those aboard who wished the captain’s geir godspeed in his work; the majority of those serving the captain expressing (quietly) the opinion that the captain’s soul would be far more valuable to the elven kingdom if it was no longer attached to the captain’s body.
Tall, slender, and handsome, Captain Zankor’el had a great personal regard for himself and none at all for those who had the distinct misfortune not to be of high rank, not to be of royal birth, and—in short—not to be him.
“Captain.”
“Lieutenant.” This was always spoken with a slight sneer. “We are entering the Maelstrom.”
“Thank you, lieutenant, but I am not blind, nor am I as stupid as perhaps was your last, late captain. Having seen the storm clouds, I was able to deduce almost instantly that we were in a storm. If you like, you may go pass the word around to the rest of the crew, who may, perhaps, not have noticed.”
The lieutenant stiffened, his fair-skinned face flushed a delicate crimson. “May I respectfully remind the captain that it is my duty by law to inform him tha
t we have entered dangerous skies?”
“You may remind him if you like, but I wouldn’t, for he finds you to be teetering on the edge of insubordination,” returned the captain, gazing out the portals of the dragonship, a spyglass to his eye. “Now, go below and take charge of the slaves. That is one duty, at least, you are fit for.” These last words were not spoken aloud but, by the captain’s tone, they were implied. The lieutenant—and everyone else on the bridge—heard them quite clearly.
“Very good, sir,” responded Lieutenant Bothar’in. The crimson had drained from his face, leaving him livid with suppressed anger.
None of the other crew members dared catch the lieutenant’s eye. It was absolutely unheard-of for the second in command to be sent down to the galley during a descent. The captain himself always took this hazardous duty, for control of the wings was essential to the ship’s safety. It was a dangerous place to be during a descent—their former captain had lost his life down there. But a good captain placed the safety of ship and crew above his own, and the elven crew—seeing their lieutenant descend into the galley, their captain remaining at ease up top—could not forbear exchanging dark looks.
The dragonship dipped down into the storm. The winds began to buffet it about. Lightning flared, partially blinding them; thunder roared, nearly deafening them. Down below, the human galley slaves, wearing the body harnesses that connected them by cables to the wings, fought and wrestled to keep the ship upright and flying through the storm. The wings had been pulled in as far as possible to lessen the magic in order for them to descend. But the wings could not be drawn in completely, or else the magic would cease to work completely and they would plummet down, out of control, to crash upon Drevlin below. A delicate balance had to be maintained, therefore—not a difficult task in fair, clear weather but extremely difficult in the midst of a raging storm.
“Where’s the captain?” demanded the overseer.
“I’m taking over down here,” answered the lieutenant.
The overseer took one look at the lieutenant’s pale, tense face, the clenched jaw and tightly drawn lips, and understood.
“It probably ain’t proper to say this, sir, but I’m glad you’re here and he ain’t.”
“No, it is not proper to say that, overseer,” replied the lieutenant, taking up his position in the front of the galley.
The overseer wisely said nothing more. He and the ship’s wizard, whose job it was to maintain the magic, glanced at each other. The wizard shrugged slightly; the overseer shook his head. Then both went about their business, which was critical enough to demand their full and complete attention.
Up above, Captain Zankor’el stood spread-legged, braced upon the heaving deck, staring through his spyglass down into the swirling mass of black clouds. His geir sat on a deck chair beside him; the wizard—green with sickness and terror—clung for dear life to anything he could get his hands on.
“There, weesham, I believe I can see the Liftalofts. Just a glimpse, in the eye of those swirling clouds.” He offered the spyglass. “Do you want to take a look?”
“May the souls of your ancestors forbid!” said the wizard, shuddering. It was bad enough he had to travel in this frail and fragile contraption of skin and wood and magic, without having to look at where he was going. “What was that?”
The wizard reared up his head in alarm, his sharply pointed, beardless chin quivering. A crash had sounded from below. The ship listed suddenly, throwing the captain off his feet.
“Damn that Bothar’in!” Zankor’el swore. “I’ll have him brought up on charges!”
“If he’s still alive,” gasped the pale-faced wizard.
“He better hope for his sake he isn’t,” snarled the captain, picking himself up.
Swift glances flashed about the crew, and one rash young elf actually opened his mouth to speak, but was nudged in the ribs by a fellow crewman. The midshipman swallowed his mutinous words.
For a terrifying instant the ship seemed to be out of control and at the mercy of the swirling wind. It plunged down sickeningly, was caught by a gust, and nearly flipped over. An updraft swept it high, then dropped it again. The captain screamed curses and contradictory orders in the direction of the galley, but took care never to leave the safety of the bridge. The geir crouched on the deck and seemed, by the expression on his face, to wish he had gone into another line of work.
At last the ship righted itself and sailed into the heart of the Maelstrom, where it was peaceful and calm and the sun shone, making the swirling clouds around it that much blacker and more threatening by contrast. Down below, on Drevlin, the Liftalofts winked brightly in the sunshine.
Having been purposefully built by the Mangers to be always directly in the eye of the ever-raging storm, the Liftalofts were the one place on the continent where the Gegs could look up and see the sparkling firmament and feel the warmth of the sun. Small wonder that, to the Gegs, this was a sacred and holy place, made even holier by the monthly descent of the Welves.”
After a brief interval, during which breath came easier and color returned to pale faces, the lieutenant made his appearance on the bridge. The rash young midshipman actually had the temerity to let out a cheer, which brought a baleful look from the captain, letting the young elf know that he wasn’t likely to be a midshipman much longer.
“Well, what havoc have you wreaked down there, besides nearly killing us all?” demanded the captain.
Blood trickled down the lieutenant’s face, his fair hair was clotted and matted with red, and his cheeks were ashen, his eyes dark with pain. “One of the cables snapped, sir. The right wing slid out. We have jury-rigged a new cable now, sir, and all is under control.”
Not a word said about being slammed down onto the deck, about standing side by side with a human slave, both fighting desperately to drag the wing back in and save all their lives. No words were needed. The experienced crew knew of the life-and-death struggle that had been waged below their feet. Perhaps the captain knew too, despite the fact that he had never previously commanded a ship, or perhaps he saw it reflected in the faces of his crew. He did not launch into a tirade against the lieutenant’s incompetence but said only, “Were any of the beasts3 killed?”
The lieutenant’s face darkened. “One human is very seriously injured, sir—the slave whose cable snapped. He was dragged off his feet and hurled into the hull. The cable wrapped around him, nearly cutting him in two before we could free him.”
“But he’s not dead?” The captain raised a finely plucked eyebrow.
“No, sir. The ship’s wizard is treating him now.”
“Nonsense! Waste of time. Toss him overboard. There’s plenty more where he came from.”
“Yes, sir,” said the lieutenant, his eyes fixed on a point somewhere to the left of his captain’s shoulder.
Once again, the almond eyes of the elven crew slid glances at each other. In all honesty, it must be admitted that none of them had any love for their human slaves. There was a certain amount of grudging respect for the humans, however, not to mention the fact that the crew perversely decided to like anyone their captain didn’t. Everyone on the bridge—including Zankor’el himself—knew that the lieutenant had no intention of carrying out that order.
The ship was nearing its point of rendezvous with the Lifeline. Captain Zankor’el did not have time to make an issue of this now, nor could he really do so except to go below and personally see to it that his order was obeyed. To do that would lessen his dignity, however, and he might get blood on his uniform.
“That will be all, lieutenant. Return to your duties,” said the captain, and, spyglass in hand, he turned to look out the portals, gazing upward to see if the waterpipe was in sight. But he had neither forgotten nor forgiven the lieutenant.
“I’ll have his head for this,” muttered Zankor’el to his geir, who merely nodded, closed his eyes, and thought about being violently ill.
The waterpipe was at last descried, descending fr
om the sky, and the elven ship took up its position as guide and escort. The pipe was ancient, having been built by the Sartan when they first brought the survivors of the Sundering to Arianus, whose water was plentiful in the Low Realm but lacking on the realms above. The pipe was made of metal that never rusted. The alloy remained a mystery to the elven alchemists, who had spent centuries trying to reproduce it. Operated by a gigantic mechanism, the pipe dropped down a shaft that ran through the continent of Aristagon. Once every month, automatically, the pipe descended through Deepsky to the continent of Drevlin.
Although the pipe was capable of lowering itself, an elven ship was necessary to guide the waterpipe down to the Liftalofts, where it had to be connected to a huge waterspout. When the two were hooked up, the Kicksey-winsey, receiving some sort of mysterious signal, automatically turned on the water. A combination of magical and mechanical forces sent the liquid shooting up the pipe. Up above, on Aristagon, elves guided the flow into vast holding tanks.
Following the Sundering, elves and humans had dwelt in peace on Aristagon and the surrounding isles. Under the guidance of the Sartan, the races shared equally in the life-giving substance. But when the Sartan disappeared, their fond dream of peace shattered. The humans claimed the war was the fault of the elves, who had fallen increasingly under the control of a powerful faction of wizards. The elves claimed it was the fault of the humans, who were notoriously warlike and barbaric.
The elves, with their longer livespans, larger population, and knowledge of magical mechanics, had proved the stronger. They drove the humans from Aristagon—the Mid Realm source for water. The humans, with the aid of the dragons, fought back, raiding elven towns and stealing water or attacking the elven waterships that ferried the precious liquid to neighboring elven-held isles.
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