by Rick Shelley
"Maria's voice is my own," Silvas said sternly. "In all that matters, we are one."
"Aye, my lord," Braf said. "I'll send the rider straightaway."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Silvas and Maria had nearly finished their meal before Felix came down to the great hall. Clad now in a dark green tunic over loose gray trousers and doeskin shoes, he looked a different man, as befitted one with a new name and trade. But the new clothing accentuated his gaunt appearance.
"Did you sleep well?" Maria asked.
"Good morning, or afternoon, Lady Maria, Lord Silvas. Yes, I slept well-long, deep, and without dreams." Felix took his place at the table. "Thankfully, without dreams. I fear they would have been horrifying nightmares had they come."
"No one is master of his dreams," Silvas said.
"Not even you?" Felix asked.
"Not even us," Silvas said. "But you'll learn to use your dreams, no matter how much terror you find in them. They can be a most useful window into the spirit and into the hidden places of your mind."
"I hope I can recall that when the terrors of the night come," Felix said.
"You will, before your training has gone much farther," Silvas promised.
"We'll have to oversee your feeding, though," Maria said. "You're no longer a mendicant. You have need of bulk to your body now. The demands of wizardry are considerable. Fasting is no virtue in your new calling."
Felix looked down at his gaunt form. "That much will, at least, be pleasant work."
The three of them kept their talk light. Maria and Silvas had finished eating, but kept Felix company as he ate. Felix was unaware of the second level of conversation going on, the direct mind link between his companions. Even while they talked, Silvas and Maria wandered freely around the perimeter of the valley in the spirit. They observed the people in the village, felt the nervousness among them. Silvas and Maria also traveled the corridors of their minds, looking for information and weapons, comparing impressions of what they found, speculating on what else there might be that would help them defend themselves, and all of the people who depended on them.
After a time, Felix leaned back. "I've eaten all I can."
Maria smiled. "It will do, for now, but I think you'll need to eat this much three times a day for many weeks before you properly fill out your clothing."
"Wouldn't it be easier to find smaller clothes?" Felix asked, sounding almost timid. Maria and Silvas both laughed.
"Easier, but not better," Silvas said. "Maria is right. Bulk will ease some aspects of your work. Asceticism is no virtue to a wizard."
"Now, we have our flock to see to," Maria said, rising from her chair. "We need to reassure the people of the village that this show in the sky is no dire threat."
"Your flock," Felix said, rising as soon as Maria did.
"Our flock," Silvas said. "In that, our role is not so different from the one you have known. We, too, have many people under our care."
"Do they have a priest?"
"The village has a church, but it's been many years since it has had a priest. From time to time, a wandering friar passes through, or even stays for a time. The Archbishop of York has always known of our situation." Silvas glanced at Maria, then added, "Now that the village has been hidden and history changed, even the archbishop may no longer know about the Seven Towers."
"Is it truly possible that even knowledge of this place may be wiped from the minds of men?" Felix asked.
"Very possible," Silvas said.
"I remembered you, and the Glade. I recalled you with great clarity."
"But you had been within the Seven Towers, and had sat in Council with me," Silvas said. "You were changed by that contact, and by the battle in which we stood together."
The three of them left the great hall, Felix following without asking. When they approached the mews, Bay and Camiss were standing in front of their stalls, close to each other, both saddled and harnessed. Bosc was still adjusting the girth on Camiss's saddle.
"We'll need a horse for Felix, as well," Silvas said. "We're going to the village."
Bosc looked surprised. Silvas laughed. "I've finally caught you out. You always anticipate me."
"I'll see to't at once, lord," Bosc said.
"I suppose I'll have to get used to riding," Felix said with a sigh. "While my feet may rejoice, my, ah, posterior will not."
"Another good reason to put meat on those bones," Maria said.
"What of my disappearance from the chapter house at St. Ives?" Felix asked. "Will Bishop Egbert and the others know that I have gone, or will they have forgotten about me?"
"When we have time, I'll contact Bishop Egbert and explain what has happened," Silvas said. "He will remember, if he doesn't now. After all, he sat in Council with us, and stood in battle, as did you."
Bosc did not take long to prepare a horse, a gentle gray mare, for Felix. Bosc held the horse's bridle while Felix mounted awkwardly.
"Her name's Amelie," Bosc said. "She'll give you the softest ride of any here save Lord Bay."
"Thank you, Bosc," Felix said. "I'll try not to be a burden to her."
Maria mounted Camiss before Silvas had a chance to help her. So Silvas mounted Bay, and they started across the courtyard to the gate. The drawbridge had been lowered earlier to mark the start of a new "day"-although the sky did not mark the morning as it should have.
Once aboard Amelie, Felix stared up into the sky. During the walk out from the keep, he had avoided looking up, feeling oppressed by the unnaturalness of this sky-compared to the exhilarating pastel shades that the sky had held before. The strongly colored lights of the sky had turned the stones of the courtyard and castle strange colors. Even shadows seemed oddly tinted. The sky itself continued to swirl, like eddies in a stream. It seethed and turned around and in on itself, showing far too much texture for air. It might almost have been a thick batter for baking.
Felix's stomach started to complain, a reaction to the vista, and he lowered his eyes again.
"I long to see a normal sky," he said as the horses passed through the gate and started across the drawbridge.
"So do I," Maria said. "But for the present, that sky is as much our ally as our enemy. We may not fully control it, but neither does the foe who put it there in the first place."
Bay held his pace to a slow walk. There was no urgency to this ride, and the slower they traveled, the less time they would have to wait for the villagers to gather. The road from castle to village was open. People in the fields would see the procession and hurry to the crossroads to meet it.
"What is the name of the church here?" Felix asked.
The question surprised Silvas, but he answered quickly. "St. John's." Then, after a hesitation, he added. "I don't truly know whether or not it's ever been properly consecrated, but it has been used by enough priests and monks over the centuries."
"You maintain the church?"
"We do," Silvas said. "Though I warrant it's been used more as meeting hall than church. The people here are good, but they're not as regularly churched as most. They've seen too much of the wizard's path to be sedate members of a church flock."
When the three of them reached the crossroads, nearly a hundred people had already gathered, and more were approaching. Humans, gurnetz, and esperia mingled freely. In the valley of the Seven Towers, the qualities that the three races shared were of far more importance than the visible differences among them.
"We'll go to the church," Silvas announced, pitching his voice so that it carried to those who had not yet reached the junction without being uncomfortably loud to those who were nearest him. "My apprentice, Felix here, has taken orders in the White Brotherhood."
The crowd parted to let the riders through, then closed in behind them to follow. Bay kept his pace slow enough that the walkers had no difficulty keeping up. Those people who were still coming in from the fields changed course, heading toward the church. Some few managed to reach it before the riders did.
Maria and Felix tied their horses to a tree near the corner of the church. Bay moved to a point near the entrance. Silvas paused beside the door to let Felix enter first.
Just inside the doorway, Felix knelt and crossed himself. Then he walked the length of the church to the altar. This church was little larger than the church in Mecq, and certainly no fancier. Prayers of habit came to Felix's mind. He did not try to put them aside. He knelt again before the altar, then stood and turned. Silvas and Maria were flanking him, and the people of the village were still filing in.
"With your permission?" Felix asked softly, turning to Silvas when it appeared that everyone had arrived. Bay had moved to stand in the doorway, looking in, a daunting obstacle to any late arrivals.
Silvas nodded, sensing easily what Felix intended.
Felix raised his right hand and made the sign of the cross over the villagers while he spoke the traditional words of the blessing. Some few of the villagers, humans only, went down on one knee to receive the blessing, then crossed themselves. Most of the villagers remained standing, though nearly all at least lowered their gaze until Felix finished.
"I know that some of you are worried about the strange show in the sky," Silvas said when Felix took a step back and to the side. "You're troubled, even frightened." The folk of this valley were not so easily panicked as those of many other places. Silvas had been their protector for more generations than they could count. They were more knowledgeable than most peasants-or lords. Their special circumstances guaranteed that. But they were still simple people of the land.
"There may be danger ahead, but it has not arrived. While we have time, let me tell you plainly what has happened."
Silvas talked. He told the people much of what had happened, going back over some things that they had already heard, at least secondhand, and carrying the story right up to that moment. He did not tell them everything. He passed over his confrontation with Satan almost entirely, without even naming that Foe explicitly. Silvas seemed to talk in a slow, conversational manner, but that was deceptive. There was a lot to say, and he did not want to waste the rest of the day in saying it, so he cupped time in his hand while he spoke. The two hours of his discourse actually cost less than a half hour of real time, but only Maria was aware of what he was doing.
By the time that Silvas finished, even Felix could easily detect a growing anger among the villagers.
"How dare the gods use us this way!" March the miller said. "For all they owe you?"
"These gods dare anything," Silvas replied. "More may come. At the moment, though, they seem content to torture us with this sky and the battle music that fills it."
"We'll stand ready to meet them should they come," March said, and there was a general shout from the rest. "Tell us what we should do, lord."
"If fortune smiles on you, you may have no need to stand to arms, but I know I can depend on you even for that should it indeed be needed."
After the meeting ended, Silvas was deeply silent through most of the ride back to the Glade-silent in a way that imposed silence on the others. They were near the drawbridge before Silvas finally broke the silence.
"They will fight, if needs be. They may die, but they won't falter." Silently, Silvas grieved for the many who might actually die.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Once more, night did not come to the valley of the Seven Towers. Ruddy clouds boiled across the sky in ferocious turbulence. The rainbow veil deepened into darker shades that seemed almost to reflect hot embers from beyond. But there was still light.
Inside the Glade, Silvas returned to coaching Felix. Silvas brought the former monk inside the pentagram and activated it, guiding him through the spells that turned it on and off, and protected its occupants. While the pentagram was active, Silvas touched Felix's eyes and gave him the wizard's gift of telesight, along with the warning that Auroreus had not given him. "Do not attempt to look directly at the sun or a star with this vision. It could burn the eyes completely out of your head."
While Silvas and Felix were in the pentagram, Maria watched from one of the protected circles near the wall in the workshop. Satin and Velvet flanked her, in their own circles. The cats were more accustomed to observing this sort of exercise than Maria was. Maria watched intently, both with physical eyes and with the penetrating sense of her shared divinity, linking directly with Silvas while also lightly touching Felix's mind. Her link to Silvas was not affected in the least by the supposed barriers of the pentagram or the traditional spells that Silvas erected to make it a safe haven.
Silvas concentrated exclusively on what he was doing. With the magic of the pentagram raised, he dared not let his thoughts wander. Not only his own safety was at risk, but that of his new apprentice. Felix did not yet have the ability to defend himself in the greater vulnerability of an active pentagram. It was not a long session. Silvas was not ready to involve Felix in anything particularly lengthy, or more dangerous than the constant danger of dealing with magical forces.
"Be very cautious with your first uses of telesight," Silvas cautioned after they came out of the pentagram. "I once tried to look into a star with it, when I was young and new to the gift. Only Auroreus's quick intervention kept me from blindness. At that time, he told me, 'Some visions are denied even to the gods.' "
"Have you thought to test that adage since you became one of them?" Felix asked.
"Not with telesight," Silvas said. "I would attempt it even now only at the most dire need. Sufficient are the challenges I find demanding my attention. I won't seek out superfluous ones."
The three of them descended to the great hall for the evening meal. There seemed to be much less tension at this meal than at the last several. The strangely intimidating sky remained an annoyance to the people who lived under it, but the longer that sky continued as it was without loosing danger on the valley, the less it would be regarded as a fearsome thing. The mood of the people of the Seven Towers was not as light as it had customarily been in the days before Silvas found himself drawn into the feuds of the gods, but the recent cares and sorrows of the Glade were beginning to lift, if only a little.
It might be a long time, indeed, before the common folk of the Seven Towers put Carillia out of their thoughts, but Maria showed the same sort of warm personal touch that had always marked Carillia. The staff had already accepted her as a proper mistress for the castle. Those who had cause to be close to her most were loudest in their praises of her. Maria took deep interest in all of them, and in their well-being. She never misspoke a name, or forgot to ask after family members.
Silvas showed no great cares at table. He conversed casually with Maria and Felix, and found time to speak with others in the hall now and then. If the three at the head table showed no concern over the peculiar sky that sat over the valley, most of their dependents were willing, even eager, to accept that reassurance.
But the servants of the Seven Towers could not eavesdrop on the silent conversations between Silvas and Maria. Those were not nearly as carefree as their audible words and visible expressions, though they went on simultaneously with them.
We have to do more, Maria told Silvas. We can carry our people for now, but the longer the show of sky and music continues, the more it will wear on everyone.
I know, Silvas replied. I've been searching for an alternative.
As have I. They had been looking together as well as separately. Splitting their awareness many ways came so naturally that they scarcely thought of how unusual they would have considered it before.
The only way I see that seems to offer any hope of resolution also leads us into greater danger. Silvas shared the image of that path with Maria. She nodded, a gesture that might have been interpreted by others as a response to a vocal comment that Felix made at just the right moment.
That's what we have to do, then. Simply initiating another conversation with Mikel hardly seems likely to tell us anything. By now, he might be so stuporous that he wouldn't r
emember his own name.
In the morning then, Silvas suggested. If this show hasn't abated by then, we'll ride back to the Shining City.
Just the two of us, not a whole crowd, Maria amended.
– |After the three of them left the great hall, Silvas told Felix that he and Maria would be gone for at least part of the next day, and perhaps longer.
"Get a good sleep tonight and spend tomorrow going over what I've taught you, in your mind. Don't try anything more active than the use of your telesight, and be careful at that. You might spend some time with Dei et Deae." Silvas smiled. "That's the sort of thing Auroreus always told me when he was going to be busy during my apprenticeship. But don't take every minute to your studies. Look around the Glade and the valley. Get to know our people. Let them get to know you. Tomorrow may be your only day of rest for a long time."
When they were finally alone in their chambers, Silvas and Maria immediately started preparing for bed, and for sleep. For a time, each retreated into privacy, but when they met in bed, they rushed to the link that was always there and reveled in it.
Sleep did come, in time.
Outside, the angry sky show continued. Night did not come to the Seven Towers.
– |They experienced no difficulty in opening up the direct boulevard to the Shining City. Shortly after what should have been dawn, Silvas and Maria mounted their horses and rode out of the Seven Towers. In the gateway, they pictured the road in their minds and called it back into being. Bay and Camiss stepped out onto the road and moved along at a moderate walk. The road no longer glowed, but otherwise it remained as they had first seen it.
"You know, you're simply inviting trouble," Bay said once they were some distance from the walls of the Glade. "Your enemies will see this foray as an affront, a challenge."
"We have to do something, Bay," Silvas said. "If you have an alternative to offer, I'll be happy to entertain any notion."
Bay hesitated before he said, "No alternative save to do nothing but wait and prepare, but this still makes me uneasy."
