Above the Veil

by Garth Nix

  This was just as well, Tal thought, because Adras was having trouble being a natural shadow. He was always a bit behind, so that when Tal turned a corner, his shadow would keep on going for a moment and then hastily correct itself. No one seemed to have noticed so far, but it was making Tal very anxious.

  Still, as long as they stayed out of the Chosen's individual chambers, or some of the specialized areas like the Imperial antechambers, where Chosen slept and their Spiritshadows guarded both them and the rooms, Tal and Adras should be safe from recognition.

  It took nearly the whole day to climb up from Underfolk Seven to the highest level of Red, where they could begin the climb to the Red Tower, though it was also possible to get to the Tower from some of the higher color levels. Normally Tal would have taken less than an hour to climb the steps and ramps, but they had to stop all the time and climb into drains or pipes or other out-of-the-way places to spray for caveroaches.

  After a while, Tal noticed that Crow was watching him as they sprayed, almost as if he expected something to happen. Tal watched him, too, mindful of Ebbitt's advice to change the mask Crow had given him. But he wasn't sure if that was simply Ebbitt's usual weirdness, or because his great-uncle expected Crow to have picked a defective mask for Tal.

  Certainly Crow seemed to be making an effort to be friendly. His verbal attacks of the previous day were gone, and when he spoke, it was simply to instruct Tal on how to spray, or how to act like an Underfolk. Maybe his watching was also only to make sure Tal was staying in character. Maybe Crow wasn't waiting for him to suddenly pass out and die from the poison.

  Tal couldn't make up his mind either way, but he decided to be careful.

  From the High Red Commons, the huge chamber that in other times would be full of Chosen of the Red Order meeting to gossip and socialize, Tal thought there would be a stairway that led both to the foundation room of the Red Tower, and a narrow walkway that ran outside around the base of the Tower.

  When Tal had climbed the Red Tower before, he'd started higher up in the Orange levels on a similar walkway, then climbed down and across to the Red walkway, where he had launched his assault on the Red Tower.

  Though he'd never been in the High Red Commons before, Tal was certain that the layout would be the same as the High Orange Commons. When he saw the huge chamber, he knew that he was correct. Though it was furnished differently, with many low lounges upholstered in bright red cloth rather than the individual crystal chairs of the Orange Commons, the stairway was in the same corner. No more than two stretches wide and without railings, it ran up into the ceiling high above. Like the one in the Orange Commons, Tal suspected it was hardly ever used.

  "That's it," he said to Crow, pointing.

  "Good," said Crow. He looked around, making sure that the whole chamber really was empty. Then he shrugged off his backpack sprayer and put it carefully upright against one of the lounges. Tal did the same, then they both backed away.

  "Don't touch your gauntlets after they're off," instructed Crow. He showed Tal how to loosen both of them and then shake them off, rather than taking one off and then wondering what to do with the other.

  They left the gauntlets and retreated again, to kick off their clogs and remove their outer robes. The lighter robes underneath were soaked with sweat and very clammy. Both boys had knives scabbarded on their sashes, and Tal wore his Sunstone ring openly.

  Any Chosen or Spiritshadow that saw them would know instantly that they were some kind of enemy.

  "Can I stop being a stupid regular shadow now?" asked Adras plaintively as Tal headed for the steps. The Spiritshadow lifted his head up as he spoke, though he kept Tal's basic shape. It looked very strange, as if Tal's shadow had somehow gotten curled up.

  "When we're outside," Tal promised.

  As they climbed the steps, Crow suddenly asked Tal a series of questions about the Keystones.

  "Did your father ever tell you about how these Keystones work?" Crow asked when they were halfway up.

  "No," Tal replied. His leg was hurting him again. The steps were steep and it would be easy to fall off. He needed all his concentration.

  "I mean, this Guardian job seems to get passed on down the family. He might have mentioned it." Tal shrugged and shook his head.

  "What about old Jarnil's notion that they can't be moved? Do you think he's right?"

  "I don't know." They were almost at the top. The door was probably locked, but Tal could melt the lock with his Sunstone. He'd stolen the key to the Orange door, but had long since lost it.

  "They had to be put there in the first place," muttered

  Crow. "I bet they can be moved. We should take it away, so we're the ones who can use it."

  Tal ignored him, pausing to get his breath back before he tried to open the door.

  It was barred on the inside, but the bar came free easily enough. Tal leaned it on the steps and tried the door again. It was locked.

  "I'll open it," said Crow, as Tal peered at the lock and the gap between the door and the door frame. "Let me past."

  In his eagerness to get at the door, Crow pushed Tal slightly, and the Chosen boy had to grab the iron staple that had held the bar to avoid falling off. It was a long way to the bottom, far enough to be fatal, and Tal knew Adras probably wasn't smart enough to have caught him if he fell.

  But the push had seemed accidental.

  "Oh, sorry," said Crow. Tal retreated a few steps down as Crow pulled a ring of keys out of his sleeve pocket and selected one to put in the lock. Then he inserted a strip of thin metal as well, and turned both of them.

  The lock turned easily, and the door swung open.

  The light from the Sunstones in the chamber spilled out, but was swallowed by the darkness beyond. A freezing wind blew in, rattling the door and sweeping back the two boys' hair, stinging their faces and eyes.

  Crow seemed paralyzed. He stood there, his keys in his hand, staring out into the eternal night beyond the narrow walkway.

  "Welcome to the Dark World," said Tal.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The Perawl shrieked again and took off, its prey in its huge claws. Unfortunately Odris had made herself quite solid in order to hold on to Milla, so the huge, leathery flying creature could easily grip her shadowflesh.

  "Ow!" cried Odris. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

  The Perawl couldn't really damage her, but its great talons were ripping her body, and it hurt.

  "Drop me!" shouted Milla. "Drop me now!"

  They were still above the road, but the Perawl could swing away at any time, out into open space.

  Odris obeyed, but a fraction too late. Milla saw the gap in the road below her, the deep crevasse she had jumped across before. She made a frantic grab and just managed to grip on to the little finger of Odris's left hand.

  The finger stretched and stretched into a long rope of darkness as Milla swung below her Spiritshadow. The Perawl beat its mighty wings, taking Odris higher.

  Milla focused on her Sunstone, brightening it as fast as she could, and at the same time she screamed, high-pitched and loud. Perawls couldn't stand very bright light, or very loud, high noises. They didn't see or hear like any normal creature.

  The Perawl gave a surprised squawk and tried to let go. But its talons were actually embedded in Odris, and the Spiritshadow couldn't make herself more insubstantial without making her finger the same.

  Milla fell. The Spiritshadow's finger got thinner and thinner, until it was burning through Milla's gloves, and she had to take one last swing and let go.

  Immediately Odris thinned herself, slipping off the Perawl's talons like water. But she was already high above Milla. All she could see was a falling light, which was all too soon extinguished.

  With the absence of light, Odris immediately grew weaker. She fell from the talons, but did not have the strength to fly. Instead, she plummeted straight down, a blot of formless shadow, indistinguishable in the darkness.

  Milla missed the gap in the
road by a few stretches, but the impact was hard. She tried to get up straightaway, but the wind had been knocked out of her, so she could only rise to a crouch. She could hear the Perawl squawking in the distance, but there was no sign of Odris nearby.

  She could feel her Spiritshadow, though. The connection between them was strong. Milla concentrated on getting her breath and tried to focus on the direction of the feeling.

  It came in waves, a horrible, wrenching sensation, accompanied by feelings of weakness and nausea. Milla turned in a circle, to pin it down. After a few turns, she realized that Odris was farther along the road, and down quite a long way.

  Milla also felt that the Spiritshadow wouldn't last much longer without light. Already she was fading, and as her strength faded, so did Milla's.

  The Icecarl girl forced herself fully upright and started down the road. The smell of the ghalt, the molten stone used in the road, was strong. She drew it into her nostrils, regretting the loss of her face-mask for a moment. Then she moved at a steady lope, much faster than she had climbed up with Tal.

  She risked a fall going at such speed, but with every passing breath, she felt Odris fading. If she didn't get to her to provide light soon, the Spiritshadow would die--and from the feel of it, would take Milla with her.

  That must not happen before she brought her news to the Crones, Milla thought.

  She must get to the Crones.

  Milla felt another wave of nausea and weakness hit her, and shuddered. It was a familiar feeling, as if the blood were flowing out of her body. Unconsciously, she held her hand to the Merwin-horn scar in her middle, as if to staunch the wound there. But it was healed.

  Grimly, Milla increased her pace, leaping over snow-covered stones and irregular chunks of ice. At the same time, she began to breathe the Tenth and Final Rovkir Pattern. The Dead-Walking.

  That Pattern was the last resort, and few Icecarls had the mastery of it. The Dead-Walking would enable her to keep going, no matter how wounded or weary, till her task was finally done.

  Then she would die.

  Lost in the Tenth Pattern, she did not even feel the falls, the tumbles, and the many small bruises and cuts, as she continued to run pell-mell down the road. There was only the breathing, and the constant pull of Odris's slow fade to nothing.

  Odris felt the light before she saw Milla. It brought her back from somewhere where she had no thoughts, no feelings. In one moment she was falling from the Perawl, in the next, lying spread across the snow. As the Sunstone drew nearer, Odris felt her shape returning. Her shadowflesh flowed back to her like a tide, from where it had been spread across many stretches.

  But Milla didn't really stop when she reached Odris. She paused and reached down. Odris grabbed her hand. The Spiritshadow hardly had a moment to shout hello before Milla ran on, dragging Odris with her.

  "Slow down," shrieked Odris, as Milla fell down the far side of a large rock and nearly went over the edge. "You'll hurt yourself."

  Milla didn't answer. She kept on running.

  Odris flowed up her arm and twisted her head around to have a look. Milla's eyes were glazed and there was a strange light in them, reflected from the Sunstone burning brightly on her outstretched hand.

  "I don't like this," whimpered Odris. "What are you doing?"

  She heard no answer, but in her head came the sudden echo of Milla's thought.

  The Ruin Ship and the Crone Mother. The Ruin Ship and the Crone Mother.

  They came to a point where the road switch-backed ahead. Instead of running around the hairpin turn, Milla plunged over the side, sliding down thirty or forty stretches through snow, ice, and stone.

  "No, no, no!" shouted Odris. She puffed herself up and lifted Milla, so the girl swooped down instead of sliding. But this only encouraged the Icecarl. She left the road again and launched herself into space, to go straight down the mountain.

  "Stop!" shrieked Odris, as she spread herself out to get the best glide and lift, exerting all her strength against the winds that threatened to dash them back into the mountainside. "Whoa! Milla!"

  The Ruin Ship and the Crone Mother…

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Tal and Crow stood on the narrow walkway, high up on the outside of the Castle. Adras flew above Tal, and above him loomed the huge Red Tower. Beams of light in all shades of red sprang from its many windows and openings, weaving a complex pattern in the sky. Behind it were the other six Towers, all of them taller, each also casting light out into the darkness.

  Below them, other lights twinkled in the main bulk of the Castle. But even all these lights could not compete with the essential darkness of the world beyond. The veil lay heavy on the world, and the light of the Seven Towers and the Castle spread only a little way.

  "I didn't think it would be so cold," Crow whispered as he looked out on the darkness. "Or so…"

  His voice trailed off. Then, with an obvious effort, he tore his gaze away and looked up at the Red Tower they were about to climb.

  As Tal had found before, there were many spikes, gargoyles, and strange ornaments that could be used as hand and footholds. Even so, it was not an easy climb, and would be impossible if they were not protected against the cold.

  Tal concentrated on his Sunstone, and soon warmth was flowing from it, along his arm and then all over him.

  "You have a Sunstone," Tal said guardedly. He still wasn't sure about the wisdom of an Underfolk having a Sunstone. "Do you know how to warm yourself with it?"

  "I know more than that," replied Crow. He took out his knife and flicked open the thin cover on the pommel, to reveal the Sunstone there. He concentrated on it for a moment, and Tal saw it flash in answer.

  "Ah," said Crow. "That's better. Do you want to go first, or shall I?"

  "You go first," said Tal warily. "It will take us a few hours to reach the veil. Watch out for the windows. Some are open and there may be Spiritshadows there."

  Tal was very much aware of the danger. He could remember his first climb too well, and his brother, Gref, being taken through just such a window.

  That climb seemed very long ago, but it was only a matter of six weeks or so. His entire life had changed that day, and not positively. Hopefully this climb would mark a change for the better.

  At least this time he had aSunstone, Tal thought. He looked at Adras, hovering above him. And a Spiritshadow of his own.

  Once again, he was reminded of his first climb. There was a chance the Spiritshadow that had thrown him off would still be there, though if he was lucky it would be guarding its master's body while he or she was in Aenir.

  The Keeper, it had called itself.

  Crow started to climb, easily pulling himself up onto the first gargoyle's broad back. Tal let him get a bit ahead, as he thought about the Keeper. Maybe it was a free shadow…

  "Are you coming?" asked Crow. He was already a good twenty stretches up.

  "Yes!" Tal called out. He started to climb, then stopped and spoke quietly to Adras.

  "Adras. Keep a lookout, and make sure you catch me if I slip."

  "Sure," Adras replied. "What about thingummy? Do I catch him, too?"

  Tal hesitated.

  "Yes," he said finally. "But make sure I'm safe first."

  The climb went faster than the first time Tal tried it. Crow was quick, and Tal himself felt stronger and more confident. It only took them an hour to reach the veil.

  Tal had been ready to call out to Crow to stop, to prevent the older boy climbing up into the thick layer of ultimate darkness. But Crow had stopped of his own accord. He was crouched on a gargoyle's head, slowly raising his hand, watching it disappear into the veil. With his arm apparently ending in a stump, he tried to play light on the veil from his Sunstone, but the light simply stopped when it hit the dark barrier.

  "It feels weird," said Crow. He was unable to suppress a shudder as he withdrew his hand. "What's up above?"

  "Sunlight," said Tal. "There may be a Spirit-shadow. A big one. It call
s itself the Keeper."

  "It spoke to you?" asked Crow. "Isn't that unusual?"

  "Yes," replied Tal. He didn't mention that he suspected the Keeper was a free Spiritshadow.

  "So how do we get through the veil? Is there some secret… some

  Chosen secret to it?"

  He couldn't quite keep the sneer out of his voice when he said "Chosen."

  "Not as far as I know," Tal replied. "Just go quickly. I'll go first if you like."

  "Good idea," replied Crow. "You can deal with this Keeper, too. I don't mind watching."

  "With your help, I hope," said Tal quickly. "We're in this together."

  He was still never quite sure exactly what Crow meant. Was he joking?

  "Adras, you'd better stay close to me," Tal ordered, as he edged up closer to the veil. "Grab hold of my sash and hang on. You'll probably… not like the inside of the veil."

  "Why?" asked Adras. He drifted closer and hooked two puffy fingers through Tal's blue sash.

  "It's made of absolute darkness," said Tal. "So dark you feel like you will never see the light again."

  Adras was silent. Tal could feel him struggling with the concept of absolute darkness. Clearly it was beyond his imagination.

  "Wait a minute or two, and then come after me,"

  Tal told Crow. "Climb through as quickly as you can. It probably helps to take a very deep breath before you start."

  "Why?" Crow asked,

  "I couldn't breathe last time," Tal explained. "I'm not sure you can breathe inside the veil."

  Crow raised an eyebrow, as if he didn't quite believe Tal. But he didn't speak.

  Tal reached up into the veil, watching his hands vanish. For a second he had the sensation that they had truly disappeared. He flexed his fingers in response, and felt something he could grab hold of.

  "Hang on!" he said. Then he took a deep breath and pulled himself up.

  Into the veil. Into the darkness.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  It was a long way down the Mountain of Light. Odris kept shouting and screaming all the way down, even as she frantically steered them away from fatal gusts and sudden outcrops of stone.