by Garth Nix
Finally they hit the foothills, plowing a trail through deep snow for at least twenty stretches.
Milla immediately got up to run again, but Odris held her fast.
"Milla! What's the hurry?"
Milla didn't answer. She began to drag Odris through the snow.
Odris tried again, this time stretching a hand around to slap the Icecarl in the face.
"Let me go," said Milla, her voice strangely flat. She hadn't stopped dragging the Spiritshadow. "I must go to the Ruin Ship."
"Something is really wrong with you," replied Odris. She kept hold of the girl and craned her head around again. Milla was breathing very strangely, her nostrils clamping in a curiously hypnotic pattern.
Odris was about to pinch Milla's nose shut when someone else shouted Milla's name.
"Milla!"
Odris whipped back to pretend she was a natural shadow, but it was too late. An Icecarl stood in the snow only a dozen stretches away, already kicking off her skis, her knife in her hand.
"Abomination!"
The Icecarl leapt at Milla, knife flashing at her throat. But Milla dodged, and the knife raked across her shoulder, cutting fur and the skin beneath.
"To me!" shouted the Icecarl. It was a woman, Odris realized. Through her mental connection with Milla she felt a name swim into her consciousness.
Arla. Shield Mother.
Answering shouts came out of the darkness, from not far away.
Arla struck at Milla again, but the younger girl blocked the blow and threw Arla over her shoulder. The Shield Mother somersaulted in the air and landed on her feet, twisting to block Milla's strike in turn.
"I must reach the Ship, the Crones," said Milla in her strange, flat voice. "The Ruin Ship, the Crone Mother."
"Never!" spat Arla. "Shadow-slave!"
There was another quick exchange of blows as the two rushed together. Milla was cut again, across the thigh, but did not react to it. As Arla turned to attack again, Odris saw the Shield Mother was cut on the side of her face, where a blow had knocked off her face mask.
"Stop!" boomed Odris. She rushed in and gripped Arla with one hand and Milla with the other, both around the neck. "There's something wrong with Milla. She needs help, not killing."
"To me!" shouted Arla again. "Abominations!"
Milla said nothing, but lunged forward with her left, supposedly empty hand. But the strange fingernail she wore suddenly extended, slashing through Arla's armor and furs.
Arla choked in midcall. Odris let go of her and dragged Milla back.
The Shield Mother tried to stagger forward, her knife raised. She only managed three or four steps before she collapsed. Dark blood flowed from her, stark against the pure white of the snow.
"To me!" roared Odris, in a fair imitation of Arla's voice. Then she let go of Milla and the girl was off and running immediately.
Odris followed her, wringing her shadow-hands with worry. Milla's mind seemed to have been affected by the cold or the darkness. It was still there, as far as Odris could tell, but was blocked off by this thick layer of thought that endlessly repeated the same thing over and over again.
The Ruin Ship and the Crone Mother.
Another Shield Maiden emerged out of the darkness, running at Milla. Odris swept forward and buffeted her out of the way, before Milla did something worse.
The Shield Maiden shouted some words that Odris didn't know, and the shout was taken up all around them, out in the dark. Odris could see and feel faint glows from weak lights all around, then she saw a sudden explosion of tiny green lights that shot up into the air. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so obviously a signal.
It was followed a few moments later by the sudden blast of a deep horn, a horn being blown urgently, as if someone's life depended on it. A warning sound.
Still Milla ran on, always finding the hardest-packed snow or the roughest ice. She seemed to skim across the surface, bright golden light from her Sunstone flickering with her, her Spiritshadow flying at her side, in her full Storm Shepherd size and shape.
The Shield Maidens and Shield Mother who had come bursting out of the Ruin Ship in answer to the alarm saw her running down the hill, but it was not Milla they saw. It was a monster, blood-soaked and phantom-lit, with a dark beast of shadow as its companion.
"Ready spears!" shouted the Shield Mother in charge. "Wait! Wait!"
Milla came on, Odris screaming at her to stop, her screams only making them both seem more terrible and dangerous.
"Wait!" roared the Shield Mother. Then, as the light from Milla's Sunstone spilled across the first rank of Shield Maidens, the leader dropped her arm and shouted.
"Throw!"
CHAPTER TWENTY
The crushing, breath-stealing darkness pressed down on Tal. He fought it as he struggled to climb, to find another handhold, to break free and into the light.
Just in time, he remembered to close his eyes, so that when he burst out, he was not blinded. There was just the welcome flash of color under his eyelids, and the sudden warmth on his face.
Slowly, Tal opened his eyes a fraction and climbed completely out of the veil, to sit astride a long bronze pole that thrust out of the wall.
Adras was still holding on to his sash. As the Spiritshadow came into the sun, he let out a surprised gasp, and then stretched and luxuriated in the sudden energy.
"I have missed the sun and the sky," he rumbled, far too loudly for Tal's comfort. "Look, there are clouds!"
There were many clouds, in fact. It was close to sunset, and the sun was shining red and low through a deep band of cloud on the horizon.
Tal didn't look at the clouds for long. He was too intent on scanning the Tower above. There were no more gargoyles or stone ornaments, only long bronze rods and the golden nets that were suspended beneath the rods, nets that held neophyte Sunstones, Aeniran jewels that slowly absorbed power and light above the veil.
Tal wasn't interested in them today. He was looking for the Keeper.
There was a balcony not far above. That was where he'd seen the Keeper last time. But it was empty now. Nor was there any sign of movement on the walkway even higher up.
Tal looked back down at the veil. It was strange to see it spread right across the sky. It looked solid, like black soil, with the Red Tower growing out of it. If you didn't know what it was, you would never suspect that there was a whole world underneath.
Right at that moment, a hand thrust out of the Veil, fingers scrabbling frantically for a hold on the pole. Tal jumped with shock. Another, apparently disembodied arm followed, then Crow's head burst through.
His eyes were wide open. Tal had forgotten to warn him about the sun.
Crow screamed and flung one arm across his face. His other hand lost its hold. Desperately his fingers flailed to regain it, as his body teetered backward.
Tal reached out and grabbed him around the wrist, and Crow gripped him with amazing, panicked strength.
It was too late. Crow was already overbalancing. He fell backward. Tal let go, panicked himself, but Crow still kept hold.
Tal's own handhold slipped, his grip broken. Together they fell into the veil, even as Tal threw out his other arm, screaming for Adras.
They were in the darkness for only a fraction of a second. Tal felt Adras grab his arm with a familiar shoulder-wrenching suddenness. Then he was hauled back into the light. Crow came with him, almost wrenching his other arm out of its socket, until Adras reached down and pulled him up as well.
Both of them clutched at the bronze pole as if it were a long-lost friend. It took a few seconds before either of them spoke.
"You should have warned me!" hissed Crow. His eyes were still crinkled up against the sun. "It is so bright!"
"It's sunset," muttered Tal, in his defense. "Hardly that bright. Besides, I told you there was sun up here."
Crow muttered something angrily, but Tal couldn't catch what it was. He kept a wary eye on the Freefolk boy. At least Milla
was predictable in this sort of circumstance, he thought. He didn't know what Crow was thinking at all.
"Well," Crow said finally. "Let's call it even, shall we?"
"Call what even?" asked Tal, puzzled.
Crow looked at him scornfully. "Don't give me that pretend stupid act. Who did you learn it from? Ebbitt?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Tal said.
"Sure," snarled Crow. "Whatever you say. From now on, let's just help each other, all right?"
"I thought that's what we were doing. That's what I want to do."
Crow grunted. Carefully keeping one hand tight on the pole, he shaded his eyes and looked up. "Darkness!" he swore. "What's that?"
Tal looked up swiftly and groaned. Sure enough, oozing over the balcony was the Keeper.
Tal still didn't know what creature it was in Aenir. The Keeper had a huge, grotesque head, with many eyes and a very wide mouth, full of hundreds of tiny, needlelike teeth. It's body was snakelike, long and sinuous, coiling along behind that horrible head.
It was bigger than Adras.
"Seek not the treasures of the sun," chanted the Spiritshadow as it slid over the balcony. Its voice was high-pitched and screeching, awful to hear. "I am the Keeper, and none may pass here, save those who know the Words."
Tal stared up at it, expecting at any moment to be totally consumed by the panic he had felt in his last encounter with the Keeper. But to his surprise he found himself quite calm. His hand was already coming up, his Sunstone glowing red as he instinctively prepared a Red Ray of Destruction.
"Adras, stand clear!" Tal ordered, his steady voice another surprise. "Crow, if you can do anything to this thing, do it!"
"I can if it gets close enough," said Crow. He was getting something out of the pouch on his belt, but Tal was too intent on the Keeper to see what it was.
The Keeper dropped onto the rod above them, twining itself around as it lowered its head for the next leap straight onto Tal.
Tal kept concentrating on his Sunstone. He fed it anger and rage, and the Red grew deeper and stronger, swirling in the depths of the stone.
As the Keeper opened its too-wide mouth and tensed to spring, Tal thrust his hand forward and released the pent-up power of the Sunstone.
A Red Ray too bright to look upon shot out, a thin spear of light that punched through the Keeper's head. Drops of shadow spurted out of the back of its head. It screamed and recoiled, in pain and surprise.
Tal's relief died as he saw the droplets of shadow leap from the bronze rod and the Tower wall and fly back into the Keeper. In a few seconds the hole drilled by the Red Ray had closed, and the Keeper was once again preparing to spring.
"None may pass here!" hissed the Keeper.
"Can you hold it still?" shouted Crow. There was no need for shouting, but Tal understood why he was.
"No… yes… I don't know," he shouted back. "Adras, grab hold of that thing."
Adras had only been waiting for the word. He roared a battle cry and unleashed two bolts of shadow-lightning at the Keeper. More shadow-drops flew, then Adras was upon it, gripping it in a bear hug with his mighty arms. But its snake body was as quick to wrap around him, and Adras grunted as the thing began to squeeze.
Its head lowered, too, and it bit at Adras's shoulder. Adras howled, squeezed even harder, and bit back.
"It's still moving too much!" shouted Crow. He was getting up on the bronze rod now, intending to climb up to the next one where the two Spiritshadows were wrestling and biting. He had a strange silvery bag in his left hand.
Tal stared down at his Sunstone. There had to be something he could do to immobilize the Keeper. A variation of the Hand of Light. A rope. Something! Anything!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
As the spears flew, Odris leapt upon Milla, grabbed her, and glided with her only a half-stretch above the snow. The spears went overhead. Odris, with Milla tucked underneath, plowed through the line of Shield Maidens. Knives cut at the Spiritshadow's back as she passed, but only sank into the shadowflesh and rebounded.
Odris kept going. Ahead of her, a huge wall of golden metal loomed, part of some giant structure that disappeared up into the darkness. There was a doorway in the side, with fuzzy green lights all around it.
"Ruin Ship, Ruin Ship," Milla repeated. Odris understood that this metal house was Milla's target. Perhaps when she reached it she would come to her senses.
If she reached it. Odris felt several spears strike her in the back, some of them going far enough through her to at least scratch Milla. Even so, the Icecarl did not cry out.
Odris kept on gliding, as close to the ground as she dared, sometimes grazing it a little with Milla. Near the door, she swooped up, dropped Milla, and turned to face their pursuers.
No more spears flew. Thirty or more Shield Maidens drew their long knives and rushed forward in total silence.
Odris drew herself up to her full height and shadow bolts of lightning formed in her hands. She was about to throw them when she heard a voice behind her call out a rapid sequence of strangely familiar words, followed by the shouted command,
"Stop!"
The Shield Maidens stopped. Odris would have thrown the shadow-lightning, but she found herself unable to move. Whatever the words were, they had done something to the shadow in her heart, Milla's shadow. It had reached out and stilled her muscles.
Odris couldn't even turn to see who had spoken. Now all she could hear was Milla's voice. Milla was suddenly babbling on about the Aenirans and the veil and Sushin and Odris and Adras, but it was all mixed up and it didn't make much sense.
The voice spoke again.
"Libbe! Go to Crone Dalim, ask her to come quickly with her medicines. Breg, go to the Mother and ask her for a shadow-bottle. Run!"
Odris kept trying to turn around. She could feel the shadow inside her going back to sleep or whatever it normally did, and she was regaining control of herself. Slowly, she began to turn.
A silver-eyed woman in black furs was cradling Milla, her hand placed firmly on the Icecarl girl's heart. As Odris turned, the woman looked at her and rapidly spoke the same words again.
This time, they had less effect. Odris felt the shadow stir inside her, but it could not hold her. She turned completely around and took a step forward.
A glowing knife appeared in the woman's other hand. A shorter version of the Merwin-horn sword Milla had lost when she had impaled Sushin.
"Come no closer, shadow," ordered the woman. "You shall not have this girl."
Odris sighed and sat down.
"I don't want to have her," she said.
The woman started, and there was a gasp from the Shield Maidens. Apart from the ones who had run off, they were standing still, as the woman had commanded, in a ring around Odris, none closer than thirty stretches.
"You speak," said the woman. "It is long since we have seen a shadow that speaks."
"Is Milla all right?" asked Odris. "She feels sort of sick to me and she's been acting very strange."
"Milla?" asked the woman, looking down. "If that is her name, she has gone far into the Tenth Pattern. I do not know if we can guide her out. If we cannot, she will die."
"I don't want her to die!" wailed Odris. "What will happen to me?"
The Spiritshadow started to weep, huge shadow-tears rolling on to lie black upon the snow.
"Beware the strategems of shadows," muttered the woman. "Lemel, you had best call the Mother Crone herself, and not just a shadow-bottle."
"No need," said a calm, quiet voice. "I am here."
A very old, tall woman spoke. Odris saw that this one had strangely milky eyes. She walked forward with confidence, pausing to look down at Milla. Another Crone, younger and less bright-eyed than the one with the knife, followed her. She went straight to Milla, took something from the bag she carried, and broke it under the girl's nose.
"Ah, I thought it would be Milla," said the Mother Crone. "She got her Sunstone, I see."
/> "She spoke of strange things," said the first Crone. "Words she had laid upon herself to deliver, dead or alive. I have them."
"Then I will hear them, in due course," said the Mother Crone. "Can she be saved?"
"If you wish it," said the younger Crone. "She is at the choosing of the ways."
"Bring her back," the Mother Crone instructed. "I think I will want more than a few words. Now, Speaking Shadow, what is your name and kind?"
"I am Odris, Storm Shepherd, once of Hrigga's Hill," said Odris. "Who are you?"
"I am the Mother Crone of the Ruin Ship," said the Mother Crone. "I am the Wisdom of Danir, the Living Sword of Asteyr."
"Oh," said Odris. She got up and bowed.
"No Aeniran is permitted upon the Dark World, by the ancient law of Danir," continued the Crone.
"By what right do you come here?"
"I came with Milla," Odris explained. "She wanted to tell you about the Veil being in danger, and the Keystones being unsealed, and"
"Stop!" ordered the Mother Crone. "We will speak of this with Milla herself. I say again, by what right do you come to the Dark World?"
"I don't know," said Odris miserably. "I just wanted to get away from the Hill and then I had to follow Milla."
"You must be taken for judgment," said the Mother Crone. "Will you go willingly to your prison, or must I force you?"
Odris looked around. The Shield Maidens probably couldn't hurt her, though there was that Crone with the glowing knife. The Mother Crone also seemed very confident Odris could be made to obey her.
"I'll do what you want, on one condition," Odris answered.
"We do not make conditional agreements," said the Mother Crone. "Yet you can tell me what you want. Perhaps it is not a condition after all."
"I want you to stop Milla from giving herself to the Ice."
The Mother Crone looked down at Milla. She seemed to be merely asleep now, breathing normally, as the younger Crone cleansed and bandaged her wounds.
"We cannot promise that," she said. "It is every
Icecarl's right to go to the Ice. Besides, Milla herself must be judged. Perhaps our judgment will be that she must go to the Ice."
Odris frowned and shot up into the sky. But she knew she couldn't go very far from Milla. Even if she could escape that binding, there was no light out in the world. She would fade to nothing.
