[Lanen Kaelar 03] - Redeeming the Lost (39 page)

“Kedra, how fare you?” I asked.

“We are well, Idai, and we are here!” He
sounded quite pleased. “The castle rises above a huge lake right at the edge of
the mountains. If you veer north-by-west when the lake appears the size of a
soulgem, fly a double hand of heartbeats then roll a quarter right, you will
find yourself above a long curving valley between two ridges. At the end of the
valley is a grassy field, almost like the Summer Plain. There is a waterfall to
the south and a little stream runningfrom it.”

“Have you spied out the land around the
castle?” I asked.

“I considered it, Lady,” Kedra replied, “but
it is still light. Surely it is best if we are not seen?”

“True. Ah, well,” I sighed. “The moon is with
us, at least, she nears the full. We must trust that it will be enough.”

“Shall we light afire to guide you, Lady?” he
asked. “I would not hazard our discovery on such a thing, for all the comfort
it would bring.”

“If our enemy can see a fire through a
mountain range, we   . surely are doomed in any case,” I replied dryly, and
Kedra laughed.

“Very well, then. Come to the fire, and bring
my poor father as swiftly as you may. He will be suffering agonies at this
enforced silence!”

I sent a swift thought to Shikrar, no more
than “all is well,” and shut my mind to him. Our plans, such as they were,
would not take long to communicate to him once we came to land.

It seemed likely that all would be over and
done by the morrows sunset. I shuddered, making Aral and Vilkas cling more
tightly to my foreclaws, the poor souls. I longed to turn from this path, fly
on powerful wings in any direction that did not take us to   our fate.

I could no more turn away than fly on my back.
Our path was determined when the first Kantri who ever breathed chose order
over chaos: thus we balance the Rakshasa, our life-enemies, who chose the path
of chaos. The poor doomed Trelli chose not to choose, and they have vanished
from the world. The Gedri alone among the Four Peoples from the dawn of life
had chosen choice itself—each individual soul was free to decide if it would follow
order or chaos.

The Kantri could no more abandon the Dhrenagan
to their fate than walk on water. We are bound, by blood, by honour, by our
very nature, to stand by them.

I took some comfort in the knowledge that for
all the suffering the Lost had endured, for all those endless years of
captivity, the balance that is in all things decreed that there was a terrible
price yet to be paid. I for one intended to make sure that the Demonlord and
that Rakshadakh Berys paid it as painfully as possible.

It did occur to me that the battle that loomed
before us could be a blessing from the Winds, in a strange way. As if we were being
given the chance to undo the great evil that had created the Lost all those
long ages ago.

It eased my heart to think that, at least.

I have slept nearly a full day. The sun was
setting when at last I opened my eyes, fully rested and ready to welcome the
Demon-lord. I sent a Rikti to find out when he would arrive. The useless
creature said that he could see the East Mountains only as a mist in the
distance, and that it was not possible that he should arrive before the
morning.

“What delays you?” I demanded sharply. “Are
you lost? Have you fought the Kantri again though I forbade you?”

“I haven’t fought them, but what should I do when
the damn things throw themselves at me?” he complained. “There have been at
least half a dozen of them that couldn’t resist the urge to kill themselves
today.” I could hear the pleasure in his voice. “I have let this body do most
of the work. They do burn nicely.”

“Are all the Kantri close to you?” I asked. “Do
they follow you or precede you or fly by your side?”

“Damned if I know,” he said, snorting. “I’ve
been flying through mist and rain and cloud most of the day. Until the last
half hour I have only seen the ones who attack. The rest could be anywhere.”

“The skies are clearer now?” I asked.

“Yes, enough at least to know I can’t see a
trace of a dragon, but clouds still obscure the moon. Even now I can barely see
to fly.”

“I care not for your excuses. Keep coming. On
the whole, I would rather you got here before the Kantri.”

“I don’t know why you are concerned about
them,” he replied. “They are just as stupid now as they ever were. They are
doing now exactly as they did then, throwing their little lives away in a
temper.” He laughed briefly.

“Are you entirely stupid, or have you
forgotten how to count?” I snarled. “Only six of them! There are hundreds more
left.”

“There would not be if you would let me engage
them.”

“Patience, foolish one. You are not yet at
half the strength I have prepared for you. Get you here as swiftly as you may.
This castle is vulnerable without you to serve as my guard.”

“Guard! Little demon-spit, you have much to
learn,” he hissed. “I come because you promise me the Kantri, all together, all
at my mercy.”

“You bore me,” I said, yawning. “Boasting is
so tedious. You come because you are bound to my service, whatever your pride
might wish were the case. Come swiftly and be ready to destroy the Kantri. If
they are not here before you, they will not be far behind.”

“I have been ready to destroy the Kantri for
thousands of years,” he snarled. “Let them come when they will. I will throw
them from the sky, each and every, until they fall upon the earth like drops of
rain. I will tear their souls from them and take them back with me to the
deepest Hell, there to feast upon that rich harvest down the long ages.”

I had never asked, and I was curious. “You
were man, you are now demon for the most part—how long do you expect to live?”

In a low, drawn-out voice, it replied, “Forever.”

I have to say, it’s quite handy travelling
with the Kantri. True, we were all still damp and cold from the mornings rain,
but if you ever want to get warm fast, talk to a dragon. Gyrentikh, who seemed
to be enjoying the adventure, brought a young mast for firewood, broke it up,
and lit it as well. Dragonfire bums hotter than normal fire, so the wood was
consumed swiftly until it settled down to being normal flames, but that first
blast of heat was more than welcome. Still, I’d have given a great deal for a
hot bath.

While the Kantri were making their
preparations, we humans all sat around the fire and tried to come up with some
way of taking Berys out of action. Maran used the Farseer to check on him, and
the image was the last one any of us wanted to see. He stood before a makeshift
altar, obviously preparing something important, and all around him fluttered a
small army of Rikti and a few Rakshi fetching and carrying. Jamie cursed and
Rella shook her head. “That’s work for the Kantri,” she said. “I’d happily
carve Berys into steaks, but I couldn’t get anywhere near him like that.”

We all looked to the Healers. Will and Aral
looked to Vilkas, who sat very still indeed. It was left to Varien to ask, “What
say you to that, Mage Vilkas?” His voice he kept carefully neutral. “Can you do
aught to dispel those creatures?”

He took a long time to answer. “Yes, I can,”
he said, “but whether I will be able to do so on demand tomorrow is another
question.” He frowned. “I cannot in all conscience let you make any plans
depending on my abilities,” he said calmly. “I cannot give you my assurance
that I will be able to do anything at all about Berys’s demons.”

Aral opened her mouth to protest, but Will put
his hand on her arm and she held her peace.

Varien nodded. “It is as well we know this
now, Mage Vilkas. I appreciate your honesty.” He glanced around the circle. ‘The
Kantri have said that they will bear us to a hill near the side of the lake
tomorrow morning, that we may see with our own eyes everything that occurs. We
should keep well away from the water’s edge.”

“Damn it, man, do you mean that we are to do
nothing tomorrow?” cried Jamie. “If Berys is left to work unchallenged we will
all be the worse for it. Surely there is some way, between the eight of us,
that we can defeat enough demons to at least distract Berys.”

Aral began to protest, as did Rella. Vilkas
scowled at everyone.

The most peculiar idea occurred to me.

“What if Berys were attacked by a demon?” I
asked loudly.

Well, it got their attention, but not a soul
there looked pleased at the idea. Vilkas glared at me and said sternly, “Mistress
Lanen, do you tell me that you are versed in the summoning of the creatures? I
would be surprised to hear it.”

“Of course not,” I snapped. “Only Healers can
call the things, surely. I thought that perhaps you—I mean—uh—”

Vilkas’s and Aral’s brows were two black
thunderclouds, and I was hugely relieved that it was Aral who spoke first.

“No, Lanen. Anyone can call them.” Her eyes were
hard as stone. “All it takes is a blood oath in which you revile the Lady and
reject Her utterly. I’d rather not, thanks. Are you volunteering?’

My mother stood, slowly, and opened her mouth.

Jamie, not seeing her, said, “Lanen, it is an
entrancing idea, to burn him with his own fire, but there are some ways closed
to us. Would you rid a kingdom of a despot by torturing his subjects into
rebellion? We cannot so debase ourselves as to use demons. We would be no
better than Berys.”

Maran turned and wandered off, as if to
stretch her legs, but I knew perfectly well that she had meant to offer herself
and risk her soul as a demon-caller. I wasn’t certain whether I was proud of
her courage or worried that she had so low an opinion of her own worth.

A few more idiotic ideas were put forward and
demolished, until finally Will spoke up. “The truth is,” he said practically, “that
none of us wants to admit that we’re useless in this.” He stood and paced a
little. “Believe me, I find this as maddening as you do, Master Jamie, but—I at
least admit that I am completely out of my depth.”

Maran, composed again, returned to the circle
of firelight. Will continued. “I’m a decent hand with a longstaff and not a bad
shot with bow and arrow, but I don’t have either, and in any case a bit of wood
isn’t going to bother a demon. And I shouldn’t think Berys would leave himself
vulnerable to physical attack.”

“He has before,” said Jamie.

“When?” asked Vilkas, quick and sharp.

Jamie sighed and then grinned up at Will. “Twenty-five
years ago, I suppose it was. You don’t reckon he’s learned anything in the
meantime, do you?”

“Even if he hasn’t, we’d have to get to him
first,” said Rella practically. “I suppose one of the Kantri could drop us
fairly near the castle, if we had any idea of being useful, but I’d hate to
give the bastard a chance of taking any of us prisoner again.” She sighed. “I’m
afraid we’re just going to have to wait tomorrow. Wait and watch.” Jamie began
to protest, but she silenced him. “I don’t like it any better than you do! But
unless you can think of something we can be sure of accomplishing, we will best
serve our cause by keeping out of the way. I shall keep my sword loose in its
sheath and my wits sharp about me, but to throw ourselves into Berys’s path
unprepared is surely the worst kind of folly.”

“I wish you were wrong,” said Maran heavily, “but
I know better. Goddess, to come so far and be so helpless!”

“Do not despair, Lady Maran,” said Varien,
smiling grimly. “The day lies before us, and nothing in this world is certain
before it happens. It may be that we will all have something to do before the
end.”

With that we all had to be content. The rest
settled down to sleep for what was left of the night. Varien and I walked along
to the little waterfall arm in arm, taking our time in the starlight, walking
in silence. The water sang a merry tune as it fell, heedless alike of demons
and dragons, and it comforted me. Varien walked beside me, silent still, but I
swear I could feel something rising in his soul. I just couldn’t tell what it
was.

“Varien, love, how fare you?” I asked him,
finally. “Funny how I have grown so dependent on truespeech so quickly. I would
bespeak you if I thought Marik wouldn’t hear, but—”

“To the Hells with Marik,” said Varien
roughly, taking me in his arms. He kissed me passionately, desperately, and I
could feel his mind singing in mine, a counterpoint to the whispered
endearments so wild and intense that I grew giddy. “Lanen, kadreshi, beloved,
beloved.” He all but sang the words. “Come, my dearling, come, hold me, let me
feel your dear arms about me. Bear me up this night, beloved, of your gentle
mercy, for my heart is weary unto death with care and thou art my only rest.”

We kissed and clung to one another and the
world went away, just for those few moments. Alas that such distractions could
not last.

Varien suddenly broke away and started
walking, as if he would walk away from the dread in his soul. I kept pace with
him, trying not to feel hurt that my love and care were not enough. “My heart
tells me that this could be the last night that there are Kantri in the world,
Lanen,” he said bitterly. “On the Isle of Exile I often worried that there were
so few born to us. It seemed to me that in several generations, perhaps as long
again as it has been since the last coming of the Demonlord, we might be no
more, and that was a dark evil.” His voice was like a whip, but it was himself
he was lashing. “And behold! I fall in love with you, I choose change rather
than death, the world seems brighter than it ever has been—and now all my
people face death on the morrow. All of us, even the Lost, Restored for a
paltry few days and lost again forever because of me!”