Authors: Lynn Flewelling
Thero pulled off his boots and began rummaging in a clothes chest. He soon came up with a pair of leather shoes and put them on.
“What are you doing?” asked Alec.
“As I said, Great Seals almost always operate as pairs. I’m going back to that cave to look for an outer seal.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Thero gave him a curt nod and turned to an equipment chest, thrusting things into a leather bag.
“What if there’s a portal there now?” asked Micum. “If you get in by way of the cave, how will you know where to get out again? If she spirited you away to it, then you don’t even know where it is.”
Alec shrugged. “We’ll just have to take what the Lightbearer sends, I guess. I got back here by touching the seal on that side. At least I think I touched it. I was reaching for it when I ended up in the other cave. If that doesn’t work this time, then I’ll try to find the river and follow it, as I did before. All I need is a good stock of food and water.” He paused. “All those people in the town. If they’ve been in that place with the necromancer for as long as you seem to think, then how have they stayed alive without real water? And food. The only livestock I saw were the sheep. How would they survive? And now that I think of it, I only saw the one flock. That wouldn’t be enough to feed a town that size even if you slaughtered them all at once.”
Thero pulled the bag shut and slipped his arm through the strap. “And what do you deduce from all this?”
Alec frowned as something began to take form at the back of his mind. “I was in the town all day and after sunset, but I never smelled a cooking fire, or bread baking, or anything else like it. There were no street vendors, either, or food stalls in the marketplace. I didn’t see a single person eating anything.” He turned to the others as a nasty chill ran up his spine. “Their clothing and language … If that seal created a plane to imprison the necromancer in, then maybe those people were caught in there, too, and after all this time … Could they all be ghosts?”
“That would explain a lot of what you observed,” Seregil replied. His eyes were closed now and his brows were drawn together in pain, but he was still in the conversation. “And what happened to your clothing that you stole there—these rags—this has something to do with time.”
“What if the necromancer is dead, too?”
“You saw her perform a spell on Mika. That seems unlikely for a dead woman,” said Thero.
“I’ll carry food this time, just in case.”
“Wait here. I’ll go get some together for you.” Micum went out.
“If I do go through, I’ll be careful and I won’t let her fool me again, I promise, Seregil.”
Seregil reached out and gave his disheveled braid a light tug. “It may not be your choice, given her apparent powers.”
“Tell me about the cave again while we wait,” said Thero with thinly disguised impatience.
“The one she took me to looked similar to the innermost one Seregil and I saw, except there was no water, no dripstone, and the pictures of the animals were evil. At the back was the black opal set in gold and it glowed. When I reached out to touch it, I didn’t feel anything but suddenly I was in the other cave, the one with the water. There was a ghost who spoke Aurënfaie. He was terribly sad, weeping and calling out.”
“What did he call out?”
Alec sighed. “As I told you, he called on Aura to protect a woman.”
“But he didn’t say who?” asked Thero.
“No—No, wait, he did say something else.
‘Nölienai talía.’
Something beloved.”
“Beloved Black Pearl,” said Seregil.
“But it wasn’t a pearl, it was an opal.”
Seregil gave his braid another tug. “It’s a term of endearment for a women. A darkly favored one, I’d say.”
“The necromancer?”
“Possibly,” said Thero.
“Then the ghost is evil, too.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Seregil yawned. “We might speculate, however, that it is his skull bolted to that pillar, since he’s haunting the cave. I think I’ll have another look there, tomorrow.”
“I don’t think you’ll be in any shape for exploring.” Alec looked at the stitches in Seregil’s scalp. “The drysian did a good job but you must have lost a lot of blood.”
“Head wounds always bleed a lot. It looks worse than it is, I’m sure. I’m just hoping I can get the blood out of the hair that’s left. I’m in no hurry to be bald.”
“Come along, Alec,” said Thero. “Seregil, if we don’t get back tonight, tell Micum to keep an eye out for Klia’s messenger tomorrow for me.”
The pack of food Micum had readied for them was heavy, but this time they were taking horses as far as the grove. When they arrived at the oracle’s precinct, Thero silently handed his bag to Alec to carry and shouldered the heavier load.
Thero cast a moving light and they followed it from chamber to chamber and down to the innermost cave. It was steep as Alec had described and Thero slid the last few yards into cold water, barely managing to stay on his feet. Alec slid out after him with the pack and bag. Thero enlarged the light to illuminate the whole cave and what he saw amazed him, even though he’d already heard it described.
The artwork was stunning, as were the dripstone formations.
There was no time to admire them, however, as Alec splashed across the chamber and showed him the stone-encrusted skull surrounded by stalagmites.
“Do you know what the symbols painted on the skull say?” asked Alec.
Thero leaned over it, studying the markings. “They’re hard to make out, but it looks like it might be some sort of curse, although the boss holding the skull to the pillar appears to be made of silver, which doesn’t make any sense, magically.”
Alec was still showing the effects of the other plane, despite the food he’d had. His face looked skull-like as he turned to face Thero. It was a bit unsettling. “What kind of curse?”
“Parts of the pattern are too obscured to make out. Given the placement, though, the spirit attached to this skull may have been condemned to stay near it, which would explain the ghost.”
As if on cue, a deep sigh echoed around the chamber, followed by the sound of whispering, though Thero could not make out the words.
“That’s him,” whispered Alec, looking around nervously.
It was strange to see Alec looking frightened of anything, but Thero remembered what Seregil had once told him of Alec’s fears: heights and ghosts. “Are you with me, Alec?”
Alec nodded. “Let’s find that seal. Move the light in front of the skull.”
“Why?” Thero asked as he did so.
“Because it’s not facing the entrance of the cave, the way you’d expect. I want to see what it’s looking at,” Alec replied, sighting over the top of the skull’s head.
“Ah, of course.” Thero stepped in beside him and found himself looking at the section of wall that had fallen away. In the eye line of the skull, something glinted with the unmistakable color of gold against the naked stone. Threading his way through the formations, Thero brought the light to bear on the rock face and saw what appeared to be the remains of a rod of gold set into the stone. Something made of gold had been affixed to the wall long before the dripstone formed, then had apparently been dislodged in the rockslide. Reaching
up, he pressed his fingers to the rough surface of the metal and gasped at the rich echo of Aurënfaie magic still contained there. With it came the hazy vision of two people, a man and a woman, standing exactly where he was. There was no dripstone around them, just the deeper darkness of the cave. He could not make out their faces or who they had been, but the impression of their presence was clear. He pressed his hands to the damp stone on either side of it.
“A Great Seal
was
here!” he said. “It must have sheared off when the rock face fell. Help me look through this broken pile of stone.”
“Thero.” Alec’s voice was low, but charged with emotion.
The wizard turned and found Alec facing a tall, amorphous black figure. It was only a few feet from his friend, but it was not a dra’gorgos, though he guessed Alec wasn’t so certain, given the way he was clutching his amulet. As the three of them stood there, the deep, troubled sigh echoed around the chamber again, and seemed to emanate from the very stones themselves.
Thero pointed to the skull and asked in Aurënfaie, “Is this yours?”
The dark figure wavered a moment, then faded away. “What was that?” Alec managed, and Thero could hear his voice shaking. “I believe that may have been your sad ghost.”
“That’s what I think, too.”
“If he meant to harm you, he’s certainly had adequate chances to do so.”
“So what does that mean? He didn’t claim the skull.”
“I don’t know. Some ghosts communicate with the living, while others ignore them.”
“This one spoke right next to my ear last time, so I think he was trying to communicate something.”
“Ah yes. His
‘Nölienai talía’—
”
A sudden raw scream echoed horribly around the cave, and with it a sudden gust of wind that buffeted their faces.
“Aura Elustri málreil!”
shouted Alec.
The wind stopped, and in the silence that followed they
heard a muttering just below the threshold of hearing, then the words
“Nölienai talía.”
Thero’s sphere of light went out, plunging them into darkness.
“Thero?” whispered Alec.
“That shouldn’t have happened.” Thero cast another ball of light and found Alec looking wide-eyed and nervous.
“Should we get out of here?”
Thero shook his head. “I don’t feel any evil here.”
“What about the curse on the skull?”
“First the seal.”
Together they sorted through all the stone lying on the cave floor at the base of the wall, but there was no sign of the golden seal or its gem.
“A workman could have taken it,” said Alec.
“That’s quite likely.” Thero sighed. “Of course it couldn’t be this easy. Remind me, what did the tablet that sealed this cave say?”
“ ‘Grief resides here.’ That’s all.”
“I wonder if the tablet and the seal were somehow linked? If so, then when the tablet was removed, it might have triggered the rockslide. I can only imagine that very complex magic had been set in place to guard the lower cave, magic that might well have faded over the years.”
“All right. So someone probably stole the seal after the wall fell. A workman sent in to clear the rubble, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes, that seems likely.”
“So we need to find the person and get it back. Now, what about the skull?”
“What, indeed?” Thero made his way back to the skull and bent over it for a moment. There was nothing obvious emanating from it. He held a hand over it, but there was still nothing. “I’d have to touch bone to get anything from it, if that’s even possible, and that would mean removing the stone coating it.”
“What about the eye sockets?” asked Alec.
“Ah, good observation.” Thero touched the delicate stalactites that veiled the left eye; they fell away with a tiny tinkling
sound. Reaching in with one finger, he felt for bare bone and found it at the top of the socket …
A tall, handsome ’faie man with flowing dark brown hair stood here with a beautiful black-haired woman. They were both naked and had just made hurried love on the cave floor surrounded by the whispering spirits of the ancients who’d made this place a sanctuary. She wore only a familiar-looking golden arm ring and now she took it off and gave it to him. He pressed it to his lips as a tear slid down his cheek—
“Thero! Thero, are you all right? Say something.”
The wizard opened his eyes slowly to find himself sitting on the uneven ground next to the pillar, with Alec gripping him by the shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
“You fell over.”
“How long after I touched the skull?”
“About half a second.”
“Interesting. I had an extended vision just now. I think I saw our ghost, and a woman with him.” Thero explained the vision. “The golden arm ring she wore—I think it was the same one Lady Zella showed us at the governor’s house. I must have another look at it, and see if any impressions remain as to who the woman was. She was black-haired, like the one you described. May I?”
Alec nodded. Thero brushed his mind and saw the same woman he’d just witnessed in his vision, though in Alec’s mind she was clothed in a red gown. “Yes, it was her.”
Alec frowned. “The necromancer was the ’faie man’s lover?”
“That’s how it appeared, but it was a very brief vision.”
“Does that make any sense to you? I mean, did she help him seal her in?”
“It’s more likely he tricked her.”
“That doesn’t explain who set the seal on the other side.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Thero stood and approached the skull again. Reaching into the eye socket, he closed his eyes …
He was looking down into her eyes. Deep blue eyes the color of the summer sky. She was clearly Tírfaie, but she spoke Aurënfaie as she looked up at him and said, “I love you, Khazireen. Watch over them.” With that she took off the arm ring and Thero felt it placed in his hand, the gold still warm from her body …
This time he found himself in Alec’s arms. Regaining his footing, he stepped back. “How long that time?”
“About the same. You touch it and your legs go out from under you. I managed to catch you.”
“Thank you. I saw her more closely this time. It’s most certainly the same woman. She called the man Khazireen and asked him to watch over someone.”
“Well, that’s a start if she’s his beloved Black Pearl. But who would a necromancer want him to look after?”
“I can’t imagine.” He looked up at the gold embedded in stone. “The seal you saw brought you here, right?”
“I guess so.”
“Well, nothing bad happened when I touched this, assuming it is part of the other seal. I need you to try, Alec.”
“All right, but I’d better hang on to you, in case I do get across. You probably won’t be able to go through without me.”
“Or even with you, I suspect.”
Shouldering the pack and giving Alec the bag again, Thero joined hands with him and Alec touched the gold.
Nothing happened. Alec pulled his hand away and tried again. He did not disappear.