A Gathering Of Stones

12

Korimenei lifted the lantern; nothing much had changed in the Chain Room. Ten years. It might have been ten minutes. She looked at the platform, looked quickly away. The crystal was there with Tre curled up in it, but she found she was reluctant to go near the thing. All she had to do was put her hand on the crystal, then Tr6 would be free, she could give him Frunzacoache and that would be the end of it. Instead, she turned in a slow circle, the light from the lantern spreading and contracting with the irregular circumference of the cave chamber. Chains hung in graceful curves, one end bolted to a ceiling so high it was lost in the darkness beyond the reach of the lantern, the other end to the side-wall a man’s height off the floor. Chains crossed and recrossed the space above her head, chains of iron forged on a smithpriest’s anvil and hung in here so long ago all but the lowest links were coated with stone, chains of wood whittled by the woodworker priests knives, chains of crystal and saltmarble chiseled by the stonecutter priests, centuries of labor given to the cave, taken by the cave to itself, a layer of stone slowly slowly crawling over all of it. No, there was no change she could see; if the stone had crept a fingerwidth lower, it would take a better eye than hers to measure it. She finished the turn facing the Chained God’s altar, a square platform of polished wood sitting on stone blocks that lifted it a foot off the stone floor, above it, held up by carved wooden posts, a canopy of white jade, thin and translucent as the finest porcelain. In the center of the platform the crystal lay beside the kedron chest where Tr6 had found Harra’s Eye and given it to her so she could use it to locate the Drinker of Souls. “Be careful what you do,” she said aloud. “The more powerful the act, the more unpredictable the outcome.”

Danny touched her shoulder. “You feel like telling us why we’re here?”

“Take this, will you?” She handed him the lantern. “You see that thing?”

“Hard to miss.”

“That’s my brother in there. You said you remembered him.”

“AIL Who…”

“Settsimaksimin. He wanted to make sure I stayed in school.”

“You’re out now.”

Felsrawg shivered. “It’s colder’n a fetch’s finger in here. Whatever you got to do, do it.”

“Stay out of this, Felsa,” Danny said, “you’re along for the ride, she doesn’t need your ignorance yapping at her.”

“T’ss! Don’t need yours either, seems to me. All she needs from you is your…”

“Shut up, both of you.” Korimenei striped her gloves off, shoved them into a coat pocket, lifted Aihki from her shoulder and gave her to Danny. “Stay there, Aili my Liki. Wait.” She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Scratchy little thief was right, what you got to do, do it. Don’t stand around dithering. She walked to the altar, took hold of a post and pulled herself onto the platform. She took another breath, reached out and flattened her hand on the warm silky crystal.

It quivered like something alive, then she was touching nothing, She could still see it, but she was touching nothing. Like water emptying down a drain, it flowed away from Trago, lowering him gently to the polished planks.

When it was all gone, her brother straightened his arms and legs, yawned and opened his eyes. He was on his side, his back to Korimenei. He didn’t look round, he just got to his feet and went to the chest, opened it and took the crystal out, Harra’s Eye. He turned finally and saw her. “Who are you?”

“I’m Kori, Tre.”

“You can’t be Kori, you’re old.”

“You don’t remember?”

“I remember… I remember being at the Lot. Kori got the blue, I got nothing. They took her away. I went back to the Hostel with the others. AuntNurse gave me a drink to make me sleep. That was yesterday… He frowned as he saw Danny and Felsrawg standing silent under the chains. “You shouldn’t have brought strangers in here.” When he realized what he’d said, he looked frightened. “What am I doing here? How’d I get here?”

“That wasn’t yesterday, Tr amp; You’ve been spelled, brother, you’ve slept ten years away without knowing it. I thought

... I thought you did know it, I thought you found a way to talk to me.” She saw the confusion in his eyes and knew finally how completely she’d been fooled. “It wasn’t you, was it?” At first she was relieved, the eidolon she’d grown to resent so bitterly wasn’t her brother; then she was angry and afraid. She reached out to touch him; he shied away, frightened of her, then at last he seemed to accept her. He didn’t say anything, but he let her pull him close and put her arm about his shoulder. “I am Kori, Tre, I am your sister. Really. I came to wake you and give you…” she touched the face of the talisman, slid her fingers over it and over it, drawing a measure of calm from the way it nestled against her. “Let me take you home, Trd. I want to go home too. I’ve been away at a school. A long, long way from here.”

“Kori?”

“Come on, I’ll tell you all about it. You going to keep the Eye with you?”

He looked down; he was clutching the crystal sphere against him, holding it in both hands. “I NEED to,” he said.

“All right,” She lifted him down. “Danny, Felsa, let’s…

Darkness swallowed them.

She heard Danny curse, she heard Felsrawg scream with rage, Ailiki leapt at her, she felt the mahsar’s claws dig through her coat into her flesh.

The darkness swallowed them all.

III: Settsimaksimin

Driving south to steal Shaddalakh from the Grand Magus of Tok Kinsa in order to redeem his souls from the geniod who’d trapped him, Maksim was caught in a blizzard and blown across the path of Simms the thief who had taken shelter from that storm in an abandoned farmstead.