Guardians Of The Keep

CHAPTER 41

Karon

I was at wit’s end. I had dabbled in madness for so long that I knew no other way to live. A day with any semblance of normality would probably have me screaming in terror. I fought and trained and stayed alive. I watched for the least opportunity, the least chink in the armor of Zhev’Na, and came up with nothing.

Paulo had been despondent after my match with Vruskot, for he’d been sure that Gerick would take me on as swordmaster. He told me of his several encounters with my son, and his belief that Gerick was desperately torn between the demands of his masters and his own nature. “He’s decided to be like them, but he don’t like it at all. He just don’t see any other way to be.”

“They want him very badly. Only the one person-the anointed Heir of D’Arnath-has power over the Breach and the Bridge and the Gates.”

“But if you’re still alive… Maybe the anointing just won’t work.”

“As long as I’m trapped in this collar, I’m as good as dead. And unless I’m free to use them, the Heir’s powers will pass straight on to Gerick when he’s anointed.”

Dismal thoughts, all of this. It didn’t help my morale that Paulo was almost caught on that visit. A guard chose just the wrong time to make a circuit of the slave pen with a blazing torch, and Paulo had to roll out of the light. I set up a racket on the bars, feigning a bout of madness-a perilously easy bit of playacting. On his next visit, I would command Paulo to stay away from me. A bleak prospect. His cheerful grin was the best thing in my life.

My unease was not at all soothed by what Paulo had reported of Gerick’s “changes.”

“They say he’s come a demon, afraid of the light, and that he goes days at a time without eating or sleeping, and that he’s roaming about the place inside people’s heads. He told me- He told me he was going to be one of the Lords. Is that what’s happening?”

Of course it was. Corruption was not enough. All the power Gerick would inherit when he came of age would be theirs, but only if there was nothing of him left that might resist them. I had long since lost count of the passing time, but weeks had gone by since I had been celebrated for living out an entire year in the slave pen. Gerick’s anointing could not be far distant. The Three would be the Four. Chaos. Disaster.

The days continued.

Straw tickled my nose. Waking instantly, I rolled toward the bars.

“I’ve got bad news. They’ve got her-”

“Ah, no…” It was all I could do not to scream, to tear at the bars, to bang on them until a guard would come for me and I could strangle him with my bare hands. I had dared not even think of Seri lest somehow the knowledge of her presence be detected in me. It had been the only protection I could give her.

“-but I’ve brought someone as might be able to help.”

“What possible help-?”

“V’Saro”-he was quite emphatic about the name, sharpening my attention-“this person wallowing in the muck here beside me is the new Prince of Avonar, the young Lord Gerick.” He turned to the dark shape behind him. “This here is V’Saro. You saw him fight the other day. I think you ought to set him free so he can help us.”

Disbelieving, I pressed close to the bars and strained to see into the darkness. The boy held his face away, but his profile was clear. It didn’t seem possible. “Paulo, are you all right?” I whispered. “He hasn’t-”

“He knows about Seri and says he can get her out of Zhev’Na. But he says he won’t come. I told him that he don’t have to do everything by himself, and that he has to get away from here, too. Tell him, V’Saro. Maybe he’ll hear it from you.”

“Seri would most certainly agree. She’d say you should be taken out first.”

“She would be wrong.” Gerick’s voice was glacial.

“So can you do it?” Paulo whispered to Gerick.

“Do what?”

“Set V’Saro free. Undo the magic. The collar. Let him loose so he can help us get her.”

“I don’t know. I suppose I could get him out of the pen… to come and teach me. But the collar… I don’t know. If you want your talents…” He didn’t seem interested. But he hadn’t closed the door, either. As long as he’d agree to do it, the less interested the better. I wasn’t sure I was ready for him to know who I was.

“Swordplay won’t win this battle,” I said. “We need sorcery of a particular kind that I am able to provide. Though I’ve begun to think Paulo is the only true sorcerer here.”

Gerick snorted at that. “He talks to horses. And gets people to say things they never meant to say.”

“So can you do it?” said Paulo.

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“You won’t be long in your thinkin‘?” said Paulo.

“I can’t. There’s only four days. Then I won’t be able to help you any more.”

“All right, then.” Paulo touched his hand to the bars of my cage, and the boys slipped away.

Four days… earth and sky… If Gerick could unseal the collar, and if I had not forgotten what I was about-a nagging uncertainty that haunted my nights-I could take us out of Ce Uroth. The Lords could ensure that any portal to Avonar was under their control, but I knew another way out that they could not touch. It was just that my gut heaved at the thought…

The proper course would be to abandon Seri. The safety of the Bridge and two worlds was my first responsibility, and that meant that Gerick was far more important than my wife. Yet, as I lay in the straw, staring into the dark sky as it yielded to a dead gray, the more certain I became that we could not leave her behind. Some care for Seri had brought Gerick to this point. Who was to say that the act of saving her life might not be his salvation?

Late on the next afternoon I was summoned to the Gray House, trussed up like a fowl at a poulterer’s shop. Gerick was in the fencing yard, sparring with a young slave under the eye of a one-armed warrior. Vasrin Shaper! It was Vruskot.

Gerick halted the match when the slavehandler dragged me hobbling through the gate. “Ah, here is the slave I ordered.”

Before anyone could blink, a roaring Vruskot slammed me to the ground facedown with a bone-jarring thud, kicked me onto my back, and then fell on my belly like a collapsing tower, his knees gouging and squeezing the life out of me. As I spat out dirt and fought for breath, the sun glinted on the dagger in his hand. Twisting and wriggling, tossing my head from side to side, I tried to upend the brute before I lost an eye or worse.

“Warrior!” The world came to a stop at the command. Gerick stood calmly behind the maddened Zhid with the edge of his sword at Vruskot’s neck. “If you lower that blade the width of an eyelash, your head will follow it.”

Vruskot took a long time deciding. Foamy spittle dripped from his mouth, and his skin was redder than the afternoon desert.

“You will not damage this slave. I desire that both of you be my teachers, and if you dare trespass my instructions in this or any matter, I’ll shrivel your brain and draw it out through your nose. Do you understand me?”

Astonishing. The old Zhid slammed the dagger into its sheath and climbed off me. But the stubborn devil did manage to plant a foot in my gut and trigger my collar as he stood up. While I was occupied trying not to heave up my last three days’ graybread before the son I’d scarcely met, Gerick belted the Zhid with the back of his hand. From the sound of it, a surprisingly strong hand. “Do not test me, warrior.”

The slavehandler kicked me to get up. “Where shall I put the slave, young Lord? This one must be controlled and guarded at all times. You are aware that he has no compulsions of obedience? As he still fights wager matches and training bouts, the slavemaster won’t allow it.”

“Chain him to the wall. He can sit, but should be able to stand and demonstrate a move if I require it.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if Paulo had been deceived by this boy. His demeanor bore not the slightest trace of recognition or common purpose. I might have been a tree stump.

“I’ve informed the Wargreve Damon that you’re to be mine as long as I have use for you,” he said, adjusting his sword belt about his slim waist. “You will instruct me in sword work along with this warrior. You may speak at your will, until such time as I inform you otherwise or leave the training ground. Do you understand?”

I ducked my head. I never liked to push the talking.

“You will remain here day and night. I’ve taken a fancy to night practice, and don’t wish to wait for you to be summoned.”

“Is that wise, young Lord?” Vruskot’s hatred eroded his discipline. “Such dogs as this should be caged.”

“Do not question me, warrior.” Gerick’s glance could have frozen a volcano.

As the sun slid toward the horizon, Gerick resumed his practice with the sturdy young slave. Vruskot eyed me savagely as he drilled the two repeatedly on a complex move. His choice of lessons was unfortunate, for it was just the kind of unimaginative attack that had allowed me to defeat him. Only his own incredible strength and experience had made our match so long and difficult. If Gerick was playacting then he was doing it quite believably. I had best do the same.

“Exploiting the opponent’s weakness is not always the best attack, young Lord,” I said. “Not unless you are also calculating his strengths that balance it. No battle is so simple that a single maxim can carry it.”

Vruskot erupted, of course, but Gerick asserted his authority once again, and invited me to elaborate. For three hours we continued the lesson on attack strategies, becoming so involved that it was almost possible to forget our circumstances. He was so intelligent that he could understand my explanations as soon as I voiced them. And he could carry the implications far beyond the problem of the moment. I sensed his immense desire to be a master of the art. Swordplay was nothing I’d ever thought to teach a son of mine, but I treasured every moment of those three hours.

Vruskot seethed and blustered, but Gerick refused to dismiss him. “You are here to protect me, warrior, lest this Dar’Nethi filth make some attempt to harm me. I trust you to destroy him in such a case.”

The hour grew late. When the slavehandler came to retrieve Gerick’s sparring partner, Gerick told him to return later. But before too much more time had passed, the young slave began to stumble, and I suggested that Gerick would be better served to save him for the next day.

Gerick agreed and promptly ordered Vruskot to return the slave boy to the pen. “While you do that, I’ll secure this slave for the night,” he said.

Vruskot growled, but obeyed. As soon as he was gone, leaving only the two guards in the distant corners of the walled enclosure, Gerick knelt beside me. He linked my wrists together, shortened my ankle hobbles, and tightened the tether chains at wrist, neck, and ankle, securing me firmly to the wall. “I’ve found a way, but I can’t do it until tomorrow night,” he whispered.

“Any time is fine-” For the first time, I got a close look at his face. Spirits of night… He averted his face quickly, knowing that I saw. “How do they do it?” I said softly.

“That’s not your business. I just need to know what you plan to do if I should set you free. I don’t want you interfering with me.”

“Are there plans for you to see Seri… the lady?”

“Yes. They expect me to kill her.”

Dear gods. “Tell me when and where, and I’ll be there,” I said, struggling to stay rational. “Make sure Paulo is with me, too, and I’ll take us all out of Zhev’Na.”

“Every way out is controlled by the Lords. You’ve no chance whatsoever.”

“I know of a way. That’s why I was sent.”

He squinted at me, but it was very dark, and I didn’t think he could see very well. Just then, a gate squeaked and crashed shut again. When Vruskot strode from the stone arch into the yard, Gerick was leaning against the water barrel, casually taking a sip from the dipper. “I’ve tightened the slave’s bonds, warrior, but I want you to make sure of him. Instruct the Drudges to provide his normal food and drink, and do what you can to ensure he doesn’t foul the training ground.”

Vruskot bowed and did an excellent job of ensuring I could not move a finger’s breadth in any direction. On that long, cold night, I dreamed of my Avonar, of taking my son climbing to the snowy summit of Karylis and watching the light return to his terrible eyes.

Two Zhid stood at attention in the fencing yard throughout the next day. The Gray House was silent. No one entered the enclosure. I dozed fitfully in the wicked heat.

Sometime after nightfall, a quiet thud from the dark corner of the yard woke me with a start. One of the guards had slumped into a heap in the dirt. The second guard was in the process of toppling, even as I jerked upright.

“V’Saro”-the whispered call was from Gerick-“say something.”

“Anything in particular?” I matched his quiet tone.

The boy stepped hesitantly from the darkest shadows. “Again.”

“What’s the matter?”

He stepped slowly across the yard, only to stumble over the chains that attached my feet to the wall. Tightly bound as I was, I couldn’t catch him, but only squirm enough to cushion his fall and keep his face from hitting my knees. He ended up draped across my lap.

He wriggled backwards and got up to his knees. The Lords had been at him again. He was strung taut, quivering like a bowstring, and his eyes had terrible black centers, worse than before. His eyelids drooped heavily. I didn’t believe he could see anything at all.

“Take this,” he said, depositing in my hand a small, thick-walled ceramic cup-a crucible, filled with coarse gray powder. From a pocket in his tunic he pulled another crucible, slightly larger and lined with silver. “This won’t be pleasant, but you must be silent.”

“Tell me what they’ve done to you. Before you go any further. I can’t let you-”

“I hear from you and the Leiran boy that the only way to save my mother’s life is to set you free. I don’t believe it and I don’t trust you, but I’ve been wrong about everything in my life, so why should I expect to be right this time?” He knelt between my legs and reached around my head, fumbling at my collar, carefully avoiding the triggers that would make me convulse. “I’ve obtained the knowledge, the power, and the materials I need to neutralize your collar. I’ve very little time, but if I start right now, then perhaps I can manage it, so I would suggest you stay still.” His cold fingers paused at the top of the seal. “Be ready.”

“Do it,” I said, feeling his enchantment taking shape, growing huge and terrible, cutting first into my flesh, and then into my mind, and then into my soul like a fiery razor.

I sank deep into myself. Silence… hold… protect your son who has mortgaged his sight and his soul to set you free…

Slowly, relentlessly, Gerick moved his fingers down the seal, melting it away and letting the scalding, foul stuff dribble into his silver-lined vessel. My face was buried in his chest, I, who should be protecting him, comforting him, and all I could do was use his taut, slender body to muffle my sobs. No more than a quarter of an hour passed, but I became so lost in the throbbing haze of pain that I didn’t even notice when he shifted position and began to unseal the bonds from my wrists.

Silence… hold… to protect him… It is bearable because it is necessary. It is for your wife and your son that you never thought to see. How blessed is life… how glorious the Way that can devise a path beyond all expectations… to come through pain and despair to find such joy…

The desert breeze that chilled the rivulets of sweat coursing down my body began to whisper of endless sand, of tiny hollows of moisture deep hidden to escape the rapacious sun, of hardy, bony creatures that scuttered cleverly from one scrap of shade to another or burrowed deep in the cool embrace of the earth, of dry skeletal plants that yet held a core of life. And on the very edge of the wind was the kiss of snow, blown all the way from the pinnacles of the Mountains of Light, and the faintest breath of the awakening Vales of Eidolon. “Oh, gods, young Prince…”

“Got to hurry.” His head drooped as he carefully moved the crucible. The filled vessel radiated searing heat; the silver had melted away. “Can you take this? Dispose of it?” His tongue was thick with sleep.

“Lower it just a little so I can reach it.” Awkwardly I took the crucible and managed to empty the molten metal into the hole I had scraped out for relieving myself.

“Now I’ve got to replace the seal… so they won’t notice. Give me the vessel with the powder.”

“As an assistant, I have decided limitations,” I said, using my feet to retrieve the cup I had dropped while he removed the seal.

Gerick held it in his hand. Heat blazed from the little vessel, and the gray powder sagged into liquid. His power was awesome in its magnitude and villainous in its composition. Once I sensed it, even so faintly as in that first hour of my release, I wanted to tell him to stop, not to use such power even for good purpose. But he had already wrenched my head forward onto his chest once more, wiped a cold ointment on the raw strip of skin between the ends of the collar, and begun to drip the hot liquid on it, guiding it with his fingers.

I dared not open my mouth lest I scream and give us away. Again I held silent, my throat constricting in panic as I felt the hardening seal. Perhaps this was his sworn revenge. Perhaps he had freed me of the collar only so I would taste life for a single instant, and now he was reimposing the horror. He had sworn to destroy me, and nothing else would do it so absolutely.

Silence… hold… protect him…

The metal cooled on my neck. Nothing changed. The cup fell to the ground from Gerick’s fingers, and he sagged heavily onto my chest.

“Gerick, what’s wrong?”

He seemed to have fallen asleep. My limited range of movement made it difficult to shake him. “Wake up, lad. You’ve got to get away from here. Someday you’ll understand what you’ve done tonight. There are not words enough to thank you.”

He shook his head groggily.

“Do you have to return the implements somewhere?”

“No. Give them,” he mumbled, holding out his hand.

“Here’s one. I can’t reach the other. You’ll have to get it. Find my left foot-sorry, my masters don’t allow me to clean it-now move right, a little more, now forward toward me.”

He set the two vessels together, uncomfortably close to my foot, and blasted them into a slug of metal and stone. “I need to go.”

“Can you get back to the house all right? Has someone put a sleep spell on you?”

“Always… after. Until I can see again. They think I don’t really know what happens.”

“Here, touch my hand”-and with the first glimmering of my own power, I lightened the oppression of the sleep spell-“is that better?”

He wrinkled his brow. “What you do is very different.”

“Perhaps I can explain it sometime.”

“I doubt there will be time. I’ll be asleep all day. Then I’m to go to the Lords’ temple at mid-watch. They’re to bring Seri to me then. I’ll see to her safety. But the Leiran boy will be here in the courtyard before I go, and you must get him away if you can.”

“I’ll come for you.”

“You will do nothing unless I give you leave,” he snapped. “I can put back what I’ve taken away. I’ve freed you to take care of the Leiran boy if you can. Nothing else.”

Without allowing me to say more, Gerick rose and felt his way back to his house. He looked very much alone.

I did not sleep that night, but sat and watched the turning of the cold stars behind the dust haze, felt the waning heat of the stones at my back, and observed the flickering light of the torches reflected in the chains that bound me. As the night wind told me of its travels, I embraced the long tale of death and sorrow that had accompanied my own journey. With every sensation I took a tiny step along the Way, and my power grew as the hearth’s first flame is nourished by offerings of dry tinder, or as a spring is fed by raindrops until it becomes a mighty river.