Master of restless shado.., p.44
Master of Restless Shadows Book Two, page 44
part #2 of Master of Restless Shadows Series
“Don’t embellish. Starlight filters down through the holes in the ceiling and the wind makes noise. It’s nothing more than that.” The elder of the two rolled his eyes, though Narsi wondered if the younger priest might not be one of those few people able to sense magic. If so, there truly might be something of use to him and Lord Vediya here.
The elder priest continued, “I should warn you that the entire upper story was left open when the renovation was abandoned, and much of the floor is rotted through.”
The younger priest nodded. “Be particularly careful exploring below the apse. The whole sanctuary above is only hanging on by a few boards and nails, and the floors are covered with engravings, so mind your step.”
Neither of them appeared terribly distressed by the thought of the chapel’s collapse. Narsi guessed that it hadn’t been a comfortable place to live or pray for the past four years. They’d likely be relieved to move on.
Then Narsi noticed that Lord Vediya no longer lingered in the doorway. He’d gone in without him.
“Thanks again.” Narsi raced into the chapel after Lord Vediya.
Shafts of sun streamed through cracks in the chapel roof, illuminating random sections of the vast interior but leaving most of the space in gloom. Narsi frowned at the gaping hole in the floor where a pulpit should have stood. An entire carriage could have fallen down it. On the walls, a single stained glass window depicting a Cadeleonian saint on a rampant stallion remained—the rest had been boarded over. More rusted scaffolding appeared to support the pockmarked south wall, as well as a large number of birds’ nests. Some creature—perhaps a fox—fled into the shadows of the moldering pews.
Narsi didn’t see Lord Vediya anywhere.
He wandered farther inside. The boards beneath his feet creaked and squealed.
As he studied the figure in the stained glass window, his toe caught on a loose board. He tripped forward and nearly tumbled into a gaping hole. He lurched aside, landing hard on one knee. A pang shot up his leg. But at least he’d struck a solid board. He regained his feet quickly, heart still hammering in his chest.
He’d been so distracted by thoughts of their shared kiss that he’d nearly been defeated by mere flooring. He felt ridiculous. What a foolish way to go, but also so near of a thing. He wondered if Lord Vediya would appreciate the irony of that.
He scanned the long nave but still didn’t see any sign of the man.
“Lord Vediya!” Narsi called.
His voice echoed through the building and faded to silence. Narsi waited. As seconds stretched into minutes, Narsi’s uneasiness grew. Could Lord Vediya have fallen, the way Narsi nearly had? Was he lying somewhere unconscious or dying?
“Lord Vediya!” Narsi roared his name in alarm.
“Would it kill you to call me by my given name just once?” Lord Vediya’s voice drifted up from Narsi’s left. He sounded irritated but not injured. Giddy relief flooded Narsi.
“It would pain me unto the point of collapse, my lord,” Narsi replied. The happiness in his tone lent his words a teasing quality.
“As I’ve no time to waste reviving you,” Lord Vediya answered, “I suppose I must endure it for now.”
Narsi searched through the gloom, then noticed a faint glow shining up from yet another black chasm in the chapel floor. As he drew closer, he discerned the mouth of a narrow staircase that descended far down beneath the nave of the chapel. He took the stairs cautiously. The wooden steps felt worryingly soft beneath him.
“You are kind to indulge me,” Narsi commented. The lamplight grew bright enough for him to make out Lord Vediya’s figure ahead of him.
“Yes, how very kind I am. You capture my character in a single word.” Lord Vediya awaited him, leaning against a stone wall with an oil lamp held up in one hand. The warm light turned the gray streaks in his hair gold and softened the exhaustion in his face. Despite his vexed expression, Narsi thought he looked handsome. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning at the other man.
Lord Vediya arched a brow in response.
“Annoying me makes you so happy?” Lord Vediya inquired.
It’s better than being ignored by you, Narsi thought, but instead of the glib response he answered truthfully. “I feared you’d fallen through the floor, so now I’m simply pleased to see you alive and well. Even if you are still in a bad temper for reasons I cannot comprehend.”
Lord Vediya gave an exasperated snort.
“There’s no point in staying irritated with you, is there?” Lord Vediya shook his head, but a smile curved his lips. He turned and beckoned Narsi to follow him. “Stay close and watch your step. The passage gets tight and pitch-black before it opens into the chamber where the pillars stand.”
He wasn’t exaggerating. The farther Narsi followed, the more he felt the walls closing in on him and shutting out all light and air. Cool, dank stone brushed his shoulders and condensation pooled on the floor, creating slick wet puddles. Rodents skittered over his boots and whiskers flicked past his hand when he touched the wall. A sticky, fine veil swept into the side of his face and Narsi gave a startled yelp. Lord Vediya spun back with the lamp just as Narsi realized that he’d merely walked into a mass of cobwebs. He slapped the spider webs from his face and hair.
Amusement lit Lord Vediya’s face.
“Now who’s happy?” Narsi commented to him.
“Just pleased to see that you are still alive and well, Master Narsi.” Lord Vediya grinned.
“I feel like I made a mess of our earlier conversation,” Narsi said.
“It doesn’t matter.” Lord Vediya’s terse tone belied his words.
“Perhaps not to you, but it does to me,” Narsi replied.
Lord Vediya’s shoulders rose, perhaps in a shrug. Narsi decided to take it as an invitation to go on.
“I didn’t understand why you felt the need to apologize to me, since we were both caught up in the spell of the candor stones. So, I made an outlandish guess about what troubled you. Clearly, I guessed wrong, but I didn’t mean it as an accusation.”
“No?” Lord Vediya asked.
“No. And thinking it over, I realized that no one could have instantaneously conceived of and implemented such a convoluted plan. It was like something from an adventure novel. I’m simply too used to imagining you like that. A daring figure from my favorite book.”
“The reality is a little disappointing, I suppose,” Lord Vediya commented.
“Are you joking?” Narsi demanded then he added in a light tone. “It was a thousand times better to kiss you than any one of your books.”
Lord Vediya laughed dryly.
If it was not a ruse, Narsi wondered, then does that mean you do want to be with me? Narsi couldn’t bring himself to ask aloud, but the possibility filled him with hope.
Lord Vediya gave a soft sigh. “So have you forgiven me for making you party to Ariz’s end?”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” Reminded of Master Ariz, Narsi’s excitement dulled.“I know your reasoning is correct and I’ll comply if I have to, but until then I won’t give up trying to find another way.”
“As expected,” Lord Vediya remarked.
Despite the feeling of descending deeper below the earth, the passageway grew steadily brighter. Fresh air washed over Narsi and he heard the distinct sounds of chirping birds.
Lord Vediya turned around a corner and called back to Narsi, “Here we are at last.”
When he stepped out into a vast circular chamber, Narsi saw that they stood some three stories directly below the collapsed apse of the chapel. Only a few timbers blocked the overhead view of the bright blue sky. At the center of the chamber, weeds and a few small saplings had taken root. Flowers and leaves reached up to the afternoon sun.
“It’s quite beautiful, like a hidden garden,” Narsi said.
Lord Vediya extinguished the lamp and balanced it atop of a pile of rubble.
“When I was last here the ceiling was still closed off and the room was crawling with spiders and a good number of men who’d gladly have seen me dead.”
“A great improvement then,” Narsi replied.
Together they strolled around the eight pillars that encircled them and reached all the way to the rotting trusses of the chapel floor. The tops of the pillars branched out like the limbs of trees. Their carven bases spread over the stone floor just like roots.
Narsi couldn’t keep from running his fingers over the carved trunks of the pillars, feeling the patterns of rough bark and knotholes. He paused as he noted that the sculptors had gone to the trouble of hiding a little owl in one of the tree hollows, and carving several moths resting on an outcropping of moss.
This was too much detail to be believed, Narsi thought, unless . . . could these truly be living creatures who had been turned to stone? A pang of sadness and pity moved through him at the thought.
“The inscriptions are carved on the eastern and western faces of the pillars.” Lord Vediya stopped and ran a finger down the pillar’s trunk. Narsi turned his attention back to the purpose of their exploration. He could wonder how the place had been created later.
Narsi circled around to the west side, opposite Lord Vediya, and studied the corresponding series of carvings. At a glance they gave the impression of narrow strips of exposed wood, with rough bark peeled back to expose delicate carvings of both images and numerous letters.
A deer appeared, bounding over other figures and symbols, just as Lord Vediya had described in his memoir. But what caught Narsi’s attention were the thin rows of words carved alongside the images.
He couldn’t read them or even recognize the alphabet, though a few of the symbols reminded him of Yuanese script. He went to the next pillar and circled it. There, he immediately picked out Haldiim words and phrases he knew at a glance. He’d encountered similar antiquated forms of Haldiim script in many old medical texts.
“This is an archaic form of Haldiim. I can read a fair bit of it,” Narsi called.
“Excellent. I’ve found some old Labaran here. What does yours say?” Lord Vediya strode around another of the pillars.
“Mine starts with a list of names. Then it says, ‘In this place we bind ourselves in alliance. We unite against the demons who would conquer us. We unite against the Waa . . . hahra . . .’” Narsi scowled as he tried sounding out the unfamiliar word. He suspected that it wasn’t native Haldiim but a foreign term written out phonetically.
“Waarihivu?” Lord Vediya asked.
“Most likely.” Narsi smiled at him, then returned to reading. “‘We unite against the demons who would conquer us. We unite against the Waarihivu who would extinguish life from this world. Together, we steal the profane weapons of our enemies and fashion them as our own. With the flame that devours light . . .’”
“Over here the passage says, ‘We reshaped our enemies’ weapons into our people’s salvation,’” Lord Vediya supplied from the opposite side of the pillar. “It goes on to say, ‘The Black Fire may devour the greatest of . . .’ Then it’s worn away. Does your inscription have anything about the Black Fire?”
“Let me see . . . yes. ‘A Black Fire will devour demon lords. The Stone Veil will smother the Flame. And we shatter it into pebbles. We make it naught.’” Narsi traced his finger over the worn carving, trying to pick out the shapes of the following letters. “Do you think that the Stone Veil mentioned here could be the Haldiim name for the Shroud of Stone?”
“In the Labaran passages here it’s called the Stone Shroud, so yes. They should be the same thing.” Lord Vediya crouched down, running his hands slowly over the inscriptions in the pillar. “It says Bahiim and northern witches created the Old Gods and pitted them against the demon lords and the Waarihivu as well. After their enemies were defeated, the witches constructed sanctums to restrain the Old Gods that they’d created.”
It was all fascinating, but Narsi wasn’t sure what it told them about their present situation with the Shard of Heaven and Yah-muur—or the Summer Doe, as she was also known.
Narsi scanned the script for her alone. “‘Yah-muur runs in all directions, bringing life to the wind and waters. Even the stones wake and breathe at the touch of her horns . . .’” Another section had been worn away, but the inscription then went on, “‘The corrupt weapons are wiped away and unmade. The Fire smothered by the Stone Veil. The Stone Veil torn asunder by the Horns. The Horns consumed by the Fire.’”
“Read that last bit again, will you?” Lord Vediya called.
“‘The Fire shattered by the Stone Veil. The Stone Veil torn asunder by the Horns. The Horns consumed by the Fire,’” Narsi repeated, then he wondered, “If both the Black Fire and the Stone Veil, or Shroud of Stone, are Waarihivu spells, do you think that the Horns of Yah-muur are also?”
“I don’t think so.” Atreau answered. “The Black Fire and the Shroud of Stone both seem to be spells. Probably Waarihivu spells. But Yah-muur and her horns sounds like a living being.”
He was right. In fact, as Narsi looked, he could see that the old Haldiim script even added the honorifics of a goddess to Yah-muur, while the Shroud of Stone and the Black Fire were described as weapons.
“There’s another thing about that passage.” Lord Vediya’s eyes went wide and he suddenly circled two other pillars, searching them as if his life depended upon what he read there. He stopped at a third and grinned.
“What does it say?” Narsi asked.
“Exactly what you just read aloud,” Lord Vediya replied. “It’s like a game of stone, paper, blade.”
“The children’s game?” Narsi asked.
“Exactly. Stone breaks the blade. Blade slices paper. Paper enfolds stone.” Lord Vediya made each of the familiar hand signs as he spoke. “The Black Fire consumes the Horns of Yah-muur. The Shroud of Stone smothers the Black Fire. Horns of Yah-muur tear apart the Shroud of Stone.”
Narsi stared at him. He was right. It did sound like a game of stone, paper, blade—a trio of powers that balanced each other.
“The chapel priests mentioned that there were more inscriptions on the floor.” Narsi toed a broken board aside. He and Lord Vediya both regarded the masses of rotting debris surrounding them. Clearing it would be a monumental labor. But how could they walk away when the answers they needed might be right here under their feet?
“No point in trying to stay above the muck.” Lord Vediya sighed.
He stripped off his coat and then very carefully removed his snow-white shirt and folded it inside the faded coat. Watching him, Narsi was reminded of the evening Lord Vediya had lamented his bloodied ribs, not because of the pain they caused him but because the bloodstains ruined his clothes and he could ill afford to purchase more.
“Someday I’ll forswear shirts altogether,” Lord Vediya remarked.
“I wouldn’t complain if you did,” Narsi replied.
Lord Vediya just smirked at him and hefted up a slimy beam. Narsi had glimpsed his naked body before, but only in a dim room at night. Stripped to his trousers in the full sunlight, Lord Vediya presented a figure of solid strength—a Cadeleonian man in his prime and at ease with his own prowess. Narsi admired the muscular curves of his shoulders and back as well as the tapered line of his waist. Speckles of ink stained his right wrist; his belly and chest appeared pale compared to the deeply tanned skin of his face, neck and forearms. He didn’t rival Master Ariz’s murderously sculptural physique, but Narsi found the imperfection and humanity of him both pleasing and touching by comparison.
His ease, grace and muscularity made Narsi feel self-conscious of his own stringy body. He’d inherited his father’s height but none of his bulk. When he was feeling confident, Narsi like to think of himself—as one lover had once described him—as lithe. But gripped with self-consciousness, he too often felt that he was more like the scrawny rooster that his aunt had regularly likened him to. So, despite the muggy heat, Narsi kept his shirt and coat on. He didn’t even bother to remove his satchel from his back.
Together the two of them dragged aside boards and nails, fallen leaves and animal nests for nearly an hour. The summer sun beat down on them and Narsi wiped sweat from his brow as he tossed aside the colorfully stained remnants of what must have been a scribe’s desk. Beneath that, Narsi discovered mounds of white mushrooms flecked with remains of gold leaf growing through discarded piles of vellum.
“They let the place go to ruin once Bishop Palo died,” Lord Vediya commented. He dragged aside a mass of moss and weeds, which had taken root in a decaying rug, exposing several feet of flowing inscriptions carved in the floor. “Looking at it now, you’d never suspect this chamber once housed a workshop full of acolytes, would you?”
Steadily they exposed more and more of the floor and the detailed carvings that formed concentric circles all across its rough surface. The figures of the bounding deer appeared dozens of times, but so too did images of crows, wolves, eagles and horses. Not to mention people in unfamiliar garb. Inexplicably, the name Yah-muur seemed to appear beneath many different figures, not just those of deer.
Lord Vediya crouched down beside Narsi. His hands and shoulders were spattered with dry mud.
“Is it possible that Yah-muur isn’t the name of a single person, or deity, but a title?” Narsi wondered.
“I was thinking along the same line,” Lord Vediya replied. “The sections that I can read on the floor make it seem as though there are different people fulfilling the role of Yah-muur.”
“Yes!” It delighted Narsi that they’d both independently formed the same opinion. If he and Lord Vediya both noticed the pattern, then it was unlikely to have arisen from Narsi’s imagination alone. They might be on to something. “It could have been a position, like judge or captain. So, one explanation for why there are at least three different versions of Yah-muur in myths could be because there have been at least three different individuals who held the title.”
