Aurian, p.56
Aurian, page 56
part #1 of Aurian Series
The fragrance that teased her into wakefulness reminded Aurian so strongly of the Arena that she opened her eyes expecting to see the white walls of her old cell. Instead she saw Anvar, holding a steaming cup. "I have a surprise for you," he said. "Your friend Eliizar brought his own supply of -"
"Liafa." Aurian beamed, reaching greedily for the cup.
"Well! And I thought Eliizar was exaggerating when he told me how much you loved that stuff. That's the first time I've seen you smile this early in the day."
Aurian stuck her tongue out at him. "It's all right for some. You look as though you've been up for ages."
Anvar grinned. "The men - being the earliest risers - had the first turn at the pool."
All traces of the sparkling dust had gone from his skin. His hair, curled and darkened now by the water, had grown during his time in slavery, and to keep the damp strands from his face he had copied Yazour, tying the errant locks back with a thong at the nape of his neck. It suited him, Aurian thought.
"What are you staring at? Have I missed a bit?"
"Who, me? Nothing." Aurian floundered. "I'd forgotten what you looked like under all that dust!"
"Well, it's the women's turn now, so you'd better hurry up if you want to get rid of your own dust."
"Suits me." She put down the empty cup. "It's a pity, really. I must be worth a fortune in gems right now."
Nereni was in the pool, splashing and laughing with the ft ft ft other women of Harihn's household. The Mage shed her dusty clothes and stepped into the water. It was not as cold as she had expected, and while it was shallow enough for standing, there was enough depth to swim. The bottom was coated in a soft layer of gem sand, doubtless shed by generations of dusty travelers. It gleamed underfoot, reflecting the torchlight from the walls. Nereni waded over and handed her a slab of rough soap. "Ah, I see you are returned at last, from the country of dreams."
"Real soap! Nereni, you think of everything."
"But of course - and as well, for you warriors!" Her plump face dimpled. "I must go to prepare the day meal, but I will fetch you a cloth to dry yourself, and some clean robes."
When Nereni had gone, Aurian washed thoroughly, glad to get the dust out of her hair. Mine is growing again, too, she thought. Maybe I'll get Anvar to braid it for me soon. By the time she had finished, the other women had left the pool, but she lingered for a while, enjoying the peace and solitude. At last, prompted by hunger, she went to rinse beneath the little waterfall before getting out.
The Mage had no suspicion of danger - not until it was too late. As she placed her hand against the smooth wall where the waterfall trickled down, a strident clamor tore the air like the shrieks of a vast, unimaginable beast in torment. The rock seemed to come alive beneath her fingers, trapping her hands, her arms - sucking her body inexorably into its soft, clinging maw. Aurian, despite her struggles, was snatched into the darkness beyond. Within seconds the wall had closed behind her, blank and featureless once more.
Anvar was racing toward the pool before the first heart-stopping echoes could die away. Yazour and Eliizar were close behind, their weapons drawn. By the time they reached the edge he was floundering through the water, searching for any trace of the Mage. They joined him, Yazour diving cleanly beneath the surface, Eliizar breast stroking across the pool. Then the clamor ceased abruptly, leaving only Anvar's anguished cries: "Aurian! Aurian!"
The atmosphere in the camp was tense with apprehension. The women and children huddled together in the farthest corner away from the sinister pool, guarded by armed warriors. A squad of bowmen had their weapons trained on the still waters, ready to shoot at the first sign of a ripple on the smooth surface. A grim council had gathered by the Prince's fire, and Harihn looked fearfully round at the faces of the small group. "Some beast must have taken her," he insisted. "What else could have done this?"
"Sire, the pool was empty," Yazour protested. "I had it searched thoroughly, and there is no underwater access. There was no blood, or any remains -"
"No!" Anvar cried. The cup of hot liafa that Nereni had forced upon him spilled, soaking into the blanket that she had draped around his shivering shoulders. Yazour glanced at him apologetically, and Nereni took his hand, her tearstained face filled with pity.
"There must have been a creature," Harihn insisted, with a nervous glance at the pool. "What else could make such dreadful cries? What if it should return? Must others die to convince you?"
"There is no proof -"
"We could search again -" Eliizar and Yazour, wet and shivering in their own blankets, spoke simultaneously, but Anvar heard the doubt in their voices. Harihn shook his head and stood up. "It is pointless. She is surely dead. Prepare to leave, Yazour. We dare not linger in this place."
"You bastard!" Anvar flung his blanket aside, and leaping over the fire, leveled a punch at the Prince. The blow, with the impetus of his body behind it, knocked Harihn sprawling. Anvar landed on top of him, hitting out at him blindly. "Coward!" He screamed. He was aware of blows on his body, but his rage made him oblivious to the pain. He felt strong arms pulling him, dragging him off the Prince. Anvar fought the new assailants in a frenzy, resisting their attempts to pin him down, until a drench of cold water hit him hard in the face. The shock brought him sharply to his senses. Eliizar and Yazour were holding him down. Nereni stood over him, a dripping bowl in her hands.
Anvar blinked water and tears from his eyes. "I thought you were my friends," he muttered.
"We are, Anvar," Yazour told him sadly, "but the Prince, unfortunately, is right." He gestured to one side, pointing at the small group of children who huddled together, weeping and terrified. "Would you sacrifice them also?" The warrior asked softly.
"I'm not leaving her!"
"You most certainly are not!" Harihn was scowling, and Anvar noted with satisfaction that his face was beginning to bruise and swell. The Prince kicked out viciously, catching him beneath the ribs, and Anvar convulsed in pain.
"Sire!" Yazour's voice rose sharply in disgust at the cowardly attack. "He will die if you abandon him here!"
"You have your orders, Yazour. For attacking me, this churl deserves to die! Anvar will be left behind."
"Your Highness, the man is distraught! You cannot hold him responsible for his actions in such a time."
"I'll have him executed now, if you'd prefer." Harihn wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, glaring venomously at Anvar, who smiled grimly.
"Any excuse, eh, Harihn?" Anvar said. "Well, at last you have what you've wanted all along - but it's too late. You may get rid of me, but you'll never have Aurian now!" Turning his head, he spat at the Prince's feet.
Harihn's face was livid. "Silence, dog!" He roared. "Yazour make certain that all provisions are packed or destroyed! As you slowly starve, Anvar, I will rejoice in the thought of your suffering."
"If Anvar is to be abandoned, he will not be alone." Eliizar's voice rang out. "I would rather stay with him, than travel another mile with you!"
"And I!" Nereni strode bristling to her husband's side. Anvar tried to protest, but he was astonished into silence by a voice that seemed to come from within his own head. "I too will stay." He stared in amazement as Shia's face appeared, her eyes blazing into his own. Bohan joined her, nodding his own silent support.
Harihn shrugged. "Very well."
"At least leave them horses, sire, and some provisions," Yazour protested.
"No! And if I hear another word from you on the subject, you will die beside them!"
The warrior blanched. "All this time I have served you," he said tightly, "and I never knew what you were. I look into your face, and I see your father." Turning his back on the Prince, he walked away to assemble his men.
The friends were guarded by a ring of bowmen while the others made their preparations for leaving. Though Anvar was desperate to continue the search for Aurian, Harihn had left orders that they were to be shot if one of them so much as stirred. While they waited, he tried in vain to persuade his companions not to sacrifice themselves, but Eliizar and Nereni were united in their indignation at such an idea, and Bohan looked hurt at the mere suggestion. Shia, though she did not speak again, snarled at him so fiercely that Anvar would have backed away if he could. She looked so savage that he wondered if he had imagined her voice in his mind. As soon as night fell outside, the Prince's company departed, and the cavern seemed eerily quiet after they had gone. Anvar, without a word, got up and strode back to the pool. The others fanned out to search the cave once again.
Anvar sat, lost in wretchedness, beside the cavern entrance, his aching head buried in his hands. Reflected dawn light gleamed through the opening. They had searched all night, and still found no sign of Aurian, How long had it been now? He cast his mind back over the hours since their arrival in accursed Dhiammara. They had eaten first - their laughter during that feast seemed like a distant dream now - and slept in each other's arms through the remainder, of the day and part of the following night, Then Aurian had gone to bathe in the pool. Oh, Aurian! Why didn't I just let you sleep? He thought. She had been lost for the rest of that night, the following day, and another night of frantic, fruitless searching. Surely there could be no hope now?
Someone touched his shoulder, and he turned to see Nereni. "Yazour hid some supplies for us at the back of the cave. Come and eat, Anvar. This does you no good."
"How can you expect me to eat?" Anvar wanted to shout at her to leave him alone, but he knew that she was grieving too, and concerned for him.
She put a maternal arm round his shoulders. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I know how much you loved her."
"You don't!" He retorted bitterly. "I didn't know myself - not until I lost her.'' Nereni went away sighing. Anvar wished that she and the others had saved themselves, and gone with Harihn. For himself - he didn't care. What a cruel irony. Until these last weeks, when his discovery of magic had brought them so closely together, he had never admitted the depth of his feelings for Aurian - and now it was too late. It had all started long ago, ever since that wonderful Solstice night when they had celebrated with Forral... But Anvar had hidden the truth from himself then.
I knew in my heart that she was not for me, and never could be, he thought despairingly. But Aurian's love of Forral, my own hatred of the Magefolk, then the return of Sara, all allowed me to run away from the fact that I loved her. How could I have been so blind? Self-protection, he thought ruefully, Aurian's love for Forral was unswerving while he lived, and has remained that way since his death. I knew she'd never want anyone else. And now I'll never even see her again. Never again will I feel the comfort of her friendship, the joy of her presence.
She's gone - "She is not!" The voice was Shia's.
Anvar looked up through scalding tears. "What did you say?"
"Frame your thoughts clearly, man. You're not very good at this. But you are of the same kind as her, so I can talk to you - if I choose to! Put aside this useless grief and. Think! Aurian is my friend, and our minds are linked. If she were dead, I would surely know. But if she lives, why can I nor reach her?"
"Great Gods, you're right!" Hope flared like a beacon in Anvar's breast. "She told me that the Magefolk knew when one of their kind died. So if she were -"
"Then you would have known also," Shia finished for him.
"But if she's beyond your reach, where the bloody blazes is she?"
"Clear your mind, man. Listen." Shia sat, curling her tail neatly around her paws. "When you two were in the tent, doing things -"
"We did not!"
"Not those things, stupid!"
"Oh... You mean the magic."
"It always gives me a most unpleasant prickly feeling in my fur." Her tail twitched. "I get it in this cave, too."
"Then it wasn't a beast? You think Aurian was trapped by magic? But I've been all over that wretched pool, and never felt a thing."
"If Aurian had felt it, would it have trapped her?" Shia asked pointedly.
"So whatever it is, it must still be there!" He scrambled to his feet and ran.
Anvar plunged into the pool. What exactly was he looking for? Some hidden opening, perhaps? He paused, up to his waist in water, looking around wildly. It couldn't be underwater - the pool had been searched from end to end. Then it came to him. Where was the obvious place to put a door? In a wall, of course. His eyes went automatically to the smooth flat surface where the waterfall trickled down.
"Anvar! What are you doing?" The others had gathered on the brink of the pool. Ignoring them, he waded across to the wall and began feeling along it with both hands.
"I've found it!" Anvar's triumphant shout was drowned in the strident shriek of the alarm. His jubilation became horror as the stone began to melt beneath his hands, turning clinging and viscous, sucking him in like quicksand, drawing his head and shoulders inside. The stuff enveloped him - he couldn't breathe. Anvar flailed in panic, then his face broke through into air, though he could see nothing in the utter darkness beyond "Aurian?" He called. There was no reply. But his body was almost through the constricting portal. He felt a glassy surface beneath his fingers and clawed at it frantically, trying to haul himself forward - then his feet were snatched in an iron grip. Something was pulling him back! "No!" He howled. He was so dose - he had to go on! But inch by inch he slid backward, until his cries were drowned once more in the suffocating ooze of the portal. There was a jerk on his ankles - and he shot out into the pool on top of Bohan, who hauled him, struggling, to the water's edge.
"Imbecile!" Shia's claws were sheathed, but the swipe from her massive paw knocked him flying. Anvar sat up groggily. "Damn you!" He snarled at Bohan. "I was almost through."
"We had no choice," Eliizar protested. "What good would it do, to have you both trapped?"
"Think!" Shia's thought was a whiplash across Anvar's mind. "We need a way to keep the portal from closing, so we can all get in, and more important, out again."
"Anvar, did you see her?" Nereni asked anxiously.
"I saw nothing - it was too dark. But I called, and she didn't answer," he told her miserably.
Eliizar frowned. "But I examined that rock when I searched the pool, and it was quite impervious."
Anvar stared at him. "So it only responds to Magefolk," he said slowly.
"Sorcerers?" Eliizar gasped. He backed away hastily, making a sign against evil. "But you are not -"
"I am, Eliizar - just like Aurian."
Nereni, though wide-eyed, was more practical than her husband. She tugged urgently at Anvar's arm. "Can you use this sorcery to open the way for us?"
Could he? Anvar had no idea how the magic of the portal worked. He was still too much of a beginner at this kind of thing, and there had been little time for Aurian to teach him much... Then the solution came to him in a blinding flash. One of the first spells that Aurian had taught him, with the terror of the Nihilim still fresh in her mind. "Nereni, I think I can!" -R Anvar positioned himself before the featureless stone of the portal. Bohan stood behind him, his massive arms locked round the Mage's waist. Eliizar and Nereni waited on the brink of the pool, not daring, to the Swordmaster's obvious shame, to approach any closer.
"Are you ready, Bohan?" Anvar glanced back over his shoulder. The eunuch nodded, tightening his grip. "Now!" Anvar muttered, and placed his hand upon the stone.
Again, the shrieking clamor rang out. The rock became fluid and clinging, clutching at Anvar's arm to draw him within. But this time, Bohan held him firmly, fighting the pull. Anvar concentrated with all his might, trying to block out the shrill distraction of the alarm. He had to get this right.
Sweat broke out on his brow. Extending his free hand, he carefully constructed Finbarr's time spell - and toppled backward with Bohan into the water as the force that pulled at them suddenly ceased. Anvar struggled to his feet, spluttering and panting, and reached out to the stone. Bohan forestalled him - and thrust his own fist straight through, pulling it out again with ease.
"It worked!" Anvar yelled. "Eliizar, it worked! I've taken the portal out of time! We can go through now!"
Shia bounded forward, needing no further urging, but Eliizar stood back, white-faced. "I - I cannot!" He gasped. "Anvar, forgive me, but sorcery... I cannot!"
Anvar grasped his shoulder. "Don't worry, Eliizar, we all have our fears." With a pang, he remembered saying the same thing to Aurian, on top of the cliff... "I must go." He turned back to the portal, where Bohan and Shia waited, plainly anxious to be moving. "You and Nereni stay here, and wait for us. We'll be as quick as we can."
"Wait!" Nereni came running, splashing through the water in her haste. "Here." She thrust a bundle into his hands, "Here is a water bag, and food - the poor girl will be starving. And I put in a robe for her, and her boots - and she might need these," She handed him Aurian's sword and staff, "Hurry," she urged, and reached up to kiss his cheek. "Hurry, Anvar, and come back safe."
It was difficult to force a way through the viscous rock without the spell of the portal to draw them. Shia, bristling with impatience, went first, with Anvar and Bohan helping her by pushing from behind. Anvar followed, feeling the cat's massive jaws grasp his collar to pull him through. It was pitch-dark within, even to his Mage's night-vision. He turned and groped for Bohan's hand, and Shia helped him haul the eunuch through. Bohan had brought a torch, but when he kindled it, the flame gave no light.
"What on earth...?" Anvar gasped. He could see it flickering in midair like a pale, disembodied wraith, but that was all. It illuminated absolutely nothing.
"Magic!" Shia spat disgustedly. "You make some light!"
Anvar sighed. Fire-magic was not his strong point, but... By dint of much concentration, he managed to form a rather wobbly ball of Magelight - and fell back, screaming, as the interior chamber burst into eye-searing brilliance.
"Put it out!" Shia roared in agony. Anvar snuffed his flame, his eyes watering and blinded with crimson and green spots of dazzle. He picked himself up - only to be flattened again, as the entire chamber lurched into motion with a grinding roar, rushing upward with terrifying speed.
