The keys to paradise, p.48
The Keys to Paradise, page 48
‘It’s a favourite trick of his, you know, to let prisoners escape down the tunnel. He lets the ice demons do his dirty work for him. The tunnels are tricky, as you no doubt learned. It’s only sheer luck you’ve found me.’
‘We were attacked by ice demons twice,’ Giles said. ‘We fought them off, and Anji found the tunnel leading here. But I don’t think we were allowed to escape, we worked hard at it. Onyx won’t be pleased since we still have something he wants.’
‘Ah,’ the huge man sighed. ‘You were something more than criminals exiled into the tunnels, then. Well, you can thank the lad for discovering the warm tunnel. Smart boy. Got your wits about you, haven’t you?’ He beamed at Anji, and the boy responded in kind.
‘But what of you?’ Giles asked. ‘I’ve heard of communities of dwarves living underground, mining, smelting, smithing. But you were a surprise. When we saw a human pounding away, we thought our senses had left us.’
The smith looked keenly from face to face. ‘You three certainly were caught up in the Trans War. Perhaps not the boy. Giles, you would have been involved longest. Beggin’ your pardon, Petia and Keja, but you’re too young to have endure it for many years. The gods be thanked it finally ended.’
‘Not so,’ Petia interrupted. ‘You have no idea. I was only a five-year-old Trans kid when the War broke out. I may not have fought, but that doesn’t mean I escaped the War. I’d rather not talk about it. You wouldn’t like the stories.’
A look of anguish crossed Bellisar’s face. ‘My apologies, lady. Those of us who went off to fight came home with a peculiar view of what happened elsewhere. I’m sincerely sorry.’
He paused, gazing into the fire, then went on. ‘I don’t like to talk about it, either. I was sick of it by the time the War ended. There were battles – Kelter Plain, Malden, Chevin – where I saw men die by the hundreds, bodies piled up, and a stench you could smell for miles. I reeled away, retching, more than once. Never got used to it.
‘When it was over, I tried to settle down. Various places along the Nerulta coast. All I found was the constant pettiness of man. Lord Onyx saw my work and liked it. He’s an evil man, no question of that, but insidiously perceptive. He examined my soul, so to speak, and offered me the only position I couldn’t refuse: all my needs taken care of and a place where I no longer had to deal with people. I didn’t even stop to consider.’
‘And now you spend your time hidden underground, forging more weapons,’ Giles mused. ‘Weapons kill people, or have you forgotten already, Bellisar?’
Bellisar gave Giles a black look. ‘Don’t preach to me, old man. I know what I do, but I’m beyond caring. If I don’t provide a sword, someone else will. My pleasure lied in creating works of functional art.’
Bellisar reached behind him and took from the wall a polished sword. He placed a cloth across his lap and laid the weapon reverently on it. The guard was of filigreed silver and the hilt intricately engraved. The pommel had been fashioned in the figure of a raven’s head. Along the blade in Granarian script ran the quotation from Tenera I, judged guilty by his court and sentenced to death: ‘Is this justice, and in a rightful cause? Then I answer, yes.’
Cryptic questions, Giles thought. I hope that whoever owns the sword thinks on them before using the weapon.
‘Onyx’s invitation allows me to create. No one has been given such time and materials as I have. I’ve perfected a new steel process, and I make weapons that are art. It is my hope that they will live after me. Be not so harsh on me, old man. It tells too much of your own thoughts.’
Silence filled the room. Was this smith, Bellisar, the enemy? Or had he only taken the first opportunity to escape from a world he no longer fitted into?
He’s right. Who am I, Giles thought, to question him? But since Bellisar was Onyx’s man, could they expect any help from him, even the barest information?
The smith refilled their goblets. Giles returned from his thoughts when Bellisar resumed his seat and said. ‘Now it’s your turn. Tell me of yourselves.’
They took turns giving him their backgrounds. Bellisar nodded often as Giles told of his long years at war. He understood. His eyes held true sadness when Petia related how the War had affected her, the loss of her husband, her indenture by her other for a paltry few coins, her escape from Segrinn’s father, Ambrose, and turning to thievery.
Keja actually made him laugh a time or two with tales of his roguery, but afterwards Bellisar realised that the man had revealed nothing of his own ancestry or childhood. He simply nodded as Anji told about his life as a Bandanarran slave until his rescue by Petia. ‘Exactly,’ Bellisar murmured. ‘From People like these I am able to exclude myself.
‘Why did you come to Khelora?’ he asked when they had finished.
Giles looked from one to the other. Petia frowned and shook her head negatively. Keja shrugged and studied the weapons hung about the wall.
‘Have you heard of the Gate of Paradise?’ Giles asked, making the final decision. They had revealed much of themselves to this solitary man. Giles had the gut feeling that they would not go wrong revealing their quest, too.
‘Of course. You’re after the key.’ The big smith brought his palm down on his knee. ‘I should have guessed.’
Jaws dropped and they stared at Bellisar in amazement.
‘The key,’ Bellisar mused. ‘You’re as discontented as I was before coming into the tunnels. Can’t any of you find peace in your lives? Do yo think you’ll find peace behind those gates? I doubt you will.’
Petia spoke up. ‘Whatever I find behind those gates will be small repayment for what has been done to me. I’ll find a better life for Anji and myself. The War may be over but we Trans are still treated like garbage. Money will buy respect. It may be only to our faces, but I don’t care what happens behind our backs. Anji will have an education and I’ll have some security for what remains of my life.’
‘Let us hope,’ Bellisar murmured.
‘I like the challenge,’ Keja said. ‘I’ve seen more in the last couple of years than I ever dreamed of. I’ve stayed out of gaol, thanks to Giles more than anyone. But this is not thievery for small coin. The reward is immense and the adventure, while it hasn’t always been fun, will be something to tell my grandchildren about.’ He laughed quietly. ‘Providing I ever stand still long enough to find a wife and have the luck to sire a child. They say that children have to come before you can have grandchildren.
‘If I have none, then I will spin tall tales in taverns and live to the end of my days a hero!’
Giles listened with as much interest as Bellisar did. They had started the quest for the keys two years ago with little discussion. They had neither found the time nor had the inclination to discuss their reasons since then. They had simply plunged on, with only the keys as a goal. Interesting answers, Giles thought. Revealing. He would have to think about this some more. But now it was his turn, he realised, as Bellisar turned towards him.
‘I’m somewhat like Keja,’ he said. He skipped over his military career, relating only a few of his experiences, told of the death of his wife and children, and his own dissatisfaction with life after the War. ‘This has become a quest, and I’m afraid that the quest has become more important than the result. Truth to tell, I don’t know what will happen when we find the final key and go to open the Gate.’
Giles puffed thoughtfully. ‘It will be all over, won’t it?’ He asked the question as if only now realising the answer. And what then?
‘I think I understand,’ Bellisar said. ‘Probably better than you. In your own way you’re doing the same thing that I am: turning your back on society. I’ve hidden, you’ve run off on the great adventure. A boy again, playing a more dangerous game. Do you have any of the other keys?’
‘Four of them. This is the final one,’ Keja blurted, and blanched at Giles’ scowl.
‘What if I told you that the final gold key had been melted down? That I did it myself?’
‘Nooo!’ Keja wailed.
‘You’re lying,’ Giles said. ‘Onyx told us that he had the final key. He wanted us to exchange our four for our lives. That’s why we ran.’
Bellisar held his right hand in the air. ‘I swear. I melted it down right here.’ He pointed at the forge fire. ‘Later I made it into the medallion Onyx wears around his neck. You must have seen it. It’s his little joke, tells you something about his humour.’
Giles jumped up and paced. ‘It can’t be. We’ve come too far. No, I won’t believe it. If it were true, why would Onyx want our keys? They’d be no good to him without the fifth one.’
He stopped and stared at the others. Their eyes held a stricken look, and Giles knew that they did not want to believe any more than he did. They had been through so much together.
Maybe too much.
Then he clapped his hands together. ‘Of course!’ he cried. ‘You’re a devil, Bellisar. You made a copy of the key before melting the gold one down. Come on, confess.’
The smith threw back his head and roared with laughter. When he could breathe again, he gasped, ‘You’re a clever one, old man. I wish I had known you during the War. Indeed, that’s exactly what happened. The gold key is now Onyx’s medallion. But he took a steel key of my own making, a duplicate of the golden one.’
‘So, in spite of all, there is a final key.’
‘Yes,’ Bellisar replied. ‘For all the good that does you. Are you happy now?’
‘We’re happier now than we were a few minutes ago,’ Giles said. ‘At least there’s still hope of finding it – if we ever find our way out of this forsaken mountain.’
‘It’s not so bad,’ said Bellisar.
‘How can you stand it down here?’ Keja asked. ‘Alone, no one to talk to. If I were in your place, my own thoughts would drive me crazy.’
‘I’m content. Must every man be alike? Then it would be a dull world. Besides, I sing the old songs. I love to sing.’
‘Yes, we know,’ Petia murmured, but Bellisar went on, not hearing her.
‘I have much to think on. I packed more into my life than it would seem from my age. I am grateful to be away from people, although I must say I am enjoying your visit. It’s been years since I had unannounced visitors, other than a few criminals and the occasional foolish ice demon. Neither lasts for long near my forge.’
Giles sat down again. ‘We can hope again. But the map is no good now. The duplicate key is obviously no longer where the map shows it.’
‘May I see it?’ Bellisar asked. Giles pulled it from his tunic and handed it to the burly smith.
He unfolded it carefully and laid it across his lap. With a grimy finger he traced places that he had nearly forgotten from his days on the surface of the land. The thick finger edged up the page, stopped for a moment here and there as Bellisar smiled at some remembered incident. At last he stopped. ‘I don’t see any mark. Where do you think the key is hidden?’
Giles pointed to a spot north of the Adversary Mountains.
Bellisar thought, looking up from time to time to stare into space, then returning to the spot. Finally he shook his head. ‘The key is not there, I can guarantee that. I heard Lord Onyx murmur something about the Mountains of the Lions. And this’ – he jabbed it with his finger for emphasis – ‘is nowhere near the Mountains of the Lions.’
‘Where are these mountains?’ Giles asked, not expecting an answer.
‘Somewhere in this area.’ The finger jabbed again. ‘There are two immense peaks. If viewed from the right spot, you can see the outline of two lions, lying down and facing each other. I’m told it is a magnificent sight. The mountains go up and up and your eye follows them. And there on the heights, splendid in their majesty, are two lions couchant.’ Bellisar sighed, as if considering how isolated his life had become. ‘It would be like Onyx to hide the key there, guarded by two such regal animals. It would appeal to his twisted sense of humour.’
‘You don’t know the exact area, then?’ Petia prompted.
‘No, only what I heard Onyx say. For all I know it could lie between the paws of one or the other. And there is a pass between them. Now, don’t go running off all excited. I only said that by way of example. I truly don’t know, my lady.’
‘Onyx may have said that in your hearing only to conceal the real hiding place, so that even you, should you decide to go looking, wouldn’t know where it was truly hidden.’
‘Yes, I suppose that’s so,’ Bellisar replied, rubbing the harsh stubble on his chin. ‘Never gave it much thought. What good would only one key do? Even if I were interested?’
Bellisar glanced at an hour candle burning in one corner of the room. ‘Ah, best we be making some preparations. Up with you.’
The companions stared at him for a moment, but he heaved himself from his chair. ‘Come on, come on, they’ll be here shortly.’
Shock struck the four. ‘Who?’ they echoed with one voice.
‘Guards. Every week they bring supplies. Today is the day, this is the hour, and you wouldn’t want to be found, would you? You’d be dragged back to Onyx. I gather that’s one thing you wouldn’t like.’
The four shot out of their chairs. ‘Where can we hide?’
‘Don’t get upset,’ Bellisar cautioned. ‘There’s no problem, if you can stay quiet. No sneezes now.’ He pointed towards a ladder made of small tree trunks. The limbs had been trimmed, but the bark had been left. It led upward onto a platform in one corner of the cavern.
‘I like to sleep there, near my forge fire. Keeps me warm. You just climb up there, crawl under the skins I use for covers and try not to sneeze. And no giggling, either, young man,’ He mussed Anji’s hair and swatted him on the bottom to hurry him along. ‘I’ll call you after they’ve gone.’
As he waited at the bottom of the ladder, Giles watched Bellisar pull the skin curtain aside and leave the room. He wondered what lay beyond this room, and, not for the first time, whether the man could be trusted. Their lives were now in his hands.
There were skins aplenty on the platform, and more than enough room for the four of them. They pulled the skins over them, and immediately realised that they were going to have a sweaty time of it. The heat and smoke from the forge fire rose to the ceiling of the cavernous room and hung there, dissipating slowly through a tiny vent hole.
‘Petia, I’m hot,’ Anji whispered.
‘Quiet. A day back you were complaining of the cold. And remember, no sneezes.’
Giles heard Bellisar’s voice from beyond the curtain. ‘Come in and sit where it’s warm.’ Had they been lulled into a false sense of security by the smith? Were they about to be sold out? After all, Lord Onyx had brought Bellisar here and was nominally at least, his ruler. What loyalties did Bellisar have to the man in black?
From all Giles could discern, Bellisar owed his very existence to Onyx.
Giles’ pounding heart slowed when he heard the guards speak. They sounded like the lowliest recruits, assigned to the job because of their newness. They told Bellisar the latest new from the citadel and warned him to watch for a group of four ‘very dangerous’ people who had escaped into the ice tunnels.
When the guards had gone, Bellisar called the four down, and laid out more food and drink for them. He laughed when Giles told him that he had suspected that they were about to be turned over to the guards.
‘Why should I do that?’ Bellisar asked. ‘I care nothing about what Onyx does, or you four, either, for that matter. I am my own man, doing what I enjoy doing.’
‘For your sake, I hope that it always remains so. I trust Onyx no farther than I could throw him.’
‘Then you might look over your shoulder for his guards when you leave my forge,’ Bellisar said, walking to his anvil and picking up the heavy hammer. Giles jumped a foot when the smith smashed it down onto the hard surface.
Eight
‘Are you saying we’ll be going into a trap?’ asked Giles Grimsmate.
Bellisar shrugged. He pumped the bellows a few times, and watched the coals come to life. ‘Nothing’s safe within these ice caves. You know that. All I want is to be left alone.’ He thrust a bar of metal into it, then turned to Anji. ‘How’d you like a knife all your own, young fellow?’ he asked, and nodded at the smile that lit the boy’s face.
Giles studied the smith and wondered at his intentions. Then the grey-haired man’s thoughts turned gloomier still. He had to face the end of their quest. Only he knew that only one would be allowed through the Gate of Paradise; the runic inscription on it told this. What of Keja and Petia and Anji then? Giles felt a dozen years older in that instant, almost unwilling to continue the path he now followed. When he had told Bellisar that the road meant more than the goal, he’d meant it.
Life, since the War, since the death of his beloved wife and children, had been a concatenation of barely endurable days. Seeking the keys to the Gate had brought back a vitality to his arthritic limbs. Giles didn’t kid himself into believing he felt as good as he had twenty years earlier, but he felt a little better than he had for some time.
The final key would rob him of even this. The thrill of the hunt would be gone. And a decision had to be made concerning entry into Paradise. The weight of years slumped his shoulders even more with that thought.
‘Giles, look!’ exclaimed Anji, holding the shiny blade forged by Bellisar. ‘Never have I seen one so fine.’
‘Nor I.’ said Giles, looking at the knife but not taking it from the boy. He remembered his own first knife and knew Anji would be loath to part with it for even an instant. ‘Best get some hide to wrap the handle.’
‘A moment, then,’ said Bellisar. Bellisar bustled through the curtain and returned with his arms full. He tossed Anji a cut strip of hide. The boy sank down and began winding it about the knife handle. To Giles, Bellisar said, ‘You can’t stay here, but I can’t send you off without food.’
‘It’s time for us to go,’ Giles agreed. ‘But we can’t take the food. It will leave you short of supplies for the coming week.’
