"I need him!" Kostimon insisted. Glaring, he glanced around. "Sien! Come to me!"
"He will not come!" Caelan said more forcefully, gripping the emperor"s bridle. "Do not call him, lest you bring more of the darkness to us."
Elandra"s mouth fell open, but she said nothing. Others stared at Caelan in open astonishment. As for Elandra, she wondered if he knew what he risked by accusing Sien so openly. The priest had been Kostimon"s most trusted adviser for a long time. Only a fool or a very courageous man would dare speak against the priest.
Kostimon"s mouth clamped in a thin line. His yellow eyes blazed with anger and impatience.
The guardsmen watched, the whites of their eyes showing in the torchlight. Murmurs rose among them.
"Lord Sien," called Kostimon, "I call on you to serve me now."
The priest did not answer, nor did he appear. Realizing she was holding her breath, Elandra released it. Then she sent Caelan a look of fresh wonder. It seemed he had indeed cowed the priest into staying away.
"d.a.m.n!" Kostimon said angrily, twisting about in the saddle. "Where is the man?"
"He can not come," Caelan said again, his voice very terse.
Kostimon glared at him. "Is he dead?"
"No, Majesty."
Another eerie sound came from Paz"s corpse. Kostimon glanced at it and scowled. "There is no more time to wait for him. I shall have to do this myself." He lifted his free hand into the air while the other gripped the reins. "I, Kostimon the Great, call on the hidden ways! Exalted ruler of the shadows, show mercy upon thy subjects and reveal the ways to us."
Several of the men gasped at his request. Elandra felt coldness squeeze her own heart. Suddenly she was short of breath, and everything about her did not seem quite real. Kostimon was calling on the powers of darkness, the forbidden knowledge. Openly, with all of them as witnesses, he was committing blasphemy.
"Dear Gault," Elandra whispered aloud in her horror, "watch over us and keep us safe."
Caelan"s gaze met hers. "Gault does not rule here," he said in warning.
Across the cavern, the shadowy darkness curled back as though parted by an unseen force. Eerie light not cast by fire appeared in soft radiance. It hurt Elandra"s eyes to look at it. Blinking, she squinted and turned her face away. Her heart was beating faster now. Her mouth was dry. She felt deathly afraid.
A doorway stood revealed in the strange light. The wall surrounding it was carved into the shape of a beast"s snarling mouth. As they watched-disbelieving, horrified, some muttering prayers and others hastily making warding signs-the door swung silently open to expose a yawning darkness beyond it.
A dank, ancient smell came to Elandra"s nostrils. She shivered, and her horse whinnied nervously.
"Do not fear!" the emperor called out across the confusion. "Ahead of us lies safety. At our backs grows the danger of Beloth."
As he said the unspeakable name, something shrieked behind them.
Crying out involuntarily, Elandra looked back and saw a shape rising from the black pool surrounding Paz"s body. The shape looked slender, almost like a child or a woman. Now it was unfurling wings that dripped and splattered the black fluid. Each splatter on the floor spread into a miniature pool of its own, rapidly spreading and growing.
"Ela!" Kostimon shouted. "Don"t look at it. You"ll draw it to you. Hurry and pin this to your cloak. It will protect you."
As he spoke, he drew a metal disk from his pocket and thrust it at her. She saw that he wore a similar disk pinned to his own cloak. Some trick of the torchlight made its polished surface gleam as though it emitted fire.
But when the disk touched her gloved palm, a searing flash of light and heat shot out. Sparks flew between the disk and her glove. She cried out and dropped the disk, which went clattering across the ground.
It rolled up against Caelan"s boot. He stooped and picked it up as though in wonder.
"You!" the emperor shouted at him, barely controlling his plunging, half-rearing mount. "Give that back to the empress. She must wear it. It"s her only protection against the shyrieas." shyrieas."
Fresh fear leaped into Elandra"s throat. She couldn"t help looking again at the monsters that were forming. They shrieked and struggled, flapping wings and clawing the air with their talons.
Caelan was still studying the disk, turning it over and over in his hands. Elandra was afraid of it, afraid of Kostimon"s suddenly revealed powers, afraid of the way he dared utter the shadow G.o.d"s unspeakable name.
"I shall wear no emblem of the darkness," she declared fearfully.
"Don"t be a fool," Kostimon said. "You-"
"It"s a warding key," Caelan interrupted, his voice full of amazement. "Choven made."
"Give it to the empress," Kostimon said. He kicked his horse in Caelan"s direction. "She must be protected-"
"Her cloak and gloves do that," Caelan said. "The protection spells are different. They cannot work together."
"Give it to her, I say!"
Shrugging, Caelan handed up the disk to Elandra.
"No!" she cried, backing her horse away.
Behind them, the shyrieas shyrieas shrieked. Ahead of them, a tall figure in long priestly robes suddenly appeared in the b.e.s.t.i.a.l mouth of the doorway. He beckoned, and several guardsmen cried out a warning. Panic ran through the air, hot and sour. shrieked. Ahead of them, a tall figure in long priestly robes suddenly appeared in the b.e.s.t.i.a.l mouth of the doorway. He beckoned, and several guardsmen cried out a warning. Panic ran through the air, hot and sour.
"Majesty!" called the priest. "Come quickly."
"It is safe, men!" Kostimon tried to a.s.sure the soldiers. "On my honor, I swear to you that it is safe. It is a secret way of Gault."
Caelan was also staring at the priest. "It"s not Sien," he said as though to himself.
Elandra heard him, and relaxed slightly in relief. She never wanted to see the high priest again.
"Captain Vysal," Kostimon ordered, "send the men through at once. We cannot afford delay."
Vysal"s voice rang out, tighter and more brusque than usual, and the men reluctantly spurred their shying, frightened horses toward the exit.
"Majesty, come!" the priest called with more urgency than before. "Your Majesty must be the first one through the portal, if the others are to follow where you go."
The emperor swore, using dark, ancient words that rang in Elandra"s ears. "Never mind your instructions!" he shouted back. "I know what to do. See that you get the cup ready. Hurry!"
Elandra stared at him in wonder, trying to understand what was happening.
He glared at her. "Take the disk and come with me. We must go through first. There"s no more time."
No matter how great her fear, she could not disobey his direct command. With great reluctance, she reached out her hand and let Caelan give her the disk.
Again, sparks flashed between her glove and the disk. A numbing jolt went through her hand, and the disk went flying.
"I cannot hold it," she said.
Kostimon swore again. "Ela, stop fooling about or I shall lose you forever. Take off those d.a.m.ned gloves and-"
"The magic she has is stronger than this, and older," Caelan said, interceding. "She is safe as she is."
"Nonsense!" Kostimon snapped. "Nothing is stronger than Choven-forged-"
"Women"s magic," Caelan replied. He glanced at Elandra with his brows lifted, as though for confirmation. "Penestrican?"
"Mahiran," she answered.
Scowling, Kostimon opened his mouth as though to argue further, but a dreadful screech from the first, and largest, shyriea shyriea filled the cavern. Lifting itself into the air with strong flaps of its wings, it flew at them. filled the cavern. Lifting itself into the air with strong flaps of its wings, it flew at them.
Elandra screamed.
Shouting a war cry, Kostimon drew his sword and brandished it aloft. "Choven steel!" he shouted defiantly. "Come and eat it, you harpy of the devil!"
Beside Elandra"s shying horse, Caelan gripped her stirrup and raised the warding key in his hand. He shouted something in a language she did not understand-Trau, perhaps. The sound of the words made her feel dizzy and strange.
The disk in his upraised palm glowed and came to life. Light flashed in a ray from it to the disk pinned to Kostimon"s cloak to his sword. As though in response, Elandra"s gloves and cloak also glowed with light until the combined radiance was blinding.
The shyriea shyriea swooped at them from overhead, only to wheel back, screaming. She realized it could not harm her or these two men under their protection spell. swooped at them from overhead, only to wheel back, screaming. She realized it could not harm her or these two men under their protection spell.
As for the light around her, it grew ever brighter. She felt as though she were being burned up, and yet the fire that blazed through her was both strangely cool and exhilarating.
The horses, lathered and terrified, galloped across the cavern to the others, where the priest was hastily administering a goblet of something-sacramental wine, perhaps-to the guardsmen. Caelan kept pace at Elandra"s horse"s side, running effortlessly, his golden hair on fire, his eyes cold white flames. His skin was like tempered bronze, shining in the unearthly light. He was singing as he ran, the words still in some mysterious tongue that awakened strange sensations in her.
Elandra felt as one with this man, as though she had joined his heart and mind. She saw his goodness, his loyal heart, his honesty, and his pain.
As for Kostimon, on her other side, she felt as one with him also, joined with him for the first time. His aged looks had fallen away. He looked as young as Caelan, lean and glorious, his face radiant as he tipped back his head and laughed aloud. White flames shot from his mouth, driving back the shyriea shyriea again. She had never seen a man more handsome or magnificent than Kostimon, with his black curly hair and strong shoulders. again. She had never seen a man more handsome or magnificent than Kostimon, with his black curly hair and strong shoulders.
Laughing again, he spoke something even older and more powerful than Caelan"s incantations. The word appeared in the air, blazing with fire, and the largest shyriea shyriea swallowed it, only to scream and explode into ashes. The other demons vanished also, their screams echoing long after they faded. swallowed it, only to scream and explode into ashes. The other demons vanished also, their screams echoing long after they faded.
There was an awful stink of sulfur and death in the cavern, choking the air.
The fire blazing in Elandra died, as suddenly as it had come to life. She dropped down in her saddle, not realizing until then that she had been standing in her stirrups. She felt dazed and winded.
On her left, Caelan lowered his hand with the warding key and stumbled. He released her stirrup and let her horse shoot past him. The fiery radiance encircling him like a halo faded and disappeared.
On her right, Kostimon looked around and laughed. Strong, vigorous, and handsome, he was glorious, more splendidly male than she could have ever imagined. This was the man who had vanquished countless foes, who had gathered an army and forged an empire. This was a man who had ruled the world for a thousand years, Kostimon the Great, a man above all men.
Then his sword stopped flaming and the fire in him vanished.
Before her eyes, his youthful looks aged swiftly until he was once again an old man slumping in his saddle. He looked haggard and exhausted. His yellow eyes held torment and regret of a degree she could not bear to witness.
She wanted to weep for him, this man who had once held everything in the palm of his hand. How old he was now, how diminished. And yet, she could see in his eyes that he still had the spirit and the soul of a man in his prime. Only his body was failing him, and perhaps, at last, his mind also. She could see his rage, his frustration, and his fear as his own mortality loomed over him. Now, at last, having glimpsed what he had once been, she could grieve for him.
"Majesty," the priest said urgently. "Come. You must go through the portal now." now."
"Sien," Kostimon said, his voice quivering and feeble. He reached out blindly. "I want Lord Sien."
The priest came running to his side. "Lord Sien is not here," he said. "Please, Majesty. I cannot command the portal as you wish. Drink this and grow strong."
Kostimon slumped lower and moaned. "Help me."
"Here is the cup, Majesty," the priest said, lifting the goblet to the emperor"s lips. "Drink deeply."
Elandra drew rein beside the guardsmen, who were gaping wide-eyed and open-mouthed. She was not sure just yet exactly what had happened. But the shyrieas shyrieas were gone. That she did understand. were gone. That she did understand.
Kostimon pressed one hand against his face. His shoulders were shaking, and he leaned over his horse"s neck as though he would fall out of the saddle. His sword slid to the ground with a clang of steel upon stone.
"Help him!" Elandra called.
Baiter and another man hurried to him, but the priest was already pushing the emperor back into the saddle. The sergeant bent and picked up the emperor"s sword. Slowly he slid it into its scabbard.
"Get back," the priest said fiercely. He held up a goblet, and Elandra could see ruby-colored wine swirling inside it. "Drink this. Majesty."
"Help me," Kostimon begged piteously. "I am fainting. I cannot go on-"
"You will be well again," the priest a.s.sured him, holding the goblet to his lips. "Drink deeply. This will restore you."
Kostimon"s fingers groped and clasped the rim of the goblet. He drank noisily, choking on the liquid.
Glancing at the guardsmen who had already drunk the potion, Elandra did not like their glazed looks and semivacant faces. "They look drunk!" she cried. "What have you given them?"
"Forgetfulness," Lord Sien replied smoothly.
She gasped at the sound of his voice and glanced around swiftly. He was nowhere to be seen, yet his voice was unmistakable.
The priest, thin and serious of expression, walked over to her and lifted the goblet.
From the air, Sien"s voice said, "To walk through the mouth of Beloth is not easy. It is not for the faint of heart, not for the unbelievers."
"We do not worship the shadow G.o.d here!" she said. "Do not utter his dire name in my presence."
Lord Sien laughed, his voice thin and ghostly. The shadows within the cavern seemed to grow darker as though the torchlight was burning out. The Vindicant priest stood motionless and vacant-eyed, holding the cup.
"Drink, my lady, what this man offers you. Do not refuse what you do not understand."
"Oh, I understand," she said grimly, goose b.u.mps rising across her skin.
"It is through Beloth"s mercy that you will escape the trap surrounding you. Drink from the goblet. It will ease you."
"No, I thank you," she refused him curtly. "I need no potion of yours."
"Fool!" Sien"s voice blared loud enough to make the walls of the cavern shake. Elandra"s horse shied, and she struggled to control the animal. Finally the animal quieted.
Elandra drew in a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder at Caelan, who stood apart from her and the others. She could see repudiation and disgust in his face.
"Do you hear Sien"s voice?" she asked.