Don"t think that the worldwide temperature abruptly plunged below freezing. Not at all! The winters did become more severe, but what actually doomed us was a speeding up of the natural precipitation cycle. It had something to do with the dust in the air produced by the new volcanoes, and the smoke from the burning woods and plains. In the lowlands, the rain almost never stopped, and in the mountains and the interior highlands snow fell in ma.s.sive amounts and didn"t melt. Instead it piled higher and higher, turning to ice as it was compressed by its own weight. By the end of the two hundred years of magical strife, the Sempiternal Icecap was established and a true Glacial Age had begun.
Even then, when most people came to their senses at last, the Star Guild refused to abandon its original goal or halt its hostilities. Not even the sindona, those marvelous mechanical servants of ours, were able to conquer the Star. In desperation, the surviving members of the Archimagical College created the threefold device called the Sceptre of Power, which was designed to counter the awful sorcery of the Star Guild and restore the world to its previous natural balance.
The Sceptre was entrusted to the three princ.i.p.al Archimagi, one of them being me. We set about to destroy the headquarters of the Guild, which was located in the Ohogan Mountains in the western part of the world. Each Archimage wielded a separate part of the Sceptre-those devices that you Petals of the Living Trillium have called your talismans. But we prayed heaven that we would never be forced to put the three pieces together and call upon the Sceptre"s full potential.
We were afraid of it, you see.
When the talismans were used separately, they were formidable channels of occult power. That we had already demonstrated. But the unified Sceptre would theoretically command totipotent magic. It was able to tap the vitality of the entire planet and all of the living things dwelling upon it, capable not only of conquering the Star but also of reversing the ecological insult that had brought about the Ice Age.
There was also a danger that the Threefold Sceptre"s power might cause the unbalanced world to be torn to bits.
In the end we could not bring ourselves to use the device, not even to end the war that had destroyed our civilization. Instead, each of us three Archimagi carried a separate piece of the Sceptre in the final a.s.sault upon the Star Guild"s stronghold. We were supported by an army of those sindona called the Sentinels of the Mortal Dictum, who are empowered to kill.
My two colleagues fought valiantly against the sorcerers, but they perished in the far-ranging battle. I myself, using the Three-Lobed Burning Eye, defeated the Star Men in a climactic contest of magic against magic. Afterward, I gave the three pieces of the Sceptre to the sindona, commanding that they be hidden where no one would ever find them.
A handful of surviving sorcerers fled and hid away in the glacier-bound highlands near the center of the world-continent. Nerenyi Daral was among the Star Guild members captured and imprisoned by us in the Chasm of Durance. Most of my colleagues demanded that she be put to death, but I would not allow it, for as soon as I saw the Star Lady in person, I loved her with all my heart and soul. I still do, heaven help me.
When the great war of enchantment was finally over, our beautiful World of the Three Moons lay in ruins.
Less than a million people remained alive. The monstrous icecap persisted, in spite of the combined science and magic exerted by the Archimagical College, and it seemed certain to continue growing until it engulfed all dry land excepting the coastal margin and the fringing islands. In such a world, human life could exist only on the most desperate, primitive level. Not even our undersea colonies, dependent for food upon a relatively warm ocean, would be able to survive when the icebergs ruled the waters.
We knew what must be done. We would have to Vanish- abandon the world and attempt to find another home beyond the outer firmament. Most people began to prepare for the emigration, while we Archimagi undertook a different task. Since we shared responsibility for the war, we made a collective vow to ameliorate some of the terrible damage humanity had inflicted upon the planet.
Our own race could no longer survive here, but it was possible that another, more hardy species might. Then, after aeons of time pa.s.sed and the glaciers melted, perhaps the World of the Three Moons would be repopulated once again by thinking beings.
Our College created a new race, combining the heritage of humanity and of the savage Skritek-the only sentient aboriginals, who still lived in the swampy Ruwendian Plateau, where the climate was not yet too severe. Our laboratories were in the subterranean Place of Knowledge, also situated in the Mazy Mire, where our greatest university had been. The newborn race we eventually created was that of the Vispi-handsome, intelligent beings having a modest ability to utilize magic in their daily lives. We also bred a species of companion-helpers for them, giant telepathic birds that you call lammergeiers or voors, who would a.s.sist the Vispi to travel between their scattered settlements amidst the ice and snow.
Meanwhile, the time came for humanity to go off in search of a new home.
Six immense transport vessels had been constructed and were waiting near the Three Moons. Since the voyage was expected to last for uncounted years, everyone on board was to be put into an enchanted sleep, from which they would be awakened automatically at a suitable destination. One of the Moons was modified into a holding area for the pa.s.sengers, since it took some time to prepare them for sleep and enclose them in special containers.
The first five vessels were loaded with sleepers and successfully launched into the firmament. Then it was time for the sixth to depart.
As you know, my dear Haramis, at the last minute numbers of human beings elected to stay behind. Some of them were stubborn diehards who refused to abandon their old homes, but others had more serious motives for remaining.
You see, a new disaster had occurred.
Nerenyi Daral and several other ranking members of the Star Guild had escaped from the Chasm of Durance. We had thought the prison was impregnable, knowing nothing of the Star Men"s magical safety device called the Cynosure. This contrivance- the same that twice rescued Orogastus from certain death- had been carried away from the scene of the last great battle by the sorcerers who avoided capture. Those fugitives eventually found a place of sanctuary in the Inaccessible Kimilon, where they activated the Cynosure and s.n.a.t.c.hed Nerenyi and a few of her chief lieutenants away from us.
We of the Archimagical College were unsuccessful in our attempts to track the escaped Star Men down. When the time came for us to board the last sky ship we hesitated, fearing that the powerful sorcerers of the Star might find some way to enslave the naive Vispi and frustrate the n.o.ble scheme we had worked so hard upon.
Hoping to prevent this, we Archimagi also decided to stay behind.
The last group of emigrants, already unconscious inside their womb-bubbles, waited in one of the Moons to be transported to the ship through a viaduct. The world below was locked in winter, and ghastly storms roared over the land and sea. With great difficulty, we had deactivated all of the landside viaducts that were not already buried in ice so that the escaped Star Men would not be able to use them. None of us suspected that a single viaduct located in the Kimilon had been melted free by the original small group of fugitives.
We were in the midst of maneuvering the vessel into its proper position before putting the pa.s.sengers on board when it happened.
Nerenyi Daral and her cohort came through that viaduct onto the ship and attempted to seize control. There was a brief but fierce affray. Nineteen of the twenty-eight surviving Star Guild members and most of our College were killed. Only six Archimagi remained unhurt, while eleven survived with serious injuries. I captured Nerenyi Daral, but the eight sorcerers who still lived escaped back to the surface of the world through the reprogrammed viaduct and once again disappeared.
We sent our wounded back to the Place of Knowledge for the sindona consolers to nurse, while the rest of us attempted to resume our urgent work loading the sky ship. But a fresh disaster had occurred: the great vessel was mortally damaged by the artificial lightning of the Star Men"s weaponry. Being semi-sentient, the ship bespoke us a warning of its inevitable destruction within two days, showing us also how we might send it speeding away from the Three Moons so that they would not be harmed when the vessel burst into fragments.
We moved the ship to the other side of the planet, where it was consumed in a fireball brighter than the sun.
My fellow Archimagi retired to the Place of Knowledge to mourn. I remained in the Moon that now bears my name as custodian of the Ones Unable to Vanish, together with Nerenyi Daral, the Lady of the Star whose dead body you have seen. It was my intent to convert her through my love, but instead she contrived the ultimate escape, leaving me alone with those poor sleepers who would never open their eyes upon a new world.
I have remained here close by them, meditating upon ways to better their sad fate and that of the world, ever since.
Over eleven thousand years pa.s.sed. The Glacial Age seemed to wane. The tiny pockets of human settlement endured a difficult, primitive existence, but they survived. So did descendants of the escaped sorcerers of the Star Guild, who concealed their powers and attempted to blend in with ordinary humanity.
The Vispi had a better life, thanks to the remaining members of the Archimagical College and their sindona a.s.sistants, who were their benevolent guardians. But our cherished new creatures did not multiply as quickly as we had hoped. Because the Vispi are beautiful, the stay-behind humans sometimes mated with them. The offspring (who proved more fertile) frequently did not resemble the parents. Some of these Oddling children were cruelly abandoned by human parents in infancy, while others voluntarily left human or Vispi society to live with their own kind as they matured. Over the ages the Oddling tribes became true races-Nyssomu and Uisgu and Dorok and Lercomi and Cadoon, the people of mire and mere and mountain and jungle. The ferocious Skritek also persisted, and inevitably their blood merged with that of the Folk, giving rise to taller aborigines of less human appearance-the Wyvilo, the Glismak, and the Aliansa.
But the most prolific race of all was the paradoxical remnant of humanity! They managed to thrive in spite of the ice, and after thousands of years had pa.s.sed they greatly outnumbered the Folk and took over the most desirable lands. A new human civilization was born, much simpler than that of the Vanished Ones, and the ancient history of the World of the Three Moons was almost completely forgotten.
We Archimagi were less successful in propagating ourselves. The surviving original members of the College were longlived, but in time all pa.s.sed beyond... except me. Our adopted successors eventually left the Place of Knowledge and took up residence in different parts of the world, where they served as caretakers and fonts of wisdom.
Now only three of us remain.
So does the Star.
And the world, which had seemed to be regaining its lost balance, totters once again on the brink. Nine hundreds ago, I witnessed the dire retrogression"s beginning, and so did Iriane and your predecessor, the Archimage Binah. I caused the birth of Orogastus-last of the true Star Men-and Iriane and Binah contrived the birth of you triplets in hope of counteracting him. As the Blue Lady and White Lady had hoped, you and your sisters Anigel and Kadiya found the lost pieces of the Sceptre of Power.
You Three and the Star Master have endured many vicissitudes since then. My vision of your joint destiny and the future of the world is clouded and flawed. I"m so old, so worn, so tired... and very likely I am no longer even sane.
Be that as it may, I do know that there are two possible ways of restoring the great balance, both dependent upon the Sceptre of Power and both exceedingly perilous. Orogastus is certainly capable of performing the restoration. If he becomes ruler of the world, he can do what must be done by brute force and the dark sorcery of the Star.
The Flower-and you Three, who are its human embodiment-might also restore the balance, and your victory would certainly be a more propitious and elegant one than that of the Star. But I do not understand the Black Trillium. It is part of the original magical heritage of this world, more ancient than either the College or the Star, and for this reason I do not trust it. All logic says that you Three Petals of the Living Trillium will surely fail.
But I could be mistaken...
That"s why you"re here, my dear Haramis! Perhaps we can work out the elegant solution together, and perhaps not.
But I won"t let you leave my Moon and interfere with Orogastus. I saw the pair of you together, when you were ready to kill him in spite of your love and your holy oath. Fool! He is the true hope of the world-not you and your futile sisters.
No, don"t you dare argue with me, Archimage of the Land! Here you are, and here you"ll stay, until Orogastus conquers the world and uses the Sceptre to save it.
Or destroy it once and for all.
Chapter Thirteen.
FOLLOWING the orders of the Lady of the Eyes, Captain Wikit-Aa brought the flatboat to the confluence of the River Oda. With the Wyvilo crew manning the
sweeps, the vessel moved upstream a short distance and was moored in a backwater where there was easy access to the left bank. It lacked an hour until sundown and the rain had stopped.
"Now I ask that you send scouts ash.o.r.e," Kadiya said to Wikit, "and determine whether or not there is a pa.s.sable trail that parallels the Oda. Meanwhile, I will confer with my people."
She retired to the sternhouse, where the Oathed Companions, Lummomu-Ko, Jagun, Prince Tolivar, and Ralabun waited. The cabin had been somewhat tidied up after the fight with the factor"s men; but one of the two windows was boarded over, making lamplight necessary, and the odor of poisoned karuwok stew and spilled salka still pervaded the air.
"I have revised my plans once more," Kadiya said, after the others were gathered around her, seated upon bunks, stools, and baggage chests. "This new scheme depends upon Wikit"s scouts finding a clear trail up the Oda River, but he thinks they will succeed."
"You plan to march on land, Lady?" The youthful knight Edinar was full of astonishment. "But why?"
She explained patiently. "As most of you now know, the wretched Turmalai Yonz was incited to attack us by the Star Guild. I was the princ.i.p.al target. A huge reward was offered for my person, dead or alive. It was to be collected if I were delivered to a certain site on this very Oda River, near the so-called Double Cascade some twenty-three leagues upstream from our present moorage." She paused and let her eyes rove over the group. "The place of reward coincides with the site of a viaduct."
"Zoto"s Sacred Earlobes!" cried Sir Bafrik. He was the new leader of the knights, a stalwart blackbeard thirty years of age, now the eldest of the Companions. "Can we then a.s.sume that the magical pa.s.sageway leads to the place where the Star Men dwell?"
"Such was my own deduction," Kadiya said. The others began to exclaim eagerly, but she held up her hand for silence. "Companions, you have antic.i.p.ated my next statement. I intend to enter the viaduct, using it as a shortcut to the realm of our enemies. Jagun has already agreed to accompany me, and it is my fervent wish that you five will also join us."
"I speak for all," Bafrik said. "We will go gladly." The others shouted their agreement.
"And I also," said the Wyvilo Lummomu-Ko, "if you think I can be useful."
Kadiya made a gesture of regret. "My friend, the situation remains as it was before. Your inhuman appearance and great height would make disguise too difficult when we move among the enemy. I beg you to take charge of Prince Tolivar and Ral-abun during the remainder of the voyage down the Great Mutar, and see them safely off to Derorguila according to our original intent."
The aborigine nodded. "I will guard them with my life."
Kadiya turned then to the Prince. "Tola, my dear, there are grave tidings I must convey to you, that have largely influenced my change of plan." And she told him how Queen Anigel had probably been kidnapped through another viaduct back in the Mazy Mire, and how the Archimage had discovered that other rulers had also been abducted.
"Can the White Lady do nothing to save my poor mother?" the boy asked.
Kadiya said, "She has told me that she cannot even descry the place where the Queen and the others are being held. Her talisman is mute on the subject. Both of us believe that the captives must be in the hands of the Star Men, shielded from overview by dark magic. There is only one way to find out whether the headquarters of the Guild lies in Sobrania, as we have conjectured. We must pa.s.s through the viaduct at the Double Cascade."
The knights murmured among themselves, and then Sir Ka-lepo addressed Kadiya. "Lady, you have said that the enchanted pa.s.sageways are imperceptible to the naked eye and able to be used only through the application of wizardry. Since you no longer have your talisman, the Three-Lobed Burning Eye, how shall we find the opening?"
"The viaducts can be opened by anyone who p.r.o.nounces certain words of power," Kadiya said. "It is true that the things are normally invisible, but there are sure to be clues in the vicinity of the waterfalls that will point out where the reward for me was to be paid. The viaduct will not be far away."
"If we fail to find it," Jagun pointed out, "we will have wasted at least four days."
Lummomu added, "This part of the forest is inhabited by a particularly savage band of Glismak. They still practice cannibalism, in defiance of the White Lady"s edict. Would it not be better if Wikit"s crew and I accompany you to this twin cataract?"
"I will not have innocent Wyvilo Folk endanger themselves further on our account," Kadiya said. "It will suffice if you and the skipper wait here on board the flatboat for five days. If we have not returned by then, you may a.s.sume that we found the viaduct and are embarked upon our new mission."
"Or else you have suffered some fatal misfortune," Lummomu muttered, "and pa.s.sed beyond."
"You will have to pray for a happy outcome," Kadiya said. "But be a.s.sured that my Companions and I will not be taken by surprise twice. We will go well armed and wary."
"Lady." The most stolid and burly of the young knights, Sir Sainlat, spoke up with reluctance. "Please do not think that I hesitate to follow your command. But how shall we know what might be awaiting us at the other end of the magical pa.s.sageway? We could encounter the vile sorcerer Orogastus himself, or some overwhelming force of his Star Guild-"
"Don"t think that I intend to pop through the viaduct like some impetuous shangar plunging headlong into a hunter"s snare," Kadiya replied. "I have devised a prudent course of action-which I will not discuss at this time-that will enable me to spy out conditions at the viaduct"s destination in advance."
Melpotis chimed in. "You will consult the White Lady!"
"I think not," Kadiya said evasively. "My sister Haramis is deeply involved in her own affairs. If we succeed in reaching the country of the Star Men, there will be time enough to take counsel with her."
Jagun said, "What if you ascertain that we would face hopeless odds upon entering the viaduct?"
"If this should be the case, we will abandon the endeavor, return to the flatboat, and fall back upon our original plan to travel to Sob rani a by sea."
"That would be a great pity," Sir Bafrik growled. "The thought that we might soon encounter the villains who abducted our Queen fires my heart with ardor!"
The others agreed. Kadiya gave a few instructions, ordering them to a.s.semble their gear for a departure the next day at dawn, and then took leave so that she could discuss the arrangements with Wikit-Aa. But no sooner had she opened the cabin door and gone out onto the rainy deck than Prince Tolivar came hurrying after her, an expression of great agitation on his pale features.
"Aunt Kadi, I beseech you to reconsider. Let me go with you and a.s.sist in the rescue of my mother. I-I know that I am not strong, but there are many ways that I could help you."
Kadiya regarded him with impatience. "I cannot think how. Nay-you would be naught but a useless burden, Tola. And if you had the wit G.o.d gave a qubar you would know it already and desist from wasting my time. If I dare not risk having a stalwart warrior like Lummomu-Ko accompany my party, why ever should I think of taking a child of twelve?"
"Because... because..." But he could not bring himself to speak the words.
Kadiya pushed past the boy, striding forward to the other cabin. Tolivar stood alone at the flatboat rail for some time, pretending to look inland at the dense forest even though his vision was blurred. When Ralabun finally came outside to join him, the Prince spoke rudely, ordering him to go away.
But the old Nyssomu had already seen his angry tears.
The nightmare came again to the Prince on the threshold of the most important adventure in his life. This time it was exceptionally vivid and lacking in the fict.i.tious details that had previously distorted his memory.
He was four years younger, decked out in a tawdry miniaturized imitation of the royal regalia of Laboruwenda. A tiny sword hung at his waist and he wore a crown with paste jewels on his head. An army from Tuzamen and the pirate kingdom of Raktum had invaded the northern capital of the Two Thrones, and the city was near to capitulation.
In the dream the Purple Voice, that foul henchman of Oro-gastus, and a squad of six Tuzameni guardsmen were leading Tolivar through the tumult and carnage of embattled Derorguila. The boy had discovered that Orogastus only pretended to be his friend, lying when he promised that the little Prince would become his adopted son and the heir to his magic. Instead, the terrified boy had learned that when Laboruwenda finally fell, he was to be set up as its puppet ruler. Even worse, he was destined to be an unwilling accomplice in the murder of his father, his mother, and his older brother and sister.
All of them would have to die before Prince Tolivar could inherit the Two Thrones.
Dreaming, he wept with rage and shame as he was dragged helplessly through the devastated streets of the capital. The exceptionally severe winter signaling the imbalance of the world had Derorguila in icy thrall. Dead and wounded soldiers and civilians lay everywhere, their blood staining the snow. Smoke from burning buildings and the ghastly smells of death made the boy cough and gag. The ice-glazed cobblestones were too slippery for him to walk upon and he fell again and again.
Complaining bitterly at being delayed, the Purple Voice finally hauled the faltering Prince up onto his back, making him hold on to the sorcerer"s precious star-box. The Voice was taking it to his master, who was leading the attack against the palace.
They forged onward, past small knots of defenders engaged in final, hopeless combat. Screaming mobs of Raktumian pirates and Tuzameni clansmen were everywhere, laden with loot stolen from the burning mansions.
And then the earthquake struck.
A great wall of masonry crashed down upon the Purple Voice and the six guards, killing them instantly. By a miracle, Tolivar was thrown clear, scratched and bruised but otherwise not hurt.
The star-box was also unharmed.
The Prince acted swiftly, for all that he was nearly out of his mind with fright. He had only his little sword to defend himself and knew that he would soon freeze to death or suffer a worse fate at the hands of the invaders if he tried to hide in the ruins of the city. After leaving the toy crown and some of his garments among the rubble so that Orogastus would think him dead if he searched by magical means, the boy hastened to the palace through back alleys and twisting lanes near the frozen Guila River. Eventually he was able to enter the royal stable block through a secret door in the fortress wall once shown him by his friend Ralabun.
A climactic battle was being fought around Zotopanion Keep, the last resort of the outnumbered Laboruwendians. Thousands of Raktumian and Tuzameni attackers surged about the palace compound. Orogastus himself bombarded the stronghold doors with b.a.l.l.s of lightning flung from the Three-Lobed Burning Eye.
Slipping through the dark corridors of the stables on his way to Ralabun"s chamber, where he hoped to find refuge, the little Prince came upon a terrible sight. The body of a pirate with a pitchfork in his throat lay in a pool of gore outside the grooms" quarters. Sprawled atop him, still gripping the fork"s handle, was Ralabun... with a Raktumian dagger in his back.
"Oh, no!" the Prince cried, bending over his friend.