Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (15 page)

“They’re wizards, aren’t they? Can’t they make it stop? Or at least keep us dry?”

“No,” Kayl said severely. “Magic isn’t used so casually.”

“Why not?” Mark demanded.

“A good question,” Glyndon said. “And one that doesn’t have a simple answer, I’m afraid. Partly, it’s a respect for the power we use. You
could
chop onions with a sword, but it’s usually easier to use a kitchen knife. Does that explain it?”

Mark nodded and scowled. “What’s the good of traveling with a wizard if you can’t even be comfortable?”

“Very little,” Glyndon said apologetically. He turned to Kayl and asked, “How much farther is it to the next town?”

“We aren’t going there,” Kayl said, scanning the rocky wastes on either side of the road. “We’re turning north.”

“You mean we aren’t going to Varna?” Mark said. “But I wanted to see all the wizards!”

“They don’t look any different from other people,” Kayl said. “And we aren’t making this trip to satisfy your curiosity.”

Warned by Kayl’s tone, Mark fell silent. Dara hunched her shoulders. “Well, where
are
we going, then?” she demanded crossly.

Kayl looked across at Corrana. “Kith Alunel, I think,” she said.

The sorceress gave a satisfied smile. “I am glad you have seen the wisdom of such a course of action,” she said, half lowering her eyelids.

Kayl returned the smile grimly. “I have some property to return to the Sisterhood of Stars,” she said, and shifted her cloak to allow Corrana a brief glimpse of the hilt of her sword.

Momentarily, Corrana’s face snowed consternation; then her expression smoothed into its usual unreadable mask. “As you will have it. You may yet change your mind when you have spoken with the Elder Mothers.”

“Perhaps,” Kayl said noncommittally. She had no intention of returning to the Twisted Tower in the Windhome Mountains, whatever the Elder Mothers might say. Still, it couldn’t hurt to listen to them, and they might have some other task she could do. After all, she would have to find some way of supporting herself and her children. The little hoard of money in her belt-pouch would not last long. She looked at Glyndon. “Will you come with us, or have you other plans?”

Glyndon shrugged. “I have no plans,” he said shortly. “Kith Alunel is as good a destination for me as any.”

Annoyed and a little hurt by Glyndon’s abrupt manner, Kayl jerked her head toward the wet, rocky ground north of the road. “Start walking, then.”

Glyndon blinked at her, then suddenly grinned. “At your command,” he said, bowing, then lifted his staff and strode off. Kayl shook her head and followed.

They camped that night on the rocky waste. They were still too close to Copeham and the possibility of pursuit to risk a fire, so they constructed a makeshift tent from their wet, mud-splattered cloaks and huddled inside it. They spent a damp, muddy, miserable night. No one got very much sleep.

The second day of the journey was worse. Kayl was stiff from sleeping on the ground, and her muscles were sore from the unaccustomed walking. She forced herself to go through some of the stretching exercises her drillmasters had taught her so long before, and was appalled by how difficult they seemed. The children were tired, cross and hungry; cold stew did not noticeably improve their tempers. Dara sneezed twice while she was eating, and Kayl began worrying that the girl was catching a cold.

Glyndon looked positively haggard. Kayl suspected he had had another of his visions during the night, but he did not volunteer any information and she was unwilling to pry. Corrana was the only member of the group who bore any resemblance to her usual self. Even with her cloak muddied to the knees and her hair in snarls, she had an air of calm power that must command respect anywhere.

At least the rain had stopped. By midmorning, the summer sun had come out, and the little group could shed their cloaks. Walking became easier as the ground dried off, though the children continued to complain. Despite the better footing, the group still did not move as quickly as Kayl had hoped. She developed a habit of scanning the southern horizon whenever they paused to rest, but she saw no sign of pursuit.

They saw no one the day after, either, and Kayl began to relax. They stopped early that evening, and Glyndon set snares to supplement their dwindling supply of food. His efforts garnered a partridge and a brace of rabbits, and they dined royally around a small fire.

On their fourth day of walking, they reached the North Road, and two days after that they came to the town of Yanderwood. They slept warm and dry at an inn whose sign bore a wolf’s head. Next day, Corrana hired an ox-drawn wagon, and they continued their journey in considerably more comfort. Within a week, they were out of Mindaria altogether.

Kayl continued to do her sword drills every morning, no matter how stiff and sore she felt. Gradually her muscles hardened and her skill began to return. Both Mark and Dara showed considerable interest in the process, and after some thought Kayl instituted a daily lesson in swordcraft and fighting skills.

Corrana remained a source of uneasiness. The woman’s attitude did not change; if anything, she grew more aloof and more cryptic as the journey continued. She took to studying Kayl and her children with an unfathomable expression that made Kayl increasingly irritable.

Glyndon, too, was a source of concern. His visions continued to come close together, sometimes with daily frequency, though as they left Copeham farther behind, the more nightmarish sights seemed to grow fewer. Even the pleasant visions took their toll, however. Once Kayl found him staring at the horizon, his expression bleak.

“Another bad one?” she asked.

“No,” he said, and his mouth twisted. “To the contrary. The problem is, it wasn’t true.”

“Not true?”

“I can tell, sometimes, whether a vision is true or not,” Glyndon said without looking at her. His hand clenched. “This one wasn’t.”

“I see.” Kayl was silent for a moment. “Glyndon, you told me you’d managed to avoid some of the unpleasant visions. Have you ever tried to make some of the better ones actually happen?”

“What?” Glyndon’s head jerked around to face her.

“Have you ever tried to make one of the good visions happen?” Kayl repeated.

“No,” Glyndon said slowly. “No, I haven’t.” He sounded as if he was not sure whether to be afraid or pleased. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Think about it,” Kayl said, and left him.

But though Glyndon seemed more cheerful after that conversation, the visions continued without respite. He grew thinner and more worn-looking as the journey progressed. By the time they were halfway to Kith Alunel, it was clear to Kayl that if something were not done to slow or stop the visions, Glyndon would waste away completely. She even went so far as to question Corrana privately, but the sorceress could only suggest a consultation with the Elder Mothers of the Sisterhood. Glyndon’s visions were totally outside her experience.

As they drew nearer to Kith Alunel, their progress became more rapid. As soon as they were within the borders of the Estarren Alliance, Corrana began wearing her silver robes openly. The roads improved steadily as well, from the muddy tracks around Copeham to rutted gravel to the wide, paved roadways that were the pride of the Alliance.

Six months after leaving Copeham, they entered Kith Alunel.

K
ITH ALUNEL IS POSSIBLY
the oldest city of Lyra. It is known to have been founded prior to the Wars of Binding; more than that is impossible to establish with any accuracy. Local tradition has it that the city was settled some four hundred years prior to the beginning of the war, and specifically some thirty years prior to the settling of Rathane. It is impossible to tell whether there is any truth to this tradition; besides, the people of Kith Alunel claim to have done or invented practically everything earlier than Rathane. All that is certain is that Kith Alunel and Rathane are the only existing human cities which date from a time prior to the Wars of Binding.

The so-called Dark Times, followed by the Wars of Binding, are the main reason for the dearth of information regarding times prior to the wars. The Shadow-born, who ruled much of Lyra during the Dark Times, made a concerted effort to destroy both knowledge and magical ability. Kith Alunel was a major target of this effort.

Fortunately, the inhabitants of Kith Alunel and its environs exhibited considerable creativity in hiding and preserving their heritage. Books and other documents were buried beneath the cornerstones of new buildings, walled into specially-constructed niches, even sealed with pitch and hidden in barrels of wine. The ninth Baroness Kyel-Semrud, to preserve the Kyel-Semrud’s ancestral home of Castle Ravensrest, is supposed to have built an exact duplicate of the castle, complete with copies of family heirlooms, and somehow tricked the Shadow-born into destroying the duplicate instead of their intended target. Though this seems unlikely, Castle Ravensrest is undeniably ancient and extraordinarily well preserved.

Not all the ruses were as successful as the Baroness’s legendary trick. Some caches of books and magical equipment were discovered and destroyed; some were so well hidden that they were forgotten and lost. Enough survived, however, to make Kith Alunel a major source of knowledge and culture following the end of the Wars of Binding, and this undoubtedly contributed to the city’s preeminence in the centuries that followed.

Many of the cities and countries along the eastern shore of the Melyranne Sea owe their existence, directly or indirectly, to Kith Alunel. The cities of Toltan and Morsedd were colonies of Kith Alunel, begun in 109
A.W.B.
and 274
A.W.B.
respectively. Mindaria was settled by dissidents in 248. Later, Kith Alunel was the prime mover in persuading the Senate of the Estarren Alliance to rename the Seaguard Mountains as the Mountains of Morravik and cede them to the Shanhar (an elite military band whose name was later corrupted into “Cilhar”).

Possibly the most notable achievement of Kith Alunel was the Estarren Alliance, the loose federation of nation-states and independent cities which dominated the lands east of the Melyranne Sea for nearly eight hundred years. Though the Alliance was conceived to facilitate trade, it grew into a power capable of everything from building roads to fighting the wizards of Varna to a standstill. Even the bickering which followed the Wizard’s War of 1003–1026
A.W.B.
did not result in open ruptures within the Alliance for nearly two centuries, and the core of the Alliance remained a power to reckon with well into the 1300s.

With the break-up of the Estarren Alliance, Kith Alunel’s ascendancy began to fade. The center of political power passed on, first to Imach Thyssel, later to Ciaron. Curiously, this change in their supposed position has never appeared to bother the citizens of Kith Alunel in the slightest, and the city shows no sign of losing its vitality. To the contrary, innovations of all kinds continue to have their origins in Kith Alunel.

—Kith Alunel: Legend and Reality
by Najid Sar, Archivist of the Temple of the Third Moon, 2942 A.W.B. (From the library of Duke Dindranof Minathlan.)

K
ITH ALUNEL APPEARED TO
have changed very little in the years since Kayl had last been there. The street inside the city gates was wide, and lined with buildings made of sun-baked brick. Brightly painted signs hung above the shop doors, depicting the merchandise for sale within.

The weather was mild for early winter, and despite the frosting of yesterday’s snow on the roofs the street was crowded. Many of the shops had their shutters open. Tantalizing aromas drifted out of the many little hot-pastry places, tempting tired and hungry travelers to purchase fresh meat-pies and hot, spiced wine. Scattered among the food vendors were potters and glassmakers, leatherworkers and basket weavers, smiths and herbalists, jewelers and winesellers, all with exotic wares to beguile and bewilder the newly arrived.

Kayl breathed in the familiar aroma and smiled. The first time she had come to Kith Alunel, she’d spent every quarter-copper Mother Dalessi had given her within three blocks of the city gates. If she hadn’t had the hall of the Sisterhood to go to, she’d have spent the night sleeping on the street.

She was not wearing the sword of the Sisterhood now, and she had made a wool traveling garment to wear instead of her leathers. This garment tied around each of her legs. Sword and leathers formed the bulk of the bundle she had tied to her back; the baskets had fallen apart long ago.

“Mother! Look at that!” Mark said, pointing at a shop with a tray of weapons on display.

“Weapon shops aren’t unusual in Kith Alunel, dear,” Kayl said. “If you’re interested, we can look at some of them tomorrow.”

“Almost nothing is unusual in Kith Alunel,” Glyndon put in. “If you want to buy something, go down to the gates. If you don’t see it, wait awhile; someone will turn up with it before the day is over.”

“Well, I want to buy dinner,” Dara muttered, pulling her cloak more tightly around her. “That smell makes me hungry.”

“Me, too,” Mark said more loudly. “Mother, can we get something to eat?” He looked longingly at a small hot-pastry shop.

Kayl did a quick mental calculation. There was very little of her carefully hoarded money left; still, the children deserved some sort of treat to celebrate their arrival. “I think we can manage it, Mark. Where do you want to stop?”

“That one,” Dara said, pointing.

“I would prefer that we continue on to the Star Hall,” Corrana’s cool voice broke in. “There will be time for this later.”

“Mother, you promised!” Mark said.

“Hush, Mark,” Kayl said, and turned to face Corrana. “I told the children they could have a treat, and I am going to give it to them,” Kayl said simply. “Coming?”

Corrana looked at her for a moment, then nodded. Kayl led the way into the pastry shop. She was more than usually thoughtful as she watched Mark and Dara make their choices. Corrana had been relatively quiet during the early weeks of their journey, but the nearer they had come to Kith Alunel, the more she had behaved as though she was in charge of the little party. Kayl did not want to encourage the Sisterhood of Stars to adopt a similar attitude. While Corrana was watching the children with ill-concealed disapproval, Kayl slipped around to Glyndon’s side and said softly, “Glyndon, do you have any money?”