Caught in Crystal: A Lyra Novel (35 page)

“You think the calling the child spoke of has something to do with this… sensitivity of hers?” Miracote asked Glyndon.

“It must,” Glyndon said. He glanced at Barthelmy again and added bitterly, “Though I doubt that it would have happened at all if it hadn’t been for her.”

“Mother, what does he mean?” Dara whispered. “Am I a demon?”

“No, of course not,” Kayl said. “Your great-grandmother was, but that’s a long time ago. Don’t worry; it will be all right.” She wondered whether her reassurances were doing any good. She didn’t feel reassuring; she was angry and frightened and very, very worried. A thought struck her, and she looked at Barthelmy. “What about Mark?” she asked in a voice she hardly recognized as her own.

“Mark wasn’t interested in learning magic,” Barthelmy said hastily.

“He’s been having sword lessons with Demma instead,” Dara said eagerly. Then her face fell and she said in a forlorn voice, “We wanted to surprise you.”

Kayl summoned up a laugh. “Well, you’ve certainly managed it.” She was relieved to know that Mark, at least, was not likely to have felt whatever had touched Dara. She knew, however, that if demon blood were a source of danger, Mark was as much at risk as Dara.

“Not
that
way,” Dara said indignantly.

Kayl laughed again, glad that Dara seemed to be recovering. “I should hope not.”

“Kayl.” Glyndon had finished whatever he had been saying to the Elder Mothers; now he was looking at Dara again. “Do you think Dara could answer a few more questions now?”

“Dara?” Kayl said.

“All right, Mother,” Dara said.

“You don’t have to, if you’d rather not,” Kayl said, feeling her daughter stiffen slightly.

Dara’s chin came up. “Mark answered questions, when that man in Kith Alunel tried to take him away, and I’m older than he is. I’ll be all
right,
Mother.”

Glyndon chuckled. “Good,” he said. “Can you tell us anything more about this thing that was calling you?”

“It isn’t calling
me,”
Dara corrected him. “It’s just calling. I think it’s been calling for a long time, only I couldn’t hear it before.”

“And now you can?”

Dara nodded. “I don’t like it. It sounds just as nasty and awful as it looked.”

“Do you mean you can still hear it?” Kayl interrupted. Dara nodded again, and Kayl turned to Javieri. “That settles it,” she said. “Dara can’t go on to the Twisted Tower, and Mark probably shouldn’t either.”

“We cannot leave her behind alone,” Javieri said. “And there is no one to stay with her.”

“I—” Kayl stopped, knowing that she could not turn back now. She was sure that whatever Dara was feeling came from the black thing in the Twisted Tower, and that it would be dangerous to take Dara any closer. But she was equally certain that leaving the mystery of the Tower unsolved would be even more dangerous, to Dara and everyone else. Kayl could not desert the expedition, but— “I’ll ask Bryn and Alden if they’ll wait here with the children. No one is likely to come by, and they have no need to go to the Tower with the rest of us.”

“No,” Glyndon said. Javieri and Kayl both looked at him in surprise, and he went on, “Dara needs to know as many of the protective spells as she can learn. I can teach her, if she comes with us.”

“We’ll be at the valley in two days,” Kayl objected. “Three at most. How much can you teach her in that time?”

“Quite a bit, I hope,” Glyndon said.

“I learn very quickly,” Dara put in hopefully.

“And what if it isn’t enough?” Kayl retorted. “What if that black thing gets to her somehow?”

“For all we know, that could happen here as easily as in the valley,” Glyndon said. “At least if Dara comes with us I can try to do something about it.”

Javieri nodded approval. “And the protection of the Sisterhood—”

“The Sisterhood got us into this in the first place,” Glyndon interrupted. “I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on it now, if I were you.”

Kayl stood still, staring around the circle of faces. She saw sympathy on some, but no support, and she felt her temper rising. Dara was
her
daughter,
her
responsibility; how dare these people try to say what she must do? Yet… Glyndon was right. Miles were no protection against magic, but the companionship of wizards might be. Kayl scowled. Barthelmy’s companionship so far could hardly have been called a protection. Kayl knew she would have a hard time forgiving her old friend for what had happened, however harmless the original reasons for the magic lessons had been. But that was past; Kayl could not deny the validity of the argument just because circumstances had worked against it in a single instance.

Still feeling angry and worried, and feeling, as well, as if she were being pushed and bullied into agreeing against her better judgment, Kayl nodded. “All right,” she said. “Mark and Dara stay with the expedition.”

T
HE NEWS OF THE
finding of the crystal chip, and of Barthelmy’s and Dara’s reaction to it, had spread quickly through the expedition. Kayl could almost feel the curious gazes of the Sisters as they traveled. She did her best to ignore them, and walked in silence beside Dara and Glyndon. She had no real reason to stay close to them while they traveled; Glyndon was concentrating on remembering every bit of demon-lore and every protective spell he had ever heard, and Dara was completely absorbed in what Glyndon was telling her. Kayl had very quickly lost track of the conversation, but it made her feel better to be close at hand.

Mark walked with her during the early part of the day, clearly torn between worry about Dara and irritation with her for spoiling their planned surprise. Kayl heard him mutter, “I
told
her magic was stupid” as they started up a steep incline.

“And why do you think magic is stupid?” Kayl said.

Mark looked up, startled; he had evidently not expected to be overheard. “Nobody
does
anything with it,” he said, waving toward the Sisters ahead.

“They can’t, Mark,” Kayl reminded him. “That’s why we’re here.”

“Glyndon never does anything either,” Mark said. “Except see things, and he doesn’t do that on purpose.”

“Mark!” Xaya came down the incline, half running, half sliding past the amused Sisters. “Mark, Father says there’s a stream up ahead that’s got the kind of rocks with fish in them, and Mother says we can hunt for some if we want to. If it’s all right with you,” she added, looking at Kayl.

“Rocks don’t have fish in them!” Mark said scornfully.

“They do too!” Xaya retorted. “Sometimes, anyway. Father showed me one once, that the old Prefect was having him make into a scroll-weight. They’re inside, and you have to smash the rocks open to find them.”

On Kayl’s other side, Dara stopped talking to Glyndon to listen to Xaya. “Is that true, Mother?” she asked.

“Yes, it is. I’ve seen the kind of thing Xaya means. They aren’t common, but if Alden says the stream ahead may have some, it probably does.”

“Live fish?” Mark said, still skeptical but willing to be convinced.

“No, silly,” Xaya said. “Bones and things. Like somebody made a clay cast of a fish, only in rock.”

“That’s weird,” Mark said.

“Why would a wizard want to wrap a rock around a fish?” Dara asked Glyndon.

“What makes you think a wizard did it?” Glyndon said.

“Well, how else could it happen? But it doesn’t sound as if it would be any use.”

“Wizards are always doing things that aren’t any use,” Mark said before Glyndon could answer. “When they do anything at all.”

“Why don’t you see if you can find a couple of these rocks?” Kayl said quickly. “Maybe you can figure it out for yourselves.”

“Can I go too, Mother?” Dara asked.

Kayl looked at Glyndon, who nodded. She gave her permission, and the three children scrambled up the hill almost as fast as Xaya had come down it. Kayl watched them go, then turned to Glyndon with an inquiring look.

“She’ll be able to absorb things more quickly if she gets a break now and then,” he said. Then he smiled. “And so will I.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I have to find out how much Dara knows, how she’s been taught,” Glyndon said. “The Sisterhood’s approach to magic is… very unusual.”

“Why don’t you talk to Barthelmy about it?”

Glyndon blinked. “Because I hadn’t thought of it,” he confessed. “Excuse me.” He scanned the string of Sisters above them in search of Barthelmy, then began to climb more rapidly.

Kayl did not try to follow him. She finished the climb alone, feeling glad he had not stayed and yet wishing he had. She wanted someone to snap at or quarrel with in order to relieve the mounting pressure of her worries about Dara, about the crystal, about the Sisterhood, about the Tower. The realization made her feel ashamed, but it did not lessen her irritability. She set her teeth and tried to empty her mind of everything but climbing.

The technique was only partially successful; the incline was not really steep enough to demand such concentration, and she had nearly reached the top. The descent on the other side was just as frustrating. It required enough attention that she could not ponder her troubles deeply enough to resolve them, but it did not occupy her mind fully enough to allow her a respite from worry. When they stopped for lunch beside the stream at the foot of the mountain, Kayl felt like a bear just out of hibernation—hungry, cross, and ready to tear the arms off anyone who got in her way.

Her first act was to check on the children, whom she found happily smashing fist-sized rocks against larger rocks by the side of the stream. She withdrew without interrupting them and went to collect her ration of cheese and journey-bread. She saw Glyndon and Barthelmy, deep in conversation, and waved at them but did not stop. After a brief search, she found a place a little apart from the rest of the expedition and sat down to eat.

The day was relatively warm, though Kayl could still see snowcaps on the tops of the mountains around them. The sun was high enough for its rays to reach even to the bottom of the canyons between the mountains; the stream sparkled like a flow of diamonds. Kayl stretched her legs out into a patch of sunlight and let her cloak fall open to enjoy the warmth.

“May I join you?” The deep voice was unmistakable.

Kayl turned and found Ferianek Trone standing behind her, looking unusually grave. “If you wish,” she said.

“Thank you.” Ferianek seated himself. Kayl began eating her lunch, wondering what the scholar wanted. After a time, Ferianek said, “I heard about your girl and the crystal.”

“I’m not surprised,” Kayl said, struggling to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “I think everyone knows the story by now.”

“Probably.” Ferianek’s head turned toward the stream, where the sounds of shouting and laughter were still occasionally punctuated by the sharp cracking noise of one rock hitting another. “I think I owe you an apology,” he said.

“For what?” Kayl said. “Don’t tell me you’ve been teaching Dara as well!”

“No,” Ferianek said, smiling. The smile faded and he said seriously, “In a way, that’s the problem.”

“I don’t suppose you could be a little clearer?”

Ferianek sighed. “I feel responsible for what has happened to your daughter, and to your friends as well.”

“You mean Glyndon?”

“And those who died at Glendura’s Tomb, yes.” Ferianek sighed again, and held up a hand to forestall Kayl’s objection. “I know. I know. I wasn’t there. That’s the whole point.”

Kayl stared at him. “Ferianek, if you—”

“No, listen to me. My family have been Watchers of the valley for over a thousand years; there’s a binding between us and the place you call the Twisted Tower that keeps us here, in these mountains, close to the valley. It serves little purpose, now, for most of the spells we once knew have been lost or forgotten. But the binding goes on.” His voice deepened further, and the bitterness in it was evident. “I am tied to the Windhome Mountains. For more than thirty years I have been searching for a way to break that tie.

“I knew of the Sisterhood’s search for the Tower, so I came to you sixteen years ago and told you how to find it. I hoped that you would destroy it, or at least change somehow the spells that hold me. But I did not tell you all that I could have; I did not speak of the sealed doors or the crystal that powers the Tower’s spells. I could not ask you to harm the Tower, nor help you do so, but I could hope. Unwarned of what lay within, you might have smashed the crystal or abolished the spells on the Tower or taken its power to use for yourselves.”

“You were willing to wager all our lives on the
hope
that we would accidentally set you free?” Kayl said incredulously.

“I was desperate. And I did not know there was danger in the Tower beyond the spells that guarded it. I did not know the black creature was there, and alive! I thought all you had to fear was magic, and the Sisterhood has a good reputation for that. So I let you and your friends find a way inside, without telling you what you might find. And from that error, the rest has followed.”

“And the second expedition the Sisterhood sent?” Kayl asked. “Did you know about it, too?”

Ferianek nodded. “I knew, and again I did nothing. I shirked my duty as Watcher of the Tomb and let them come; I betrayed my oath as a follower of the Way of the Third Moon and let them die. And all because I wanted to be free of the obligations that hold me here.”

“And now you are trying to redeem yourself by helping us?”

“I wish I could say yes,” Ferianek said, speaking with more bitterness than Kayl had ever heard in his voice before. “But this time there are Magicseekers on the road to the Tower. Their reputation is as bad as the Sisterhood’s is good; I have no choice but to try to find some way of stopping them. So, again, I use you for my own purposes.”

“I see.” Kayl was surprised to find that she did see. Ferianek was a scholar at heart, not a man of action. His desire to leave the duties he had never wanted was easy to understand; so was the desperation that had led him to clutch at the unlikely possibility that the Sisterhood’s first venture to the Tower might, somehow, free him. His guilt over the consequences of his inaction was almost too familiar. But how much would really have happened differently if they had heard Ferianek’s tales before they entered the Tower that first time? Kevran would not have broken the crystal, true, but they would surely have tried to take it with them. And if Glyndon was right, and the black thing was guarding the crystal, the results might well have been the same.