Cloak of the Two Winds (26 page)

As they walked back through the dank and foggy streets, they chanted softly together:

Many hands, one heart

Many eyes, one soul

Many spears, one hunter

We hold to the klarn

We are fearless

In the circle that evening the Iruks were able to see more light and details around Glyssa's image. The weave could be discerned on the white robe she wore, and her black hair, cut short, was visible inside the hood. But the nervous energy that had disturbed the circle in the morning persisted. The mates could behold Glyssa's image for only a few instants, and after glimpsing it three times were not able to bring it back.

"We did not keep still enough this time," Amlina said when she had brought them out of trance. "The concealment is weaker, but so was our concentration. Perhaps I erred in telling you not to practice today."

"We are anxious," Eben said. "Time is running out."

"You must not think that way," the witch exclaimed. "At your initiation each of you spoke your readiness to surrender hope and desire. This surrender is crucial if you are to deepsee."

"But to surrender that way," Lonn said, "we'd have to give up caring whether we find Glyssa or not."

"Precisely," Amlina replied. "If you care too much you cannot see."

"I don't understand," Lonn complained. "You tell us we must stop caring, but you also say that our feelings for Glyssa make the bond that allows us to see her."

"I know," Amlina said. "The arts of the Deepmind are fraught with contradictions. The more you study, the more you will find this is true. In the present instance, let me make this distinction: there is the love you feel for Glyssa, and there is your desire to find her. Love opens your spirits and attracts Glyssa to you in the Deepmind. But desire incites fear, and fear closes your spirits. Your desire to have Glyssa back, your fear that you won't find her in time—these forces act as barriers that prevent your seeing her."

Around the circle Lonn watched his mates frowning, struggling to grasp the witch's argument. Woefully, Karrol let her head sink down to rest in her hands.

"Concentrate on your love for Glyssa," Amlina said. "Let go of your desire to find her. Keep this in mind as you deepsee. If you can do this, we will succeed. As the glimpses we managed tonight showed, we are very close to breaking the concealment."

Lonn remembered climbing steps so wide he could see no end to them in either direction. He never recalled coming to the top, but somehow he found himself striding beneath a huge doorway, into a dark vestibule fragrant with incense. Beyond the vestibule he paused on the brink of a colossal chamber with a lofty ceiling and rows of tall pillars on each side. The floor was empty, and at the far end the vast chamber opened onto another, large hall, and beyond that another still.

The scale and strangeness of the place was appalling. Keeping to the shadows, Lonn moved along the back wall, toward the line of pillars on the right. Peeking around the backmost column he saw a procession of white-robed figures moving toward him in single file. He had an overpowering impulse to flee, but his feet seemed anchored to the spot. The hooded figures approached. Each one regarded Lonn gravely, then passed on through a shadowy doorway in the rear wall. Suddenly Lonn's insides jumped as one of the figures stepped from the line.

"Glyssa!"

She pulled back her hood, revealing her black hair clipped short. She gazed at him earnestly. "Lonn, I'm so glad you are near me. I've been alone so long. Please come for me soon."

"We'll come as soon as we can. But we don't know where you are. What is this place?"

The last of the procession was passing. Glyssa replaced her hood. "I must go."

"No," Lonn said.

But Glyssa took her place at the rear of the line, matching her steps with the others.

"Glyssa!"

She walked through the darkened doorway and vanished.

Lonn rushed after her. But as he crossed the threshold he was flung back, as though struck by a huge hand. Next instant he was sitting up, in the dim room at the inn, his mates sleeping peacefully around him.

The dream had been so vivid,
so real
. Lonn clutched his head, groping with his mind to bring the vision back.

He was thinking that he ought to wake his mates and tell them of it, when a knocking rattled the door. Lonn got up and pulled the door open. Amlina hurried inside, wearing her quilted robe, holding a small lamp.

"I caught a glimpse of your dream in the Deepmind," she whispered. "Tell me everything you saw."

Lonn sat by the stove and related to the witch all he could remember—the wide steps, the huge vaulted chambers, the pillars, the line of figures in white, Glyssa speaking to him. By the time he finished his mates were hovering around, listening.

"Excellent," Amlina said. "When I saw the dream flicker out I had the definite impression it was a message from Glyssa, perhaps dreaming herself. I confess that at times I've had doubts that we could save her, that enough of her mind could remain unchanged after so many days. But I sensed a strong spirit reaching out to you in this dream. It bodes well."

"But I didn't learn where she is," Lonn said.

"We have the images from the dream," Amlina answered. "All we need do is to summon them, and we can put you back into the dream. Come upstairs with me now. All of you come."

The Iruks pulled on their garments and hurried after the witch.

In her chamber, Amlina directed them to sit in the circle and begin the deep breathing, while she moved about lighting the lamps. Still and relaxed, Lonn heard the witch sit down next to him. Soon he was watching the radiance flow around the circle in its familiar course, relaxing his body more fully and finally opening his mind to the seething silver-gray of the Ogo.

"I am going to speak specifically to Lonn," Amlina said. "But all of us will see what he sees. If any of you can see more than he is able to, then speak. The dream visited Lonn, but further illumination might come to anyone in the circle."

The witch told Lonn to envision Glyssa, to see her exactly as she had appeared in the dream. Immersed in the shared mental current of the wei circle, Lonn easily brought the image to mind.

All of them looked upon the image, Glyssa's white hood thrown back, her hair clipped short, her face thin and ashen. A pang of remorse at their long separation shot round the circle and made the picture hazy. But presently the emotion passed and the image of Glyssa steadied again.

"She can't tell me where she is," Lonn said. "I asked her and—"

"She doesn't need to tell you," Amlina answered. "You can learn it from the dream. Look around you, Lonn. Describe all that you see."

As Lonn turned his head, it seemed as if he actually stood in the place he had dreamed. "There are white pillars flecked with bits of silver and gold, rows of pillars on either side of the hall. The floors are gray stone, wide and empty. The ceiling is high, higher than the mainmast of the
Plover
. Two or three ships that size could fit in this single hall."

"You are doing well," Amlina said. "Walk back the way you came, to the entrance."

"But Glyssa ..."

With a flash of panic Lonn noticed that she was gone. He started for the dark doorway where she had disappeared in the dream, but the vision around him wavered and crackled, disrupted by the strong surge of feeling.

"Breathe deeply," Amlina said. "Relax. You are still in the dream."

But Lonn's spirit heaved in turmoil as other visions burst before his mind's eye. He saw Glyssa as the klarn had envisioned her so often, sad and thin and enclosed by blackness. He saw his Iruks with their hands bound, lined up before Prince Hagen's throne, then chained to the mast of the witch’s ship.

"You need to surrender yourself, Lonn," Amlina was saying. "Surrender and look."

"I see Glyssa," Karrol spoke abruptly.

Lonn sensed a whorl of power rush through the circle. Then he saw Glyssa too, standing beneath the pillar again, the image from the dream recaptured.

Feeling the dream around him once more, Lonn seized the chance. Without need of the witch's prompting, he turned and walked toward the entryway. He did not allow worry over losing sight of Glyssa to distract him again. The thought came that this was what Amlina meant by surrender—to tread the path one must, laying aside expectation and fear. With each step the dream grew more real. Lonn could feel the others in the circle walking with him.

He reached the entrance to the hall and paused.

"Keep going," Amlina said. "Go outside."

Lonn crossed the vestibule and strode beneath the high arch. It was night outside, the air cold and moist. Lonn stood at the top of the wide steps that he had climbed in the dream.

"Go down a little way," Amlina urged. "Then turn and say what you see."

The night seemed to thicken as Lonn descended. He could no longer see the steps and nearly stumbled. When he turned, all he could make out of the building were two bulky forms and the tall-arched doorway between. The rest was obscured by shiny blackness.

"The design of concealment," Amlina said. "It makes a final defense to prevent our seeing. But now we have the power to counter the design. This vision arises from a dream belonging to one of us. Thus the image is ours to control. Let the vision be filled by the light we share in this circle."

The witch gripped Lonn's hand tighter. A silvery incandescence fell like rain on the scene in his mind. The light shimmered, dispelling the shiny blackness from the building's facade.

"There are columns on either side of the doorway," Lonn said. "Beyond them are ledges with carved figures, dozens of them."

"Good," Amlina said. "Describe the carvings."

"There are birds and flizzards," Lonn said, "and people with wings. All sorts of creatures with wings."

"I see them," Amlina's voice betrayed her excitement. "Well done, Lonn. We have seen what we needed to see. Iruks, when I tell you to open your eyes you will open them and be awake, here in my room. Now open your eyes."

Lonn blinked and looked about the circle.

"We have our answer." Amlina squeezed his hand with elation. "We almost lost the link for a moment. But Karrol was able to see Glyssa again, and after that Lonn held on to the dream. My friends, you are all to be congratulated."

"But what answer do we have?" Eben demanded.

"The Temple of the Air on the Long Acropolis. I thought from the size and design of the chambers Lonn described earlier that the dream took place in one of the great temples. But I could not be sure
which
temple until Lonn took us outside to view the facade. The winged creatures symbolize the Element of Air. It can be no other place."

"Hah!" Draven clapped Lonn on the back. "I always said your dreams should be trusted!"

Hopeful as it seemed, Lonn was afraid to believe. "Can we be sure the dream was truly from Glyssa?"

Amlina fixed him with a bright gaze. "What do you think? Look into the Deepmind for the answer—All of you."

Lonn focused on the inner vision that the witch had taught him to use. In a moment he sensed a presence—the klarn spirit. For a long time it had been diminished. But now it rose in his soul stronger than ever, a being of power that he was part of. And in that rising presence he felt certainty.

"Yes," he said. "The dream came from Glyssa."

Around the circle the mates were nodding, murmuring their agreement.

"Yes," Amlina said. "I too felt Glyssa's presence. And I felt no other hand involved, no concealed mind. Glyssa sent you that dream from the Temple of the Air. I am certain."

"Then let's go," Eben jumped to his feet. "Let's go at once."

The other Iruks rose as well, the desmets shifting on the draft they made.

"I hope our enemies are numerous," Karrol declared. "I am hungry for a good fight."

"Wait," Amlina said. "We still have the Prince-Ruler's spies to dispose of. It will take time for me to prepare and cast a design. It will be hours, perhaps afternoon, before we can leave."

"Then get started … Please," Karrol told her. "The sooner the better."

"Not necessarily," the witch replied. "We might be safer traveling at night so as not to be spotted on the streets. On the other hand, it might be easier to enter the Temple in daylight, when we can lose ourselves in the crowds."

"We must go as soon as possible," Lonn said. "Glyssa has already waited too long."

Amlina thought it over briefly. "Very well. Go downstairs and pack your belongings. Whatever happens, I don't expect we'll be coming back here, so have everything ready to carry. But leave the bundles in your room. One or two of Hagen's informers are doubtless staying at this inn, and we don't want to warn them."

The Iruks hurried downstairs and picked their way quietly past the sleepers in the common room. They donned their fur garments, boots, and harnesses, placed their blades in their belts. They rolled and tied the bed furs and packed the spears in their quivers. As the mates headed back upstairs they heard the clink of breakfast pots and dishes from the kitchen.

They found Amlina dressed in traveling garb, wearing the moonstone fillet, her silver rings and bracelets, and a dagger in her belt. She had taken down the hanging trinkets and packed them along with the lamps in a rolled bundle. Her fur coat lay with her luggage next to the bed.

Amlina was kneeling on the floor with a number of small white candles. She motioned for the Iruks to sit down, then resumed her perplexing task. She studied the six candles with an intent, round-eyed stare. She would move one candle a short distance, then move another, then perhaps move the first one again, then resume her intent looking.

Lonn sensed his mates' impatience as keen as his own. But the Iruks controlled themselves, gnawing their lips or fingering their sword-hilts, knowing that the witch must not be disturbed.

Amlina lit one of the candles and used the dripping wax to fuse its side to another. She blew the flame out and set the double candle down, then knelt and gazed again.

Finally, she seemed to have all the candles placed to her satisfaction, and she stood. From inside her robe she took a gold needle and a spool of white silk thread.

"I am ready to begin the ensorcellment," she told the Iruks. "It is called the Man-Fishing Trick, and shortly you will see why. My purpose is to capture the minds of Hagen's informers and then to draw them to this room. There are six informers watching us at the moment, according to what I've seen in the Deepmind. Two work together, the others alone. Except for the two working together the informers will arrive here one at a time. As soon as they enter it's up to you to render them helpless. Here is cord I got downstairs for you to bind them. Tear up the bed sheet to make gags. Bind them well, so that they are helpless even to make noise. Do you understand?"

Lonn and the others nodded.

"Good. In a moment, I will begin. Once I close my eyes and start the incantations, I must not be disturbed until all the spies are here and the design is complete. Do you have any questions?"

The Iruks had none. They set to work tearing up the sheet.

Amlina lit a taper and moved about touching the flame to the wicks of the six candles. When all were burning she sat down in their midst, some of them close to her, some several feet away. Carefully she threaded the needle and tied a triple knot in the thread. She drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and began to chant.