Issola (18 page)

"All right, as in, all is right?"

"That's the all right I meant, Boss."

"Okay, I think I got that part. Now the tough one: How certain are you?"
He hesitated.
"Pretty sure."

"Pretty sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"What do you mean, 'pretty sure'?"

"I mean 'pretty sure.'

That wasn't exactly the answer I wanted. I've found I often don't get exactly the answers I want, but I keep asking questions anyway.

"And, Boss — "

"Yes?"

"Now I'm seeing it, too."

"Well, that's something then. Either I'm not under a glamour, or you are as well."

"Heh. I'm a jhereg, Boss. The being hasn't been spawned that could put a glamour on me."

"Cocky little son-of-a-bitch, aren't you?"

"Damn right."

"I'm back," I announced to the room in general. No one cheered immediately, but I got a smile from Teldra. I said,

"Loiosh believes my brain has probably not been tampered with, for whatever that's worth."

"Probably?" said Aliera, frowning.

I shrugged. "Best I can do; take it for what's it's worth. And he's now seeing the same thing I am."

"Which means," said Aliera, shrugging, "that perhaps he is under a glamour as well." I said, "He's a jhereg. The creature hasn't been spawned that could put a glamour on him." Aliera frowned, looked over at Morrolan as if to see if he was convinced, then shrugged. Loiosh said,
"Thanks, Boss."

"No problem, chum."

I said, "Now, Morrolan, can you tell me what happened?"

"What happened?" asked Morrolan. He was leaning against the wall near where we'd been chained up, arms folded, looking cool and imperturbable.

"The attempt to get us home."

"Oh. Nothing happened. They sealed the gate."

"Then we're stuck here?"

"For the moment, yes."

"I see. Is sealing your gate, uh, easy to do?"

"No."

"Why would they want to keep us here now, when they could have kept us here the first time?"

"I don't know," said Morrolan. "And I should very much like to. Is this all part of a plan of theirs, or are they improvising as much as we are? You perceive it is a rather important question."

"I'm glad I'm not the only paranoid in the room," I said.

"It isn't paranoia, Vlad, if they really are—"

"So I've heard. Okay, so we can spend all our time wondering if they have all this planned and every step we take is according to their wishes, and when they have us good and ready, they'll crush us like bugs. Or, alternately, we can stop worrying about what moves they're going to pull on us, and start thinking about what moves we're going to pull on them."

Morrolan sniffed and said, "Good idea, Vlad. How do you plan to go about it?"

"Nothing fancy," I said. "I had just planned to kill them, and go from there." Aliera shrugged. "Couldn't hurt," she said.

10

"Tell me about this rock," said Aliera.

"All right," I said. 1 walked over and stood in front of it. "The edges are all jagged. It looks like a large piece of something that was once even larger, if that gives you any idea. I told you about the colors, but there's also a very thin sort of purplish vein running along one side."

Aliera said, "Does it seem at all crystalline?"

"No, not. . . well, yes, I guess sort of, if you look at it right."

Morrolan nodded. "Well, Aliera?"

She nodded and said, "Trellanstone."

Morrolan nodded.

I said, "If you don't mind—"

"Trellanstone," said Aliera, "is what the Imperial Orb was fashioned from."

"Oh," I said. "Well. And here I thought it might be something interesting." About then I caught something in Aliera's eyes, and then in Morrolan's, and realized that they were both a lot more excited about this than they were willing to let on.

"I don't suppose," I said, "that either of you have studied Orb-making? I can see where having an Orb might be useful right around now."

"Certainly," said Aliera. "Then all we'd need would be a source of amorphia."

"Oh, we have that," I said, enjoying dropping it into the middle of the conversation, like, "Oh, the Easterner? Yes, he's the Empress's consort."

I certainly got Morrolan and Aliera's attention quickly enough. "What are you talking about?" said Morrolan.

"Lady Teldra and I went for a walk while we were waiting for you. It's a lovely place, really, except for the air and how heavy you feel. There is a river of amorphia just outside of that door." They both glanced over at Teldra. You could see them thinking, "That's it. Poor Vlad's mind has snapped at last." But Teldra nodded and said, "He is quite correct."

"A river of amorphia," repeated Morrolan, almost reverently.

"Impossible," said Aliera. She turned to Morrolan. "Isn't it?" He shook his head. "I can't imagine how such a thing could be. We need to look at this."

"Yes," said Aliera.

"I'll wait here," I told him. "If the Jenoine emerge, shall I ask them to wait, or suggest they return when it is more convenient?"

Aliera snorted. There was a lot of that going around. Having made her statement, she turned and headed toward where I told her the door was, stopped, and turned back.

"Where is the bloody door?" she said.

I managed not to chuckle, started to answer, but Morrolan said, "One thing at a time, please. I, too, wish to observe this thing, but I wish first to address the issue of why Vlad can see what we cannot, and what, if anything, we can do about it."

I could see that Aliera wanted to argue with him, but apparently couldn't find any good pretext, so she clamped her jaw shut, and returned. I found I was enjoying this: two sorcerers, who had to be dying to investigate one of the most remarkable discoveries in the history of magical philosophy, and they were just going to have to wait. To add some more confusion into the mix, 1 said, "Excuse me. This rock-that-turns-into-Orbs. Would you mind telling me about it?"

"It's magical," said Aliera dryly.

I glanced over at Teldra, but she was just standing, near the wall, the epitome of patience. I turned back to Aliera and said, "Thanks loads." She started to speak, but I cut her off. "Look, there's too much I don't understand here, and neither do you. If we're going to work this together, I'd like to have some idea of what this stuff is we're talking about. We're paralyzed until we have at least a reasonable guess about what is real and what isn't."

"I have never," said Aliera, "had any particular problem knowing what is real."

"Oh, no? Think about it. Morrolan is right. Why do I see what you don't? Whose mind has been tampered with?

What is the illusion? And, more important,
why?
That's the part that really bothers me. I can understand casting an illusion in front of all our eyes, but why then remove it from one of us, or some of us, whichever it is?" Aliera frowned. "All right," she said. "Granted. I don't know." Morrolan cleared his throat. "It is possible," he said, "that removing the illusion was an error. We still don't know exactly what happened while you were gone. Did you, for example, use your chain?" I was suddenly very aware of Spellbreaker, wrapped around my wrist. "Yes," I told him. "As it happens, I did. At least, in my mind. I thought about it. Could just invoking Spellbreaker in my mind have broken the illusion?"

"Perhaps," said Morrolan.

"Perhaps," I agreed. "Then again, perhaps not? How can we tell?"

"Let me think about that," he said.

"Okay," I agreed. "While you're thinking, could you fill me in a little?"

"On what?"

"For starters, just what is that rock?"

"Well," said Morrolan, "you know, basically, how sorcery works, right?"

"I know how to do the simple stuff, if that's what you mean."

"No, I'm talking about how it works. The theory."

"Oh. No, I'm proud to say I haven't a clue."

"Oh," said Morrolan, with a look that indicated he was suddenly stumped. I took a perverse pride in that. I guess I was in a mood.

Aliera came to his rescue. "The basic idea," she said, "is simple enough: Everything is made of matter, or energy, which is the same thing in a less organized form. Amorphia is the opposite of matter. The purple vein in that rock is necrophia. Necrophia is a substance which can control amorphia, and which responds to the human - or Eastern - brain. Sorcery is
the art of learning to manipulate necrophia, as Elder Sorcery is the art of learning to manipulate amorphia."

She stopped, as if she were done. Heh. I said, "And necromancy?"

"The art of using necrophia, and amorphia, to control the energy levels of different life-states." Oh, well, now I understood everything. Heh. I said, "And witchcraft?" She looked at me, blinked, then turned to Morrolan.

"Witchcraft," he explained, "is something else again."

"Ah," I said. "Well, good. That helps." Before they could respond, I remarked, "I've never heard of necrophia before."

"Your education," said Aliera, "is sadly lacking."

Morrolan said, "Witchcraft is a process of understanding and changing - the more you understand a thing, the more you can change it, and the more you work to change it, the more deeply you understand it. Sorcery is a process of correspondence - the minute amounts of energy generated by the mind must be made to correspond to the Orb, which in turn permits the release of the energy contained in the Sea of Amorphia, and this energy thus becomes available to use to manipulate the world."

"You should have been a teacher."

He ignored me. "That rock you describe contains an ore that has the property of resonating with amorphia, and with our minds; that is why the Orb was constructed from it."

"All right, I can see that. Mmmm. I imagine it is rare?"

"It only appears as a gift from the gods."

"Okay, that would be rare. Is it sentient?"

"How could it be sentient?"

"You're right," I said. "Stupid question." I don't know if he caught the irony, but I'm fairly sure Aliera did; she smirked. I continued, "All right, I think I see a bit of how the parts fit together. Now: Why would the jenoine put us in a room with this in it?"

He didn't have an answer for that one. Morrolan has always been better at understanding how objects work than how other beings are thinking.

Teldra said, "They don't think the way we do." Because it was Teldra, I didn't make any remarks. She continued,

"They don't consider us enemies in the same way we consider them enemies; nor do they see us as threats. They worry about our escaping the way one might worry about a pet greeterbird making its way out of its cage; and they worry about our damaging their artifacts the way one might worry about a pet kitten getting into the jewelry box. By sealing the area against necromantic gates, and laying a mild glamour on us so that we cannot see the objects in the room, they believe they have done enough."

There was a moment of silence; then Morrolan cleared his throat. "How long have you known this?" he said.

"I suppose, in a way, since I spoke to them. What I have just told you, my lord, only occurred to me this instant. I am still considering the matter and trying to understand, but it seems to me that they spoke to me - insofar as I could perceive tone - in the tone one might use to, well, a greeterbird. They were amused that I could form any sort of coherent thought; they think we're cute."

"Cute," said Aliera e'Kieron.

"Cute," said Morrolan e'Drien.

"I
am
cute,"
said Loiosh.

I said, "And that didn't, uh, annoy you at all?"

"I thought it interesting," said Teldra. "Actually, I didn't put it together in exactly that way; I've been thinking about it since the conversation, and that is my conclusion."

"Hmmmm," I said.

"Cute," repeated Aliera.

"All right," said Morrolan. "I think we can accept that. So, what do we do?"

"Kill them," said Aliera.

Morrolan rolled his eyes. "Of
course
we're going to kill them," he said. "I meant,
how?"

"I wonder," said Aliera, and her voice trailed off.

Morrolan waited, then said, "Yes?"

Aliera hesitated, then finally said, "Do you suppose, if Vlad were to strike us with Spellbreaker, it would break the glamour on us?"

Morrolan frowned his thoughtful frown. I contemplated giving Morrolan and Aliera a good, hard whack apiece, and tried to refrain from smiling. Morrolan said, "I believe it would be less likely to remove the glamour than to, uh, damage many of the items you and I carry about with us, if you understand what I mean." Aliera nodded. Oh, well. I wouldn't have enjoyed hitting Teldra anyway.

"But," said Morrolan, "I do want some way to remove the glamour; that stone could be very useful. And, perhaps, some of the other things in here could be useful as well. Have you any ideas, cousin?" She shook her head. Then Lady Teldra cleared her throat; conversation stopped and we all stared at her. It would have been terribly embarrassing if she'd had nothing more than the need to clear her throat. But, no, she said, "It is just possible that the stone itself could help."

Aliera frowned. "I don't understand. If we can't even see it... ?" She was a lot more polite than she'd have been asking that question of Morrolan or me.

Teldra said, "Vlad can see it."

Morrolan scowled. "The air in this place must slow my brain down
.
You're right, of course." I cleared my throat; quite a different effect than when Teldra did it. "Uh . . . what exactly does this involve?"

"Nothing you haven't done before," said Morrolan.

"Heh. There are many things I've done before—"

"You must let me see through your eyes," he said. "It is a simple enough spell, as you recall."

"Yeah, I know that. But there's a no sorcery here. Can we do it with pure psychic energy?"

"Not reliably enough," he said. "But we have no need to."

"Oh? Without sorcery, what do you use as a link?"