The Nomad (24 page)

“The Shadow King,” Ryana said. “That settles it. There can be no doubt about Valsavis now, not that I ever had much to begin with.”

“Well, we do not need to concern ourselves about Valsavis now,” said Sorak. “There is no time to waste. We had best be about our business.”

“This way,” said Kara, leading them across the plaza.

“What if we do not find the talisman by nightfall?” asked Ryana as they followed her.

“Then we must allow enough time for us to leave the city and be well way from it before darkness falls,” said Kara, “so that we may return and continue our search again in the morning. Of course, that is no guarantee that the undead shall not follow.”

“But if they do not know that we were here—” Sorak began.

“They know,” said Kara, walking quickly. “They know even now. They can sense our presence.”

Ryana glanced around uneasily.

Kara led them across the plaza, from which three streets led off in different directions. Suddenly, Ryana had an eerie sense of deja vu. As they crossed the plaza, she realized that this was exactly like the game they’d played back at the Desert Palace in Salt View. One street led off the plaza to the left, curving slightly, so that they could not see what lay around the bend. Another street led straight away from them, offering an unobstructed view for several hundred yards. And the third street led off to the right… and part of it was blocked by rubble. It seemed too much for coincidence.

“Sorak…” she said.

He nodded. “I know. It is just like that game we played back in Salt View.”

It seems exactly the same,” Ryana said. “Exactly, right down to the pile of rubble there. But how can that be?”

Sorak glanced toward Kara, walking ahead of them with a purposeful stride. “Perhaps she had something to do with it,” he said. “The manager of the Desert Palace was the son of Kallis, the apothecary, above whose shop she lives.”

“You think she purposely designed the game to mirror the reality?” Ryana asked. “But why?”

Sorak shook his head. “I do not know. And I do not know that she designed the game. It is possible that she told Kallis about her journey here all those years ago, and that he may have told his son, perhaps in the form of a story. And perhaps his son recalled it when he designed the game. It could be as innocent as that.”

“Or else there could be a purpose to it,” said Ryana.

“Yes, I suppose there could be,” Sorak said. “Time alone will tell.”

“Could the Guardian probe Kara’s mind?”

“A pyreen?” Sorak shook his head. “Not without her being aware of it. It would be foolhardy to attempt using psionics on a pyreen. They are masters of the art. And there could be no greater display of disrespect”

“No, I suppose not,” Ryana acknowledged. “But I would feel much better if I knew what to expect.”

“Expect the unexpected,”
came a voice within both their minds.

Kara stopped and turned to smile at them. “The ears of a pyreen are even sharper than the ears of elves,” she said.

They continued walking. Kara chose the street that led to the northeast.

“I meant no offense, lady,” said Ryana.

“I know,” said Kara. “Your reaction is quite understandable, under the circumstances.”

“But the game, my lady…”

“I know about the game,” she said. “And you were right. There is a purpose to it. There are many adventurers who come to Salt View hoping to seek me out and pry the secret of the treasure from me. They do not know, of course, that the Silent One can speak, or that she is pyreen. They have only heard the story, since elevated into legend, that I have been to Bodach, that I had found the treasure and survived. They assume that I am some old woman who had embraced the druid vows after her ordeal, and they imagine they can prevail upon me to write down what I know.”

“So the game is an attempt to draw them out so they can be identified,” said Sorak.

“More than that,” said Kara. “There is no adventurer who can resist the lure of Salt View’s entertainments. And “The Lost Treasure of Bodach’ is played in each of Salt View’s gaming houses. Who would not be tempted, if that was what they came to seek? And by the way they play, the gamemasters can evaluate their responses. You would be surprised how much can be learned about an individual by watching how they play.”

“And what did you learn about us from the way we played?” Sorak asked. “I assume that word had somehow reached you concerning us long before we reached the apothecary shop.”

“Indeed,” she said. “I had been told to expect you long before you arrived in Salt View, but I needed to be sure you were the ones. I did not wish to expose Kallis to unnecessary risk.”

“You care for the old man,” Ryana said with a smile.

“Of course. He is my husband.”

“Your
husband?”
Ryana was shocked. “Do not be deceived by appearance,” Kara said. “Remember that I am far older than he is, but I am pyreen, while he is human.”

“Then, that would mean that the manager of the Desert Palace is your son?” Ryana asked.

“No. Kivrin is the son of Kallis and his first wife, who died in giving birth to him. But he is my adopted son, and has taken the vows of a preserver.”

“Why marry a human?” Sorak asked. “Why even live in Salt View? I have always thought pyreens avoided humans.”

“Most pyreens do,” she replied. “There are not many of us left. And while we are strong and long-lived and have abilities superior to those of humans, we are not invulnerable. We do not take unnecessary chances, but each of us has a purpose to which we devote our lives. Mine requires that I live in Salt View.”

“Why?”

“You will soon learn that for yourselves,” she answered enigmatically. “And Kallis?” asked Ryana. “Even a pyreen can get lonely,” Kara said. “Kallis is a good man, and his heart is pure. His wife’s death left a great void within his life. I have done my best to fill it.”

Sorak stopped suddenly before an old building that somehow looked familiar, even though he had never before seen it. And then he realized what it was. “The stone tavern,” he said.

Kara smiled. “Yes. But unlike the game scenario, we will not seek shelter here.”

They continued on. “And there is the walled home of the aristocrat,” Ryana said, as they turned a bend in the street.

“Filled with the undead?” asked Sorak.

“Perhaps,” said Kara. “They do move around, you know.”

They bypassed it and continued on.

“There is one thing I have been wondering,” said Sorak as they walked down the twisting, sand-blown street. “Why did you come to Bodach in the first place? What use would a pyreen have for treasure?”

“None,” Kara replied.

“Then… why?”

“I came seeking something else,” she said. “The
true
lost treasure of the ancients.”

“The true lost treasure?” Sorak said, puzzled. “That would seem to imply that there is a false one.”

“Yes,” Kara said, enigmatically. “It would, indeed.”

“Why do I feel suddenly as if I am back in the Desert Palace, playing the same game?” asked Sorak.

“Every game is a test,” said Kara. “A test of skill, of luck, of perspicacity. Some games are merely more difficult than others.”

“So this is a test, then?” Sorak said.

“Did you not know that when you came?”

“Whose test? Yours? Or the Sage’s?”

“It is
your
test,” Kara said, looking at him.

“And what if I should fail?”

“You mean you did not consider that before?” she asked.

Sorak said, “I have considered it at length.”

“Good. One should always give considerations to one’s actions.”

“Is there a purpose to these riddles?” asked Ryana irritably.

“There is a purpose to everything,” said Kara. “We must turn right here.”

They proceeded down another street, deeper into the heart of the ruined city. Sorak asked no more questions. Kara had made it clear that he would discover the answers for himself in due time. She was here to provide guidance, not answers. So be it, he thought. He had come this far, there was no turning back now.

As they walked down the narrow, twisting, turning streets, Sorak recognized many scenes from the game he had played back at the Desert Palace. It was almost as if he could hear the voice of the gamemaster describing them in detail..

“You come to a juncture where two streets branch off, one ahead of you and to the left, one ahead and to the right. Directly to the left and right there are two dark and narrow alleyways. You cannot see where they lead. Which course do you take?’

They took the street ahead and to the left. By now, several hours had passed. Sorak wondered why she had chosen to set them down where she did when they had this far to walk. He saw no reason why she could not have landed the raft closer to whatever their destination was. The streets were certainly wide enough, and they had passed through several plazas that would have served equally well to land the raft. He was tempted to ask, but didn’t. There had to be a reason. Perhaps he could figure it out for himself.

It was after noon by the time they reached a large building with a columned portico in front of it. There Was a wide flight of stone steps that ran all around the front of the building, leading up to the arched entryway. Kara turned and started to ascend the steps.

“Is it here?” asked Ryana. “Is this the building where they kept the treasure?”

“One of them,” said Kara.

“I am tired of these riddles!” said Ryana, forgetting her respectful tone in her exasperation. “We have wasted half the day! We could easily have landed right here, instead of on the other side of the city! Or is it that you
want
us to waste time, so that we may encounter the undead? Is
that
part of the test, too?”

Kara suddenly held up her hand for quiet, cocking her head and listening intently.

“This way, quickly!” she said.

They hurried up the steps. No sooner had they stepped under the shelter of the columned portico than a large shadow passed over the plaza. A loud, screeching cry pierced the air, and they heard the beating of gigantic wings.

The creature came swooping down over the city, casting its huge shadow over the spot where they had stood moments earlier. The ominous sound of its wingbeats filled the air. Its shrill, reverberating cry echoed off the building walls as it passed overhead, momentarily blotting out the sun with its huge bulk.

Ryana glanced up. “A roc!” she said with astonishment as the creature passed over them. “But what is it doing
here,
so far from the mountains?”

“It was sent by the Shadow King,” said Kara. “And it brings your old traveling companion, Valsavis.”

Sorak suddenly understood. “You knew that Nibenay would help him find a way to follow us,” he said. “That is why you left the raft on the other side of the city, to make him think that we are somewhere in that vicinity. You meant to throw him off and buy us time.”

“If he is, indeed, as good a tracker as you say,” said Kara, “then it will not take him much longer to find us than it took us to reach here. And there is still much left to do. Hurry. There is not much time left.”

She stepped through the archway and disappeared into the shadows of the building.

“Why must we be so afraid of Valsavis?” asked Ryana, her voice echoing in the darkness of the cavernous building. The sound of it startled her slightly, and she lowered her voice. “He may be skilled and dangerous, but could he really hope to stand against the three of us?”

“It is not Valsavis we must fear, but his master, Nibenay,” said the pyreen as she led the way. “That Valsavis was able to follow us so quickly proves what I had suspected all along. The magic I detected on him was some means for him to communicate with Nibenay. And with Valsavis here, the Shadow King has never been closer to uncovering the secret of the Sage.”

“Then the Sage is
here?”
said Sorak with amazement. “In
Bodach?”

“No,” said Kara from the darkness just ahead. “But the secret to finding him is here.”

Ryana had no idea what that meant. She could barely see ahead of her, but she held onto Sorak’s arm, knowing he could see easily in the darkness, as could Kara. For his part, Sorak’s view was very different. He followed Kara down a wide, tiled corridor, past fluted stone columns that held up the roof high overhead. He had no idea what sort of building this once was. Some meeting hall, perhaps, or noble’s palace. Many of the tiles on which they walked were cracked, and some were missing. Here and there, the floor had buckled, and several times they stepped around some rubble where pieces of the ceiling had dropped down. He hoped the roof would not fall in on them. Near the entrance, sand had blown into the building, but now that they had gone farther inside, there was merely a thick layer of dust upon the floor. And after they had gone a little farther, he suddenly heard the last sound he would have expected to hear in such a place. “Water!” he said.

“Here?”
Ryana said with disbelief, but a moment later, she could hear it, too. The unmistakable, old, familiar, trickling sound of water, like that of a babbling brook.

Ahead of them, Kara stopped and held her arms out, bent at the elbows, palms facing upward. She mumbled a spell under her breath, and there was the rushing sound of air being displaced, followed by a sudden spark of brightness that grew rapidly until it formed into a swirling ball of flame about the size of a large melon. Kara brought her arms up, moving them inward, then fanning them out, and the fireball divided into four smaller fireballs that whooshed across the room in four different directions, landing in four ancient iron braziers that suddenly erupted into flame, illuminating the large chamber in which they stood.

Sorak caught his breath, and Ryana gasped with astonishment at what they beheld. In front of them, taking up almost all of the floor space in the chamber, was a large, rectangular pool of water that sparkled in the firelight. In the center of the pool, there rose a stone fountain that sprayed water up into the air, recirculating and filtering the water in the pool. There was no way of telling how long it must have been here. Centuries, at least. And probably much longer.