Cloak of the Two Winds (23 page)

Hagen scanned the Iruks' faces, smiled as they stared back stolidly.

"Yes, I know about the Cloak. I know it is somewhere in the city, and I intend to find it. Tell me what you know of it, and perhaps I'll be lenient with you."

The Iruks kept silent, leaving it to Lonn to speak for them.

"We came to this city seeking our mate," Lonn said. "We have no interest in the Cloak."

"But you did possess it for a time." Hagen walked before the line of prisoners. "After you stole it from the Archimage's apprentice ... Is that who the Larthangan woman is who claims you for servants? Yes, I can see it on your faces. Unlikely that she should join forces with you. But then the whole affair is unlikely enough."

Hagen stopped before Lonn, eyeing him pointedly. "You are barbarians with no legal status here. I could easily have you put to death for your crimes. Before I decide on such drastic punishment, are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me about the Cloak?"

Grimly Lonn weighed his choices. He knew precious little about the Cloak, not that he believed any amount of information would convince Hagen to let them go. The Iruks' only hope seemed to be that Amlina could somehow witch the Prince-Ruler.

"We know nothing about it," Lonn said. "You must speak with the Lady who employs us."

Amlina awaited the Prince-Ruler in a lavish antechamber with gilded woodwork and pearled wall hangings. She sat on a silken divan, hands still tied behind her, the guardsman close by. She rose when Hagen strode into the chamber followed by the two State Sorcerers.

"Be seated," Hagen told her. He sat beside her and with his own dagger cut her bonds. Amlina gratefully massaged her wrists.

Hagen began, "You, I understand, are the apprentice witch who stole the Cloak of the Two Winds from the Archimage of the East. No, the Iruks did not tell me the story. I have my information from Beryl herself. She paid me a visit last night."

Amlina stared, concentrating, reading him. "You want the Cloak for yourself, don't you, my lord?"

"It is a treasure most enviable," Hagen admitted. "And its presence has caused chaos in my city. It's practically my duty to seize it, so that order can be restored."

Amlina made no reply.

"But I need information," Hagen continued, "if I'm to find the Cloak before the Archimage does. Since you've admitted the Iruks are your servants, I could hold you responsible for their crimes and have you put to death with them. But if you help me find the Cloak, I will spare your life."

"I don't know where the Cloak is," Amlina said. "All my efforts to see its location in the Deepmind have failed."

"Tell me everything you know of it," Hagen answered. "Everything."

Amlina replied with a lengthy discourse. She gave information about the Cloak, its appearance, history, capacities, but this was only part of what she did. By the murmuring tones of her voice, the movements of her eyes and fingers, she was witching the Prince-Ruler, softening his will so she could mold it to her purpose. The enchantment was subtle enough that Hagen never noticed. The two sorcerers who stood by apparently sensed something amiss, but they only shifted uncomfortably from time to time and stared balefully at Amlina. She finished by telling of her own experience with the Cloak, of how she had used it to flee from Tallyba.

"But if you only wanted the Cloak to help get you free of the Achimage," Hagen said, "why did you pursue it when it was stolen from you?"

"Because only with the Cloak would I have a chance of defeating and killing Beryl. And I know I will never be truly free of her until she is dead. She would have followed me back to Larthang, to Minhang itself if need be. Do you see these burns healing on my neck? Beryl paid me a visit last night also. I'm only alive now because she wants me to live in fear of her a while longer."

Hagen nodded, satisfied. "Of course, if I'm to keep the Cloak I must find a way to kill her. You lived in her court several years. What method would you recommend?"

Amlina gave a helpless shrug. "If I knew a sure way I would have done it long ago. Do not try to beat her with witchery. Many have tried that and met with defeat."

"Then how?"

"If you're resolved to be her enemy, then your best chance would be to attack her by force of arms. Even great witches are vulnerable to such attacks, though less so than ordinary mortals. Set a trap for her, using weapons that can kill at a distance. Crossbows would be better than lances, since the bolts travel faster. Her mind may turn many bolts aside, but if enough are launched one may find her heart. Make sure the tips are well-poisoned. Her life will not be easily snuffed out."

Hagen pondered her words. "I will do as you suggest," he declared. "You have been most helpful. I am going to keep my word and let you live."

"And the Iruks?"

He seemed almost ready to agree, then abruptly shook his head. "They must be executed."

"If you set them free with me," Amlina said, "there is a chance we could lead you to the Cloak."

"How?"

"The Iruk woman, the one they are seeking. We have reason to believe she is still alive and close to the Cloak. The designs concealing the Cloak conceal her as well, but not so completely. The Iruks have a link, an emotional bond that embraces all the members of their group. With the proper techniques I think this bond can be exploited as a force in the Deepmind."

Hagen looked at the two sorcerers, one of whom shrugged. "It is possible," the other conceded.

"Suppose I keep you all here," Hagen said, "and set you to work on this technique?"

"The Iruks must believe themselves free," Amlina answered. "If they think they are condemned prisoners they'll have no reason for finding their lost mate. In this sort of endeavor a relaxed and hopeful outlook is essential."

Hagen frowned, glancing again at the State Sorcerers. First one, then the other shook his head. They knew she was manipulating, Amlina realized, if not exactly how.

"Suppose I released you and the Iruks and had you watched?" the Prince-Ruler said. "What guarantee would I have that you wouldn't try to evade my surveillance and hunt the Cloak for yourselves?"

The insight came to Amlina that here was the crucial moment of persuasion. If she could overcome this objection, Hagen would be won.

"My lord, I've told you I seek the Cloak only as a weapon to kill Beryl. If you should find it and kill her instead, it's all the same to me."

"I'd be a fool to trust you with only that assurance," Hagen said.

"True. In fact you have no guarantee. You'd have to rely on the efficiency of your informers. The prize you stand to win is certainly worth the gamble—assuming you can defeat the Queen of Tallyba."

Amlina's use of that title for Beryl was deliberate. Tallyba held dominion over numerous coasts and islands. The death of the city's tyrant queen would plunge Tallyba into such political turmoil as to make those territories vulnerable. Ready in advance, a strong maritime state such as Kadavel could take quick advantage of that vulnerability. Amlina could almost hear these thoughts racing through Hagen's mind.

"I will take the gamble," he asserted without even consulting his sorcerers. "I have every faith in my informers. Witness how quickly they found you and the Iruks this evening. I will allow you eleven days, one small-month. If you cannot lead me to the Cloak in that time, the barbarians will be arrested and put to death."

"And if we do, will you let us leave the city in peace?"

"You have my promise," Hagen said.

But Amlina could hear, clear as his words, that he lied.

The Prince-Ruler led her back to the throne room where the Iruks waited.

"Cut them free," Hagen ordered. "See they are escorted back to their lodgings."

The captain of guards hammered long and noisily before the landlady finally opened the door. Dressed in wool robe and nightcap, Elzna had brought an oil lamp and her two burly nephews to the door with her.

"Why do you disturb my house in the middle of the night?" she yowled, peering to see who it was.

"We've orders to return these people here," the captain said.

"I told you we would be back before morning." Amlina walked past the old woman, the Iruks following her into the warmth of the inn.

"You again!" the landlady slammed the door. "I might have known it. You and these savages have caused nothing but trouble since you came here. Now waking us at this unholy hour. I'll have no more of it, that's for sure. You're leaving in the morning."

Amlina had started for the stairs. Now she turned wearily to confront the woman.

"The city guards were in error." She spoke in quiet, soothing tones. "They mistook my bodyguards for other barbarians who started a fight today on the docks. I apologize for waking you, but we could hardly spend the rest of the night in the street."

The landlady crossed her arms. "It's been one thing after another, that's all. My mind is made up. You must leave tomorrow."

Amlina stepped forward, laying a hand on Elzna's shoulder. "I promise there'll be no more trouble. Remember you've been paid for ten days lodging—well paid. If you force us to leave, you'll have to refund my money."

The landlady clenched her lips and considered. "Well, I suppose it's not your fault if the guards made a mistake. I'll overlook it this time. You can stay—providing there are no more disturbances."

"You have my promise," Amlina said.

Elzna turned and shuffled away, ordering her nephews back to bed.

"Come to my room," Amlina told the Iruks. "We must talk."

They climbed the steps quietly and entered her chamber, Amlina shutting the door and bolting it behind them. She fastened the window shutters also, then knelt at the hearth to light a fire. The Iruks slumped in chairs or stretched out on the floor near the fireplace.

"How did you get the Prince to release us?" Draven asked. "Was it the passive persuasion again?"

"In part," Amlina said. "But I also had to tell him part of the truth, that I needed you to help me find the Cloak. He's going to have us watched in hopes we can lead him to it. When the time comes, we'll have to evade his spies."

"How?" Eben said.

"I'll weave a design to accomplish it," the witch answered. "Hagen gave us only eleven days. If we haven't found the Cloak by then, he intends to arrest you and put you to death."

The Iruks winced or clutched their heads and swore.

"Don't worry." Amlina smiled. "I believe we'll have more than enough time—if you will work with me. Our conversation was interrupted earlier. I must know if you are willing to undertake the deep searching."

The witch's gaze settled on Karrol, and all her klarnmates looked at her as well.

Karrol sighed. "I said I didn't know, and I still don't. I mean, I don't know if I can open myself completely. But I'll try. Obviously we can't find Glyssa in eleven days by trying to search the city. So it seems we don't have much choice. Amlina, I know you've just saved our lives a second time, when it would have been easier to let us die. I know I don't have any reason to distrust you anymore, and I don't. I'll do my best to find Glyssa. That's all I can promise."

"That's all I hoped to hear," Amlina said. "Do the rest of you also agree?"

"Of course," Draven laughed. "When did any of us ever disagree with Karrol?"

"Good," Amlina said. "I suggest you use the rest of the night for sleeping. We'll do the initiations in the morning."

The Iruks bid Amlina goodnight and walked downstairs to their room. Tired and sore, they pulled off their clothes and crawled into bed. But their minds were alive with the day's tumultuous events, and it was a long time before any of them could sleep.

"Messages from the Deepmind are abundant and clear," Amlina translated from the book she held. "All things may be viewed if intent is pure."

"But what does that mean, pure intent?" Eben demanded. "You must make your terms clear to us."

The Iruks sat on the rug in the center of the witch's room, surrounded by tapestries, prisms and desmets. Amlina sat in the circle with them, dressed in bright silks and silver jewelry.

"Pure intent." Amlina seemed to grope for a definition they would comprehend. "It means that the energy of your whole being is concentrated on looking, so that there is no longer any awareness of yourself, only of that which is seen."

"Sounds simple enough to me," Karrol said.

"It sounds easy," Lonn allowed. "But wait till you've tried it for hours at a time."

"It is easy," Amlina said, "once the mind has learned to still the body and the emotions which constantly seek to distract it. To attain perfect purity of intent takes years, lifetimes according to some."

"Then what hope is there for us?" Eben said.

"There is hope," Amlina answered, "because perfect attainment is not necessary for one to deepsee. The senses may interrupt one's visions, emotions distort them, but truth in the Deepmind can still be glimpsed. And for our purpose, a glimpse of the truth will suffice. This is what I want you to understand as we begin the initiation. Messages of truth and wisdom are with us constantly. All we need do to receive them is to quiet ourselves, even if only a little."

The witch laid aside the gilt-covered book and stood. She walked to her writing table and returned in a moment with a lighted glass lamp and a folded thing with flat silvery arms. As she unfolded it, Lonn recognized the spinner she had used in the past. She placed the spinner above the lamp in the center of the circle. In a moment the arms began to turn on the rising current of heated air, casting a whirling pattern of light and shadow over the walls and the Iruks' bodies.

"I found the spinner useful in easing Lonn's mind during his initiation," Amlina explained. "This time Lonn will remain at the outer level of consciousness and help me guide the rest of you. I want you now to breathe slowly and evenly and to focus your eyes on the light of this lamp."

Lonn waited in sober quiet until the witch judged the Iruks minds were still enough to continue. She took them through the first stages of the rite, asking if they would surrender themselves completely, making them say they would, then relaxing them more and more thoroughly by vocal instruction and by touching their nerve centers. Lonn recalled the numb, floating sensation that had come over him at the witch's touch.

"Close your eyes," Amlina told the Iruks. "Know that you are thought, that this world called Glimnodd is but thought. There are infinite worlds and suns, infinite minds and souls. All are only thoughts of the Great Mind, the Allmind which comes to know itself through thinking. Know further that this Great Mind is within you, within you all its worlds and suns and souls. Now let your inner eye be opened, that you may see what the Allmind gives you to see."

Amlina whispered the last sentence to each of the initiates in turn, uttered a brief chant, and touched each on the forehead. Remembering the vast, shattering visions of his own initiation, Lonn half-expected immediate and violent responses. But his mates just sat still and erect, breathing slowly. The witch returned to her place and sat with feet tucked at her hips. The delicate spinner continued to revolve.

After a time Draven laughed softly and opened his eyes. "There is magic everywhere," he whispered.

Amlina's face brightened. "Very true."

Draven watched the spinner for a time, then stared at the trinkets overhead. The other Iruks still had their eyes shut. Then Lonn heard labored breathing and saw that Karrol was becoming agitated. Amlina moved to kneel before her and told her to open her eyes.

Karrol blinked furiously and glared about the chamber, the color gone from her face.

"Relax." Amlina touched her arm.

"No!" Karrol threw off the witch's hand and tried awkwardly to get up.

Amlina and Lonn restrained her gently, Lonn whispering in Iruk to calm her. Karrol trembled with distress.

"Easy," the witch said. "What did you see?"

"I saw myself ... dying. I saw everything dying."

"Everything dies and is reborn," the witch said. "To be free of death you need only let go of your fear of death."

Karrol pondered this, her breath coming in fitful gasps.

"Be still." Amlina stroked her head. "Observe the spinner."

Karrol obeyed and grew calmer. Lonn noticed that the other Iruks were looking about, eyes round and shiny.

"Everything is long," Eben muttered. "Huge. More than ... more than I can say."

"There is no need to explain," Amlina told him. "Only look and wonder."

"But how can—How will we find Glyssa?" Eben asked.

"Let the thoughts of the Deepmind flow in you," Amlina answered. "They will show the way."

The spinner continued twirling, its sparkling motion at once calming and vivifying to the Iruks' expanded minds. Draven watched the trinket constantly, deep in trance, smiling blithely. Eben watched it also, but his usual expression was a puzzled frown, at times stretching to a grimace of utter confusion, at other times dissolving into merry, inexplicable laughter. Eventually Brinda grew bored with the spinner, stood up and ambled about the room, examining everything with a strange, vivid curiosity. Amlina kept an eye on her but did not discourage her wandering.

Of all the mates only Karrol seemed as unsettled by the initiation as Lonn had been. She wept inconsolably for much of the day. Lonn held her in his arms often, and the others came over to stroke and murmur to her. But all the klarn's support did not seem to bring her comfort. At one point she started wailing aloud, calling Glyssa's name.

"Where is Glyssa?" Amlina asked her.

"We have to find her," Karrol cried. "We have to find her."

By evening, all of the initiates were lying quietly on the floor, either sleeping or staring dreamily at the lamps and trinkets. Amlina went downstairs to order supper. She and Lonn ate beside the fireplace, though Lonn had little appetite. He stared moodily at the low flames and embers.

"What are you thinking?" the witch asked.

"That one of the eleven days is already gone," Lonn said.

"We are on the right path," Amlina answered. "Perseverance will bring success."

Lonn woke to find himself still in the witch's room. It was dark outside, but his mates were up and dressed. Amlina was putting wood on the fire.

"It is good that we are all awake," she said. "There is still an hour or so before dawn and most of the city is asleep. This is an excellent time to begin deepseeing."

Amlina lit all of the lamps she had brought ashore and placed them in a circle around the rug. She had the Iruks sit with her inside that circle, beneath the desmets and prisms. On her instruction all six of them held hands and began to breathe in unison. When they were deeply relaxed, the witch told the mates to picture a current of light passing through each of them and flowing around the circle, a ring of silvery energy bonding them together.

Lonn perceived the current of light clearly and knew that the others could see it also. The light glimmered with a peculiar reality created by their six minds imagining it as one.

"Feel its warmth, like sunlight," Amlina said, "relaxing you ever more deeply. See the light filling our bodies, brighter and brighter. Now the portal of deepseeing that before was opened by my touch opens to the light."

Amlina spoke some words of Old Larthangan and the silver radiance in their minds blazed to a blinding white. The Iruks' arms shook, their hands gripping tightly. Slowly the blaze subsided to a sparkling undulation of silver and gray, like the surface of a metallic pool.

"Perceive the sea of the Deepmind," Amlina said, "flowing in waves and currents of unending variation. Always it surrounds us,
Ogo
: infinite in complexity, ceaseless in motion…"

She kept them watching the heaving surface an indefinite time. When any of their minds wandered all six of them sensed the distraction, and Amlina would bring them back to the vision of the silvery pool.

"We are afloat in the Deepmind," she said at length. "Scenes may be viewed from this place, any scenes we wish."

She invoked the image of the
Plover
and Lonn saw it, standing with reefed sails in the long line of vessels on the glossy, unlit ice of the Shipway. Next the witch told them to envision the castle of Hagen and they could see it, perched atop the crags of the High Acropolis like some nocturnal bird of prey. Then Amlina told them to see Glyssa.

Lonn beheld her at once, frail and sad in a white robe, her figure half-lost in shiny blackness. Then the blackness rippled, distorting the image, partially dissolving it.

"See Glyssa," Amlina said. "Speak what you see."

"She is thin and weak," Lonn answered.

"She is alone," Karrol cried. "Afraid."

A throb of anguished feelings spun around the circle. There was a dizzying sense of being wrenched away from each other and thrown adrift. Lonn heard groans and felt his mates moving. He opened his eyes to glittering daggers of radiance.

"Relax," Amlina said. "Close your eyes. Think of stillness."

She attempted to bring their vision back to the shining pool. But the Iruks were left sickened by the rush of painful emotion, more devastating by far when shared in group trance. Noting their distress, Amlina told them to lie down and breathe slowly. She chanted a long verse to settle their nerves and clear their heads of dizziness. When she finished, the Iruks sat up, all of them looking dull and drained to Lonn.

"You did well," Amlina said. "Karrol especially envisioned Glyssa strongly."

"I'm surprised to hear that," Karrol answered. "I didn't know if I was really seeing Glyssa at all. It seemed more that I was making it up, pretending I could see her." She looked doubtfully at her mates.

"I felt the same," Eben muttered. "That I was making it up."

"Such feelings are common until one is practiced at deepseeing," Amlina said. "Just continue, whether you feel you're imagining it or not. What we saw was Glyssa in truth, believe me."

"How soon will we try again?" Draven asked.

"This evening, I think." The witch leaned back and stretched. "Right now your emotions are too stimulated. There are meditations and exercises I want you to practice to quiet them."

Most of that day the Iruks sat downstairs in their room staring at the backs of their eyelids. They interrupted this discipline only to trot in place and chant the unknown verses of Old Larthangan the witch prescribed, then to meditate on the flame of a small candle until the candle burned out. Then it was back to contemplating their eyelids again.

After supper, the mates climbed the stairs to Amlina's chamber and sat again knee to knee in the wei circle. They envisioned Glyssa and were able to hold her image somewhat longer than before. They still could see no details of her surroundings, yet Amlina did not seem discouraged.

When the Iruks' minds were rested the witch told them to join hands again. Guided by her words the klarnmates formed a mental picture of the whole klarn together, Glyssa included, safely on board the
Plover
and away from Kadavel, the witch and the Cloak of the Two Winds with them. This was deepshaping in its most pure and elementary form, the casting of an image into the Deepmind with firm belief that it would surface as reality. The Iruks viewed the image with surprising clarity and sharpness. Amlina kept the picture in their minds several moments, then told them to release it and brought their awareness back to the room.

"Well done," she said. "We will reinforce that image each time we have finished searching. That is all for now. Return tomorrow before dawn, and we will look again."

The Iruks spent the days that followed immersed in this routine of wei circles morning and evening, the hours between passed in meditation. Amlina had decided that this regimen was most in harmony with their purpose. Pure intent, she said, demanded a single line of action.

Time moved slowly and yet, looking back over a day, Lonn had little sense of what had filled the time. Mealtimes made their mark on the days, but the Iruks felt little desire to eat. Nor did they drink much, for fear of befuddling their senses. So food and drink left little impression in their memories. Curiously, they needed more sleep than usual, so that rising in the cold hour before dawn required serious effort.

The continual practice of meditation left their spirits calm, their minds somewhat vague and self-absorbed. At the same time the mates developed an almost telepathic sensitivity to one another's thoughts and feelings. An unexpected result of this was a certain tumultuous discord, the klarnmates becoming openly hostile about the traits they disliked in one another. Karrol's negativity and complaining drew criticism, as did Eben's irascibility. Brinda was accused of withholding herself from the rest of the klarn, Draven of masking his real feelings with an air of false optimism. Lonn was the most criticized of all, or perhaps it only seemed so to him. By turns he was rebuked for being irresponsible and reckless, for being unwilling to make decisions, for being unable to remember his dreams.