No True Way (12 page)

This area, according to the maps of k'Lissa, had been cleared soon after the Storms, and the ley-lines and loci that would become nodes should by now have been firmly established. But that web was muddied, the rivulets pulled out of their channels toward the cave. Toward the creature in front of the cave. Stardance could See the tendrils and lines flowing to the ground under the creature, then disappearing. To Mage Sight, the strange creature might have been any other creature, filled with the glow of life. To a Healer-Mage, however, the color and feel of that life was dark and unpleasant. Stardance shuddered as she released her Mage Sense and slowly straightened from her perch in the branches.

:Back to the Vale,:
Stardance said to Sunsong.
:I've seen enough for now.:

Moving in silence, the two of them began their slow tree-walking return.

*   *   *

“I don't know how our scouts could have so often missed so large a creature, even if the caverns are a bit hidden.” That was Fallingwater, the young leader of the scouts, who clearly took the creature's presence as a personal affront.

Stardance shifted in her seat. “It is not so surprising. On one of the occasions Sunsong and I observed it, one of the large forest cats came down along the river. The creature hid in the cave long before the cat was near, despite its larger size. A scout would be a much greater presence in the web of earth-energies than the cat, so the
thing would have vanished before a scout could even guess it was there. We could only observe from a distance, up in the trees, so that we would not be perceived as a threat. Too close, or on the ground, and it would hide at once.”

“No matter how it was missed, what are we to do about it? If it is anything like a basilisk, those are not easily dealt with.” Amberlight's words caused several of the Council to grimace as they remembered a previous encounter.

“If it has been concealing itself, I think it is not a true basilisk,” Stardance pointed out. “They fear nothing.” She paused. “I think we were too far away to tell if it
smells
like one. At least, I did not notice any foul stench.”

“No, we were well within smelling range,” Sunsong replied with a wry smile, and the same Councilors who had grimaced earlier now sighed with relief.

“Would that make it reasonable to just kill the thing? If it seems to be less tough than a basilisk and wouldn't have the horrible odor?” Firewind's suggestion was met with several nods. From what Stardance had seen, his name was accurate, for he always favored a blaze of swift action, and his influence on the Council was great. “It would be simple to gather enough warriors, and we could use some illusion or other to bring it out from the caves.” He gestured, the full sleeves of his Mage robe rippling through the air.

“Considering how connected to magic it seems to be, its death could disrupt the web of power as much as its life already has,” Stardance replied, her voice thoughtful. “It has distorted the web Deermoon has created, and I don't know if that power will simply sink back to Deermoon's channels if the creature is killed, or if the magic
will go wild. Deermoon and I will need to discuss what might happen and what can be done about it. In the meantime, perhaps the scouts can monitor the area more often than Sunsong and I have been able to? They can see if the creature becomes active by night, if it hunts, if there is anything unusual that we have not noticed. The thing has probably been here for some time, I would guess at least as long as Deermoon has been noticeably weakened. A little while longer will not make much difference.”

*   *   *

When the reports of the scouts came, they were encouraging. The Blood Beast, as Sunsong had named it, didn't seem to hunt at all, and the animals of the forest did not seem much disturbed by its presence. It always retreated into the caverns if the scouts crossed the invisible threshold it considered a safe distance. Even better, the scouts never observed it using the ability of the basilisk to fascinate a prey creature, and those who got closer to the rocky outcropping confirmed that there was no foul stench. Only those most sensitive to magic reported the unpleasant wrongness, the feel of Blood Magic that Stardance and Sunsong had noticed.

“It would appear that it lives just by absorbing energy from the earth around it,” Stardance said, and Deermoon nodded. They sat at the side of the Workroom, observing the practice of Deermoon's apprentices. At Stardance's suggestion, the students were doing what they could to strengthen the web that fed the ley-lines of the southern edge of the Vale, rather than looking to expand the perimeter of the k'Lissa territory. “I've observed it, the scouts have watched it, and no one has seen
anything unusual about it. We don't know if it has a tough skin or any strong defenses, but its claws and teeth are no more fierce than any other lizard's, just larger to match its size. I think Firewind is right, and we can attempt to kill it where it is. A true basilisk could be lured or driven to some other area, but I would never want to send this thing elsewhere to wreak havoc with the web of power. Even to the Uncleansed Lands.”

“Because if it goes to the Uncleansed Lands, sooner or later a Tayledras is going to have to face it,” Deermoon replied, his smile crinkling the corners of his blue eyes.

“And probably sooner rather than later,” Stardance continued. “I suspect the beast would only be attracted to another Vale if it was driven away from k'Lissa. As the Tayledras reshape and organize the ley-lines, we create nice, juicy ‘food' for such a creature.” She grinned, then sobered. “At least basilisks have been around since the Mage Wars, and we are accustomed to them. This thing . . .” She let her words trail off.
New monsters are never a good thing,
she thought.

The plan that Stardance and Deermoon presented to the k'Lissa Council and Elders was simple. She would go to the outcropping with a warrior party and a few Mages. The Mages, as Firewind had suggested, would use illusion to drive the Change-Creature into the open, where the fighters could take it on. Stardance herself would monitor the web of magic and try to weaken the creature by slowing or blocking the flow of the earth energy toward it. Beyond that, they set no particular strategies, keeping in mind the Shin'a'in proverb:
Plans seldom survive first contact with the enemy.

*   *   *

The day of the intended ambush dawned clear. Stardance carefully tucked the wooden box with her precious amber-whorl spindle into her belt pouch, then joined the group. The call from the Council had resulted in a flurry of volunteers, more than could ever have been needed, and Amberlight and Deermoon had selected from among them. Three Mages would go, including Firewind, and a dozen scouts, some of the most skilled with bow and arrow and thrown spears as well as those most capable with sword and dagger. They would try to kill from a distance first but would close with the creature if necessary.

*   *   *

Stardance held up her hand to signal the first stop, and the group gathered around her. “I will stay here,” she said. “There is a locus here into which I can feed the power, and the locus links to one of the larger channels to the Vale. That line of trees ahead is where Sunsong and I first saw the creature, so from here I should be able to work with the energy without disturbing the thing too much. At least at first.”

She sat and took out the amber-whorl spindle and chain, Kir shifting on her shoulder as she entered her Trance. Several of the scouts stayed with her as a guard, while the rest moved forward.

With her Mage Sense, Stardance could See the others as large shapes of life energy, moving slowly and cautiously toward the outcropping. Sinking into the earth, she let her breathing slow, closing off the protests of her mind to the sense of
wrong
that came from the creature ahead of her. Her first step was to set another layer of
secure shields on the locus, adding to those Deermoon had created years ago. These shields were what prevented the creature from directly drawing on the Heartstone as well, for Deermoon had locked the magic so only Tayledras could use it. Her shields built on his, binding the magic around the locus tightly to her, so that nothing could wrest it from her. Working with a locus was just past the edge of a Journeyman's ability, but simply shielding and feeding the lines that went to it was far easier than making use of the power it held.

When she was satisfied with her shields, she set the spindle in motion with a deft flick. Stardance began her work, gathering the nebulous power with delicate fingertips and drafting it out, linking it to the twirling spindle until it held together, then binding that strand to the locus. With deliberate movements, she collected more, drawing the muddied energy toward her. To Mage Sense, the tendrils of power wavered as they were torn between the gentle flow of Deermoon's channels and the roiling pull toward the Blood Beast. With a gentle nudge, she drew on those diffuse bits, reminding them of their natural course, to run into the lines that fed toward the Heartstone. Each bit of energy she captured glowed as she blended it into the coil of power that trailed from the shaft of her spindle down to the locus.

Her awareness of the Mages and scouts ahead of her sharpened when she felt Firewind begin to build his first illusion, the web shivering around her as he drew on another nearby locus. The plan had called for him to create an illusion of a threat of some sort in the cavern
behind
the creature, to drive it forward. If that failed, one of the other Mages would try to lure it. She hadn't bothered to
ask what they would use as a lure, considering that the creature didn't seem to eat anything. Her concern was just to hold the magic away from the thing.

It was her own actions, though, that finally elicited a reaction from the Blood Beast. Through the web, she had felt the Mages in turn creating their illusions, for most of them were drawing on the lines or one of the loci. From what she could sense, though, there had been no response from the creature to any of their efforts. A small part of her mind, one not occupied with the spinning whirl of power she held in her hands, wondered if the creature's connection to magic meant that it could see through illusions.

She had been drawing on ever-stronger pieces of power, first clearing the muddled surface energy, then carefully nudging the smallest rivulets to feed back into the locus below her. It was when she gently teased the tendrils of one of the larger lines out of its new route, guiding it back to the original channel that Deermoon had created for it, that she felt a response through the web.

In her Mage Sense, the creature was a dark, roiling mass as it emerged from the cavern and headed unerringly in her direction. The bright life energies of the scouts and warriors surrounded it, but she had no perception of whether their attacks affected it.

Stardance was caught in a struggle of her own, as the Blood Beast now
pulled
on the lines, trying to wrest them from her. She grounded herself even more firmly in the earth, flicking her spindle so it flew, and held to the nebulous strands of power she had regathered, feeding them ever more rapidly to the shielded locus below her.

Sweat gathered on her brow, stinging her eyes as she
worked, but her grip never wavered as the creature struggled to steal the lines of magic from her. Its efforts grew weaker, and she guessed that the fighting party was succeeding. A distant shout of triumph reached her ears, and she Felt the beast's death through the lines that it had been pulling at.

With a snap of backlash, the creature's hoarded Power flooded out, a dark blaze of chaos that threatened to drown her, connected as she was to the lines that had fed it. Fire rippled through her veins, singeing the ends of her nerves. Gasping for air, she strained to hold the surge of energy, the amber spindle bouncing crazily as she struggled to channel the power down toward the locus before it burned her mind. So great was the flood of Power, she reached to the locus and past it, to the greater lines, desperate to keep the energy moving without burning either her or her surroundings. The larger lines were white-hot, but somehow smoother and easier for her to handle than the raw power that the Change-Creature had released, and she battled to keep the threads of magic blended, to keep the flow moving toward the Heartstone. Through the chaos in her mind, she was vaguely aware of Kir, mantling on her shoulder and shrieking a warning.

Stardance had no sense of how long she struggled with the seething, turbulent magic, until at last the flaming tide ebbed, her spindle slowing as the flood of energy dwindled. With a new confidence, she held the lines, testing them and feeling their flow, until she was satisfied that they should return to Deermoon's channels without immediate guidance. Only then did she release her shields, letting her spindle drift to a stop, and emerged from Trance, her body slumping.

Most of the original group now stood around her,
concern in their eyes as Kir chittered at her. “It will be well,” Stardance managed in a croaking voice, and Firewind handed her a flask.

It was the mineral drink favored by those suffering magical exhaustion, and Stardance drained it, then leaned back against a nearby tree. Slowly, the drink began to cool her overheated mind.

“Will
you
be well?” her father asked, taking back his flask with a frown. “Should we send for a
dyheli
? You've been working for candlemarks since we killed the thing.”

Stardance shook her head to clear it. Kir had calmed, nibbling at her ear, and she reached up a quivering hand to stroke the soft underfeathers of her white-barred breast.

“I will be well enough,” she replied, her voice raspy. She glanced up toward the sun. “I just need a little more time.” The edges of her mind felt vaguely scorched, and she didn't even think she could concentrate long enough to replenish herself from the earth.

*   *   *