OrbSoul (Book 6) (11 page)

   'Stand back, then,' he said. 'All of you. And do not come forward until I tell you.'

   The others moved back around the angle of the tunnel wall. Leth drew free the Orbsword.
He stared at the blade, where swam a dull flux of red and black. Its former radiance had dulled; a sense of unease crept over him as he held it. It quivered slightly in his grip, as though imbued with its own lifeforce.

   Leth steadied his feet, lowering his body and lengthening and steadying his stance. He hefted the Orbsword high and with a guttural roar threw himself forward, swinging the sword down and around with all the strength he possessed. The blade slammed into the rock with a sound like oracular thunder.
Where nothing else had made a mark, the Orbsword slid easily into the black rock, rending it from top to bottom. A thousand smaller cracks shot off across its face in all directions, until the visible slab was a complex latticework of tiny interlinking fissures.

   Quite suddenly it imploded. Shards of rock and clouds of dust and grit blasted inwards and skittered across the floor of the chamber that lay beyond. As the fragments came to rest, Leth peered in through the settling dust.

   He saw a circular, domed, apparently empty chamber. A gentle waft of cool air filtered out, dry and pure, helping to dispel the humidity of the tunnel.

   'Stay back,' Leth cautioned the others again. 'Do not follow unless I call.'

   He stepped apprehensively into the chamber. It was, as far as he was able to perceive, untenanted. He looked above his head at the domed ceiling. The chamber seemed to be moulded or forged of a single enormous block of the same gleaming black stone that had formed the entrance.

   In the centre of the floor the only feature within the chamber was a single, small, low round circular dais or plinth, hardly more than a hand's breadth in height.

   Leth approached it slowly, sheathing the Orbsword. Into his mind came words spoken to him by Triune as he had prepared to leave her tower in Enchantment.
'The Soul is elusive and shy. It may not immediately make itself manifest. It may appear at first not to be present at all. Remember, it has spent an eternity waiting to be found. But if it is there, you will know.'
Curiously she had added.
'It may not know you at first. Be prepared to wait then, in silence and contemplation, for as long as it takes, until it is ready to reveal itself.
'

   Leth lowered himself to a kneeling position before the little dais. Instinctively he knew himself to be in a sacred space. He felt no fear, nor lack of certainty. A profound calm had settled upon him. He was imbued with the knowledge that something was about to happen.

   Time passed - Leth waited, attuning his mind to the silent chamber. Gradually he sensed a subtle change. In the air? In the chamber itself? He could not tell. The round chamber, pleasantly cool and airy, grew slightly humid. Something stirred, hardly perceived at first, in the air a little way in front of Leth and above him, close to the ceiling.

   A small cloud was forming, misty and diaphanous, a faintly luminous silver-grey. At first he questioned whether it might be a trick of the eye brought about by his having concentrated for so long. But the cloud became slowly more discernible, as though drawing hidden substance from the air itself. Silent, it hovered beneath the ceiling for some while, then slowly began to descend, a ball of billowing mist, and alighted upon the little dais. As it touched the surface of the dais its form changed; it became a lotus flower, its many soft, light-pink petals curling slightly inwards.

  It rested unmoving under Leth's gaze, and very gradually its petals opened. At the centre of the blossom Leth now saw a tiny flame, incandescent with orange and rose-red light. The flame, brighter at its edges than its centre, quivered ever so slightly. Though it was in the middle of the lotus petals they were not burned. Its brightness and beauty entranced Leth. He was aware of other images arising in his mind. He made no attempt to interpret them, but maintained his focus upon the lotus and the flame.

   The flame became a deeper,
resplendent yet delicate rose-red. Leth slowly reached for his backpack and opened it, to bring from it a small white alabaster pyx which Triune had given him before he left Enchantment. The pyx was squat and bulb-shaped, with a long, slender, elegant neck. Leth placed it before him on the floor and removed its lid. A faint scent reminiscent of jasmine and exotic herbs reached his nostrils

   'Come,' he said in a soft voice. 'Your long vigil is over. I will take you back. You are no longer sundered. You
will be One again.'

   The lotus petals and flame of the Soul began to change appearance again, dissolving slowly into vapour, tinged with rainbow colours. The vapour rose in a plume from the little dais and drifted to the pyx. It hovered for a moment at its edges, then formed into a stream of pale violet cloud and poured itself in.

   When it was gone Leth replaced the lid and carefully returned the pyx to his backpack. He rested in contemplation for a few moments more, then rose to his feet and quietly left the chamber.

iii

    One Soul.

    The second, the Soul of the Orb, would not be as easily found, so Leth's instincts told him. Yet the urgency to locate it was ever greater, for Triune stood now on the threshold of re-empowerment. Should she elect for betrayal, now was the time, while Orbelon remained Soulless.

    Without delay Leth returned to the Tower of Glancing Memory with Shenwolf, Galry and Jace and the alabaster pyx which now held Triune's Soul. Urch-Malmain was keen to question him, devouring him with greedy eyes, but Leth had little time for conversation.

   'I want a chamber where I will not be disturbed,' he said.

   'Might I enquire for what purpose?'

   'No.'

   Urch-Malmain glared at him. Leth said, 'Do as I ask, or risk delaying your return to Enchantment indefinitely. And do not seek to spy on me. Triune watches.'

   With poor grace Urch-Malmain complied. Leth noted with a degree of satisfaction that roles had switched yet again. Anticipating his return to Enchantment above all else, the Noeticist placed no obstacles in Leth's way.

   In a locked side-chamber, with only Galry and Jace for company, Leth knelt upon the floor and removed his sapphire helm and laid it beside him. He instructed the children to sit behind him, close to the wall, then waited until Triune's seeking device appeared before him. He brought forth the alabaster pyx.

   'I have your Soul. We are alone. How now do I proceed?'

   The device performed a series of simple motions in the air. Leth nodded to himself. He held out the pyx and raised its semi-translucent lid. A lambency stirred within; slowly a plume of brilliant pale vapour spilled from the slender neck. It gathered into a radiant ball in the centre of the chamber.

   Simultaneously three small, blue-eyed children appeared, holding hands. As one they smiled at Leth,
then at the radiant Soul, which flowed towards them. The children formed a circle around it, linking their hands so that the circle was unbroken. Then they stepped inwards, into the mist of the Soul.

   As Leth watched, they merged, passing each into the other and into the light of the Soul, which itself dilated in order to enfold them all. In moments the Soul was absorbed and the three were gone. In their place stood a solitary child-figure, bathed in soft white luminescence.

   'Aah, One at last! Union! No longer sundered,' breathed Triune. 'And purified! The Soul's long night of waiting has purged it. I am perfect. I am One. After so long! You have performed well, Leth, as I knew you should.'

   'Triune, do you know what has become of Issul?' Leth demanded.

   'She was taken by grullags as she tried to enter the Portal.'

  
'By grullags? Then-'

   'The Legendary Child and Grey Venger, yes.'

   Leth put a hand to his temple. 'Is she harmed?'

   'Not yet. A seeking eye monitors their movements, but it can only observe.'

   'You must help her, Triune?'

   'I can do nothing more.'

  
'You must!'

   'Leth, I am powerless. Even with my Soul I am restricted
in the actions I may take beyond Enchantment, like any of us. Moreover, I am stretched. I am simultaneously in Enchantment, where I must contain the Reach Rider and withstand and work to undo Strymnia, and here, where I must safeguard your children. It leaves me nothing else.'

  
'Safeguard?'

  
'In your absence, Leth. You go now to find the Soul of the Orb. Your children cannot accompany you, surely you realize that? Do you wish them left alone with Urch-Malmain?'

   Leth went cold. He had not considered this. Or had he simply blocked it from his conscious thoughts? It was obvious, now. Wherever he was to go, seeking Orbelon's Soul, he could not expect to take Galry and Jace. He knew he was to walk upon the Shore of Nothing, and then step beyond, into that unbearable void which filled him with such profound unease.

   He would not take his children there.

   'We of Enchantment are diminished in the formed world, you know that.' Triune said. 'If I can help Issul I will, but I can do nothing more than observe for now.'

   'Where is she?'

   'I do not have access to the eye at this moment. She was being taken westwards, into the forest.'

   Leth was despondent. Behind him Galry and Jace were silent. Did they understand what was happening? Did they realize he was going to leave them again? And was Issul's life a price they would all have to pay for seeking the Soul of the Orb?

   'Move quickly, Leth. There is so little time, and when I am free of obligations here,
then I may be stronger elsewhere. Now, you must confer with Urch-Malmain before you depart.'

   Leth rose heavily to his feet. He placed the sapphire helm over his head again, took the childrens' hands and, with Triune following, went back to Urch-Malmain.

*

   At the sight of Triune in her new guise, Urch-Malmain's eyebrows clambered up his high, narrow forehead. Then his mouth twisted and he said, 'I didn't hear you knock.'

   'It has been a long time, Urch,' said Triune softly. 'A long time.'

   'Not long enough,' retorted the Noeticist, his dark eyes glittering. 'Now, why are you here?
To watch over me?'

  
'Precisely. To watch over you, for fear that you may allow further harm to befall yourself.'

   'Your solicitude is touching. Still, I think you have misjudged me, Triune.
Orbelon too. All of you. I am not so evil, as you believe. After all, have not I, through Leth, been the agent that has rid this world of the scourge that would have reduced it to nothing?'

   'Entirely selflessly, there can be no doubt,' replied Triune.

   'And have I not given others here bright new lives, when their own had become unbearable?'

   'We do not doubt your sincerity, Urch-Malmain,' Triune said, her face betraying nothing.

   'I have been their transforming angel,' said Urch-Malmain.

   'We know you across the ages to be a thoroughly good and kindly soul. A person devoted only to honourable and charitable acts.
A true altruist, who at all times puts the welfare of others before his own. How could we think otherwise? That is why we are so pleased to welcome you back among us in Enchantment.'

   Urch-Malmain scowled,
then grinned a small, sly and private grin.

   'Still, we cannot help but note that, for all your probity and incorruptibility, your actions upon this world have yet brought it to the brink of destruction, and may even destroy our own,' added Triune.

   'Easily solved,' said the Noeticist. 'As I have already made plain, when I am free and unmenaced the Portal entities will dismantle the Portal and depart. All abominable energies will be dispersed harmlessly throughout the entire Unity of Dimensions.'

   Leth stepped forward. 'I spoke earlier of wrongs that must be redressed and a balance that must be restored before you will be permitted to return.'

   'You did,' replied Urch-Malmain sullenly.

   'Then let us address those now, before I depart in search of the Soul of the Orb. Those persons whose minds and characters you have altered--'

   'At their own request, I must point out!' interrupted Urch-Malmain.

  
'Perhaps, sometimes. Still, it is irrelevant. My question is, can the process be reversed?'

   'Can their original selves be restored? Why, of course. That is, I have never attempted to do so, but I see no reason why it should not be. It is a relatively simple matter of removing what has been
emplaced, that is all. For a person of my extraordinary abilities, it should pose no great problem.'

   Leth strode over to Shenwolf, who reposed on a seat to one side of the room. 'Are you
willing.'