OrbSoul (Book 6) (25 page)

   Leth shrugged. 'I have heard as much. In Urch-Malmain's tower there was a prisoner, a
Karai officer, who almost certainly took his own life by such means. Perhaps Olmana/Strymnia had deprived Anzejarl of that. I don't know. Much remains a mystery, but the Anzejarl I met was a strange and, as I perceived it, broken creature. He was consumed by inner conflict and was not the enemy I had expected. And he spoke as though he faced another enemy. Not me, not Olmana, but something he could not wholly articulate, but from which death could be his only liberation. But Iss, you are here and it so gladdens my heart. I feared once again that I had lost you. Tell me what happened, and how you escaped.'

   She told her tale of her time with Moscul and Grey Venger, her rescue and how, in the latter hours with Sir Cathbo and his force they had come within sight of Enchantment's Reach and had witnessed the incredible sight of the
Karai leaving the city-castle in their thousands. 'We did not know what to make of it, it was so unexpected a sight. Eventually, to test them, Cathbo sent a small mounted unit forward. The Karai observed them but made no attempt to engage them. Then a Karai herald rode forward from the roadside to meet them. They returned to report his words: The Karai nation no longer held animosity towards Enchantment's Reach, nor coveted it either. On the condition that we offered no provocation to the Karai troops, we were permitted to pass on our way unmolested - as were all soldiers and citizens of Enchantment's Reach. Even so, Sir Cathbo advised caution. He sent a larger unit forward, then another, but both passed among the Karai untroubled. Eventually we came forward ourselves and began to ascend the scarp with thousands of our enemies passing alongside us in the snow. It was an uncanny experience. And for all that it appeared our home was liberated, I was troubled. I feared that Strymnia had found what she sought here, and hence Enchantment's Reach was no longer of any account. Yet I find now that that is not so.'

   Leth nodded gravely to himself. He was still absorbing the full impact of the astonishing tale she had told him, and he mused to himself, out loud, 'Both Grey Venger and the Legendary Child are dead . . . I can scarcely believe it.'

   At this a cloud passed across Issul's bruised, haggard face, and she shook her head emphatically. 'No, Leth, I said Moscul is dead, not the Legendary Child.'

   Leth frowned. 'What do you mean?'

   She expelled a quick, fraught breath. 'There is a second Child, Leth. That is what Moscul told me. We have all been fooled.' Abruptly she stiffened, then pulled away. 'Mawnie! I must see Mawnie. She is in grave danger!'

   Leth grasped her arm to restrain her. 'Iss . . . I am sorry. I have terrible news. Mawnie is dead.'

   The colour drained further from Issul's face. 'H- how?'

   'She was murdered in her bed. It was senseless, and no one knows quite how it was done without detection. We suspect Fectur, who has since disappeared.'

   Issul closed her eyes and put her hands to her face, steadying herself.

   'I'm so sorry, Iss.'

   She dropped her hands and stared bleakly back at Leth. 'What of Lir?'

  
'Disappeared also. Fectur may be implicated in her abduction, though the motive is unknown. Nothing is clear.'

   Issul was shaking her head. 'Fectur has not abducted her, Leth. Neither did he murder Mawnie. Rather, Lir has taken herself away, and who knows, perhaps it is
she
who has abducted
him
.'

   'What?'

   Issul had begun to tremble. 'It is Lir who has murdered Mawnie, Leth. Lir, her own daughter. It is she, not Moscul, who is the Legendary Child.'

iii

   They returned in haste to the reception chamber of their apartment and, with Pader Luminis present, Issul revealed in full what Moscul had told her. 'He was a decoy, a child of power but not
the
Child. It all makes sense. Moscul told me: "there is a second Soul. A second flame burns most brightly".'

    Leth looked intently at Pader, who was pale and nodding to himself with grim conviction. 'This is what I had feared, but I could not risk speaking of it earlier.'

   'What? Do you suspect Sir Grenyard or others of the Advisory Council . .  suspect them of complicity?'

   'No, but I feared their response and was loath to speak out without consulting you first.'

    Leth's eyes darted from one to the other. 'Speak on, Iss!'

   'Two children were sent,' Issul said. 'Ressa was not the only one to be raped by that monstrous thing on Sentinel's Peak. It took Mawnie also. She never spoke of it - almost certainly she couldn't, was too traumatized by it and by Ressa's death. She pushed it all away from her conscious recollection. It only came out in her madness, her hysteria, all tangled up with her confusion and depression over her rejection by Hugo.
Oh Mawnie, poor Mawnie.' Issul broke down. Leth held her to him, kissing and stroking her hair, and when she had recovered sufficiently she went on, choking on her grief and bitter anger. 'Do you understand? That creature on Sentinel's Peak, it took-- it took them both. And its spawn-- its spawn was my own niece and nephew - gestated at different times, to be born at different times into our family. One was the decoy, to be spirited away by me; the other, the 'legitimate' child, Lir, was the true Legendary Child, who was raised by us, knowing itself at all times for what it truly was.'

   She was shuddering violently. Leth held her tightly, trying to soothe her. 'Iss, is there any possibility that you are mistaken in this? Could Moscul have been trying to trick you?'

   'And allowing me to kill him? The Legendary Child would not have permitted that. No, Leth, the trickery was done long ago. The Legendary Child is still here, somewhere in our midst.'

   Pader Luminis sat himself down, his hand to his brow. 'That is the very thought that came to me, days ago. I wanted to dismiss it, for it seemed too far-fetched, but it would not leave me. But then I had Fectur to deal with, and the
Karai assault . . . events overtook me. It was too late anyway. Mawnie was dead; Lir gone. There was nothing I could have done.'

  
'Urch-Malmain . . .' breathed Leth, finally accepting the awful veracity of Issul's words.

   Issul looked up through bloodshot, tear-filled eyes. 'What of him?'

   'In the Tower of Glancing Memory he told me of the origin of the reptilian-creature on Sentinel's Peak. It was sent by Strymnia, but Urch intercepted it. He told me he performed subtle 'alterations' upon it. I suspect now that he did more than he confessed to. Possibly not even Strymnia knew of the second Child. It was another of Urch-Malmain's vile mischiefs.'

   'Where is Urch-Malmain now?' enquired Issul, becoming strangely calm.

   Leth looked at her and remembered that Urch-Malmain had claimed that it was she who had been the original target, she who Strymnia had intended should in ignorance bear the Legendary Child as her own. But he said nothing of this. 'Gone. Returned to Enchantment. He is untouchable. We could never bring him to any form of justice.'

  
'But Lir, the Legendary Child?'

  
'Is still here, somewhere. And if she is what you say, then I suspect she knows that somewhere beneath Orbia there lies a link to Orbelon's World. If that’s so, and we don’t find her before she finds it, she may yet undo everything that has been achieved.'

iv

   Without further delay Leth consulted once more, hurriedly, with Orbelon.

   'It is not Fectur who is the greatest enemy, though we believe he may be controlled now by the Child. She is there, somewhere, almost certainly seeking the link between worlds. Can you help us, Orbelon? Can you take us to it?'

   The ragged god lifted one arm and scratched at his bundled head. 'My memory is not what it was, and it was all so long ago. Everything has changed, so I perceive. But I believe I should be able to guide you at least some of the way. I am limited, though. I may manifest in the formed world, but have virtually no power there.'

   'Should I take the blue casket and try to bring her here, like I brought Olmana?'

   'Unlike Olmana, Lir is an unknown. It may not be wise to bring her here under uncontrolled conditions. She may have powers I know nothing of. So no, leave the casket where it is.'

   'But if, as you say, there is a link, what then if she enters?'

   'This Child may know how to disrupt or sever the link. That is most probably what she intends. Our worlds could be parted forever. Who knows what
else. You must prevent her, Leth. That is your task.'

   'Can she be killed?'

   'We do not know. Now, when do you go?'

  
'Immediately. There is no better time. The True Sept is in disarray in the wake of the Karais' surprise departure. Many of its members have been arrested or slain. My troops have moved swiftly to take control of all known entrances to Overlip. A powerful force has seized the moment and gone on ahead into the burrows, to clear the way of all resistance. Overlip has never been so open to us.'

  
'Very good. Then go.'

   Leth waited, but Orbelon remained still, and failed to raise his staff.

   'Orbelon? Is something wrong?'

   'You do not go back, Leth. Not to Enchantment's Reach. Not yet.' Orbelon turned and pointed into the blue mist. 'That is your way.'

   With a sinking feeling Leth peered along the direction he indicated, and made out something glimmering, a distantly familiar shape framed in pulsing light. 'The arch? It is here?'

   'It is beneath Orbia that the link and the secret lie,' Orbelon said. 'The Orbia of
both worlds, yours and mine. They overlay each other and are within and containing each other, one and the same. Thus you must go this way to Orbia, and Issul will go the other. You will arrive at the same destination, and one or both of you will meet this menace who goes there too.'

   'But Issul knows nothing of this,' Leth protested.

   'She is informed. Now ask no more questions, Leth. Be gone.'

   Leth moved away, knowing better than to ask - or even wonder - how it was that the mysterious arch, which previously he had walked for many hours before stumbling upon, was now here almost immediately before him. Such questions had no meaning in this domain.

   He walked towards it, still clad in the sapphire armour, the Orbsword slanting in its scabbard at his side. He had left the sapphire helm in his apartment, and his head was bare. As he drew close to the glimmering arch he halted and looked back, but Orbelon was nowhere to be seen. High above him, the Olmana projection still struggled in the misty 'sky' like some hapless bug, and he thought of how, earlier, he had found himself in chains there. He, though, had been chained to the World's Agony, which was outside, beyond the rim of the Orb of the Godworld, whereas she was held within.

   Leth shook his head and turned back to the arch. Curiously it stood alone, wholly detached from the vast circular wall in which it had previously been embedded, and which still towered, all-around, in the indefinable distance. Leth walked slowly once around the arch, studying it from all angles. At its edges sharp beams of light blinked on and off, as they had before, projecting into the blue domain from the other side, as though the arch or something within it or the world beyond it was rotating. Bafflingly, no matter where Leth stood, or how he moved, the arch showed him always the same face.

   He moved closer and peered through. On the other side of the arch he made out a single blurred figure standing motionless.

   Leth hesitated no longer. He stepped through. The figure on the other side, garbed in flowing carmine robes, drew quickly back. Leth blinked, slightly dazzled. The Orb of the Godworld now shone high in the unnatural sky above him. 'Greetings, Summoner. We meet again.'

   Summoner bowed. 'Lord Swordbearer! I have been expecting you.'

   'Your wait has been less prolonged this time, I think.'

   'That is so. And you have done so much, Swordbearer. All that we have asked and more, and we are grateful. But regrettably there is one more task.'

   'I am aware of it.'

   'Then will you come with me? We must go immediately.'

   Leth followed him, his conscience torn. Should he be here? Oughtn't he to be back in Enchantment's Reach, with Issul? What did she think? He had left her in danger, and given her no explanation. He was reminded once more of how much he loved her; how cruel it was to have gone through so much and to have been reunited yet again, only to be wrenched apart one more time.

   He and Summoner passed down the slope to where the little cluster of dome-like dwellings was situated. Summoner entered one of these, and beckoned Leth to follow. Inside he opened a trapdoor at the rear, took a lamp, and they descended into the tunnel through which Leth had previously pursued him. Along the length of this they walked until they came to the timber door beyond which was the lair of the
ools
. Summoner eased open the door a crack, then doused the lamp and laid it aside. They stood in total darkness.