The Mirror of Her Dreams (99 page)

His brows knotted in perplexity. 'I told you about that during our tour. Orison is built over a spring. But of course it's grown a lot. And we use a lot of water. I think I mentioned Castellan Lebbick has strong ideas about sanitation. The spring has been inadequate for a long time. So we store rainwater and melted snow. Gutters and pipes from all the roofs take water to the reservoir-I showed you the reservoir.'

'And now,' she said slowly while a keen pulse began to beat in her temple and a hand of tension closed around her heart, 'we have all these extra people. And we haven't had any more snow.'

That's one of the dangers of an early thaw.' He was watching her closely. 'Until the rains start, we won't have anything except the spring to keep us going.'

She took a deep breath and held it to prevent her head from spinning. When she was ready to speak steadily, she asked, 'What if something happens to the reservoir?'

He still didn't understand. ''Happens-'? What could happen?'

'Is it guarded?'

'No. Why should it be guarded?'

Unable to suppress the excitement or fear charging through her. she jumped to her feet. With both hands, she took him by one arm and pulled him upright.

'What if she
poisons
it?'

The idea hit him as if she had thrown open a window and shown him a completely alien world. His lips shaped the words,
poisons it,
while he scrambled to catch up with her. In a strangled tone, he argued, There's always the spring.'

'What difference does that make? Fresh water won't help. We'll all be
poisoned.
As long as nobody knows we're in danger, we'll all be
poisoned.
There won't be anybody left to fight. Even if we aren't killed-even if we're just sick for a few hours- Margonal will be able to take Orison almost without a struggle.'

That's right.' His face twisted as his thoughts raced. 'We've got to warn Castellan Lebbick,'

'Geraden.'
For just a second, she wanted to yell at him. He was being so obtuse-

Almost at once, however, her mood changed, and she wanted to laugh. She wasn't used to being ahead of him. Carefully, she said, 'Don't you think it would be better if we
stopped
her?'

He stared at her momentarily with his mouth wide open. Then he let out a whoop that sounded like glee. The firelight was as bright as laughter in his eyes. 'Excuse me, my lady.' He hugged himself and chortled. 'I've got wax in my ears. I'm not sure I heard you right.' But joy and relief weren't the only emotions reflecting from his gaze. The flames were warm and glad-and they were also fierce, burning sharply. 'Did you say, 'Don't you think it would be better if we saved Orison all by ourselves?' Just you and me?'

She nodded.

'Why should we tell Lebbick? We're just guessing. He might not believe us. If he believes us, we might be wrong. But if we're right this is our chance to prove that you're innocent-that you aren't secretly plotting Orison's destruction.'

She nodded again, more because she liked the life in his face than because she had thought about what he was saying.

'Blast all glass to splinters!' He hissed the words between his teeth, grinning like Artagel. 'Get your coat. It's going to be cold up there.'

Terisa got her coat.

It was cold up there.

The reservoir had been built in the highest part of Orison's main body-a labour of construction which was justified by the amount of work saved by being able to distribute water around the castle with gravity instead of pumps. The towers, of course, required pumps; and the waters of the spring had to be pumped up to the reservoir. But those were relatively simple jobs compared to the chore of supplying water for all of Orison.

Terisa had to fill in many of the details from memory. The place was dark: the only light came from the screened openings which let rain and snow and the night air into the reservoir while keeping birds out, and the bright moon outside did little more than glint vague silver across the surface of the water. But she remembered that the reservoir had been built like a pool, deep and rectangular, with a smooth stone walk on all four sides.

Around the walk rose heavy timbers, crisscrossing towards the roof to hold up the network of pipes that carried rainfall and melted snow and even dew from all the roofs of Orison-and to support also the scaffolding which made possible the cleaning and repair of the screens. Because of these timbers, the reservoir resembled a cathedral. Against the faint, wet, lapping susurrus, the overarching silence felt like awe. In the darkness, the water looked vast.

It seemed to absorb whatever warmth endured after the onset of night. The reservoir was cold enough to make her chill despite her coat.

'We need a light,' she whispered unsteadily.

'Shell see us,' answered Geraden, putting his mouth close to her ear so that he wouldn't be overheard.

Terisa nodded. She had hoped that she would never have to be cold again in her life.

'Where can we hide?'

For a moment, he didn't move. 'How long do you think we'll have to wait?'

'How should I know? I'm just guessing about all of this.'

'Well, guess some more.'

She made an effort to control her shivers. 'All right. Whatever she puts in the water will need time to dissolve-or spread out -or whatever it does. But if she does it too soon, people will start getting sick'-or dying-'too soon. The Castellan or somebody might have time to figure out what's going on. Before Margonal is ready.

'If I were her, I might wait until the siege starts.' No later than noon the next day. 'We might be stuck here all night.'

'No.' Geraden was thinking too hard to be polite. 'If she does that, practically all our forces will already be on duty. She'll get the farmers and servingwomen and cooks, but that will just warn Lebbick. She needs to strike tonight, so the water will be bad when the guards get out of bed tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning early.'

That made sense. 'Where can we hide?' she repeated.

He took her by the arm and pulled her softly into motion. There may be any number of ways in here. The floor is riddled with pipes. Maybe it's riddled with passages too. But we can't do anything about that. And there really isn't any place to hide. We'll just put ourselves where we can watch the entrances-the way we came in, and the other one'-he pointed across the reservoir-'and hope we get lucky.'

'That should be fun,' she retorted simply because she needed to say something. 'We're famous for our good luck.'

He let out a breath of stifled laughter. 'Very true.'

Muffled though it was, his laugh made her feel better.

She wanted to test her way with her feet to be sure she didn't fall into the pool, but he urged her forward as if he were afraid of nothing. He didn't lead her into the water, however. Instead, he guided her to a place where a pair of timbers met the floor close together. They were located roughly midway between the entrances to the reservoir, and the gap between them was just wide enough for two people. In this dark, she and Geraden would be effectively invisible as long as they stood near the timbers.

Side by side in the gap, they were pressed against each other a bit at the shoulder and hip. Initially, she tried to squeeze away from him, so that he wouldn't feel her shivering. But she would be warmer if they were closer together. She would be warmer still if he put his arm around her. After a moment, she found that she didn't mind letting him know how cold she was.

Turning his head, he breathed her name into her hair and gave her a companionable hug. Almost at once, the pressure that made her shiver seemed to grow less.

She quickly got tired of straining her eyes into the deep dark of the pool, of trying to tell the difference between the light lap-and-slap of water and the possible sound of footsteps. Shifting more towards Geraden so that she fitted better against his side, she whispered, 'What're we going to do when she comes?'

'Stop her.'

She poked at his ribs through his coat. 'I know that, idiot.
How
are we going to stop her?'

'Not so loud,' he cautioned. 'Water carries sound.'

She wished that she could see his face. He sounded tense and far away, caught up in his responsibility for what happened to Orison. Stopping Elega was like stopping Nyle for him: she was his King's daughter, a childhood friend, andhis former betrothed. Precisely because the situation was so painful for him, he couldn't afford to fail.

Almost in spite of herself, Terisa understood his allegiance to King Joyse and Mordant.

'She'll have a light,' he went on softly. 'She doesn't expect to be caught. And she needs to see what she's doing.' Like his attention, his voice seemed to be aimed out into the dark. 'When we see her light we'll try to sneak up on her.'

Terisa nodded, but her mind was elsewhere. Her head nestled against his shoulder, his coat warmed her cheek. Was it really better for him to remain loyal to the people and ideas he loved? Was that preferable to facing the truth when those people and ideas failed him? preferable to doing what Nyle and Elega were doing-what Master Eremis had been trying to do all along?
How are you planning to live the rest of your life without loyalty or self-respect?
Of course it was always better to face the truth. Wasn't it? Nyle and Elega and Master Eremis had all faced the truth. But she couldn't shake the odd feeling that what Geraden was trying to do was harder.

For that reason, it was a good thing he hadn't been able to return her to her old life. Maybe the sense of unreality which had dogged her for so long was the result of living in the wrong world: maybe she truly had never been a solid being until she came here. Or maybe her evanescence was the result of striving for the wrong things-despite what Rev Thatcher might have taught her-of not understanding what Geraden understood so well. It was even possible-

Across the water, she saw a wink of light.

Geraden stiffened.

It was no larger or brighter than a candleflame-it flickered like a candleflame. But it flickered because it was moving, passing behind the timbers on the opposite side of the pool. When it stopped, she saw that it was a small lantern.

The hand that carried it set it down on the flat stone near the lip of the pool. The light shone on a woman's features. She seemed to be cloaked in midnight: nothing of her was visible except her hands and face.

Elega.

She scanned the reservoir for a moment, and Terisa cowered; but the lady's lamp was too weak to reach so far. Almost at once, Elega withdrew into the darkness.

Geraden drew a hissing breath. 'Now.' He shrugged himself out from the timbers. With his mouth at Terisa's ear, he whispered, 'You go that way.' He gave her a slight nudge in the direction he meant. 'When you get close enough, distract her. I'll come up behind her.

'Go.'

She felt rather than saw him fade into the dark.

Go. Yes, Good idea. But how? One mis-step would take her into the pool. Dragged down by her coat, she would drown. She would never learn whether she was right about Elega.

Cautiously, she turned and put one hand on the nearest timber.

The timbers were all the same distance from the edge of the pool. If she felt her way along them, she would be safe. And she had another sign to navigate with: the reflection of the lamp in the water. That gleam was tiny, but it helped her keep her bearings.

Hoping that the pool's wet noises would cover the sound of her steps, she concentrated all her attention on the timbers and the reflection and started moving.

Elega was still nowhere to be seen.

Geraden had disappeared completely.

More quickly than she would have believed possible, Terisa reached the corner of the pool. This side: another corner: a straight walk to the lamp. She was cold, but she had no time for that. She wasn't conscious of shivering.

Elega returned to the light.