The Shadow Matrix (61 page)

forever.

Marguerida's efforts did not have the desired effect on Amalie El Haliene, however.

Her golden eyes narrowed with pure hatred, her hands clenched. Her body was coiled

with unspoken fury, so powerful an emotion that Mikhail felt nearly overwhelmed. It

was an unreasonable response to Marguerida's question.

"What are you?" The voice that came from her mouth was pinched and frightened.

"I don't know what you mean,
domna"
Mikhail answered helplessly.

"You are not what I expected, not at all."

"And what did you expect?"

"A warrior. There is nothing about you that ..."

Mikhail shook his head. "I can use a sword well enough, but there are no warriors, as

you know them, in my . . . my time." It felt odd to say that, considering Darkover's

bloody past, but he knew it was true. They maintained the use of swords out of custom

rather than need, to preserve the letter of the Compact. The late and unlamented Dyan-

Gabriel Ardais had perhaps been the last of Darkover's real warriors. All the rest had

preceded him to the grave before Mikhail was born.

"I see. What kind of shabby, dishonorable time do you come from, then?"

"I come from a time of peace,
Domna
El Haliene, not of war."

"Peace? There has not been such a thing in all the history of Darkover. The past is a

vast killing field."

The past? Mik, she thinks we are from her past, not her future.

Yes, I see that. And I am not sure that telling her otherwise will be of any use. She

seems to have her mind made up that we are here to help her keep Halt Tower from

destruction
—
instead of whatever that blasted voice wanted from us.

I
don't know why we are here, but the one thing I am certain of is that we are not here

for that.

Agreed. More, she is doing a fair job of holding out. She knows something she does not

want us to find out.

"I am sorry you are disappointed in me,
Domna
El Haliene. But I did not choose to

arrive at your door, any more than you chose to open it."

"Yes. Perhaps I was mistaken. No, I cannot have been. It is not possible. I am never

wrong. There must be some way for you to stop this disaster, to prevent
Dom
Padriac

and
Dom
Kieran from tearing everything apart. Neither of them can be allowed to

control Hali, to use me ... as they plan!"

"And how is that?"

"Each wishes me to turn the power of the Tower against the other, of course. Are you

stupid?" She sounded like a woman who had reached the limits of her own endurance.

"I am not stupid. I just don't know what you mean. Who are
Dom
Padriac and
Dom

Kieran?" Mikhail held back his annoyance with an effort, and told his growling

stomach to shut up.

Amalie gave a sigh again.
"Dom
Padriac is my cousin, Padriac El Haliene, and he

thinks that I will surrender the Tower to him because . . . because we are kin. He has

already ..." Her eyes widened with alarm, and she swallowed hard.
"Dom
Kieran is the

King's Champion, Kieran Castamir." She paused, looked at him as if expecting the

names to provoke some reaction.

She started to tell us something important, then changed her mind, Mik, I wonder what

Padriac has already done? And there is something more—something that I can sense.

It gives me the coldest feeling.

What?

Oh, God! Ashara! She was here, and not too long ago. I can feel her presence in this

place. Why didn't I realize it sooner? Get me out of here!

Marguerida
—
stop it! Get hold of yourself right now! We must get more information,

and if you get hysterical on me, we won't find out what we need to know.

Yes, Mik. I'll try. But it is so . . .

Mikhail sensed her trying to breathe more slowly, and watched her drain her mug of

warm wine. When he sensed

that she was back in control, he asked Amalie, "What happened to the Keeper here?"

"Him!" It was a sneer. "As soon as he realized that Varzil could not protect him, he left

as if demons were after him."
Damn him, that feckless Karl Ridenow, taking what

should have been my place! And damn Varzil for giving him the Keeper's position, and

for dying. He is not dead yet, but he might as well be! Damn all men! They are weak,

when they should be strong, and stupid when they believe they are clever. The Compact

will not stand without Varzil. If Mali falls
...

Amalie seemed to realize then that her thoughts were

audible, and two red blotches showed on her cheeks. She

glared at both of them, a golden glare, and Marguerida

matched it. >

"Domna,
this is all very interesting, but it does not provide us with an answer."

Marguerida's voice was tense as she spoke, and Mikhail knew that the real or imagined

presence of Ashara Alton was at the root of it.

"Don't you understand yet?" She directed this question to Mikhail, as if Marguerida

were not there.

"No,
domna.
We do not. You have not told us anything of any use. Are your own wits

disordered?" That paid her back for calling him stupid.

"Certainly not!" She spoke adamantly, but there was fear underlying her vehemence. It

was nothing more than a mild flutter of apprehension, and she drew her attention from

it quickly. Mikhail suddenly realized that she was terrified of losing her mind, and not

far from it either.

Amalie cleared her throat, gave Marguerida a look of loathing, and began to speak.

"Very well. I will try to be clear. Seventy years ago, Varzil Ridenow managed to force

the kingdoms to make an agreement, and he destroyed, with his power, the great

matrix screens. I am too young to remember how it was then, of course, but my father

has told me of it. He was a mechanic at Arilinn then, a young man. It must have been

wonderful!" Her thin face was alight with memory.

"Clingfire
and
bonewater dust
were wonderful?" Marguerida demanded sharply. "I

think not!"

"I will thank you to keep that unnatural creature silent. How can you stand her?"

"What do you mean?"
Keep still for a second, Marguerida I know you want to shake

her until her teeth rattle, but be patient.

Yes, dearest, but it will not be easy. I would give a great deal to be able to explode!

"She reeks of the
laran
of the overworld. What manner of creature is she?"

"Margarethe is quite human, Amalie. Why should you think otherwise?"

"Human?" Amalie shuddered and looked into the fire. "I doubt that very much! She

reminds me ... never mind."

"All right. Now, you say that Varzil forced the kingdoms to stop fighting, and he

destroyed the great matrix screens. That seems good."

"The Towers cannot exist without matrices. There were new ones found, smaller than

before, but not without power. But it has not worked very well, for while men prattle of

peace, they still prepare for war. True, they no longer send
clingfire
against one

another, but they will again, and soon. Not all of it was destroyed, nor were all the

great screens. There are hidden caches which even Varzil could not uncover."

"I see." Mikhail had always had the impression that once the Compact had been agreed

upon, Darkover had become peaceful. But so many of the records had been lost

through the centuries. He was not even certain of the precise date when Hali Tower had

been totally destroyed. All he could do was hope that it was not
now,
not while they

were there.

"This is not the only problem. Petty kingdoms vying for power are the least of it. Varzil

made it possible for women, such as myself, to become Keepers, for he has discovered

we are actually more capable than men. But he did not choose well." It was as if her

tongue, guarded before, had finally loosened, and she dared not stop talking.

"Oh?"

"His favorite was a creature called Ashara Alton. She was Underkeeper at Neskaya,

then Keeper after he left there, and came to Hali for a time. After he restored the Lake,

he chose to retire, and she was installed here at Hali as Keeper. She was very powerful,

even without the command of great screens. I came here when she had been

Keeper for thirty years, and trained under her. But she is corrupt. There is something in

her nature that is evil."

"Is?" Marguerida squeaked the word in spite of herself. "You mean she is still alive?" I

knew it! It was not my imagination! She is alive in this time, and she is going to find

me and kill me!
He could sense her terror, and knew that Amalie did too.

Amalie looked at her with grave suspicion. "Keep your tongue behind your teeth, foul

witch! Are you in league with her? I should have known! The moment I heard your

voice, I should have known."

"Ashara Alton was my foe," Marguerida said slowly.

"Was?" Amalie seemed puzzled for a moment by this. "So you claim, but I do not

believe you, for you are too like her, that coldness, that icy way you have. You are her

creature!"

Oh, God, Mik. What if she is right?

She is wrong. Istvana would know if you were other than what you are.

"You seem to fear Ashara more than you fear
Dom
Padriac and
Dom
Kieran."

"We drove her out of Hali—all of us here, plus half the
laranzu
in the world. It took

that much, for she is one of Zandru's own. My brother died here, his blood spattered on

the stones, and so did others! Many others. But she survived, and her powers were not

undone. Now she sits in Thendara, like a spider, weaving her treachery, waiting to

return to Hali. Oh, she pretends to be doing nothing more than advising on the building

of the new Castle and on matters of state but she has the Hasturs in her thrall, and if

Hali falls to either my cousin or the King's Champion, it makes no difference. She will

reclaim her place either way."

Amalie's eyes were constricted, the pupils so tiny that they were almost invisible in the

flickering light from the fireplace. She trembled as she envisioned these events, and it

was clear that she had spent a great deal of time reliving them. Mikhail caught

glimpses of dead bodies, bloated with rot, stinking of decay, but he could not guess if

they were from the past or the future. Without doubt, poor, terrified Amalie had reason

to fear madness.

"But if she wants the Tower, why are you so convinced that it will be destroyed?"

"Because if she cannot control it, she will allow no one else to have it! And Varzil

cannot last too much longer. He has been hanging on for weeks, as if waiting for

something, but he will perish soon, and then I will be truly lost. She will torture me, as

she did others." The Keeper shuddered all over, and tears slipped down her thin

cheeks.

He felt Marguerida stir beside him, her sense of terror slipping away slowly, and her

resolve hardening. She flexed her left hand, like a cat preparing to claw at something.

He rose to his feet. He felt caught between the two women— both so distraught he

could not clearly read either of them. Amalie was certainly trying to conceal

something, and Marguerida was on the edge of doing something desperate.

"I must see Varzil." As soon as he said this, he felt a sense of release and knew that

finding Varzil was what he and Marguerida must do. He felt a tingling under his

sternum, a warmth that spread out across his body, calming him.

"No!" Amalie was not looking at him, but at Marguerida. "That must not be!"

"If I am correct," Mikhail began reasonably, "then it was Varzil who called us through

the years, to come to Hali now. I think, therefore, that he wishes to see us."

"It is a trick!
She
sent you here—you and that thing!"

"Where is Varzil!
Tell me!" Marguerida's voice of command rang out against the cool

stones of the Tower. It was not directed at him, but Mikhail felt himself cringe.

The effect on Amalie was even more remarkable, for she shrank into her chair, put her

hands over her head, and screamed! "No, no—don't hurt me again!"

"No one is going to hurt you,
domna,"
he told the hysterical woman quietly.

Mik, what kind of Keeper was Ashara, that she should inspire such terror?

A very poor one, obviously.

She seems to be able to resist the Voice
—
as if she has had long practice in avoiding its

influence, Mik.

Yes, she does. And we have to get to Varzil.

Why not just reach him telepathically? It should not be difficult, even if he is dying
—
if

he is. That voice he used

made my bones rattle, and it did not seem like the death-gasp of anyone.

I don't know. You notice we have not heard the voice since we arrived, which suggests

to me that he- is shielded in some manner
—
maybe to protect him from Ashara as well.