Flight Into Darkness Part 4

"Nothing?" Rieuk repeated, hearing his own voice as if from far away.

"I have answered your question, Rieuk," she said softly. "And now you must fulfill your part of our pact."

Pact? Rieuk was fully awake again. "But we never agreed-" Rieuk was fully awake again. "But we never agreed-"

She pressed her fingertips to his forehead, and her touch made him shiver. "Your powers are already weakening. Can't you feel it? And as the Rift grows more unstable, so your powers will slowly leak away... as will mine too. Go after her, and bring her back to the Rift."

"Azilis." This was not what Rieuk wanted to hear. "Why must it always come back to Azilis?"

"Azilis is an aethyrial spirit. She draws her strength from the Rift. But she has been away so long that she too is growing weak. To survive, she has begun to draw on the life essence of the very child she was bound to protect."

"She's been living off Celestine's life force?" What happened to a mortal body when its essence was slowly drained away? Would Celestine begin to age too swiftly? She had been such a beautiful young woman when last he saw her; would he find her withered and feeble?

"When mortals bond with aethyrial spirits, there is always a price to pay. This is something the Dragon Lords of Azhkendir know to their cost."

"So... unless I bring Azilis back to the Rift, our Emissaries will die and we will lose our powers?"

"You are the last surviving crystal magus, Rieuk." She leaned toward him so close that he felt as if he were drowning in the liquid depths of her emerald eyes. "There is no one else with the skill to make a new Lodestar. Are you brave enough to do this? Even though it means returning to risk the dangers of the Rift?"

Rieuk swallowed. The mere thought of venturing back into that chaotic darkness disturbed him. But for the sake of Ormas and Imri's reborn soul, he knew there was no alternative. "If I must, then I must."

Anagini took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead. As she did so, he heard her voice whispering softly in his mind.

" I've seen that you care for that beautiful mage boy, but how far can you trust him? Take care. I've seen that you care for that beautiful mage boy, but how far can you trust him? Take care."

The stars burned bright over the mountainside. While Oranir gathered brushwood and lit a small fire, Rieuk drank some water and, wrapping himself in his cloak, lay down close to the warmth, turning on his side away from Oranir. He was too depressed to talk or eat.

Yet he could not sleep. The same morbid thoughts kept churning around his mind, keeping him awake. Somewhere in the chaotic darkness of the Rift was Imri, reborn as a shadow hawk. Unless he brought Azilis back to stem the chaos, Imri would be lost a second time. And then there had been Anagini's warning. What did she know about Oranir? Why had she warned Rieuk not to trust him?

"I know you're not asleep," Oranir whispered, his lips brushing Rieuk's ear. Rieuk kept his eyes shut, pretending that he hadn't heard. But Oranir could be very persistent when he wanted to. "I'm here, Rieuk. I'm alive. How long can you go on loving a ghost?" Still Rieuk lay unmoving, wondering how long he could continue to resist. "He's never coming back to you."

Rieuk had begun to shiver, whether because of the cold of the mountain night or the chill that had pervaded his soul since Anagini had revealed the truth to him.

Oranir peeled back one side of the cloak, snuggling down beneath it, his body pressed close to Rieuk's. And this time, Rieuk did not push him away.

But later, much later, as the stars began to fade and Oranir lay, sound asleep, beside him, Rieuk sat up, staring into the embers of the dying fire.

I don't want to go back into the Rift. Rieuk knew that the turbulence, the darkness leaking from the Realm of Shadows, would drive him mad. Rieuk knew that the turbulence, the darkness leaking from the Realm of Shadows, would drive him mad.

CHAPTER 5.

The main border post between Djihan-Djihar and Enhirre was manned by the Rosecoeur Guerriers. All the other entry points were patrolled by the Arkhan's guards. But the magi had long ago devised their own secret routes through the dusty foothills that avoided the necessity of pa.s.sports or papers. Yet as they drew near to the Enhirran border, Oranir seemed to withdraw into himself, saying less and less. Rieuk glanced at him frequently, troubled by his silence. Did the young magus feel as apprehensive as he did about returning? They had both rebelled against the Arkhan, and if they were caught, Sardion would not treat them kindly for their disobedience.

They stopped near midday in a windy gully, high above the Hidden Valley. Below, sinister even by day, stood the twisted Towers of the Ghaouls. The searingly dry air made it difficult to exchange more than a few words. The sun was approaching its highest point in the sky and seasoned travelers like Rieuk knew that this was the time to seek out whatever shade was available and rest until the sun began to set. Sheltered by an overhang in the rock face, Rieuk unwound his headdress, which he had wrapped over nose and mouth to keep out the sand and grit, and uncorked his water bottle, offering it to Oranir. Oranir took it and drank, pa.s.sing it back. As he did so, the wild, keening cry of a bird of prey echoed around the gully. Looking up, Rieuk glimpsed a shadowy shape against the harsh dazzle of the noonday sun, wings outspread, circling high above.

"Have they found us already?" Oranir shaded his eyes to see more clearly.

"Ormas," Rieuk said softly, "is that one of your kin?" He felt Ormas slowly return to consciousness within him.

"I cannot tell; it is too far off," came the listless reply. came the listless reply.

"Then go and spy out the valley for us. Take care..."

Ormas took off, disappearing into the heat haze. Suddenly uneasy, Rieuk stood up, trying to see what was happening through Ormas's clear sight.

"All I need is a distraction to draw the others away from the entrance to the Rift. Can you do it, Ran? Just long enough for me to slip down the stairs..."

He turned around, but Oranir was no longer there.

"Ran?" he called.

They came at him from his blind side. Before he had time to defend himself, he felt the blow to the back of his skull, harsh as a thunderclap. Then, nothing but the dark.

"Have you forgotten the vow you made when you became my Emissary, Rieuk Mordiern?"

The harsh voice brought Rieuk back to consciousness. He hung, his hands shackled above his head, pinned to a wall. The air around him was dark and dank; he must be far belowground. He tried to raise his drooping head. A hand slipped beneath his chin and lifted it. Sardion was standing before him, staring at him with a look so cold and penetrating that he felt as if the Arkhan was reading his innermost thoughts.

"Answer me!" The hand tightened around his throat. Rieuk began to choke.

"N-no, Lord Arkhan," he managed to whisper.

"I have your hawk."

Ormas! Rieuk silently called out to his Emissary, hearing only the feeblest of answering cries. Rieuk silently called out to his Emissary, hearing only the feeblest of answering cries.

"What have you done to him?"

"You betrayed my trust, Rieuk." Sardion's eyes bored into his. "You played me false. Do you think that you and your hawk deserve to live?"

Rieuk could feel nothing but the weak beat of Ormas's heart, echoed by his own. A grey film seemed to float between him and the torchlit dungeon.

"Please, don't hurt him." It was humiliating to have to beg but he could not bear to endure the hawk's agony.

"Shouldn't you be more concerned for yourself?" At last Sardion let go of Rieuk's throat, leaving Rieuk gasping for air. "The punishment for breaking your vow is to have your Emissary stripped out from your body, feather by feather."

"But I haven't broken my vow!"

"You revealed our secrets to an Azhkendi shaman woman." Lord Estael came out of the gloom to stand at the Arkhan's side.

How did Lord Estael know? Had they used some glamour to draw the truth from him? "She discovered them for herself. I could hide nothing from her. And she is no threat to us. She did all in her power to help me. I learned far more from her than I ever learned from you-"

Lord Estael struck him across the face. Rieuk, cheek on fire from the blow, stared defiantly back at his onetime master.

"Can't you see I'm trying to save you, you ungrateful boy?"

"Can't you see that I I was trying to save us all?" Rieuk no longer cared if the Arkhan heard or not. "Why else would we have returned? I have to go back into the Rift and make a new Lodestar, an aethyr crystal as perfect as the first." was trying to save us all?" Rieuk no longer cared if the Arkhan heard or not. "Why else would we have returned? I have to go back into the Rift and make a new Lodestar, an aethyr crystal as perfect as the first."

"A new Lodestar? You know very well that I have other plans for Rieuk Mordiern." Sardion's restless pacing was making Estael uneasy. "Why else would I have sent Oranir to bring him back?"

Estael knew all too well how Sardion wanted to use Rieuk. The Arkhan's obsession with the Drakhaoul Nagazdiel had grown with every day that pa.s.sed. If Sardion set the daemon lord free, the ensuing consequences for Enhirre were too terrible to imagine. "My lord, I beg you to postpone your plan for a little longer. If Rieuk can fashion a new Lodestar-"

"And how long will that take?"

Estael had no idea. "A few days, I imagine, once he has found a suitable crystal-"

"Very well," said Sardion curtly. "I'll indulge you and your magi just this once. But don't think that I'll let Rieuk off so lightly. The instant that the Lodestar is complete, I'm sending him into the Rift to summon Nagazdiel."

Two of the Arkhan's guards forced Rieuk to prostrate himself before Sardion on the polished sheen of the marble floor. Behind him knelt Aqil and Oranir.

"I will vouch for Rieuk, Lord Arkhan," he heard Lord Estael say. "He won't betray your trust again."

"I want to hear him ask for my forgiveness," said Sardion coldly. "I want to hear him beg."

Rieuk swallowed back his anger. If that was the only way to get Sardion's permission to go back into the Rift, then he would have to obey.

"Please forgive me, Lord Arkhan." The words stuck in his throat.

"Louder."

"I beg you, Lord Arkhan, to forgive me for betraying you." Rieuk scowled at the polished marble.

"I will let you live this time, Rieuk, because Lord Estael tells me you are going to create a new Lodestar and bring Azilis back to Ondhessar."

"My lord is merciful."

"You've done well, Oranir," said Sardion. "Come and sit by me. I've missed you."

"Oranir?" Rieuk raised his head, not caring if Sardion punished him for doing so. "What does this mean?"

"I've missed you too, my lord." Oranir rose and without even a glance at Rieuk, went over to Sardion's chair. Sardion stood and, raising the young magus's face to his own, kissed him on the lips.

Rieuk stared. The earlier humiliation was nothing, compared with this. He could not bear to watch the familiar way Oranir returned the Arkhan's kiss.

Taking Oranir by the hand, Sardion made him sit beside him. Both gazed down at Rieuk, with a look that said blatantly, You poor deluded fool, didn't you have any idea? You poor deluded fool, didn't you have any idea?

CHAPTER 6.

In the Rift, it was as if everything had been reversed, like an engraver's plate. The sky was black as charcoal yet the Emerald Tower and the skeletal branches of the great trees were etched in ghostly acid white. And the emerald moon was waning; only the thinnest sliver of a pale crescent showed from time to time from behind fast-scudding clouds, blown across the sky by the wind that was gusting in from the Realm of Shadows.

"Can you see any hawks?" Rieuk called to Ormas over the whine of the wind."Not one..." Ormas's desolate cry was borne back to Rieuk from the turbulent darkness.

"Come back to me now, Ormas." The farther Ormas flew away from him, the more Rieuk feared that he might find it impossible to return. The distance between them felt as if it were growing greater by the second.

"Ormas!" he cried again.

The hawk came skimming down over the treetops, battling the wind, and perched on his shoulder.

Rieuk put his head down and set off into the Rift. But there was a dull, bitter ache around his heart. Oranir had betrayed him. Did all the time we spent together mean nothing to him? Was he playing me for a fool the whole time? Did all the time we spent together mean nothing to him? Was he playing me for a fool the whole time? Oranir had gone to Sardion's side as soon as he was bidden without even a backward glance. Oranir had gone to Sardion's side as soon as he was bidden without even a backward glance.

Find the aethyr crystals, and get out as fast as possible. But he didn't know where to begin to look. Lord Estael had spoken of a mine that lay far beyond the Tower, deep in the Rift. But it was many centuries since any magus had dared venture so far in to seek out the source of the Lodestar. But he didn't know where to begin to look. Lord Estael had spoken of a mine that lay far beyond the Tower, deep in the Rift. But it was many centuries since any magus had dared venture so far in to seek out the source of the Lodestar.

"You're a crystal magus; you'll be able to sniff the crystals out, like a pig scenting truffles," Estael had said to him as he left him in the Rift. The a.n.a.logy was not at all flattering and Rieuk had resented the comparison. Estael had said to him as he left him in the Rift. The a.n.a.logy was not at all flattering and Rieuk had resented the comparison.

"Yet here I am, rooting about in a forest; I might as well be a pig," he muttered to himself.

He notched a mark on the trunk of each tall tree that he pa.s.sed, so that he could find his way out again. Already he could feel the disorienting effect of the atmosphere in the Rift seeping into his mind. The fitful light from the waning moon cast verdant shadows across his path from time to time; whenever the slender crescent reappeared from behind the clouds, he looked back to see if he could still make out the stark silhouette of the tower. He must have penetrated deep into the forest, for the moon had vanished from sight.

"Where can the hawks have gone?" he asked Ormas. "And is Imri among them?"

"I cannot tell. If they were blown far away on this wind, they may have become lost in the shadows."

Lost in the Realm of Shadows. There was such a bleak, hopeless ring to Ormas's words. But Rieuk felt nothing but anger as he struggled onward.

Why must it be I who has to put this right? Linnaius stole the Lodestar. Why must I pay for his crimes?

Buffeted by a sudden violent gust of wind, Ormas was flung violently away from him into the dark air.

"Return!"

It was then that he felt it: a stab of clear energy that pierced his brain like a needle of ice. He stood still, concentrating on identifying the source. The thin light of the moon faded and died, leaving him stranded in the pitch black. The only solution was to stumble on blind through the forest, guided by the crystalline sound.

The intensity of the vibrations was growing stronger with every step he took until his mind was filled with a jangle of different clear pitches, like the ringing of hundreds of gla.s.s bells.

"Careful, Master!" Ormas's warning cry made him stop dead in his tracks. He gazed down. The moonlight shone out again as the clouds parted, revealing that he stood on the rim of an abyss. The crystals had been leading him directly toward a creva.s.se. Ormas's warning cry made him stop dead in his tracks. He gazed down. The moonlight shone out again as the clouds parted, revealing that he stood on the rim of an abyss. The crystals had been leading him directly toward a creva.s.se.

Rieuk hastily stepped back, away from the edge. If he had fallen- He felt himself break out in a chill sweat. He sank to his knees, shaking.

"Ormas. You saved me. "

The high, clear ringing was so loud that it lit up his mind with a crystalline shimmer. He forced himself to crawl to the edge and gazed into fathomless darkness. "How am I supposed to get down there?

Fly?" He sat back on his heels and began to laugh. He sat back on his heels and began to laugh.

"Let me go down into the ravine. Let me be your eyes."

Rieuk didn't want to let go of Ormas again, but there was little choice in the matter. With the crystals' song ringing in his head, he observed through Ormas's one good eye the jagged contours of the side of the ravine as the hawk flew downward, fighting against the sudden gusts of wind.