Krull. Part 18

There was no mistaking the resolve in Colwyn's voice. Knowing that at last they sat in sight of Lyssa's prison had revitalized him.

"We're going to get a lot closer to it. Closer than even madmen dream of getting." He glanced at the sky. "And quickly. It's almost sunrise." He led the charge toward the Fortress.

They spread out, combing the slick surface, having trouble keeping their footing on the gla.s.sy substance. Colwyn couldn't help but admire the construction.

It was as smooth as the blade of a good sword and showed little sign of wear.

"Solid rock," Torquil groused, "or solid something, anyway. Might as well be rock. Not even a crack where an ant could force an entry. And steep enough to give a mountain goat pause." He eyed Colwyn, his gaze dropping significantly to the glaive slung at the prince's belt. Colwyn noted the glance and his hand went to the weapon.

For a moment he considered using if.

Then he loosened his grip and shook his head. "No, not yet. It's not the right time. Ynyr warned me not to waste its power.''

"You'll have no chance to use it if we. can't get inside."

"We'll get in," Colwyn a.s.sured him. "We haven't come this far to be stopped at the last moment by the absence of a door."

"How will we get in? Even if we can find a door, what makes you think it will open from the outside?"

"We must find a door." He looked upward at the towering walls that rose toward the rapidly lightening sky. "And soon."

"Colwyn, watch out!" Oswyn yelled.

Above, a gap had opened in the side of the Fortress. Colwyn ducked just in time to avoid a blast of energy from the spear of a white Slayer. Other bursts struck all around him. Torquil huddled behind a dark protrusion. If they could just get within ax range of the Slayer...

Then another portal opened where none existed a moment before, and still another. The Slayers would step into the opening and attack, then retreat to the safety of the Fortress's innards. On open ground the men would have charged, but here they could barely cling like lice to the steep side of the Fortress.

Colwyn leaned out, tried to locate the nearest opening. "We've got to get inside!" he muttered loudly. He waited until the Slayer stationed above had used his spear and withdrawn, then started upward.

But another appeared farther to the left and sent a stream of death toward Colwyn. He ducked, and lost his footing on the slick surface.

"Colwyn!" Torquil yelled. He reached out, and a blast of fire from above nearly severed his arm at the shoulder.73 But a thick-fingered, powerful hand had Colwyn by the shirt, pulling him to safety. An instant later the stocky, slow-witted thief staggered as he took the full force of a Slayer's spear.

"Rhun!" Colwyn shouted. Quickly he pulled the wounded man to shelter...too late. "Rhun. A foolish act for a man who thought this adventure useless."

The heavyset thief was breathing hard. He looked up at Colwyn, too stunned to feel the pain. "I was wrong. The journey was worthwhile. Finish it for me."

His eyes closed and there was no more hard breathing. Torquil had worked his way across to squat alongside. "A brave man, good fighter. A little slow up here"-he tapped his head-"a lot bigger down here." His fingers touched his chest.

Gently Colwyn set him aside, his teeth clenched in anger and frustration as he looked upward. "We can't sit here like this. We have to charge them."

Torquil shook his head. "They'll pick us off as soon as we stand. We have to keep to cover or we'll end up like Rhun."

"We've no choice." Colwyn pointed skyward. "Soon the Fortress will move. If we're trapped out here when that happens we'll probably die anyway."

Again Torquil's gaze fell to the glaive secured at Colwyn's belt. It wasn't time, Colwyn knew. It wasn't time. But they were running out of options. His hand dropped to the ancient weapon, felt of the cold metal, the power there.

"Wait," Torquil told him. He was looking out across the plain, back the way they'd come, away from the Fortress. "Look there."

A line of smoke and fire was coming toward them. Colwyn frowned. Slayers coming to trap them? He squinted in the still uncertain light. But it was Ergo who first made out the strange trident outlined against the Eastern horizon.

"Rell!" He stood up, nearly lost his thoughtless head to a Slayer spear.

"Stay down!" Colwyn ordered him. He sat and stared in wonder as the cyclops reined in at the base of the Fortress and began climbing toward them. The giant did not speak, did not pause, but continued climbing past the pinioned men, toward the first of the openings in the Fortress wall.

A burst from a spear struck him, then a second. He shook but never slowed, staggered slightly but did not loose his grip.

"He's shielding us," Torquil murmured, watching in admiration as the cyclops continued his relentless climb.

Colwyn stood. "Follow him! For your lives!"

Rell was at the entrance to the Fortress now. Another burst from a spear struck him even as he lowered the ma.s.sive trident and charged forward. The nearest Slayer hardly had time to scream as it died a tri-p.r.o.nged death.

There was a new sound, a slow ponderous rumbling from somewhere within. The entrance began to close around Rell. Arms the size of small trees shot sideways.

Even Rell could not stop the walls from closing, but he slowed them, even as fresh Slayers appeared to strike him again and again.

Torquil and Kegan were the first to slip inside beneath those straining arms, and the two Slayers perished under their weapons. The others followed, with Colwyn the last inside.

But while the walls still stood far enough apart to admit a normal man, they had closed too tightly for Rell to escape. He stood straining, but his strength was at an end.

"Torquil!" Colwyn shouted. "Brace your ax in the opening!"

The thief tried, but the blade twisted and groaned against the walls. "No good... there isn't enough room to get the blade in sideways."

"No use," said Rell. "This is my time. Remember, Colwyn. Each to his fate."

The last of his strength vanished and as it did so, the walls closed in on him with a rush. Colwyn and Torquil backed away, staring, helpless.

Behind them the others were also watching, but t.i.tch was the only one who spoke. "He opposed it, and he died in great pain, just as he said would happen. I wish I could be so brave."

"So do we all," said Ergo, putting an arm around the boy. "But we're all not like Rell."

Fire exploded behind them and they rushed to deal with the fresh group of Slayers who appeared in the corridor beyond. There was no more time for regrets, nor would Rell have wanted them.

Ahead, the corridor suddenly opened into a vast chamber. Beyond lay a narrow74 bridge guarded by Slayers. Ignoring the abyss beneath, the men rushed onward. One caught a blast in the chest and died long before he reached the bottom of the chasm.

But they cleared the far end of the bridge, only to find themselves slowing as they entered still another pa.s.sageway. A few steps farther brought them to an intersection.

Torquil looked right, then left. The side corridor was indistinguishable from the one they were in.

"Which way? Both look alike to me."

Colwyn took a step forward. "Straight on, as we've been going."

"How do you know that's right?" Bardolph frowned at the juncture. "How can you tell direction in this place? There's nothing to judge by."

Colwyn didn't hesitate, stepped confidently forward. "I don't know how I know, but I know." He nodded ahead. "It's this way."

"Then perhaps we should go another way," Ergo put in, but his jest pa.s.sed unappreciated. No one was in a very jocular mood.

Concentrating on the path ahead, none thought to check the small side recesses that pockmarked the tunnel. So no one saw the Slayer that stepped out of the darkness to heave a spear at Torquil's back. No one except Kegan, who moved fast while trying to shout a warning.

"Torquil! Look ou-!"

The spear took him in the side and the Slayer came after it. Oswyn cut him down, continuing to hack at the motionless body long after the life had fled from it.

Torquil bent over the wounded Kegan, inspecting the injury. Bitterly he saw there was no reason to remove the spear.

"That was stupid," he said through clenched teeth.

"I... I agree," Kegan said dully. "Looks like my traveling days are over, my friend." His back arched spasmodically, his eyes wide. "That hurts. A just end to a frivolous life, though I wish it had come outside under the clean sky. This is no place to be buried."

"Don't worry," Torquil muttered. "We'll get you out of here."

"Doesn't matter. Don't waste the time. Here's where I fell and I guess here's where I'll stay. Tell... tell Merith I loved her. Tell her she was my favorite. And tell Lona I loved her, and she was my favorite." He winced, then the old smile returned. "You understand."

Torquil nodded. "I understand."

A little sigh escaped Kegan's lips. "I did love them all, you know." A second sigh, then stillness.

"I know," Torquil said softly. Gently he pa.s.sed a hand over the staring eyes, closing them. Better a good man should look inward for eternity than at the walls enclosing them.

Colwyn stood silently behind the bandit leader. It was not his place to comment.

Finally Torquil stood. His expression was grim, resolved. "He knew the risks and accepted them of his own free will. So do we. So do we all."

"A few must die so that many may live," said Oswyn. "The old man said that one night. I heard him, but I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with him,"

"If we are those few ..." Bardoloh "Then so be it," Ergo finished for him. Besides, he told himself resignedly, we are committed. But somehow the sarcasm rang hollow. A vague sense of purpose had driven them to accompany Colwyn on his quest. Now something powerful gripped them all, even he who'd never been one to volunteer for desperate causes. Kegan's death underlined what they'd already accomplished, as well as hinting at what they might yet achieve.

Glory and greatness are such abstracts, Ergo mused, until circ.u.mstances make them real.

"Lead on," Torquil told his king.

No more deadly surprises waited to greet them. No matter how brightly lit or inviting the intersecting corridors appeared, none swayed Colwyn from his chosen course.

So intent were they on the dangers that might a.s.sail them from the side or above, however, that no one noticed the hairline crack in the floor ahead.

It opened noisily and fast, the sound warning them barely in time. Whether their footsteps or an unseen hand had triggered it, none could say. Not that it75 mattered. The slick, rounded corridor sent them tumbling downward, scrambling for a handhold.

Torquil, Colwyn, and Bardolph barely managed to hold on to the edge of the opening. Colwyn was the first back on his feet, followed by the agile Oswyn, with Torquil a step behind. Together they helped the frantic Bardolph, then all turned to peer into the narrow gap.

There was light below, and not far below, at that.

"Ergo! t.i.tch!" Colwyn shouted downward.

Below, Ergo was already examining their prison. t.i.tch had landed hard and was a little slower to rise. The light was dimmer than in the corridor above, but they could still see clearly.

"We're here," Ergo replied.

"All right?"

"Except for bruises and b.u.mps." He glanced over at t.i.tch. The boy nodded once as he gingerly felt of his backside. "I'd guess we're about ten feet below you." He examined the smooth, curving walls. "I can't find a handhold big enough for a gnat. We're in another tunnel. It's very narrow."

Torquil bent over the gap and yelled down. "You're sure there's no way to climb up?"

"Only for a bird," Ergo told him.

t.i.tch moved to stand closer to his friend, staring upward.

"Throw us a rope," Ergo shouted.

Torquil turned and began rummaging through his rucksack. The coil he produced was thin.

Colwyn eyed it uneasily. "Doesn't look very strong."

"It'll hold them if they come up one at a time." Torquil sounded confident.

"I know. I've had occasion to use it when plying my trade. A man should know his tools." He thought a moment, added, "My old trade, of course."

Colwyn turned his face away so that the bandit leader would not see his grin. "I guess even a rope can redeem itself. Hand me the line and brace it."

Torquil nodded, wrapped a section of the rope around his waist, and handed one end to Bardolph while Colwyn played out the other over the edge of the gap. The two thieves steadied themselves.

Ergo's eyes were on the rope, but t.i.tch saw something out of the corner of an eye, shouted a warning. "Slayers!" He pointed up the narrow tunnel.

Colwyn tried to see below, bending over, but the twists and turns in the floor hid the approaching danger. Immediately he looped the rope around his waist, tightened it.

"I'm going down."

"Why risk all we've gained if-" Bardolph began, but Colwyn eyed him so coldly the man went silent.

"I'm going down," Colwyn repeated, "and now! Torquil, be ready to bring us up at the signal."

Torquil leaned backward, clenched his teeth. "Say the word and I'll have you out like a moonbeam."

"Right. Easy now." He stepped over the edge and started to let himself down.

He was suspended halfway between upper and lower pa.s.sage when a deep rumbling sounded from all around and the gap began to close as quickly and unexpectedly as it had opened. Torquil didn't wait for orders, nor was there time to discuss the matter.

"Up! Pull him up!"

Despite the combined strength, Colwyn's ankles barely cleared the opening before it shut tight beneath them, forming a solid, unbroken floor beneath their feet once more.

Colwyn sat back, staring grimly at the crack that mocked them. t.i.tch and Ergo were trapped somewhere below ... with Slayers. He kicked at the surface in frustration. Not even Rell could have pried that ma.s.s apart.

A hand touched him and he stared up at Torquil. The thief's expression was set. "They chose. We all chose."