Lost Empires - Faces Of Deception Part 10

The ogre glanced at Atreus, then growled, "If Atreus wants."

"Good," she said. As she turned to Rishi, the sound of clattering stones beganto echo up through the mist "Do you also promise?"

The Mar glanced toward the sound and said, "Surely it is better for Tarch to diethan all of us."

Seema's eyes grew sad, and she stepped down off the boulder. "I must leaveyou," she said. "I am the one he is looking for, and there will be no more killing if Igo to him."

"Wait" Atreus caught her by the arm, turned to Rishi, and said, "Make the promise. I can't let Seema go by herself, even if there is to be no more killing." Rishi's eyes narrowed. "Good sir, you are a very bad liar," he said. "It is onlySeema that Tarch wishes alive. He will be most happy to kill you... and Yago."

"He will try," said Atreus, "but now that Yago's here, perhaps we can subdue himwithout killing him. Are you sure you want to be the only one trying to kill him*orthe only one left, if we fail?"

Rishi considered this a moment, grew pale, and licked his lips. He turned toSeema. "I promise."

She studied the Mar for several moments. The clattering below continued togrow louder, but it was impossible to tell how close Tarch was. Atreus had learnedduring his sea crossing that everything sounded different in fog, and the only thing he could see below was Yago's heavy breath swirling the vapor.

After a time, Seema nodded to Rishi and said, "I will take you at your word, but ifyou are lying to me....""I'll be responsible for him," Atreus a.s.sured her, casting a warning glance at the Mar. I'm sure he won't give me reason to regret it" "Never! I am being most honest arid truthful," Rishi said, turning up the couloir.

"Now may we please hurry?"

Seema caught the Mar by the arm and said, "Not that way."

She motioned toward the couloir's rocky wall, then looked down the slope.

"Tarch," she called, "you must take shelter again. We have found a loose boulder!"

She caught Yago's eye and pointed to the boulder upon which she had been standing. The ogre grinned and pa.s.sed the supply bundle to Atreus. Wrapping hisgangling arms around the stone, he heaved it into the fog. The rock landed with a resounding crash and began to bound down the slope. Soon the rumble of ama.s.sive rockslide was reverberating up the couloir.

"Follow me."

Seema's voice was barely audible over the clamor of the falling rocks. She turned to the couloir wall and slipped her hands into a crevice, then scrambled upthe twenty-foot cliff in a few quick moves. Atreus could not help feeling sheepish.Seema was the rescuer now. She probably knew a thousand ways to evade Tarch, and none of them involved fighting.

With the clatter of the rockslide still masking their escape, Yago boostedRishi up, then scrambled up the wall himself. Atreus tossed the supply bundle tothe ogre and brought up the rear. Soon they were crossing the face of a rockycrag. Although the outcropping was not much steeper than the couloir, it feltimmeasurably more dangerous, with the mist-slickened rock dropping away into bottomless fog and nothing but white cloud at their backs.

Seema sauntered along the crag as though it were a balcony walkway, barelytouching its stony face with her uphill hand. Rishi and Atreus faced the rock andinched along sideways, keeping both hands on the stone at all times. Yago turned away from the outcropping and leaned back against it, crawling along likea back-jointed spider and holding the supply bundle in one hand. It was not long before a nervous rumble began to reverberate from his chest "Yago, do you think it would be easier if you turned around?" Atreus askedsoftly. "That way you can see the rock."

"I can feel the rock." Yago's deep whisper cut through the fog like a hissing wind. Fortunately, the rockslide was still clattering to a halt back in the couloir, soit seemed unlikely Tarch would hear. "If I fall, I want to see where I'm going."

Atreus sighed and reached out Knowing it would do no good to argue, he said,"Let me carry the supplies. We don't want to lose them if you fall."Yago refused to yield the bundle. "Keep your hands on the rock!" the ogre said too loudly. "You'll fall." "Our lives depend on our silence," Seema hissed. She stretched a hand pastRishi, then added, "I will not fall. Pa.s.s me the supplies."

Yago scowled but quietly pa.s.sed the bundle forward. They continued acrossthe outcropping and the sound of the rockslide died away behind them. A short time later, they heard Tarch in the couloir, his feet kicking stones and gravel downthe gully as he climbed past They all breathed a little easier, and it was not long beforethey began to hear a steady roar echoing up through the fog. Guessing that thiswould be the waterfall he had seen that morning, Atreus began to keep a watchfor the hanging glacier.

He almost didn't recognize it when they reached it The rocky crag simply ended,as though they had come to the edge of the mountain itself. Seeing nothing but grayhaze beyond, Atreus expected Seema to climb around the corner and continue on.Instead, she stepped down off the-outcropping and seemed to simply hover in thefog.

Rishi stopped and peered over the edge, his mouth gaping in astonishment."What are you standing on?"

"Snow, of course. Come along." Seema reached out with her freehand and warned,"Be very careful of your footing. This glacier is more dangerous than the hillside wehave been crossing. It is very steep, and you do not want to slide off the bottom. It-is along plunge down to the swamp."

Rishi allowed her to help him down, and to Atreus they appeared to be floating inthe fog. She turned and started to angle up the glacier it looked as though she wereclimbing the cloud into the heavens themselves.

"Be careful to step only where I step," Seema said, looking back over her shoulder."Glaciers are full of hidden perils. It is easy to fall into a creva.s.se or drop into the melt water underneath,"

Yago peered over the edge of the cliff into the gray haze, then looked back to Atreusand said, "I don't see no snow. Let's go another way."

Atreus gave Yago a gentle push, "One foot at a time," he whispered, mindful of the ogre's pride. "We're going in the right direction. These are the High "Yehimals, and.Langdarma is somewhere up there."

"According to those bird scratches on your map?" sneered Yago dubiously.

Despite his doubts, the ogre gingerly lowered himself over the edge. When his foot finally touched the snow, he smiled and stepped away from the crag. In theflat light, Atreus still could not tell the snow from the fog. It looked as though even anogre could walk on air.

Atreus lowered himself over the edge and started up the glacier after his companions. The climbing quickly grew steep and fatiguing, with Seema zigzagging back and forth so sharply that they seemed to take four steps to advance one pace uphill. Sometimes, Atreus could see her reason for swerving.From time to time they would encounter a looming tower of ice*what Seemacalled a serac*that seemed ready to topple over, or an abyssal creva.s.se so narrow and snow-choked it was almost invisible. Other times, it was more difficult to tell what she was avoiding. Here and there a small furrow marked a buried creva.s.se,or a faint gurgling showed only her where a snow-covered pit opened into theriver of melt water beneath the glacier. She gave any rock a wide berth, for stonescollected heat when the sun was out and melted treacherous holes around themselves, and she always avoided exposed ice. On such a sheer slope, even atiny slip could mean plunging into a deep creva.s.se or slamming into a serac.

The steep climb aggravated Rishi's leg wound. He fell back to the end of theline, and soon Yago was hauling the Mar on his back. Atreus followed close behindSeema, carrying the supply bundle over his shoulder so her hands would befree in case she ran into trouble route-finding. After a time they came to a highice cliff and began to traverse along the base, looking for a way around. Atreus finally caught his breath enough to start a conversation.

There hasn't been time to thank you for staying with Rishi and me."

"You and your servant were in poor health when Tarch pulled you from theriver." As she spoke, Seema continued along the ice cliff, peering into the whitefog ahead. "I wanted to be certain you would recover."

"Still, it was kind of you not to leave with your people," said Atreus. "At the moment, my resources are limited, but if there is anything I can do to repay you. .."

Seema stopped and turned, looking up into Atreus's pouchy eyes. "If youkeep your promise," she said, "that will be enough. Besides, the others were not'my people.' They are from Gyatse and Yamdruk. I come from much higher."

The names caused Atreus's heart to leap into his throat Both places were onhis map, and Yamdruk was no more than six valleys from Langdarma.

Seema started forward again, casting a wary eye on the cliff above their heads.Atreus followed along, trying to quell his growing excitement and avoid alarminghis beautiful guide. Given her anger over the dead slavers, he was far from certain she would be eager to help him find Langdarma, especially if that happenedto be the high place from which she came.

Atreus took a deep breath, then tried to sound casual as he asked, "If you aren'tfrom Yamdruk or Gyatse, how did you come to be captured with their people?""I needed yellow man's beard," she explained. "They do not grow in my home,so I came down to search for ft."

Atreus frowned and, confused, asked, "Do you mean you have no men in yourhome?" Perhaps she came from some sort of devotional order that allowed onlywomen. "Or that your men have no beards?"

"We have men! What kind of place has no men?" she laughed. It was a light,happy sound that chimed off the ice cliff and sang away into the fog. "We do not have hemlock trees, and they are where yellow man's beard grows. It is a moss good for curing black-belly fever."

"So Tarch captured you in Yamdruk?"

It was a hopeful guess. On his map, Yamdruk was closer to, Langdarma than Gyatse. Seema grew quiet, then said, "He caught me near Yamdruk, yes. But my people do not make a habit of visiting others.""Perhaps you will allow me to repay your kindness by going to Yamdruk andcollecting some yellow man's beard for you?"Seema glanced over her shoulder warily, then shook her head saying, "The child is long dead. Black-belly fever kills quickly, and I have been gone for weeks."Atreus could not tell whether her tone was suspicious or sad. "I am sorry to hearthat," he said.

Seema was careful not to turn around.

"Yes, so am I"

They reached the edge of the ice cliff and began to pick their way up a jumble oftoppled seracs, pausing every now and then to offer Yago a steadying hand. Asthey climbed, the fog began to thin. The wind came up, the temperature dropped,and the glacier came alive with silver light and blue shadows. They cut holes in their extra blankets and wore them over their shoulders like tunics, but this did nothing toprotect their fingers and noses from the biting cold.

At last they crested the slope and found themselves looking across a vast crinkledplain of ice, bulging with pressure ridges and furrowed with concentric rings ofcreva.s.ses. Here and there, pyramids of granite jutted up through the ice in theinterior, while long curving glaciers swept like spider arms down into the canyons along the edges. Scattered along the rim, scratching at a cobalt sky with pinnacles as sharp and gleaming as sword tips, were the impossibly high peaks Atreushad seen from the far side of the swamp. And there, almost directly across the icefield, were three bell-shaped spires. The Sisters of Serenity.

The crash of a tumbling serac rumbled up the glacier behind them. Atreus cast a wary took down the slope but saw only the billowing white clouds through which they had just ascended.

"Probably just an avalanche," he said.

"Just an avalanche," agreed Yago.

Rishi rolled his eyes and shook his head, and neither Atreus nor Yago lookedaway until Seema pointed toward a small glacier on the left.

"That leads to Gyatse. I will see you safely down to the valley, then return to my own home."

Atreus shook his head and told her, "We're not going to Gyatse."

He could feel that it was a bad time to broach the subject, but he did not want towaste any steps going in the wrong direction, especially not with the Sisters OfSerenity in plain sight and Tarch on their trail.

He pointed across the ice field toward the three mountains and said, "That iswhere we're going." Seema did not look as surprised as Atreus expected. "TheSisters?" she asked. "There is nothing but ice and rock there. Why would youwant to go there?"

Atreus's reply was frank. "To find Langdarma."

Seema regarded him with a combination of wariness and pity, then pursed herlips and took his forearm. "What is it you are looking for in Langdarma?" she askedquietly.

A sense of profound relief filled Atreus. "Beauty," he answered. "I have beentold I will become handsome there." Seema's eyes grew gla.s.sy. "You have journeyed all this way for nothing," shesaid simply. "You cannot find beauty in Langdarma. It is a myth, just as is Ysdar."

She touched his heart, "It exists here," then reached up to touch his face, "nothere."

Atreus caught her hand. "Don't. I know what you're doing. I've seen it all my life. You think an ugly man has no business in Langdarma." He withdrew Sune's map, unfolded it, and pointed at the valley beneath the Sisters of Serenityand said, "I know about Langdarma. There's no use lying to me, so please don't"

A clatter echoed up from me clouds below.

Rishi shifted uncomfortably on Yago's back and glanced down the glacier. "Thatwas no avalanche!" he called.

Seema ignored him and examined Atreus's map. "Someone is lying to you, but itis not me," she said, shaking her head sadly. "You cannot go to Langdarma. It is astate of being, not a place, and no man with a murderous heart may find it. I amsorry. More sorry than you can know."

"This was given to me by Sune herself." Atreus insisted and shook the map inher face. "Who do you expect me to believe... my G.o.ddess, or you?"

Seema's gaze grew stony.

"I do not know this Sune of yours, but I do know the Yehimals. There is no Langdarma. I will take you to the Sisters of Serenity, and you will see for yourselfthat there is no valley there."

Chapter 10.

A two-day crust of ice clung to Atreus's bushy eyebrows, numbing cold and soheavy it pushed his lids-down over his eyes. He was half blind with snow glareanyway, so it hardly mattered. Even with wide open eyes, the Sisters of Serenitywould have looked much the same. They were three craggy white bells silhouetted against an azure sky, so high they loomed over Atreus and his companions, even miles away, standing at the precipitous brink of the vast plain of ice they had just crossed.

A hundred feet below, a snow-blanketed glacier swept away almost vertically,spilling into the broad valley that separated them from their destination. There itjoined a jumbled blue cascade of ice blocks curving down from a second glacierbeneath the Sisters of Serenity. The two flows became one and continued down the valley, creating yet another glacier, this one more than a mile wide and as longas a river.

Seema pointed at the huge glacier and said, There is your Langdarma."

Atreus stared down at the ice without responding. Unlike the smaller glaciers feeding it, this one looked almost smooth, with a long stripe of rock and gravelrunning down its center. The tine marked the seam between the smaller glacierswhere the two edges came together full of rock and gravel torn from mountainsides. The dark stripe looked almost painted on, as if some G.o.d hadthought a dirty streak just the thing to bring out the pearly crispness of the ice and snow.

After a time, Yago said, "It's not what I expected." The ogre rubbed his stubbled chin and added, "But there's beauty in it I can see that""Maybe, but not the kind of beauty we're looking for," said Atreus. "Sune is no fan of starkness."

He opened his map and studied the area around the Sisters of Serenity. According to the chart Langdarma lay in the broad valley directly below, but aladder symbol beneath the three Sisters suggested the entrance might lie at thebase of the middle one.

"You see?" said Seema. There is nothing but ice here."

"I am so sorry for the good sir. To come all this way, and for nothing," said Rishi.He packed a s...o...b..ll and hurled it off the icy cliff. The orb fell far short of the valley and disappeared onto the glacier below. "Langdarma is only a fable after all."

"Fables are as real as mountains," Seema said, "but you must look for them inyour heart"

That is certainly a small consolation to a man who has journeyed so far insuch desperate hope," Rishi replied, squinting back across the ice field, scanning the white glare for the dark, distant figure that had been hounding their trail across the ice field. "At least we are fortunate in our timing. Tarch is nowhere insight If we hurry, we can certainly circle around him and be on our way beforethat tailed devil realizes we have turned around."

"Yamdruk is only a day's walk from here," said Seema. "I will take you there before continuing home."

When Atreus said nothing, Rishi laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I willhelp you sneak back down the river and perhaps recover the gold, so that thisjourney will not ruin your fortune as well."

Atreus shook the Mar's hand off. "And perhaps Yago and I will meet an unfortunate accident" he said harshly, "leaving you with enough gold to drown a yak?"

Rishi put on a hurt face and stepped back. "I am only thinking of the good sir," hesaid. "I would certainly be content with any reward he might generously grant for myhumble services."

"Your reward will have to wait." Atreus raised his map, shook it gently in the air, and said, "This came from Sune herself. She would not have given it to me if there isnothing here."

"This Sune is your G.o.ddess?" asked Seema.

"The G.o.ddess of love and beauty," Atreus said, nodding.

Seema's eyes lit with sudden comprehension. "Then you are a blessed man who has already found Langdarma," She told him, stepping back to look Atreus up anddown, seeming to regard him in a new light. "Is it not said that the G.o.ds appear only tothose who already see them? Surely, she gave you the map to show you that youhave been looking in the wrong place."

"Sune?" Yago scoffed. "That fickle b.i.t.c.h?"

"Yago!"

"I say what I see," the ogre grumbled. "That's my duty. Likely as not she gave youthe map just to get you out of the temple. You know how them celebrants were alwayscomplaining about that ugly face of yours."

"Yes." Atreus could not keep the pain out of his voice. "I do."

"Oh, by the Blood Queen! You don't have to be so touchy." Despite his words, Yago's orange face darkened to crimson. "It's not like how you look is your fault... and I'dfightwith youonmyleftanyday."This was the highest compliment a Shield-breaker could pay. Atreus grasped his friend's huge arm.

"I know you would, Yago, and I'd be honored." Atreus glanced across the valleytoward the jumbled glacier beneath the Sisters of Serenity and said, "That's why Imust ask you to cross one last valley with me."

The ogre nodded. "I'd smash your head if we didn't. We've come this far, so we'd better see it through to the end."

*What?* Seema*s objection came too quickly *I mean to say, what about Tarch? He will follow us__*

Atreus turned to her with a raised brow. "Why should / that matter? There's nothingbut ice and snow down there." He paused a moment, then added, "Or is... ?"

"No, no ... only ice and snow." Again, Seema's response came too quickly. "Whatelse could there be? We are in the Wild Lands now. I am only afraid that the devil willforce us to flee down the valley. We will be lost."

"Really?" Atreus smirked, more convinced than ever that the key to finding Langdarma lay in the glaciers below. "You are trying to protect something, but I don't think it is us."

"Perhaps the good sir should consider the evidence before his eyes!" Rishi sounded almost panicked. "Even Yago thinks your friends were only playing a trick,and it will be much safer for everyone to turn back now."