The Pearl Saga - Mistress of the Pearl Part 3

No one came here but her. No one knew of this place but her.

She was absolutely alone. . . .

She opened her eyes and gasped. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest.

"What is it?" The concern on Giyan's face deepened. "Ah, I know. It must be so hard seeing yourself like that."

Riane said with a lump in her throat, "Yes, it's difficult and disquieting. At times I feel as if I am broken in two, cut off, being driven insane. But why should I think of those things? Look what I have become.

What I want, Giyan. I long for arduous quests, dark days, facing down evil.""That is the V'ornn in you talking, Teyjattt. The Annon I remember, that I raised from an infant. Your Kundalan warrior hearts still beat strong. Had I the power to turn back time-"

"Please don't." Giyan's anguish was like a stone in her heart.

"In order to save your life I put your essence into the body of this dying Kundalan girl." Giyan's voice dropped to a whisper. "What else could I have done?"

"You did what you had to do. I would not be alive if you hadn't. I say that for Annon and Riane. You saved us both." Riane reached out. "Giyan, I feel closer to you than I did to my own mother. This is what had to be."

What had to be, Giyan thought. Of course. I fell in love with Eleusis Ashera. It had to be. I secretly bore him a son named Annon. It had to be. I pa.s.sed on my Gift to him. It had to be. And now I cannot bear to tell my beloved child the truth for fear he will hate me forever for lying to him.

They needed, both of them, to return to the present. "What did you see, Teyjattt?" Using the affectionate name she had called Annon when he was a small child restored her inner equilibrium. The life of her child was so precious to her that Giyan would have gladly died that instant if it a.s.sured her safety.

"Another fragment of Riane's life?" The original Riane had lost her memory in a fall. "Tell me what happened."

Riane stared again into the mirror. Her reflection wavered, dissipating like breath on a frosty day. An instant of sheer whiteness and then . . . She spoke to Giyan, describing everything as she traveled the pink-gravel courtyard in the shadow of the Great Rift high in the Djenn Marre. The twin fountains of MEMORY and OBLIVION were at her back, and she was moving farther down the black-basalt path.

On the far side of the courtyard lay a long, low, symmetrical building with a roof that curved up on either end, covered in celadon-colored tiles. It was the most beautiful structure she had ever seen. She crossed the sea of gravel on the basalt path and entered the building. It was cool and calm inside. She could hear the echo of her boot soles against the green-marble floor.

She was in a central vestibule. It was cubic; light was diffuse, neither too bright nor too dim. On either side stretched interminable corridors down which sound-dampening runners had been laid, but the floor of the vestibule itself was bare. In the center of the stone flagging was set a mosaic medallion depicting the face of a male with a flaming red beard. The corners of his blue eyes were crinkled, and he seemed to be smiling at her. He was so familiar she was on the verge of saying his name, but she could not remember it.

OBLIVION.

She moved along the corridors, past door after door. Each one had a bra.s.s plate affixed to it where she knew a rune would be engraved. All the plates were blank, all the rooms were locked.

At the end of the long corridor on her left were two doors, opposite each other. One held the rune for Moon. She opened the door, and there, chapter by chapter, page by page was Utmost Source, the sacred book of Miina she had memorized, carefully arranged in vertical files along the shelves that lined the room.

The door opposite held the rune for Night. She opened the door and there chapter by chapter, page by page was The Book of Recantation, the other sacred book she had memorized.

"So this is Riane's construct," Giyan said, when her child had returned from her vision. "The Riane before you entered her, Teyjattt. It is her memory that is eidetic."

"Ironic, since she can remember her past only in small disa.s.sociated shards."

"The construct allows her to store all the things she wanted to remember in the rooms."

"But so many are marked OBLIVION and are unavailable."

"You will simply have to work on that. There is no easy answer, no quick cure for memory loss. Even sorcery avails us little." Giyan shook her head. "Listen to me, Teyjattt, this female whose body you have inherited is a very special creature. Even though we are ignorant of her origins, we know three very important things about her: she possesses an eidetic memory, she is fluent in Venca, and she is an accomplished mountain climber. My advice is to keep these things in mind as you seek to solve the puzzle of her past.""Could she have been a Ramahan?"

"Doubtful." Giyan shook her head. "I know of no abbey that taught Venca. Even the highest konara of Floating White have no expertise in it."

"She must be Druuge, then."

"That is a possibility, yes. But what would Druuge be doing so high in the Djenn Marre? They have settled in the desert, the Great Voorg."

"But they do travel. All over, if rumors are to be believed."

"I shall have to ask Perrnodt." She held out a hand. "Now show it to me please."

Riane handed over a small milk-white wand.

"So this is the infinity-blade."

"You activate it by pressing the tiny gold disc just there. But it won't work now. When Minnum gave it to me he said there were only two charges left in it. I used them up in the Korrush."

"And it is a goron-particle beam?"

"That is what Minnum told me." Riane took it back. "And he was right. With it I was able to kill Nith Settt."

Giyan frowned. "Where did it come from? It is not V'ornnish technology."

"No. And Minnum had no idea."

"If we had more of these, we could reclaim Kundala."

"It does no good wishing for lightning." She was staring at the wand, rolling it in her hand. "We have no other wands, and this one is now useless. I know of no way to repower it."

Giyan, attuned to her child's emotions, said, "What is it about the infinity-blade, Teyjattt?"

"I don't know." Rolling it back and forth from fingertips to base of thumb. "I could almost believe ..."

She put a hand to her temple, as if she could conjure the memory to life. "The feel of the wand in my hand is so familiar."

"Are you implying that Riane once had use of such a weapon?"

Riane shook her head. "I don't know why it feels right, or how."

"Leave the memory thread alone, and sooner or later it will be sure to surface." Giyan's hand was on her child's shoulder, squeezing rea.s.suringly. "Put it away now, Teyjattt. We have more pressing matters to occupy us. With the archdaemons banished back to the Abyss, the Storehouse Door will now open for you. It is time you returned to your quest for The Pearl."

"I am more than ready."

Giyan nodded. "Let us gather the others and make our plans."

"Quickly, now." Riane leading the way as they strode into the larger cavern. "I have grown weary of this sunless underworld."

At once, darkness became visible. There was a sensation of falling, and Kurgan grew dizzy. In an instant, the greatcoat was pulled aside, like a theater curtain. They were on a narrow gla.s.sy catwalk. All around them loomed vast s.p.a.ce and the throaty thrumming of ma.s.sed engines. It was a sound with which he had become familiar. They were inside the Gyrgon Temple of Mnemonics.

As he followed Nith Na.s.sam down the catwalk, Kurgan could dimly make out other such pathways, so many it seemed as if he was looking at a metropolis of spiderwebs. Presently, the thrumming became a roar, and he saw looming on his left a sphere, gleaming deep bronze. It was so enormous he could make out neither top nor bottom. From an opening a vivid rubicund glow infused the surrounding area, and through the thrumming he could hear the rhythmic beats as of a hammer striking an anvil.

"What is that?" Kurgan craned his neck; but they had pa.s.sed it so quickly he was left with only a fleeting glimpse, compressed like dream memory, of ruddy clouds pa.s.sing with unnatural swiftness over a kind of metallic landscape through which misshapen shadows flickered and darted like wraiths or flames.

Of course, Nith Na.s.sam did not provide an answer, and Kurgan had an uncharacteristically vague feeling of anxiety, as if someone unseen had been probing his innermost organs.Ever pragmatic, he shook off the freakish sensation and returned to the mind-bending task of trying to outwit yet another Gyrgon.

Within moments, they climbed aboard a moving catwalk, which even as it conveyed them forward, swung them horizontally through grey s.p.a.ce. At length, they reached their destination, another enormous sphere. It, as Kurgan guessed, was accessed via a circular hatch, through which Nith Na.s.sam bent, and disappeared. Kurgan hesitated one long breathless instant, then he, too, stepped through.

Thirteen tear-shaped globes spinning in an oval orbit spilled cold purple-blue light onto a lozenge-shaped chamber around which the Gyrgon sphere had been constructed. The original Kundalan murals, as fanciful as they were ornate, covered the walls, which were overgrown with a webwork of fragrant orangesweet vines. This was Nith Batox.x.x's laboratory. Kurgan again pa.s.sed his fingertips over the scar in the hollow of his neck. The last time he had been there it was as the prisoner of Pyphoros.

That was where the slow drip of the archdaemon of daemons' saliva had burned the foul inverted crescent into his flesh.

"You have been here before," Nith Na.s.sam was saying. "Do not bother denying it." He was activating vast holopanels that depended from the ceiling like cool, clear stalact.i.tes. He turned from the softly glowing panels, studying the sharp-edged planes of Kurgan's face before alighting on the predatory night-black eyes. "I would take that as a lesson, if I were you, regent."

There was nothing Kurgan despised more than being spoken to as if he were a child.

"The Comradeship was once of one mind," Kurgan said, seizing the offensive. "It must have come as quite a shock to discover that you had been betrayed by one of your own."

"Nith Batox.x.x was not the true betrayer; Nith Sahor was," Nith Na.s.sam said. "What excuse did Nith Sahor have for embracing Kun-dalan culture?" His thin bluish lips held a sneer. "But then, Stogggul Kurgan, you have had ample experience with betrayal. Your hand-picked Star-Admiral, in league with a rogue Line-General, tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate you." The sneer had turned into a smirk. "Have you yet named a successor? The Khagggun cannot for long operate at full efficiency without a supreme commander. What army can?"

Kurgan was beginning to enjoy this. There was nothing like verbal jousting to keep the mind sharp. "It seems I was reckless with my first choice. I am being more circ.u.mspect with this one."

"That is wise. But I wonder whether it will be sufficient. Your father was imprudent in promising the Khagggun Great Caste status. Only resentment and ferment has come of it. The high command grows distracted by the pursuit of ama.s.sing fortunes like you Bashkir while the rank-and-file warriors are resentful of their superiors' growing wealth. In short, your father has put a razor-raptor in among the qwawd."

"And what do you propose for a solution?" Kurgan asked.

"I?" Nith Na.s.sam waved a gloved hand, sending tiny ion arcs spinning. "I am not concerned with such mundane matters. This is a question for the regent to answer."

Kurgan did not for a moment believe him. There was a saying among the Bashkir: What Gyrgon cannot control, they destroy.

"Once the waste chute is open you cannot put the excrement back in," Kurgan said.

"I have heard that said amongst the Khagggun," Nith Na.s.sam replied, without a trace of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Because it has not been debated in Gyrgon convocation does not make it any less true." Kurgan glanced at the shiny surface of the sinister egg-shaped chamber that stood to one side of the laboratory, then studiously ignored it. "My task is to find and train a Khagggun who shares my views, not those of his caste."

His comment seemed to arouse Nith Na.s.sam's interest. "You mean to name as Star-Admiral a Khagggun not currently of the high command?"

"That is precisely what I mean to do."

"Fleet-Admiral Pnin Arduss will not be pleased. Are you prepared for the consequences?"

"I have lived among the Khagggun, Nith Na.s.sam. I know how they think. I know what they will fight for. I know for whom they will die. So, yes, all in all, I would say that I am prepared."

Nith Na.s.sam turned back to the holoscreens, having apparently lost interest. Kurgan, for his part, wa.s.satisfied that at least in the early going of this unorthodox Summoning he had held his own. How well he knew that Gyrgon tended to look upon the Bashkir as slightly wayward children, requiring guidance and, at times, strict discipline to keep them functioning at peak capacity. In order to eke out a modic.u.m of their respect one had to display decisiveness and commitment.

As Nith Na.s.sam's fingers worked the holoscreen a circular door corkscrewed open in the egg-shaped chamber. "Do you know what this is?"

Kurgan shook his head, though he knew very well that it was a goron-wave chamber.

The Gyrgon turned to him. "You know what I found in there, don't you, regent?" He led Kurgan across the laboratory to the sloped edge of the chamber and gestured. "There was a Sarakkonian captain named Courion inside. He was quite dead. His teeth had disintegrated, and his eyeb.a.l.l.s were entirely white. His heart was shriveled to the size of a clemett pip. What killed him was the same thing that killed so many of us at h.e.l.lespennn. Goron particles. This means that Nith Batox.x.x was experimenting with the source of Centophennni weapons. It seems reasonable, then, to a.s.sume that he knew things he chose not to share with the rest of the Comradeship."

"I thought that was impossible," Kurgan said, though he knew perfectly well that Nith Batox.x.x had found a way to go off-line without being detected. "The Comradeship is a kind of hive mind linked through the core databanks, is it not?"

Nith Na.s.sam turned away as if he either had not heard or did not care. He stood staring into Nith Batox.x.x's goron-wave chamber.

As far as the Comradeship was concerned, their sole interest in the Sarakkon was their handling of radioactive substances, techniques they readily shared with the Gyrgon in exchange for being left alone.

The trouble was, the Sarakkon were immune to the radioactive effects of these substances and V'ornn were not. Judging by how Courion had died, however, the Sarakkon were as susceptible to goron particles as V'ornn were.

Nith Batox.x.x had once told Kurgan that in the early days of the occupation the Gyrgon had made selective experiments on Sarakkon, using very few so as not to engender suspicion. But all attempts to discover what it was about the Sarakkon that gave them immunity against radiation proved fruitless, and the experiments were halted.

Then Courion had been bombarded with a goron wave. Curious. What was Nith Batox.x.x up to?

Here was an opportunity, Kurgan knew, to be both bold and brave. And there was every chance that Nith Na.s.sam's anger could be aroused. But Kurgan would never gain the power he sought over the Gyrgon unless he grabbed the opportunity by the throat.

"I have no idea what Nith Batox.x.x wanted with Courion," he lied. "But I am willing to wager that if you allow me time in here, I can come up with the answer."

"Allow you access to a Gyrgon laboratory? You are delusional."

"My knowledge of the Sarakkon exceeds that of any other V'ornn." Kurgan peered into the interior, saw what was left of Courion. He had taken the chance that if Nith Na.s.sam knew all the answers, the Gyrgon would not have bothered bringing him there in the first place. Which meant that something in the lab frightened even Gyrgon. "Besides, Courion was a friend. It is only fitting that you give me a chance to discover the manner of his death."

"You have no friends," Nith Na.s.sam said. "That is known."

"What can I do to convince you of my sincerity?"

"Save the talk of sincerity for those foolish enough to listen."

"You are making a mistake."

"Enough!" The laboratory shuddered to the expression of Nith Na.s.sam's wrath. "You think you can play your scheming games with me? In the performance of your duties, regent, you will say what I tell you to say. You will give the orders I direct you to give. Nothing more, nothing less." The Gyrgon pointed a finger. "I know what you want, Stogggul Kurgan, but let me a.s.sure you that the status of the salamuuun trade is fixed in stone. You cannot have it, and you will not be allowed to steal it."

Full of sudden fury, Kurgan bowed his head. It was at that moment he decided he must find a way to make Nith Na.s.sam eat those words.Reaching the caverns below the regent's palace will be the difficult part; once you are inside the Storehouse you are safe." Giyan rose, handing back the Nawatir's sword. They stood in a circle, the better to bind them to a common purpose. "The guardian of The Pearl is a Ha-goshrin, and the Hagoshrin will be waiting for you, Dar Sala-at." "How will it know me?" Riane asked.

"You will come to the Storehouse Door, you will put your finger through the Ring of Five Dragons and the Door will open. Only the Dar Sala-at can do that."

"And then what?"

"That is unknown," Giyan said. "But trust me when I tell you that the Hagoshrin are unlike any creatures you have ever encountered before. They are loyal, utterly fearless, and unbelievably ferocious.

This is why one was chosen to guard The Pearl. He will tell you only the truth. He cannot lie. And so, in turn, you must speak truthfully to him."

"Now that it's settled," the Nawatir said, "what are we waiting for?"

"You and I must return to the Abbey of Floating White, both to ensure its safety and to help Konara Inggres return its functioning to Miina's original purpose," Giyan said. "I have a feeling that in the coming weeks it will become increasingly important to sh.o.r.e up its defenses." None of the band of outsiders questioned Giyan's intuition. "Besides," she went on, "too many of us skulking around Axis Tyr poses an unacceptable risk. The regent has ten thousand spies. We are bound to be spotted no matter how careful we are."

She turned to Riane. "You will take Thigpen. She will protect you."

"I think I should be the one to go with the Dar Sala-at," Eleana said at once. "I know the secret byways and hidden pa.s.sages of Axis Tyr better than anyone here." She held up a hand at the sound of Giyan's protest. "Better than you, First Mother." Eleana's gaze swung to Riane. "Better even than Annon Ashera ever did."

Giyan and Riane exchanged a quick look.

This is a mistake, Teyjattt, Giyan whispered in Riane's mind.