Trillium - Sky Trillium Part 14

"What are we to do?" old Ralabun wailed. "Look! One of the Companions has gone down. Oh, no! The savages are hacking him to pieces!"

"You must do exactly as I say." The Prince was all at once full of stern resolution. "Go off the trail to the left, creep downhill, and make your way to the crag near the waterfalls. Get up on it, then begin flinging rocks down on the Glismak with all your strength. Screech as though you were a phantom from the Th.o.r.n.y h.e.l.l. It will distract the fiends and perhaps help frighten them away. Meanwhile, I will do what I can with the talismans."

"But-"

"Hasten!" the Prince hissed. He set off slipping and sliding down the trail, drawing the Three-Lobed Burning Eye. When he reached the clearing and could see the battle partic.i.p.ants distinctly, he halted, dropping to one knee. Holding the talisman by its blunt-edged blade, he pointed the hilt at the tallest of the three Glismak a.s.sailing the fallen knight.

In his mind, the boy saw this heinous creature burnt to ashes. He said: "Burning Eye, slay him."

The three orbs forming the sword's pommel split open, revealing eyes that stared at the giant Glismak. From the human eye shot a golden beam, and from the Folk eye a ray of green, and from the silvery eye of the Vanished Ones a beam of searing white. The body of the savage warrior was enveloped in tricolored radiance. In an instant his flesh was consumed, and then the glowing bones also vanished, leaving only a splash of gray resembling wet ashes on the muddy ground. The other attackers drew back, stunned. Their intended victim still lived, for the knight hauled himself to a sitting position, unrecognizable for the gore that covered him, and regarded the ashes with wonderment.

The Prince was also amazed that the new talisman had so readily obeyed him. A fierce jubilation welled up in his heart. He pointed the Burning Eye at the other two Glismak, who still stood near the downed Companion as though paralyzed, and incinerated them also with magical lightning.

The rest of the cannibals set up a furious clamor, shouting one to the other in their guttural language. They began to flee, and inside of a few moments all were gone into the forest. Tolivar, standing invisible at the edge of the clearing, could not help but utter a shout of triumph.

"Who's there?" cried Sir Edinar. He and the brothers Kalepo and Melpotis were the only Companions left on their feet. The three of them had many wounds, but none were mortal.

"It is some sorcerer come to our aid," said the knight hunched on the ground, who then groaned in agony and fell limp. By his voice the Prince identified Sir Sainlat, bleeding in a dozen places. One of his feet had been hacked from his leg by a Glismak axe, and blood spurted forth like a small scarlet fountain.

Tolivar hurried to him. Touching the coronet on his head with two fingers, he closed his eyes and saw Sainlat in his imagination, tall and strong as he had been that morning setting off from the flatboat. "Talisman," he whispered, "let him be so."

Sainlat's body was enveloped in soft green light. The burly knight stirred and sat up. His face was unbloodied and stupefaction caused his mouth to sag, for all traces of his injuries had vanished. Even his armor and garments were clean and undamaged.

"Sacred Flower!" Edinar cried. He ran to his restored Companion, followed by Melpotis and Kalepo, and the three of them pulled Sainlat to his feet and began to laugh and pound him on the back. As this went on, the Prince commanded the Three-Headed Monster to heal the others. A triple pulse of emerald light announced the accomplishment of the magic, leaving the transformed knights numb with shock and delight.

"O Wizard, come forth and accept our thanks!" Kalepo managed to say.

Tolivar spoke in a disguised croak. "Where are the others? Where is the Lady of the Eyes?"

"Did you hear?" Sainlat exclaimed. "He's somewhere close by!"

The Companions began to gabble all at once until Tolivar cried out, "Edinar, answer me!"

The young knight controlled himself. "Unseen Wizard, the Lady of the Eyes has pa.s.sed through a viaduct-we hope into the land of the Star Men-and promised to return to us anon. Sir Bafrik fell gravely wounded into yon pool and I fear he is dead. As to the Nyssomu Jagun, I know not where he may be. I have not laid eyes on him since the Glismak savages sprang upon us. But who are you? Are you one of the Vispi servants of the White Lady? The invisible Eyes in the Mist?"

The Prince silently asked the coronet: Is Bafrik alive?

No, said the voice in his head. He has pa.s.sed safely beyond and his body has floated some distance downstream.

Where is Jagun?

At this moment he stands at the brink of a namp's pit, halfway up the hill to your left, wondering who it is that the beast has just now devoured.

"A namp!" the Prince wailed aloud. "No! Oh, no!" And he dashed away, crashing through undergrowth and tripping over concealed rocks. The four knights saw the disturbance he made in the vegetation and followed after, giving voice to their mystification.

Within a few minutes Tolivar caught sight of Jagun, who was staring somberly into a ragged-edged cavity in the ground that measured some two ells in diameter. Obviously, it had once been roofed over with thin saplings, dead leaves, and other trash from the forest floor to mask its presence. Something-or someone- had broken through the flimsy covering and tumbled in.

"Burning Eye, bring him out safely!" the Prince shrieked. "Oh, please! Rescue Ralabun!"

The request is impertinent.

The invisible boy fell to his knees at the brink of the hole opposite Jagun and looked down. The pit was full of shadows; but there, half buried in soil and duff, was a gigantic shape that almost filled the bottom. It resembled a bloated bald head, having two saucer-sized bright blue eyes that looked up from between wrinkled lids. The namp shifted and seemed to smile, revealing a huge mouth that stretched from one side of its head to the other. Very short limbs with twiglike digits sprang from the place where the creature's ears might have been.

"Did-did this vile beast take Ralabun?" the Prince inquired of the talisman in a quavering voice.

Yes.

Tolivar burst into tears. "Oh, no! My poor old friend! If only you had been more proficient in wilderness ways... if only I had not sent you off the trail! Now you are gone and no magic can bring you back."

Jagun was frowning, his gaze fixed on the place where the unseen lad's weight had compressed the forest detritus. The Oathed Companions had come up and were casting horrified glances into the pit. The namp licked its purplish lips at the sight of them and scratched at the dirt with its tiny hands.

"Prince Tola?" the old Nyssomu hunter said. "Is that you?"

Just then the namp gave a grotesque hiccough, shuddered, and blinked its eyes rapidly. Tolivar, Jagun, and the knights made haste to move back from the edge of the hole as the creature hiccoughed again, showing row after row of stained, pointed teeth. The namp's shuddering turned into violent spasms, punctuated by gagging sounds. Suddenly its maw gaped wide like the opening of a t.i.tantic, fang-fringed sack, and there was a thunderous eructation.

A slender silvery container flew through the air, accompanied by a quant.i.ty of phlegm, and landed at Jagun's feet. Thus relieved, the namp sighed, shook itself, and burrowed down until only its half-closed eyes remained above ground, glowing faintly in the dimness of the pit.

There was a crackling sound in the underbrush and Kadiya emerged.

"You have returned safely!" Jagun exclaimed. "Praise be to the Triune!"

"Indeed," she replied, "and I have met with some success. But before I speak of

it, let me introduce you to a certain wizard." Swiftly, she circled the namp's hole to where the two footprints indented the ground and seized something that seemed naught but thin air. "You may as well turn yourself visible, Tola."

The Prince appeared, crowned with the Three-Headed Monster and having the Three-Lobed Burning Eye still in one grubby hand. His cheeks were streaked with tears. Kadiya had hold of him by the back of his jerkin, and even though they two were nearly of a size, Tolivar seemed helpless in her grip, like the newly captured prey of a lothok, numbly resigned to its fate.

"This is the wizard who saved our lives?" Sir Edinar gasped."Impossible!" said Sainlat."He wears the magical coronet," Melpotis pointed out, "and carries the talisman stolen from the Lady of the Eyes.""But he is only a child," Kalepo scoffed."I slew the Glismak and healed your wounds," Tolivar said in a dull voice. "I am a sorcerer, and your contempt will not make it otherwise."

"You are also a thief," Kadiya said calmly, "but that is by the bye." Firmly, she

guided the Prince to the slime-covered star-box. "Open it!"

As though overcome with an immense fatigue, Tolivar obeyed. When she commanded him to place the Three-Lobed Burning Eye within, he obeyed without speaking a word. Then the Lady of the Eyes made finger play upon the gemstones within the box. There was a blaze of light and a musical sound. A moment later Kadiya took up the magic sword with a triumphant smile, holding it in both hands by the dull-edged blade with the hilt upright.

"Talisman," she asked, "are you once again mine own? Is your power restored?"

Nestled amongst the conjoined k.n.o.bs on the sword's pommel was Kadiya's trillium-amber, shining like a tiny flame in the deepening twilight. The dark lobes seemed to split open, and three gleaming Eyes that mirrored those on her golden-scaled cuira.s.s gazed at her.

I am bonded to you, Lady, and fully potentiated.

"Good," she said. "Now I command you to shield me and my companions from the Sight of Orogastus and all his Star Guild."

It is done.

The Eyes closed and Kadiya thrust the sword into her belt and addressed the others. "Jagun, please take charge of the star-box."

"Certainly, Fa.r.s.eer."

"We cannot tarry here any longer," she said. "The sun is descending and we must pa.s.s through the viaduct. Someone waits for us at the other end who has promised to help us reach the city of Brandoba, where the Emperor Denombo resides, but he will not wait long."

Edinar exclaimed, "So the pa.s.sageway does lead to the land of Sobrania?"

"Yes."

"And the Star Men?" Melpotis inquired. "Have they conquered the country?"

"Not yet," Kadiya said. She turned to Prince Tolivar. "Before we move on, I want you to give me the Three-Headed Monster for safekeeping. Jagun! Open the star-box."

The boy took a step backward. The life had come back into his face. Eyes wide with dread, he lifted his hands to hold the coronet tight to his head. His voice was a broken whisper. "No! I-I will never give up my talisman. Not while I live!"

"It is not yours," Kadiya said. "It belongs to your mother, just as the Three-Winged Circle belongs to the Archimage Haramis, and this Three-Lobed Burning Eye belongs to me."

"Mother gave the talisman freely to Orogastus," the Prince said stubbornly.

"To ransom you and your Royal Father!" Kadiya exclaimed in a terrible voice. She s.n.a.t.c.hed the star-box from Jagun and advanced upon Tolivar, holding it open. "Place the coronet inside the box."

"No," the boy whispered.

She drew the black, broken sword from her belt and lifted it to Tolivar's forehead, holding it less than a finger's width from the coronet's rim. The three Eyes opened. "Tola, do as I say. Give up the talisman."

"Do not touch it!" he warned, desperation in his eyes. "You know it will kill you if you try to take it from its bonded owner. I was only able to secure it myself because Orogastus had lent it to his Yellow Voice, who was not so protected."

For several heartbeats she glared at him, but his willpower was too strong. "Keep it then, for what good it may do you." Kadiya whirled the sword away and slammed it into her belt. The three-lobed pommel once again seemed only black metal. "Sainlat, Melpotis-take Tola back to the riverboat."

"No!" the Prince cried. "I have vowed to rescue Mother! If you try to send me away, I will use magic to thwart you."

"Fa.r.s.eer," Jagun spoke urgently to Kadiya. "Perhaps it would be best if the Prince did accompany us. He may be able to a.s.sist in the rescue of Queen Anigel, since it is evident that he has some expertise in commanding his talisman."

"His invisibility trick was actually rather impressive," Sir Edinar remarked.

"And his healing of us," Sainlat added encouragingly, "was even more so. I was myself at the point of death, and now I am not only restored but quite invigorated."

The other knights murmured agreement.

Kadiya regarded the boy with a thoughtful scowl.

Jagun continued. "When his mother is safe with us, he can then give the talisman to her." The little old Nyssomu said to the Prince: "Will you do that, Hiddenheart?"

At the sound of his mire-name, given him by the dead Ral-abun, the Prince flinched, but he made no reply.

More patiently, Kadiya said: "Tola, if I allow you to go with us, will you promise to submit to my leadership, and desist from wreaking any magic through the coronet without my express permission?"

The Prince hesitated, his mouth tightening. But he finally said, "I do promise."

Kadiya was about to demand that he also promise to return his talisman to Anigel; but she feared that the boy might continue to balk, and perhaps even attempt to flee, invisible, if she pressed the point. Besides, he was much more likely to give up the coronet at the request of the Queen herself.

She sighed. "Very well. Now let us prepare to pa.s.s through the viaduct. There are no Star Men or other villains on the other side, but the person who does wait, a man of the Folk who has consented to guide us, is of a nervous and fearful temperament and may go off without us if we do not hasten."

"Wait!" cried the Prince. He went to the edge of the namp's pit. "Aunt, this miserable creature murdered my poor friend, Ral-abun. I do not know if my magical coronet will kill it, but I ask you to let me make the attempt."

"But the namp did not commit murder," the Lady of the Eyes said. "It is only a wild animal, not having the faculty of reason. It sought food in its customary fashion, without malice. It would be unjust to slay it now, in cold blood. Don't you understand that, Tola?"

"No." The boy would not look at Kadiya.

Her voice hardened. "Then let the creature live because I command you to." She turned her back on him and set off down the hill with Jagun and the knights following.

"But I must kill it!" the Prince cried in desperation. "I must!" Kadiya glanced at him briefly over her shoulder. "You will not and must not, because the namp is not to blame for Ralabun's death. Someone else is, as you know already deep within your heart."

The color drained from Tolivar's face. He said not another word, but came down the hill after the others.

Chapter Sixteen.

THE tiny sound made by the door opening caused the Queen to regain her senses fully at last, but she kept her eyes closed. Footsteps approached her bed. A woman's voice, vibrant and imperious, spoke.

"She should be fully restored by now, Star Master."

A man gave a grunt of agreement.

"There was no way we could take the Black Trillium from her, however. Not even the power of the Star sufficed. When touched, both amulet and chain seemed to become white-hot. They did not burn her flesh, but only that of the person trying to grasp them. We even used tongs and other instruments, but these either burst into flame, or else became too hot to hold."

"Never mind. I don't think the amber can harm us. It only protects her. Now give me the diagnostic contrivance."

"Yes, Master."

"Queen Anigel!" The man's voice was all too familiar. "Wake up." , She opened her eyes.

Two people dressed in the black-and-silver robes of the Star Guild stood looking down at her. One was a tall woman, the very spit and image of the beautiful redheaded she-warrior of the feather tapestry on the bedchamber wall behind her.

At her side was Orogastus.

"Now I understand everything!" Anigel said to him with icy anger. "When your scheme to drown me failed, you kidnapped me through that d.a.m.ned viaduct."

"Good afternoon, Majesty," the sorcerer said politely. He was holding a small metallic device, which he held momentarily against her forehead. It squeaked faintly, whereupon he gave a nod of satisfaction and pressed the thing to her covered belly. She uttered an angry protest, to which he paid no attention, only tucking the little machine away into his robe and smiling.

"You will be happy to know that you are quite recovered from your recent injuries. Your unborn sons are likewise in good health. As to your drowning, that was not my plan at all, and the cack-handed fool who so clumsily engineered it has been reprimanded."