What Lies Within (Book 5) (5 page)

  
'Hmmm. All well and good,' declared Aztin at length. 'But what are you proposing to do about it?'

   'I want us to work together, now, to unclamp the yoke that Urch-Malmain places upon us. First, I need to know about the Portal.'

   'Know what?'

   'Is it functional, now that Ascaria has gone?'

   'In principle, yes. But the tail is both unstable and under a degree of influence from some mysterious force which we are unable to identify.'

   'What of the Reciprocity? You have been working with Urch-Malmain to nullify it, have you not?'

   'We have.'

  
'With what result?'

   'Ah, there we have made progress. It is difficult to gauge precisely, as no one has passed through since we made our most recent adjustments. At great effort and expense we have introduced a transient obturation to the tail's end.'

   'A transient obturation? Is that good?'

   'It has qualities of neither good nor bad. Why would it? It is best likened to a membrane which forms instantaneously over the plucking orifice of the tail at the very moment at which the orifice seeks to pluck.'

   'So an exchange cannot take place?'

  
'Theoretically. Strictly speaking the word 'tail' is a misnomer. The portal is in fact two-headed, though we have greater control over the head here than at the other end. Now, when a person steps in at this end the other head - the 'tail' - automatically seeks someone of similar context at the other end. The transfer is then instantaneous. The transient obturation nullifies this, and in theory also enables us a greater degree of control and stability over the tail, that is, the other head.'

   'Is there any risk involved?'

   'There is always risk,' Aztin replied crisply. 'And as I said, the obturation has not yet been tested.'

   Leth thought swiftly, calculating the risks of stepping through the portal, now, with Galry and Jace. He could hardly justify doing so if he knew that some innocent, or innocents, would be instantly transported here in their place.

   'If it is more stable, are you better able to calculate where a person might be transported to?' he asked.

   'Ah,' said Aztin, 'Master Urch may have misled you in certain respects. We have already been able to hold the tail steady for a short time within a reasonably small area within your world.'

   Leth felt a pulse of hope. 'How small?'

  
'Some tens of square miles. Urch-Malmain's irritation is occasioned by our not being even more precise. He wishes to step precisely into a location of his exact choosing.'

   'Does the obturation allow you greater precision?'

   'It should, were it not for the fact that the tail is now being influenced by this unidentified other, or indeed others.'

   'And you have no clue as to who this other or others may be?'

   'By my understanding, that is the meaning of the word 'unidentified',’ replied Aztin tartly.

   'What of their motive?'

   'That is surely obvious. To gain control of the tail, and hence command the Portal itself.'

   'Yes,' mused Leth, 'but are they Urch-Malmain's foes or something else? Do they even know that it is Urch-Malmain who has constructed the Portal?'

   'We have no way of ascertaining these things. We have attempted communication, but to no avail.'

   'To what degree have they established influence?'

   'No greater than we. Far less, in fact. But their efforts have a tendency to disrupt ours, and vice versa. They are a cursed nuisance.' Aztin made a queer sound, like a wet whinny. 'Now, Swordbearer, I think I see where your questions are leading. However, if I am not mistaken, the only person to benefit from the plan you are outlining would appear to be yourself. That is supposing the plan bears fruit. Am I wrong? What, then, of us?'

   'I was coming to that. It seems to me that your arrangement with Urch-Malmain is a far from happy one, and that, were you able, you would extricate yourselves from it as quickly as possible. I wonder, what is required before you can dismantle this Portal and return to your own domains and dimensions.'

   'Why, Urch-Malmain's permission, of course,' replied Aztin.

  
'His permission? Nothing more? What of payment?'

  
'Payment?'

  
'For your services.'

   'Ah. Experience is our payment. As we disperse we will have absorbed into our beings all that has occurred here, in the form of harmonic resonances and correlations that previously we did not possess. We will carry them with us forever. They will nourish us, lighten our souls, and in time will perhaps come to enhance the quality and character of our separate existences. It pleases us greatly.'

   'And that is all?' enquired Leth, astonished. 'You are willing to suffer the indignities and broken promises that Urch-Malmain has heaped upon you, simply for the experience?'

   'That is it precisely. What else is there, after all? The quality, as you would no doubt view it, is of little relevance.
We learn, we grow.'

   With one finger Leth scratched the side of his nose. 'Well, perhaps I can enhance your experience even further. What would it require to liberate you of your sense of obligation to Urch-Malmain?'

   Aztin considered, then said, 'A moment, please. I must consult.'

   The Portal was silent. Leth stood tensely, fearful his time would run out. He was by no means certain that he was going to achieve his aim here, and his anxiety mounted. He glanced towards the door, then smiled at his two children and spoke a few encouraging words.

   Aztin finally broke the artefact's silence. 'Swordbearer, we have consulted. We have weighed your words, and firstly I will say this: we disapprove of the general manner in which Urch-Malmain has conducted his business with us. He is despicable rogue, a vile felon, an unprincipled reprobate, conscienceless and probably beyond redemption. A perverse, corrupt, demonic and immoral creature . . .'

   'Yes, that is how I see it,' put in Leth, encouraged.

   '. . . but we are not at this stage prepared to renege upon our compact with him. Urch-Malmain may have acted less than honourably, but we are honest and upright entities. We have entered into a compact of business and we intend to honour it. To do otherwise would be to besmirch our bright souls. We would be diminished in our own eyes, would have become like him for whom we hold so little respect. Hence the issue as you propose it is not one of liberating ourselves from a sense of obligation to Urch-Malmain. Rather it is one of liberating ourselves from our own true nature - something we have no desire or inclination to do.'

   Leth reconsidered rapidly.
'Very well. I respect that sentiment. The point I wish most strongly to emphasize is that Urch-Malmain is indeed a person morally bereft and utterly depraved. He is a scourge upon any world, any society. He is not of this domain, but in his own world - my world - he has access to far greater power and is capable of acts of wickedness on an incalculably greater scale than here. I cannot permit him to return to our world, yet I am powerless to prevent him.'

   'It is more or less as I thought,' observed Aztin. 'You are asking us to keep him here.'

   'Will you do that?'

   'We cannot command him.'

   'You could persuade him that the Portal is unsafe.'

   'Such subterfuge would sully us.'

   At that moment there was a loud hammering on the door at Leth's back. He spun around. The door shuddered. He heard Urch-Malmain's voice, harsh and incensed: 'Swordbearer! What have you done?'

   An axe was being used on the door. It would be through in moments. Galry and Jace ran to their father and clutched his legs.

   'Swordbearer, you will suffer for this!'

   Leth turned back to the artefact. 'Aztin, will you aid us?'

   'What is it that you require?'

  
'To escape. Now. If we remain we will become Urch-Malmain's slaves forever.'

   'We do not know that it is within our power to aid you.'

   'Are you truly honourable and upright? Can you live with yourselves and evolve in the knowledge that you have denied assistance to ones who have come to you in desperation and fear for their very souls?'

   'You wish to pass through the Portal.'

   'Yes, with my children.'

   'I cannot prevent Urch-Malmain from pursuing you.'

   'What of the tail? Will he know where we have gone? Will he be able to follow?'

   'I have said
, we barely control the tail.'

   The axe blows struck again, and again. Leth glanced
back, saw the gleaming edge of a curved blade slice through the splintering wood and work free to strike again.

   'Do you have any idea of where we will be transported to?' he asked Aztin.

   'Little. As long as there is no extraneous interference it will be somewhere within your own domain.'

   'And there will be no exchange?'

   'I think not, but nothing is certain. You are taking a considerable risk, Swordbearer. You could find yourselves in the clutches of those who influence the tail.'

  
I know it
, thought Leth. But he had gone too far now. The risk could not be greater than remaining here.

   The axe crashed behind him; the timbers creaked and moaned as they were riven apart.

   'Aztin, one last thing. Is it possible for me to locate the tail again and return here?'

   'Why would you do that?'

   'Please, just answer me.'

   The door hammered and shuddered. Urch-Malmain shrieked, 'Swordbearer, I see you! Stop! Stop now!'

   'Don't look!' Leth commanded his children, holding their heads so that they might not meet the Noeticist's gaze. 'Don't look at his face!'

   'Take this,' Aztin said. Something small formed in the mist under the arch and fell to the floor at Leth's feet. Leth bent to pick it up.

   'What is it?'

  
'A Locator. It will tell you in which direction the tail lies.'

  
'Swordbearer!
Swordbearer!
'

   Leth glanced back, and could see Urch-Malmain's crazed, contorted features through the gap that had been smashed in the door. He grabbed his terrified children and said again, 'Do not look at his face!' He stepped towards the portal.
'Aztin? We can go?'

   'Yes. But I can guarantee nothing.'

  
'Swordbearer! Stop! I command you! Stop, now!'

   Leth held Jace and Galry close, took a deep breath, and stepped into the fume beneath the silvery arch.

THREE

i

   Far away, other travellers had already stepped with pounding hearts and clammy palms through a portal of another type, into the unknown. The air in the underground chamber beneath the secret
Karai camp, where the Farplace Opening swelled and pulsed, had been close and unnaturally lit. Overhead Karai warriors swarmed through the ruined camp. Queen Issul, knowing that in moments she would have been discovered, had clutched the blue casket of the Orb to her bosom in some trepidation. What choice did she have? Orbelon warned that a Reach Rider possibly waited on the other side. But she had come this far . . .

   With Orbelon and Shenwolf at her side she had entered, for the second time, the glorious oval of trembling, opalescent light: the Farplace Opening.

   It was different this time. Previously the Opening had reached out and embraced her. It had taken her in the space of a heartbeat into the lofty tower chamber within Enchantment where the three white-skinned, white-haired, blue-eyed child-beings who called themselves Triune waited. This time something had changed.

   Issul found herself again in the almost bare chamber in Triune's tower. A heavy rectangular table and three unembellished wooden chairs were the sole furnishings. Outside, the mountains blazed with fiery auras of intermingling shades of crimson, green and gold. The air shifted and crackled, a maze of astonishing colours, of ghostly shapes merging but never quite forming, breaking up and dispersing, only to almost form again, and again, and again.

   'Ah, Enchantment . . . !' breathed Orbelon. 'So long! The unstill air; something always striving to become.'

   Issul's apprehension grew; she felt her skin crawl. His words echoed almost faultlessly words that had been spoken to her by Triune when she had been drawn here before. Panic had threatened to choke her then, as she swam, helplessly suspended in a globe of coloured mist. She had thought she had gone mad. The shadow of that feeling rose within her now. She was aware of how vulnerable she was, how she was confronting powers that she had no real comprehension of. Directed against her; she was without defence.