“Flattery will do nothing for you,” Bryn said. “After what we’ve heard about that Tower, this is as close as we want to come to it.”
“Besides,” Alden added, “I don’t think you wish to leave any of your swords behind to watch the children.”
“And I’m not letting Dara and Mark get any closer to the Tower than this,” Kayl finished. “I know Bryn and Alden feel the same way about Xaya. They’ve already agreed to watch my two so I can go to the Tower with you; we discussed it yesterday.”
“You seem to have arranged everything,” Javieri said in a tightly controlled voice. “But what if the Magicseekers come upon this camp while we are away?”
“That’s unlikely,” Glyndon said, and flashed Kayl a brief smile. “We’re coming at the valley from almost due north; if they followed the path we took the first time, the Magicseekers will be coming from the southwest.”
“Kayl,” Barthelmy said in a low voice, “are you sure Mark and Dara wouldn’t really be safer in the valley, with more of us around to protect them?”
“It is not only Magicseekers that Dara Kaylar has to fear,” Corrana said in a cool voice before Kayl could answer. “You are forgetting her link to the Crystal. Since we do not understand the nature of that link, it seems unwise to expose the girl more than is necessary.”
Barthelmy stiffened and glared. Javieri gave Corrana a look of angry dislike. Corrana gazed back at them with the same unruffled, enigmatic expression that had so frequently irritated Kayl. “I agree,” Kayl said quickly. “But even if Dara had never had a link with the Crystal, I wouldn’t want her any nearer to the Tower. If the Magicseekers do get through Ferianek’s traps, they’ll be at the valley, not here. And if they don’t… well, the Tower isn’t a safe place for anyone, much less a child.”
“You have an answer for everything,” Javieri said. “Everything but the Twisted Tower itself.”
“The Twisted Tower is my affair,” Kayl said. “Mine and Glyndon’s and the Sisterhood’s. It’s not my children’s concern, and not Bryn’s or Alden’s either.”
“Very well,” Javieri said. She looked at the Wyrds. “You are determined?”
“We aren’t going any closer to the Tower, if that’s what you mean,” Alden said.
“Then there is no reason for your further presence here,” Javieri said. “You may go.”
Kayl found Javieri’s tone annoying, but the Wyrds seemed simply amused by their lordly dismissal. They rose and picked their way around people to the door of the tent. Bryn paused and said with a fierce smile, “The luck of the Tree to you, Sisters.” Then they were gone.
“If your Wyrd friends will no longer help us, Demma and Forrin will have to scout the forest as well as the valley.” Javieri gave Kayl a cold look, as she resumed her speech. Then she looked at Corrana and her eyes narrowed. “I think enough of your skills remain that you should assist the scouts, Elder Sister. Magic may find what others miss.”
Corrana inclined her head. “I am honored by Your Serenity’s trust,” she said, and Kayl heard the smooth irony in her voice.
“When we are sure there are no Magicseekers near, the rest of us will join the scouts at the base of the Twisted Tower,” Javieri went on after a final sharp glance at Corrana. “Elder Sister Barthelmy and Glyndon shal Morag will remove the spells that seal the Tower, as they have done before; the magicians among us will give them what aid we can.”
“Remove the spells?” Ferianek said, frowning. “Is that wise? If the creature of the Tower is still present, as you say—”
“If we do what we did last time, we won’t be removing any spells,” Glyndon said. “It’s more like making a door-sized hole in them, and the hole closes again as soon as we stop holding it open.”
“But that means whoever goes inside the Tower won’t be able to get out again!” Ferianek said, startled.
“Neither will the black thing,” Barthelmy said. “And we can open the hole again quickly, once it’s been made.”
“Furthermore, I intend that Glyndon and Elder Sister Barthelmy remain outside the Tower,” Javieri said.
“What?” Glyndon sat up, startled and angry.
“You can re-open the Tower door as easily from outside as from inside, can you not?” Javieri asked.
“Yes, but—”
“Then you will do so. You are the keys that let us into and out of the Twisted Tower; if one, or both of you should be killed inside the Tower, those of us inside would indeed be trapped. We will all be safer if you are outside.”
And you still don’t trust either of them, Kayl thought. Even after what’s happened on this trip, you don’t trust them.
“Who will be going inside the Tower, then?” Barthelmy asked.
“Myself, Elder Mother Miracote, and Mother Siran,” Javieri replied. Then she looked at Ferianek and said carefully, “We would be pleased to have your company as well.”
Ferianek shifted uncomfortably. “I am not sure that is possible,” he said, and looked down.
“Not possible?” Javieri said, raising both eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“I am bound in certain ways, particularly regarding the Twisted Tower. I do not know whether entering the Tower is one of the things I am forbidden; the opportunity has never arisen before.” Ferianek looked up. “I will try, but that is all I can promise.”
“We can ask no more,” Javieri said. She paused. “The final member of the first group to go inside the Tower will be Kayl Larrinar, for we shall need a guide who has been there before.”
“So that’s why—” Kayl began.
“No,” Glyndon said loudly.
“And what is your objection?” Javieri said with barely concealed exasperation.
“If Kayl is going inside the Tower, I am going with her,” Glyndon said firmly.
“But you have to stay outside, Glyndon!” Barthelmy said. She put a hand on Glyndon’s arm, and Kayl felt an unreasonable surge of anger. “I can’t open the seals alone.”
“Yes, you can,” Glyndon said. “Once the spell is set, either of us can use it. Kevran did it last time, remember?”
“I remember,” Barthelmy said. “But I don’t know anymore whether I can trust my memories of the Tower. Or have you found some way of separating the true memories from the false?”
Glyndon paled slightly. “I—no.”
“Leave him alone,” Kayl said angrily. “He’s had more trouble because of that Tower than any of the rest of us.”
“Then he should prefer to remain outside it,” Javieri said.
“No.” Glyndon’s voice was firm, but he still looked whiter than he should have. “If Kayl goes inside, I go too. That, or you’ll have to find some other way of getting in.”
“I can take care of myself, Glyndon,” Kayl said irritably.
“I know. That’s not the point.”
“Oh?”
“I believe Glyndon’s point is the same one you made a moment ago regarding the Wyrds,” Corrana put in. “He was not consulted when these plans were made.”
Javieri cut off Kayl’s reply. “Are you all determined to see this venture fail?” she said in a tone of cold fury. “If I did not need your skills—”
“But you do need us,” Kayl said. She was angry herself now: angry at Barthelmy, angry at Javieri, and, most of all, angry at the Sisterhood that had taught them to act in such a highhanded manner. “You could have asked us weeks ago whether we agreed with these plans of yours.”
“It seemed wiser to me to wait,” Javieri said stiffly.
“Why? Were you hoping that if you sprang this on us at the last minute, we wouldn’t have time to object? Or did you think that we’d have to do it your way for lack of any alternative?”
“I thought you were put in charge of this expedition because you understood,” Kayl said. “I thought that was why you backed me up in Riventon two weeks ago. But that wasn’t it, was it? You just wanted to make sure nothing endangered the expedition. And it didn’t occur to yo
u that the Sisters’ attitude toward Glyndon and me might do that until that scene at the tavern. That’s why you didn’t say anything earlier. You’re just like the rest of them; you don’t trust us.”
“Have you given me reason to trust you?” Javieri demanded, so fiercely that Kayl was startled. “The help you give has been reluctantly offered, you make it clear that you refuse the authority of the Sisterhood, and you have hidden the crystal chip from us for months. Do you expect me to confide in you?”
“I expected you to remember that some of us don’t have to take your orders without asking questions,” Kayl said stiffly, unwilling to admit the justice of Javieri’s complaint.
“Kayl.” Corrana’s voice was quiet, and so unexpected that Kayl stopped short almost without thinking. “Whatever your opinions, we must face the Twisted Tower tomorrow, or chance the Magicseekers’ arrival. Is this the time for such recriminations?”
“I may not get another chance,” Kayl muttered, but she made herself sit back and look at Javieri with a semblance of control. “So. Glyndon and I will be your guides inside the Twisted Tower. What’s next?”
Javieri gave her a dark look, but said, “We will go directly to the room where Gadeiron’s Crystal is kept. Once there, you will keep watch for the black creature while the rest of us study the Crystal. If the stars will it, we will find the threads that bind our power and loose them; once that is done, we must make sure that the Crystal cannot be used against us again.”
“You will not destroy it,” Glyndon said, and his tone was a command.
Ferianek looked at him, startled, as though it had never occurred to him that the Sisters might contemplate such a thing. Javieri’s eyes locked on Glyndon’s. “We have never considered it,” she said, and Kayl knew she was lying.
“The black thing appeared when Kevran chipped the Crystal,” Kayl pointed out. “I’d rather not think about what might happen if someone shattered it.”
Javieri gestured impatiently. “The Crystal must be guarded so that it can never steal the Sisterhood’s magic again, and the Tower sealed so that the Magicseekers can never enter it. Until we reach the Crystal room, we cannot know how this may be done.”
Kayl nodded, but she was not satisfied and she could see that Javieri knew it. “And if the thing comes?”
“Then we will fight it.” Javieri looked over at Barthelmy. “If we do not return in two hours, or signal from the Tower’s top, you will let Elder Mother Alessa, Mother Lonava, and Elder Sister Corrana into the Tower to try their fortunes, and after two more hours a third group. If no one returns, you will seal the Tower as completely as possible and return to Kith Alunel with the news. Do you understand?”
“What about the Magicseekers?” Barthelmy said.
“Alone, there is little you can do against them, and if we fail inside the Tower your fellow Sisters will have few spells to aid you. We will have to trust the spells that seal the Tower to defeat the Magicseekers, as they defeated us five years ago.”
“I understand.”
“And if we succeed?” Kayl said.
“Then we will withdraw to the slopes above the valley and keep watch on the Tower until the Magicseekers come,” Javieri said. “With the full strength of our magic returned to us, we should have no difficulty in destroying them if they should breach the Tower.”
Kayl doubted that it would be that easy, but she said nothing. She had had enough of arguing with Javieri this evening, and in any case the problem would not be hers. Once the expedition was finished with the interior of the Twisted Tower, she would consider her commitment fulfilled. She let Javieri, Corrana, Barthelmy, and Ferianek discuss the details of the proposed ambush, and rose with alacrity when they finished. “If there’s nothing else, may I go?” she said to Javieri. “I’d like to get a good night’s sleep.”
“So would we all,” Javieri said, but she nodded dismissal. Glyndon started to rise and join her, but Kayl shook her head. He hesitated. Kayl forced herself to smile, and Glyndon sank back to his place, reassured.
Kayl went out into the cool night air. The trees around the tent were old and tall; Kayl had to move a little way up the hillside before she found a place where she could catch a glimpse of the stars. She stood staring at them for a long time, but the twinkling points of light offered no answers, and no reassurance.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
EARLY NEXT MORNING THE expedition started for the valley of the Twisted Tower. Mark and Dara watched in glum silence as Kayl buckled on her sword and carefully slipped the crystal chip into a pocket in her belt. The two children were obviously far from pleased with her decision to leave them behind. Kayl stayed with them as long as she could, then gave them each a hug and left quickly.
Glyndon was waiting for her at the edge of the camp. The last of the Sisters had already gone; they had to hurry to catch up. A light mist veiled the mountains, making everything seem far away and ghostly. No one spoke much.
They reached the top of the saddle between two mountains and stopped. On the farther side, the mist thickened into a woolly fog, hiding the floor of the valley from sight. Kayl frowned. If the Magicseekers had found their way to the Twisted Tower, the scouts would have a hard time discovering it in this soup. She resigned herself to a long wait.
A figure broke away from the clump of Sisters just ahead and came toward Kayl and Glyndon; Kayl did not realize that it was Corrana until she was almost upon them. “Glyndon, Elder Mother Javieri would speak with you,” Corrana said in a low voice as she reached them.
Glyndon nodded and moved off into the fog. Kayl looked at Corrana and raised an eyebrow inquiringly.
Corrana gave her a small smile. “The Elder Mother wants the fog removed,” she explained. “Glyndon and Barthelmy are the only ones who might be able to do so, and Javieri is afraid that the Magicseekers will notice if Barthelmy tries. They are more used to looking for our sort of spells than for Varnan wizardry.”
“If the Magicseekers are that close, they’ll notice when the fog disappears no matter who does it.”
“A good point, but a little late in coming,” Corrana said. “Look.”
Kayl turned. Glyndon had stepped away from the group of Sisters and raised his staff. He stood motionless for a long moment, then gestured with his free hand. The staff began to glow a bright gold. Glyndon stretched it forward and said something that rumbled out into the fog like thunder.
The fog began to thin, slowly at first, then more and more rapidly. Glyndon lowered his staff and the glow died. Kayl stepped forward, frowning at the tired droop of his shoulders. Glyndon straightened as she drew nearer. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“More or less. It’s been awhile,” he said apologetically.
“You should have told Javieri to do it herself,” Kayl said. “You shouldn’t be exhausting yourself now, not with the Twisted Tower still to come.”
“Now who’s trying to wrap whom in fleece?” Glyndon said. “I have time enough to recover; we have to wait for the scouts, remember.”
“Then sit down and rest,” Kayl said crossly. “You’re as bad as Mark.”
“Oh?” Glyndon looked at her with a quizzical expression.
“Always showing off.”
Glyndon grinned suddenly. “I doubt that Mark would appreciate that assessment.”
“Stop chattering and sit down before you fall over!”
“Small chance of that,” Glyndon said, but he lowered himself onto a nearby rock. He sat half leaning on his staff, staring out over the valley.
The fog had cleared from the valley floor, leaving only a few stray shreds hovering ghostlike above the rocky ground. The forested slopes of the mountains, however, were still barely visible. The forest ended abruptly at the base of the mountains; the valley itself was barren, black, and dead. Kayl could see the Tower below, only a little way from the foot of the slope on which they stood.
The Twisted Tower was nearly as black as the floor of the valley, and
warped and bent as if some giant had wrung it like a dishcloth. Kayl had seen trees twisted by whirlwinds that were straight by comparison. Deep, irregular grooves spiraled around the Tower, and here and there a streak of dull gold broke up the mass of blackness. Partway around, Kayl could just make out the iron door that was the only entrance to the Tower.
Someone moved behind Kayl, and she turned. Barthelmy had come over to join them. Her eyes, too, were fixed on the Twisted Tower. “It hasn’t changed,” she said. “I thought it would have, somehow.”
“We’re the ones who have changed,” Kayl said.
“Have we?” Barthelmy’s gaze did not waver from the Tower door. “We’re different, the expedition is different, but have we really changed?”
“What do you mean?” Kayl said, but Barthelmy did not answer. Kayl did not press her, and they continued their wait in silence.
Finally the scouts returned and Javieri gave the signal to descend. The Tower was closer than it looked; in a matter of minutes the entire group stood in a rough semicircle before the iron door. Kayl found a place just inside the ring, near the others who would make up the first group to enter the Tower.
Glyndon and Barthelmy stepped forward, each grasping one end of Glyndon’s staff. Together, they began to chant, repeating the same phrases over and over. After four repetitions, their voices diverged; first the rhythm of the words changed, then the words themselves, until each of them was speaking a different chant. The door of the Twisted Tower began to flicker as if seen through a haze of heat.
Kayl watched in silence, fingering the lump that the crystal chip made in her belt. She wished this were over. She felt as if she had been waiting for days, for months, for years; waiting for the Sisterhood to find her, waiting for the Twisted Tower to come back into her life, waiting for everything and nothing to happen at once. She was very tired of waiting.
The chanting stopped. Kayl blinked and stared at the door. If her memories were correct, it should be ajar now that the spell was finished, but it had not moved. Beside her, Javieri started forward, but Glyndon held out an arm to bar her way. “It didn’t work,” he said.