Andre Norton - The Key of the Keplian

“Maybe he must wait until we come to the heart of the tower,” Jerrany commented. “We are all bound to the one we seek in some way. Let us link and think on him, build him in our minds as we know him in life.”

Eleeri was unsure of the wisdom of that. “Could the use of power alert the enemy? This is the heart of his place.”

“Perhaps, but what does it profit us to be unnoticed if we cannot also find?”

Mayrin reached out to lay a hand on each arm. “Listen, the enemy uses the Dark and power. What if . . .”

They listened, agreement growing as she spoke. Now it was she who stood forward, her hands reaching into her hair to bring forth an ornament. Eleeri studied it as her friend held it up and they clasped hands about it. It had been carved from a pale wood and from it came a faint sweet perfume—one natural to the wood itself, she judged. It was in the shape of a lizard, one whose skull seemed larger than those she had known. The eyes were tiny inset chips of some gold stone, and the tail curled under to hold a lock of hair.

“It was carved for my eighteenth nameday,” Mayrin said. In this place she would not name the carver—names had too much power—but Eleeri nodded. Mayrin reached out to bring Jerrany’s hands in upon the carving.

“Think on him. Build him in your minds. Set seeking upon this gift, that it hunt him out wherever he may be hidden from us.”

Obediently they bent to the task she laid. This was not true power, but a sympathetic magic such as Eleeri was familiar with. So had her own people once hunted. This she could do. She raised the memory of the man she had seen, limned his face in life’s colors, sparked spirit in the deep-set eyes. She willed the eyes to meet hers, strained to reach out.

Beside her she was dimly conscious of the effort her friends made. Sweat beaded along her forehead as she strove. It felt as if she were forced back and away from the face she had built. She resisted savagely. She was losing all sense of time or place. It was as if she floated, suspended. Then there came a draining. Dimly she saw that the tiny motes of light that had cloaked her were leaving. They flowed down her arms into the lizard and it turned golden eyes on her. She staggered back weakly as Mayrin released the tiny creature.

It scurried back the way they had come as they turned hastily to follow.

“Concentrate on it. Keep his face in your minds,” Mayrin hissed softly.

They loped along, each carrying their dagger in readiness as the lizard sped down the halls. Jerrany halted abruptly.

“This isn’t the passage we traveled,” he said, his voice certain. “Look.” His hand indicated a bright mural. Their eyes veered away from the scene in disgust. “Yes, it’s ugly, but which of you has seen it before?”

He watched as both shook their heads. They turned to stare back the way they had come. There was no sign of an archway, no doors or turnings.

“More illusion?” Eleeri queried.

Jerrany glanced at her. “No, I think what we have now is reality. It was illusion we followed before.” A chirp from the lizard reminded them. “Best we follow our guide and discuss the nature of illusion later.” He trotted after the lizard as it scuttled away again. The women moved up to flank him as they ran. The return journey seemed endless as they wearied, but now they were certain they had never seen these halls or passages before. The guide was slowing as they trotted along. Now they fell back to a swift walk and still it slowed.

“What’s wrong with it?” Eleeri whispered.

“Power only lasts so long. None of us is a Great One or even so very strong in the gift,” Mayrin muttered quietly as they marched after the slowing carving.

“Could we do what we did again?”

Her friend shrugged. “I don’t know. If we can’t find what we seek before the power fades, we’ll have to try.”

They fell silent, concerned eyes on the small guide. The lizard was almost at a standstill, yet it dragged itself along valiantly. Only the smooth marble of the floors allowed it to move; a rougher surface would have brought it to a straining halt. Then it stopped. Mayrin bit back a cry of despair. Her eyes blurred. Through her distress she felt Eleeri’s grip tighten.

“No, Mayrin, look!”

Mayrin dashed a hand across her eyes and glanced up. In its last gasp the lizard had turned to rear up against a wall. It was the carven ornament once more, but still it leaned forward as if pressing into the stone.

Jerrany was running his hands over the chill blocks. “I can’t find any entrance.”

Six hands patted, feeling along the lines of the wall stones. There was no door to be seen or felt. But their guide had not halted in midcorridor as it would have had it simply lost power. There had to be an entrance here. They would not cease to search until it was found.

Finally Eleeri stepped back. Illusions had taken them before. Perhaps now the pendant would consent to aid. She held it against the wall that blocked their path. Again came the draining, but this time the specks outlined an oblong on the stones. A patch of them clustered at shoulder height. Moved by an impulse, Eleeri placed her hand over them. There was a slow shuddering and the stones moved under her fingers. With a gasp of triumph, Jerrany seized the edge revealed and forced it further open.

They slipped through. Behind them the door shut silently and they gulped as they found it would not open again.

It was Mayrin who shook off her fear. “We wanted to go this way. Best we do.”

Eleeri lifted her pendant. “Pehnane, please, is there something you can do to help us?”

From the eyes of the figure, light sprang. It touched the walls that imprisoned them, waking runes to light. They were in a cursive script unknown to any of the trio, but they served to show the way.

“Let’s hurry. We don’t know how long this will last,” Eleeri commented as she walked swiftly along the narrow passage. In single file they moved, watching all around as they traveled. Within her Eleeri felt a growing certainty that they neared their goal at last. Sometimes she felt as if they had been within this damned tower forever. If she escaped safely, she’d not be going back in, that was for sure.

The runes ended in another wall, but this time the door was visible. Eleeri slapped her hand against a finger-worn place. That had to be how to open it. Burning pain shot up her arm. She yelped, wrenching her hand away. Blood stained the wall as the door opened silently. Did anyone who opened the dratted thing have to pay like that? she wondered. Not that it mattered. The door was open and it seemed to have caused her no real damage. She sucked the small wound and scowled as her friends joined her on the other side.

Now there was light. Not a great deal, but sufficient to see that they trod a way deep in ancient dust. Jerrany gasped as they rounded a bend and a slitted window appeared. They jostled to gaze out, before Mayrin spoke, amazement in her voice.

“Look at the sun. It’s barely moved.”

“Time,” Jerrany said softly. “Time is different in the tower. I wondered how it was that our fighters still held its attention. But see the sun: less than an hour has passed since we entered. Perhaps only half of that. Our men swore to hold for at least an hour, two if they could. There is time yet for us to seek and find if we be swift. Come.” He studied the passage through which they moved, then pointed. “That way leads into the center, surely. This one seems to curve around, but that cuts at right-angles inward. Let us try it?”

The women nodded consent and the three ducked through into the smaller narrowed corridor. Here the light dimmed once more, but with hope they pressed on. Eleeri halted them at the next turning. Her certainty grew.