Maggie Furey - Aurian

“I’m across!” The feel of the stone had roughened beneath Anvar’s groping hands. He could no longer find the edges of the bridge, and opened his eyes to find himself safely on the ledge at the other side. He crawled out of the others’ way and collapsed gratefully, his cheek pressed to the blessed, solid rock.

His body ached and trembled with tension and he was drenched in sweat, but he could have wept with relief. Bohan and Shia joined him and all three rested for a while, too overcome even to speak.

Finally Anvar forced them into motion once more, though the eunuch looked exhausted, and even Shia’s lithe stride was unsteady. Anvar never paused to think of the emotions that drove him beyond endurance, beyond even hope. He only knew that he had to find Aurian, or perish in this mountain as she had done.

They had expected to see another curving blank wall beyond this archway, but instead it opened out into a long narrow chamber with a high vaulted ceiling. Once again the stone had a fused, glasslike surface, as though it had been melted and recast into its present form. A weird, reddish half-light washed the chamber, seeming to come out of nowhere, and the air prickled with a high-pitched, distant humming that produced an irritating resonance in the bones of Anvar’s jaw and skull. But his attention was elsewhere. Arranged along the right-hand wall of the chamber was a row of tall, oval-shaped gems that glistened dully like frosted moonstones. They looked like nothing so much as the cocoons of some sinister giant insect, and Anvar, looking at them, felt disquiet stir in his breast. With Shia and Bohan following, he went to examine the nearest.

He found a single clear facet in the front of the frosted gem, like a window upon the interior. Anvar peered through— and jumped backward with a strangled exclamation as the bony, grinning face of a human skull leered at him—seeming, due to some trick of the gem’s internal structure, to leap out at him from its crystal tomb.

Shia pushed past Anvar, standing on her hind legs to look into the clear facet. “This is what becomes of those who penetrate this place,” she growled. “Imprisoned in crystal by the metal creature.”

Anvar suppressed a shudder. “You don’t think—” “I hope not! But all the same, we must search.” Shia t ted away to the next crystal and stood upright to peer into u Anvar, sick at heart, followed her.

One by one they investigated each cocoon in the row. Anvar had to steel himself to look into each one, dreading what he might find. All contained bones, mostly human, but some belonging to other creatures. Some were intact, but others had been cruelly crushed^and hacked by the metal beast’s appendages. Some were unrecognizable, but there was one skeleton of a great cat that made Shia snarl savagely, and two of the crystals contained small, human-seeming skeletons—with a fanlike tracery of bones springing from each oddly jointed shoulder. Winged Folk! Anvar was astounded. When they reached the last cocoon, he hesitated.

“Let me look,” Shia said. She peered into the aperture, while Anvar watched, dry-mouthed. At last she got down, her tail twitching with emotion. “Aurian is in there.”

Aurian was suspended in the milky light within the gem, inaccessible through the thick crystal that sealed her tomb. She was frozen like a statue in alabaster, the only color about her the brave flame of her hair. Her eyes were closed as though in sleep, her pale lips slightly parted. Anvar saw that much before tears misted his vision. “No!” he howled, the cry dragged up from the raw depths of his despair. He was barely aware of Bohan pulling him away from the crystal, and did not see Shia taking his place at the pane. His knees gave way and he sank to the ground, overcome with anguish.

“Wait!” Shia’s voice flashed into his mind. “She breathes!”

Anvar turned on her. “Don’t be stupid,” he shouted. “She’s dead, damn you! It’s just a trick of the crystal. You saw the others—the bones!”

Shia cuffed him hard, her eyes aflame with rage. “I saw her breathe!” she roared. “Get her out, human!”

Slowly, Anvar picked himself up. “If you’re wrong about this ...”

“Look for yourself. Look long and hard this time. See with your head, not your heart.”

The sight of Aurian’s pale, lifeless, face was a knife through Anvar’s heart, but he steeled himself to look.

A minute passed, and another. He stiffened. Had he imagined it? Another minute. He saw it again, the slightest lift of her breast, almost imperceptible—but definitely there! “Dear Gods,” he whispered. “Shia, you’re right! You’re right!” Wild with joy, he hugged the great cat.

“Of course,” Shia told him smugly. “Cats are wise, Anvar. The other remains were very old—perhaps they starved, or died from their injuries. But, we still have a problem. How do we get her out?”

How indeed? An hour later, Anvar was ready to scream with frustration. They had hacked at the crystal, battered it with the hilts of their_swords, and in Shia’s case, thrown herself on it with teeth and claws. It shrugged off their efforts, remaining unscathed and utterly impervious. Anvar stepped back, panting, and scowled at the unyielding gem. “This is no good,” he said. “It’s absolutely unbreakable—yet the creature has put her inside. It must open somehow. Shia, do you feel magic here?”

The cat had flopped to the ground, despondent. “I feel something,” she said, “but different—not like a spell.” She scraped the smooth stone floor with her claws, searching for the right words. “It feels as though the crystal is magic, but it doesn’t do magic, if you can understand that.”

Anvar couldn’t—and he was afraid to try any of the spells from his limited repertoire lest he trigger something in his ignorance that might harm the Mage within. He ran his hands over the smooth walls of the gem, racking his brains for a way out of their difficulties—and pulled back with an oath as his fingers caught on a sharp edge. “Bohan, did you manage to knock a piece out of this?”

The eunuch shook his head emphatically. Sucking his bleeding fingers, Anvar investigated the place. It was high up around the side of the crystal, but he could see nothing to mar the flawless surface. Then a smear of blood led his eyes to the spot. He felt again, more carefully this time, and found a hollow. A place where a single facet was missing, its absence concealed by the internal reflections of the gem. Anvar frowned. “There’s a perfect piece missing. I wonder . . .” “A key?” Shia was quick to follow his thought. “If it is, we must find it, and quickly. Who knows how long Aurian can stay alive in there?” Anvar froze as a dreadful thought occurred to him. “What if the creature had it?”

“One way to find out. Stop fearing the worst—and search!” Shia was away, quartering the chamber.

It was Bohan who finally found the missing piece, tucked behind the crystal in a niche in the wall. Anvar snatched it from his hand. It was bigger than his fist and pointed at its inner end, its smooth broad facets catching the light along their edges. Holding his breath, he reached up and pushed it into the hollow, turning it to fit. It settled into place with a click—and Anvar stepped hastily back as the gem flared with a dazzling white light that sank slowly away to leave the crystal transparent, all traces of its former milkiness gone. Distorted, broken reflections of Aurian’s body could be seen within—then a crack snaked down the front of the gem. It opened down its length like a hinged shell, unfolding into two hollowed segments with thick walls. Anvar rushed to catch the Mage as she slid out of the space within—and found he had hold of a demon.