James Wyatt - In the Claws of the Tiger

Sea of Fire, he thought. I never know what’s going on.

Auftane had tended to everyone, using his wands on the living and his own peculiar magic on Sever. Janik got to his feet. Only one other exit remained on this level-a huge door, large enough for the giant to duck through, opposite the enormous door they’d come through. But two smaller doors were visible up in the gallery.

“Which way?” Janik said.

“Up,” Dania said, pointing toward the gallery.

At the same instant, Krael pointed to the large door and said, “Down.”

Janik gaped at the two of them. Dania’s eyes were wide, while Krael wore his insipid grin again. This was exactly what he had feared.

“What’s going on?” he said.

Krael shrugged. “We’ll find Maija in the heart of the temple,” he said. He pointed to the great door again. “That door will take us there.”

“Dania?” Janik said. “Did you have some other destination in mind?” Damn, he thought, did I just side with Krael against Dania? Could things turn any more upside down?

“The pinnacle,” Dania said vaguely, her eyes still on the gallery.

Janik sighed. Dania wasn’t making it easy for him to take her seriously. Krael seemed perfectly reasonable, squarely meeting Janik’s gaze and pointing the group toward the destination they had agreed on. By contrast, Dania was completely distracted and hesitant to offer any explanation. He put his hands on her shoulders and tried to capture her eyes.

“Dania,” he said quietly. “Talk to me. What’s at the pinnacle? Why do you want to go there?”

Her eyes finally met his, but she seemed to be speaking out of a dream. “It’s so beautiful, Janik,” she said. “Like the couatl we saw in the air, and so kind and wise. It wants to help us defeat the Fleshrender. It can help us, Janik, if we go to the pinnacle of the temple.”

“Janik,” Krael whispered, as if Dania wouldn’t hear, “I’m not sure Dania is entirely in command of her faculties.”

“Shut up, Krael,” Janik spat, but he wasn’t nearly as sure as he sounded.

“Perhaps I can help resolve our impasse,” Mathas said.

“I’m listening,” Janik said. He still held Dania’s shoulders, but she was no longer looking at him. She reminded him of a small child, easily distracted, looking anywhere but at him.

“I could send my eyes along the route that Dania suggests,” Mathas said, “just as I scouted the ruins yesterday. We could attempt to determine the veracity of her assertions without putting ourselves at significant risk.”

Janik gave Mathas an approving smile, but he caught Krael’s scowl out of the corner of his eye. Interesting, he thought. That suggests that Krael knows something about what Mathas might see, and doesn’t want him to see it.

Or else he’s just impatient, Janik thought. Anxious to bring this thing to an end, and put off by Dania’s ridiculous ramblings about the couatl.

“Perhaps we should declare our partnership concluded,” Krael said. “We have helped each other escape from that little cell, and I have shown you the way to the heart of Maija’s temple. If you’d rather not go that way, it’s your affair. But I know what I came here for-I will have my revenge.”

“I can’t let you kill Maija, Krael,” Janik said.

“If you intend to stop me, then you’d better come down with me,” Krael said, his voice low. “And if you think your dreamstruck paladin can do anything to get the Fleshrender out of your dear wife’s body while Maija is still alive, you had better drag her along as well. Frankly, though, I’m losing confidence-and patience.”

So that’s it, Janik thought. Perhaps I was imagining that look on Krael’s face, or reading too much into it. He’s not hearing the voice of the rajah-he just wants to go and get this over with.

He turned back to Dania. “Dania, please look at me.” Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling of the chamber now, and she seemed not to hear him at all. Janik took her shoulders again and shook her gently, then a little harder. “Dania!”

Her eyes did not move, and she spoke so quietly he could barely hear. “The pinnacle first,” she whispered, “and then the rajah’s prison.”

“Sea of Fire!” Janik shouted, pushing Dania roughly away from him. She stumbled, but Mathas caught her, shooting Janik a reproachful glare. For a moment, Janik considered suggesting that Dania lead Mathas and Auftane to the pinnacle while he went down with Sever and Krael. But it would be too dangerous, he thought. He was confident that the six of them could handle anything, even Maija, but split into groups, they’d be vulnerable, especially against another giant. Besides, without Dania, what hope did they have of forcing the spirit out of Maija?

He put his hands to his temples and squeezed his eyes shut. All he could see was Maija sneering at him, Maija casting the spell that had knocked him out, Maija stretching her mocking grin into a thin, cruel smile. Her words raked across his heart: “I lied.”

No, damn it! he thought. That wasn’t Maija, that was the Fleshrender. Maija is still there somewhere-trapped in her body, powerless to stop what the fiend made her do and say. And if Maija is still there, then there’s hope.

He opened his eyes and looked at Dania, who still gazed dumbly up at the ceiling. And that hope lies in Dania, he thought, as crazy as she seems right now. I have to trust her.

With that thought, new memories sprang into his mind. He remembered when Maija first introduced him to Dania, and so many joyful, exciting, harrowing adventures they had shared since then. He remembered the conversation he’d had with Dania-was it just the night before? He realized he had no idea how long they had been in the cell. And then he remembered the couatl they had watched as it danced across the sky.

“Krael,” Janik said, “our bargain is concluded and our alliance ended. Go where you want, but we will follow Dania. We won’t harm you as you leave this room, but if I see you again-”

“Oh, you will see me again,” Krael said.

“If I see you again, I’ll do my level best to kill you. Thank you for your help. Now get out of my sight.”

Without another word, Krael stalked over to the massive door and threw it open, Sever following close behind. And then they were gone.

“Oh, thank the Sovereigns,” Mathas said quietly.

Janik placed a gentle hand on Dania’s shoulder. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Dania’s eyes met his again briefly, and she smiled a faint, beatific smile. “Up,” she said quietly.

Mathas used his spell of levitation to launch himself up to the gallery, then he tied a rope to the balustrade so the others could climb. Once her feet were on the gallery floor, Dania set off toward one of the small doors, leaving Janik to help Auftane over the railing and pull up the rope before hurrying to catch up with her. She led them along narrow hallways, not even hesitating when the passages branched. Here and there, they made their way up short flights of stairs, marking their gradual progress toward the top of the ziggurat, assuming that Dania was correct.

As they walked side by side down a long wide hall, Janik held Mathas back briefly and spoke to him quietly.

“What do you make of this, Mathas?” he asked.

“There is definitely a presence in this place,” Mathas said thoughtfully. “I cannot distinguish it-to me, it’s almost like being in a dark room and feeling someone else with you, but not being able to tell whether it’s a friend or a drooling monster.” He paused. “I must say, I wish that comparison were not so vivid.”

“So why does Dania hear it so much more clearly?” Janik said. “She claimed she could hear two voices, the binder and the bound. How does she know she’s following the right one?”