Glen Cook - Surrender to the will of the night

Jarneyn said, “Stick to the middle of the bridge. Have faith in what your feet tell you. Your eyes will lie. And don’t think inimical thoughts.” He grabbed the lead of the foremost goat cart and headed out onto the tangle of color.

Cloven Februaren gasped, “My pride is going on the shelf for now.”

“You going to crawl, Double Great?”

“I’m going to get into a cart.”

The Aelen Kofer crossed in single file, enjoying the discomfiture of the humans. Renfrow boarded a goat cart, too, and sealed his eyes.

The ascendant asked, “Heris? Will you take a cart, too?” The implication being that she had best hurry. Opportunities were dwindling fast.

Something in his tone, like a spark of condescension for the weakness of women, irritated Heris. “No. I’ll walk.” She strode forward, following Jarneyn’s advice. Trust feet, not eyes nor instinct. Don’t think inimical thoughts, which she could not have done, anyway. Her entire being focused on her feet.

The ascendant crossed behind her, close enough to catch her if she missed a step. She did not know.

Februaren, after dismounting, waited at the end of the bridge. He caught Heris’s hand as she stepped onto solid footing. “There you go. Now, take a look at Renfrow.” Still in a goat cart and shaking. “Most powerful man in the Grail Empire, maybe. Child of a god. Notice anything?”

“Not really. Unless the point of the lesson is that he’s in a cart.”

“There’s that. And the fact that his eyes are still closed. And his hands are still shaking.”

“So. The lesson is?”

“Don’t let your pride get you killed. You didn’t need to show anybody anything, girl. You needed to get across the gap alive.”

“Uhm?”

“Really. You don’t need to impress Jarneyn and his cohorts.”

Iron Eyes remarked, “She doesn’t, but it was still worth seeing, her walking the rainbow bridge. The list of middle-worlders who have managed is quite short.”

Heris snapped, “Let’s just get on with it!”

Renfrow descended from his cart. “All right. You people have me ninety-eight percent convinced.” He glared at the rainbow bridge.

Februaren said, “Let’s go inside and arm you with total conviction.” He eyed the bridge himself. His voice quavered.

Heris understood, suddenly. He was afraid. The Ninth Unknown was frightened!

Hell! After a studied look around she realized they were all frightened. Even the Aelen Kofer and the ascendant.

“Double Great, you haven’t planned this out, have you?”

“Child?”

“The plan, stated so far, is: You go in there and open the way. And hope these Instrumentalities are going to behave. That they’ll be grateful and cooperative.”

“That’s a little simplistic…”

“But essentially true. Is there anything in the mythology to make you think they’ll respond the way you want? Aren’t they all vilely self-centered?”

“You’re being too harsh.”

Renfrow interrupted, “She’s right. Dwarf. Iron Eyes. Did you have any plan deeper than what the girl just described? Did you, Asgrimmur?”

The ascendant said, “I intend to make them swear oaths to behave and help in return for their release. Beforehand.”

Uncertain if she ought to resent or appreciate being referred to as a girl, Heris said, “I grew up in a different part of the world. I don’t know the fine details of northern myth. But isn’t one of the prisoners the Trickster? Won’t his very nature compel him to mess with us?”

Iron Eyes grunted unhappily. “You have a point. A definite point.”

Heris said, “Then we ought to have the means to compel him. Or any of the others who don’t want to cooperate.”

“They’re gods, woman. They won’t take to having their arms twisted.”

“I don’t care what they like.”

Iron Eyes shrugged, turned away. “Ascendant. This goes to you, now. Look inside yourself and find an estimate of…”

“Already done. She’s right. Though he might risk eternal imprisonment, the Trickster will try something. But we’ll have the time it takes for the Old Ones to get a read on the present. The others should accept terms for freedom.”

Heris asked, “Do we need the Trickster to handle Kharoulke? Can we just leave him in there?”

The ascendant said, “We’ll need them all. And, given a chance to understand the situation, even the Trickster will behave till the grander threat is gone.”

The Ninth Unknown’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Heris. Girl. You’re scheming something. I beg you. Not against the gods. Not even pagan gods.”

“I won’t do anything stupid. But I want all this to stop. Now. Let’s build a point-by-point operation, absent the influence of beer.”

They were just steps from the tower gate of the Great Sky Fortress.

Iron Eyes announced, “This used to be a hundred times more glorious. Now it’s about as beautiful as a castle in the middle world. Only bigger.”

“Focus, dwarf!” Heris snapped. “That’s irrelevant. We’re here to deal with Instrumentalities.”

Renfrow muttered something to Cloven Februaren, who replied, “Would you believe that three years ago she was scared of her own shadow? I blame my grandson. And her brother, a little.”

“Double Great, you talk too much. Family matters should stay family matters.” Then Heris swore. If Renfrow had not gotten the point from hearing the old man, she had made it plain that he ought to take note.

Renfrow, however, did not seem interested. He was overawed by his ancestral home.

The gates of the Great Sky Fortress were open, as the ascendant had left them. One leaned on a damaged hinge. Korban Iron Eyes said, “We came no farther forward than the end of the bridge. Repairs to the Great Sky Fortress aren’t necessary.”

The ascendant said, “The place gives me the creeps,” as he headed through the gateway.

Inside, the place was dull, gray, lifeless. The power from the middle world had not reached the top of the mountain.

Behind the gate lay a level, open field. To either hand were what had been gardens and orchards. The magic was gone.

The ascendant said, “I don’t remember much. First time round I was a prisoner. What I saw was less colorful than this. Last time, I was too crazy to notice much. The Aelen Kofer will have to guide us.”

Heris stared off to their left, at the bones of an orchard, recalling that it had been sacred to one of the Old Goddesses. The remains of the apple trees were covered with scale and fungi.

Did that bode ill for the larger mission? The gods had depended on that fruit for their immortality. But it looked like the orchard depended on the gods in turn. “Did all that die since you were here?”

The ascendant responded, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Double Great, this might not be as dangerous as I feared. But let’s take every precaution anyway.”

The old man looked puzzled.

The bulk of the Great Sky Fortress reared ahead, climbing far higher. There was no color in it. Sunlight fell upon it and died.

Heris continued to quiz the ascendant. Who continued to insist, “I was just a prisoner here. I don’t know anything.”

She glanced at Iron Eyes. The dwarf lord shrugged, said, “It’s been a long time. We weren’t invited in much once the place was finished.”

So she snapped at the ascendant, “Parts of you lived here. All of you knew enough to turn the place inside out.”

The ascendant went rigid. Then he began to swell.

And Heris could not hold her tongue.

“Yeah. Go ahead. Get all huffy and pissed off. Turn into something uglier than you already are. That’ll be real productive.” She turned her back. “Double Great, this whole expedition is about to turn sour. We’re just plain not ready, except maybe for Asgrimmur. He’s all set to tremble and shake if the Old Ones won’t cooperate.”