Glen Cook - Surrender to the will of the night

Heris insisted that they all climb the mountain.

Hecht asked, “But if the Windwalker is already extinct why do anything? Why not just let them rot in Limbo?”

Did she blush? That did look like a bit of color in her cheeks. “I foresee useful results if I take it the rest of the way.”

“And those would be?” Unable to keep a taint of suspicion out of his voice.

“Piper… If this works out I’ll push those soul eggs into Asgrimmur’s pocket universe. I’ll free him of his haunts. And I may be able to enlist some serious Instrumentalities in our cause.”

“Uh… what?”

“We could end up having some of those Old Ones help us in return for their freedom.” She told him about the captive gods, name by name, as she had that information from dwarves who had known the gods personally. The Aelen Kofer bore the Old Gods no love-with two exceptions.

Hecht grunted, scowled, thought this was all just too unlikely to be true. Though it would be marvelous to have an Instrumentality for an enforcer that could gobble a bogon without blinking or burping.

Anna stood around, basically lost. Piper Hecht was a mite less confused only because he had heard so much from Heris. But he still felt like a half-blind spectator. The children took to the Realm of the Gods as though it had been crafted for their entertainment.

One short sleep after a period of planning that Hecht thought went more like a drinking contest and, suddenly, a whole mob headed up the mountain. The Aelen Kofer brought goat carts. Nobody got left behind, though Anna volunteered. Even ancient Gjore trudged along. It had been several millennia since he had poked around inside the Great Sky Fortress.

Anna told Heris, “I wasn’t made for adventures. Not of the outdoor kind. All I’ve ever wanted is a quiet life. And I had that till Piper Hecht turned up at my door one night, calling himself Frain Dorao.”

Heris asked, “And what did he do?”

“Nothing. He was a perfect gentleman. A perfect houseguest. Then he went away. Leaving me addicted. The most daring thing I ever did was go to Brothe, find him, and make him my lover.”

“You’ve been tangled up with us long enough, now, to know how messed up we are. So, enjoy the ride. Oh. I promise I’ll get you back to the boring same old same old before the sun goes down,” she said in a world where it was always high noon.

Hecht listened. And agonized. And kicked himself for letting himself be so affected by the women in his life.

He had not yet shaken the deep impacts Katrin Ege had had, with all her sick needs. Nor could he shed his obsession with Helspeth Ege. Nor could he forgive himself the hurts he had done Anna Mozilla even though Anna had no idea.

Several faces crossed his mind. Recollections from the Vibrant Spring School, Gordimer the Lion at a younger age, Grade Drocker, and Redfearn Bechter. Bottom line, he was becoming a whining, self-involved fool.

Anna seized his good hand. “Piper? Are you all right?”

“No. I’m learning about getting old the hard way.” He shut up. Most everyone here was older. King Gjore might be millennia older.

They arrived at the downhill end of the rainbow bridge. The Aelen Kofer loaded people into goat carts. Mostly they offered no option.

Hecht watched Heris practically strut across, well ahead of the cart in which he, Anna, and the Ninth Unknown rode. He had no real idea what was going on or he would have blown up when Lila and Vali headed over behind Heris, with the ascendant close behind them, unnoticed.

Hecht looked down.

He should have kept his eyes shut, like Anna and the old man. He would not have come close to shrieking and losing his breakfast, peering down at giants’ bones, sharp basalt knives, and bottomless death.

He would not have seen his daughters walking on air.

He would learn that they had crossed over unaware that the rainbow bridge was imaginary and a thousand-foot fall awaited the least misstep.

Pella crossed in a cart he shared with Ferris Renfrow. Pella had paid attention. Pella had a damned good idea what lay beneath the feet of those who walked the rainbow bridge. He crossed with his eyes closed. As did his companion.

Afterward, with feet on solid stone but soul still drawn by the siren fall, Hecht exploded, “You let Lila and Vali walk across that?”

Heris gestured. The girls were already at the gate, talking to a couple of dwarves as curious about human girls as the girls were about dwarves. In a moment they would go look at the only living thing native to the Great Sky Fortress, a sickly, waist-high apple tree.

“Don’t you ever, ever, put my kids at risk like that again. Ever!”

Anna agreed but was so shaken herself she could do nothing but nod.

Heris sneered. “You’re just pissed off because I didn’t trust you to do something that a couple of girls managed with no trouble.”

Not true. But, deftly, she had painted him into a circle where he would look bad if he kept on barking.

“Ever, Heris. Ever.”

For Piper Hecht, then, it seemed like only minutes till he followed his sister into a large room filled with colorful clutter. She snapped, “Everybody stays here, inside the green circle, till I tell you what to do.”

Aelen Kofer who were there already moved carefully amongst the tables, falcons, giant glass bottles, and things less easily identified. Heris spoke to them quietly, in succession. Those dwarves departed.

“Pella!” Heris’s voice was not loud but was compelling. “Stand still. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t touch anything. There’s a stone bench under the windows. Sit on it. Piper, Anna, the rest of you, you, too. Never touch anything unless I tell you to. Otherwise, chances are, you’ll get yourself dead. And take the rest of us with you.”

Aelen Kofer continued to murmur with Heris, then go. The royal three were among the last. Iron Eyes lighted slow matches at each falcon station before he left. “Best of luck, Heris.”

Two teams of two dwarves each brought in a pair of shelved carts that made no sound. They floated. On the shelves were felt-lined trays filled with scores of soul eggs, large, small, and flaked. Most could have passed as bits of amber. There were so many that Hecht could not believe he and his men had created them all.

“Piper. Same thing I told Pella applies to you. Sit down. Anna, hold on to him.” Heris turned back to the eggs, showed the dwarves where she wanted the carts hoisted onto the tables. She beckoned Februaren, Renfrow, and the ascendant, muttered with them in the space between tables. The carts came back down off the tables, out of the lines of fire of the falcons. “It’ll just be more crowded. I didn’t know there’d be so damned many.”

Hecht planted himself, let Anna hold his hand and keep him planted. He took in the colorful marvels and listened to Pella complain. He admired Anna.

Anna Mozilla’s finest feature was her eyes. They were big and brown and full of warmth. Right now, right here, they were bigger than he had ever seen. She was in complete awe. And trembling. Because she was in complete terror as well.

Heris said, “Lila. Vali. Come.” She positioned the girls behind the two falcons farthest out to the flanks. She gave precise instructions about how and when she wanted the falcons fired. “And don’t hesitate. When it’s time, it’s time. You’ll have less than two seconds if there’s a breach.” She approached the bench under the window. “Piper, I want you and Anna to man the two center falcons. Anna? Are you all right?”

“Just a bit overwhelmed.” In a voice like a strangled whisper. “I can do it. Just tell me what to do and when to do it.”

“And you, Piper?”

“I can handle it.” Though he was disgruntled about being one of the foot soldiers.