Robert Vardeman - Istu awakened

With the senses she now shared with another, Moriana knew that her first stroke had missed. She struck again -

– and a range of mountains thrust themselves above the sea on the far side of the world, dark and humped and water-glistening like the back of an aquatic monster. And again -

– and storm clouds gathered above the Ramparts, a thousand times faster than the normal gathering of clouds. They piled higher, black on black, shot through with lightning. In the streets of the Sky City the Fallen Ones cried out in fear and wonder. And again -

– and part of the Northern Continent split off and sank into the sea with a crack and a roar and a rushing of water.

Fury raged in silence upon the wall of the Nexus chamber. Fost's back was to the wall and his eyes were wide. He had control of his limbs again, but the power still surged like a drug in his veins. 'Moriana! What's happening?' cried Ziore.

'I… I cannot control it.' Her voice penetrated the bones of those in the chamber, transmuted as Selamyl's had been.

The room shook then. Synalon lurched into Rann; Fost fell, cracking his knee painfully on the stone. Imaged on the wall, the western Ramparts tumbled like eightpins to the throes of an earthquake. The Ethereals and Moriana sat statue-still, unmoved by the spasm beneath the earth.

The gathering clouds had grown to a black anvil thunderhead, a mountain above mountains. The watchers saw a sheet of lightning flash from the thunderhead and shear off a slice of the City's starboard rim in a coruscating spray of molten stone. Synalon shrieked as if it were her own flesh being sundered.

Maddened, the Demon retaliated. A black funnel grew from the underside of the Lens and stabbed down. It bit into the ice over Athalau and began tearing chunks from the glacier's body. A moan rolled through Athalau, pitched almost below hearing, so that it rang deep in the bones of the humans within.

'The Demon's killing Guardian,' shouted Fost. 'Can't you do something?'

'Yes,' said Moriana. That much she could do. She folded power around herself, around Guardian, strapping the glacier in a cocoon of forces that held him steady against the pull of the vortex.

Istu squealed with rage as his funnel ceased to bite. He lashed downward repeatedly. But he could no longer gouge the ice that armored Athalau.

'What now?' asked Zak'zar from the edge of the Skywell. 'Wait,' said Istu, 'and you shall see.'

Moriana kept trying to wield the power of the World Spirit, to smite Istu with all the force at her command. The watchers in the chamber beneath the Palace saw earthquake and waterspout and eruption devastate the land. The World Spirit flailed about like a blind beast only landing near its foe by accident.

'Moriana, you've got to stop,' screamed Ziore as they watched Paramount, Lord of Trees, hurled down to smash a hundred lesser trees beneath it. 'You'll destroy the Realm without harming Istu!'

'What can I do? I cannot aim the power. If only I had some way to focus on the City, on Istu!'

Synalon shook back her long black hair and turned from the Nexus.

'I knew I'd find a part to play in this farce,' she said. 'Rann, summon me a bird tender. I wish my eagle made ready at once.' He gaped at her. 'Because I will be the focus my sister needs.'

'Highness! Why?'

'Madness,' declared Rann.

'Not so, cousin. Moriana and I are twins. There is a link between us, though we've spent our lives denying it.' She looked back at her sister, who sat like some green idol in the center of the Nexus. 'And my hatred is great. Give me your power, sister. I shall wield it with a fine rage.'

Moriana did not move. Perhaps she could not; perhaps she was frozen forever in that position with her legs folded under her, her hands resting on her thighs. So complete was her lack of response that Fost feared she had died or utterly lost her identity in the immensity of the World Spirit. Then, 'Yes,' filled the chamber. Rann raised a hand to halt Synalon as she went to the door.

'You'll need an escort, cousin. Someone to make sure you have time to achieve rapport with Moriana.' 'You propose I take an army? Where do we get the time for that?'

'A small escort will have a chance to approach the City unseen.' He hitched up his sword belt. 'With your permission, Highness.' 'I'm coming, too,' blurted Fost. A shadow crossed Synalon's face.

'No!' said Moriana firmly, though her expression didn't change. 'Let me congratulate you on your courage, Fost!' cried Erimenes. 'This is the ultimate adventure of a lifetime.' He whirled to face the genie.

'It's not courage. I'm doing this because I'm afraid, dammit. I've thought I'd carried on with this mad venture for love or loneliness or from sheer curiosity. But there's another reason. I'm afraid to live in a world that gods and devils use as their playground. We're just pawns to them, all of us. I can't take that, do you understand?'

'Go then,' said Moriana with resignation. Still she remained immobile, apparently lifeless.

Rann clasped forearms with Fost and left the chamber at a run. Fost paused, then picked up Ziore's jug and carried it into the Nexus, jumping across the burning lines and avoiding the nodes. His head swam to tidal surges of power, but he made it, depositing the jug at Moriana's side. He stooped and kissed her forehead; it was icy. Then he turned and ran for the door, slowing only to scoop up Erimenes's jar. 'Farewell, my love!' sang Erimenes. 'I'm off to the wars!'

'Dear Erimenes,' sighed Ziore, wavering at Moriana's side. She waved, sparks flying from her fingertips as they crossed a node. 'Goodbye,' said Moriana.

Fost felt emotion choke him. The word echoed in his brain with grim finality.

'Their counterattack has failed,' said Zak'zar. Istu's laugh rumbled from the Well.

'They've realized that without a mind the scope of Felarod's they cannot wield their power with any precision. They were doing themselves more damage than I inflicted.' 'Surely, they haven't given up.'

'Your faith in the Pale Ones is touching, Speaker. But it matters not. They've shown they cannot harm me. While I…'He chuckled like a poisoned spring. 'Watch, and you shall see.'

From the surface of the orange-red sun a wisp of starstuff was pared like skin from a fruit. An invisible force bent it into a flaming hoop, a strand, and drew it across space toward a green world waiting eighty million miles away…

The roar of eagles' wings filled the corridor Guardian had opened to the east. Four war birds flew in a line, their wingtips brushing the frigid walls. Fost hunched close to the neck of his mount and tried to decide whether he preferred the claustrophobic feeling the shining walls rushing by gave him or the dread of falling from the bird.

'Thank you for bringing me along, Fost,' said Erimenes at his side. 'I always knew you were a considerate soul.'

'Don't thank me yet, Erimenes. You yourself said Istu could destroy you.'

'And so he can. But he can destroy me as easily if I'm cowering in the belly of this garrulous glacier. I'd rather be where the battle rages and the blood flows.'

'I'm glad you enjoy the prospect,' said Fost grimly. He shifted the buckler strapped to his left arm so its bronze-bound rim wouldn't gouge his hip. 'As for me, I'm ready to swallow the bravado speech I made back in the Palace, syllable by syllable.'

'Nonsense, Fost. You, too, feel the thrill of approaching battle. And this isn't just any fight, you know. Your feats this day will live in ballads forever, as long as there are men to sing them.' 'There may not be, after today.'

They broke into the light. Fost squinted and let his eagle have its head. It was huge, almost as large as the midnight-black Nightwind Synalon rode, brown with white head and a white bib on its chest, and it knew what to do far better than Fost.