David Drake - The Mirror of Worlds

The man I am now would rather die." He pecked Ilna on the cheek, then stepped past her to hang the sword back on the wall. "I haven't wanted the blade since I came here," he said, putting his arm around Ilna's waist in the doorway. "And now that the heart of my heart has come back forever, I want it all the less." "Chalcus, I can't stay here,"

Ilna said. She felt as though she'd stepped into a pit filled with rose petals, lovely and sweet-scented and smothering her softly. "I'm notdead." "Indeed you are not, dearest one," he said with a smile.

"Nor do you ever need die, now that you've joined us again." "Until He leads us to paradise," Merota said, faintly disapproving as children can be when an elder doesn't show the sense of propriety which the child thinks is warranted. She softened into her usual brightness and added, "But until then, yes. And we'll still be together or it wouldn't be paradise!" "But I can't," Ilna said. I'm sinking into roses… "I have duties in the world. The other world." Chalcus laughed and kissed her. "To take revenge on the Coerli for killing me and Merota?" he said. "But we're not dead, dearest. We're here and you're here. Whatever could be better than that?" The child sketching on the bridge had gotten up; his mother brushed his tunic with her hands while he prattled to her. I wonder what looms they use here?

Ilna thought. Even from this distance she could see that the mother's white garment, too long and flowing to be called a tunic, was of a very delicate weave. "Yes, Ilna," Merota said, hugging her tightly about the waist. "You have to stay. Otherwise you won't be happy."

"That doesn't matter!" Ilna said, her voice as sharp as if she'd just been slapped. She straightened, instinctively drawing away from the man and child. "That's never mattered." "But it matters now, dear heart," Chalcus said, touching her shoulder, his solemn eyes on her.

"And nothing else matters." "Yes, Ilna," Merota said. "Youdeserve to be happy with us." Ilna looked into the pool. Instead of seeing a reflection of the tomb across from her, the water rippled with an image of the world where she'd fallen asleep. Temple and the two hunters stood on the mound with desperate expressions. Asion was calling with one hand cupped to his lips; the other held his dagger.

"Your happiness is all that matters," Chalcus said. Ilna jumped feet-first toward the pool. She was fully clothed and didn't know how to swim, though the water might not be deep enough to drown in.

"Ilna!" Merota cried. Ilna landed on the plain, almost stepping into Temple's fire. Three rabbits were grilling flesh-side down on a frame of green twigs. They'd already been on too long, forgotten in the men's worry. Ilna snatched up the grate by two corners as the quickest way to remedy a problem she was responsible for. "Mistress!" cried Karpos. He'd strung his bow and held it with an arrow nocked. "Where have you been?" "I'm back now," Ilna said harshly. "I have duties, you know." She touched her dry lips with her tongue. "Get out your digging tools," she said. "There's something in this mound." *** "Will these quarters be satisfactory, Rasile?" Sharina said, gesturing through the open door. She'd have preferred to say,

"Mistress Rasile," but there was no provision for that in the Coerli tongue. She could've said, "Female Rasile," but the implications would be just as insulting to a Corl as they were to Sharina herself. "If they were not," said Rasile, looking past Sharina's shoulder while a squad of Blood Eagles watched uncomfortably, "I suppose I could carry in muck to make the rooms more similar to the hut in which I live in the Place." She growled. Sharina's new sense of the Coerli tongue couldn't translate the sound but she did realized it was amused rather than threatening: the wizard was laughing. "And perhaps," Rasile added, "you could find me garbage to eat as well. That was good enough for an old female, you see. Had I not been a wizard-" She gave a hunch to her narrow shoulders; a shrug in human terms as well. Sharina'd asked that the bungalow nearest to hers be left empty. Many of the buildings in the palace compound had become run down before Garric replaced Valence III, but this one had been in excellent shape-perhaps because it stood in a beech grove and the trees broke the force of storms that might otherwise have lifted roof tiles or torn off shutters. Nobody'd argued with her request, though. She was, after all, Princess Sharina of Haft. If she wanted her privacy, she would have it. She'd sent a messenger back to Valles ahead of them, directing the chamberlain to have the place cleaned. The lamp burning in a wall niche showed that had happened, but there hadn't been time to clear the mustiness even with the door and windows open. Still, Rasile didn't seem concerned as she walked in and looked around. The servants preparing the bungalow had brought in a few pieces of furniture: a couch whose bolster was slightly too large, a pair of bronze-framed chairs, and a table which'd probably been retired to storage when the ivory inlays began lifting away from the wood.

Sharina couldn't complain given how short a time they'd had, but the part of her that was still an innkeeper's daughter winced to see what she was offering a guest. She made a quick decision. To the under-captain commanding her escort she said, "Stay outside, if you will. I have private business to transact with Rasile." "Your highness, I'm afraid I can't allow that," said the Blood Eagle in an upper-class Cordin accent. She didn't recall having seen the man before. He was relatively young to be an officer in a regiment chosen from veterans. "It's not safe for a woman like you to be alone with a cat beast." Sharina's mind went blank for an instant. Over the years, she'd had many men tell her what she must or couldn't do because she was a woman. She'd never liked it, and tonight she was very tired. She smiled. "You can't allow it, you say?" she said. "Well, then you can sit in the corner and chat with the spirits of all the people you've killed in your life. You do realize that Rasile is a wizard, don't you? Or instead of the spirits, maybe we'll bring back the bodies."

Sharina felt her smile widen, though the expression was no deeper than her lips. She said, "Have you ever talked to a man who's been dead for six years, Under-Captain? I have. It's not an experienceI'd want to repeat, but if you really have to come inside with us while we perform an incantation…?" The officer had begun backing away from the instant Sharina said "wizard." His troops were studiously looking in other directions, pretending not to hear the confrontation. Sharina took a deep breath. She was trembling. She'd been cruel to the man, behavior which she disliked as much in herself as when she saw it in others, but- She shut the door between her and the soldiers before she started to giggle. The look of horror on the under-captain's face had beenso funny! And hewas a pompous twit. Though he doubtless had her best interests at heart, he was too stupid-too narrow, at least, which could be the same thing-for her to trust his discretion. Sharina turned to face the room. Rasile was watching her intently. "So, Sharina," she said. "You are a wizard too?" "No," Sharina said. She shrugged. "I suggested a possibility to make the guards leave us alone. I was confident that the under-captain wouldn't call my bluff."

Rather than take the couch or one of the chairs, Rasile squatted on the mosaic floor. It was laid in a garden pattern with caged birds at the corners. The Corl positioned herself carefully so that she appeared to be sitting under the pear tree in the center of the room.

She gave a growl of humor again and said, "I was wondering, you see. I could make that warrior see the faces of his victims, but to bring the actual bodies would be difficult. I would be impressed if you could do that, Sharina. And I think even your friend Tenoctris would be impressed." Sharina sat on one of the chairs; its bronze feet clicked against the stone. "Tenoctris said I should ask you about a…"