David Drake: The Mirror of Worlds

From a distance he'd have said ithad to be artificial, but with the cube in reach he couldn't see any seam between its milky presence and the sandstone it rested on. Garric started to his left, keeping his distance from the wyvern. It must've heard him, though, because it spun around and for a moment reared upright, spreading its stubby wings to make itself look bulkier. It glared, then stretched its long neck toward Garric and screamed. Its tongue was black, and its teeth were the color of old ivory. "It doesn't really need wings to look big," Carus said calmly. "It's the size of a thirty-oared ship already. Well, nearly." They were eye to eye with the wyvern. In turning it'd halved the distance between them. Garric kept his sword slanted across his body. His dagger was low and out to his left, ready to strike upward. The wyvern's body lowered as its legs contracted to spring. Garric continued to circle slowly. He was just as tense as the monster, but his feet glided like snakes. His smile mirrored that of the warrior-ghost in his mind. Kore stepped up from the staircase.

Garric'd been wondering if the ogre'd thought better of her offer to fight the wyvern with him, but she'd simply waited to make her entrance when it'd most disrupt the creature's timing. The wyvern screamed, angry this time instead of threatening; the second opponent had confused its small brain. It hopped sideways along the edge of the cliff; despite its size, it was as agile as a robin. The ridge shook when the clawed feed landed. Sunset deepened the creature's natural color into that of drying blood. The ogre slouched to the right, slanting minusculely toward the wyvern the way Garric did from the other side. The beast jerked its head from one to another. It had the narrow face and forward-focused eyes of a predator; with its opponents so close, it couldn't keep them both in its field of view. "He's not used to being hunted," Kore said with a laugh. "The change'll be good for him." Shin came up from the cavern and mounted the altar. He moved almost tentatively instead of calling attention to himself with acrobatics. "Not if things go as I intend," said Garric. He moved closer to the wyvern. If he and the ogre separated too far, the wyvern would leap on one before the other could intervene. The aegipan raised both hands as if pointing to the sky and began to chant. Wizardlight rippled between his index fingers. Kore laughed again, then hunched.

The wyvern lunged at her, pivoting on its left foot. Its splayed claws gouged the sandstone surface, scattering grit and pebbles. Kore leaped twenty feet backward from a flat-footed stance. Garric drove in, thrusting into the side of the wyvern's knee. He missed the cartilage because the leg was flexing, but the sword's impossibly keen point ripped into the thigh bone. The beast screamed and whirled on Garric.

Instead of dodging back, he slashed across its beak. It lifted its head out of range, spraying blood from where the cut had reached the quick. The wyvern sprang at Garric, leading with its right foot. He dived to the side. The beast twisted in the air to follow him, but Kore seized its stiff tail in the air. The ogre's weight snapped the tail around, and the wyvern crashed down on its left hip. Garric got up. The creature buffeted him against the rock with its wing. The pinion was stubby in comparison to the long body, but it was still a ten-foot club of bone and cartilage. Garric blinked. He'd almost stabbed himself with his dagger when he fell. Had it not been for Carus' reflexes, he'd be bleeding like a stuck pig and dead within minutes even if the wyvern didn't bother to finish him off. A line of wizardlight sizzled from horizon to horizon, supported on Shin's raised index fingers. Though the sun had almost set, the blue glare lit the ridge as clearly as noonday. The wyvern lashed its tail, trying to batter Kore loose. The ogre didn't let go at first, but the second stroke flung her to the edge of the cliff. The wyvern lurched to its feet. If Garric'd been in better shape, he'd have doubled his legs under him and sprung up immediately. Instead he rolled onto all fours, then rose to one knee. The wyvern shrieked and stamped to crush Garric like an olive in the press. Garric thrust into the descending foot, driving half his long blade up into the ankle bones. The wyvern's claws clenched reflexively, contracting on edges sharp as sunlight. The creature gave a great cry and sprang upward, pulling itself off the sword. Garric staggered upright and backed away. He was seeing double and he'd lost the dagger, Duzi knew where. It might be sticking in him for all he knew. He didn't think his left shoulder and ribs could hurt more if therewas a long knife buried in them.

"Frog-brain!" Kore shouted. She waggled her arms out to the side, palms-backward. "Pimple-brain!" The wyvern turned and pecked down, using its hooked beak like an assassin's dagger. Kore slammed both sides of the birdlike head with the chunks of sandstone she'd concealed in her huge hands. The wyvern stumbled. Garric minced two steps to put himself in position, then thrust at the right knee again.

This time he got home in the joint. The wyvern tried gracelessly to snap at Garric; Kore hurled the stone in her right hand, bouncing it off the back of the creature's skull. The wyvern tottered. Garric advanced and thrust again, aiming this time for the left knee. He missed because the wyvern stepped back. As it put its the weight onto its right leg, the knee buckled. The creature gave a despairing cry and toppled sideways. The ogre stepped out of the way and fell also; a claw had torn deeply into her left leg. The wyvern crashed onto the sandstone, rolled, and rolled over the edge of the cliff. Garric could hear it screaming in frustrated rage for what seemed an impossibly long time. The ground trembled when the wyvern struck an outcrop partway down, then trembled again when it hit near the base and was thrown well outward. The third impact was on the track at the bottom of the valley. Garric sank to one knee again; it took less energy than remaining upright did. Shin stood like a furry statue on top of his altar. The line of light he balanced had grown to a tube in which a man could stand upright. Astride the horizon at either end was a colossal figure. To the north was an ancient Corl female holding a glowing ball of quartz. To the south stood a young woman who reached toward the ball. The woman's features were hauntingly similar to those of Tenoctris. *** The creatures crushing Ilna down wailed like a fetid wind.

The weight came off her. As it did, clear white light flooded the chamber. She staggered to her feet, squinting against the dazzling brilliance and her tears of rage. The kit wriggled deeper into the crook of her arm. She saw blurred figures approaching and tried to spread the pattern she'd knotted for defense. Karpos closed his big hand over the fabric before Ilna could stretch it to life. "Mistress, it's all right," he said. "We're here. We'll get you out." "What are those things?" Asion said in obvious disgust. "They're filthy as possums, by theLady they are!" "Temple'll get us out, I mean," Karpos added. "Say, is that one of the cat-things you got there?" "They would've made me one of them," Ilna said. She opened her eyes; when they were closed, she thought of the future she'd just avoided. The light was that of noon on a sunny day, bright but not unusually so. It was only by contrast to the pink dimness that it'd been so shocking.

Ilna put her yarn away, then tucked the loose fabric of her sleeve over the little cat-beast, not so much for warmth as to protect it from the hunters' eyes. She said, "Don't worry about the kitten. It'll be all right." The light came from Temple's shield. He'd slung it on his left shoulder, so its brilliance blurred from the walls of the cavern instead of blazing directly on Ilna and the hunters. Even when reflected from colored sandstone it kept its white purity. "How do you do that?" Ilna blurted. "And how did you get here?" Temple smiled. "I think we'd best leave now," he said. "Since I don't think there's any reason to stay, is there?" "No," said Ilna, suppressing a shudder.