Robert Asprin - Shadow Of Sanctuary

Aristarchus chuckled. 'They do, indeed.'

When they reached the clearing. Quartz jumped down, stumbled, groaned, and laughed. 'It's a long time since I rode horseback,' she said. She helped Aristarchus off. Chan dismounted and stood testing his legs after the long ride. Wess sat where she was. She felt as if she were looking at the world through Lythande's secret sphere.

The sound of great wings filled the cold dawn. Satan and Aerie landed in the centre of the clearing and hurried towards them.

Wess twined her fingers in the skewbald's striped mane and slid off his back. She leaned against his shoulder, exhausted, taking short shallow breaths. She could hear Chan and Quartz greeting the flyers. But Wess could not move.

'Wess?'

She turned slowly, still holding the horse's mane. Satan smiled down at her. She was used to flyers being lean, but they were sleek: Satan was gaunt, his ribs and hips sharp beneath his skin. His short fur was dull and dry, and besides the scars on his back he had marks on his ankles, and around his throat, where he had been bound.

'Oh, Satan -' She embraced him, and he enfolded her in his wings.

'It's done,' he said. 'It's over.' He kissed her gently. Everyone gathered around him. He brushed the back of his hand softly down the side of Quartz's face, and bent down to kiss Chan.

'Frejojani ...' He looked at them all, then, as a tear spilled down his cheek, he wrapped himself in his wings and cried.

They held him and caressed him until the racking sobs ceased. Ashamed, he scrubbed away the tears with the palm of his hand. Aristarchus stood nearby, blinking his large green eyes.

'You must think me an awful fool, Aristarchus, a fool, and weak.'

The troll shook his head. 'I think, when I can finally believe I'm free ...' He looked at Wess. Thank you.'

They sat beside the stream to rest and talk.

'It's possible that we aren't even being followed,' Quartz said.

'We watched the city, till you entered the forest,' Aerie said. 'We saw no one else on the river road.'

'Then they might not have realized anyone but another flyer helped Satan escape. If no one saw us fell the tent -'

Wess reached into the stream and splashed her face, cupped her hand in the water, and lifted it to her lips. The first rays of direct sunlight pierced the branches and entered the clearing.

Her hand was still bloody. The blood was mixing with the water. She choked and spat, lurched to her feet, and bolted. A few paces away she fell to her knees and retched violently.

There was nothing in her stomach but bile. She crawled to the stream and scrubbed her hands, then her face, with sand and water. She stood up again. Her friends were staring at her, shocked.

'There was someone,' she said. 'Bauchle Meyne. But I killed him.'

'Ah,' Quartz said.

'You've given me another gift,' Satan said. 'Now I don't have to go back and kill him myself.'

'Shut up, Satan, she's never killed anyone before.'

'Nor have I. But I would have ripped out his throat if just once he'd left the chains slack enough for me to reach him!'

Wess wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ease the ache in her ribs. Suddenly Quartz was beside her.

'You're hurt - why didn't you tell me?'

Wess shook her head, unable to answer. And then she fainted.

She woke up at midaftemoon, lying in the shade of a tall tree in a circle of her friends. The horses grazed nearby, and Aristarchus sat on a stone beside the stream, combing the tangles from his fur. Wess got up and went to sit beside him.

'Did you call my name?'

'No,' he said.

'I thought I heard -' She shrugged. 'Never mind.'

'How are you feeling?'

'Better.' Her ribs were bandaged tight. 'Quartz is a good healer.'

'No one is following. Aerie looked, a little while ago.'

'That's good. May I comb your back for you?'

'That would be a great kindness.'

In silence, she combed him, but she was paying very little attention. The third time the comb caught on a knot, Aristarchu" protested quietly.

'Sister, please, that fur you're plucking is attached to my skin.'

'Oh, Aristarchus, I'm sorry...'

'What's wrong?'

'I don't know,' she said. 'I feel -1 want -1...' She handed him the comb and stood. 'I'm going to walk up the trail a little way. I won't be gone long.'

In the silence of the forest she felt easier, but there was something pulling her, something calling to her that she could not hear.

And then she did hear something, a rustling of leaves. She faded back off the trail, hiding herself, and waited.

Lythande walked slowly, tiredly, along the trail. Wess was so surprised that she did not speak as the wizard passed her, but a few paces on, Lythande stopped and looked around, frowning.

'Westerly?'

Wess stepped into sight. 'How did you know I was there?*

'I felt you near ... How did you find me?'

'I thought I heard someone call me. Was that a spell?'

'No. Just a hope.'

'You look so tired, Lythande.'

Lythande nodded. 'I received a challenge. I answered it.'

'And you won -'

'Yes.' Lythande smiled bitterly. 'I still walk the earth and wait for the days of Chaos. If that is winning, then I won.'

'Come back to camp and rest and eat with us,'

'Thank you, little sister. I will rest with you. But your friend -you found him?'

'Yes. He's free.'

'You all escaped unhurt?'

Wess shrugged, and was immediately sorry for it. 'I did crack my ribs this time.' She did not want to talk about the deeper hurts.

'And now - are you going home?'

'Yes.'

Lythande smiled. 'I might have known you would find the Forgotten Pass.'

They walked together back towards camp. A little scared by her own presumption, Wess reached out and took the wizard's hand in hers. Lythande did not draw away, but squeezed her fingers gently.

'Westerly -' Lythande looked at her straight on, and Wess stopped. 'Westerly, would you go back to Sanctuary?'

Stunned and horrified, Wess said, 'Why?'

'It isn't as bad as it seems at first. You could learn many things...'

'About being a wizard?'

Lythande hesitated. 'It would be difficult, but - it might be possible. It is true that your talents should not be wasted.'

'You don't understand,' Wess said. 'I don't want to be a wizard. I wouldn't go back to Sanctuary if that were the reason.'

Lythande said, finally, 'That isn't the only reason.'

Wess took Lythande's hand between her own, drew it to her lips, and kissed the palm. Lythande reached up and caressed Wess's cheek. Wess shivered at the touch.

'Lythande, I can't go back to Sanctuary. You would be the only reason I was there - and it would change me. It did change me. I don't know if I can go back to being the person I was before I came here, but I'm going to try. Most of what I did learn there I would rather never have known. You must understand me!' 'Yes,' Lythande said. 'It was not fair of me to ask.'

'It isn't that I wouldn't love you,' Wess said, and Lythande looked at her sharply. Wess took as deep a breath as she could,

and continued. 'But what I feel for you would change, too, as I changed. It wouldn't be love anymore. It would be ... need, and demand, and envy.'

Lythande sat on a tree root, shoulders slumped, and stared at the ground. Wess knelt beside her and smoothed her hair back from her forehead.

'Lythande...'

'Yes, little sister,' the magician whispered, as if she were too tired to speak aloud.

'You must have important work here.' How could she bear it otherwise? Wess thought. She is going to laugh at you for what you ask her, and explain how foolish it is, and how impossible. 'And Kaimas, my home... you would find it dull -' She stopped, surprised at herself for her hesitation and her fear. 'You come with me, Lythande,' she said abruptly. 'You come home with me.'