Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [51]
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Yonald gave Ususi and Eined his cabin for their use. No doubt he booted some lesser crewman from his or her cabin, who in turn booted another sailor. Ususi retreated to the small berth as soon as they boarded. Her invisible uskura followed her, as it always did when left without specific commands.
Yonald's cabin was of the sort Ususi appreciated-neat and tidy, with every article stowed efficiently. She found a slender drawer that contained a few sticks of incense, and she lit one. The glow of the small taper soothed her. The blanket on the cot was clean, too. She massaged her temples and sat down. The passage would take a little less than a day, but she was tired from the recent excitement. What she really wanted was a nap. Her head felt heavy and full-a sign that a headache might rise up to torment her. Sleep sometimes quelled the pain before it came home to roost.
Sleep claimed her almost instantly, but lightly. She dozed, aware of the gentle rocking of the boat and the shouts and calls of a crew seeing to the ship's needs. As sometimes happens on the edge of wakefulness and sleep, Ususi imagined she could see what was going on outside her room. No doubt her imagination painted the scene from the sounds she heard, but nevertheless the vision seemed real. She saw two crewmen in the stern repairing a sail with thick thread. Four men crawled in the rigging, cursing and tying stays and furling sails. Another, the lookout, sat higher yet, calling out landmarks. Two officers smoked pipes on the main deck as they discussed their route, supplies, and crew schedules. Ususi saw Iahn at the prow, gazing across the Water with his icy, penetrating, but impenetrable eyes.
What was the vengeance taker looking at? A cloud hovered on the horizon, dark with rain. Ususi realized the cloud might be the vanguard of a savage storm, for it quickly swelled and billowed forward, blotting out more and more of the heavens. The cloud was like an eclipse, but of the entire sky. Iahn continued to stare forward, as unresponsive to the sight as a statue. The lookout did not cry a warning; the officers did not cease their smoking. What was wrong with them? Couldn't they see the danger to the ship? Shouldn't they be striking the sails, battening hatches, or something?
The darkness rushed forward, accelerating and growing as if some death god were pulling a grave shroud across the firmament. Darkness, absolute, thundered down on the wizard, and all sound and light were instantly quenched. Ususi cried out, but her voice was mute and her limbs apparently shorn from her. The more she struggled, the less she could feel her own presence. She was drowning in night.
As the formless, churning void clutched her, a slight sensation trickled back into her extremities. Some new force drew her, accelerating her through the nothingness.
The silence was shattered by awful sounds that smashed at her eardrums, followed by a vague, grim hum that promised an unutterable fate. Screaming, she plunged toward a blot of even more concentrated void.
Before Ususi could be pulled into the bizarre singularity, she saw a flicker of light. Like a flood victim finds temporary deliverance from the torrent by grasping a passing branch, Ususi caught herself by focusing on the glow.
Within the glow was a woman who looked like Ususi. But the woman's eyes were empty, hollow orbits.
It was her sister, Qari.
Qari reached out from the glow into the darkness where Ususi trod and said, "Take my hand, Sister. You shouldn't be so afraid of the dark, you know. Darkness is my constant companion. It doesn't terrify me. I've learned to make a friend of it."
Ususi strained toward the hand. She struggled to rediscover her missing limbs. Or should she just will herself forward? She yelled, "Qari, where are we? What's going on?"
Qari swiveled her head so that the shocking emptiness of her missing eyes was indisputable. Qari said, "You