Lady of Poison_ The Priests - Bruce R. Cordell [95]
"Aren't you listening at all to what I'm telling you?" asked Ususi. "We can't trust the queen or any proxy in her service." She waved a dismissive hand at the ice demon.
Marrec levered himself upright with the shaft of his spear. He looked at Ususi, to Victoricus, and back. He said, "All right, I've been foolish. It was a risk to command the Queen Abiding, but risks must be taken, sometimes, if goals are to be achieved. If, as you say, the Queen Abiding cares only for her hungers, then after all the token must have had some effect over her. If not, wouldn't we all be but drained husks when she descended upon us?"
"Perhaps," acceded Ususi, "but don't call her again. Maybe that's all the additional incentive she needs to return and do exactly what you describe so mockingly."
Marrec said, "I will not call her unless we're likely to die anyway. I am acquainted with such choices when it comes to marshalling potent but dangerous forces." He rubbed his eyes as he said that last, then continued, "So what about Victoricus? Should we go on without him?"
Elowen answered. "No. I think we must put our faith in the efficacy of the token, for as Marrec says, we all yet live. It'll take too long to retrace Fallon's path back to where we lost it. If the ice demon can get us closer, then we should follow it."
Gunggari stated, "If we get close enough, I can pick up Fallon's trail again quite easily. I'll know if the demon is leading us too far from where we want to go."
"Just how will you know that?" Ususi challenged the Oslander.
Gunggari merely smiled. Ususi threw up her hands, shook her head, and sighed in exasperation. "Fine, fine, ignore the advice of your sage. You'll be asking my forgiveness in the seconds before this deal with the queen goes sour, but I need rest. The edges of my spells are frayed and uncertain. I must straighten them in my mind if I can be of any further use. Let us take a moment before you rush us into whatever trap the queen has concocted."
Gunggari said, "All of us could use the rest, Marrec."
Elowen thought that several hours' rest sounded heavenly. Since they'd descended into the dark, they had faced a series of terrible threats. Though they'd all survived so far, their luck was bound to fail if they didn't steal a few moments of recuperation from the never-ending rush of time.
"Then let's rest," agreed Marrec, not without some relief in his voice.
CHAPTER 26
They were undisturbed for the length of their rest, measuring at least six hours. Elowen, not requiring sleep, stood watch. When all had regained some measure of their full strength, Marrec addressed the demon.
"Victoricus. Lead us to our friend Ash, also called the Child of Light, and who is also an aspect of Lurue."
With nary a titter, the ice demon swiveled and skated away across the vault field. Ash's would-be rescuers followed.
Marrec followed the smoothly moving demon most closely. At first, he walked alone, as they backtracked through the Sighing Vault, and tunnels somewhat familiar. After they turned into a passage completely unfamiliar, Marrec asked Victoricus to slow down. Despite his words to Ususi, he of course couldn't trust the demon, or the demon's real master, the Queen Abiding.
On the other hand, Ususi hadn't held the token of control. She hadn't felt the power that had briefly coursed through his hands when he'd made his initial demand to the Queen Abiding. Marrec wasn't unfamiliar with items of potency. In the token's destruction, he'd felt a call go out, and in responding to that call, the queen had accepted a binding. She would be good to the letter of her word. She had no choice, Marrec felt certain. Pretty much certain.
He could explain his feelings about the token of control to the wizard, or at least, he could try, but Ususi was certain of her own learning, her own experience.