Stardeep_ The Dungeons - Bruce R. Cordell [29]
Then Kiril went insane.
Kiril's voice broke, but she managed to croak, "I slaughtered them."
The elf looked down, tears streaking her cheeks. Gage whispered, "Damn."
"It broke me. I've been running since then, running from what I did. But I…"
"… you kept the thing. Why?" interjected Gage.
Why hadn't she gotten rid of the sword? At first, she was crazed, incoherent; she couldn't quite recollect what she'd done in the year after she'd slain the children. One thing was certain; she had not returned to Stardeep. By fleeing, she renounced her position as Keeper and her identity as a star elf.
She'd thrown it all away. But Angul, she kept.
Even mad, she couldn't bring herself to cast him away. And now, ten more years, at least, had got behind her.
Aloud, she said, "I couldn't leave Angul behind! He's all I had left of Nangulis! But he's a curse, too, don't I flecking know? And now you tell me Sathra dealt with someone called Nangulis. Impossible! Isn't it? Where is she? I must talk to her." Kiril made to rise, determination firing her eyes.
"Hold on!" Gage reached across the table and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "After I got hold of the sword and got clear of her vault, she attacked me again. With the blade in hand, I killed her. So, uh… sorry. She can't tell you anything because she's out of the picture. But…"
"But?"
"She indicated the fellow she was working for hailed from someplace called Stardeep."
Kiril shook her head, tears again tracing tracks on her face. She said, "Stardeep. After all these years, it reaches out to me."
Slowly mastering herself, the elf considered. The name, the theft, the possibility, howevet minute, that Nangulis might somehow be among the living again. She couldn't ignore that chance.
"Stardeep has called, and I must answer," she decreed, tears breaking around a sudden unexpected smile.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Stardeep, Epoch Chamber
Cynosure?" Telarian asked the empty air of the Epoch Chamber.
"Yes?" said the disembodied golem's cultured voice. "I'm done for now. Connect me to my quarters." "Very well. Hold still…"
Telarian waited for the idol to set up the transfer. Cynosure always required a span of moments to process each new point-to-point telepottation in the Outer Bastion. Of course, such tricks were not allowed at all in the Inner Bastion, which contained the Well. That is, they were not normally allowed, but Telarian had been working on contingencies…
Just one more thing he'd failed to inform Delphe about. As with everything else, he justified keeping her in the dark on some of his activities because her role in Stardeep was so time consuming. Yet her dedication was futile. Her vigil at the edge of the Well was doomed to failure. He now understood, thanks to his visions, Xxiphu would one day rise whether or not the Traitor gained his freedom.
A blue flash and piercing odor, a moment of disorientation, and Telarian was back in his private room, a few levels above where he'd secreted the doorless Epoch Chamber. His room opened off a common hall in the Inner Bastion.
His unsteady hands found the neck of a wine bottle, then a glass. Not even the finest vintage could withstand neglect, and the wine in the bottle had turned vinegary and rancid. He should have finished it sooner after opening it a few tendays past, but he drank alone these days, and in moderation. Hard to finish a bottle before it turned sour. But his own cussed fastidiousness wouldn't permit him to throw it out and uncork a new one. Waste not, want not.
His thoughts remained on Delphe. For the thousandth time he wondered if perhaps he shouldn't bring her up to date on his preparations. Would she understand the risk they must undertake to avoid the disastrous certainty he had foreseen?
No, he didn't think she would. In fact, she would likely declare him mad with one bieath,