Stardeep_ The Dungeons - Bruce R. Cordell [66]
The diviner ran to stand between the two shapes. Both stared vacantly down at him. Cynosure was resident in neither.
A crackle of light and the sudden scent of ozone pulled his gaze around. Striding from a rough discontinuity was Delphe.
"Telarian!" she yelled, her eyes wild, her face flushed as she approached him. Did she know what had just occurred? Were all his secrets laid bare to his fellow Keeper? A guilty conscience grabbed him roughly, draining blood from his face and putting a shake in his hands. To salvage his scheme, and thereby save future generations unborn, must he now cut down Delphe, too, in cold blood?
As he reached for Nis, Delphe said, "Cynosure is corrupted, and the Traitor stirs! Thank the Twelve Stars I've found you-we must prepare our strategy!"
Telarian's wavering hand dropped away from his weapons hilt.
"Tell me, Delphe, what has happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse. He gripped one hand with the other to hide a telltale quaver.
She began, "An entity…"
Her eyes looked past him down the tunnel. Telarian turned and saw the bloody stteak smeared from the open guardroom door, as well as the gore splash from where Brathtar and Dharvanum had gasped out their last. He'd disposed of the bodies in the deeps, but there'd been no time to sctub away the incriminating blood. The recalled Knights yet milled at the far end, still pale and confused to Telarian's eyes.
"The invaders breached the Causeway?" she gasped. "I closed the Causeway not a moment too soon!" She turned to look at him. "Why didn't you close the Causeway Gate after you sent forth the Knights to defend Stardeep?"
Telarian replied without missing a beat. "Of course I tried, but Cynosure failed to answer me. By the time I realized a manual seal was necessary, I and a reserve unit of Knights already fought to hold the tunnel. If you hadn't closed the Causeway Gate when you did, I'm not sure what would have happened." Internally, he cursed her for an intetfering fool. If she hadn't closed the Causeway, even now he'd have Angul and Nis, together.
"What kind of force-"
He interrupted, "Hold!" The diviner knew where Delphe's questions led. A distraction was required lest she too closely examine the gate tunnel. If she queried the Knights now visible in the tunnel, she'd learn they hadn't been part of any tunnel defense-they'd been fighting a Keeper! If she began unraveling that knot, he'd have to spin his web of lies all the wider.
Telarian continued, "You claim Cynosure is corrupt and the Traitor's dreams are uneasy? I would hear more of that!"
Delphe nodded, her eyes again focusing on Telarian. She said, "Some sort of… probe entity burst from the boundary layer and ascended the Well."
Telarian didn't have to act surprised. Delphe continued, "A powerful working, not a phantom. It was a qualified escape attempt."
"What shape did it take?" Telarian's voice was hoarser.
She replied, "A self-improving tissue mass. It resembled an eyeless snake, or a questing tentacle. It improved and expanded every moment it remained free of the Well. What a time for Cynosure to fail!"
Delphe raised a conciliatory hand as she noted his eyes growing huge. "Breathe easy. I quelled the escape. Cynosure woke up at the last, and between his working and my abjurations, the Traitor's sending, if that's what it was, failed to emerge into the Throat."
Telarian shook his head. "I am sorry I was not there to aid you." The Keeper of the Outer Bastion's faith in his prognostication was fast approaching zero; he hadn't foreseen such a potent emergence so soon. Still…
"But Cynosure did acknowledge the danger and helped you, if not as quickly as you desired. Are you certain he is corrupt?"
"I'm not certain of anything. I know this, though; he has suffered too many lapses of late. Have you noticed? Too many silences during critical moments in the Well. I was forced to turn off some functions."