The Red Wyvern - Katharine Kerr [43]
“A question answered and one only, O Great Lord.” Brour spoke aloud. “I know full well how honored I am that thou hast answered my call.”
In the pillar the figure inclined its head. Lilli somehow felt that it was amused at Brour’s presumption.
“What wish you to know, Child of Earth?”
“Deep within thy realm of earth and stone that lies under this dun and its outbuildings, there is a tunnel leading from the dun to somewhere beyond its walls and the walls of the city that surrounds it. We wish to know where it lies.”
The figure inclined its head toward Lilli.
“Look! Child of Aethyr, look into your basin!”
Lilli followed orders. On the black surface of the ink pictures began forming: a gate in a wall, a narrow path between walls of stone, a broken tower standing in a cobbled ward. Behind that tower she saw wooden doors set into the earth.
“A root cellar?” She couldn’t contain herself. “It’s in a root cellar? You’re certain?”
Brour yelped in fear. She felt the King of Earth’s laughter wash over her and looked up at the greenish-grey figure in his pillar of silver light. He did seem to be laughing, truly.
“We are certain, little one. You will find what you seek under those doors. Now fare thee well. Sorcerer! Release me!”
“I shall, Great King of Earth,” Brour said. “And my thanks for thy aid in this matter.”
Brour flung his arms into the air and began to chant. With each alien word the silver light dimmed until at last nothing remained but the normal yellow light of a candle flame dancing in a pierced lantern. With one hand raised to hold the astral sword, Brour turned toward the east. Chanting, he erased the circle of blue fire, then walked to the west and rubbed out part of the flour-marked circle with one foot.
“May all spirits bound by this ceremony go free!” Brour called out. “It is over!”
He stamped thrice upon the floor. Suddenly Lilli felt the room regain its normal size and normal emptiness. Brour caught his breath in a long sigh and sat down quite suddenly upon the floor.
“Are you all right?” Lilli said.
“Tired. Thirsty. Bring me that waterskin, will you? You have some too. And there’s cheese and bread in that bit of cloth.”
After the marvels she’d just seen Lilli found the idea of eating ridiculous—until she saw the food and realized how hungry she was. She and Brour sat in the middle of the broken ritual circle and gobbled, washing the food down with water that tasted as good as mead. When she was done eating, she realized that the strange shimmer of light had faded from the walls. The view turned so magical had become mundane again.
“It’s all gone,” she said wistfully. “All the silver magic.”
“That’s the point of eating,” Brour said, grinning. “You can’t go about your daily affairs in a state of trance. And besides, we’ve got one last marvel to view—our bolthole. We’d best take a look at it before we forget the vision, too.”
They blew out all the lanterns but one. Brour had brought extra candles as well as food; once the lanterns were cool enough, they packed them up and got on their way.
As soon as they were outside, Lilli recognized the path that the King of Earth had shown her. The little gate by the far wall seemed to shimmer, as if a trace of dweomer-light clung to the wooden door. They went through and found themselves in a narrow passageway between two high walls that led downhill to another door in a low one. That, too, was unbarred. On the other side stretched a big ward, ringed with high walls and scattered with ruins—a broken tower, tumbled heaps of stones, mounds of grassy earth that probably covered the remains of sheds and huts.
“It looks like this place saw some fighting,” Brour said.
“So it does. It must have been an awfully long time ago. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it. There might have been a fire.”
“True spoken. And the king didn’t rebuild in here because he wanted to keep the bolthole hidden, or so we can hope, anyway. No one would have any reason to come poking around in the ruins.”
In the event Brour’s hope was justified. Around back of the broken tower