Vanity's Brood - Lisa Smedman [97]
Arvin grasped it then hesitated. Was it some sort of trick? Would him having the feather somehow allow Ts'ikil to come along for the ride? To reach the door and prevent him from opening it?
No.
"Then why help me?"
Ts'ikil nodded at Pakal. The dwarf lay on the stone, the patches on his legs only slightly more insubstantial than the shadows that crept toward him. Then she stared at Arvin. I help you because, even though I know what is in your heart, there is still a chance-her lips quirked-albeit only a coin's toss chance, that you will choose the correct path through the labyrinth that lies ahead.
Arvin nodded. He grasped the feather and pulled. It slid cleanly from Ts'ikil's wing. He felt his feet drift away from the ground. He was flying.
Gripping the feather tightly, he took a deep breath. "I'll make the right choice," he promised Ts'ikil.
Though whether right for himself and Karrell-or for the world-remained to be seen.
CHAPTER 11
Arvin approached the volcanic crater warily. He had morphed his body into that of a flying snake as soon as he drew close enough to the volcano for a single manifestation to carry him the rest of the distance. The couatl feather was tucked inside his pack.
The lower slopes of the mountain were covered in thick jungle that gave way near its peak to bare black rock where nothing grew. Ancient lava flows had overlapped one another, leaving rounded puddles of frozen stone that looked like layered scales. The peak itself was a crater perhaps fifty paces across with a floor that looked like ropy, wrinkled black skin. Wisps of white vapor hissed from cracks in the rock, tingeing the air with a rotten-egg smell. The walls of the crater appeared thin and fragile. In several places, chunks of stone had broken away and fallen down the mountainside, giving the peak its jagged, broken appearance.
There was no sign of the Dmetrio-seed. Nor was there any indication of exactly where the door might be. Arvin had expected to see something like the portal he and Pakal had used or the circular dais in Sibyl's lair, but the crater appeared wholly natural.
He probed the area for any sign of psionic manifestations. There were none. Nor could he detect any thoughts.
He landed in a spot away from the venting gas, on hot black stone. Folding his wings against his body, he shifted the color of his scales from greenish brown to glossy black. He waited, one finger of his awareness touching his muladhara, ready at an instant's notice to manifest a power should the Dmetrio-seed arrive. As shadows crept across the crater's floor, he kept an eye on the sky.
After a time, he felt the tingling in his body that meant his metamorphosis was about to end. Still there was no sign of the Dmetrio-seed. He waited until his body had shifted back into human form before he scrambled to the lip of the crater. It would have been a difficult climb without his magical bracelet, for the rock was indeed as fragile as it appeared. He took a look around but saw nothing that mlght have been a flying carpet. No matter which direction he peered in, the sky was empty.
Perhaps the seed hadn't received Sseth's message.
Arvin laughed at the irony-that he, the last person who would ever embrace the serpent god, had been the only one to understand Sseth's plea.
He was growing impatient. Gods only knew what was happening to Karrel 1. She'd put on a brave front when Arvin had used Zelia's power stone to speak with her, but he had seen the toll that mere survival had taken on her. That had been days ago. Anything might have happened in the meantime. Karrell might be…
He couldn't bring himself to contemplate it. Not there, not when he was so close. If only the Dmetrioseed would show up, Arvin could get on with it. The waiting was the hardest part. When would the Dmetrio-seed figure out Sseth's message?
Another possiblity occurred to Arvin. Maybe the seed had figured it out. Maybe he'd decided not to betray Zelia but to convey the Circled Serpent to her as ordered. When Arvin had