Aenir Read online

  The sun set, and the stars came out. Milla stretched and paced, her legs still sore from the Hugthing.

  Hours passed, but when the time came for Odris to watch, Milla did not go to sleep. The more she paced upon the top of the tower, the more she felt like it was not a refuge but a trap.

  Finally she decided they should try and sneak past the Nanuch, before the dawn. Immediately she felt better. Taking action was the Shield Maiden way. She would never be one now, but at least she could act like one. And die like one, if that was how it ended.

  Once again they went down the stairs. Milla trod as lightly as she could, and the only sound Odris made could be mistaken for the wind through the tower windows.

  At the bottom, Milla drew her dagger. Her sword's natural luminescence would alert the Nanuch.

  Unfortunately there was no dust or dirt she could smear her furs or Selski-hide breastplate with, but at least the armor was fairly dark. She didn't put on her face mask. It was white bone and would shine too brightly under the stars. It felt strange going out to fight without it.

  Milla crouched by the door for quite a long time, letting her eyes adjust to the starlit forest outside. It was bright enough to make out the shapes of trees and several Nanuch. They stood completely still, never moving. Milla hoped this meant they were asleep.

  She slid out through the door.

  At least that's what she thought she did. But somehow she ended up back inside the lower room, looking out.

  Puzzled, she stepped forward again. For an instant she was in the doorway, with her foot about to land on the bare earth outside.

  Then it came down on a wooden floor. She had stepped through the door, but it didn't lead outside. It took her back inside.

  There was some magic at work. Dire magic, Milla thought. Worse than anything she'd expected. Now she was sure it was a trap.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Tal heard the slither of the sand pouring back behind him, but he didn't look around. The light walls on either side of him stayed steady and comforting. The stairs continued down in front.

  They came to an end in front of a tall doorway. Obviously it had once been blocked by the enormous stone door that lay half across it, as if someone had ripped it open and let it fall.

  That made Tal stop for a moment. But the Codex had told him to come here, he reasoned.

  Finding the Codex meant finding Gref.

  He who hesitates heads Redward, she who seizes opportunity soars to Violet.

  Ebbitt used to repeat that back to front and laugh his head off, but Tal took the saying seriously.

  He climbed over the fallen door and through the doorway.

  The room beyond had walls of stone and light, both holding back sand, judging from the piles that had oozed through gaps where the magic barriers intersected with the stone.

  In the middle of the room, a boy sat cross-legged, staring at Tal. A boy not much older than Tal, dressed in white trousers and a white shirt with blue cuffs. A Chosen boy.

  Tal even knew who it was: Lenan of the Blue. He had disappeared last year. Every Day of Ascension all the Chosen children who had come of age would go forth to seek a Spiritshadow to bind. Not all of them came back.

  But what was Lenan doing here? And where was Hazror?

  "Greetings, Chosen," said Lenan. His voice sounded a little strange. Too high-pitched.

  Tal had started to walk forward to greet Lenan properly, but when he heard the voice, he stopped.

  The voice wasn't the only thing that was strange. Lenan was wearing several Sunstones around his neck. One was bright, obviously working to keep the walls in place. But the boy had two more, both sparkling, though not currently active.

  There was something odd about the light in the room as well. The walls were shifting through several colors, which was reasonable, as it made them stronger. But now that Tal looked at them, he realized that the overall color in the room was a sickly gray. No normal Chosen ever used that color.

  Tal raised his hand and bright white flashed out, flooding every corner of the room.

  In its stark illumination, Tal saw that Lenan was not really Lenan. The Chosen boy was just a picture woven from light, in sking something much larger. An only approximately human thing of rotting flesh and naked bone that rose up and cast its disguise away.

  This was what Adras was afraid of. Hazror.

  The three Sunstones Lenan had worn were not an illusion. Hazror picked one up in a hand that was more claw than anything else. Light flickered in the stone, building in intensity.

  Tal didn't wait for whatever Hazror was going to do. In the first flash of white light he'd seen what he'd come for. Hanging around Hazror's neck, next to the Sunstones, was a thin tube. A tube with three holes.

  Tal recognized it instantly. A whistle made of the same material as the trees in the Crystal Wood. It had to be what the Codex had told him to get.

  He'd also seen the piles of bones around Hazror's feet and the broken skulls. They were human and most looked less than adult-sized. Lenan must have been only the most recent Chosen to meet his end here, in Hazror's lair. The Semidragon must have been drawing a skull, a warning from the Codex!

  Tal changed the light in his Sunstone from white to red and sent a Red Ray of Destruction blasting out at Hazror's head.

  Hazror countered with a Violet Shield of Discontinuity, and the Red Ray disappeared into some other, unknown reality. But the Shield only covered his head. Blasting off another ray at his enemy's knees, Tal dove to the ground.

  That saved his life. Hazror instantly counterattacked and a great blast of Indigo light flashed over Tal's head. Tal didn't even know what the spell was, except that it was enormously destructive.

  His Red Ray hit Hazror, but several hidden Sunstones flashed around his calves, absorbing the strike. Other stones glittered into life along his arms and thighs.

  Tal gasped in shock as an aura of light sprang up all around the creature.

  Hazror was literally covered in Sunstones. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

  With so many defensive Sunstones, Tal's light attacks were useless.

  Hazror was invulnerable.

  Tal rolled away as another Indigo blast smoked the ground where he'd been a second ago. He kept on rolling, fear making his mind work faster than it ever had before.

  He couldn't run. He'd need time to create walls to hold back the sand.

  He couldn't fight Hazror with light.

  Hazror laughed. His voice was still Lenan's, though much higher and more shrill.

  "Another Chosen come to play, another Chosen come to pay!"

  There was only one thing left to do, Tal thought. Something no Chosen would ever think of.

  But Tal wasn't only a Chosen now. Whether he wanted to or not, he had learned something of being an Icecarl.

  He snapped out of his roll, ducked another blast, and threw himself feetfirst at Hazror.

  The creature's laugh was cut off as Tal's boots crashed into his stomach. He went flying over backward.

  A ray of Violet light sprang out of his Sunstone, melting a hole through a wall.

  But it missed Tal. He grabbed Hazror's arm and twisted it behind his back. He'd half expected the creature to be enormously strong, but Hazror howled in pain and did not resist.

  He did start screaming. "Arval! Rowthr! Govror!"

  AL these words, one of the walls of light suddenly winked out, revealing more steps leading down. Bestial roars echoed through the doorway, coming from far below.

  Obviously Hazror's servants or guards or whatever they were were on their way.

  "You will suffer for this!" hissed Hazror as Tal dragged him across to the stairs. "You will suffer!"

  Tal didn't answer. He reached around and ripped the chain that held the Sunstones and the whistle from Hazror's neck. The creature screamed and whimpered.

  "My neck! You've hurt my neck!" It was only then that Tal realized
that Hazror had no shadow. He was not an Aeniran creature. He was just a very, very old man. An ancient man. And he must have once been a Chosen. But he had left that behind when he came here. Judging from the bones and the Sunstones, he had lured tens if not hundreds of young Chosen to their deaths.

  Tal felt the disgust rise in him. How could anyone do what this man had done? How could he betray his own people?

  "You'll suffer," whimpered Hazror. "I'll show you how light can hurt -"

  Tal didn't listen to him anymore. He let go.

  The old man, poised on the brink of the stairs, suddenly caught his breath and stopped his threats. He teetered there for a moment, arms flailing.

  Tal saw glowing red eyes coming up from below. Ferocious eyes, as large as his hands. Vengenarl eyes.

  Hazror swung forward, screaming. Before he could swing back, Tal gave him a push.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Milla tried to pass through the door seven times and Odris eighteen. Each and every time they ended up exactly where they'd left.

  Milla also tried hacking at the wood, but neither her bone knife nor Merwin-horn sword could even scratch it.

  "We'll have to fly off the roof," Milla said finally.

  But when they climbed back up, they could no more leave the roof than they could the door. Every time Odris launched herself off one side of the tower, they found themselves landing on the other side.

  They could see out, but they couldn't get there.

  "I wonder what happens next," said Milla. She instinctively knew it was a trap with a purpose. Something would happen soon.

  Something lethal, she suspected. Something that had to do with the smell of burning, which was growing stronger as the night wore on.

  She paced around the walkway several more times, thinking. Then she said, "Come on," to Odris and went back downstairs.

  At the bottom, she stood in front of the door and raised her Sunstone. Concentrating on it, she called it into full light. Bright white light that filled the bottom level and spilled out into the night.

  "I'm here!" yelled Milla to the waiting Nanuch. "Here!"

  "What are you doing?" asked Odris anxiously. "I'm trying to get one to come in," explained Milla. "I might be able to jump out as one jumps in." "Oh," said Odris. "But what about me?" "I'll throw one in for you," said Milla.

  It was a good plan. But it didn't work because the Nanuch wouldn't come any closer.

  Something else did, though. A small green lizard approached the door. It walked upright on its hind legs, wearing a harness made from woven grass, from which hung a sword no longer than Milla's forefinger. It bore a quiver of tiny arrows on its back, and carried a bow only slighter shorter than it was tall.

  "A Kurshken," said Odris. "I wonder what it wants."

  The Kurshken came up within a few stretches of the door and bowed. Then it spoke, in a surprisingly deep voice for one so small.

  "Greetings, Milla and Odris. I am Quorr Quorr Quorr Ahhtorn Sezicka. You may call me Zicka."

  "Greetings," said Milla, bowing in turn. "How do you know our names?"

  "The Codex of the Chosen has spoken in my head," said Zicka. "It told me to come here. Soon it will speak through my mouth."

  "Do you know how we can get out of here?" asked Milla. "Or does the Codex know?"

  Zicka started to speak, then froze. His eyes grew cloudy. Rather like a Crone Mother's, Milla noticed. Then he spoke again, and his voice sounded different, the words coming less fluently.

  "I am the Codex. I need your help. Tal alone cannot free me. You must meet him. Zicka will show you where."

  "What if we don't want to help?" asked Milla. "I see no reason to help any Chosen, least of all Tal. He has betrayed -"

  "I have little time to speak thus," interrupted the Codex. "Tal has done what he had to do. If you agree to help, Zicka will free you from the Dawn House. If not, you will die."

  "The Dawn House?" asked Milla. "What is -" Before she could finish the question, Zicka's eyes cleared.

  "Well?" he said, his voice normal again. "What is it to be?"

  "A Shield Maiden does not barter favors," Milla said angrily. "Free us from this prison. Then I will decide."

  "That is not the instruction of the Codex," said Zicka. He looked up at the sky and added, "You had best think quickly. Dawn is not far away."

  "What happens at dawn?" asked Odris. "By the way, I'm happy to help anyone who'll help me."

  "With the rising of the sun, the Dawn House burns," said Zicka.

  "Why?" asked Milla. She shook her head. Nothing in Aenir made sense to her.

  "It was not always so," said Zicka. "It is a curse, I suppose. Something left over from the war. Perhaps something hid here, only to be burned out, and the spell continues. The fire only destroys whatever is in the Dawn House. The tower itself is never harmed."

  Milla looked at the Sunstone on her finger,

  She had to get that back to the clan. And there was much information, too.

  But was it more important than the laws of the Shield Maidens?

  A Shield Maiden does not barter favors. But that was only the seventh law. It was not the most important.

  Besides, it might be in the interest of all Icecarls for Milla to help Tal return the Codex to the Castle.

  Even if he was a traitor to her, and had ruined her future, she had to ignore that and think of what was most important to the clans.

  The Codex's words also sat in her mind, squatting like unwelcome guests on the deck of an ice-ship.

  Tal has done what he had to do…

  "The first red glow shows on the horizon," said Zicka calmly. "The house will soon begin to burn."

  Milla paced across the room, wrestling with the decision. It felt like surrendering, and she could never surrender. But was it really?

  Tiny tendrils of smoke started to rise up around her feet as she walked. Odris floated closer to the doorway, and cleared her throat several times. But she did not speak. The Storm Shepherd could feel the turmoil in Milla, the difficulty of the decision.

  Besides, Odris thought she'd probably survive a fire. It would hurt, and she would be spread through every room, but she could probably pull herself back together. Though she would need water immediately afterward. And that would be difficult if she was still trapped…

  Odris said anxiously. "We're on fire!"

  Tiny flames were licking up the walls and the smoke tendrils were winding together into thicker plumes.

  Milla ignored smoke, flame, and Odris. She went to the door. "What is it to be?" asked Zicka quickly.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Hazror fell down the stairs, screaming all the way. A third of the way down he catapulted straight into the path of his three Vengenarls. All four of them got tangled together and fell another thirty steps.

  Tal didn't wait to look. He raced back to where he'd come in. A wall of light blocked the steps to the surface, drowned in sand. Tal had already thought of how to deal with that.

  He would make a Hand of Light and use it to carry himself up to the surface.

  There was only one slight flaw in this plan. Tal had only ever seen a Hand of Light made once, by three Guards who were all much more experienced light mages than he was. But he had found that making the Stairway of Light in the Pit had opened up his mind to all sorts of Light Magic that he couldn't previously do or hadn't ever known about. Tal was pretty certain he knew how to make a Hand.

  Actually there were two flaws. The other one was that he had to make the Hand in the few minutes he had before Hazror and the Vengenarls stopped falling down the stairs and came ravening up them instead.

  Tal put all those thoughts to the very back of his mind and concentrated on his Sunstone. He had two other stones now, taken from Hazror, but the one in his ring he knew best.

  He knew Orange light best, too, so it was with that he decided to weave his hand. First of all he sent out a thin beam. He
gradually widened that until it was like a band of cloth, which he wove backward and forward to build up his Hand.

  Because time was short he actually made more of a Mitten than a Hand. It had a thumb, but no fingers. It hovered a stretch away from him, as tall as he was and four times as wide.

  Tal concentrated on the Hand. Slowly it drifted toward him. For a moment he thought he'd made it too insubstantial, but when it touched him it felt solid.

  The Hand closed with Tal inside it and backed away from the wall of light that covered the exit.

  Then it rushed forward, knuckles out, Tal braced inside for the shock.

  The Hand hit the wall of light and smashed straight through. Orange light flared and sand started geysering in through the V of the thumb, where there was a slight gap.

  Up!

  thought Tal urgently, his head bent over his Sunstone in intense concentration.

  Up!

  The Hand pushed its way through the sand. Tal's Sunstone shone so brightly he had to close his eyes as it pumped power into the Hand.

  Behind him, sand poured like a tidal wave through the broken wall of light into Hazror's lair. Tal hadn't planned it like that, but the sand was covering his retreat. With his best Sunstones taken, Hazror would be hard put to stem the flow of sand. He would not be able to pursue immediately.

  Tal kept urging the Hand up. Even when it burst out on the surface, flinging sand and slabs of stone in all directions, he kept it going.

  He was almost two hundred stretches up in the air when Adras caught up with him and said, "Tal! What are you doing?"

  Distracted, Tal lost concentration. The Hand rippled from Orange to Yellow and then through the entire spectrum.

  "Dark take it!" cursed Tal.

  He lost control completely. His Sunstone went dark. The Hand vanished and Tal started to fall.

  He didn't start screaming until he was halfway down, because he'd thought Adras would catch him.

  Unfortunately Adras didn't realize he was needed until it was almost too late. He came diving down and snatched at Tal's hands when the boy was certain he was about to die.