Eye of the Labyrinth (27 page)

Chapter 50

Alenor’s daily ride with her escort soon changed from being a good excuse to talk in private with Alexin to being essential to her sanity. Her responsibilities as queen left her little time for herself. The added burden of dealing with Kirsh, who was still furious at her for rejecting him, meant that the only peace she had—the only time she could be herself—was when she was out riding.

Alexin did not always ride with her. It would have been far too obvious if he had, and even if he was not her only link with the Baenlanders, she could not afford to give the impression that she was playing favorites among her guard.

Alexin was with her today, however, and they rode on ahead of the escort, Circael flying beneath her as if she had sprouted wings. When she finally reined in, there was no sign of her escort.

Alexin galloped up behind her with a scowl.

“If you get killed in a fall while I’m supposed to be protecting you, I’d have to fall on my sword, you know,” he complained.

Alenor laughed, still exhilarated from the ride. “Then I shall try not to get killed, Alexin. Just for you.”

He dismounted and walked over to her, offering her his hand. “That would probably make me feel better if I thought you meant it, your majesty.”

Alexin helped her down and stepped back to allow her to look at the view. They were on the cliff path that wound down from the palace to a small rocky cove at the base of the cliffs. The Tresna Sea crashed against the rocks below them and a sliver of red sliced across the horizon as the first sun began to rise.

She studied the glorious sunrise in silence for a moment. “I hear Kirsh has been spending rather a lot of time training with the guard lately.”

Alexin nodded. “He does seem a bit ... aggravated. I had a short bout with him yesterday. For a while there, I thought he was really trying to kill me.”

Alenor smiled. “I hear frustration will do that to you.”

“Frustration?” Alexin asked in a puzzled voice.

“His Royal Highness, the Regent of Dhevyn, isn’t finding married life quite what he imagined.” She turned to face him. “I told him to go to hell, Alexin. He can have his Shadowdancer or he can have me. He can’t have us both.”

The captain frowned. “Was that wise, your majesty?” “Probably not. But you’ve no idea how good it felt,” she said. “And do you think you could stop calling me that?”

“Calling you what, your majesty?”

“Your
majesty
!” she said. “It makes me feel like I’m my mother.”

“It wouldn’t be appropriate ...”

“It’s not terribly appropriate that a captain of the Queen’s Guard is plotting with the Baenlanders to bring down the Lion of Senet, either, Alexin, but that doesn’t seem to bother you.”

“It’s not quite the same thing, Alenor.”

She smiled. “There! That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”

“Not difficult at all. But it’s a dangerous habit to get into.”

Alenor sighed. “I seem to have developed quite a taste for living dangerously, since I became queen.”

“You handled yourself very well with Antonov,” he told her. “I think you have quite a flair for intrigue.”

“Really? I was shaking so hard I thought Antonov would know I was lying, just by looking at me.”

“Well, it certainly set off a flurry of activity among the Senetians,” Alexin remarked. “There’ve been so many birds flying back and forth between here and Avacas it’s a wonder they don’t collide with each other.”

“I know. Belagren’s been very busy. I’ve barely seen her. She sent Ella Geon and a few others back to Avacas the day after the wedding.”

“I imagine Dirk will be close to Omaxin by now.”

“Do you like Dirk, Alexin?”

The captain shrugged. “I don’t know him well enough to say.”

“Do you
trust
him?”

“Do you?”

“More than you know.” She walked a little way along the path, and then glanced back at him. “If we ever manage to free Dhevyn, it will be Dirk who does it, you know. It won’t be me.”

“I think you underestimate your own determination, Alenor.”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing to do with determination. Johan Thorn was determined. So was my mother. Determination isn’t enough.”

“Aren’t you afraid that if he does defeat Antonov, he’ll want your throne in return?”

“Dirk doesn’t want to be king.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“Yes.”

Alexin came to stand beside her on the cliff top. She glanced at him for a moment and then looked back at the rapidly reddening sky. “When I saw him on Grannon Rock, Dirk made me promise I’d trust him,” she told the captain. “He made me promise I would keep my faith in him, no matter what happened in the future.”

“An odd promise to ask for.”

“I thought so, too,” she agreed. “It makes me wonder what he’s really up to. That whole thing with the corpse and Antonov ... I just have a feeling that we were doing what he asked, but not for the reason we think.”

“Don’t let it concern you, Alenor. You did what the Baenlanders needed you to do, and it appears to have been successful. Belagren has ordered her Shadowdancers out of Omaxin, and the Lion of Senet is preparing to head home, none the wiser that you were involved. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

“I could ask for a great many things, Alexin. I suspect most of them, however, are out of my reach.”

“It will all work out in the end,” he assured her with a smile.

“Now you sound like Rainan.”

“Your mother’s methods were not entirely without merit, Alenor.”

“I suppose not,” she agreed. “But you can’t keep giving in to the Lion of Senet without it eventually becoming first a habit, then a way of life. That’s why I took a stand with Kirsh. I may go down in history as the Virgin Queen of Dhevyn, but at least I have my pride.”

Alexin looked her oddly, and then he smiled. “If it were up to me, your majesty, you’d not be the Virgin Queen for long.”

Alenor blushed. “
Alexin!
That’s a rather risqué suggestion from someone who not five minutes ago was suggesting it might be inappropriate to address me by name.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you ...”

“I’m not offended,” she assured him. “Actually, I think I’m flattered.”

“Well, there you go then,” he said with a grin. “A queen should have at least one courtier whose sole function is to flatter and beguile her.”

“And what would be the function of the other fourscore courtiers I seem to have acquired since Antonov and Belagren arrived?”

“They would be the ones whose sole function is to remind you why we have to free Dhevyn,” he replied, his grin fading.

“Oh, Alexin,” she sighed. “I swear that at times, you’re the only thing that keeps me sane.”

“Which is a very sad state of affairs for a queen to be in,” he remarked with a slight frown. “You really should have someone nearby whom you can trust.”

“Who?” she sighed. “There’s nobody I dare trust, Alexin. Except you and my mother, and I worry about her at times. She does all the wrong things for all the right reasons.”

“I was actually thinking of your cousin in Bryton.”

“Jacinta? She hates court life, Alexin. Mother invited her to Kalarada when I first returned home and she flatly refused to come.”

“Perhaps if
you
ask her she might consider it,” he suggested. “Jacinta and your mother differ somewhat in their views about Senet.”

Alenor looked at him curiously. “You’re not implying that Jacinta is in league with you and the Baenlanders, are you, Alexin?” She laughed suddenly. “Oh dear! Lady Sofia would curl up and die if she knew that!”

“As would
your
mother if she realized the same thing about you,” he reminded her with a smile. “Please, Alenor. Send for her. I can’t watch over you all the time.”

“Are you sure that’s the only reason you want her to come to Kalarada?” she asked curiously.

“What other reason would there be?”

“She’s very pretty.”

Alexin smiled. “She’s also as sharp as a diamond blade, and passionately loyal to Dhevyn.”

“All admirable qualities,” Alenor agreed. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“If you’re asking me if I have designs on Jacinta D’Orlon,” he said. “Then the answer is no. Even if I did, I’m only a second son. Jacinta’s family would never consider me while Raban is unmarried. Besides, my heart belongs to someone much closer to home.”

Before she could ask who his heart belonged to the sound of horses on the path behind them ended their conversation as the remainder of her escort rounded the bend, walking at a sedate pace. Alenor held out her hand to Alexin and he led her back to her horse. He gave her a leg up into the saddle and she gathered up her reins. The first sun had risen almost fully and the light had turned red.

“Thank you, Captain,” she said.

He looked up at her curiously. “For what?”

“For being my friend.”

He smiled at her, but did not say anything more as he swung into the saddle of his own mount and, with the rest of her escort, they turned and headed back toward Kalarada palace.

Chapter 51

Tia and Dirk explored the ruins for several days, mostly to assure themselves that they really were deserted. Tia was rather concerned at the haste with which the Shadowdancers had departed. They had left behind an amazing amount of gear. Pavilions, bedding, a tent full of food supplies, tools and even a milk goat were scattered through the abandoned camp. Dirk was of the opinion that the Shadowdancers’ orders must have been to leave immediately, and that it had not been possible for them to take everything with them. Tia was not nearly as sure. There was something fishy about the whole setup; she just couldn’t figure out what it was. To her, it looked as if they might return any minute.

“You want to tackle the Labyrinth this morning?” Dirk asked when she emerged yawning sleepily from the luxury of an abandoned Shadowdancer’s tent she had claimed as her own. The upside of the Shadowdancers’ hasty departure was that not only would they eat like kings while they were here, they had most of the creature comforts of a large expedition and none of the effort involved in getting them there.

“That’s why we came, isn’t it?”

She did not mean to snap at him, she just couldn’t help it. Things were still very tense between them. Although Dirk had not mentioned it again, not since the morning after, Tia cringed every time she thought of that night she had eaten those damn mushrooms. He was thinking about it constantly, she was certain. And just because he had displayed a few shreds of honor by not taking advantage of her at the time, did not mean that he was not wondering about what it might have been like if he had ...

“I said, we’d better take a few spare torches. It’s going to be dark in there.”

Tia started as she realized he had spoken to her. “What? Oh. Fine. Spare torches ...”

He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hey! Tia! Wake up!”

She slapped his hand away impatiently. “Leave me alone! I’m awake!”

“Just checking,” he shrugged. “Bring the waterskin, too.”

She glared at him, and then picked up the torches and the skin. “When did I get promoted to pack mule?”

“About the same time you got demoted from insatiable seductress, I think,” he replied with a smile.

Tia hurled the load she was carrying to the ground. “That’s it! I’ve had enough of this!”

He sighed. “Just because you spend a good part of your day trying to invent new ways to torment
me,
doesn’t mean I do the same to you. It was an accident, Tia. It wasn’t your fault and you weren’t responsible for what you said or what you did.” He took a step closer to her and reached up to wipe away a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “And I swear, I will never tell anyone what happened. On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

He smiled. “That you admit it was kind of funny ...”

She instinctively slapped his hand away.

Then she forced a smile, realizing that Dirk was offering her a way out. He was giving her a chance to laugh it off, to make a joke of it; to trivialize something that was potentially soul destroying.

He smiled at her as he picked up his own torch and plunged it into the cooking fire to light it. “Are you still mad at me?”

Tia hefted the waterskin over her shoulder and turned for the well-worn path to the Labyrinth’s entrance.

“I’ll always be mad at you about something, Dirk Provin,” she said over her shoulder. “You can count on it.”

Dirk caught up with her at the dark gaping archway that was the entrance to the Labyrinth. They both stopped and stared up at the alien writing chiseled into the stone.

“What does it say?” Tia asked.

“I don’t know. It’s the same writing as the arches in Bollow, but I couldn’t read that either. Did Neris ever mention what it said?”

“Not that I recall.”

Dirk held the torch out in front of them as they stepped inside. The walls were smooth and slightly curved, etched faintly with symbols Tia did not have time to stop and examine. The darkness was oppressive, the temperature cool after the heat outside. About thirty feet into the tunnel, Tia stumbled into Dirk as they found the remains of a twisted doorway.

“This must have been Neris’s first trap.”

Dirk nodded silently as he helped her up and they stepped over the obstacle. They crossed several more ruined gateways, spaced about fifty feet apart. At one gate, they had to climb carefully over a huge granite slab. Dirk held up the torch and looked up at the hole in the ceiling from where the slab had fallen.

“I hope nobody was under that when it fell,” he remarked.

They walked in silence for a time, the darkness closing in on Tia with smothering intensity as they made their way past the remains of the traps Neris had set in the Labyrinth. As they neared the remains of the seventh trap, they discovered a narrow bridge over the gaping hole in the floor. Tia glanced down as she crossed the rickety structure behind Dirk, wondering how far down it went. She could just see the faint glimmer of sharpened spikes poking up through the gloom.

Once past the collapsed floor, the hall curved, and what little daylight filtered into the tunnel disappeared. Tia unconsciously moved closer to Dirk and the security of the light he carried. She had never realized until this moment that she was afraid of the dark, probably because until now, she had never experienced true darkness.

The twelfth gate was little more than a hole in the wall and gave no hint as to what had been triggered when the Shadowdancers had forced it open. Tia stepped through, her pulse beginning to thump erratically as the darkness of the tunnel closed in on her.

“You know, strictly speaking,” said Dirk, “this isn’t a labyrinth at all.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, suddenly glad that he had spoken. His voice helped drown out the pounding in her ears.

“A true labyrinth is a single path heading toward a goal at the center.”

“Isn’t that what this is?”

“Sort of. But this doesn’t seem curved enough. It has a mouth, like a true labyrinth. But we should be walking a circuit. The walls are supposed to keep you on the path until you reach your goal in the middle of the labyrinth, which is actually only the halfway point, because then you still need to turn around and walk out.”

“Fascinating, I’m sure,” she agreed, rolling her eyes.

“All right,” he admitted. “I’m being pedantic, I’ll grant you that, but even though there’s a bend in it, the path is too straight. This is just a tunnel, really. If it was a true lab— Wow!”

Tia bumped into Dirk as he stopped suddenly and held the torch high. The tunnel stopped abruptly. They were confronted by a solid wall constructed of polished granite, its surface mottled with golden flecks that spidered across the surface of the stone like the veins on an old drunkard’s nose.

“You’re supposed to be the second greatest mind on Ranadon and the best you can do is ‘wow’?” she asked, trying to cover her nervousness with sarcasm.

He walked to the barricade blocking the way forward, holding his torch even higher to get a better view. Into the wall were set six slightly raised blocks, laid out in a circular pattern. Each block was etched with a number, but as Dirk moved the torch along to light the whole wall, she could see no logical sequence to them.

“This is amazing!”

“So is Neris,” she reminded him, reaching out to touch the wall. The granite was cold to the touch, hidden here in the darkness. “Or at least he was.”

“How did he build this?” Dirk asked in awe, running his fingers over the number four hundred etched into one of the raised blocks.

“He didn’t.”

Dirk looked back at her in confusion.

“He designed it, but he didn’t actually slave away for years dressing the stone and sliding every block into position himself. Belagren
sent
him here to Omaxin, remember. It was her idea to have Neris seal the caverns so that nobody else could discover their secret. She sent him up here with everything he needed— tools, laborers, craftsmen—the works. Do you think we’ll be down here long?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her, looking rather amused. “You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?”

“No ... maybe ...”

“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “We’ll light the tunnel better when we come back.” He turned back to stare at the wall. “What happened to the people who constructed the gates, do you suppose? Why didn’t Belagren just ask one of
them
how to get through?”

“Rumor has it she tortured more than a dozen of them to death before she realized that knowing how to grind a spring doesn’t make you a master clockmaker. Nobody but Neris ever really understood how it worked. Can you open it?”

“I don’t know,” he said, studying the wall closely.

“Well, if you do figure it out, just be
damn
sure you’ve got it right before you try it. The gate may be booby-trapped, remember. Get it wrong and you die—rather painfully, from what I saw on the way in.”

“That’s what I like about you, Tia. You always look on the bright side. What did Neris tell you about the gates, anyway?”

“Not a great deal.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Did I really bring you all this way because of your expert knowledge of the Labyrinth?”

“Hey, don’t blame me. You’re the one who assumed I knew something about it.”

“Why do you suppose Paige Halyn sent Neris to Omaxin in the first place?” he asked, turning back to the wall in fascination.

“What do you mean?” But what she really wanted to ask was: “Why can’t we discuss this outside?”

“Why Omaxin?” Dirk mused. “Why not the library in Nova? Or the cellars in Elcast, for that matter? Why
these
ruins? How did he know Neris would find the answer here?”

Tia shrugged. “Maybe it was a lucky guess. Or an unlucky guess, if you count what happened afterward.”

“No. It doesn’t make sense. The Lord of the Suns sent the only mathematical genius he had to a ruin in the middle of nowhere, when there were a score of other places he could have used his talents better. Belagren and the others were just along for the ride, really. Paige Halyn must have had a reason.”

“Well, why don’t we stop by his place on the way back through Bollow and ask him?” she suggested impatiently.
And
can we please leave?

“Maybe we should,” he agreed thoughtfully.

Tia glared at his back. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. Can we go now?”

“Look at this.”

With an exasperated curse, Tia stepped up beside him and looked up. He was pointing to an inscription chiseled into the stone above the numbers. It was not written in the ancient script of the ruins, but in the common tongue, which meant Neris had probably put it there.

“ ‘There is an eye that cannot see,’ ” she read in the flickering torchlight. “ ‘This is a place that must not be. But in the order of the making, patterns lurk there for the taking.’ ” She read it again and then glanced at Dirk. “What does it mean?”

“I was hoping you’d have some idea. He’s your father.”

Tia shrugged. “Well the first bit is pretty obvious. ‘There is an eye that cannot see. This is a place that must not be.’ He’s referring to the Eye of the Labyrinth and the fact that Belagren wanted it destroyed.”

“Really?” he asked in mock amazement. “And they say
I’m
the genius!”

She slapped at his arm impatiently. “All right! So even Eryk could have figured that out. But what does he mean by ‘In the order of the making’? Do you think he’s talking about the way the gate was made?”

“I’ve no idea.”

Tia pointed to the numbers chiseled into the raised blocks. “Four, twenty-five, fifty, one fifty, two hundred, four hundred,” she read. “What do you suppose the numbers are for?”

“That’s the mechanism that works the gate, obviously.” He pointed to a faint line running vertically down the center. The doors were fitted together so neatly that she had not even noticed the seam the first time she looked at the wall. The craftsmanship of the stonemasons who had constructed the gate was impressive. “Of course, the trick is going to be finding the right sequence to open it.”

Tia nodded and took the torch from Dirk’s hand. “Then you’d better get to work, hadn’t you? I’m going back outside.”

He seemed amused by her apprehension. “There’s nothing in here that can hurt you, Tia.”

“Fine. You stay here and play Lord of the Shadows. I need sunlight.”

He studied her closely for a moment, perhaps realizing how oppressed by the darkness she was really feeling, and then nodded. “We’ll go back outside for now. I need to get something to write these numbers on anyway.”

“Let’s go, then,” she agreed, turning toward the entrance. When Dirk did not follow her immediately, she turned back to him. “
Now,
Dirk! It’ll still be there when you get back.”

With a great deal of reluctance, Dirk turned his back on the gate and, in a surprising show of understanding, he wordlessly offered her his hand.

She took it without question, her fear of the dark outweighing any other feeling she might have for him at that moment and hand in hand, they walked back through the Labyrinth into the light.