Hearts in Cups (27 page)
She paused, realizing
that nervousness was making her more garrulous than usual. Before her, Daffyd
ceased packing and was listening attentively to her explanation. "Is it
dangerous? For you, I mean?" he asked uneasily.
"No, not really.
There is always a risk when tapping into the House Gifts, but in this case the
risk is minimal. It's just that I haven't used my Gift in a long while, and I
need time to rest and prepare myself."
He sat thinking of what
she had said, and then ventured a question. "If the Gift's are inherited,
does that mean that all members of the Great and Minor Houses have the
Gifts?"
"They have the
potential for the Gifts. Theoretically the potential is latent in all direct
members of the Houses but the Gift only becomes active when the ruling member
is keyed, and that occurs only after the passing of the former power
wielder."
"So only one
person at a time can use the House Gift?"
"As far as I know,
yes." She smiled at him. "It's good that you come from a House where arcane
potentials are not overly feared or venerated."
"Arcane matters do
not bother me overmuch; however, the size of the claws on that snowcat do
bother me a good deal," he admitted.
"Do not trouble
yourself about the snowcat!" She tried to reassure him. "I cannot
rationally explain it, but I know that the snowcat means us no harm. Continue
trusting me in this venture as I have trusted you to bring us safely through
the mountains." She reached out and he took her hand in his. Voicelessly
they affirmed their bond of trust, and Daffyd helped her to rise to her feet.
While he put his
pack on his back and readjusted the saddlebags over his shoulder, Hollin stood
very still with her hands at her sides. Her stance was relaxed and balanced,
her breathing deep and regular. Closing her eyes, she raised her hands and
cupped them together at waist height. Her breathing remained even, but the
faintest of lines creased her forehead and Daffyd stepped back in alarm as
flames erupted from her cupped hands.
Opening her eyes,
Hollin smiled at Daffyd over the flames. "Follow me. I will lead the way,
but do not come too close to the fire. It will not burn me, but it is real fire
and can do you injury." She turned and walked through the doorway with
Daffyd close on her heels. In the flickering light they saw before them a steep
stairway that led up into black shadows. With an eager step, Hollin started to
climb.
Soon they were in a
world whose confines consisted of their own dancing pool of light. Above them
was darkness, and darkness followed closely at their heels. The stairs ended
only to be replaced by a long corridor that slanted upwards. They followed the
corridor until it ended and another flight of stairs began. The way led in only
one direction: up. On they climbed in the subterranean night with only their
own footfalls and laboured breathing to listen to. They stopped twice to rest
and drink from the water bag, Daffyd holding it for Hollin while she drank.
After the second stop, time became elusive and impossible to measure. Forward
motion became their only objective.
They had almost reached
the end of their energy when Daffyd, whose eyes were less subjected to the
brightness of the flames, noticed that there was a lessening of the blackness
ahead of them. Quietly, he drew Hollin's attention to this observance, but her
eyes were still too dazzled to see the change. As they reached the top of the
flight of stairs upon which they were trudging, they both saw the darkness
giving way to light at the far end of yet another long corridor. With their
ebbing vitality, they struggled wearily forward and were rewarded with a shaft
of brilliant light cascading down the stairway they reached.
Giving a sigh of
mingled satisfaction and exhaustion, Hollin sank to the floor at the foot of
the stairs and extinguished the fire she had born. Daffyd crouched beside her,
noting the pallor of her face and the dark smudges lying beneath her eyes. He
put his fingers to her wrist and felt the light, thready pulse.
"I just need a bit
of rest, that's all," she told him.
"Can you make it
up this last stairwell?"
In answer she reached
out her hand and he pulled her to her feet. As she started up the steps, she
stumbled and only Daffyd's quick reflexes, putting an arm around her waist,
kept her from being pitched to her knees. Without saying anything further she
proceeded to climb the remaining stairs with Daffyd's support.
As they neared the top
of the stairway, the light grew so bright that they needed to stop several
times to allow their eyes to adjust. Stepping out of the stairwell, they were
momentarily blinded by the intensity of the light and forced to stand with
hands shading their eyes until they could bear it. Slowly they let their hands
fall, and stood in wonder at where the dark tunnel had led them. All about them
was white with blue shadows. They were in an enormous ice-cavern, apparently so
high up upon the mountains that the sun shown through to illuminate its
interior. Fantastic shapes carved in the icy surface by pressure and the action
of melting and refreezing surrounded them. Looking about, they saw that the
tunnel had deposited them near the middle of the length of the cavern and that,
though the wall to their left was solid, there was an opening in the wall to
the right which led into another cavern.
Daffyd directed
Hollin's attention to the opening in the wall. "If we are to go on, there
lies our path," he said.
Hollin nodded.
"First I must rest. We did not begin to follow the snowcat until near
mid-day yesterday and the brightness of the light in here would indicate early
morning. Could we have walked all night in the tunnel and not noticed the
passing of time?"
"I confess, my
lady, I do not know for how long we have traveled. It might be a matter of
hours or an entire day. I am also weary but my body does not seem to be much in
need of food or sleep."
"Well, I need to
sit for a while and eat something. It is probably the use of my Gift that has
fatigued me. I should be ready to go on in a little while." So saying, she
retreated to the top of the stairs so as to avoid sitting on the chilling floor
of the cavern. "Do you see any snowcat tracks?"
Daffyd, walking the
length and breadth of the cavern, called back, "No, there are no signs of
it or anything else." He returned to her and shared some of the dried meat
and a handful of nuts that she had taken from her pack.
They sat for the better
part of an hour, recuperating from their long, dark climb. After a while,
Hollin announced that she was feeling better and was ready to go on. Hoisting their
packs onto their backs they stood up and headed for the next cave in the ice.
Soon they found that,
as the climb in darkness had been a series of stairs and inclined tunnels, so
their journey in light was through a series of caverns carved out of ice. The
sun grew stronger and the changing light within the caverns reflected this
fact. Far from uniform in size, each cave was uniquely different. Some were
tremendously high with smooth, glassy floors that were slippery and hard to
walk upon. Other caves were long and low, or had floors from which a forest of
stalagmites rose, forcing them to take a circuitous route across the cave. One
cave was a smooth, serpentine bore as if an enormous snake had carved it out in
ages past. The amount of snow and ice that made the roofs of these caves could
be detected as thicker or thinner by the dimming or brightening of the light
within the individual cave. The caves seemed endless, each one opening onto the
next, but since there was always but one opening and one exit, the way was
unmistakable.
The sunlight began to
change gradually until the darkening of the caverns betokened the coming of
night. They looked in vain for some comfortable place to spend the hours of
darkness. In the end they sat down beside each other in the lee of a great
stalagmite and wrapped their bedrolls as many warm garments as possible about
them, sitting on the remainder. There was nothing with which to build a fire,
so they ate cold provisions and resorted to Daffyd's near empty flask for a little
false warmth before trying to sleep.
The cold woke them up
intermittently throughout the long, comfortless night. The moon rose late,
filling their cave with a cold, milky light that turned all shadows into
strange menacing shapes. Morning was a relief from the night, though neither of
them felt refreshed. Eating quickly, they were on their way as soon as they
could force cold cramped muscles to stand and walk.
The day went much as
the previous one. The hardship of the march was beginning to exhaust all of
their resources; only Hollin's certainty and her will kept them moving. The
wonder of the caves had given over to a sense of frustration as one cave only
gave way to another. Their eyes grew tired from the continual glare and the
chill had settled into the marrow of their bones. When the gradual dimming of
light heralded another night within these beautiful but lifeless halls, they
were reaching the final limits of their strength. It was with a shared look of
disbelief that they saw at the end of a long vaulted tunnel, not the continuing
whiteness of yet another cave, but a glimpse of the sky gone lavender with the
advent of evening.
In a state of
trepidation, they walked through the portal of the last ice cave and found
themselves, literally, on top of the world. At their feet a narrow but smoothly
paved road led down and across a high ridge to where a cluster of buildings
seemed to hang on the side of a mountain. All around the city, the mountains
fell away in folds for thousands of feet, until they disappeared in the
grayness of distance and night. The fading light coloured the buildings in soft
shades of peach and gold and pale blue, and the points of light that began to
appear in the windows were more like stars than lamps. A smile of elation
appeared on Hollin's face. Straightening her back, she set off down the road
towards the city with Daffyd close beside her.
Approaching the city,
Daffyd was struck by its impossible location and the total silence that enveloped
it. It hung on the edge of a mountain which dropped steeply away, so that the
buildings looked as if they should slide down into the gloom at any moment; yet
they stayed perched where they were, defying the laws of gravity. The exterior
surfaces of the buildings were plain whitewashed walls, pierced by deep
windows, with roofs made of blue glazed tiles. No creature was visible on the
road and they found themselves passing through an archway into the city itself
with no one to welcome or to warn them off. Daffyd placed a wary hand on the
pommel of his sword, though the duchess strode heedlessly ahead into the
twilight. Soft light spilled out of many of the windows illuminating their way,
but no sounds except their own footsteps were to be heard.
A glimpse of movement
brought them to a mutual halt as they spied a figure in a long, grey robe
coming towards them. A hood was thrown forward, sending the face into deep
shadow, and Daffyd's hand gripped his sword a little more securely. The
duchess' voice, hailing the city's inhabitant, seemed to startle the figure
from some private reverie. Stopping, the figure lifted back the hood and a
man's solemn face regarded them in puzzlement.
"Good sir,"
Hollin said more softly, "We have traveled many miles in search of a man
whom we believe to be dwelling within your city. Can you direct us to someone
who can perhaps tell us if he whom we seek is here?"
The man looked confused
and then bowed, motioning them to follow him. As they trailed after their guide
through the rapidly darkening streets, they saw other figures, garbed in
similar robes, walking singly or in pairs without speaking. The street they
followed remained fairly level, with the buildings to either side being either
one or two stories in height. They came to a juncture in the street where
flights of stairs the same width as the street connected the parallel streets
of the city. Their guide led them upwards, crossing two more streets before he
turned and led them back in the direction of the main gateway. At last he
halted in front of a doorway and rapped softly on the wooden door. When no one
seemed to answer his knock, their guide opened the door himself, and pantomimed
for them to enter.
Inside they found
themselves in a small, enclosed garden, facing a pavilion built of wood set in
the center of the garden. They crossed the carefully trimmed lawn on flat
stepping stones and mounted the two steps onto the pavilion. A broad-based lamp
hung from a rafter, casting its light over the pavilion's floor. Indicating
that they should seat themselves on the woven rugs that lay on the floor, their
guide bowed and vanished into the darkness of the garden.
Daffyd looked
uncomfortably at Hollin as they sat down side by side. She sat with her legs
tucked underneath her and looked, in spite of her worn, stained clothes and
unkempt hair, serene and dignified. Impressed by the quietude that surrounded
them, neither spoke. With a start, Daffyd's hand instinctively went to his
sword again as a voice addressed them gently and a figure appeared out of the
darkness at the opposite edge of the pavilion.
"Greetings to you.
How may I be of service to you who have traveled so long and so hard a
road?" They observed a small, shrunken figure, dressed in the long grey
robe that seemed to be the standard attire for the city's inhabitants, enter
the pavilion to stand before them. A wispy cloud of white hair was visible
under the hood and a polished stave of knotted wood was used to support the
figure. Man or woman, it was impossible to tell from the voice, seamed face or
loose garment. However, the eyes that regarded them belied the ancient lines of
the face; large and bright, they were the colour of the sea at the setting of
the sun. The voice too was unexpectedly youthful and musical, holding a hint of
laughter in it. Coming closer, the figure nimbly lowered itself to sit before
them and shifteted its eyes from one to the other of them. "Tell me,
children, what do you seek here in the Citadel of Dreams?" Although heavily
accented, the words were intelligible.