Orbelon's World (Book 3) (10 page)

   The din from their gibberings was deafening now, and Leth realized that many more of the creatures must be lying in wait beyond his sight. He was relatively safe for the moment where he stood, for whilst powerful, the creatures seemed not to be particularly skilled fighters. But if he advanced he would almost certainly be overpowered, for he could not hope to kill them all.

   How had Summoner got past? Leth would have surely heard them had they been roused by his passage. Had Summoner power over the creatures, or could he have taken another route? Leth had seen no other way in the tunnel, but that did not mean no concealed passage existed. Or might Summoner simply have taken one of the early side-passages back to the dome-dwellings? Leth had explored only one of the passages. Did all of them lead only to the dwellings?

   Leth was seized with sudden alarm, the hairs rising at the back of his neck. He spun around, sword at guard, for he was half-expecting to see Summoner bearing down on him. But the tunnel was empty. Leth swung back. A creature had instantly seized the advantage, leaping through the door. Leth took a half-step to the side and dropped to one knee as a mace sang past his head. He drew his blade up and across in a reversed scything motion, opening the creatures belly wide. As its entrails spilled onto the dark earth the creature writhed, throwing back its head with an ear-splitting shriek. In a reflexive movement it leapt skywards, leaving its bowels in a trail as it sought the security of its overhead lair. It smashed hard into the tunnel roof and fell back to the floor, dying.

   Leth was up, driving back another of the creatures which had ventured to the door. It retreated, yammering and glaring malevolently at him, its great mace gripped low before it, swinging rapidly back and forth. The strength of tail-muscles that could wield such a weapon so effortlessly could only be guessed at.

   Leth again glanced quickly behind him, fearful that Summoner or some other assailant was at his back, but still the tunnel gaped black and empty. It seemed that he had no choice but to go back that way now, but this in itself presented difficulties. On this side of the door the tunnel was wide enough to enable the creatures to menace him in pairs. He would be forced to fight them as he retreated, and could not hope to best so many in such conditions. If he turned and ran he had little doubt that, with such formidably-muscled legs they would quickly outpace him.

   He stood, eyeing the creatures but making no move, conserving his strength, seeking another way. The things milled in the chamber, monstrous phantom-like forms in the shadowy pink half-light, spitting and striking from within. They eyed him balefully but made nothing more than feints towards him.
I can move neither forward nor back,
came the dismal thought.
Must I wait here helplessly until I perish?

   Such inaction was unthinkable. He flexed his grip upon the glowing sword. He thought of Galry and Jace - where? - needing him, crying for him. And Issul, lost, he knew not where. The loss was too great to bear.

   And then, to his surprise, a voice rang out. A woman's voice, strong and potently pitched, cutting through the noise of the beasts. 'Put away your sword!'

   The sound came from within the chamber where the creatures milled. Now Leth saw her, pushing her way calmly through them, one arm extended, her forefinger pointing at him.
'Your blade! That’s what they fear. Put it away!'

   'It’s my intention that they should fear it!' Leth called back incredulously. 'Do you think me mad?'

   'You don't understand.' The woman, totally fearless, shouldered her way forward to stand in the door. She was tall and quite young, garbed in red half-armour, her hair confined beneath a moulded, ridged helmet. She was not beautiful by any means, yet her features were handsome, even striking, the bones well-formed. She stood confidently, feet firmly planted and hands upon her hips, and to Leth's eyes it seemed there was something distantly familiar about her. 'It’s the light. The
ools
can’t bear it.' Her eyes alighted upon the corpse of the creature Leth had slain, and her features fell. 'Oh, you have killed one.'

   She lowered herself onto one knee beside the body and touched its head almost tenderly with the tips of her fingers.

   'And injured others. They didn’t seek to barter,' said Leth.

   'Put away the blade!' she repeated, rising abruptly, a note of impatience in her voice.

   'And be blind and helpless?'

   The woman shook her head, sighing. 'Here. Here is my own sword.' She drew a slim blade from the scabbard at her hip and tossed it to Leth, who caught it in his left hand. 'The
ools
do not attack while I am here. See. Now, retreat a distance, as far as you wish, until you feel you can stand unharassed. Then sheathe the Orbsword, but keep mine on guard before you. If the
ools
advance you will hear them and can draw the Orbsword and see again.'

   And face them in two's or more
, thought Leth, but he backed away, for he could do little else. As he withdrew the noise of the
ools
diminished; they seemed less agitated. At fifty paces he paused.

   'It’s all right,' called the woman. 'They won’t harm you now.'

   Tentatively Leth sheathed the Sword of the Orb, and was engulfed in blackness. In almost the same moment the yammering of the
ools
fell to little more than a murmur.

   The sweat ran cold between Leth's shoulder-blades. 'I can see nothing!' he called, though this was not strictly true. From the chamber of the
ools
there came the faintest greenish glow, enough to show the shape of the tall woman in outline and the dim figures, now quite still, of the
ools
behind her.

   'Don’t be afraid,'
came the reply. 'As long as you don’t draw the Orbsword you are safe. Listen, already the
ools
are leaping back to their lairs above.'

   Leth heard queer whisperings and pipings, then grunts and scratching as immense muscles launched the creatures from the chamber-floor and they scrabbled to their unseen lairs somewhere overhead.

   'That’s all it was: the light.' The woman's voice was closer now, though he could no longer see her. 'Nothing else will rouse them so, unless they’re deliberately provoked.'

   'I couldn’t have known.'

   'No, you couldn’t.' She was in the blackness beside him now; he felt her breath warm upon his cheek. 'Will you take my hand and let me lead you? Do you see there is a dim light ahead? We will pass through the chamber. Keep my sword, but on no account draw the other.'

   Leth found her hand in the dark, and was grateful for its touch. 'Doesn’t that light offend them?'

   'Were it any brighter it would. Come.'

   She led him forward. As they entered the chamber where he had so nearly died, Leth hesitated. He could still see barely a thing, but could hear the
ools
breathing and scuffling in the black above him.

   'It’s all right.' The woman drew him on. His muscles tightened and he hardly dared breathe. He gripped her sword tensely.

   And then they were through and standing in a passage on the other side. A lantern fixed to a bracket on the wall, draped in a thin, dark green square of cloth, shed the illumination that barely permeated the
ools
' chamber. The woman released Leth's hand and stepped back past him. She pushed against the heavy iron door, which swung slowly shut with a sepulchral boom, then she turned and smiled. 'Will you return my sword now?'

   Leth did so. He felt suddenly self-conscious at having revealed his helplessness to her, having allowed her to lead him like a frightened child through the chamber. She sheathed her weapon as Leth sucked in a deep draught of air, feeding welcome oxygen to lungs which tenseness and fear had drawn tight within his chest.

   'These malformed creatures. . . what are they?' he asked. 'They appear part-human, but are abominations.'

   She shrugged. 'They are
ools
, that’s all. Cavern-dwellers. Generally docile, despite their fearsome appearance, and with only rudimentary intelligence. Now, I am called Lakewander. Come, we should not delay. Master Protector is most eager to meet you.'

III

   The woman called Lakewander led Leth to a steep, narrow stone stairway which spiralled dizzyingly upwards until they emerged through a door into a chill corridor paved with flagstones. From his surroundings Leth gathered that they were inside a castle, large villa, keep or manor of some description. They passed along the corridor and up a flight of sweeping stone stairs, then Lakewander led him through a double door into a spacious chamber where an old man sat before a large table. At his back a fire blazed in a cavernous hearth. Beside him, bent as if in conference, stood Summoner.

   'Ah, welcome, Lord. Welcome,' said the old man, smiling broadly and
raising inflamed, shaking hands to beckon Leth forward. 'Come, please. Be seated. Forgive me if I do not rise to greet you. It is infirmity, not discourtesy, that obliges me to remain in my chair.'

   From his general demeanour Leth took him once to have been a stout and probably vigorous man. But the years had withered his flesh, which hung slackly about him, grey and maculate, and his head was given to nodding slightly upon his shoulders. A few wisps of white hair hovered about his skull, and no more than half a dozen crooked teeth still remained in his gums. His eyes, however, though smoky, were alert and intelligent and lit with a glint of humour. He was garbed in a robe of dark umber relieved with gold braiding at collar and sleeve-hems. He beckoned again, 'Come, please. Do not be concerned. We are friends.' He was seized abruptly with a fit of wheezing. He leaned forward and coughed and spat into a tin spittoon at his side, then, recovering, smiled again. 'Allow me to introduce myself. I am Master Protector. My two companions, Lakewander and Summoner, you have already met. Be welcome, Lord. We are privileged. I especially, for I had come to believe that I would live out my entire span and not witness your coming. Ah, this is a day to be recorded. We have waited such a long time.'

   A score of questions clamoured in Leth's head, but for the moment he held his silence. He accepted the proffered seat opposite the old man at the table, perceiving himself to be in no immediate danger. Lakewander moved to the end of the table and perched herself upon its edge. She took up an apple from a glazed earthenware platter and took a bite.

   'Eat, sir, if you will,' urged Master Protector. 'Here are nuts and fruit, and I can have meat, fish, bread brought if you so wish. And drink. Will you have wine?
Ale? A cordial?'

   Leth patted the cloth package given to him by Summoner. 'I have eaten, thank you. A little ale will serve me well, though.'

   As Summoner poured dark ale from a jug, Leth spoke again.  'Perhaps you would answer some questions, to help clarify my position here.'

   Master Protector inclined his head. 'Please, ask what you will.'

   'You - all three of you - refer to me repeatedly as if I am known and expected, yet to me you are all strangers, and this is a strange and unknown land.'

   'Yes, Summoner has conveyed something of this to me.'

   'Summoner ran from me when I questioned him.'

   'Ah, Summoner. . . .' Master Protector glanced up at the man beside him, weakly fluttering a hand and chuckling to himself: a deep, chesty chuckle that spoke of pulmonary obstructions and shortness of breath. 'I apologise. He is young and callow. The shock of your
arrival. . . it quite put him out.'

   Leth, shifting his gaze to Summoner, was not struck by his youthful demeanour. Indeed, Summoner was more than old enough to have been Leth's father.

   'But Summoner did say that you proffered him violence,' Master Protector added.

   Leth shifted uncomfortably and reached for his ale. Then he paused, his anger returning. 'Understand
, my children have been stolen from me. Seen in this light my actions surely can’t be judged so extreme? I will stop at nothing to get them back.'

   Master Protector nodded ruminatively at this. 'Good. That is good.'

   'For my part I find nothing good in it,' said Leth heatedly.

   'I meant, it is good that your devotion to your offspring should outweigh all other concerns, not good that you should be suffering such wretched frowns of fortune. No, Lord, not that at all.
Not at all.'

   'Summoner implied knowledge of their whereabouts.'

   'Did he? Did he? That was rash, indeed. Summoner, what is this foolishness?'

   'I said only what is known: that she has taken them,' protested Summoner.
'Nothing more. I was alarmed at the Lord's manner.'

   'You tricked me and fled,' accused Leth.

   'To preserve my life, Lord, as anyone would do!'

   Leth spoke between clenched teeth. 'If you know of their whereabouts, tell me, now!'

   'No, no,' old Master Protector's head moved from side to side. 'We know - or certainly believe - that they have been taken by her. Their precise whereabouts. . . that is another matter entirely.'