Dragon's Tongue (The Demon Bound) (57 page)

She crouched beside him and touched it for herself, and gasped to see it ripple even more.

“Oh, my…you’re right…”

“It doesn’t look very solid,” he said and stood up.

“Maybe we should go on around and try the other side?” Shona suggested.

It was a thought, he had to admit. Earth was more solid than water. But the elemental being, or whatever it was, said four bridges of water…

Alaric sighed. He was not going to get anywhere at all standing here. It briefly occurred to him that there might not be a reason to even go on. As confounding as this was, surely Tane had failed…

But some small part of him did not agree with such a hopeful assessment of the matter.
I have to be certain the Dragon’s Tongue is there.
I have to be certain it is safe…

He took another deep breath as Shona stood up again. “It’s got to be this one,” he said, and gingerly put one foot on the edge of the bridge.

It jiggled, and he tensed, expecting he was about to be plunged into the moat, and hoping his childhood swimming skills would be to his advantage, when the surface grew firm under foot. Still uncertain, he put the other foot there as well. It gave just a moment, sending a sinking dread swirling through his stomach, and then it held.

A glance at his feet told Alaric the loose rippling surface was merely part of the deception. His boots weren’t even getting wet. “Come on, it
is
this one,” he said, and turned to offer Shona his hand.

She looked dubious, her face set in a tense mask. But she came forward and clasped his hand, and he felt her trembling like a new pup. She followed as Alaric took cautious steps forward and up the rise. The bridge of water remained firm beneath his feet. So strange, he thought, and he looked down to make sure he wasn’t going mad. No, the water was as solid as ice, though it rippled as he walked. He suddenly felt like one of the skimming spiders he used to watch skating across the surfaces of puddles and ponds.

Twenty steps upward, and suddenly, he had reached the other side. There, he stopped and looked back. The surface of the bridge still rippled a bit, then grew calm.

“Well,” he said, noticing his own voice was a little higher pitched than normal. “That…wasn’t so bad.”

“That was fantastic!” Shona said, and suddenly clapped her hands with delighted relief. “Etienne will never believe this…”

Alaric sighed, suddenly wondering about those they had left behind. He so hoped they were all right.

“Well, let’s just hope we remember which one to cross when we go back,” he said. “Maybe we should leave something to mark the way…”

“Sorry, as I told Master Fenelon, I left the breadcrumbs at home,” she said, and he chuckled, turning so she could not see the words brought a mist to his eyes.

Horns, he did hope the others were alive.

“Well, we’ll just have to improvise,” he said softly and pulled one of his gauntlets from his belt where he had tucked them earlier. He dropped it beside the edge of the bridge and looked back down…And stopped.

The lower end of the bridge had started to ripple again. Frowning, Alaric stared at the motion as it expanded across the smooth surface. But then, it faded, and he shrugged. A breeze, he told himself. Or a tremble in the ground. He had felt a few.

Besides, he had more important things to concern him. Where they stood now, he could see the ring of earth that rose like a rath.

Time to work on the next part of the riddle. He started on, moving sun-wise, as he pondered the riddle of earth.

~

You idiot!
Tane hissed in the demon’s mind. Vagner winced at the sharp retort that wrapped itself into his True Name like the lash of a razor.
You almost gave us away!

Sorry,
the demon thought back. In truth, he had hoped to do just that, but he dared not tell Tane so.

Sorry is a mild word to describe your miserable efforts,
Tane thought back.

Vagner grimaced. Well, he was sorry in so many ways. Sorry he was being forced to deceive Alaric. Sorry he had gone back to look. Sorry he had not bitten Tane’s head off before now, and damn the consequences. And ever so sorry he had allowed himself to fall into Tane’s trap in the first place.

I deserve to be banished to the darkest pits of Annwn!

Then again, being a demon, maybe he should rethink that threat. The darkest pits of Annwn would likely be a more pleasant place than the situation he found himself in just now.

For one thing, Tane would not be there…Or would he? Hard to know what plans Arawn might actually have for a bloodmage like Tane, and Vagner was certainly not so eager to ask the lord of death and doom for any particulars…

“Let’s go now,” Tane whispered softly and tapped Vagner’s shoulder.

The demon sighed and stepped onto the bridge of water once more. Surprisingly, it held him up as though it were composed of stone, but his footsteps created enormous ripples that rocked them just a little, and part of him was tempted to jump and see if he could actually make a splash…

Tread gently, you fool!
Tane hissed in Vagner’s head and lashed at him again.

I am a demon,
Vagner thought back.
I am not a gentle creature.

Practice makes perfect,
Tane said.

Only if it involves biting off your head,
the demon thought to himself. He took more careful steps, still causing the bridge of water to jiggle, but not so wildly as before. And he would not say that he was not happy to reach the other side. In spite of its strength, he would rather have something “visibly” solid underfoot.

“Well, well,” Tane whispered softly, and pushed at the gauntlet Alaric had left on the next tier. “A trail…” The bloodmage pushed it again with his toe, this time heaving it over the edge of the platform and into the moat.

“What did you do that for?” the demon insisted softly.

“They won’t need a way back, will they?” Tane said with a sneer. “Now come on before we lose them.”

I’d like to lose you,
the demon thought.

Hopefully, that chance would come.

SIXTY

They were not giving up. Etienne could sense her growing fatigue. How Fenelon could keep going was something she could not understand. Oh, the Lunari beads still thrummed with sufficient power, but she could tell they were fading a little.

How long must we keep this up,
she thought.
How long can we do this?

“Surrender now,” Turlough shouted above the rush of the falls. Using a spell to enhance his voice, no doubt. “Those Lunari stones you stole will not last you much longer.”

“Neither will the flying spells on that platform if he keeps abusing them,” Fenelon quipped as he leaned forward and braced hands to his knees. So far, he was making prime use of the abundance of water around them to enhance his own attacks. While he could draw no essence from it, he could at least use it as a weapon. But Turlough apparently had a few tricks of his own involving stone. More than once, Etienne had been forced to step aside when large boulders flew through the water and smacked into the rocks over her head. They missed without harming her, thanks to her own deflection spells, but she got the impression Turlough wasn’t really trying to aim them at a specific target. Just use them as a terrible distraction.

“I said surrender!” Turlough snapped angrily.

“Oh, go jump in the river, Uncle,” Fenelon snarled back. “You want me, you’ll have to come in here yourself and get me!”

Etienne wished she dared to use her scrying spell. She would love to have seen Turlough’s expression.

Or not. Another smaller boulder came splashing through the falls, directed at Fenelon with more accuracy than before. He threw himself aside with an excited yelp. She deflected it with hardened air.

“Close, Uncle, but not close enough!” Fenelon taunted with a grin, then said in a lower voice, “Too close, actually.”

Horns, maybe we should surrender before Turlough does manage to hit one of us,
she thought.

She would never say that to Fenelon, though. It was very unlikely he would agree.

~

Earth turned out to be a lot simpler to pass, for only one opening lined up with the eastern menhir, while the other two were at odd angles with the cardinal points. Fire was easy as well, though Alaric felt uncomfortable traversing the path that opened and closed to the south of the ring of white flames. At least, it did not close as he and Shona were passing through it, but he could still feel the intense heat.

Next were the windows of air. What he found in the center of the ring of fire was a series of multiple archways, and as he and Shona walked clockwise around them, they all looked as though they contained glass.

“This is very strange,” Shona said. “It’s as if there is nothing past this place.”

Alaric had noticed that as well. The glass was clear, but beyond it there was only a ball of white light, making it impossible to see if anything did exist beyond this point.

So far, at least, there had been no sign of Tane.

“Well, there has to be something in there, or all this would have no purpose,” Alaric said thoughtfully. He moved with caution, still following the sun-wise path. Behind him the flames roared, making it almost impossible to hear anything else beyond Shona’s voice. And yet, he kept getting the feeling there were other voices there. In the fire. In the earth, he had noticed them both places, and caught himself looking over a shoulder more than once.

“You’re giving me the chills doing that,” Shona said as he cast a glance back once more. “What are you expecting that you’re not telling me about?”

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just…well I keep hearing things…”

“Voices?”

He looked at her.

“I thought I heard someone talking in an angry whisper when we crossed the bridge of water,” she said.

“And you didn’t say anything,” he said.

“Didn’t think it was important at the time,” she said with a frown. “And anyway, I didn’t want you to think I was afraid.”

“You’re not?” he marveled.

“Well…A little…”

“Me too,” he said.

They reached the northern edge of the series of arches filled with glass. Alaric took a deep breath and pushed against the nearest one as he faced south again. His hand passed through the glass as though it was not there.

“Well, here goes,” he said, and he took a deep breath in anticipation of being suffocated.

The glass was cold on his skin in spite of the heat. And for a moment, his vision blurred as though he had his eyes open underwater. It was much like the tunnel of darkness that had brought them here, he thought. The illusion of dark there had felt the same as the illusion of glass here.

But within a moment, he was through it, standing in a large circular space of pure white marble. It dazzled the eye with its brilliance, forcing him to shade his own as he peeped between fingers and tried to sort out where he was.

“Horns, these deities and their light,” Shona muttered and briefly hid her face in his shoulder.

“It is rather bright,” he agreed.

But then, his eyes adjusted as they had before, and he could see more clearly the area in which he stood.

It was a large circle of marble, surrounded by the arches of glass. From this side, however, they were clear, and he could see the ring of fire beyond them. The floor was a series of concentric circles around a central raised stump of marble that reminded Alaric of the mouth of a well. Everything was decorated with intricate marks and runes. Here, all the elements were represented. Air, Fire, Earth, Water, Sky, Stone, and some mark he did not recognize at all, but it had adorned the statue at the foot of the stairs, and bore the mark of what looked like a scales with pendulous lobes of black and white.

Cautiously, Alaric approached the central circle, ever aware he was entering a field of magic that was singing a mad song to his soul. He wanted to close his eyes and let it carry him along. But he also wanted to know what lie inside the rim of that well…

“Alaric, is something the matter?”

He turned, and she suddenly hitched back.

“What?” he asked.

“Your eyes…you’re eyes are…glowing…”

Alaric frowned. “I’ll take your word for it,” he said and turned back toward the well. Cautiously, he crossed the last circle of marks and leaned over the edge.

At first, there was nothing but light, but as he stared and squinted, he realized there was a shape within. Something long and forked and composed of…stone?

“What is it?” Shona asked. “What do you see?”

Alaric frowned. “A rock,” he said, knowing he sounded rather disappointed.

“A rock?” Shona quickly came forward to join him at the lip of the well. “It is a rock, isn’t it…”

Alaric continued to frown. Was this what he had risked his life for? A rock? He leaned over the edge of the well and stretched a finger towards it.

Fire leapt to his hand, cold as death and filled with rage. With a cry, Alaric jerked back. “Horns!” he hissed as his knees gave, dropping him to sit on the floor. Darkness. He felt darkness in the thing, and a sentient life that was filled with rage, and it was trying to suck him into it.

“Alaric?” Shona cried and reached out to seize his arm, lowering herself at his side.

“Not a sword,” he said. “Not a sword at all…Fenelon will be so disappointed.”

“What?” she said. “You’re sputtering nonsense.”

“It’s not a sword,” Alaric said. “It’s not even stone. It’s…alive…”

Shona pushed his hair from his eyes.

“Of course, it’s alive,” a familiar voice said.

Alaric gasped and turned. Shona was on her feet more quickly than he.

Standing at the entrance to the archway of air was Vagner. The demon looked sad, and not without good reason. In front of him was a figure that still haunted Alaric’s dreams.

“Tane!” Alaric shouted and lunged forward.

Tane put forth a hand and hissed, and Alaric went head on into a solid block of air. The force threw him back down.

“Alaric!” Shona cried and threw herself down at his side as he rubbed his forehead. Well, at least he had not hit his nose this time, he thought glumly.

“And I owe you a debt of gratitude for leading me to what I desire,” Tane said. “The Dragon’s Tongue is exactly that…it is the tongue of the Dark Mother herself. And with it, I am now going to rule the world…”

“Not if I have anything to say,” Alaric hissed and lunged to his feet again. This time, he got most of the way to the bloodmage before Tane lashed across with a hand and spoke the words of a spell. An invisible backhand tossed Alaric off to one side. He hit one of the arches and did not rise as his head spun madly.

“Vagner, kill them,” Tane said.

“I cannot kill
him
,” the demon replied.

“What?” Tane said and turned.

“I am bound to him, remember?” Vagner said. “I cannot kill him.”

“Oh, very well,” Tane said. He turned towards Alaric who was struggling to get back on his feet. “I’ll deal with him myself.
Bas saighead buail…”

“No!” Shona screamed.

Alaric had just charged to his feet as she came running in his direction. Too late, he saw the death bolt leaping from Tane’s finger. Before he could warn Shona to stop, she crossed the distance into its path. The mage bolt caught her high in the back and threw her into Alaric’s arms…

“Shona?” he cried. “Shona!”

She looked at him, her face a mask of uncertainty. Then her eyes closed as she sagged against him, and her weight forced him to the ground.

“Shona, no,” he whispered, clutching her to him. But she remained limp in his arms, and he could feel life ebbing from her limbs. “No, Shona, please don’t die…I won’t let you die!”

But there was nothing he could do except to hold her.