Ellen Under The Stairs (29 page)

Rising, but not far, Pfnaravin hit the
sharply sloping dome that substituted for the sky in this
Bandworld.

Bouncing off the dome, spun about by
the force of his hit, Pfnaravin again struck earth, but not the
fire stones that held him to the ground, the old Mage colliding
with the land only to rebound into the sky once more, headed for
the dome not that far over head.

Screaming curses, still twisting,
Pfnaravin pointed his hands at John and Platinia, loosing a Crystal
blast with enough force to wither them both, the static-fire
missing to the right, gouging stones but doing John no
harm.

The force of the Crystal-blast
increasing his spin, Pfnaravin ricocheting off the sky dome once
more, this time coming back at an angle, headed, not for the stony
ground but ....

Though the old Mage's curses could
still be heard, his yell echoing from the iron dome above, the
sounds were growing fainter. Fainter still, because ... Pfnaravin
had plunged over the edge of the last Band of the world!

As if emerging from a spell, John saw
Ellen, floating, floating toward the edge ....

And John was running after her, not
thinking about planting one foot before lifting another!

Coming nearer! Nearer!

Grabbing her arm as she was drifting
off the stony ledge and ... down ... John pulled her
back.

"What ... happened," she asked.
Released from Mage restraint, she was blinking her eyes in the
faint light, safe now that John had a firm grip on her. "Where am
I?"

"You're fine," John said, at long last
believing it was true.

"I can't ... settle," she
said.

"That's because there's so little
gravity here."

"Where?"

"It doesn't matter. You're safe. I've
got you."

"I'm tired," she said, closing her
eyes, putting her head on his shoulder.

Now that the danger was over, now that
he'd survived what he thought would be certain death, John had
begun to shake, fighting with himself ... to settle.

All that remained was for John to take
Ellen back, John turning to see Platinia ... waiting.

And yet ....

An irresistible urge had possessed
him. A mesmeric "pull" emanating from sailors' yarns of sailing
west, only to reach an ocean so hot it boiled the pitch from the
seams of wooden ships. West -- to witness sea monsters dragging
ships and their sailors to a watery grave, these and similar myths
spawned from the fear of falling off the edge of the earth --
somewhere beyond the Azores -- off the coast of Spain.

Wrong country. Wrong time. John
knowing it was only the farthest reaches of coincidence that had
given him the chance to be the first adventurer to reach the edge
... of at least one world.

Was it curiosity? An impulse to flesh
out an historic chimera?

John didn't know. Knew only that, now
that he'd come this far, he must look ... over the edge of the
world.

Gripping Ellen, shuffling to the rim,
the edge slanting sharply to the void, he leaned over, to look down
... to see ... seeing ...........

Before turning to walk back to sanity.
To the tunnels of the spider men. To Realgar. To
Stil-de-grain.

And home.

* * * * *

Seeing into John-Lyon's mind, Platinia
had helped him heat the stones under the feet of the old Mage.
After that, Pfnaravin flying up, the young Mage made him disappear.
Where he had gone, Platinia did not know. Only knew that the magic
of John-Lyon was greater than even she had known!

After that, John-Lyon holding on to
the woman, they had gone back into the spider-men's tunnel,
John-Lyon telling the woman she was safe from Pfnaravin, but that
she would feel weak because of Band Sickness. Because Cinnabar was
a stronger pulling band than down-land.

Platinia was glad to have been in
down-land too short a time to catch Band Sickness!

The spider men, while very much afraid
of the Mage -- Platinia making sure they feared his strength, also
that his green, green eyes would melt them unless they obeyed him
-- were very glad Pfnaravin was gone. At the Mage's wish, the tall,
white men commanded their tiny spiders to spin webs around the
woman's boots so she could walk in the tunnels.

As for the woman, she did not know
what had happened except that, though weak like the Mage said she
would be, she was no longer ill?? The Mage was glad to hear that,
whatever "ill" might mean.

John-Lyon told the spider men he would
keep their tunnels a secret. Promised that Platinia and Ellen would
not tell, either. And Platinia would not, Platinia even more afraid
of the Mage's power to punish than before. Afraid of him, but in
love with him at the same time, Platinia not understanding how that
could be. Mage-Magic was all she could think of to explain her
fear/love.

They stayed with the tall white men
and their tiny spider helpers until the woman could walk without
tiring too much, leaving the spider-land by a tunnel opening near
the band of Realgar.

Walking slowly, the dust from the dead
grass rising around them, they soon met another grass-dust cloud
coming the other way -- Admiral Coluth, Golden, and the sailors
making that dust, the Admiral very much glad to see John-Lyon,
saying he and Golden had to fight the Malachites very little,
though fighting some in Realgar to slow them down. But mostly,
seeing John-Lyon go into The Cinnabar, Coluth and the others had
also crossed into the red band. That the Malachite soldiers, coming
to the border, would not cross it, no matter how much their officer
shouted at them.

So, the Malachites had turned
back.

When the Mage, the other men, and
Platinia crossed again into Realgar they were all very tired. Band
Sickness.

It was so difficult to climb into a
tree to be safe from the down-light horrors that Platinia had to
have John-Lyon carry her up, the Mage with more strength than the
others. Because his world was a heavy pulling band. Platinia had
been there and that was the truth!

Resting in the tree, the sailors
bringing up food, Realgar guards came. Climbing down, John-Lyon let
the guards guide them to Helianthin's Mage Castle.

Entering the Mage castle, everyone
came around them, smiling very much, laughing very much, all saying
John-Lyon was a hero because he defeated Pfnaravin.

The fat Mage, Helianthin, said
John-Lyon was a hero. Said that with many, many words.

Later in their room, John-Lyon said to
Admiral Coluth that everyone was your friend when you were winning.
Not many were your friends when you were losing. Platinia thought
there was truth to that.

There were ceremonies, with much food
to eat. There were speeches after banquets, but Platinia, eating
very much, mostly fell asleep and did not hear what was
said.

Messenger birds were taught to speak
and sent. Golden ones flew to Stil-de-grain. Orange ones come from
Stil-de-grain, returning to say that the Malachite ships at Xanthan
island had gone home. With Pfnaravin gone, with John-Lyon seen as
very powerful, the Malachites had said there should be peace and
had gone home.

Platinia wished she could pet the
pretty birds. Gagar had let her pet them in their cages. But the
bird-man here did not let her. She did find a cat to pet! Two cats
to pet!

They stayed for a long time in Realgar
until all were cured of the Band Sickness.

After that, a boat from Stil-de-grain
came to take them to Xanthin island.

Again, crowds came to the harbor and
shouted very much. Thanking the Mage for ending the war.

Once more they were very sick with the
heaviness, strong men carrying Platinia off the boat to lie down in
the back of a pony cart, the cart taking her to Xanthin Palace
where she was put to bed.

The Mage came to see her, which made
her glad. He was sweating very much. They were all sweating very
much because Stil-de-grain was a warmer band than Realgar. Cinnabar
was even colder. Down-land colder still. The Mage told her about a
people called Eskimos who lived in a very cold place. How they were
too hot in places where everyone else was cold. How people got used
to the places where they were living for a long time, Platinia
thinking that was true.

As for Platinia, she would rather be
too hot than too cold, but was glad when she was feeling stronger
and when she was feeling not too hot again.

After a long time, John-Lyon said they
must return to Hero castle. To take the woman home. But Platinia
was not fooled. She knew the Mage would also go to that other
world. She must stop him! For she could not be sure that the Mage
would come back again. Not having the Mage near her would hurt her
very much! Platinia had made the Mage love her once before. She
must do that again so he would never go to the terrible other
world.

* * * * *

For the first time in a long time John
Lyon was at peace. Funny how, when you didn't have it, you wanted
fame and fortune. And how quickly you tired of people fawning on
you.

Away from the crowd at last, safe in
Hero Castle, he could dress in a white cotton robe instead of in
the more impressive Mage silk. Learning that Cinnabar spiders had
spun the Mage-cloth had made him feel ... creepy; a feeling he
hadn't been able to shake. Pound for pound, spider webs were
stronger than steel. At least that was their reputation at home,
strong and sticky enough to entrap bugs many times the size of
spiders. John wondered how the white men of Cinnabar counteracted
the webs' stickiness in order to spin cloth out of them. But hadn't
wanted to stay in the red band long enough to find out. Nor had he
discovered how the men communicated with the spiders. Or, what the
spiders ate. Not bugs, surely, in that barren band.

Now that he knew the content of
Mage-cloth, he'd rather wear cotton or wool, John never feeling
friendly toward spiders. Not that he was afraid of them as were so
many. It wasn't fear that made him cringe when putting on one of
the ever so elegant Mage robes ... he told himself.

It had been at least two weeks since
they'd journeyed from Canarin, taking the ferry over the
Tartrazine, after that laboring up the increasingly stony Hero
mountains to arrive at Hero Castle that morning, the castle slaveys
finished serving the noon meal of meat, bread, gravy, and dried
fruit -- John's party spaced along the harvest table in the
castle's clerestory-lighted dining room. John, Coluth, and the
Admiral's men -- the sailors, even the Admiral, dressed in the
leather of common seamen. Also Golden -- elegant in anything he
wore -- Platinia (in black), and Zwicia, the flabby, old weird in
ever-present purple, a turban wrapped around what was left of her
hair-wisps. Also Leet, Gagar to follow shortly.

Hero Castle -- where nothing seemed to
change.

"Any news of Pfnaravin?" John asked,
breaking a piece of heavy bread, following local custom by
buttering it with his thumb.

"No," Coluth said, Golden nodding his
agreement.

"No messenger birds flying to
Gagar?"

"You, yourself, would have heard them
speak."

"I suppose that's true. What I'd
really like to talk about is what will happen in the Bands with
Pfnaravin's crystal no longer in the picture?" What John didn't say
was Pfnaravin's and John's Crystals no longer available for Magical
output. For John was taking Ellen home, before down-light if he
could -- something Golden knew, John giving Golden John's Mage-Disk
before they turned in at last night's inn. The Crystal would
perform only for John, of course, until John's death, John alert
last night for any attempt on Golden's part to sneak up on John
with evil intent, Golden doing nothing of the sort. Though
possession of the Disk hadn't been enough to make Golden King of
Malachite the last time he'd tried to overthrow Lithoid, it could
still help Golden as a badge of authority.

"And Auro? No rumors about the evil
Mage-King of Azare gaining back his strength?" John knew there'd
been nothing new on Auro, either. Was just making the point that
there had been a drastic reduction of Mage-Magic in the bands. Not
all that bad, Crystal-Magic often used aggressively, as he well
knew.

"I was wondering about another thing.
Does the intensity of the light in different bands affect the power
of Mage-Disks?"

No one seemed to know what he was
talking about -- nothing new about that. Eyes lowered, the others
continued spooning up meat and steamed vegetables. Taking gulps of
mint flavored milk.

"There didn't seem to be any way to
charge up a Crystal in down-land, for instance. If the slant of
light off the dome makes a difference in a Crystal's power,
Helianthin of Realgar -- living out toward the edge -- may have
less Crystal-force than Mages located in the inner Bands. As for
the Cinnabar Mage, Cryo (John wondering if the spider men's
collective mind was the King,) he made no effort to use Disk-Magic.
This could mean his Crystal has little power."