Nightlord: Sunset (101 page)

“I cannot hear you, Linnaeus.  It is Halar.  I am staying at the Inn of the
Golden Horn.  If you can see me this afternoon, just nod.”

He nodded, wide-eyed.  Well, I imagine it would be startling to have a voice come out of nowhere and address you by name.

“Excellent.  No rush; I’ll be here for a while.”

I passed a hand over the crystal while he nodded again.  The image faded.

That done, I found a bellrope and tugged on it.  A minute later, a servant knocked politely and entered.  I left word that Linnaeus was to be shown up when he arrived.

Then I had a nap.

The room seemed odd, somehow.  I sat up in bed, looking around.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on the problem…

Oh.  It wasn’t a problem.  It was Tamara.  She was sitting in one of the chairs, smiling at me.  Her hair was flickering with a fire-gold light.

“Good afternoon,” I said.

“Hello, sleepyhead,” she answered.  Her voice was different, somehow.

I swung my legs off the bed and stood up, stretched.  Isn’t it odd that Tamara should be here?  Well, no.  I love her.  Of course she should be here…

“Enjoying your nap?” she asked.  Again, there was something about her voice.  Something familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“Yes.  Want to join me?”

“I already have.  I came to ask you a question.”

“Sure.”

“Do you really want to kill Tobias?”

In other circumstances, I might have been startled.  But it just seemed a good question.  I thought about it.

“I don’t want to kill him,” I replied, and I realized that was the truth.  “I don’t like to kill.  I’d much rather just help people die.  I don’t think he wants to die.  But I think I have to kill him.  I don’t see another option.  I may have to kill everyone in the Hand, as well.   Again, not because I want to kill them, but because I want to live.”

“Good.  Kill Tobias, by any means.  He serves My enemy, the Devourer.”

“I figured he was in league with the Father of Darkness.  Is the Devourer passing on orders, or is it on its own?”

“The Devourer has consumed Tobias’ god, while I have taken some of the priests as Mine.  Beware any priest that works with magic instead of Fire.”

I felt confused.  “How can a god be consumed by a demon?  Aren’t gods above that sort of thing?”

Rather than answer, she stood up and approached me.  She wrapped her arms around my torso and I hugged her in return.  She felt very warm as she pressed her cheek to my chest.

“You are a good man, Eric.  Because of that, you cannot see it as others do, but you are a good man.” 

That was nice.  I stroked her hair.  “Okay.”

She laughed aloud and squeezed me tighter.  “You are accorded an honor seldom known—to have your soul’s balance told to you—and you say ‘okay’!”

“Thank you?”

She glanced up at me and kissed me quickly.

“You are sometimes too innocent,” She said, still smiling.  “But you are young.  Very young, and yet you stand at the pivot of the world, equal parts mixed of light and darkness.  You are more important than you know in this struggle for supremacy.  Call to Me, shadow-child, and I will hear you, though you glorify My sister.”

I placed that voice.  It wasn’t Tamara.  It was a voice I’d heard from Tamara’s throat…

“I could use some help,” I admitted.

“You already have it.  I have aided you constantly, even before you came through the magician’s gateway.  The light that blinds leaves men in darkness; it has been too long in power, and you are the shadow that will fall upon it.  The false light is waning and the new dawn is at hand.  The end of this exchange is near.”

“What sort of help will I have?”

She smiled.  I’d call it impishly.  “I will be there, My child, to watch over you and guide you.”

“By steering or by advising?”

Her laughter was surprisingly powerful.

“You will do what you must,” She replied—an answer that seemed good enough to me at the time. “Now get back in bed.  You are about to have a visitor.”

I let go of her and sat back down on the bed.  “Why did you appear to me in Tamara’s form?” I asked.

Her eyes twinkled.  “Many reasons.”

“Tell me a few of them?”

“As you wish.  Because she is My daughter, and you love her—and well you should.  Because it pleases you to see her, and it is good that you are pleased.  Because I enjoy your hugs.”

I felt warm and fuzzy.  She likes my hugs.

She sat down on the bed, next to me, and pushed me gently down.  “Lie down.  Close your eyes.  You must wake in a moment.”

“I’m dreaming now?”

“Of course.  The walls between your world and mine are difficult to breach.  Here, when you wander in dreaming, we may speak freely.  Since you seldom sleep, I must give you true-dreams whenever I can.  Later, when you sleep more deeply, My sister will speak so to you.”  She smiled that I-know-something-you-don’t-know smile.  “Much later.  Now go back to sleep.”

That made sense to me.  I closed my eyes.

Someone came pounding at my door.  I opened my eyes and rolled out of bed, grumbling about being woken from a really nice dream.  It had Tamara in it, I recalled, and she had called me “Eric.”  That was odd…

I may have been sleepy, but I was still suspicious.  I answered the door with Firebrand in hand.

The gentleman in the hall was a big man.  I don’t think he meant to pound on the door; for him, it was just knocking.  He was panting slightly and his face was flushed.  Sweat stood in small beads on his brow.  His clothes were some sort of formal livery.  The tabard had a mountain, argent, on an azure field, with a bird, or,
atop it, preying.  Nice device.  I didn’t recognize it.

“Sir?” the man asked.  He had a hat in hand, somewhat the worse for being squashed.  The feather had seen better days, too.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I have a message for Sir Halar, the wizard knight,” he said.  He looked hopeful.  “Are you him?”

“I am.”

He smiled hugely and dropped to one knee.

“Sir, my lord requests the honor of your presence this evening.”  Out of the mangled hat came a small scroll, also the worse for wear.  It has once been sealed with wax, but that had cracked in the delivery.  I accepted it gingerly.  It was also slightly damp with sweat.  I got the impression he’d run a good way to deliver it.

I opened it up, suspecting that Duke Andsomeone had finally found me.  Yes, reading the invitation, I became certain he had.

Sir Halar, the Wizard Knight:

Greetings.

The House of Andalon requests your presence at dinner in the fifth hour past noon.

His Grace,

Duke Martis Andalon

The price of fame.  Ah, well.  I suppose I should have expected him to track me down sooner or later.  Sooner, considering I
did
come to the capitol….

“Go back to your lord and inform him I have received his invitation and will make every effort to see his wish is carried out.”

The big guy bowed and rose to his feet.  He was fully a head taller than I and proportionally broader.  He saluted, turned on his heel, and pelted for the stairs.

I shut the door and shook my head, looking over the broken seal.  The wax was impressed with the same crest as the messenger’s tabard.  So that was Duke Andalon’s signifier.  At least now I’d recognize it.  I wondered what was for dinner.  Pity the invitation—or the summons—didn’t say.

I suppose I could have turned him down, or just not shown up.  But I’ve never been formally invited to dinner with a Duke before.

The knocking at the door broke my brown study and I opened it again.  The valet was there, along with Linnaeus.  The valet handed him off to me and I retreated into the room, closing the door as I did so.

Linnaeus tried to go to one knee, but I caught his shoulders.

“Stop that.  You’re not my vassal, just my friend.”

“But you are a knight, my lord, and I am in your service.  Clearly, it is meet that I should bend the knee upon our first meeting of the day.”

I looked him over.  He hadn’t changed a bit, aside from his clothes looking a little cleaner and newer than I recalled.  He had his instruments with him, in fine new cases.  There were a few extra lines around his eyes, maybe, but he looked better-fed than when I last saw him at the Keep.

“Well, if that’s the proper protocol,” I replied, nodding and thinking.  He went to one knee and rose immediately.

“My lord, I have spread your fame far and wide with all the skill at my command—and learned much that you may find of interest.”

“Good.  I have heard of your efforts, in fact.  I am told I am not as tall as people expect.”

He chuckled.  “I fear the legend has grown beyond my own power to control.”

“I’ll forgive you.  Sit.  Are you hungry?  Thirsty?”

“Some wine would be pleasant,” he agreed, taking one of the chairs.  I rang for a servant, let Linnaeus pick the wine, and then settled into the chair opposite him.

“Linnaeus, before we get down to business, tell me how things are going with you.  You look like you’re eating, at least.”

“Shortly after leaving the Keep, I could not eat,” he said, not smiling at all.  “I fell deathly ill for two days.  I thought I was going to die.  Only later did I discover the Keep’s water had been poisoned.”

“It was touch and go for a lot of people,” I agreed.  “I was one of them.  I’m glad you didn’t eat much of that soup.”

“As am I,” he replied.  “I had not heard of your own illness.  Those who spoke of it to me said only that you shrugged the poison aside.  You organized the few who yet remained of the garrison into a defense until you could make a night attack.”

I chuckled.  “Trust me.  I’d have been lying in the snow as sick as anyone if I hadn’t used magic.  It was an unkind poison.”

“That much I know of it,” he agreed, and shuddered slightly with the memory.  We paused to accept the wine from the valet and dismiss him.  Linnaeus opened it and let it breathe.

“What can you tell me about Tobias?” I asked.

Linnaeus toyed with his empty glass while thinking.

“He is powerful.  He is rising rapidly.  There is word that the Hand will become the power of the Church again—which may be needful if it is to survive…”

I perked up.  “Oh?  Really?”

He nodded, smiling slightly.  “Understand, my lord, that what I am about to tell you is far from common knowledge.”

“I won’t ask how you found out.”

He smiled slightly more.  “As you will, lord.  What I have discovered is an internal struggle within the Church ranks.  A struggle bordering all too closely on schism.”

“I can’t say I’m upset.  Who are the players?”

“The division is between those who follow the ways of the Hand and those who deplore its methods.  Those who linger in the middle seem to have… difficulties.”

“Difficulties?”

Linnaeus held his empty glass up to the light for a moment, then set it down to pour.  As the red fluid gently flowed into the glass, I was reminded of the blood Bob poured for me in Eastgate. 

“It is said—and I cannot vouch for the certainty of this rumor—that those who have not chosen a side in this debate find that their prayers go unheard.”

“But both sides—those that have picked a side—still work miracles?”

“In some small measure, yes.”

I sat back and considered that.  There are two main ways for a priest to make something miraculous happen.  First, he can cast a spell.  Second, he can work an act of faith.  I wonder who—or, rather, Who—is answering the faithful.  And to Whom the faithful are praying.

And if my dreams are true.

“How deep does this schism run?” I asked.

“It is hard to say.  The differences are fundamental, but the Church does not acknowledge that there
is
a difference, or even a problem.  This is Tobias’ influence, I think.  It helps that many of those who would contest Tobias’ rise or question him in council conveniently die at the hands of the nightlord.”

Linnaeus smiled ruefully.

“I must admit to a certain admiration for the man.  Few now remember it was the machinations of the Hand that brought this nightlord back into the world; almost all who knew of it are now dead.  Indeed, there are few who would admit to any knowledge of the quest through the Mage’s Door.”

“Mage’s Door?” I echoed.

“A potent artifact of magic,” he explained.  “It is a doorway without a door.  It is said it can be used to open a magical passageway to any place.  Also, it is difficult to control and requires much power, but can transport anyone and anything that can fit through the Door while it is open.”

Aha.  That thing.

“Good to know.  Someday, I have to study to be a magician.”