Threshold (29 page)

She dropped her eyes, acquiescing.

“Zabrze,” Azam said, “is there anything we can do to stop Nzame and his army now?”

“The majority of the army stayed at Threshold. With the slaves who also stayed, Nzame will have ten thousand to work his will for him. Here? I have but some few hundred soldiers and some four thousand men and women who have few weapons and lack the skills to fight stone…damn it!
None
of us have the skills to fight an army of stone men. How does one kill stone?” He laughed harshly. “
I
do not know!”

He sobered. “No. We cannot fight now, not until Boaz can give us something to fight with. But what I can do is warn. If you agree, I want to send some two score runners – messengers – about Ashdod and our neighbouring states to tell of what has occurred. To warn, and to ask for help.”

“And do you think we’ll get that?” Yaqob asked. He had been very silent, but his voice was even and reasonable. He looked calmer within himself, and I wondered if Isphet had been talking to him.

“Yes,” Zabrze said. “I think at least one of our neighbours will help us. Darsis, a state to the east, has a large and well-equipped army, and we have always been on good terms with it.”

“Not if Nzame begins to eat its citizens,” Zeldon muttered, and I threw him an irritated glance.

“And I have always been on good terms with its prince, Iraldur,” Zabrze continued. “If I send personal messages, then I hope he will aid us. It will be in his best interests to do so, anyway. Brother,” he turned to Boaz, “perhaps these Soulenai believe you can destroy Threshold when no-one else can, but you need to get into it alive and in one piece. Give me some months, and I believe I can rebuild a force that will do that for you.”

We then discussed what needed to be done to prepare our thousands for their trek across the Lagamaal Plains to the south-east. Neither Zabrze nor Boaz knew this area well, and they questioned Isphet closely about the conditions.

“Water?” Zabrze asked. “It will be difficult to carry enough water for five thousand.”

“We should carry some, but we can find it. Food is scarce, though. There are hares across the Lagamaal, but not enough to feed five thousand. And unless you develop a taste for mice, beetles and snakes…”

There were some camels and mules we could use as pack animals, but not all that many; the home estate could provide some, and Zabrze thought he’d be able to purchase more from neighbouring estates.

“We shall have a few score,” he said, “but those people who are fit enough shall have to carry packs as well. What horses we have I want to save for our messengers.”

Then Zabrze called Memmon in. The estate, it seemed, had great grain reserves, enough to feed us for three weeks, but little else.

“Fish,” Zabrze said. “I want us ready to go in five days. I dare wait no longer. Azam, Zeldon, can you organise groups to go a-fishing over the next three days? And others to dry the fish.”

They nodded.

“And reeds to be dried and woven into baskets,” Zabrze continued, “and –”

“And all this can be organised in the morning,” Isphet said. “There is something else I want to do while we are here, and it is best I speak now. Boaz,” and she swivelled a little on her chair, “I have heard tell how you are an Elemental. How the Soulenai wish you to train as a Necromancer to destroy Threshold. Well, I have yet to see any great demonstration of your skill, and you have yet to be presented to the Soulenai themselves. Before I commit us to a trek across the wilderness, and before I expose my home people to possible danger, I want
confirmation
of who and what you really are.”

Isphet was right. Boaz was still the Magus in many people’s eyes, and it
would
be best if his true arts were demonstrated.

“In two days I want to induct Boaz into the arts of Elemental magic…
if
the Soulenai accept him. Yaqob, will you speak to the other Elementals among us? Dawn, on the second morning from tomorrow.”

Yaqob nodded, and after some desultory conversation we rose and ate the meal that had been laid for us, then prepared for bed. We would all be kept busy over the next few days.

“Boaz? Tirzah?” Yaqob stopped us as we walked to the sleeping chamber assigned us. He was stiff and apprehensive, and we stiffened in response. I noticed Boaz’s eyes slide to Yaqob’s hands, as if expecting another attack.

“I should apologise for what I –”

“No,” Boaz stopped him. “No, you should not. For many months I shamed both you and Tirzah with my words and actions. As I lay slipping in and out of consciousness, as you and Zabrze fought to right some of the wrong I had caused, I heard Isphet tell Tirzah that as I had torn Tirzah apart with my power, so I suffered likewise. She did not think it a coincidence, and neither do I. Perhaps other hands besides yours guided that sword
into my belly, Yaqob. There is nothing you should apologise for. Nothing.”

Boaz paused, searching for the words. “If anyone needs to seek forgiveness, then it is I. Yet it is not something I can ask for, Yaqob, only something I can earn. I hope that eventually my actions will go some way towards negating the evil and unhappiness I have helped propagate.”

“Boaz,” I murmured, and took his arm, wishing he had said this to me in private, but knowing it had to be said before Yaqob.

Yaqob stared at Boaz, then at me. “Destroy Threshold,” he said, “and treasure Tirzah.”

He hesitated awkwardly, then walked away down the darkened corridor.

We watched him go, and I hoped that a corner had been turned here this evening.

Among the thousands who had fled Threshold there were only some three dozen Elementals. I realised that this number must be close to the total number of Elementals the building site had held. Over the years, Isphet had managed to gather the majority into her workshop. She was special, and most Elementals had gravitated to her.

This morning I, as all the others, was about to find out just how special.

I wondered what Isphet would use to summon the swirling colours and initiate the rite when she no longer had the molten glass.

The night before the dawn rite Isphet talked quietly with several of the boat-men from the estate, and when we rose in the chill pre-dawn darkness it was to find that eighteen small flat-bottomed punts awaited us at the landing. We all climbed in without speaking, two to a punt, and Boaz took the pole and pushed the punt he and I shared away from the landing. I watched him carefully, thinking it might be too much for him, but Boaz coped with ease.

Isphet and Yaqob led the procession of craft into the lake. We kept silent, letting the sounds of the awakening land soothe us. Mist drifted across the lake, tangling in the great reed banks to each side, but it was not thick, and as rose light stained the eastern horizon the reed banks retreated, and we found ourselves in open waters that were still shallow enough for the poles.

Isphet drew us to a spot so deep within the lake that the reed banks were a green line in the distance. She indicated with her hands, and the boats manoeuvred into a great circle and poles were shipped. I thought we would drift out of position, but perhaps the magic was already strong about us, for the circle remained complete.

Again at Isphet’s signal, those of us still seated rose and faced inward, the boats hardly rocking. We were all clothed in robes of pale hue, no jewellery, no belts or sashes. Hair was left to flow free and be caught by the cold breeze.

All eyes were on Isphet. She was dressed in pure white, and with her black hair flowing over her shoulders, and her extraordinary dark eyes I thought she looked a witch.

She surely commanded all of us.

We were still, our gazes riveted on her.

Slowly she raised her arm, then, in an abrupt motion, cast her hand over the water before her in a great arc.

As one millions of pink and red Juit birds launched into the sky from the reed banks, their wings making a great roar over the lake. I stared at Isphet, thinking that the undulating pink and red rising behind her looked like a great sheet of flame.

Then a different movement caught my eye and I looked down. The water contained within the circle of our boats was swirling in such great motion it was like a whirlpool, though none of the boats at its edge moved. Dawn light had spilled over all of us now, and I could see that the green water whirled to black in the pit of its circle.

Isphet moved again, casting her powdered metals into the water, and colour swirled there: blue, then at Isphet’s command, red, then gold, and finally a brilliant emerald.

“Feel,” she whispered about the circle, “feel the colours…listen…listen…listen, Boaz, can you feel us listening too?”

Yes.

Yes, he did. He was one of us, and not frightened as I had been when first submerged in the power of the colours. He let the power embrace him effortlessly, completely.

Yes.

I could hear a rushing – the water, increasingly maddened – but I ignored it, letting the power submerge me as well.

Then the Soulenai were among us.

I shuddered, for their presence was different – stronger – from what I’d ever felt before. Far more vigorous.

Submit, Boaz
, I felt Isphet urge,
let their power and grace suffuse you, enrich you.

As I leaned my head back, eyes closed, letting their presence filter through me, I felt Boaz do the same.

Again he accepted without hesitation.

Submit
…This time the Soulenai spoke, and I could feel the curiosity as they rippled through Boaz, exploring, touching.

He accepted it all.

They moved through each of us, and between us as well – something I’d never felt them do previously.

I opened my eyes. Were the Soulenai walking among us? It felt like it, oh, it did, because this was power such as I’d never felt before. They were vital in this place, very strong, and I wondered why.

Then they spoke.

The Elemental arts are dying about the land. War has arrived once more, and the land again turns to stone. Eventually, even the Song of the Frogs will die. Then all
will be lost. We charge you gathered here with the reversal of the stone and with the renewal of the land. You are all beloved, and you will all have to shoulder the responsibility of the resurrection.

But there are some among you who will have a greater burden than the others. Listen, and know. Isphet…

And the Soulenai
did
move among us, I could both feel and see them now. A glow surrounded Isphet, and I could only barely distinguish her form within it.

Isphet. You are so strong, so beautiful, and you have kept hope alive in a place of stone and death. We thank you for that, and we would charge you with a further duty. You travel back to your home. That is good. Speak with the Graces, seek their counsel. Isphet, you will become a Necromancer of great skill, and your task will be to illume a nation. You will have the chance given to few others.

We all felt her shock. Isphet had never thought herself worthy of aspiring to the highest level of Elemental magic, to become a Necromancer, but I was not surprised. She deserved this honour.

Your task will become clearer as the months and years go by, Isphet. Will you pledge to remain true to us and to your task…will you illume?

I do so pledge
, she whispered, and we were honoured to witness for her.

Yaqob.
Now the glow surrounded Yaqob, and tears of joy – and some of relief – sprang to my eyes.

Yaqob. We ask of you much the same as what we asked of Isphet. From the Graces you will learn the arts and skills of the Necromancer. Yaqob, you have suffered disappointments and maybe will suffer more. Use disap-pointment to create strength and forge compassion. You shall instruct, and your task shall become clearer as year passes into year.

And they asked of him the same pledge as they had of Isphet, and he gave it and we so witnessed.

Tirzah.

Such great beauty infused me that I cried out, but the love of all those about supported me and I accepted.

Tirzah. Learn with the others, yet what you learn will be incidental to the powers you already command. You will be a great Necromancer. Few shall surpass your power. Yet, like Yaqob, you shall suffer loss. Do not let it overwhelm you, Tirzah. Resolve to live through it. Do you pledge to remain true to us and to your task, Tirzah?

I do so pledge.
I felt the Soulenai caress me, but it gave me little comfort. Loss? Loss?

Boaz, you are the fourth, and you already know much of your task but, again, as the weeks unfold it will become yet plainer. You will learn the skills of the Necromancer, and you will attain power that even your father could not have dreamed of. Even he, so given to adventuring, will fear the places you shall explore. Boaz, even more than Tirzah, you must learn the paths. Understand the Song of the Frogs, understand its implications. Do you pledge us this to do?

I do so pledge.
I could feel Boaz’s emotion. With that pledge he cast off the remaining barriers the Magus had built.
I do so pledge.

Then behold, Boaz…behold…

And that command extended to all of us. We had a brief glimpse of the Place Beyond – the briefest of glimpses – then I became aware of a man standing in the centre of the whirlpool.

He smiled at Boaz, and I saw that it was Avaldamon.

He was more substantial than when he’d appeared so briefly in Boaz’s residence, yet still wraith-like. An apparition only, not flesh.

He held out his hand, then took a step, then another, and he walked across the water to the boat.

He was breathtaking, not only in feature, but in the power and knowledge that shone from his eyes. He lifted a
hand, caressed Boaz’s cheek, then pulled his son to him. For that fleeting moment of embrace, Avaldamon appeared to be fully fleshed, and Boaz later told me that he’d held a man in his arms, not a wraith.