Winds That Will Be — Aedan's Journal
"Her
Breath Smelled of Cinnamon and Mystery"
Aedan's Journal. Session 9-29-01.
© 2001 Todd Worrell
Blind, alone in a wood somewhere, I lay back in the warm sunlight and let the smell of pine and grass wash over me.
I felt great, alive, whole and unbruised again. My blood hummed, my spleen sang. In fact, I felt better than great; I felt awesome.
Grayswandir pulsed on my finger, low and persistent. When I thought about it, I sensed it respond. It was ready, available, and able to surge with power at my command. It beat in time with my heartbeat, and I knew that no one would ever take it away from me again.
I smiled. Overhead, I heard the screech of a hawk. A breeze blew across my naked body. In the back of my mind, I heard the faintest whisper: Desire.
Yes, I had killed Corwin, but it didn't matter; he was already dead. I had undoubtedly caused Caine to die as well, but it wasn't the real Caine. I had done what the Tower asked and I was free again.
But why had Eric vanished, there, upon the stairs? What had pulled me from that place to wherever I was? I had summoned the full power of Grayswandir once before, and the world had changed. That time, I had passed out. This time, I had been better able to control it. I was still awake, and only sightless. I could probably use Grayswandir to fix that, but I was enjoying doing nothing.
Then I felt the tingle of a familiar presence.
"Aedan," Magni's voice said. "Where are you?"
I saw him in my mind, standing at the base of what looked like the Pattern, only behind him was the open sky.
"I have no idea," I told him.
"Pull me through," he said. I saw then that his left hand was bloody. He was missing a finger. He extended his right hand and I brought him to me. As I did so, my vision cleared. Interesting, I thought. And useful to know.
"You are missing your clothes again," Magni said.
"While you are only missing a finger," I replied.
"Not only," he said. "The ring is gone as well."
"Is that good or bad?" I asked him. He hadn't embraced the Tower's cause. In fact, I couldn't recall his having used the ring either.
"To tell the truth," he said, "I miss the finger more."
"I know how you can get the ring back," I told him.
"How?"
"You gotta want it real bad."
Magni looked skeptically at me. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"To regain Benedict's staff, you must desire it more than anything else in the universe. You have to declare that it belongs to you, that it is a part of you."
"But wouldn't that be like swearing allegiance to the Tower?"
"Not necessarily," I lied. "She gave it to you; what you choose to do with it is your business." I hoped that Magni couldn't tell I was lying. The Tower wanted to grow stronger; she needed Magni on her side.
"Hunh," Magni grunted. He closed his eyes and strained. No serpent-twined staff or dull gray ring appeared. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and shrugged. Coward, I thought.
"It didn't work. It just made me bleed more."
I healed his wound. The finger would probably grow back eventually. It seemed obvious to me that Magni wasn't eager to support the Tower. He had heard her proposal, as well as Eve's, and he was doing everything he could to avoid choosing a side. I wondered what that would mean to our budding friendship.
Magni conjured some clothing for me to wear: black shirt, black pants, black boots. It was silky and looked like the stuff Giselle wore.
"Interesting style," I commented.
"It was closest," Magni shrugged.
That gave me an idea. I looked around me. Majestic trees towered above, surrounding us on all sides. It was the sort of place where a will-o-wisp might appear in the stories. I judged the direction where the woods seemed familiar and set off. Magni followed me.
"Do you know where you're going?" He asked.
"Yes," I said.
"But you told me you didn't know where you were."
"That is true."
He shrugged and followed me. After perhaps ten minutes, the spires of a castle peeked out from between tree trunks. Delicately formed, of white marble veined with silver, they looked decidedly familiar.
A minute later we were at the palace gate. Two fey guards stood in front of the double doors. They asked us our business. I looked at Magni. He shrugged again.
"We are here," I said, following Caine's advice, "to see the King."
* * *
I knew that Caine realized that I had followed him. He never said anything, but I expected that, so that didn't surprise me. What surprised me was that he never said anything-at all. He quit speaking to me. I decided that that was fine and I stopped talking to him as well. After a week I stood in his way as he came up the stairs from his cabin, thinking he would have to say something.
Instead, he pushed me aside and continued on his way.
I wondered if he was embarrassed. I had invaded his privacy, and witnessed him praying in the Grove of the Unicorn. Caine should have been angry with me. Perhaps he was, but he didn't show it how another man would have.
We both knew that I would be the one to break the silence. It was only a matter of time. However, I spent quite a few days wondering what exactly I was going to say. Everything is a test, Caine had said. I had no doubt that he was waiting to see how I approached this matter.
Finally, I arranged to have a bottle of rum and two glasses delivered to Caine's cabin while he was away. After he had set the evening watch, he went below. I counted to a hundred slowly, then descended the stairs to his cabin. I knocked, but he didn't reply.
Instead, he opened the door. The bottle of rum was in his other hand. He hoisted it and stepped aside so I could enter. I seated myself at his small table and picked up one of the glasses.
Caine poured until both glasses were full. We began drinking in silence.
* * *
Magni and I waited for one of the fey guards to return and tell us if we could see the king. Well, the actual king wasn't receiving visitors. His son Lugh was still running the show, but I had hoped to speak with both of them. While we stood there, we discussed recent events. Magni had fought with another of the metaphysical goddesses of the future. She wore archaic armor, had curly white hair, and had bitten his finger off to get his ring. Gabriel was with him at the time, and had named the woman Conflict.
I told Magni an abbreviated version of my attack on Castle Amber and subsequent imprisonment, omitting any mention of Corwin. He was most interested in my description of how I fought Eric. He seemed completely unconcerned with my hours of pain and desolation.
What exactly was Magni's place in my future? We had been acquaintances for several weeks, and in that time had worked well together. He was capable of action when necessary, although he had a mean habit of keeping quiet when it was his turn to talk. Also, he steadfastly refused to say anything useful about his past. I knew that the vambrace he wore was paired to Osric's, but he had said he wasn't Osric's offspring. I would have guessed that Magni was a descendant of Finndo's on that evidence alone, but he could have been any of my male relatives' progeny.
He had been rather unenthusiastic about his acquisition of the staff. When he, Raj, and I had returned to the Grove and spoken with the Tower, Magni's questions revealed a distinct mistrust of her motives. I could respect that, but I also believed that his subsequent actions in this matter were deceitful. If he didn't want the staff, why did he pretend to? The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that he wasn't worthy of my trust. He had used me and lied to me. I resolved to keep my guard up around him.
The fey guard returned and informed me that His Majesty, King Finnvarra was unavailable as he was still unconscious.
"However," he went on, "Prince Lugh will see you now."
I nodded and opened my mouth to reply when Magni grabbed me from behind. I saw the prismatic glow surround us.
"Or not," I said, and we disappeared.
* * *
When the bottle of Rum was entirely empty, Caine spun it on the tabletop. The ship went over a swell and the bottle slid to the floor and broke. We both looked at the pile of broken glass for a moment.
"I was surprised," I said, "but now I don't think I should have been."
"Hmmm," he said, rubbing his cheek.
"As you once told me, 'Know what you don't know.' Well," I shrugged, "I never claimed to know much about you, so…."
"Go on," he gestured for me to continue. As I had said all I was planning on saying, I hesitated.
"Uh, therefore…I should not have been surprised."
He brushed his mustache absent-mindedly for a moment.
"And?"
"…and…I, um, I didn't know." I smiled bravely.
Caine stood and moved too close to me. "…AND?"
Oh. Whenever he did that, it only meant one thing.
"I apologize," I said.
He clapped me too hard on the arm and resumed his seat.
He sat for a few minutes, studying me. I rubbed my new bruise and tried to keep my heart rate down. After too long, Caine stood and walked to the locked cabinet behind the door. He unlocked it, removed a bottle of brandy, and relocked the cabinet. He poured us each a drink. We raised our glasses silently, then drank. It burned smoothly.
"Old Glenhaven," Caine said. "The best."
Caine had never let me drink the good stuff before. I started sweating.
* * *
We were standing on the eastern battlements of Castle Amber. The city spread out below us to our right. Raj, who had pulled Magni through a trump connection, explained what the urgency was.
"You see, that thing out there is coming this way." Gerard's son spoke loudly over the distant rumble and pointed toward an immense dark waterspout that stretched from the ocean horizon up into the dark cloudy sky.
Oh, did I forget to mention the thing wreaking havoc on our ocean? Please forgive me. There was an immense column of black water spinning several miles out at sea. The ocean churned. They sky burbled with black clouds. I glanced down at the city. The boats in the harbor bobbed on ten-foot swells. Crowds of people had gathered on the docks and were nervously milling about.
"What is it?" Magni asked.
"It's another one of those super-women," Raj said. "Gregory called it 'Leviathan.' I suspect he may be allied with it, or her."
The monstrous pillar of water moved slowly forward. In the city, the crowd grew in size as more people came to look, occasionally pointing at the waterspout or looking hopefully upwards toward the castle.
Toward us, I thought. If these people had any sense, they would all be running away, but they expect us to fix this problem. We're just their evening's entertainment.
In fact, I expected us to fix the problem as well.
"Do you have any ideas?" Magni asked. Actually, I did.
I walked a few steps down the rampart and let Grayswandir charge up. My cousins were yelling at me, asking me what I was doing, but I ignored them. I projected my thoughts toward the waterspout.
"Turn aside, foul beast!" I mind-shouted. I felt the power of my spell traverse the leagues of water and sink into the pillar of water. Then, somehow, I perceived the column turn slightly and focus on me. My heart began to beat faster.
Drawing upon the ring's vast reserves of power, I created an invisible wall of force around the base of Kolvir and the city. It would shield us all from Leviathan's destruction.
"You're interfering with the Pattern!" Raj shouted. "Either stop that or leave."
I caused myself to be lifted into the air. I flew down the coastline a mile and landed on a rocky outcropping. In the sea, miles-long inky black tentacles emerged from the water-column and began writhing about the sky. They looked like they were searching for something.
I called up a sorcerous lens and examined the tableau before me. Leviathan was a vortex of energy, all of it moving inward and being swallowed. The black tentacles I had seen were sucking in every particle they touched. Back at the castle, I saw the telltale floral configuration of Flora's sorcery wrapped around a crude yet powerful Pattern imprint. From deep below the mountain, the Pattern flared brighter than normal.
As I was digesting this, a new object appeared just off the docks. It was about human-sized, and radiating white heat. I focused my lens until I saw that it was a woman with pale skin, white hair, and piercing blue eyes. It was Eve.
She flew across the water and into the heart of Leviathan. The two metaphysical beings interacted for a moment. Then, the waterspout began to dwindle. Debris fell from it. The rumble lessened. Eve, a white speck in the dark, stormy seas, flew slowly back toward Amber.
I surged into the air and went to meet her.
In a few minutes, Eve, Raj, and I were standing on the docks in Amber's harbor. Perhaps a thousand people crowded around us and heard our conversation. Eve flowed into the form of the Unicorn and the people bowed and knelt with murmured awe.
Raj looked angry, which surprised me a little. I had thought he was Eve's man. "What did you say?" Raj asked.
Eve shifted back into her human form. "I told her that this place is mine," she replied.
"Where is she headed now?"
"I believe that she has more kinship with his patron," Eve gestured toward me, "And is perhaps going to find her."
"What happened out there?" I asked. Eve tilted her head, then walked toward me.
"We do owe you a debt, Aedan," Eve inclined her head demurely. It didn't work. I felt repulsed by her, her rigid sense of order. I took a step back. "He allowed us to return to this plane where we are manifest."
"Was the return caused by some action of yours?" Raj asked me.
The "return?" I thought. What did he mean by that?
"Your actions have benefited us all here," Eve continued to address me. "I am grateful and would reward you. Yet, you are attached to the strings of another."
"I believe that your influence in this place is stronger. I serve the other to bring about balance."
"I would prefer to thank you properly," Eve said. "If you persist in refusing, we must perchance become enemies."
"We know not how this act will end," I told her, hiding my distaste. "Until then, we can at the very least be polite to one another."
"Take off the ring," she commanded, raising an arm and pointing her finger imperiously at me.
"I am free to choose."
"Take off the ring." Eve loomed larger now, glaring down her outstretched hand at me. "Was Corwin free to choose?"
"He made his choices," I said.
"You have been cursed," Eve told me. "There are forces that hold the curse back. If those forces fall upon my side I shall have them release it."
"Your method of expressing your gratitude seems most inappropriate." I smiled without any warmth.
"I thank my people as I see fit. It is your master who is ungrateful. Indeed, her power is too great. Serve me and I will reward you."
"No."
"She has grown greater than I. She is dangerous."
"She is restricted," I said. "You are free."
Eve lowered her arm and raised her chin to glower down her nose at me. I held back the urge to spit on her.
"The truth of your position will become known."
"Your truth," I told her, "is a subjective truth."
"That is the exact opposite of what I am."
"I am leaving. Please, do not hinder me." I pulled out my deck of cards.
"The blood of Amber should not be spilled," she said.
"A noble sentiment. Pray, remember it when next we meet."
I took the top card into my hand and concentrated upon it. The connection came shortly. Gabriel opened his mouth to ask a million questions, then closed it quickly. I silently extended my hand. He pulled me through.
* * *
Caine poured us each another glass. This was my sixth, I think. I couldn't really remember. We had done nothing but drink and sit silently for about an hour.
"People," Caine pronounced, "Will always let you down."
I sat in silence and listened, anxiously hoping he would talk quickly and send me away soon.
"They will lie to you, betray you, love you and break your heart."
The ship rose and fell. My stomach churned.
"You cannot trust anyone, least of all your family. They are only human. They can only disappoint you." He set the bottle down and raised his glass. I hesitated, then raised mine. Our glasses clinked together.
"To the Unicorn."
"The Unicorn," I repeated, beginning to understand.
* * *
Gabriel brought me into a small stone sitting room. Giselle was perched at the foot of a comfortable chair in which Merlin was seated. I took a seat in the other chair as Gabriel poured me a glass of white wine. Flora's daughter informed me that Merlin was the King of Chaos again. I hadn't even known he had lost the throne, albeit temporarily. Apparently my destruction of the Temple beneath the Pattern had returned the entire multiverse to what it had been prior to my healing of Martin. That was what Raj meant, and I couldn't help being disappointed. I had focused on making the world more accessible to the Tower. The fact that I had somehow reset the cosmic chessboard was a little disappointing; I should have changed things more to my liking.
I guess I hadn't been listening closely enough, for everyone was waiting expectantly for me to say something. I told them about the recent disruption in the seas of Amber and of Eve's confrontation with Leviathan.
"I have her sword," Giselle said quietly, "but I don't know what to do with it."
"Whose sword?" Gabriel inquired.
"Leviathan's."
We all looked expectantly at Giselle's bag, but she shook her head.
"No, not with me."
"What does it do?" Gabriel asked.
"I don't know. I gave it to mother."
So, Flora had a weapon of unknown capabilities, probably on par with Grayswandir or Werewindle. I couldn't help but wonder about that. Gabriel's expression showed that he was thinking along similar lines.
Giselle, interpreting our pause in the conversation as an opening, blithely continued on.
"I believe that Leviathan was Julian and Florimel's handiwork," she said. "She claimed she didn't know about the existence of the sword, but I think she'll be able to puzzle it out."
"Wait," I interrupted. "You claim that Leviathan was created by Julian and your mother—"
"—or summoned," Giselle added.
"And yet you gave her Leviathan's sword."
"Well, whatever she and Julian were planning obviously didn't work. Julian's dead and mother isn't the sort to go swinging a big sword around. It's harmless in her hands."
That was a rather unreasonable statement, even for Giselle. I didn't believe that she was underestimating Flora. More likely, she just assumed she knew what her mother wanted. Assumptions get you killed, Caine had said. I had seen that he was right on more than one occasion.
"Weapons are, by definition, dangerous," I said, "No matter who wields them."
"Maybe I shouldn't have given it to her," Giselle agreed. "Oh well."
I looked up. My eyes met Merlin's as we both wondered just how foolish Giselle really was. Merlin scratched at his beard and I saw the dull gray ring around one of his fingers. I didn't believe he had shown it to me by accident.
"Tell me about Martin," Merlin said.
Giselle began recounting what had transpired from the moment I had healed Martin. She stuck fairly close to the facts, at least for the first part. I tried to listen, but I found myself distracted by a suddenly incongruous smell of the sea followed by an odd sensation.
I felt like I was in Tir na-Nog'th again. No, that wasn't it exactly. I felt like I was trumping someone who was in Tir, but without the tingling of trump. In my mind's eye I saw Magni, standing under starlight in the ghostly Western Tower. He was in color, but the two figures with him were pale and silver. I concentrated and I could hear what they were saying.
"There are two roads: knowledge and strength," the shorter of the ghosts said. He was dressed in formal robes similar to the priests of the Serpent I had seen at Merlin's coronation. A cowl covered his face but his scraggly beard protruded.
"There is only one road," the other ghost said. It was Oberon, his back straight as if he were posing for a portrait. In one outstretched hand he held a crude stone that I somehow knew would one day be the Jewel of Judgment.
"I must obey you in this," the old priest said. "But if you lose your power over me, I shall take this in my own way."
The phantoms turned and descended. Magni moved as if to follow, and the scene faded from my view. My focus returned to the real world.
Back at the Keep, Merlin had rolled up his sleeve. He drew a dagger across his forearm. His blood spilled forth onto the stone floor for a minute. I watched in silence as he reached into the crimson puddle and drew forth a bird, solid red and shaped like a raven. He stared into its eyes, then released. The bird cawed and took flight. It circled the room and left by a high window.
"Martin cannot avoid my servant," Merlin said. "We'll know soon enough if he is truly Random's son or merely another construct."
Giselle and Merlin gathered up their things. I stood politely and nodded my head in a half bow as they left. He was the King, after all, even if it wasn't of my kingdom. Ironically, I thought, he's also my closest relation among our generation.
When they had gone, Gabriel sat beside me and poured himself another glass of wine. I declined his offer as my glass was still mostly full.
"I regret that I must also depart soon," I told him. Actually, I didn't regret it at all, but I was being tactful. "Do you have a horse you might loan me?"
"Actually, I think I have your horse in my stables."
"Trick?"
"Yes," he said. "That's the name. A fey creature, blue and black stripes. He eats stablehands for breakfast."
"I should be delighted to relieve you of his company."
"Very well." Brand's son reached into his pocket and removed a small gold ring. It had a symbolic laurel leaf etched into it. "You'll need this to get through the castle. I've increased security here."
I thanked him and took my leave. The Keep bustled with guards. After three internal checkpoints, I reached the main courtyard. Another showing of the ring allowed me access to the stables.
Trick snorted and stopped chewing his stall door to shreds when he saw me. He bent his head over and undid the latch, pushed the gate open, and walked out into the aisle. I was waiting for him to saddle himself, but he didn't go quite that far.
* * *
As I rode away from Gabriel's fortified home, I thought about how the situation had changed when it had returned to normal. The appearance of Leviathan concerned me. Another goddess-type could only mean less control for the Tower, unless Eve's rash judgment about an alliance proved true. It was worth investigating.
Three hours later, I dismounted at the edge of the dark grove and went within. The crude altar was still at the far end, but the Tower was gone. I studied the stone for marks. It was curiously unscarred where the weapons had apparently pierced it. The ground around held no telling footprints or even dried blood. Disappointed, I turned to leave.
The Angel of Death stood between Trick and me, its features hidden behind a veil of white mist. I heard the clink of metal as it shifted to regard me. But even through the haze, it looked different to me.
"Greetings," I told it.
"Your desire does not abide here any longer," the Seraph's voice breathed in my ear. "The Gold came and she is free."
"Who is the Gold?"
"He is known to you as Brand."
That was surprising. I had recently rescued Brand from a fight with the Tower. I wondered what had made him change his mind. Or, more likely, what selfish plan he was executing.
"Where may I find her?" I asked.
"You know how to seek her."
Desire. Indeed I did.
"When you find her," the Seraph went on, "Tell her I am the last and that when I too am free I will know she did not hold to our bargain."
"The 'last'?" I said, but the Seraph ignored my question. It's wings fluttered.
"Will you still serve her now that she is no longer chained?"
"I don't know," I lied. "How are you ensnared? What binds you?"
"I can show you."
I hesitated, but I wanted to know too badly.
"Do so," I said.
The Seraph's wings spread behind it and for an instant I saw how it had changed. It no longer had its weapon, the strange blade which had scarred my hand. Bright white light flooded everything. The air grew cold. I no longer saw the grove.
I seemed to be in the midst of a battle, but everything was silent. People in armor ran and screamed silently all around me. I floated upwards and saw a massive clash of armies. All the way to the horizon, soldiers fought and died.
In the distance, the sky fractured. It broke into parallel lines of shades of gray. They resonated somehow, like musical chords, but not in harmony. The colors contested with each other and sharp jolts shot through me.
"We can abide them," the Seraph's voice echoed in my head. "If we rule they will pass and be replaced."
It meant the goddesses, like my Tower. I hid my fear and forced myself to speak. "They each serve an idea. What do you represent?"
"I am what I am," it said. "I represent nothing."
"How can you be freed?"
"Like all the others, I need sacrifice. Choice."
"Where is your weapon?" I asked.
"I gave it to another, but the Sisters interfered."
Was that the sword of Leviathan? Its appearance at this time seemed more than a simple coincidence.
"I will give the Tower your message."
The scene before me dissolved and I once again stood before the Seraph in the spooky otherworldly grove.
"I must seek to weaken her," it said. "You are her avatar. If we meet again, know this."
"I understand."
Suddenly, I was alone. Beyond the trees, Trick neighed a question. I didn't know what he meant, but it was exactly how I felt.
* * *
Desire.
Trick and I rode through the primeval woods at night. The trees thinned until we crossed a grassy plain. A pale jaundiced sun rose over my left shoulder. The plain fell down until it became a river valley.
Desire.
The river flowed swiftly. The banks were heavy with moss and shrubs. The river widened and became a deep, azure lake. We circled the water.
Desire.
In the distance, I saw a lonely mountain. It loomed over the surrounding countryside. Clouds brushed its slopes, high up in the sky. My path led me toward it.
Desire.
I saw a copse of evergreens and entered it. The ground began to slope upwards. Suddenly, a steep hill rose above me. I reined in Trick and looked for a path.
She was there.
Desire.
Seated on a bluff, looking down at me from a meditative posture. Her eight hands arrayed around her in a symbolic pose, she radiated a sense of barely contained power and energy. Around her, a multitude of flowers bloomed in a spectacular array.
The Tower was free. She wore a white sari, bands of jeweled metal on her arms and a metallic belt. About her waist hung a silver, three-pointed skirt. Around her neck, two human skulls hung in silent significance.
"Hello," she said. "Thou art welcome here, Silver." Her arms extended in a graceful arc.
"Hail, Desire. I see you are free."
"Thou hast called me something different in the past."
"I know you better know."
"Come," she bent over and extended a hand to me. I dismounted from my horse and walked toward her. I reached out and grasped her hand. She pulled me effortlessly up the small bluff. We stood facing each other. Her breath smelled of cinnamon and mystery.
"I met with one of your brethren on my journey here."
"Oh?"
"More than one, actually." I told her of the Leviathan and of Eve's accusations. She didn't respond. Then I told her of the Seraph's threat.
"What bargain did you make with it?" I asked.
"It is of no importance," the Tower said. "She matters not."
"She all but said she would fight me when next we meet."
"If she bothers thee, bear thy strength."
As if in response, Grayswandir hummed around my finger. An electric current ran smoothly through my body.
"I would know—"
"It is of no importance," she said, and brushed her fingers against my cheek. I didn't care about anything else except her.
Desire.
Her sari fell away. She wrapped her leg around me and kissed me. Her tongue was a flame that burned through me. I knew nothing else for a long, long time, yet not nearly enough.
* * *
Some hours later, I awoke. She was gone. The landscape around me was flat, as if it had been blown backwards and I was at the epicenter. My horse was nowhere to be seen.
I lay back on the dusty ground and smiled. I closed my eyes and remembered the overwhelming feeling of being joined with the Tower. My muscles ached in the most delicious way.
The air grew colder. I knew that if I shifted shadow to return to Amber it would take me days. I could call one of my cousins, but they would pester me with questions. I called my mother.
"Aedan," she said, "You look, hmm, content."
"Yes," I said. Desire. "That I am. But where are you?" She was surrounded by a silvery glow, but I didn't see anything I recognized.
"I am in Tir, of sorts. Come, I'll show you."
I took her hand and appeared in a pale ghost world. We were high above a desolate plain, on a rocky hill that crossed over the lands below via a natural arched landbridge. The lands, the sky, and even Deirdre and I were colored only in shadows and light. Dressed in riding pants, high boots, a silver blouse, and a billowing cape, my mother looked like the heroine of my childhood imagination.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"In Tir, but far from Amber."
"How did you get here?"
"I used the Ways."
"What are those?"
"Can't you?" She touched her finger to her lips. "I shall have to show you, but later. Now we must go."
She took a step forward, across the bridge, and I hurriedly followed. The dark earth sped by in a gloomy blur. We were at the edge of a lake, ringed by steep hills dotted with caves. We took another step and another. With each pace the world blurred. After a few minutes Deirdre stopped and made the most curious gesture. She moved like she was using a needle and thread, but her fabric was the air. Where she touched, motes of light danced momentarily.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Shoring things up."
"Can I help?"
"Perhaps." She waved her hand and a web of tiny silver lines danced in the air before her. She touched one and it glowed slightly brighter. "One of those new powers touches on this plane."
"Which one?" I thought of the Tower. Had she made some connection through me?
"I don't know." Deirdre curled her fingers toward herself and the web of lines rolled in. She watched them roll by for a moment before uncurling her fingers. The web stopped instantly.
"Follow me, and learn."
She moved forward and we slid away again. Every few steps she stopped and wove the air somehow. She seemed to be creating shadow veils, or closing them off. I could see what she was doing, and I felt that I could do it as well, but I didn't know why.
Time was irrelevant in that otherworld. How long we continued our repairs I don't know. At some point, I felt a jolt, like a sudden tilt of the deck. Deirdre stopped her weaving and looked around.
"Is that normal for this place?"
"No," she said. "Something has changed. I'll check our correspondences."
She gestured gracefully and vanished. I analyzed her spell residue, but it didn't yield any answers. She seemed to have teleported to and from the exact same location. That was impossible, however, as she was nowhere to be seen.
I raised my hand and made a tentative weaving motion. I felt something like cobwebs brush my fingers. I considered moving them around to see what happened. Just then, Deirdre reappeared.
She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips.
"I don't know how," she said, "but the Jewel of Judgment has returned. And," her blue eyes pierced mine, "Someone has used it."
* * *
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