explanation. I'm hunted down by a bunch of murderers looking for you, dragged off and told that everything you ever told me was a lie!'
'I never lied to you, Lewan.'
'You never told me about Kheil!'
Berun flinched at that, but his heavy gaze returned to Lewan. 'No. No, I didn't. But I didn't lie. Kheil died-and he deserved to die. Who I am now-'
'I don't know who you are anymore!'
Berun dropped his hands but he would not drop his gaze. 'I have much the same problem.'
'Then let me come with you. Whatever you're going to face in there, we can face it together.'
'No, Lewan.'
Above them, the screaming had stopped, though they still heard occasional thrashing.
'What makes you think you can stop me from following you?' said Lewan.
'Nothing,' said Berun. 'I am sorry I missed your Jalesh Rudra. But one thing you must learn about the difference between being a man and a child is doing the right thing, not the thing you want. If even half of what Sauk told me is true… we stand on the razor's edge. If we fail…' He shook his head, and his expression hardened. 'Time to grow up, Lewan. You need to realize what your limitations are. I'm more proud of you than I know the words to tell, but you must understand that if you go with me, you will limit what I can do. My concern will be for you. I can't have that. I need you gone. The world needs you gone. Go to the Shalhoond and find one of the Circles. Beg for their aid.'
'My place is with you,' said Lewan. 'To aid you.'
'No, Lewan. Where I am going you could not aid me. My concern-my love-for you would only hinder me. It's going to be all I can do to stay alive in there. I can't worry about you, too.'
'I'm not a child anymore.'
'I know you aren't. Now it's time to make the man's choice. If I fail here-even if I succeed here-we may still need the aid of the Circles. You can find them. Tell them everything you know.'
'And how do you expect me to get out?' said Lewan. 'I've been through the tunnels. Without a guard warded against the guardians-'
'You've been through the Gallery of Stone Faces?'
'With Sauk,' said Lewan, and he was surprised to find that he had already accepted Berun's order. How had he given in so easily? Why?
'Listen to me,' said Berun. He gripped Lewan's arms again and crouched to look him eye to eye. 'If you can get there quick, find one of the bodies I left behind.'
'B-bodies?'
'The guards. They had keys to pass the guardians. Drag one of the bodies with you. Keep it with you on the mountain as well. As long as you can. I know it will slow you, but there are guardians on the mountainside. Once you reach the steppe, you should be safe.'
'What if I can't find a body?' said Lewan. 'What if others have come and taken them already?'
Berun looked at him long and hard, then glanced at the hammer in Lewan's hand. 'Then you'll have to get your own. It's the only way.' Berun pulled Lewan to him, holding him in a fierce embrace, then pulled away. 'You've been like a son to me, Lewan. Get out alive. Get out of here and far away.'
Berun turned and ran through the eldritch light-haunted courtyard to the steps of the tower. The doors had been thrown back-had they been open the whole time? Lewan wondered. Beyond lay only darkness. Lewan watched as his master disappeared into the dark, then he turned and walked away. In four steps, he was running.
Chapter Thirty-Four
As Berun entered the Tower of the Sun, the first thing that struck him was the smell. Back when he-when Kheil-had lived in the Fortress, the tower had been a crumbling relic, an ancient testament to the genius of the Imaskari. The Old Man had renovated the tower and put his own mark upon the place-priceless rugs, tapestries, furniture from east and west. All that was gone.
Berun left the arcane-tinted light of the courtyard and entered the first halls of the tower, and the scent hit him-the thick moist smell of growing things. He pulled the starstone necklace out of his shirt, and its green light lit the hallway about him, confirming what his nose had already told him. Vines and thick stalks of ivy, dripping in black berries, clung to the walls and hung from the ceiling. And it was not new growth. Where rugs and carpers had once covered the cold stone of the hall, at least two seasons' worth of old leaves now made a sort of dry carpet that rustled and shifted with his every step. Berun knelt and swept aside the leaves until he found the floor beneath. Moss and lichen covered the stone beneath the leaves, some of it old enough that it had already begun to crumble the stone. Not far ahead, the shoot of a young tree broke through the rock. How it thrived without sunlight or rain was mystery, but its branches were thick with new spring leaves.
Berun stood and began to make his way forward. The tower had dozens of rooms-some only small storage rooms, while others took up an entire floor. Chereth could be in any of them or in the warren of cells beneath the tower. But Berun knew he had to deal with the Old Man first. Once that was done, he could find Chereth, but until the Old Man was dealt with, neither he nor his master would be safe.
He took the stairway on the left, which hugged the wall of the tower as it wound up to the next floor. As his foot touched the first step, the large double doors at the entrance slammed shut behind him. Berun jumped at the noise and stood stock still, ready in case something else happened. But only a few leaves, shaken loose from the vines by the force of the blow, fluttered to the ground.
Berun turned to the stairs before him. Stealth, at this point, seemed foolish. The Old Man would have to be either deaf or dead not to have heard the fight outside. But the vines that had come to his rescue, entangling Sauk and Talieth…
He'd inferred to Lewan that the Old Man had done that. But had he? If so, why? Why aid Berun against Sauk and his own daughter? If the Old Man was truly aware of the conspiracy then why not catch Berun as well? If he knew that Sauk and Talieth were conspiring against him, then surely he knew they had approached Berun in hopes of securing his aid. And surely the Old Man knew why Berun had come. Why help him now?
Was he wrong about the vines? If it had been Chereth who helped him in the Khopet-Dag, sending the earth spirit and the vision, then could not it have been Chereth who captured Sauk and Talieth outside? If his master could still wield such power, why hadn't he escaped? Where did that leave the Old Man?
Only one way to find out, Berun told himself, but before he continued forward, he quieted his mind and prodded that deep corner linked to the treeclaw lizard.
Perch?
Nothing.
Perch, are you well? Where are you?
Ever so faintly, like the last fading sound of an echo, Berun felt his friend respond. The lizard was outside in the courtyard. The leaves and vines taking on a life of their own had thoroughly unsettled Perch, and he was huddled deep inside the den of a trapdoor spider. The den's owner had provided the lizard with a welcome meal to refresh his energies. Killed the tiger! Perch was ecstatic. Tiger swallowed this Perch. Claw-and-bite-and-claw- claw-claw out of the wet darkness.
Yes, you did, Berun told him. You killed the tiger, my friend. Well done.
More fight-fight?
Not now, Perch. Rest. You have earned it.
Perch was strangely silent for a moment. Berun sensed something unusual in his friend. Something almost like pensiveness, which had never existed in the frantic treeclaw lizard. Look and smell and listen and taste-taste the air. Big stone tree-Perch's understanding of the Tower-smells rot-rot.
I'll be careful, Berun told him, and continued up the stairs.
The second floor-a series of rooms arranged like spokes round the hub of a wheel-proved much like the first. Thick vegetation crowded every surface, even the floor on which Berun walked. Passing by a window, Berun caught
