Abruptly, within his skull, pain seared his brain with numbing impact. A series of small explosions of agony as if cells were bursting in wild progression. Pain echoed by the twitching of his muscles, the jerking of his nerves. A sea of torment which threatened to last too long.
Dumarest fought against it, striving to remain rational, conscious of the mistakes he had made about the lights and the sounds. All were the result of his desperate mental need to find some kind of familiarity with the situation.
Familiarity with what?
A place. A void. A nothingness. A contradiction in itself. Why build such a thing? For what purpose? Or did it exist at all? What if it was an invention of his own mind? A defence against an unacceptable reality?
Too many questions. Too few answers. Too much pain which exploded within his skull to send him into oblivion.
The words were shimmering birds drifting through an azure sky. Tiny motes of communication which held the impact of drills.
“Darling! Please, Earl. Please, my dearest! Wake up! Wake up. Talk to me!”
Nada’s voice, husky with strain, tense with desperation.
Dumarest listened to it, not responding, struggling to recall vague memories, fragments of oddity which could have been nothing but the fruit of dreams but which could also be the clue to what had happened. The fragments dispersed, driven away by Nada’s pleading, the irritation born of the touch of her arms.
He stirred and said, “How long?”
“What?” Gladness replaced the desperation. “Earl, my darling, you are alive! I’ve been so worried. You’ve been so still. So cold.”
He said, again. “How long?” Then, as she made no reply, “It’s important to me that I know. Please concentrate. How long was I in that place?”
She didn’t know or couldn’t understand. He read it in her face as he opened his eyes and sat upright on the couch beneath him.
“Earl-”
She fell silent as he lifted a hand to rest his fingers lightly across her lips. They, like the couch, the air, the touch of her flesh as she gripped his wrist, were warm and comforting.
Gently he said, “I broke a crystal wall and something drew me through the opening into a strange place, an area of some kind where it was dark and more than unusual. Do you know how long I was in there?” He lowered his hand as she shook her head. “Tell me what you do know.”
It was little enough. Shandaha had required his presence and had ordered Nada to bear the summons. She had found Chagal almost paralysed with fear and had sounded the alarm. Dumarest had been found and she had taken care of him.
“It seemed like forever.” Her hand closed on his wrist like a band of steel to hold him safe or to demonstrate her possession. “You were so still. I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do.”
And nothing more she could add. A facile story with too much missing. Who had found him? Why was the doctor absent? Why had Shandaha demanded his presence? What really lay beyond the crystal wall?
And why was he in such pain?
It filled his skull with renewed intensity and before him the figure ofNada blurred and the furnishings of the chamber seemed to shift and change. A transformation in which he seemed to share. An alteration of perspective. A physical improvement. An enhancement of hearing and vision. Subtle changes of benefit to nerve and muscle. A sharpened ability to detect inconsistency.
“Earl?” Nada moved closer, “Is anything wrong, darling? You seem different in some way. As if you are worried about something. Did anything happen to you when you fell ill?”
“How would I know?” Dumarest smiled and gently touched her on the cheek. “I broke the wall and must have slipped and banged my head and knocked myself out.”
A lie she accepted as the truth and she smiled and moved closer her eyes bright with desire.
“I’m so glad that is all it was. I want you to be fit and well. I need you so much, my darling. Tell me you feel the same. Please!”
He was too tired, too detached, too much in pain. What she offered was the last thing he needed. But to reject her would not be wise.
“Of course I do, how could you be in any doubt?” He smiled again then added, “But we have no time. Shandaha sent you to collect me, he must have something of importance to discuss. In any case I need to shower and get rid of this headache. Will you be joining us?”
“No.”
“Then we will meet later? You promise?”
She smiled her answer as she returned his caress, her fingers light against his cheek, her disappointment a thing of the past. She rose, her movement a thing of grace as she left his side.
Dumarest watched her go then headed for the bathroom. He stripped and stood beneath the shower, setting the temperature cold so the spray stung, then hot so it eased both skin and muscle. He checked himself but found no sign of recent injury.
Aside from the fading discomfort of the headache he felt fine.
When he left the shower and dried himself and dressed the pain had gone leaving his mind sharp and crystal clear. He felt vibrant, active, ready for action. Leaving the bathroom he made his way to where Shandaha would be waiting.
He said nothing, just sat, watching as Dumarest looked at the chair facing him, face expressionless, eyes intent-a cat studying a mouse, the analogy was plain. In return Dumarest followed the other’s example, remaining silent, noting small things with obvious interest, the way Shandaha was poised on his chair, the tension of his hands, the set of his shoulders. Studying the man as if he were a potential opponent soon to be faced in the arena of blood. A thing he had done before and it had the desired effect.
“We have much to discuss, Earl,” said Shandaha breaking the silence. “But first the preliminaries. Are you at ease? No physical distress? No harm resulting from your unfortunate adventure?” He paused, waiting, frowning as Dumarest remained silent. Then, regaining his composure, reached for one of the flagons, which graced the table along with glasses and trays of tasty morsels. “Then let us share wine.”
Dumarest watched as the lambent fluid filled goblets of glimmering crystal, deep ruby encased in containers of apparent ice embossed with motifs of gold. The contrast one of design rather that accident. Something which matched the lavish furnishings of the chamber.
“Help yourself, Earl.” Shandaha lifted his own glass as Dumarest obeyed. “A toast, my friend. To life and happiness.”
He drank and Dumarest followed, sipping the wine, conscious of the rich sweetness, the subtle strength.
Lowering the glass he said, “How is Chagal? I had hoped to see him. Nada said she had found him in distress.”
“Her concern was for you, Earl, not the doctor. I appreciate your interest but you have no cause to blame yourself for what happened. To him, that is. The wall is another matter. Why did you break it?”
“I wanted to find out what was on the other side.”
“Did you?”
“I found darkness and little else. A room of some kind, I think. I don’t even know how long I was there.”
“Not long. You were fortunate. Nada was quick to give the alarm and you were rescued almost immediately. You had broken into a chamber holding machines of power and the residual energies could have severely damaged your cortex.” Shandaha added: “But you have yet to answer my question. To simply smash a hole in a wall to satisfy a whim seems the height of stupidity. You could have died, or been crippled, burned, disfigured.”
“Or freed.”
“What?”
“When you are in a place you cannot leave that place is a prison,” said Dumarest. “I am here. I am unable to leave so, to me, it is a prison.”
“Nonsense!” Shandaha was impatient. “You are free to leave whenever you choose.”
“To go where? To do what? And how to do either without transportation? Provisions? Clothing?”
