potent aboleths who'd wakened early. The disturbing thing was how they were arranged in a great circle, a shape whose arcane significance was not lost on the monk. The circle of aboleths slowly rotated, hovering some distance over the great chamber's floor.
'They're performing some sort of ritual,' Seren murmured.
The magical reproduction in the pool showed how each aboleth brightened in turn, then dimmed as its fellow brightened, as if passing along some sort of charged object or concept. The pulse continued around the circle until a full revolution was achieved. The last creature in the ring directed the gathered energy to the roof of the chamber. Then the strangely regular dance of light began anew.
By process of elimination, Raidon knew what he would find when he concentrated his attention on the diagram's apex.
Upon Xxiphu's crown brooded the very absence of light. A dark, yawning emptiness there ate everything the creatures below were able to throw at it, leaving it hungry for more.
The Sign on his chest was so cold he lost feeling in his body. The vacuity could be none other than the Eldest, his foe, who sat the entire city as if it were no more than a throne.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Year of the Secret (1396 DR) Xxiphu, Gallery of Seeing
'No more dallying,' said Raidon. 'I'm going to the apex and putting an end to this.'
Seren's pulse beat visibly in her neck. The captain's breath came quicker.
'You two stay here and waylay Japheth when he comes through.'
Seren gasped. 'What?'
'The idiot warlock presumably has the Dreamheart with him. I can't imagine how else he could have found Xxiphu without its guidance.'
'What does it matter now? You said the Dreamheart had lost its significance,' said Seren.
Raidon said, 'To put it simply, I don't want the relic and the Eldest to come back together.'
Thoster said, 'So the stone still has some power after all?' Raidon gave a half shrug. He said, 'Yes, the Dreamheart is invested with a portion of the Eldest's power. The relic has been in constant usage since Nogah stole it. The more it was used, the more it drew from the quiescent
Eldest into itself. Though the relic's theft may be responsible for prodding the Eldest from its deepest slumber, the stone's subsequent and continued separation may be the only reason the Eldest hasn't already opened all its eyes. The Dreamheart sapped too much of the Eldest's essence, or at least its ability to regain consciousness.
Why else this elaborate ritual the pool reveals?'
The wizard said, 'That… is entirely possible. The flow of magic and influence can cut both ways. How ironic.'
'Even more ironic that Japheth is here just now,' said Raidon, 'with the Dreamheart in hand, apparently oblivious that the aboleths are waiting for him at Xxiphu's apex. He bears a terrible gift they are eager to accept.
If he delivers the Dreamheart to the Eldest, nothing will keep it bound.'
'Seren and I can stop the warlock and take the Dreamheart from him,' Thoster said. The man looked visibly determined, more so than the monk had ever seen him. But his features also bore the slightest touch of doubt.
'Good,' Raidon said, 'though I advise not touching the stone directly. Watch his approach through the pool- he'll be here soon if he keeps his current pace.'
'We'll stop him,' Seren said. Then her face pinched as if forcing out her next words. 'You're sure you won't need help up there?' She waved vaguely toward the ceiling.
Raidon moved to the exit that the schematic showed spiraled in an almost direct route to the upper cavity. He said, 'Thanks for your offer, Seren, but it's better you stop and hold the Dreamheart here '
'Very well. But don't sacrifice yourself, do you hear? I mean to collect what you promised when this is all over.'
Raidon surprised himself by laughing. 'I will endeavor to stay safe.'
*****
Encrustations of ice coated the tunnel ahead of Raidon. It wasn't so thick it blocked his way, but it promised to be a tight squeeze.
The monk approached cautiously and angled his body to slip between two frosted glacier faces. Sidestepping through the narrow vent, he paused and looked into the ice. It seemed empty…
Raidon drew on the Cerulean Sign, asking it to supply him with sight sufficient to see what was tainted.
His eyes widened. He saw that Seren's earlier exclamation about the ice holding people was true. Raidon saw people of many races caught like flies in amber. And young ones too. He winced and looked away.
A child's piping laughter sounded from somewhere ahead. He started, then said, 'Who's there?'
More laughter echoed down the cold vent, more distant than before. It was the innocent sound of a small girl- not unlike how his daughter used to laugh when she was at play.
But the sound he'd just heard was not a memory-it was real. Unless he was finally losing his mind.
'Did you hear that, Angul?' The bladed jerked in its sheath, angry at being confined and not in hand.
The monk increased his sidestepping pace through the chilly constriction. Then he was through. The corridor ahead diverged. One path was the one Raidon had charted, it led up to Xxiphu's crown. The other passage he hadn't bothered to investigate in the chamber of seeing.
It was down this passage a half familiar voice out of time asked, 'Papa? Do you want to play?'
His core temperature plunged as goose bumps swept across his skin. Raidon's mouth fell open. The light of the Cerulean Sign on his chest dimmed.
'A-Ailyn?'
A hint of movement flashed in the lesser tunnel. He spied the silhouette of a girl with unbound hair. 'Catch me if you can!'
'Who are you?' Raidon shouted down the tunnel. The girl's voice was like his daughter's, but not quite a match.
Fading laughter was his answer.
The monk sprinted into the corridor. It wasn't the tunnel that led to the Eldest. He knew following this diversion was a bad idea. Yet he couldn't stop. Despite being someone who fancied himself ruled by reason first and emotion second, sometimes emotion's need was equal to reason's. Or, he realized as the tunnel walls flashed past, sometimes brute emotion burst reason's bonds.
'Stop!' he called.
'Only if you catch me!' came the voice-even fainter, as if the distance between them had increased. Raidon doubled his already swift pace by deciding to throw all caution to the wind. If a pit or larger cavity opened in the corridor ahead, he wouldn't be able to stop in time to save himself from a fall.
Angul twitched in the sheath again, as if trying to catch the monk's attention. But he was determined not to be distracted from finding out what farce was being played out on his account. He hoped it was not a farce… His heart beat more swiftly than his exertion alone could account for.
He raced around a short curve in the tunnel and collided with a wall. He saved himself some pain by rolling into it and absorbing his excess momentum across his whole body.
But Raidon had come to a dead end, and it was empty.
The goose bumps returned. He shouted, 'Who are you? Didn't you want to play?'
Tm right here, Papa.' The voice came from behind him.
Raidon whirled, his heart in his throat.
There stood, plain as day, a small human child, about five years old, with dark hair. In one hand she held a tiny, mahogany-handled mithral bell. She gave it a little ring.
'I love the gift you brought me,' the girl said.
'I…' Raidon's mind refused to resolve what he was seeing. The girl looked like his lost daughter, at least in
