Thewson backed away from the sphinx, gathering the others with outstretched spear toward an outcropping of stone onto which he lifted them, muttering the while, ‘Wa’os fanuluzh. To break those walls…. Basilisk…. I know him….’ They perched precariously above the torrent of pale creatures which flowed past them, some part snake, part bird; some part bird, part beast; some part beast, part man; some part man, part snake; a tumult and perturbation of creatures, striding leafed ones, flying fish, some indescribable. Jasmine laughed, almost hysterically, and Terascouros pulled her close.
‘ “All things are possible, and enduring, in Earthsoul.” Have you not learned that? There is no Separation in the heart of earth. Annnh. Look on more wonder than these eyes have ever know….’
Before them the circle of pearly light grew thicker as it moved over the pave toward Murgin. In that black city, the outcry mounted, the light beams jittered across the pave, washing the creatures into invisibility with splashes of green light. They can’t be seen in that light,’ said Medlo, awed.
‘Pray they cannot be seen at all,’ murmured Terascouros. ‘Leona is still inside alone.’
The pearly light had extended almost to the walls of Murgin, washing over scurrying black figures that darted this way and that without avoiding the creatures. Abruptly the disc of light divided, becoming a pallid wheel, dark spokes running from the centre to the edge, and down these aisles of darkness something moved from the forest to the city. Down the aisle directly before them there was a soft clicking, as if made by small talons. The light flowed in behind the sound, making the disc whole once more.
All waited. The creatures filled all the miles of the pave, filled it and covered it and waited now at the very walls of Murgin. Within Murgin the clamour went on, but on the pave was only silence. At last a winged shadow occluded the light from the broken gates, and from this shadow came the gryphon’s voice crying adamant and iron, blood and stone. A sigh rose from the pave, and the walls of Murgin began to fall.
First was the sound of a cat spitting, a small cat, with small anger. Then a hair-thin crack ran up the walls of the city, spilling light, and the crack grew wider as the wall bulged outward, hanging for long moments like a brooding cliff. Then the wall fell, and the sound began again. The city gasped and shuddered, dying as it stood, killed by the unseen while its light still searched for what had killed it.
Through the rents in the city wall, the host poured into the city. The searching beams paled and died. A moan came over the pave as the earth would moan after a great quake, and the multitude of creatures met in the centre over the wreckage of the fallen tower. For a moment the pearly light blazed up, silvering wing and talon, horn and hoof. Then the light faded and was gone.
Beside them the gryphon cried over a bundle which it touched with a single talon. Terascouros and the others scrambled across fallen stone to unwrap the robes in which Jaer was tangled and then to weep as the gryphon did. The Keepers had not done everything that could have been done, so the body could still be recognized as Jaer—as they had last seen her. They turned from the mutilation with anger and nausea as Terascouros knelt to examine it with trembling hands.
‘The heart still beats. Great Powers, why does she still live? It is not possible to live after that, but her heart still beats.’
Thewson gathered Jaer’s body into the robes and stood, saying, ‘We must do something. Where are healers?’
‘None,’ said Terascouros. ‘The nearest would be the Sisterhood where we were going. It’s too far. Days’ journey from here. Even there, I doubt they could save her.’
The gryphon wailed, a long, whining cry, stumbling to its feet to show long lacerations on its sides and flanks. The great beast turned away from them north, began to move away.
‘I tell you, it’s too far!’ screamed Terascouros.
The gryphon wailed again, but moved on. Thewson followed. Medlo hawked deeply and spat. It was not possible to look on that body without a deep, heart-holding sickness which made one spit sour bile from the throat. He went after the others, gathering up his belongings as he went, moving wordlessly into the forest. At the crest of the first hill, he turned to look back, feeling Terascouros clinging to his arm. A lonely cry came from one of the black figures which still moved upon the pave, moved and dropped, one by one. In the early light they could see what was left of Murgin, a featureless pile, a great tumulus, tomb for all who lay within.
From within the ruin a mist gathered, pillarlike, rising, beginning to change, to move, a roiling fog which hung in long, tangled tentacles then drew into a single shape, the shape of a monstrous head, cocked and listening. Terascouros gabbled under her breath, ‘Oh, that… that… come away, quickly, come away.’ She plunged down the hill, shuddering, with Medlo running to catch up as she went on, ‘Away, into the trees. Hide from that.’
They managed to walk for some hours before the gryphon moaned and fell, panting, limbs shivering with chill. They gathered wood, built a fire, and Terascouros bathed the gryphon’s wounds while Jasmine ripped clothing into bandages. In her kit was a store of dried herbs which she stewed into a sharp-smelling poultice to stop the wounds from bleeding. They used it on both Jaer and on the gryphon, then gulped food and lay aching on the hard ground until the gryphon cried out and stumbled to her feet once more.
They went on through the afternoon, losing the sun in a pallid overcast which seemed to lower with every passing our. Medlo remembered the shape which had gathered over Murgin, and he kept looking
