‘“A singer beats the dead-march drum,”’ she quoted softly. ‘Is that not in my quest book, Medlo? A singer beats the dead-march drum. So. You are a singer, and the jangle will do for a drum. Let us test a thing I believe I know about these ghosts.’
She drew him out into the sunlight beside her, then slowly down the slope toward the mists, reaching out to tap upon the sound box of the jangle, turn, turn, turn, in time with their steps until Medlo took it up for her. They did not seem to notice that Jasmine came behind them, her eyes fixed upon Medlo’s shoulder where his fringed sash lay, its silver embroideries glittering in the light. After them came Leona and Thewson, Terascouros staggering after, wonderingly, half hypnotized. The steady, hollow tapping fell into the chill air; the livid fog before them boiled, heaving upward into individual monsters. From behind, Old Aunt cried a warning as Jaer came almost too near a coiling lash of mist which struck at her like a snake.
Then, inexplicably, the fog drew back, screaming shrilly as it withdrew, more and more quickly, a wailing chaos which streamed across the valley to pile in turgid heaps against the far wall of the place.
Jaer merely stood where she was, reaching out to take Medlo’s hand and carry it to her lips, a gesture of astonishing intimacy which left him red-faced and open-mouthed. She turned away to go slowly back up the slope to the place the unbelieving Sisters stood.
‘They have tired of our company, these ghosts,’ Jaer said.
‘I don’t understand,’ stammered Terascouros.
‘Nor I,’ whispered Medlo.
‘Because you did not believe in my quest,’ said Jaer with a harsh little cough of laughter. ‘Here is Thewson, a dark warrior come from shadows with the skin of the basilisk binding his spear blade and fringing his weapon – a battle flag. Here are you, Medlo, a singer tapping out a dead-march drum. Shall we count the chained captives set free? One, Jasmine. Two, Terascouros. Three, Jaer. Leona wanders the lands between Gerenhodh and the sea, as my quest said the Queen of Beasts would do.’
‘But the quest book said nothing of ghosts.’
‘Or of Gahl, or of Murgin. Still, there is something there, is there not?’
‘Does she say it is true prophecy?’ asked Old Aunt.
Jaer smiled at her, sleepily, as though the answer did not matter. ‘Would you expect less from Ahl di lasurra sai? Did Terascouros not name me? What was the last thing you said to me, Teras, in that far forest of Ban Morrish? Just before the Gahlians came?’
‘I don’t remember. It was dark, terrible….’
‘I remember,’ Thewson said. ‘Deep in the night, when I heard the evil ones call far off in the dark –’
‘Yes,’ interrupted Leona. ‘Jaer said she could do nothing about the evil that overruns the world. Nothing at all. And you, Terascouros, said “Someone must.”’
‘Indeed,’ said Jaer. ‘Someone must.’ She turned to walk back into the tunnel, leaving them quiet behind her.
Medlo cleared his throat. ‘The verse in the quest book went on, “wounded nor whole shall they prevail, these seven shall the girdle bind.” There are only six of us. Six.’
Terascouros patted him on the shoulder. ‘Hhhssss. Let it alone. It will come clear or it won’t. It is her book, after all.’
They turned to follow Jaer, but as each one entered the tunnel, he turned to look over his shoulder at the ghosts piled high against the stones. None of them knew – or could guess – what had happened there.
THE SONG OF THE SEVEN NAMES
The first name is that of a fountain in the forest of Aildery, which at one time lay east of Palonhodh between the forks of the Gomilbata:
Luiissadureme ah
The second name is the name of the numen of that place:
Thiellurissalantora dasimlanluroluro
The third name is a brief catalogue of the creatures of that place, taken as a whole:
Danlas, Kelner, Romol, Mores, Varis, Sindos, Durina
(Note: It is customary in writing a seven-name, to include in the third list only seven names, though the list might properly have been endless.)
The fourth name is that of the nymph of the fountain:
Luissa-shanas t’vai, luissa-da
The fifth name is that of the Magister who walked there:
Magister Omburan (Mai Omburan)
The sixth name is always one of the Powers, in this case, Our Lady of the Waters:
Duresme thiene, Vai dama, Adumon
A seven-name always ends with the phrase:
Tynduras vaidom Amai, elur t’wyra
(All of the Kingdom of the Most High, whose name is silence.)
These are the names inherent, immanent, transient, ambient, surveillant, triumphant, and transcendent, which were sung by the Sisters of Gerenhodh. Of these, only the first four had passed away with the destruction of the numen, or Dweller, and it is the name of the Dweller which defines the rest. All other names in the group could remain the same while speaking of another place or time. Only the Dweller is unique, of the timebound names. The names surveillant, triumphant, and transcendent are, of course, immortal.
When Kelner, the raven, messenger of Magister Pen, is spoken of as ‘Kelner of the third name,’ it is because one of his line or kind was named as a ‘thyn’ or ‘necessary part’ of Thiellurissalantora dasimlanluroluro.
The language in which a seven-name was sung was the language of Taniel, not spoken as a living language for about five thousand years, though some vestiges of it were preserved in the courts of the Drossynian Kings.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
KELNER
Year 1169 – Early Spring
The next morning Terascouros found Jaer squatting on the cot where she had slept for months, surrounded by the contents of her pack, sifting through them with an intent ferocity as though to discover some secret hidden from her in the artifacts of her childhood. They lay around her: the quest book; a
