'I found it for a time, and I will never forget that.'
Atreus grew thoughtful, recalling how he looked in the reflecting pool, then thought of the beast he had glimpsed watching them.
'Perhaps she is not so cruel after all.'
Seema scowled. 'What are you saying?' she asked.
'That she told me to fill the vial from the fountain of infinite Grace, not the pool-'
Seema looked more concerned than ever. 'There are no fountains at the Palace of Serenity,' she said.
'Not outside,' said Atreus, 'but that water must be coming from somewhere.'
CHAPTER 16
As Atreus and his companions splashed up the flooded stairs into the alabaster palace, a scaled tentacle flicked out from a second story archway and twined itself around one of the gallery's slender support columns. The expedition came to a stunned and breathless halt. The appendage was as thick as Yago's forearm, coated in stringy gleet, and as black as obsidian. It ended in a small scarlet mouth surrounded by a ring of finger-like tendrils.
Rishi stopped at the top of the stairs and reached past Atreus to catch Seema by the sleeve. 'Good lady,' he said, 'you are certain we need nothing but these stones?' He hefted the bucket of pebbles in his hand. 'Whatever awaits us at the other end of that tentacle, I would feel much safer meeting it with an axe in my hands.'
'I do not care how you feel.' Seema pulled her arm free, then stepped onto the gallery with her own bucket of pebbles and said, 'If you are afraid, do not come.'
Atreus winced at Seema's harsh tone. She had agreed only hesitantly to help him find the source of the twinkling stream, and even more hesitantly to bring his companions along in case of trouble. He paused at the edge of the gallery and turned to the nervous Mar.
'Rishi, there's no need for you inside. In fact, if something does happen, it might be better to have someone out here.'
'Are you saying I am a coward? I have every right to be here. If you want to leave someone behind, leave Yago!' The Mar stepped past Atreus and followed Seema onto the gallery. Yago raised his brow and glanced back at the reflecting pool, clearly thinking it would be a fine place to wait.
'Sorry, Yago,' said Atreus. 'If we do run into trouble, you'll be our only advantage.'
'I'd be more of an advantage with a club,' grumbled the ogre. He shifted his hold on the heavy cask in his arms. 'If that thing attacks us, what am I going to do with a bunch of pebbles?'
Atreus glanced at the huge tentacle stretched across the gallery, trying to imagine the size of the beast at the other end. 'Probably the same thing you'd do with a club… not much.'
Carrying his own bucket of pebbles, Atreus stepped onto the gallery behind Seema and Rishi. On the other side of the scaly black tentacle, the stream of shining water spilled out from the palace's central arch and split into two currents, one flowing toward Atreus and the other in the opposite direction. Though the water was only fingertip deep, Atreus could feel its magic prickling his feet through his boots.
Seema reached the tentacle and stopped to stare down at it. When the creature did not withdraw the scaly appendage, she shook her pebble bucket loudly, then squatted down and duck-walked underneath. When she stood on the other side, her chestnut skin had paled to the color of honey.
She waved Rishi under the tentacle. 'Come along,' she said. 'The Dweller won't bother you.'
'You are certain?' Rishi asked.
Atreus gave the Mar a gentle nudge and said, 'Go on.'
'Yeah… what you waiting for?' added Yago. 'Ain't you got every right to be here?'
Rishi scowled over his shoulder, shook his pebble bucket as Seema had, and ducked under the Dweller's tentacle. When he reached the other side, he stood quickly and turned to face Atreus and Yago. Before the Mar could repay their taunts, the tentacle slowly untwined itself.
Rishi dropped his pebble bucket and leaped back, reaching under his cloak. The tentacle merely rippled back into the murky archway, and the Dweller vanished into the darkness.
Atreus caught Rishi's wrist. 'What have you got there?' he asked sternly. 'Seema said no weapons.'
'Most definitely, she did,' Rishi admitted and drew up his cloak, displaying the yak-hair tunic underneath. 'My reaction was only out of habit, as the good sir will certainly agree if he cares to examine my person.'
Atreus studied the Mar's torso and the inside lining of his cloak. When he did not find the telltale bulge of a hidden knife, he motioned Rishi to lower his cloak. 'My apologies for doubting you.' 'No apologies necessary,' said Rishi. 'The blame is mine, entirely and without sharing.'
Atreus motioned the Mar forward, feeling somewhat guilty for his suspicions. He was hardly blind to Rishi's anger over the Sannyasi's decision, but it seemed hypocritical to doubt the Mar when he himself resented having to leave Langdarma. Seema had accused Sune of being cruel, but it seemed to Atreus that the Sannyasi was the heartless one. If Langdarma could abide someone as bitter and sharp-tongued as Kumara, surely the valley would not be ruined by the presence of a single ugly westerner.
Seema paused to wait at the central arch, and they all stepped into the murky palace together. A film of cool dew formed on their skin almost instantly, and the air smelled as dank and earthy as a cavern. The trickle of running water came from every direction, echoing through a ghostly forest of alabaster support columns. The only light came from the sparkling stream itself, leading like an arrow straight to a distant aura of silver radiance.
Atreus glanced into the murk alongside the stream and saw the Dweller lurking among the shadows, a nebulous black shape silhouetted against the alabaster columns beyond. The monster seemed as large as an elephant, with a slug-like tail and a formless body covered in dense black scales. Just looking at it filled Atreus with a cold, queasy fear. Seema led the way deeper into the palace. The monster slithered along beside them, laying a swath of white slime in its wake. As it moved, it emitted a low, constant rumble that might have been a gurgling belly or a threatening growl.
The thing swung its gruesome head around, locking gazes with Atreus. Suddenly, he could see nothing but an ebony beak and three scarlet eyes ringed by a mane of writhing black tentacles. He felt goose bumps prickling his skin, shivers running down his spine, and something oily and alien gliding into his mind. He experienced a sensation somewhere between thought and emotion, an instinct of pure, unbridled malevolence that might have been the Dweller's or his own.
Atreus wanted to look away but could not free himself from the monster's gaze. It was as though one of the creature's scaly tentacles had somehow slithered into his skull and wrapped its tiny fingers around his brain, holding his head motionless so that he could neither close his eyes nor look away. His thoughts and memories began to swirl through his mind in a wild cyclone, then he heard his pebble bucket crash to the floor and felt himself step forward.
As his foot came down, the monster blinked. Atreus found himself dangling above the ground, pinned to Yago's massive chest. His face was cold and wet and tingling with the magic of the shining water, and Seema was stooping down before him, cupping her hands in the stream. She stood and hurled another handful into his eyes, nearly blinding him with brilliant flashes of silver.
'That's enough… I can't see it anymore!' Atreus said, shaking the water from his eyes. 'I can't see anything.'
'That will pass soon enough,' said Seema. 'But you must not allow the Dweller to lure you off. They are very unpredictable, and sometimes it is decades before they release their playmates.'
'They?' Atreus demanded. 'There's more than one?'
'So it is said,' Seema replied. 'I have only seen one.'
'You told us it wasn't dangerous,' growled Yago.
'I said you would not be harmed if you did exactly as I said,' replied Seema. 'Has Atreus been harmed?'
The ogre placed Atreus on the ground and rapped him between the shoulders. Atreus, still struggling to overcome the water's dazzling effects, stumbled two steps forward before catching his balance.
'I guess you're okay,' said the ogre. 'But I still don't like coming in here with nothing but rocks. She could be
