CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jooli paused at the end of the song, weary from reliving the memories of her youth.
Safar and the others applauded her, which did much to lessen her weariness.
'If you let Biner hear your voice,' Safar said, making Jooli blush, 'he'll recruit you for the circus and make you a star performer.'
When they were settled again, Jooli said, 'As I mentioned, the time I spent in that magical kingdom was the happiest year of my life.'
She took a long drink of wine to restore her energies. 'Actually,' she said, correcting herself, 'it was only a few minutes in real time. If anything in this world can be called real, that is. But in the spirit world of the mural it was a year. And in that year I was not only healed, but armored against my grandmother's designs.'
She shook her head. 'I wouldn't have survived if the Spirit Rider hadn't rescued me.'
Safar stared at the mural, his mind a meteor shower of thoughts, ideas, questions. Although the mural was only a thin wash of paint on stone, the people portrayed seemed full-bodied and alive. Especially the Spirit Rider, with her haunting beauty and beckoning hand. Posed on the fabulous black mare as if she were about to fly away.
He forced calm on his spirit and turned to Jooli. She was staring at him with an odd look of expectation in her eyes.
'Tell me her name, please,' he said.
Jooli nodded, as if she knew he'd ask this. 'Princess Alsahna,' she said. 'And her father's name was King Zaman. The last king to rule all Syrapis. And the grandson of the great Alisarrian.'
Safar felt like he'd been hit by a chariot-wheel spanner. 'By the gods,' he said, 'can this be true?'
Jooli started to protest, but he stopped her with a raised hand. 'I don't doubt your word, Jooli. Of course it's true. It's only that this revelation makes things so clear, so simple that it…'
He let the rest trail off. Excitement building. Then: 'Alisarrian was Asper's student, correct?'
'Correct,' Jooli said, surprised at Safar's intuition. 'His teachings were the foundation of Alisarrian's greatness. Not only as a general-a conqueror-but as a sorcerer.
'But later, Alisarrian spurned Asper's ideas. King Zaman said this was the reason for the break-up of Alisarrian's kingdom after his death.'
Safar boiled with excitement. He'd learned as a schoolboy that Alisarrian's death had led to the bloody human-versus-demon wars in Esmir. And that Lord Asper, the old demon master wizard, had been part of the committee of wizards who ended those wars by creating the Forbidden Desert that divided the two species for centuries. Ended only in Safar's time when the demon king, Manacia, broke the spell and invaded the human lands. Which led, in turn, to the rise and fall of Iraj Protarus. Who worshipped and emulated Alisarrian as if he were a god.
But then Safar came full circle and his excitement ended with a great emotional crash, plunging him into depression.
What did any of this matter? It only confirmed what the histories already hinted at. Of interest to scholars, to be sure. Except in a short time there would be no scholars, much less history for them to ponder.
Jooli said, 'It was while I was with Princess Alsahna that I learned about Hadin. About the end of the world. And about you, Safar Timura.'
'I noticed she used my name-and many other names familiar to us all in the song she taught you,' Safar said.
Jooli nodded. 'But it was you she mainly spoke of. The princess said you were the only one who could change the course of history. That someday you would come to Syrapis to learn Lord Asper's secret.
And that I was to help you find it.'
Palimak snorted. 'Which secret?' he said sarcastically. 'My father's had me studying Asper's secrets since I was a toddler. Why, the first words I learned to read were from the Book of Asper. He might have been a mighty wizard and all. But he makes everything so mysterious that there's literally thousands of secrets. And it's not even that big a book!'
Safar smiled, remembering Palimak's long-ago complaint that the world of magic was unnecessarily vague and complicated.
'If I ever write a Book of Palimak,' the young man said, echoing Safar's thoughts, 'every word will be as plain as the nose on your face. And it won't be written in poetry, that's for certain. Why, I'll bet Asper spent more time and energy looking for a rhyme than he did putting down his thoughts.'
'You could very well be right, son,' Safar said fondly. 'I've often thought the same thing, especially when studying Asper. Whose words are murky, to say the least. The only thing is, poetry does reduce a complicated thought into something more manageable. And as for magic, verse helps focus your mind on the spell.'
'If you two don't stop it, I'm going to scream!' Leiria broke in, disgusted. 'Debating the merits of verse in magic isn't going to get us anywhere. Except dead from boredom!'
She pointed at Jooli. 'The woman just told you something that to my poor, dull, soldierly mind is pretty damned important. So ask her, please! What secret was she supposed to help you find?'
Jooli rose. 'It's easier to show you than tell you,' she said.
She went to the huge coffin of Asper, beckoning the others to join her. She positioned them around the coffin: Safar at the carved head, Palimak at the feet, herself and Leiria on either side.
Jooli grinned at Palimak. 'I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with a little more murky poetry,' she teased.
Palimak only nodded. He could feel the magic radiating from the coffin. But it was a very strange sort of magic-whether for good or ill, he couldn't say.
Safar had a different reaction to the magic. To him it seemed amazingly familiar-as if he'd come upon his own footprints in the snow.
He studied the carved features of Asper. They seemed almost lifelike-the long demon fangs, pointed ears, heavy horn over a much-wrinkled brow. Deep-set eyes made of rare red gems that glittered in the torchlight. He seemed so incredibly wise and sad-contemplating a grim future.
Then Jooli raised her hands to cast the spell and Safar bent closer, eager to see what happened next.
Jooli chanted:
Demon and Man alike in our Hate.
Come sound the trumpet for all to see:
Safar heard a long, deep sigh, like that of an old ghost set free of his bonds. The torchlight dimmed, then flared anew-much brighter than before. Asper's gemstone eyes became two ruby-red spears of light.
Jooli leaned forward, passing her hand through the beams, chanting:
Before the Castle of Fate.
And there you'll find Asper
Safar heard a sound like the tumblers of a enormous lock turning over. Then a click! And the red beams vanished and the carved jaws gaped wide. For a brief moment Safar thought the demon had come alive and was about to speak. Then he saw that the open mouth offered a passageway.
He started to reach, then hesitated-looking up at Jooli.
She nodded, encouraging him. 'Go ahead. Reach inside.'
Safar slipped his hand into the opening, felt something there, and drew it out. Puzzled, he held the object up for all to see.
