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  He shrugged instead, and said, "You expect reprisal for bypassing the Great Seal without permission and leaving behind Deep Imaskar? At any other time, you would be right to fear punishment. But think. You said it yourself-if it had been deemed a worthwhile expenditure of our resources, we would have had you back long ago, Ususi Manaallin." He fixed her with his large eyes, whose depths were as bleak and colorless as a winter sky. Despite his helplessness, Ususi shivered under that ruthless gaze. Could such eyes even consider lies? She cleared her throat. Despite his abilities, he was her prisoner now and couldn't hurt her. "What is your name?" "I am Iahn Qoyllor, and I first heard the Voice of Damos fifteen years ago." Ususi's eyes flicked to the relic strapped to the man's right hand. She suppressed a shiver. "All right, Iahn. Tell me your disaster story and why you were sent to find me." "Darkness hammers against the Great Seal, a supernatural force that we cannot identify. Horror stalks the streets, and even the Hidden City's most stalwart defenders fall before its onslaught. The lord apprehender says we have but one hope: Ususi Manaallin. To this end, I was dispatched." Ususi couldn't suppress a yelp of protest. "Huh? That's gibberish! What hope? And what do you mean, darkness?" "The lord apprehender bid me tell you this.

  'Retribution seeks the descendants of ancient Imaskar. Something old has awakened, something with no love for the long dead god kings.

  Since they are long gone, it comes for us. It reaches forth from the lost Celestial Nadir.'" Ususi felt as if she'd been punched in the stomach. "The Celestial Nadir?" "The lord apprehender said more. 'This threat arises from where we cannot go-we cannot find access to the Celestial Nadir. We have no knowledge of how the great Imaskari of elder days entered their legendary place behind the world. We can't find our foe. No one can, except Ususi Manaallin. Her life's study is the Celestial Nadir, and she defied the edicts of the Great Seal to expand her research on it. For the sake of all surviving Imaskari, we pray her search has yielded fruit all these years since we let her go.'" "Riiiiiight." Equal parts praise and threat, mixed with a call for help. It might just be a message from the lord apprehender. Iahn slowly spun in his prison. Then again, this was a vengeance taker's story. Ususi knew countless tales of vengeance taker guile. This man's words were no doubt a ploy calculated to make her release him.

  Vengeance taker deviousness was legendary. "Here's what I think," offered Ususi. "I think you finally did decide to track me down, and here you are. But you got a little too eager when you caught sight of me. And here you linger, caught. A fly in amber." The man narrowed his eyes. Anger? Probably not the wisest choice, taunting a vengeance taker. But his talk of darkness reminded her of her unsettling dream.

  And of the darkness growing at the heart of her keystone, and of the Celestial Nadir crystal she'd found in Two Stars. She reached into her purse and brought out the crystal. Ususi gasped. The darkness at its heart had grown threefold since she gazed at it last night. The keystone, on the other hand, seemed unchanged. Seeing the crystal, Iahn drew in his breath quickly, almost hissing. "Where did you get that?" "Why do you care?" "The creatures that I dispatched near your travel coach all wore pendants of the same crystal. They were hunting you." "Creatures hunting me?" Ususi laughed, almost relieved. "All right, you're really off the cliff edge. Nothing is hunting me-I haven't seen a soul for tendays. I can't believe a word you are saying, can I?" "Why don't you go out and see for yourself? Perhaps then you'll cut me down from this confinement and apologize for doubting I spoke the truth." "Why don't I, indeed?" What she would actually do, she told herself as she slipped carefully beneath the floating form, careful not to become entangled in the snaring magic, would be to pack up the travel coach and drive hell-bent for the nearest big city-Assur, probably-where she could charter a ship. With any luck, the vengeance taker would never free himself. But her luck may have been pushed too far already. By all rights, the vengeance taker should have found her and dealt with her without falling afoul of a trap.

  When Ususi returned to the chamber where Iahn still floated, she merely made a slashing gesture and spoke a magical phrase of negation.

  The white light faded, and Iahn dropped to the floor. He gracefully spun as he fell and landed poised on his hands and feet, then stood to his full height. Iahn broke the silence. "You see I speak the truth.

  They were trailing you for days. I saw their sign on your trail as I caught up to you in the wilds." Ususi nodded. In her hands were three more chunks of Celestial Nadir crystal, each crudely attached to a leather thong. She said, "There was one more pendant, but it was burnt and crumbled. This truly is Celestial Nadir crystal. Or, as it's called in these parts, 'Datharathi crystal.' " "Are you sure they're safe to touch?" "Why wouldn't they be?" Ususi wondered. "These pendants bound the creatures together and provided guidance. Or controlled them. The infernal one drew great strength from his, before it killed him. When I stripped the pendant from one of the still-breathing archers, she died as quickly as if I'd removed her heart." Ususi involuntarily flinched and thrust the pendants out to arm's length. Yet she didn't drop the crystals. Instead, she quickly stuffed them into her shoulder bag. She coughed, recovered her dignity, and said, "Perhaps they'll yield their secrets to me, then. I can probe their nature more fully when I return to my coach. After I clean up the mess those creatures made." She'd nearly cried when she'd seen what the creatures had done to her home on wheels. Iahn nodded.

  "And then we return to Deep Imaskar. We should get started immediately. Even with your travel coach, it will be a journey of many tendays, maybe a month or more." Ususi swiveled her head and fixed the vengeance taker with a frown. "If things are as dire as you say, then we may not have that much time. I believe I am on the cusp of discovering a new access point into the Celestial Nadir-a local access point." "Here, in this complex?" Ususi sighed. "I'm afraid not. But I've been traveling south ever since I purchased the Datharathi crystal in Two Stars. That crystal is from Durpar, and even now we straddle that country's border. It is only a few days' travel to Vaelan, where we can inquire about the crystal. I want to know who mines it and where the mine is located. The mine is an access to the Celestial Nadir. Of this I am certain." Iahn cocked his head. "If you believe this, why waste time here in this derelict ruin, still dangerous after all these years?" "I possess a map that reveals ancient Imaskaran sites such as this one. It seemed reasonable to check out the sites that fell along my path to Durpar. Legends claim that there are twenty gates in all, and I'd like to find every one."

  The vengeance taker considered. "A loss of a single day, when measured against the months I've tracked you, is reasonable. However, if your lead proves false, we must turn north and make all haste toward the subterranean entrance that will take us back to Deep Imaskar." "Of course." Well, she silently appended, it could take two or three days to locate the access point. But short of killing her (which she now knew was not the vengeance taker's goal), he would not be able to force her north until she was satisfied that no access portals survived in Durpar. Iahn started for the surface. He called over his shoulder, "Even if your fascination for our ancestors' lore blinds you to Deep Imaskar's plight, your sister's continued well-being must concern you. What threatens to breach the Great Seal threatens her equally." The wizard stood with her mouth agape. What a thing to say!

  "What do you know of my sister?" Ususi yelled at Iahn's retreating back, her fists clenched. He paused, but didn't turn. "I was commanded to find you. Do you think I would leave any stone unturned in that search?" "Did you talk to her? Did you harm her?" Even as she asked, Ususi knew the answers to her questions were negative. Qari's condition prevented speech, and Ususi would have known if her sister had been harmed, just as her sister would know if harm befell Ususi.

  Iahn stopped and turned. His face, if expression were possible for a vengeance taker, seemed slightly rueful. "Of course I didn't harm her.

  I merely sought her out to see if she could help me find you.

  Unfortunately, she wouldn't speak to me. I apologize. I did
n't realize it was a sensitive topic." In a small voice, Ususi said, "She doesn't speak to anyone. Not even to me anymore." Her sister Qari, congenitally blind, had never spoken aloud. But Qari and Ususi had spoken to each other when they were children, mind to mind. As they grew older, that ability had dimmed and eventually failed. They still shared a dream at times, or at least they had while Ususi remained in Deep Imaskar, but even that had stopped since Ususi had moved beyond the Great Seal. Unless her dream of darkness was somehow connected to the darkness Iahn claimed had Deep Imaskar under siege… "How did you find her?" Ususi demanded of the vengeance taker. "The lord apprehender told me where she was." Ususi clenched her fist. Another promise broken. Qari's condition required special care and solitude.

  Ususi had acquired both for her sister, paying a steep price for discretion above all else. The lord apprehender's knowledge of secrets held and disclosed in the Hidden City was deep. And apparently, not beyond betrayal.

  The travel coach was not wrecked, but the disarray of its contents pained Ususi. As soon as she and Iahn returned, she and her silent uskura set about tidying the clutter. The vengeance taker avoided impatience with steely resolve, but finally murmured something about retrieving his crossbow bolts and searching the bodies for additional clues. As she cleaned up, Ususi considered the odd assortment of creatures following her. Who had sent them? How had they known about her? Iahn postulated the darkness threatening Deep Imaskar had made enough inroads to discover that he had been sent to look for her, because of her specialized knowledge concerning the Celestial Nadir.

  If so, perhaps this mysterious force had decided to look for her, too, in hopes of finding her first. Through the broken coach door, Ususi observed Iahn's return. He sat down outside the coach and began to fit sturdy bolts into the underside of a custom crossbow. She studied him a moment. This man had spoken to Qari. He was an unexpected link to her past. Ususi stepped out. "Uncover anything else?" The vengeance taker shrugged and pointed to a few pouches, packs, skins for water, and other oddments typical of travelers. The wizard pressed him.

  "Nothing about their identity, who might have sent them, or where they hailed from?" "You already have the pendants, Ususi. You must have some way to divine their nature." "There are some spells I might try," she allowed. "Once I get this place ship-shape." Iahn nodded. Just as Ususi was about to return to the task, he said, "Ususi, I am curious.

  What exactly is the Celestial Nadir? I hardly feel I understand it.

  How can I assess the wisdom of anything we do without that knowledge?"

  "It is an ancient space. A half-space, where forgotten things litter the void." "Imaskari-fashioned? " "It is," replied Ususi. "It is an artificial void created thousands of years ago by our ancestors. They used it to store their secrets, their refuse, and their… mistakes."

  Iahn leaned forward, waiting for her to continue. "The ancient Imaskari used their artificial demiplane to conduct their most hazardous arcane experiments. They also used it to store the fruits thereof, hidden safely behind the walls of the world." "Has one of these walls weakened? Has someone liberated one of these 'mistakes,' seeking to use it against us?" Ususi nodded slowly. The creature Iahn had faced had seemed to hint along those lines. "That's a possible scenario. Also, the lord apprehender's message seems to imply as much.

  My research shows that thousands of years without maintenance weakened the once strong boundaries of the Celestial Nadir. Contiguous planes bled together, and pseudo-reality gave the realm a permanence, and unpredictability, never intended." "Can you identify our attacker? Is it an entity from the Celestial Nadir with which you are familiar?"

  "Not at present, but I need to learn more. To be honest, for all my research, the Celestial Nadir is a project of many lifetimes. All I can currently say with any certainty is that whoever or whatever our foe is, it seems capable of using the fabric of the Celestial Nadir against us. This crystal"- Ususi pointed to her satchel-"is a manifestation of the Celestial Nadir's existence. It seems to have been somehow… corrupted." With these words spoken, she decided the time was right. The travel coach was clean enough. She would see what she could see with the clues at hand. Ususi retrieved the three pendants and placed them on the ground. From the coach, she fetched a yellowish vial from a cupboard where several more glass containers were neatly snugged into a wooden rack. Many of the little vials had been smashed by the intruders, but enough remained for her to seek answers. She seated herself next to the pendants. Iahn didn't move from his position. She removed the cap from the vial and drank down the citrus-flavored elixir. Ususi didn't believe in brewing foul-tasting potions. Her lips tingled, her eyes sparked, and her mind quickened. The sky above became a portent of the day and night to come. Odors wafting on the air revealed landforms for many miles in every direction-the scent of a thousand things normally too subtle for human notice. The menhirs on the distant bluff were revealed as the warning markers they'd been constructed to be, meant to scare away intruders, not draw them. The wheels of her travel coach were a history of every rock, every sand pit, and every cool river crossing they had endured since each had been fitted to the axle. Connections between herself and the vengeance taker she had not previously realized suddenly crystallized, and she feared him less-and more.

  Iahn's eyes were so much like a cloud-scrubbed sky in the dead of winter-but were they capable of reflecting the sun? Ususi shook her head-the elixir lasted only moments. She concentrated on the three crystals. At first the pendants seemed mute, scrubbed of all history.

  But then each revealed that it was not of this world. Instead, they were brought in from a mine-a mundane mine? The crystals had been mined in the Celestial Nadir. How had they come into this world? Vague hints and half-remembered clues gelled in the wizard's mind as she examined the crystals. They spoke of a distance, but compared to how far she'd come, it was negligible. South and east… most recently from a city on the edge of a great sea. Assur, she wondered? No. The signs were clear. It was Vaelan. The mine was not in Vaelan, but those who mined the crystal could be found in that city. Vaelan was where she and Iahn would go.

  CHAPTER TEN

  "Wake up, Warian! Lost your wits since you left? I asked you what you've got against my squad?" Warian blinked again. His assessment of the situation in Eined's apartment shifted. It was painful making the mental adjustment to reflect his uncle's appearance. "Zel? What're you doing here? Are these your men, ransacking Eined's place? I thought they were burglars." "Eined's missing, Nephew! These fellows are looking for anything we can use to figure out what happened to her.

  The family thinks she's been kidnapped." "Kidnapped! By whom?" "Don't know. Some bastard hoping to claim a ransom. Like I told you, if I knew, I wouldn't be tearing apart your sister's apartment." Warian took a deep breath. His strength was trickling back. Calling on his arm's hidden reserve was apparently something he shouldn't do lightly.

  He said, "Sorry. I didn't know what they were doing here. It looked like something I should break up. You have to admit-stumbling upon it, it wouldn't look good." Zel just grinned his crazy Zel grin. Truth to tell, Warian had never quite trusted his Uncle Zeltaebar. If the Datharathi family had a truism, it was that Zel never told the whole truth. His uncle scratched his ear. "So, what are you doing back? Did you get some sort of message from Eined? What'd it say?" Warian realized how his presence must look. He raised his real hand. "No, Uncle, I received no message. I just got into town today, and thought I'd go see Eined. She's my favorite sister." Zel snorted. "Your only living sister, you mean?" "Always the sensitive one, Uncle." "Seems a little strange that you'd come back just when Eined goes missing, though, doesn't it?" Zel fixed Warian with a penetrating stare. "And the suspicious one. You think I'd hurt my own sister? I want to know what's happened to her, too! You think I know something you don't?" "I don't think it, I know it. You wouldn't be here otherwise. And I don't mean here in Eined's home. I mean back in Vaelan. You swore you'd never return. Something's made you decide otherwise. W
hat gives, Nephew?" Warian considered telling his uncle about his arm, but since Zel hadn't mentioned the method by which his nephew had just decimated his crew… "I'd like to call a family meeting-I'll tell everyone at the same time." Zel whistled. He said, "You don't have the authority to call a meeting. But don't worry!" Zel made a calming gesture at Warian, who'd started protesting. "The next meeting's in two days. Come to that. In fact, your presence will be in my report-it'll be better if you're there to answer the questions that come up." "All right, then." Warian looked around the room-it was in complete shambles-then back at Zel. "About Eined-did you find a ransom note?" Zel shook his head and said, "Nothing like that. She just walked out and never returned-no messages, no preparations-just, gone." Warian wondered if his sister had merely had enough Datharathi politics and left Vaelan, as he had. Could be the case. On the other hand, he'd received no message from her. If she were leaving the city, he imagined he'd be the first person she would contact. Aloud, he said, "Well, perhaps she'll turn up. She won't be happy to find what you've done to her place, though." Zel snorted. "Nothing gold can't fix." Warian sighed. The classic Datharathi answer. "Say, Zel-one of your men thought I was a 'plangent.' What was he talking about?"

  Warian decided to play dumb despite his conversation with the rickshaw driver, who'd told him about the new Datharathi innovation. He was curious about Zel's angle. A sour smile came from Zel. "The family has opened a new front on trade. We're now in the 'personal improvement' business. My siblings have figured out how to make Datharathi crystal replacements that are better than the limbs folk were born with. Too bad about your prosthesis, Warian-the new ones are better than regular flesh, not worse." Warian nodded. It seemed clear his uncle hadn't seen him using his own arm to such spectacular effect, or understood what he was seeing. He wondered if his prosthesis had somehow intercepted a power boost meant for Datharathi crystal-wearing plangents. He didn't understand how that could be, but he was no warlock, gemstone engineer, or spell-monger, either. Warian asked, "If it's better than flesh, why don't I see you sporting the plangent look?" "Me? No. I prefer the parts I was born with, thank you."