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visitors, and were hanging even further back now. Tiercel glanced back up at the cave entrance.
There was no door, of course, but a wooden panel had been dragged into place in front of the cave
opening, indicating that it was closed to visitors for the day.
"I've done nothing but think since Kindling, Harrier. I think this is the right thing to do now."
Harrier sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Even if it were and I'm not saying that it is how
could we do it? There are no more tours today. And you didn't have much luck getting away from
the one we were on. I saw you trying."
Tiercel grinned. "The tours may be over, but the park isn't closed. You should have read the
guidebook. The park doesn't close until Second Night Bells the Second Hour of Night. We can
sneak back up here when it's dark."
Harrier snorted. "I don't think we'd be the first people to think of doing something like that."
Tiercel poked him in the ribs. "But we've got years of experience. Like the time we snuck into that
old foundry, remember? That was your idea."
Harrier sighed. "It was your idea. I can't even remember why we did it. I do remember the dogs,
though. Why in the name of the Light would anybody guard an abandoned foundry? It isn't like
there'd be something there that anybody would want to steal... "
'The point is, we did that and we can do this. I just want to look around and see if the inside of the
cave really does look like what we dreamed. Then we can go back to the city," he said reassuringly.
"Okay. Right. Fine. Let's go get something to eat while we're waiting." "Again?" Harrier grinned at
him. "It may be my last meal."
DESPITE Harrier's misgivings, it wasn't actually all that difficult to get back into the cave.
They waited a bell and a half the Temple rang out the bells, just as if they were back in
Armethalieh and just as First Night Bells was ringing, they made their way back toward the cavern
mouth. It had already been fully dark for quite some time, and the air was filled with the scent of
flowers from the ornamental gardens; the night-blooming varieties had the heaviest perfume.
They had rented a lantern from one of the lantern-booths, but they'd blown it out as soon as they
could do so inconspicuously. A number of the park's patrons had left at sunset, and those that
remained had gravitated either to the extensive gardens which were brilliantly lit for evening or
to attend the Evening Litany of the Light in Imrathalion Temple. The building was almost as
beautiful from the outside at night as it was on the inside during the day. At night, the light
streamed outward through the many windows of colored glass set into its walls, turning the entire
building into a giant ornamental lantern of a sort.
Harrier paused for just a moment to admire it, one part of his mind thinking that with the Temple so
brightly lit, anybody in or around it wouldn't be able to see anything outside it such as the two of
them. Then he turned away, following his friend his idiot friend into the dark. Tiercel always made
his plans seem so logical. That was always the trouble.
They reached the wooden barrier, groping their way over its surface as if they were blind, because
by now they were very far away from the lights and any light of their own would attract far too
much attention. The barrier was pressed right across the cave mouth, and they had to move it in
order to get around behind it. It made a grating sound as they shifted it, and Harrier's heart
hammered guiltily in his chest. He didn't think even Tiercel could talk his way out of the situation if
they were caught.
But no one caught them, and they slipped behind the wooden panel, shifting it back into place
behind them.
"DO you mind lighting that thing now, o great and powerful High Mage?" Harrier asked, when
they'd spent a few minutes groping their way along the path by touch. The lanterns that had been
lit for the daytime visitors had all been doused for night, and the cave was absolutely lightless.
Even though as far as Harrier remembered the corridor was straight and the path beneath his
feet was smooth, he still found himself staggering and stumbling, bumping into Tiercel and the
walls. It was blacker than the back of his closet in here, and he had the spooky feeling that there
wasn't any air, though he'd been fine when they'd been down here before.
"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Tiercel sounded a little embarrassed. He stepped away from Harrier, and a
moment later the lantern glowed to life.
With the light from the lantern it seemed a little easier to breathe, though it didn't really show them
much more of the cave. If Tiercel showed any sign at all of casting one of his MageLight spells,
though, Harrier vowed, he was going to smack him so hard he'd forget all about being a High Mage.
They quickly returned to the main cavern they'd been in before. It had taken the tour about an hour
to reach it the last time, with all the stops and starts; the two of them, alone, got there in half that
time.
According to Amalgar and Eredor, there'd been either a big battle or a village of Endarkened
creatures here once; no one remembered which. Though Tiercel's lantern cast only a few feet of
light in their immediate vicinity, Harrier remembered that the floor here was as smooth and even as
if it had been built by human hands, and the sloping walls of the cave were covered with a thick
glittery something that looked like frost. They'd all been told not to touch it, but he had, and it had
crumbled under his fingers like salt. Standing in the middle of the cavern now, neither of them could
see the walls at all by the light of their single lantern.
"I think we want to go this way," Tiercel said.
His voice had a creepy flat sound in the cave, as if it ought to echo and didn't. Harrier had noticed
that the last time they were down here. In some places in the cave, sounds had echoed so much it
was deafening. In others like this cavern sounds were weirdly flat.
"You mean, past the rope that blocks off that section of the cave from people going into it?" Harrier
said resignedly.
"That's right," Tiercel answered matter-of-factly.
Harrier didn't ask how he knew. It looked familiar to him, too.
The lantern flame flickered and danced as they ducked under the rope, and Harrier's sword rang
loudly against the stone wall as he twisted to follow Tiercel. He hissed in dismay that echoed, as
loud as all the Thousand Bells of Armethalieh rung at once but there obviously wasn't anybody
down here at night.
Tiercel held the lantern high as he walked. It occurred to Harrier that they might get lost down
here. Back in the other section of the cave there'd been signs, and a marked trail, and lanterns at
regular intervals. Here there was nothing but empty places where lanterns could go, and cryptic
marks that he couldn't read chalked onto the walls.
They were moving down one of the long narrow corridors, the kind that Amalgar had said had been
carved by the Endarkened out of the rock when they couldn't find a passageway going where they
wanted it to go. Harrier trailed his hand along the rock as he walked. It was smooth under his
fingers, as smooth as any wall built at home. After a few minutes they reached a cross-passage.
"Which way?" he asked.
Tiercel hesitated.
"Well," Harrier said, pointing, "that one leads up, and that one leads down, so we should probably
go down, don't you think? Because if whatever you're looking for was waiting for us on the surface,
you'd have found it already."
Tiercel looked at him curiously. "How do you know? Where the corridors go, I mean. I thought you'd
told me everything you dreamed. And it's all level."
"I did. And I didn't dream this. I just know."
Tiercel grinned at him. '"Just know?' Now you know how I feel most of the time."
They followed Harrier's lead. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]