She’s gone—
“She is not!” The voice was Shia’s.
Anvar looked up through scalding tears. “What did you say?”
“Frame your thoughts clearly, man. You’re not very good at this. But you are of the same kind as her, so I can talk to you —if I choose to! Put asidcrfhis useless grief and. think! Aurian is my friend, and our minds are linked. If she were dead, I would surely know. But if she lives, why can I nor reach her?”
“Great Gods, you’re right!” Hope flared like a beacon in Anvar’s breast. “She told me that the Magefolk knew when one of their kind died. So if she were—”
“Then you wovAd have known ako,” Shia finished for him.
“But if she’s beyond your reach, where the bloody blazes is she?”
“Clear your mind, man. Listen.” Shia sat, curling her tail neatly around her paws. “When you two were in the tent, doing things—”
“We did not!”
“Not those things, stupid!”
“Oh . . . You mean the magic.”
“It always gives me a most unpleasant prickly feeling in my fur.” Her tail twitched. “I get it in this cave, too.”
“Then it wasn’t a beast? You think Aurian was trapped by magic? But I’ve been all over that wretched pool, and never felt a thing.”
“If Aurian had felt it, would it have trapped her?” Shia asked pointedly.
“So whatever it is, it must still be there!” He scrambled to his feet and ran.
Anvar plunged into the pool. What exactly was he looking for? Some hidden opening, perhaps? He paused, up to his waist in water, looking around wildly. It couldn’t be underwater— the pool had been searched from end to end. Then it came to him. Where was the obvious place to put a door? In a wall, of course. His eyes went automatically to the smooth flat surface where the waterfall trickled down.
“Anvar! What are you doing?” The others had gathered on the brink of the pool. Ignoring them, he waded across to the wall and began feeling along it with both hands.
“I’ve found it!” Anvar’s triumphant shout was drowned in the strident shriek of the alarm. His jubilation became horror as the stone began to melt beneath his hands, turning clinging and viscous, sucking him in like quicksand, drawing his head and shoulders inside. The stuff enveloped him—he couldn’t breathe. Anvar flailed in panic, then his fkce broke through into air, though he could see nothing in the utter darkness beyond,
“Aurian?” he called. There was no reply. But his body was almost through the constricting portal. He felt a glassy surface beneath his fingers and clawed at it frantically, trying to haul himself forward—then his feet were snatched in an iron grip. Something was pulling him back! “No!” he howled. He was so dose—he had to go on! But inch by inch he slid backward, until his cries were drowned once more in the suffocating ooze of the portal. There was a jerk on his ankles—and he shot out into the pool on top of Bohan, who hauled him, struggling, to the water’s edge.
“Imbecile!” Shia’s claws were sheathed, but the swipe from her massive paw knocked him flying.
Anvar sat up groggily. “Damn you!” he snarled at Bohan. “I was almost through.”
“We had no choice,” Eliizar protested. “What good would it do, to have you both trapped?”
“Think!” Shia’s thought was a whiplash across Anvar’s mind. “We need a way to keep the portal from closing, so we can all get in, and more important, out again.”
“Anvar, did you see her?” Nereni asked anxiously.
“I saw nothing—it was too dark. But I called, and she didn’t answer,” he told her miserably.
Eliizar frowned. “But I examined that rock when I searched the pool, and it was quite impervious.”
Anvar stared at him. “So it only responds to Magefolk,” he said slowly.
“Sorcerers?” Eliizar gasped. He backed away hastily, making a sign against evil. “But you are not—”
“I am, Eliizar—just like Aurian.”
Nereni, though wide-eyed, was more practical than her husband. She tugged urgently at Anvar’s arm. “Can you use this sorcery to open the way for us?”
Could he? Anvar had no idea how the magic of the portal worked. He was still too much of a beginner at this kind of thing, and there had been little time for Aurian to teach him much . . . Then the solution came to him in a blinding flash. One of the first spells that Aurian had taught him, with the terror of the Nihilim still fresh in her mind. “Nereni, I think I can!”
Anvar positioned himself before the featureless stone of the portal. Bohan stood behind him, his massive arms locked round the Mage’s waist. Eliizar and Nereni waited on the brink of the pool, not daring, to the Swordmaster’s obvious shame, to approach any closer.
“Are you ready, Bohan?” Anvar glanced back over his shoulder. The eunuch nodded, tightening his grip. “Now!” Anvar muttered, and placed his hand upon the stone.
Again, the shrieking clamor rang out. The rock became fluid and clinging, clutching at Anvar’s arm to draw him within. But this time, Bohan held him firmly, fighting the pull. Anvar concentrated with all his might, trying to block out the shrill distraction of the alarm. He had to get this right .
Sweat broke out on his brow. Extending his free hand, he carefully constructed Finbarr’s time spell—and toppled backward with Bohan into the water as the force that pulled at them suddenly ceased. Anvar struggled to his feet, spluttering and panting, and reached out to the stone. Bohan forestalled him— and thrust his own fist straight through, pulling it out again with ease.
“It worked!” Anvar yelled. “Eliizar, it worked! I’ve taken the portal out of time! We can go through now!”
Shia bounded forward, needing no further urging, but Eliizar stood back, white-faced. “I—I cannot!” he gasped. “Anvar, forgive me, but sorcery ... I cannot!”
Anvar grasped his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Eliizar, we all have our fears.” With a pang, he remembered saying the same thing to Aurian, on top of the cliff ... “I must go.” He turned back to the portal, where Bohan and Shia waited, plainly anxious to be moving. “You and Nereni stay here, and wait for us. We’ll be as quick as we can.”
“Wait!” Nereni came running, splashing through the water in her haste. “Here.” She thrust a bundle into his hands, “Here is a water bag, and food—the poor girl will be starving. And I put in a robe for her, and her boots—and she might need these,” She handed him Aurian’s sword and staff, “Hurry,” she urged, and reached up to kiss his cheek. “Hurry, Anvar, and come back safe.”
It was difficult to force a way through the viscous rock without the spell of the portal to draw them. Shia, bristling with impatience, went first, with Anvar and Bohan helping her by pushing from behind. Anvar followed, feeling the cat’s massive jaws grasp his collar to pull him through. It was pitch-dark within, even to his Mage’s night-vision. He turned and groped for Bohan’s hand, and Shia helped him haul the eunuch through. Bohan had brought a torch, but when he kindled it, the flame gave no light.
“What on earth . . . ?” Anvar gasped. He could see it flickering in midair like a pale, disembodied wraith, but that was all. It illuminated absolutely nothing.
“Magic!” Shia spat disgustedly. “You make some light!”
Anvar sighed. Fire-magic was not his strong point, but ... By dint of much^cpncentration, he managed to form a rather wobbly ball of Magelight—and fell back, screaming, as the interior chamber burst into eye-searing brilliance.
“Put it out!” Shia roared in agony. Anvar snuffed his flame, his eyes watering and blinded with crimson and green spots of dazzle. He picked himself up—only to be flattened again, as the entire chamber lurched into motion with a grinding roar, rushing upward with terrifying speed.
As Anvar’s vision cleared, he saw that the chamber was now illuminated by a soft glow that seemed to emanate from the walls. His mind reeled dizzily as he realized he was within a hollowed-out gem. All around him, the gleaming facets reflected myriad images of himself, Shia, and Bohan. When he moved, the images lurched and swooped, making him sick with disorientation. It was as though he too were part of the reflections; as though his soul, his very self were being sucked away into the walls. Beside him, Shia whimpered unhappily. It was the first time he had ever heard the great cat show the slightest sign of fear.