“Do not get curious. Don’t look behind boulders or trees.
There are creatures here that can end your life in the blink of an eye, so don’t go looking for them.
“Finally, stay awake and stay alert. There are powers in the darkness that can enter your mind when your defenses are lowered. You may find strange ideas and urges coming into your head. Don’t listen to them!” Seriene paused. “Any questions?”
A few guards shuffled their feet or glanced at each other nervously. Gaelin squeezed Erin’s hand and was sur- prised to find her trembling in cold or fear. Seriene nodded.
“Very well. Follow me, and stay close.”
They set off, winding back toward the center of the hill. It was a march of only a couple of hundred yards on the other side, but here it seemed to take much longer. As they moved on through the darkness, Gaelin became aware of a watchfulness about Caer Duirga that was much more immediate and malevolent than the simple uneasiness he’d felt about the place in the daylight world. He caught up to Seriene. “Where are we going?”
“Bannier’s source,” she answered. “Can’t you feel it?”
“I feel something wrong here, but… wait, I do feel it. It’s stronger up ahead, isn’t it?”
Seriene nodded. “If you were a mage, you would be able to see what I see now. It’s unmistakable.” Glancing at Gaelin, she halted and took his hand. “Actually, you may be able to see it anyway. Close your eyes a moment, and then look again.”
Gaelin did so. When he looked again, he saw a thin purple column of energy rising from behind the hillocks just ahead, arrowing into the sky. A few hundred feet overhead, the column suddenly divided into a dozen razor-thin lines of lambent fire that arched away into the darkness. “Haelyn’s shield! What is it?”
“You’re seeing the raw stuff of magic, mebhaighl caught and corrupted here by Bannier’s sorcery. The smaller ones are ley lines, running away from here to other places where Bannier desires to tap this power.” Seriene pointed at the low, dark rocks that blocked their view of the foot of the column. “His source must be just over that rise.” Cold vapors formed from her words. She released his hand, and to Gaelin’s eyes the crackling, thrumming energy slowly faded from view – but now that he knew where to look, he could still feel it on his face, just as a blind man can feel the heat of a fire without seeing its light.
They continued forward, climbing up the last hillside, a shelf of rock that crowned Caer Duirga like a turret on top of a castle. At its crest, they found themselves looking down into a small hollow, a bowl-shaped space in the mountain’s center.
There, a great ring of ancient standing stones leaned drunkenly around a black slab or altar. On the far side was a gloomy mass of trees. Gaelin was certain no such place existed on the other side – the stones and the altar must have waited here in the Shadow for ages. He started to say something to Seriene, but then his eyes caught a pale wisp of white trapped in the menacing darkness. “Ilwyn!”
He drew his sword and started forward at once, but Seriene quickly caught him. “No, Gaelin!”
“But that’s Ilwyn!”
“It may be Ilwyn, Gaelin. Remember, things aren’t always as they seem here. And Bannier has not left her unguarded.”
Gaelin halted, frowning. “I don’t see anything.”
“You don’t, but I do,” Seriene replied. “We must be very careful how we approach this place; Bannier has woven traps all around this vale, and I can only guess he may have some here that even I can’t see.”
He growled in frustration, lowering the blade. “But we’re so close! Are we going to wait until Bannier himself appears to show us the way in?”
“Of course not!” snapped Seriene. “But we can’t rush headlong into that place. Give me time to examine the spells he’s created around the stones. I’ll find a way to pass them.”
Erin moved up beside Gaelin and put her hand on his shoulder. “Be patient, Gaelin. Seriene knows what she’s doing. A delay of an hour or two doesn’t hurt us.”
Gaelin slammed his sword back into its sheath at his hip.
Ilwyn was only about thirty yards away. She seemed more dead than alive, lying limply on the stone as if she were about to be entombed. “Fine,” he said. “But the sooner we get her and leave, the better.”
Seriene frowned, and paced forward to survey Bannier’s defenses. “I’ll work as quickly as I can,” she promised.
“Gaelin, make sure everyone stays near, and don’t let anyone nod off. Erin, stay with me. I may need your help.”
“Of course.” The minstrel moved forward to confer quietly with the princess. Gaelin snorted impatiently and set about dividing the guards into two-man teams and posting them as watches nearby. It looked as if they would be there for a while.
Chapter Sixteen
Without sun or moon, Gaelin had no idea how long they’d been in the Shadow World. The bitter cold numbed his hands and feet and slowly chilled his torso, until he found himself shivering constantly and uncontrollably. To keep his mind from wandering, he continuously circled the hollow, keeping a close eye on the guardsmen who stood watch. The gloom was wearing on them all, deadening their senses and slowing their reactions.
In the hollow itself, Seriene had finished her initial survey of Bannier’s defenses. With a silver powder she kept in a pouch by her belt, she had laboriously scratched grooves and whorls in the dark earth, creating a diagram that surrounded Bannier’s standing stones. As he watched, she finished her first orbit of Bannier’s source and began to embellish her design with various complications. He thought about going over to ask her what she was doing but decided not to – en- chantments could be tricky, and he wouldn’t want to ruin the spell by interrupting her.
After aiding Seriene in her first examination of the site, Erin hovered near the Dieman, waiting for opportunities to be useful. Gaelin knew enough about magic to recognize that some portions of Seriene’s work were best performed with two people, especially the more complicated designs. After checking once again on the guardsmen, he walked over to stand beside Erin. “How is it going?” he asked quietly.
“Seriene’s about halfway done,” Erin replied. “It’s a tedious task, but one that has to be done just right.”
“What exactly is she doing?’
“I don’t understand the details of the enchantment,” said Erin. “Seriene tells me that it’s beyond my skills. If I’m not mistaken, she’s creating a barrier that will stop the flow of mebhaighl into Bannier’s source, sort of like damming a river.
Bannier’s most potent defenses are linked to the source itself, and if she succeeds, they will fall.” Erin watched Seriene for a short while, and added, “She’s a more powerful sorceress than I would have guessed.”
“As strong as Bannier?”
“We’ll soon see.” Erin reached over and grasped Gaelin’s hand. Her fingers felt cold on Gaelin’s, and he realized that with her lighter garb and smaller frame, she must be feeling the chill even more than he was. He undid his cloak and draped it over her shoulders, and she smiled gratefully at him. Suppressing a shiver, she spoke again, gazing off into the darkness. “Listen. About the last two nights… they’ve been wonderful. I can’t stop thinking about you. But I don’t know if it would be fair to you for things to continue as they are. Someday you’ll have to marry. The daughter of a highranking noble, I suppose, or you’ll risk losing everything you’ve been fighting for. Persuading the southern lords to return their loyalty to Mhoried will be difficult enough without the question of a commoner at the Mhor’s side.”
Even though he had been expecting this, Gaelin’s heart wrenched. Thickly, he said, “What do you want to do?”
She considered her words in silence. “I’ll leave, once we finish here. I’ve made a terrible mistake, coming between you and Seriene.”