very imaginative. I am coming with you, every step of the way, for I know you will need all the help I can give.’
‘By the Serpent,’ said Ashurek, ‘you are as insane as I. Come on then, let’s waste no more time; we must be back before Estarinel and Medrian return, and we are missed.’
Calorn led him off to the right, over another bridge and down a long, precarious causeway of rock. Horses swam past them on either side, and he wondered, briefly, if the animals had the ability to tell the women of H’tebhmella where he and Calorn were going. More likely the whole Plane was sentient, and in truth no one could go anywhere upon it without the Lady knowing. They climbed around the base of a great mushroom of rock, and came at last to a strange landscape of gnarled, indigo stone.
The sweet calm of H’tebhmella was still tangible here, but the shining blue water that covered most of the Plane was out of sight. That was disturbing, for the vast lake – always visible from the Plane’s slender islands – had become a familiar, eternal presence. More strangely, Ashurek could sense an introversion about the rocks, as if they were leaning towards each other to conceal a secret. Something about which they felt faintly sad and ashamed.
Calorn was exploring, moving from rock to rock and touching each one as if the touch could show her what she sought.
‘It’s here somewhere,’ she mumbled as she passed him. Ashurek could feel and sense that she was right – that there was a concealed Way to the far side of the Plane very near. And he knew that, without her, it would have taken him days to locate it, days he did not have.
Now Calorn was circling a single stalk of rock, probing it with her fingers. With an expression of deep concentration on her face she located a thin rim of stone concealing a shallow depression that apparently led nowhere.
‘Here – come on, quickly,’ she said.
Ashurek pressed himself into the depression and found that, behind the overlapping rim, there was a black gap just wide enough to squeeze through sideways. Calorn was close beside him as he pulled himself through into a small cavern.
As their eyes adjusted, they found that it was not pitch dark. A soft twilight blue illuminated the little cave, although whether it was light filtering from outside, or the rock itself that glowed, they could not tell. A thin passage led steeply down in front of them. The cavern had a still, neutral air about it. It seemed fully aware of the secret it held, the fistula running through to the Dark Regions, but alongside the sad shame it felt, there was a pride in protecting H’tebhmella, in preventing the Shana from ever coming through to this side. The balance between these two feelings was a stoic neutrality that would not allow itself to express either joy or pain.
‘Do you feel these rocks conveying their thoughts to you?’ asked Ashurek. ‘Or am I alone in the foothills of insanity?’
‘It’s just H’tebhmella,’ said Calorn.
Ashurek shut his mind to the feeling that by entering the cavern he was somehow betraying H’tebhmella. He set off swiftly down the narrow tunnel with Calorn following. And so, unarmed, they made their way down towards the Dark Regions.
The tunnel hardly seemed to be intended for use by humans. As on the White Plane, when the questers had crossed from one side to the other, there was a sickening shift of gravity beneath their feet. Unlike the White Plane, however, the shaft was not a round, wide tunnel. In places they had to crawl, in others it was a bare few inches wide and they had to squeeze through, in danger of getting stuck fast. Ashurek was made anxious, not by the narrowness of the tunnel, but by frustration at the slowness of reaching his destination. He had no idea how long the shaft was, but now they were on their way, he had no intention of turning back.
It seemed H’tebhmella was not as thick as the White Plane. In less than two hours they felt the
‘By the Serpent,’ said Ashurek, ‘you are as insane as I. Come on then, let’s waste no more time; we must be back before Estarinel and Medrian return, and we are missed.’
Calorn led him off to the right, over another bridge and down a long, precarious causeway of rock. Horses swam past them on either side, and he wondered, briefly, if the animals had the ability to tell the women of H’tebhmella where he and Calorn were going. More likely the whole Plane was sentient, and in truth no one could go anywhere upon it without the Lady knowing. They climbed around the base of a great mushroom of rock, and came at last to a strange landscape of gnarled, indigo stone.
The sweet calm of H’tebhmella was still tangible here, but the shining blue water that covered most of the Plane was out of sight. That was disturbing, for the vast lake – always visible from the Plane’s slender islands – had become a familiar, eternal presence. More strangely, Ashurek could sense an introversion about the rocks, as if they were leaning towards each other to conceal a secret. Something about which they felt faintly sad and ashamed.
Calorn was exploring, moving from rock to rock and touching each one as if the touch could show her what she sought.
‘It’s here somewhere,’ she mumbled as she passed him. Ashurek could feel and sense that she was right – that there was a concealed Way to the far side of the Plane very near. And he knew that, without her, it would have taken him days to locate it, days he did not have.
Now Calorn was circling a single stalk of rock, probing it with her fingers. With an expression of deep concentration on her face she located a thin rim of stone concealing a shallow depression that apparently led nowhere.
‘Here – come on, quickly,’ she said.
Ashurek pressed himself into the depression and found that, behind the overlapping rim, there was a black gap just wide enough to squeeze through sideways. Calorn was close beside him as he pulled himself through into a small cavern.
As their eyes adjusted, they found that it was not pitch dark. A soft twilight blue illuminated the little cave, although whether it was light filtering from outside, or the rock itself that glowed, they could not tell. A thin passage led steeply down in front of them. The cavern had a still, neutral air about it. It seemed fully aware of the secret it held, the fistula running through to the Dark Regions, but alongside the sad shame it felt, there was a pride in protecting H’tebhmella, in preventing the Shana from ever coming through to this side. The balance between these two feelings was a stoic neutrality that would not allow itself to express either joy or pain.
‘Do you feel these rocks conveying their thoughts to you?’ asked Ashurek. ‘Or am I alone in the foothills of insanity?’
‘It’s just H’tebhmella,’ said Calorn.
Ashurek shut his mind to the feeling that by entering the cavern he was somehow betraying H’tebhmella. He set off swiftly down the narrow tunnel with Calorn following. And so, unarmed, they made their way down towards the Dark Regions.
The tunnel hardly seemed to be intended for use by humans. As on the White Plane, when the questers had crossed from one side to the other, there was a sickening shift of gravity beneath their feet. Unlike the White Plane, however, the shaft was not a round, wide tunnel. In places they had to crawl, in others it was a bare few inches wide and they had to squeeze through, in danger of getting stuck fast. Ashurek was made anxious, not by the narrowness of the tunnel, but by frustration at the slowness of reaching his destination. He had no idea how long the shaft was, but now they were on their way, he had no intention of turning back.
It seemed H’tebhmella was not as thick as the White Plane. In less than two hours they felt the
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