Mirror 04 The Way Between the Worlds by Ian Irvine Page A

Lilis nor Nadiril was armed. 'Where are our friends?' the girl cried
in dismay. 'Tallia! Help! Help!' Her little voice was whipped away by the
wind.
Tallia was not far off, helping the injured up the high back of the
amphitheatre, when she caught the whisper of Lilis's cry. 'I'm going back!'
she shouted to Shand.
Shand did not look up. He and Malien were attempting emergency work on Xarah,
who had been clawed down one side from shoulder to hip. Several sausage coils
of intestine pressed out of the wound. They bound her up again. Any meaningful
surgery was impossible here.
'Tallia, quick,' screamed Lilis, as Tallia appeared at the top of the steps.
Jevi was defending the narrowest part of the path, wielding the knife
expertly, but the short weapon was no match for the lorrsk's reach and its
clawed fingers. With one furious slash it sent the knife flying. Jevi
retreated, step by step, ducking and dancing, but Tallia knew he must fall.
Tallia felt an unaccustomed pang in her heart. She hurled herself down the icy
steps, a barely controlled fall that landed her between Nadiril and Lilis.
Bounding to her feet she stabbed at the creature with her short sword. The
lorrsk tried to bat the blade away, cutting the heel of its hand. It ducked
back. Tallia pressed forward beside Jevi on the narrow track.
Lilis, squatting in shadows on the lowest step, began to pack snowballs and
hurl them at the lorrsk, to no effect.
'Try this one,' Nadiril said.
She threw it and it struck the lorrsk right in the eye. 'Take that!' she
yelled fiercely. 'I hope it hurt.'
It must have, for the lorrsk held its eye with one hand while slashing feebly
with the other. 'Was that a magic snowball?' Lilis asked breathlessly. 'Make
me another!'
'It had a not-so-magic rock in the middle of it,' said Nadiril with a grim
chuckle. 'Here you are.'
The lorrsk gave forth a wild shriek, leapt right over Jevi's head and lunged
at Lilis. She tried to hurl her weapon and fell off the edge of the steps, to
disappear without a sound.
The lorrsk reached out to gut Nadiril. He said calmly, 'Thuggah ghoe maddarha!
Vunc!'
The creature stopped dead, squinting into the darkness. 'Maddarhan?' it said,
then Tallia stuck it in the ribs. It leapt high in the air and went over the
side.
'I didn't know-you knew words of power,' she said. 'What did you say?'
'Words are power. I said, in one of the languages of the void, Stop! I am your
father! An excusable deceit under the circumstances. I can't even remember
where I read it.'
'Where's Lilis?' cried Jevi, running around frantically.
Nadiril looked around. 'She was standing just there.'
They peered down, but this slope was in the moon shadow and nothing could be
seen. 'I'm going down,' said Jevi.
'Could she possibly be alive?' asked Tallia.
'She could,' said Nadiril. 'It's a fair way down to the cliff just here. It
wouldn't take much to stop her.'
'We need light,' Tallia muttered. 'Jevi, run up and get a brand from the
fire.' He raced off.
'Why did you send him away?' asked Nadiril.
She whipped out her lightglass. Its glow revealed a steep slope blotched with
round outcrops and veneered with snow. 'He saved me from a chacalot. And
afterwards he was so gentle and kind, and expected nothing of me in return. I
can't let him go down there. Lilis adores him - '
'And so do you,' observed Nadiril.
    'She might be alive,' she said hurriedly. 'And there's a hungry lorrsk down
there. I think I can see a way.'
She eased herself over the edge, feeling with her boot, knowing that what she
was doing was foolish in the extreme. She would never have attempted it in
daylight. Tallia found a foothold, another, tested it then moved down. Stones
slid underfoot and she skidded half a span before catching herself. She went
even more gently the next time, but the same thing happened and she slid
another span or two before coming to rest against an ice-glazed outcrop. Her
heart was pounding like a