Chapter 056: Mother And Daughter
"The
mind is its own place, and in itself
Can
make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n"
Paradise
Lost (I, 254-255) - John Milton
The almost continuous sensation of shivers all over my body. My teeth
clenched to keep them from chattering. God, how I hated this! Places like these
made me appreciate Amber all the more. Still, with a bit of luck we would be out
of here soon. First, however, we had to find out where Martin had gone to. Since
it was a rather big castle and we were pressed for time (no telling whether
those howlers would venture another attack once the weather cleared), we had
decided to split up and each cover one of the three floors. As luck would have
it I had got assigned to the ground floor, where it was coldest.
I said that we had decided to split up, but as a matter of fact it had
been my decision: Melusine hadn't minded much about the extra risks involved,
secure in her own abilities, and Rinaldo had been strangely preoccupied after
the battle. In fact, when it had been suggested to go off alone he had seemed
rather eager to comply. I vaguely wondered what he was up to while I slowly
scanned the dimly lit, dusty corridor. The different floors were linked with a
grand staircase in the middle of each, from which three main corridors ran off
in separate directions. I had picked up a torch along the way, but it still was
hard to discern the dark wooden doors from the rough dark stone walls. Since
Martin could be literally anywhere I couldn't afford to pass any of those doors
without venturing a look inside. Most of the rooms were simply empty, with no
traces of habitation and a general atmosphere of mystery throughout.
In one of the rooms I checked I was surprised to find a trace of the
earlier inhabitants at last: on a pedestal in the middle of the room there stood
a large, dark crystal globe. Bending down and holding my face close to the
floor, I made out one pair of footprints in the thick layer of dust leading
towards the globe and back to the door again. Could it be that Martin had been
here earlier? Either that, or those had to be Melusine's tracks. She had told us
that she had lost Martin when they first split up to search the castle, so
either of them could have been here, I guess. Wondering what they might have
found so interesting, I walked over to the globe and took a good look at it. At
first glance it seemed nothing special, but that could easily be misleading,
especially here on the Overshadow. Was that a flicker of light I saw there in
its depths? I frowned and shook my head. Whatever this thing was, it would have
to wait: I had a lost cousin to find.
I retraced my steps to the door and holding the torch close to the floor
I tried to see whether I could find any more of those tracks. Fortunately, the
castle hadn't been properly dusted in ages, and besides my own footprints I
could clearly make out another set, which after having entered the room with the
globe clearly had turned back towards the main stairway. Away from the staircase
and to my left the thick blanket of dust lay still undisturbed by any intruders,
so my options seemed plain.
Back at the staircase I checked the other two corridors on my level and
found that one had not been entered by anyone and that the other had had one
visitor who had later returned to the staircase. So, it seemed that Martin
couldn't possibly be on this level. Just as I had made my mind up to try and
find one of my companions, I heard the sound of running feet on the stairs,
stopping on the level just above mine. Immediately I hurried up the stairs
myself and tried to catch a glimpse of whoever it was that was in such a hurry.
It turned out to be Melusine, running off into one of the corridors, cursing as
she went.
"That bitch!" I heard her call out, and I wondered who was the
object of her fury.
"Melusine!" I called after her.
"Wait up!" She abrubtly turned around and when she saw me she jerked
her head to indicate that I should follow her. I ran after her, but only managed
to gain on her because she didn't appear to be all that sure of where exactly
she was going. As I got closer she stopped for a moment and concentrated, after
which she continued with a lot more certainty. At a corner she stopped and
turned to me.
"Wait here," she hissed, "and keep
an eye on things. And keep out of sight." She didn't wait for an answer,
but quickly rounded the corner, where something pale light produced a flickering
whitish glow.
"Let him go!" It was Melusine and she
sounded mighty angry. "What do you want this time? Just leave us
alone!"
"Darling, darling, what are you thinking, raising your voice to me
like that?" A female voice, literally dripping with condescension and
affected congeniality, but otherwise unfamiliar. It was clear that the owner was
known to Melusine, though, and vice versa.
"What do you want from me?"
Melusine demanded angrily.
"Calm down, dear," the woman said.
"Let's discuss this reasonably."
"There is nothing to discuss," Melusine
replied curtly.
"Are you sure? We may have common interests,
you know." That silenced Melusine for a moment, but when she spoke up again
her voice cut as a sharp icicle through the already freezing air.
"We do have common interests, or rather we used to have common
interests, mother, until you got it into your head to send that bunch of
assassins after me. Now get your bloody hands off Martin!" So the stranger
was no stranger after all. The voice was still unfamiliar, though, and I was
much too eager of course to find out who of my aunts it was not to have a little
peak around the corner. I was rather disappointed, however, for I had never seen
this woman before, and I was fairly sure that I would have remembered her if I
had. She had long silvery hair, wore dark practical clothes and, strangest of
all, had an intricate web of silvery lines stretched across her skin like the
work of some master tattooist. Suddenly I remembered what Murlas had told me
that first time I had been led to the Overshadow about everyone using pseudonyms
and disguises over here. There was still a good chance I would know her, then,
though in a different form than her current one. Whoever she was, she seemed in
complete control of the situation and brimming with confidence.
Melusine stood before the woman, tense and sword in hand, and beside the
woman I discerned a third shape, Martin, hanging suspended in a glowing silver
web of power. A couple of silver lines flowing from the woman's hands extended
towards the web, apparently as her means of control. Martin was visibly
struggling to release himself, but to no avail: the power of the web was just
too strong for him.
"Martin has got nothing to do with this," Melusine said, taking
a step fowards and raising her sword, "so let him go."
"Tssk, tssk," the woman said with a
disapproving shake of her head, "how many times have I told you not to
cultivate these kinds of weaknesses." She gave a slight tug on one of the
strings and Martin jerked in the web, crying out in pain.
Suddenly I heard a sound behind me and quickly I turned, expecting some
kind of ambush. Instead I saw Rinaldo cautiously coming closer, an inquisitive
look on his face. I gestured to him to be quiet, moved over and out of the
silver lady's earshot I explained what was going on. He sneaked over to the
corner to take a look for himself and returned with a slightly amused, slightly
puzzled smile.
"Doesn't look good," he whispered. "We have to get him out
of there,don't we? Yes, we'd better." As if he needed to ask.
"Okay, but how?" I asked.
"Well, that web seems to be some kind of power
thing," he mused. "Problem is that I'm not on familiar territory here.
Do you think you might be able to sense what it is? I could try and cast a
spell, but I'm afraid that it will be noticed and I'm not at all sure that it
will have the required effect. Maybe you have something a little more subtle we
could try?"
I heaved a sigh. Of course it always came down to me, I had to be the one
to help everyone out. Actually, I wasn't sure that I could actually do anything
in this place; last time I tried Pattern hadn't ammounted to much on the
Overshadow. And then I was not even thinking about the consequences of using
Pattern after recently having repaired the Logrus; boy, It was bound to be
holding a grudge! Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I crept back to the
corner and tried by simply concentrating to determine what kind of power the
woman was using, while she continued trying to press her daughter into doing
something that Melusine clearly had no intention of doing. I had to be very
careful that she would not notice me poking about, or we would be in worse
trouble than we were already.
The power of the web was strange at first, but also strangely familiar.
It took me a couple of minutes to realise, but then it became clear to me that
what the woman was using was simply her own strength of will or mental power,
but in a very concentrated form. Apparently one could really make one's thoughts
take shape here on the Overshadow. As a pure extension of its maker the web was
pretty strong, but it had its weaknesses. It reminded me a bit of the
power-weaving trick that my mother had taught me, but this weaving had clearly
been done in a hurry, and it was far from the elegant piece of precision work it
ought to have been. Yes, there was a weak spot,
and one slight tug would have the whole thing come undone. It was rather easy,
really, and in a way it surprised me that Martin had not figured this out for
himself. Then again he was too much caught up in the physical manifestation of
the power to worry much about the underlying theories involved. I guess that he
and Melusine were much more inexperienced when it came to the Overshadow than I
had taken them to be.
I silently returned to where Rinaldo was somewhat impatiently waiting for
me, and asked him whether he would stand ready to intervene with brute force
right after I had dispelled the web.
"Sure," he said, "but just out of
interest, what were you doing over there?"
"Later," I said. "First we have to
get Martin out of her clutches." He nodded and drew his sword.
We got back to the corner and I again began to concentrate. It seemed
rather easy, once you knew how to go about it. There was the weak spot, now just
one nudge and the fraying could begin. And within a matter of seconds the entire
web fell apart, dropping Martin on the floor below. The silver- haired woman
looked up in surprise and our sudden movements caught her eye. For one moment
our gazes met and I could see that she knew who I was. Great, just what I
needed.
Meanwhile, Rinaldo was charging towards the trio, leaving the woman
little time to do anything. She looked slightly peeved, then shrugged and
disappeared, using te same concentrated mental power that she had used to build
her web. Rinaldo slowed his advance and when he was convinced that our quarry
was gone he put his sword away. Melusine did the same thing, though I could see
that she was still rather worried.
Martin got up from the floor and from the look of it he was clearly less
than amused with what had gone before. Angrily he flew out at Melusine:
"This has been the last time! Is this what I kept my mouth shut to dad for?
I mean, she's tried to kill me, she's tried to kill you, how much more can you
take? Enough is enough, already!"
"This is between me and her," Melusine
shouted back, "so you keep out of it!" A fierce battle of words ensued
between them, with quantity prevailing over quality.
I looked at Rinaldo, he looked back, and we both shrugged. Then he
beckoned at me to come with him, away from the two combatants. I followed him
until the distance between us and them was great enough to ensure us not being
overheard.
"Listen," Rinaldo said, "there is something that you
should know. I have to confide in you, for I fear that those two are involved
somehow, and I do not altogether trust their motives." He looked at me with
a sense of urgency. "Dorian, I know this place. I have been here before,
years ago, when I was a little boy. My parents brought me here. I think that
this castle has something to do with my father. I don't know what those two are
doing here," he said, indicating the arguing twosome, "but I bet you
that it is nothing good. Actually, I would rather like to hear from them what
they are doing here, what they are looking for." He looked back at Melusine
and Martin with a pensive expression.
"About those earlier visits of yours," I said, "do you
have any specific memories, anything that might give us a clue?"
"There is but little I remember," he
sighed. "My father used to conduct some experiments in here. There were
several labs and lots of tables covered with papers. I remember breaking some
glass object and dad being very angry over it. My mother took me away, through
dark corridors..." He shook his head. "I think I would like to see
those labs of my father again. Perhaps I can find something useful there."
Hmm, should I tell him or shouldn't I? No, I guess I'd better do it.
There was still much that I might learn from him about this place, and if he
made any discoveries I should be there as a witness. A quick glance at Melusine
and Martin told me that they would be busy for a while. Good.
"Come along," I said, "I found something downstairs that
may interest you." We hurried away from our two cousins, down the stairs,
towards the room with the crystal globe.
"Yes, I remember this," Rinaldo said,
when he saw it. "This is a light stone. When you concentrate and look into
it, you will be able to see things that are somewhere else. The closer they are,
the easier it is."
"How does it work exactly?" I asked as I
stepped closer to the globe, intending to give it a try.
"I'm not sure," he said. "It's been
quite a long time, you know. I remember my mother doing something and then she
made me watch it. Just try concentrating on it, will you? It often helps in
cases like these. Chance is that it is something my father made and he always
used to rely more on raw mental power than on any kind of technical intricacies,
probably because he outmatched the others in that field."
Alright, let's see if my own meagre abilities were enough to get the
thing going. At first the globe just remained dark, like it had done before, but
then I noticed a sparkle in its depths, and when I focused
my full attention on it I felt that something was clicking into place. My
vision seemed to be linked to the globe now, to be directed by me as I saw fit.
I thought it better to start simple, with something or rather some people who I
trusted to be close by: Melusine and Martin. Suddenly I could see them, just as
if I were floating slightly above them in the corridor. There was no sound, but
it was plain to see that they were still at it. As I watched, something Melusine
said even got Martin so angry that he slapped her face hard. She wasn't going to
stand for that and immediately hit him back, with even greater force. Perhaps we
should head back to them and interfere before they realy did themselves some
harm? No, I first wanted to try out this globe a little bit more. With a
slightly dizzying sensation the vision shifted to the top of the castle, looking
outside over the frozen nocturnal fields. The snow storm seemed to have finally
ceased, but this also had some less pleasant consequences. Outside the castle I
saw the gound start to move as if a thousand armies of giant moles were
burrowing their way to the surface, and the imagery wasn't all that much
off-mark, because soon the first thin white shapes appeared from their shelter
and started scampering towards the castle walls. The howlers had resumed their
attack. A moment later my ears caught the faint notes of their plaintive call
echoing through the castle.
There wasn't much time, but there was one last thing that I wanted to
try, even though I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Meticulously I tried to
recollect the shape of that woman, Melusine's mother, in my mind's eye: long
silver hair, the silvery tattoos, the self-confident pose. It wasn't enough I
felt. If only I had got a closer look at her, or if I knew her true name. She
wouldn't be in the castle anymore, or I think I would have caught a glimpse of
her. On a hunch I tried focusing on the impression I had got of her mental power
from the silver web that had held Martin, and it worked. The vision was rather
hazy, though, but I did see her rummaging about on the deck of some big ship,
clearly trying to find something. The weather there was a lot finer than it was
over here, and it was also day instead of night, but I had the feeling that this
was still somewhere on the Overshadow. It had to be, for the woman looked just
like she had here in the castle, and I was sure that this had to be some kind of
Overshadow disguise.
With a slight feeling of reluctance I let the vision go and disconnected
myself from the globe. I would have liked to find out exactly what the woman had
been doing, but there was no time: we either had to get ready to face another
onslaught of howlers (even stronger than before? I hope not), or we had to get
out of here as quickly as possible.
"We have to get going," I said to
Rinaldo. "There's another attack coming."
"Well, let's find the others then," he
replied. "But in the meantime, let's keep an eye on them as well. If they
find anything of my father's in this place I'd rather you warn me. I don't want
anything to fall into the wrong hands."
He seemed awfully sincere in his concern, but I could sense that he was
trying to manipulate me just a little too much. Yes, cousin, Brand's legacy
should not fall into the wrong hands, but what makes you think that yours are
the right ones?