CHAPTER ONE
The Chosen rarely entered the Underfolk levels of the Castle. As long as their servants continued to work, they ignored them. Long ago there had been Chosen overseers who regularly inspected all seven Underfolk levels and even the odd chambers and workrooms below the lowest level. But in the past hundred years or more, only the occasional adult Chosen would wander through, though bands of Chosen children would sometimes explore for a few hours.
All that changed in a moment. Without warning, scores of Chosen were spreading out across the seventh and lowest of the Underfolk levels. Most of them wore the gold Sunstone-set bracers of the Empress's Guard and held naked swords in their hands.
As they pushed open doors and ran down corridors, their shouts filled the air and their Spiritshadows flickered across every floor and wall. Sunstones flashed brightly, illuminating dark corners and possible hiding places. If anything moved, the light was followed by bolts of incandescence that incinerated caveroaches, rats, and whatever else fled from their intensive search.
The Underfolk stopped and stood still as stone while the hunting parties of Chosen scoured their workrooms and caverns. They knew that this was the safest thing to do. But not all Underfolk realized the danger, or were quick enough to stop and identify themselves. One old, very deaf woman did not hear the command to stop as she limped along a dimly lit corridor. The guard did not shout twice, but followed the command with a Red Ray of Destruction from his Sunstone.
When the body was revealed to be an old woman--not one of the fugitives the guards sought--there was no apology or explanation. The guards simply moved away, their needle-waisted Spiritshadows sliding after them. The body, like everything else destroyed, ruined, or discarded by the Chosen, would be cleaned up by the Under-folk.
In the chamber where the Castle's fifty-six level laundry chute ended, the Chosen in charge of this unprecedented search of the Underfolk levels sat at ease on a pile of laundry bags, eating dried shrimps from a pocket in his sleeve.
At first sight he seemed like a normal Chosen. His Sunstones and glowing staff declared him to be a Brightblinder, the Deputy Lumenor of the Orange Order, and a Shadowmaster of the Empress. His face was plump and his mouth was small and cruel, but he was otherwise undistinguished.
His Spiritshadow was more imposing. A thing of spikes and sharp edges, it was taller than a man. Its head bore two horns and, in addition to a mouth of many fangs, it had four upper limbs that each ended in a cluster of hooked claws. It stood upright on two lesser-clawed legs and paced behind its master's seat of laundry bags, as if it cared more about the objects of this search than his master. In the light of so many Sunstones, it almost seemed to be made of solid, jet-black flesh, rather than shadow.
The fat, shrimp-eating man was not a normal Chosen. He gave orders to the guards as they came and went, and all of them were Chosen of higher Order and rank. There were Chosen of the Blue, Indigo, and Violet, but all bowed their heads before this Orange Chosen and gave a respectful flash of light from their Sunstones.
Most bowed low enough that they did not have to look at the gaping wound in his chest, a ghastly fist-sized hole that they could see right through, from front to back. The hole did not bleed and this strange Chosen showed no discomfort from it, though the Merwin-horn sword that had punched so easily through bone and flesh had been withdrawn less than an hour before.
That sword lay at his feet now, gently glowing. There was no blood on it.
Shadowmaster Sushin settled farther back on his makeshift seat and ate the last of the shrimps. Then he rubbed his hands on a Yellow robe that was poking out the top of one of the laundry bags and looked at the latest guard who had come back to report--a Shadowlord of the Violet.
"We've lost them," said the guard, her head bowed. "They went into a belish root forest and disappeared. We're clearing the roots, but there is no sign of them."
The guard's Spiritshadow shrank back as its mistress spoke, so that it almost hid behind her, though its broad shoulders were wider than any human's by at least a stretch.
Sushin frowned.
"Keep searching, Ethar," he said. "Make sure the Underfolk understand that they are to report any sign of the fugitives. I am returning upward to attend to… other matters. Remember, I want them both dead and the bodies and clothing destroyed. But their Sunstones are to be returned to me. That is most important. We must not risk losing their Sunstones."
Ethar looked up, straight at the hole in Sushin's chest. She seemed about to speak, but Sushin stopped her. He raised his hand, displaying a particularly large and vibrant Sunstone ring that shone with the purest Violet, dimming the light from the other rings on his hand.
"Do you question my orders, Shadowlord--or my authority?"
Ethar stared for a second longer, then looked away.
"No, Sushin," she said finally. "I know with whose voice you speak."
She turned away and gestured to the guards who were keeping a respectful distance. As they left, Sushin chuckled and mumbled something too soft for Ethar to hear.
"Do you, Ethar? Do you really?"
CHAPTER TWO
""No, you push the lever in and turn it at the same time," said Tal as Adras, his Spiritshadow, once again pawed ineffectually at the handle of the hatch. "Look, I'll do it."
He started to climb back, but Adras finally managed to work the handle out. The hatch shut behind them.
"Now I want you to twist the handle off," said Tal. There wasn't any lock on the hatch, but if Adras pulled the handle off it might jam the mechanism. Nobody would be able to follow them down.
"Need light," Adras puffed as he wrenched at the handle. "Not strong enough."
Tal made sure his foothold was secure before extending his hand. The Sunstone set in the ring he wore flashed orange and then turned to white, steadily growing brighter and brighter.
With the light, Adras became more clearly defined. A Storm Shepherd from the spirit world of Aenir, here on the Dark World he was a free Spiritshadow, hound to be with Tal, but not necessarily to obey him. It was a situation Tal regretted most of the time.
The billowing cloud of shadow was vaguely manlike, but twice the size of Tal. One mighty arm heaved and the lever broke off in his hands. He was about to drop it when Tal shouted.
"No! Pass it to me! Milla and Odris are below us, remember?"
"Sorry," Adras said as he passed the broken lever to Tal. Tal put it in his pocket, sighed, and recommenced his downward climb.
Tal had found the hatch only by accident, stubbing his toe on the lip as they raced through one of the vast caverns where the Underfolk cultivated thousands of ugly strings of the root vegetable they called belish. Tal had never liked eating belish and pushing through a thick forest of muddy belish roots wasn't much fun, either. But the accidental discovery of the hatch had made it all worthwhile. The guards had been closing in.
Now Tal was in a narrow tube leading down at a forty-five-degree angle. There was no proper ladder, but spikes had been driven into the stone close enough together to use as foot- and handholds. There was no permanent light, either, no Sunstones set in the walls, floor, or ceiling. To get light, Tal pointed his Sunstone down and an answering light flashed back up from Milla's Sunstone, twin to his own.
Milla was descending quickly, wasting no time. The Icecarl girl was now totally focused on leaving the Castle and returning to the ice. She believed that she had made wrong decisions and sailed a wrong course. The Spiritshadow at her side was a constant reminder of her pride and failure. Only on the ice could she atone for her misdeeds.
That Spiritshadow followed her now. Like Adras, Odris had been a Storm Shepherd less than a day before
, but that had been in the spirit world of Aenir. Here in the Dark World she was Milla's Spiritshadow--and having a Spiritshadow was against every Icecarl rule and custom.
Milla believed the loss of her ordinary shadow meant the end of her dream to be a Shield Maiden… and probably the end of her life as well. Only the need to inform the Crones about what was going on in the Castle and Aenir would prevent her from giving herself to the Ice as soon as she got out of the Castle.
But first they all had to get away from Sushin and the guards. Then they had to find Tal's great-uncle Ebbitt and try to make sense of everything they'd learned. Not that Ebbitt was ever much help in making sense of things, Tal thought. But he might be able to explain what the Keystones were, how they controlled the Veil, and how Tal's father, Rerem, could be affected by the Orange Keystone… What was it the Codex had said?
He is the Guardian of the Orange Keystone. It has been unsealed and so he does not live. Until or unless the Orange Keystone is sealed again, he does not live. If it is sealed, he will live again.
There was also Gref--Tal's brother--to think about. Tal had almost rescued him, but was foiled at the last moment by Sushin's tricks. Gref had been poisoned or somehow put into a coma. Just like Tal's mother, Graile… though she had been sick for a long time.
Tal had tried so hard to help his family, to live up to his father's wish that he look after them. But whatever he did, something always went wrong. In the beginning he thought all he had to do was get a new Sunstone, and that was hard enough.
Life was a lot harder now.
Distracted by these thoughts, Tal didn't hear Milla call out to him from down below, until his Spiritshadow tapped him quite hard on the head.
"Ow!"
"Milla says there's a drop into water," Adras reported, his voice too loud, as usual. Even as a Spiritshadow, he retained the characteristics of a Storm Shepherd. He boomed rather than spoke, and shadow-lightning crackled around his eyes and fingers.
Tal looked down, shining his Sunstone. Milla had stopped and was shining her Sunstone farther into the tunnel. Something reflected back, quite a long way from them. What water could it be? Tal frowned, trying to remember long-ago lessons about the layout of the Castle.
They were climbing down from the seventh Underfolk level, which was filled with various workrooms, vegetable and fungus farms, and manufactories. The seventh was the lowest complete Underfolk level, except for some isolated forges and… the fish pools.
That was what lay underneath them. One of the huge pools where the Underfolk farmed fish. Yellowscale and finners for the Chosen's tables, and the translucent shrimps that were such a delicacy when dried. Sometimes there were eels in the ponds, too, but they were considered vermin by the Chosen, left to the Underfolk to eat.
"It's shallow!" Tal shouted down to Milla. "Don't jump."
Milla scowled back at him, and jumped anyway.
Rut she jumped holding on to Odris. Even as Spiritshadows, the Storm Shepherds retained some of their cloud characteristics. Milla floated like a feather, with Odris spread out in a great billow of darkness above her.
Milla splashed down gently, the water only up to her waist. She raised her hand and increased the light from her Sunstone. She hadn't had the stone very long, but Tal noticed she was rapidly gaining better control of it, even though he'd given her only the briefest of lessons. He found this unsettling. Only the Chosen were supposed to be able to use Sunstones.
It was yet another part of his world and his beliefs that had started to come apart at the seams. Tal wasn't sure what was true anymore. Most of what he'd been taught in the Lectorium seemed to be half-truths or only part of the whole picture. It was almost as if the main purpose of his schooling had been to blind him to wider knowledge, rather than teach him.
"Come on!" Milla ordered.
Tal sighed and climbed down to the last spike, then reached up to take Adras's hand. The Spiritshadow accepted it absently and let go just as Tal was about to drop.
"Hold on to me!" Tal said. "And you need to puff up, so we can float down."
"Sorry," boomed Adras. "I was thinking about home."
"Well, don't," Tal muttered.
This time, the Spiritshadow did as he was told, hanging on to Tal and puffing up so they made a controlled descent.
Even so, Tal cried out as they hit the water. In the dash to escape, he'd momentarily forgotten the pain from the Waspwyrm sting. The jar of landing and the cool water sent a jab of pain right through him, and he stumbled forward, almost sinking underwater.
Adras hauled him up, and Milla and Odris looked around.
"Are you all right?" Odris asked.
Characteristically, Milla didn't say anything. Tal knew that she would never have cried out from something as simple as pain. He gritted his teeth and stood upright, wincing as his leg spasmed.
"I'm fine," he said, though it took an effort to speak. "Let's go."
"Where?" asked Milla. She held her Sunstone ring high so that its light spread out all around them, illuminating a wide circle of shimmering water. Beyond that circle was darkness.
Tal turned his head, looking all around. The fish ponds were extremely large, he knew, some of them two or three thousand stretches in diameter. But there would be a dock or platform somewhere, sothe fish, once caught, could be boxed and transported up to the storehouses and kitchens.
The only problem was knowing in which direction that dock lay.
CHAPTER THREE
"Douse your light," Milla said suddenly. She tared at her Sunstone ring. When the light did not fade fast enough, she covered it with her other hand. Cal, who was properly trained, made his wink out in a second.
"Why?" Tal whispered as they stood in the darkness. For some reason the whole cavern seemed much quieter without light, and he didn't want to disturb that silence.
Milla's only answer was a slight splashing sound. ;he was moving around.
"I don't like this," said Adras. "I feel weak."
"I feel sick," said Odris. "Like being thirsty back on Aenir."
"It's only for a moment," Milla told them. Her voice startled Tal, coming from behind him and farther out than he expected. "Ah, I have it now."
Light flared on her hand again. Tal let his Sunstone surge in answer.
"Have what?" he asked.
"There is light over there," said Milla, pointing. "And I heard something, too. But it is distant. This cavern… this fish pond… is very large."
"It could be the biggest one," said Tal. "There are three, I think."
Vague and unpleasant memories of childhood tales were coming back to him. Something about the big fish pond and enormous eels, each ten stretches long and with an appetite to match.
He remembered laughing as a child at the thought of Underfolk being surprised by a giant eel. It didn't seem so funny now that he was wading in the fish pond.
Something brushed his waist and Tal yelped and leapt back. In that same second, he recognized what it was. A weed. A thick black rope of seaweed, with huge bulbous air nodes that kept it floating on the surface.
Milla lifted up a strand. "This is different from the seaweeds we harvest under the Ice. I don't think this can be eaten."
"Definitely not," said Tal, grimacing in distaste. He pushed the weed away. It was slimy, it smelled bad--and there was a lot more of it to wade through.
As Tal moved the weed away, he saw a face in the water. He almost flinched as he saw it, thinking someone else was creeping up behind him, before he realized who it was.
It was his own reflection, but so different from the last time he'd looked in a proper mirror that he almost didn't recognize himself. That had been only a few weeks before, but so much had happened.
The young Chosen boy with the slightly scraggly dark brown hair and lopsided smile was gone. In his place there was someone Tal would have once described as a wild man. His hair was crazier and dirtier and there was a broad stripe down the middle that was bright green, the resu
lt of an encounter with a monster in Aenir. His face appeared to be permanently set in a tense expression that was half scowl and half frown. He looked quite a lot older than his almost fourteen years.
"Come on," said Milla.
Tal realized he'd been staring at his reflection. He looked across at Milla and noticed that she had changed, too. She had discarded her temporary disguise of a Chosen matron's Yellow robe, and openly wore her Icecarl furs and Selski-hide armor. She still had her white-blond hair tied back. But something had changed.
It took him a moment to realize that the change was in her gray eyes. The fierceness had gone out of them, as if some spark had been lost.
Only then did Tal understand that she really was going to give herself to the Ice. When he'd thought he was saving her life--and his own--by agreeing to take the two Storm Shepherds as Spiritshadows, he had only postponed Milla's fate. She would take her own life because she had lost her own shadow and gained a Spiritshadow instead.
"Come on!" Milla repeated. She started wading off through the water, pausing every now and then to push apart particularly difficult strands of the bulbous seaweed.
Tal followed more slowly. He felt incredibly tired all of a sudden. Everything felt like it was too hard. No matter what he did, he made things worse. Now he knew he had to make sure Milla survived. The only way he could think of doing that was to stop her leaving the Castle, which would be totally against her wishes. And going against Milla's wishes was almost never a good idea.
Perhaps Ebbitt would be able to figure something out, Tal thought wearily.
Ebbitt. They had to find Ebbitt--wherever he was--before the guards caught up with them.
Or caught up with Ebbitt, Tal suddenly thought. That hadn't occurred to him before.
He groaned. Milla, Adras, and Odris all stopped and looked at him.
"What is it?" Milla asked. She already had her bone knife in her hand, drawn in an instant. Tal shook his head.
"Nothing. I just realized how stupid this is. We're looking for Ebbitt but we don't know where he is or what we can do once we find him. There are guards everywhere, not to mention Sushin, whatever in Light's name he actually is. We're in a scum-filled fish pond. I haven't done anything right and I don't understand what's going on…"