Adras was still wrapped around his arm and Sun-stone, absorbing light. His shadowflesh was slowly darkening, but he had been very close to death. Tal didn't want to think what would happen to him if his Spiritshadow died.
The veil looked strange when they came to it. It cut through the walls of the Tower as if they weren't there. It looked like the stair descended into a pool of the inkiest, darkest water.
Crow hesitated at the veil and listened to Lokar, the Keystone held to his ear. Then he plunged straight down, his hand tracing the wall.
Tal paused, too, and concentrated on his Sun-stone, releasing a burst of incredibly bright and powerful light. Adras absorbed it and only a dull glow spread out from Tal's hand.
"Are you ready for the veil?" Tal asked. "Yes," whispered Adras. "Go quickly!"
Tal took a deep breath, reached out to touch the wall himself, and stepped down.
One step, two steps, three steps… and the veil closed over his face.
Tal was in total darkness. He kept on stepping down, grazing his fingers as he pushed hard against the wall, reassuring himself that it was there.
Ten steps… eleven steps… twelve steps… panic started to rise in Tal. The veil seemed thicker here. Surely it was taking longer than before. This should be easier than climbing through it.
He took the stairs more quickly, almost falling in his eagerness to get through. He lost count of the steps and began to take them two at a time.
He had to get out of the veil!
Suddenly, he was out. Crow looked up at him from farther down the narrow, winding stair, the Red Keystone glowing in his hand.
Tal swallowed and slowly stood upright. He'd hunched down to an almost animal posture in his desperation to get lower, to get through the Veil.
"Are you all right?" he asked Adras. The Spiritshadow was still wound around his arm, and wasn't moving.
"Yes," came the weak reply. "Sick. Light is good." "Let's go," called Crow. He was clearly in a hurry.
At the base of the stair, where a secret panel opened out into a colorless corridor, they had to wait for a pair of Spiritshadows to pass. With the panel open a crack, Tal and Crow watched them disappear around the corner.
One was a Klenten Warbeast. It had a massive head armored with flanges of thick bone, set upon immense shoulders. It ran as often on four legs as two. The other was a Dretch, the stick insect-and-spider combination, like his cousins'. But this Spiritshadow was larger and its shadowflesh was stronger and more defined.
Tal bit his lip with worry. All the Spiritshadows in the Castle should be with their Chosen. These two were free shadows, like the ones in the Red Tower. How many Aenirans were already roaming around the Castle while the Chosen were in Aenir? They were confident to simply walk the corridors didn't expect to meet any opposition.
"I think Sushin must be very close to destroying the veil," Tal whispered to Crow. "There are so many Spiritshadows already here. We need to talk to Lokar about this as soon as we get somewhere safe."
"Maybe," replied Crow. He seemed distracted. "Look, there's another one!"
Tal bent to look through the gap. The next thing he felt was a terrible shock to the back of his head and an intense pain.
Dimly he realized that Crow had hit him with the hilt of his knife. He tried to get up, but there was no strength in his muscles. He couldn't see properly, either. Everything was blurry and the walls and floor were swaying.
"Nothing personal, Tal," said Crow, his voice coming from high up and far away. "If you weren't a Chosen you'd be all right. But you are a Chosen, and I've got things to do with this Keystone that you wouldn't agree with."
Tal groaned. He could feel Adras struggling to form himself and attack Crow, but the Spiritshadow was still too weak.
A glint of steel caught Tal's eye and a terrible jolt of fear shot through him.
"No," he tried to say as Crow bent down next to him, his knife in his hand.
"Your people killed my parents and drove my brother crazy," whispered Crow. "My grandparents went into the Hall of Nightmares, too, and were never the same. It is… justice… to kill any Chosen."
Despite his words, Crow did not make any move with the knife. He just sat there, looking at Tal.
Their gaze met. Tal couldn't see or think properly, but it wasn't hate he saw in Crow's eyes. It was fear, though there was nothing for Crow to fear here.
Except himself. The Freefolk boy looked away from Tal, toward the knife in his hand. The steel glittered, red in the light from the Keystone.
"Sorry," Crow said abrubtly. "Don't come after me."
He stood up, looked through the gap again, then slipped out into the corridor.
Tal groaned and felt his head. There was no blood, but it hurt a lot. Pushing against the floor with his hands, he managed to stagger upright.
Adras tried to help him, but there was no strength in his body. Chosen and Spiritshadow leaned together and fell against the wall.
"What do we do now?" Adras asked plaintively.
"We get the Keystone back," said Tal grimly. Using the wall as a prop, he edged to the panel and looked out. Crow was just disappearing around a corner opposite the one the Spiritshadows had taken.
"Come on," he said, pushing himself off with an effort. He was still dizzy, but he could walk. Crow was not going to get away with the Keystone that easily.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Crow was gone by the time Tal managed to get to the corner. The corridor stretched into the distance, the bright white light of the Sunstones set in its ceiling painful to Tal's damaged head. There were lots of corridors joining it, leading off into Red One or Orange Seven
.
But Crow wouldn't have taken those, Tal knew. He would head straight for the closest Underfolk store or service-way.
Still stumbling, Adras hooked onto his belt like a blind follower, Tal weaved his way down the corridor. He was kept going by the fury that burned inside him. How dare Crow hit him! It was a coward's hit, too. At least Milla had always hit him face-to-face.
He flung open the first Underfolk door he came to, Sunstone ring raised, already burning with Red light. But this was only a long closet full of spare robes, cleaning equipment, and the like.
Tal was about to back out when his eyes caught the flash of something behind the robes hanging at the back. A faint glimpse of some Red light, only for an instant. The Red light of the Keystone.
He rushed over and pulled the robes away in a frenzy. There was a door behind them, now closed. It had no handle or obvious means of opening.
Tal didn't look for one. He raised his hand and focused his rage upon his Sunstone. Red light answered, a thick, burning ray that flashed out at the door.
Tal retreated as liquid metal flew. He clenched his fist, ring outward, and directed the beam in a wide circle.
In a moment, he had cut the metal door in half. Whatever lock it had once had was now melted into a blob. Tal picked up a mop handle and used it to smash the remnants of the smoking door aside before going through.
A small room lay beyond, and a familiar, larger metal door, locked by a wheel. It was an entryway to the steam pipes of the castle. A few stretches away on the same wall was another narrow stairway, an inspection-way for the steam system.
Crow was at the top of the stairs. He turned as he saw Tal. "I told you not to follow me!"
"Give me the Keystone!" ordered Tal. He kept his Sunstone raised. The red glare of it was a clear warning.
"No," said Crow. "The Freefolk need it." "Why?" asked Tal. "Why bash me in the head? I might have agreed with you."
Crow let out a short, bitter laugh. "A Chosen agree with what I plan! Listen, Tal. I've had a Sunstone for five years. I got it off… well, I got it. But no one will teach me how to use it properly. Sure, Jarnil's showed me a few tricks, and your great-uncle Ebbitt. But they're afraid. Afraid to let a Freefolk into their secrets. But now I've got Lokar and she'll teach me anything, just so long as I talk to her. It's lonely inside that stone. Nothing ever happens. You can go crazy in there."