"I agree," said Llian coldly, "and we should examine your part too! Listen-Rulke is vulnerable, with only a few to defend him, and the construct faulty. The time to strike is now, if you are ever going to. Call Yggur up from Thurkad. A forced march could bring him here in less than a week. Call Shand as well. The three of you could stop him."

"Shand would not come," said Mendark, "even if we could get a message to Tullin in this weather. Even if Yggur came, leaving his empire unprotected, this is not a battle to be won with arms. To defeat Rulke we must match strength against strength, device against device, talent against talent. But we have no device, while he has his construct."

"It wasn't working properly," said Llian. "I can speak with some authority on gates, having gone through quite a few this year. He's afraid of us, and vulnerable."

"He's probably fixed it already! Such arrogance, a mere chronicler telling me what to do! Speak no more lies."

Llian was desperate. If they left it until after Rulke used the construct he would never see Karan again. But that argument would never convince this desiccated and frightened old man. He had one last try.

"Remember his prophecy," he cried, "after you flung him from Katazza. The dark moon will be full in six more days, on hythe."

Mendark made a dismissive gesture, which Llian misunderstood.

"Did you not see the moon a few hours ago, three-quarters full, in conjunction with the scorpion. That is a pointer..."

"Enough of your omens and pointers!" cried Mendark in fury. "How dare you lecture me, who have been Magister for a thousand years, on the phases of the moon. I've known it was this day all along."

"You must-" Llian cried desperately.

"No more; your chatter enrages me."

Mendark whipped the rope around Llian's hands again and gagged him so thoroughly that he could barely breathe. Tallia looked doubtful but Mendark spoke curtly in her ear, with much gesturing to the east, and to Carcharon, and at Llian as well. She answered him in a voice equally stiff, threw her pack over her back in one effortless movement, and was gone.

"She goes to take the alarm to Gothryme and Thurkad," said Mendark. "I stay to keep watch. You stay because there is nothing else to do with you."

The next days were unbearably nerve-racking. Several times each day, after securing Llian to a tree, Mendark slipped away. Once he was gone all night. On the fourth and fifth days after Tallia's departure he did not return until well after dawn. Llian was beginning to fear that he would starve to death while the world fell into ruin around him. Mendark said nothing further, in the brief moments that they were together, nor answered his incessant questions.

On the seventh morning, Mendark returned with a retinue. Tallia had come back. With her were Osseion, Yggur accompanied by Dolodha, Vartila the Whelm and a troop of guard, their backs bent under enormous loads. Shand was there too, as well as the Aachim from Gothryme and even Tensor in his litter. They too had noted the phase of the moon and what it foretold. Tensor was escorted by Asper and Llian's nemesis, Basitor. Nadiril was also in the party, along with Lilis and Jevi.

They met on a hill which gave a view of forest and river and lake, and in the other direction the ridge and Carcharon and the white slopes beyond which seemed to go up forever.

Shand and Nadiril, friends once more it seemed, slowly climbed up to them. Lilis was holding Nadiril's hand, looking anxious for his health. Jevi held her other hand.

"Aren't you going to rescue Karan?" cried Lilis, jumping up and down.

"We don't have the strength, child," said Nadiril, warming blue fingers over the fire. "Hush now, until we find out what Rulke's defenses are. and the number of his forces. Nothing is going to happen while it is light. What's going on here, Llian?"

Llian told how Karan had brought him back to life, and her plan to go to Carcharon to save him and Gothryme from Rulke.

"That's Karan all over," said Shand. "I've no trouble believing the story."

"You challenged Rulke to a telling?" whispered Nadiril afterward. "Oh, tell me! What a tale-omit not a single word. I feel almost young again at the thought." And indeed his face was quite animated.

Llian told Rulke's tale and his own, and the aftermath, to the astonishment of all and the delight of Lilis, who sat at his feet in the snow in an attitude of hero worship.

"Set him free," said Nadiril. "Every word he spoke is truth. When this is over, Llian, there is an honored place for you at the Great Library."

Llian could scarcely believe that the months of ostracism were over, that he was accepted again at last. Even Basitor shook Llian's hand.

In the afternoon they headed up the dangerous track to the amphitheater, the Aachim bearing firewood on their backs. There was no sign of life or movement at Carcharon. As moonrise grew nearer the tension drew tight as a bowstring.

"So that is Carcharon," said Yggur, who looked as if the scorpion was about to strike him again. "What a mad, evil place."

"I've not been here since Karan's father was killed," said Tensor.

"I'd heard he was killed on the path to Shazmak," said Llian.

"Only in the general sense of the term. He died at the very doors of Carcharon. It never made any sense. There's nothing to attract thieves and vagabonds up here. Lift me up," said Tensor.

Asper took one end of the litter and another Aachim, yellow-haired Xarah, the other. They raised him high. Tensor stared at Carcharon for a long time. He looked up at the moon. "Doom!" he said. "And now Karan is up there. She won't come back either! Put me down again."

As they lowered him, Xarah slipped on an ice-glazed rock. The litter tilted and tipped. Tensor instinctively snatched at Llian's coat to save himself. His grasp tore the buttons off and the chain Llian wore about his neck broke. The jade amulet fell onto the snow. In the dim light it gleamed a luminous green.

"What's that?" cried Yggur and Shand together.

"It's a good-luck amulet that my mother gave me," said Llian, stooping to pick it up.

Yggur's boot went over it, then he bent and reached for it himself. He snatched back his hand as though stung. "No, it's not!" he said. "It's enchanted."

"Faelamor did something to it in Shazmak," said Llian, "though Malien took that charm off on the way to Katazza."

"So I did," said Malien. She picked up the amulet without taking any harm from it, and held it to her eye. "It's like the one you had before, but this one has the mark of Rulke. In some strange way it is Rulke. This is a deadly thing, Llian; where did you get it?"

"I've had it since I was twelve."

"Not this you haven't. It's come out of the Nightland and Rulke made it, that's certain."

"What is it for?" said Shand. "An ear that can hear from afar? He might have heard all our councils. He might be listening to us now. Oh, this is rankest treachery!"

"It's not an ear," said Nadiril. "It's just-"

"Shackle him," cried Yggur, all his terrors coming back. "Why did you not heed me before?"

"Hold on," said Nadiril. "Let's not allow fear to overrule our common sense."

Everyone examined the amulet, save Yggur who could not touch it, and Tensor who would not.

"What do you think, Mendark?" asked Shand, passing it over.

"I agree that it has the mark of Rulke, though I can't sense any harm in it."

"Give it here," said Nadiril. He inspected it for a long time. "Shand is right. This could be deadly and until we know exactly what it is, precautions must be taken. I'm sorry, Llian." He tossed it down and ground it under his boot, but it merely sank into the snow.

In a few brief minutes Llian had passed from euphoria back to despair. He stood spread-legged while a stormy Basitor put iron shackles on him. The freezing metal burned Llian's skin. Mendark thrust the key into his pocket.

Llian sank down into the snow, oblivious to everything. He was finished this time.

The amulet had shattered the company. They milled about on the back rim of the amphitheater. No one had any plans or any ideas. The sun began to go down behind the mountains, bleaching the rugged range into black cut-outs against the purple sky. Carcharon became a gothic nightmare dark against the snow.

A little shadow appeared beside him. "Llian," came Lilis's high voice.

"Yes?" he said.

"I believe you, Llian." She thrust her cold hand into his. There was something hard in it.

Llian hugged her to him. "What's that?"

"It's my knife. Hold still while I get these chains off. Then I'll make a diversion while-"

"Thank you, Lilis, but I can't. Karan is up there. I can't leave her."

Lilis stood with him until it was fully dark, a glow beyond the eastern horizon heralding moonrise. As if they had been set ablaze by the motion of a single lever, lights sprang up in every room of Carcharon, dark red flares that shed an uneven and wavering illumination. The dark moon itself could have been rising inside the fortress.

The lights faded; the tower went black, then as though stimulated by the flares, the weird projections on the outside of the tower glowed faintly luminous. They faded. Momentarily Carcharon was surrounded by a shimmering green aura. There was a drawn-out instant's silence.

Without warning a sun lit up the very top of the tower, sending out splinter-bursts of magenta light that had them shielding their eyes. The tower began to deform, waves pulsing through the stone walls. The waves rolled up and down, faster and faster until the whole tower vibrated like a tuning fork. The foundations began to give out a reverberating rumble, so low that the rock beneath their feet shivered in sympathy.

The rumble became a hum, then it shot up the register, now a squeal like fingernails on a blackboard, then a shriek like a knife skating across a windowpane. A gold filling in one of Llian's teeth vibrated, a horrible itchy ache. The noise became the high-pitched wailing of a million bodiless souls abandoned in the void, and rose beyond their hearing.

Silence fell suddenly. Everyone could feel the pressure building. Then the spiny helmet-roof of the tower of Carcharon burst open, spraying green slate through the air like confetti. Broken slate rained down on the snow. The brass helmet became unseamed, and each segment curved outward on its arches, folding down like the petals of an opening flower.

Something dark thrust its way up through the wreckage of beams and brass and metal that had supported the roof. Something that bent the light all around it to a focus: a lens of light that stared at the company like an unforgiving eye.

It was the construct, and Rulke stood on the top of it, holding the levers in one casual hand. Standing beside him, small and pale but with her red hair flaming in the unearthly light, stood Karan.

"Karan!" Llian screamed. She stared straight through him and did not reply.

Mendark stood like a mummified raptor, bony hands hanging in hooked curves, sunken eyes staring. In his despair the renewal was failing rapidly. "No!" he whispered, and fell down on the ice.

The construct swung around in mid-air so that the light lens pointed directly toward the company. Between Llian's feet the amulet burst into flame and melted its way down through the snow.

"Go back!" cried Malien to Rulke in a frail voice. "You cannot stand against us."

"Can't anybody do something?" wept Llian.

"Not here; not against that," said Yggur, surprising everyone with his calmness. The moment he had dreaded for so long had finally arrived. He had resolved to face his fears and die.

Rulke said nothing. His silence mocked their helplessness more than any words could have. Then he flung his arm out, pointing straight as a lance over their shoulders.

Llian turned to the east. The shackles seared his ankles and he stumbled, clutching at Lilis's shoulder. The clouds were gone; it was a cold clear night. Dark patches of forest were visible in the starlight, and a glittering cable marked the path of the Black Lake stream through the forest. His upraised hand was trembling. The others followed the direction of his gaze beyond the silver stream, beyond the forests all the way to the curve of the horizon.

The moon was rising, its huge blotched face lurching into the sky, seeming to hang there a moment as if the climb was beyond it. A dark red spot had moved up to its uppermost rim. Llian caught his breath. Now there was only a finger's breadth to rise, now only a sliver. Now the whole great circle hung in the sky, the horizon a tangent. And there they saw it: the matching black spot, the smaller twin, touching the horizon. The twins were visible at once. And it was midwinter's night. The dark face of the full moon was in hythe.

"The first since the fall of Skane," said Shand. "One thousand eight hundred and thirty years ago. And that too was foretold."

They all fell to their knees. The weight of the prophecy pushed them down into the snow.

"All hope is lost," said Shand. "The one who was to be the Restorer is dead."

THE END.

OF VOLUME THREE.

VOLUME FOUR.

THE WAY BETWEEN.

THE WORLDS.

concludes The View From The Mirror Quartet.

GLOSSARY.

OF CHARACTERS, NAMES AND PLACES.

Aachan: One of the Three Worlds, the world of the Aachim and, after its conquest, the Charon.

Aachim: The human species native to Aachan, who were conquered by the Charon. The Aachim are a clever people, great artisans and engineers, but melancholy and prone to hubris. After they were brought to Santhenar the Aachim flourished, but were betrayed and ruined in the Clysm, and withdrew from the world to their vast mountain fortress cities.

Aftersickness: Sickness that people suffer after using the Secret Art, or being close when someone else uses such power, or even after using a native talent. Sensitives are very prone to it.

Alcifer: The last and greatest of Rulke's cities, designed by Pitlis the Aachim.

Almadin: A dry land across the sea from Thurkad.

Ashmode: An ancient town looking over the Dry Sea.

Asper: An Aachim healer, one of Tensor's company.

Assembly: The puppet government of Thurkad, dominated by the Magister on the one hand and the Governor of the city on the other.

Bannador: A long, narrow and hilly land on the western side of Iagador. Karan's homeland.

Basitor: A bitter Aachim who survived the sacking of Shazmak.

Bel Gorst: A pirate captain living in Crandor.

Benie: Cook's boy at Gothryme Manor.