The stair again narrowed as we sc.r.a.ped our way up through a trap-door in the floor of a new cave. Here the like of those veins of crystal caught light that served the shelter latticed the walls, so we could see we had entered what might be the interior of a large bubble.

The walls supported no shelves or marks, nor was there any sign of permanent occupancy. Directly opposite the mouth of the well through which we had entered was a single break in a curve of wall, too well shaped to have been fashioned by nature. An arch opened, affording a view of honest twilight.

Zolan shed his pack and wordlessly headed for that opening, to be swiftly joined by Climber; then both disappeared from sight. I sought to follow, only to strike, just at the arched doorway, an obstruction. My sweeping hands discovered an invisible barrier. Neither man nor beast had been halted by this ward, but as Bina and Cilla crowded up, the obstruction, felt rather than seen, was was present. We could no more push through it than we would have been able to breach an iron-bound door. present. We could no more push through it than we would have been able to breach an iron-bound door.

"Trapped!" My Send melded into identical a.s.sessments from my sisters.

We might be able to retrace our way, but for the dangers of the swamp. I stretched the fingers of my right hand, still clutching the Power stone with my left.

Power-shared, enhanced by all the energy we three could raise- Even as I shaped the Send, I gasped and whirled half around, propelled by a potent force I could neither see nor truly measure, back against the curve of the wall.

I struck that new barrier and slipped to the cave floor.

Sabina

As Tam collapsed, Cilla and I endured flows from the edges of the same Power that had sent her reeling back. The light of the crystal veins blinked out for me, and I swayed, but did not fall. Our Powers, such as they were-and none of us, I was sure, could tell how far our individual Talents extended-had been used to back Tam. However, that return surge must have been aimed mainly at her.

Slowly sight returned to me. Cilla caught at my arm. I grasped her hand and together we tottered, feeling utterly sapped of Power in body, toward Tam, who was lying still against the wall.

I had not rid myself of my pack when Zolan had shed his and, as I half fell, half settled by my sister, I dropped it free of my shoulders, tugging at its latching. Whether any of the remedies I had brought could aid Tam, I did not know-I could only try.

Cilla loosed her hold on me to draw Tam's body up a little, supporting it against her own. Tam's eyes were wide open, but unfocused, and she lay limp in Cilla's hold. Mercifully, the first cold fear that had clutched me as she fell was unfounded: she still lived.

I dug out the poor healing aids I had and tried to use them.

"She is so cold-" Cilla drew Tam into a closer embrace. "When the fire is gone-there is aching cold."

"No!" I cried out.

With Cilla's help, I managed to get Tam's mouth open a little and drop into it some of the liquid I had put together, hoping it was indeed an adequate restorative. She did swallow and, by that small response, rea.s.sured me a little.

However, she needed warmth. We, too, were shivering and my hands were growing stiff. Cilla gently rested Tam's head on her pack and, as she did, I saw one of Tam's hands slip to her side. It was curled into a fist and, when I sighted it, I was certain I knew what she held.

Cilla arose to make her way once more to the portal, where she pa.s.sed her hands up and down. I knew by that gesture she discovered that the barrier was still in place.

Meanwhile, I pried Tam's clenched fingers apart. She did hold the stone from the ruins. I had no promise that what I would do might aid her; I could only hope.

As I took the strange talisman firmly into my own grasp, grateful for the warmth it held, I waved to Cilla to bring her back.

"Hold her; we can share body warmth. I will make use of this-" I showed the stone.

"What will that do?"

"I do not know," I returned truthfully. "But it is somehow bonded to Tam"-I held it between both hands now-"and is a thing of Power. She has been drained, and perhaps can be restored."

I began at Tam's head, holding the stone steady against her forehead, drawing it back and forth. Over her eyes and mouth I repeated that touch, then moved it above her throat. Without any suggestion from me, Cilla leaned over and loosened the lacings that fastened Tam's jerkin.

Across my sister's shoulders, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, I drew the artifact; then I brought it to rest where I could feel a slow, weak heartbeat. There I held it. I could have shouted aloud when I felt heat spreading out from the talisman to warm her chill flesh.

"She is warmer," Cilla reported suddenly and, even as she did so, Tam sighed and her eyes closed, no longer held in that blank stare. .

Though Tam now appeared to be sleeping, we did not leave her, rather settled close beside her, that our body warmth might aid in her recovery. I left the Stone lying over her heart, to ensure that any Power that might return to her through it would come directly to that seat of life.

However, now that our first fears had been somewhat stilled, we had time to consider our plight. We were indeed trapped, and to what purpose? The twilight had darkened well into true night beyond that door, which I was sure led to the outer world, if not up the interior of the cliff and to safety.

I drew one long, slow breath after another as I had been lessoned in childhood, fighting as best I could any weakening fear. When I believed I had indeed armed myself against doubt, I strove to sharpen my Talent, depleted though that Gift certainly was.

As I did so, I became aware of another reach of Power, bearing little resemblance to any I knew. Zolan, who had so effectively brought us into this captivity, had a Gift not like to ours. And a greater Talent controlled him through it-why I was so certain of this, I could not say.

"Look-" Cilla pointed to the curve of the wall above the barred exit. Her finger sketched a curling line in the air.

She might have summoned the blue fire that immediately outlined her discovery. The crystal line she indicated was only too familiar. This was closely akin to the pattern we had foolishly half st.i.tched into being back in Grosper-like, yes, but not not its twin. I Sent forth a questing toward the sensed Power, trying to pick up any hint of the Dark. But no warning responded. Cilla, too, appeared to have lost interest in it, for her hand dropped back, and she no longer sketched upon the air. its twin. I Sent forth a questing toward the sensed Power, trying to pick up any hint of the Dark. But no warning responded. Cilla, too, appeared to have lost interest in it, for her hand dropped back, and she no longer sketched upon the air.

"It does not threaten," I observed.

"No. Perhaps we would be safer if it did," my sister returned. "Hidden dangers are far worse than those in full view. I have been thinking..." She hesitated as if her thoughts imprisoned her even as this rock chamber held us three.

Drucilla

I looked to Bina, then down into Tam's face. All animation had disappeared from her expression; she might have been masked. Dared we try to reach her by Send now, would such exhaust her even further? And to use our thought-reach here-I shook my head. Bina was frowning at me.

"What are you thinking?" she asked now, her tone sharp.

"Were we somehow brought here for a purpose? And if so, what can it be? First came the pattern I dreamed." I shifted my right hand again into the fuller light and began to turn down my fingers as I counted off memories.

"That lout of a Starkadder-" she shot back acidly. "Maclan made clear that he was behind our kidnapping! Maclan it was also who dropped us into this place. Both acts run well together and fit his character. His quarrel with our father could be the root of a feud such as are common among these Northerners. But this"-she made a small wave with her own hand- "bears traces of something else."

"If," I began slowly, "Zolan could be the lost king, our presence here might serve another purpose. You with your Gift for the needle might call this a 'threading,' as though we were skeins and another's hand wrought the pattern! Our father is Lord Warden in the Border Lands. At our own court he is respected, looked upon at times as a counselor. Supposing the lost king were returned to Gurlyon, would many of his subjects welcome him?

"The great clans have been at each other's throats since the war. To have the rightful king in their control would give any chief a powerful weapon. Yet, supposing the king would appear, having been rescued by the Earl of Verset's daughters, our father could well claim what he wished for that coup-even support him with powerful voice at our own court."

Bina's frown deepened. "Do you believe then that Zolan is capable of so twisted a plot?"

"No," I answered, sure I had the right of it. "Not he, but someone else. This hermit, who has made such a stir here in the North, comes from these mountains. What he has taught is driving a wedge among the great families. Another man coming from the same direction-"

My voice trailed into silence. One of my faults has always been adding to facts the suggestion of imagination. I could well be accused of doing so now, lacking facts that should be produced to shake my air-castle of speculation.

"Does a Great One-an adept of deep Power-lie behind it all?"

Both of us stared and tensed as Tam's eyes opened and she shifted a little in our hold. She did not try to rise but looked from one to the other of us and back again. Then her hand moved to close about the gem.

"May the Greater Good reward you, sisters. You have drawn me out of the Dark into the Light again. The truth, as I would sword-swear before the queen herself and vow it before those of Talent in the Shrine wherein we serve, is this: a mind and a will are hidden here, and their purpose means trouble for all we cherish."

Her tone was akin to one used in reading from the Sacred Book of Sartha, for awe and belief lay at its core.

I wet my lips with tongue-tip. Perhaps she might now answer certain questions.

"Does Zolan alone work this?" Even as I spoke, I was inwardly a.s.sured that my theory was not the truth.

Tam's masklike look did not soften. "No." She did not add anything to that bald negative.

It was Bina who broke the short silence. "Then we still do not know our enemy, and attack could come from any direction." Her free hand, the mate of which rested on Tam's shoulder, tightened into a fist.

Tam did not answer. She might have been giving, by silence alone, her agreement to Bina's statement. However, she now shook off our support and sat up, holding the talisman gem beneath her chin. A glow was rising from it to paint her jaw, shine on her mouth.

"The fact remains," Bina said, a bit sourly, "that we must get out of here."

Her voice was harsh with frustration, an emotion felt by all of us, as strongly as though we shared a Send.

I looked again at the lines on the wall facing me. Designs, drawings-I blinked. For an instant I saw the pattern I feared as clearly as if it were limned on a sheet of patterning-paper and laid on a worktable. Bina's pack-she carried her improvised healing materials with her...

Reaching out, I dragged the thick bag to me, loosened the closing tags. What I sought was fortunately at the top since Bina herself had been rummaging inside for what might help in Tam's recovery.

A mat of fibers, clotted together, came to hand. I did not look up but continued to rummage beneath that first find.

"You have a distillation akin to velle water?" I demanded, bringing out next a netting bag, which enclosed a thick-sided stoppered jug.

"You hold what you seek," she returned. "What would you do?"

"This potion may be of aid." Whether I would make matters better or bring further trouble on us, I had no idea. Yet so strongly had a suggestion come to the front of my mind that I could not resist it.

Rising with the fiber mat in one hand and the bagged bottle in the other, I walked toward the wall on the right of the archway. The barrier, as I had hoped, did not prevent movement in that area; it evidently stood only across the opening to prevent pa.s.sage out.

I wetted the mat with liquid from the bottle and set to work. The gla.s.sy veins were raised a little above the surface of the surrounding rock. I rubbed them with care; my supplies were limited, and I could afford no waste. I did not attempt to coat the shining line from one end to the other, sure I did not have sufficient supply of the velle for that. I had to content myself with cutting across the scrolling at intervals.

No fire blazed here, but now the scent of burning arose, carrying with it the suggestion of spices, an under-smell of something charring. It heartened me to see that, when my hand arose from each application of the liquid, the gla.s.s appeared cracked, eaten away.

As I brushed, I chanted, hardly above a whisper. Before I had attacked the design for the third time, the words I used for my pet.i.tion were echoed by both Bina and Tam.

The pattern I followed dimmed first at each spot I anointed; then the gla.s.s itself flaked away. When I had dealt with the mineral trails that bordered the door to the right, I swung back to avoid any touch with the invisible barrier and went to do the same with the left-hand side.

Now the bottle had to be shaken to produce its final few drops. I feared the liquid would not last to complete the action. Whether it served to destroy more than just the wall design, I would not know until I finished.

I realized that the glow arising from the crystal lines was ebbing, even from the portions my efforts had not touched. This chamber-it was too well-shaped to be considered a cave-was steadily darkening.

Then Tam arose to stand beside me, her low chant stronger in my ears. She had formed a cup with both of her hands and she now held them out so that the gem-light guided me to the last of my scrubbing. I feared a second attack, such as the a.s.sault we had earlier faced, and when that did not come, I could only believe that my actions had achieved nothing.

We three stood shoulder to shoulder before the archway. Only bits of dimmed and cloudy crystal were visible here and there where the scrollwork had shone. However, that these pieces of pattern held any Power now we could hardly believe.

Any danger that might linger must be mine alone. I tossed the wet fiber ma.s.s, the empty bottle, from me and took a determined step forward, my hand stretched out.

Out and out-my fingers encountered nothing. I took another step, a longer one, forward. Again, nothing. Then my hand was under the archway. We were free!

"Yes!" I swung around to face Tam and Bina. I spun away again to sweep both hands back and forth, meeting no obstruction this time.

I was drained from the use of Talent, yet I had no wish to spend one moment more in this stone cell. Nor did I know if my attempt at Ward destruction would continue to work. Was an alarm now ringing somewhere in the Dismals to alert the setter of this trap?

Stooping, we took up our packs. Tam halted abruptly at the one Zolan had discarded when he had so abruptly left us. With Bina's swiftly proffered aid, she dragged it directly before the portal, and together they booted it through.

We were out in the open night. Before us stretched a wide section of ledge. No trees grew here, so moonlight fully bathed us. Tam's talisman, too, continued to glow brightly, banishing much of the surrounding dark.

At first we could not see any way over. A cautious exploration of the edge of the rock shelf revealed only a descent as sharp as that down which we had been initially lowered. And we were not at the real top of the cliff, either. That towered above us, slanting perilously outward, and its dizzy backward-bending offered no possible foot- or handhold. Had we won our way into the open, only to be held in a prison of another kind?

"Rope-" Tam turned to the pack Zolan had shouldered.

Tamara

I pulled at the loose tangle of thick cord that had been bound to the pack when Bina and I had shoved it through the opening. What use it might have now, I did not yet know, but it was the best tool I could think of.

"It cannot be long enough," Bina protested. Cilla had dropped down, using her own supply sack as a backrest.

I was aware that her opening of the door had depleted her; I also knew that I was far from restored from the backlash of force encountered in my own adventure. All the same, I was sure that we had precious little time. Our escape must have been felt by whoever set the Ward within-breakage of a binding-spell can always warn the one who placed it. Without doubt, a search would be mounted for us, so if we got no farther while we could, it would mean swift end to our hard-won liberty.

Cilla's eyes, I could see, were closed. Roused now, she could do little to help herself. I made my hands into fists to still their shaking as best I could.

Zolan and Climber had gone this way, and that length of rope had been discarded as if our host had no use for it. Neither he nor the beast from the Dismals had been waiting for us. Thus there was was a way either down or up. a way either down or up.

I swayed as I stood there. The Dark-that Night of Nothingness my sisters had drawn me from-seemed to be lapping over the rim of the ledge to threaten me. I was forced to lower myself to the gritty rock as Cilla had done before me.