hugged quayside just long enough for the other Aelen Kofer to board. Dwarves were a dour tribe but this klatch were unusually taciturn and grim. A few muttered with Iron Eyes while the barge crossed the harbor. Finally, Korban told Februaren, “The bridge can be restored. We haven’t lost the secrets of building with rainbows. But it will take time and require a lot of magic. Which we don’t have. We’ll have to bring it from the middle world. But, granting that we get the bridge restored, freeing the Old Ones may still be impossible.”
“Why is that?”
“Because the entangled sorceries sealing them in were written so that only one of the Old Ones, or one of their blood, will be able to thread a passage through the magical closure. Your soultaken must be a genius. How could he know? Did he know? He did better imprisoning them than they did imprisoning the wicked gods they overthrew. No one has to stay here to keep these spells working. I’m in awe.”
And more than a little dishonest, Februaren reflected.
Iron Eyes said, “Unless the soultaken himself gives us a tool, there may be no hope. Those who could open the way are all inside. Even the Trickster, which amazes me. He was always too clever to get caught.”
Februaren considered. The ascendant had elements of the All-Father and the Chooser of the Slain Arlensul inside him. He would have drawn on those to imprison the rest of their divine gang. Could their knowledge also bring the walls down?
Had to.
The ascendant would know. The Aelen Kofer were peerless magical architects and engineers. They just needed his direction.
The Aelen Kofer gobbled steadily, gesturing, showing unusual animation. Februaren could not follow.
That little floating ruby dot grew. It burned more brightly. Ruby droplets dribbled down an invisible surface into the dead, colorless water.
There was a crack! of an explosion. Water sprayed the barge. A small wind heavy with alien odors knifed in behind it. And kept on coming, whistling.
“Success! Of a sort,” Gjoresson declared.
A vertical sword stroke of light three feet long, dropping into the water of the harbor, now hung in the air. It was an inch wide at its broadest, at the water level. Sunshine rushed in with the wind and odors. It was so bright!
Februaren said, “I didn’t realize how bleak it is over here.” His eyes adjusted. Blue water sparkled beyond the crack.
Where the breach met the harbor surface dull water began to show streams and eddies of color. Februaren felt gusts of power coming in with the wind and smells.
The Aelen Kofer started singing. Iron Eyes said, “The magic will return.”
From a world where the wells of power were drying up. Februaren wondered, was the power dying out of all the worlds?
He reminded himself that these worlds existed only to a few Instrumentalities and believers anymore. They were dying for sure.
The white shark broached feebly, halfway to the quay. It lived, just barely. Its eye fixed on the barge for one baleful moment.
Color continued to spread from the crack. Here, there, sparks of gold flashed for an instant on the rotten wood of the ship.
The power from that sea burst, over there, must still be strong.
A great whale eye appeared at the gap.
The Ninth Unknown raised a hand in greeting.
A worm of flesh started wriggling through.
Color spread. It climbed the side of the barge. Cloven Februaren opened himself to what power there was.
* * *
The Ninth Unknown knew exactly when the Windwalker sensed that the Realm of the Gods had been opened.
Iron Eyes shrieked.
Kharoulke had not known about the burst of power in the west. He did now. His attention had been attracted by a sudden, ferocious threat.
17. Brothe: Brief Idyll
Piper Hecht’s return to the Mother City was uncomfortable for everyone. A thousand men accompanied him, men who did not want to work for Pinkus Ghort. Some Brothens wanted to celebrate their coming. Most did not want to attract the attention of the new Patriarch. Serenity’s cronies wanted to shut the gates but did not have the popular support. Hecht had strong backers in the Collegium. Serenity did not, to his abiding mystification.
The moment the Interregnum ended Serenity started swinging Mother Church back to the course long steered by Sublime V. No surprise to Hecht, but a shock to most Brothens, including several Principatés who had taken bribes to vote for him.
Bronte Doneto had done well pretending religious indifference when he lacked the power to enforce his convictions. Now he owned that power.