Wherever they were bound, Morgaine seemed to have been this way before; Vanye stayed at her shoulder, that Roh should not walk too near her, watching either side and sometimes looking back at the arrhendimwho trailed them on this suddenly narrower path. He was far from easy in his mind, for they were all too vulnerable to treachery, for all the power of the weapons Morgaine bore.
Gray stone confronted them through the tangle of vines and branches… lichen-spotted, much weathered, standing stones thrust up among the roots of trees, closer and closer, until the stones formed an aisle shadowed by the vast trees.
Then they had sight of a small stone dome at the end of that aisle. Arrhaguarded the entry of it, one on either side of the doorway that stood open, but there was no offer to oppose their coming.
Voices echoed within, echoes that died away at their tread within the doorway. Torches lit that small dome within; arrhasat as a mass of white on stone seats that encompassed more than half the circuit of the walls: the center of the floor was clear, and there Merir stood. Merir was the one who had been speaking and he faced them there.
One of the arrhaarose, an incredibly old qhal,withered and bent and leaning on a staff. He stepped down onto the floor where Merir stood.
"You do not belong here," that one said. "Arms have never come into this council. We ask that you go away."
Morgaine did nothing. A look of fear was on all the arrha…old ones, very old, all those gathered here.
"If we contest for power," said another, "we will all die. But there are others who hold the power we have. Leave."
"My lord Merir." Morgaine walked from the doorway to the center of the room; Vanye followed her: so did the others, taking their place before that council. His distress was acute, that she thus separated herself from the door. There were guards, arrha,bearing Gate-force, he suspected. He could not prevail against that. If it came to using her weapons she needed him close to her, where he was able to guard her back… where he was not in the way of what had taken at least one comrade of theirs. "My lords," she said, looking about her. "There are enemies advancing. What do you plan to do?"
"We do not," said the elder, "admit you to our counsel."
"Do you refuse my help?"
There was deep silence. The elder's staff rang on the floor and echoed, the slightest tap.
"My lords," she said. "If you do refuse my help, I willleave you. And if I leave you, you willfall."
Merir stepped forward half a pace. Vanye held his breath, for the old lord knew, knew utterly what she meant, the destruction of the Gate which gave them power, in her passing from this world. And surely he had told the others.
"That which you bear," said Merir, "is greater than the power of all the arrhacombined. But it was fashioned as a weapon; and that… thatis madness. It is an evil thing. It cannot be otherwise. For fifteen hundred years… we have used our power gently. To protect. To heal. You stand here, alive because of it… and tell us that if we do not bow to your demands, then you will turn that thing against us, and destroy Nehmin, and leave us naked to our enemies. But if we do as you wish-what, then? What are your terms? Let us hear them."
There was no sound or movement after.
But suddenly other footfalls whispered on the stones at the doorway.
Lellin, and Sezar.
"Grandfather," Lellin said in a hushed voice, and bowed.
"Lady… you bade me come when the enemy had completed their crossing. They have done so. They are moving this way."
A murmur ran the circuit of the room, swiftly dying, so that the tiniest movement could be heard.
"You have been out doing her bidding," Merir said.
"I told you, Grandfather, that I went to do that."
Merir shook his head slowly, lifted his face to look on Morgaine, on all of them, on the arrhendimwho had come with Morgaine, and all but Perrin lowered their eyes, unable to meet his.
"You have already begun to destroy us," Merir said. His voice was full of tears. "You offer your way… or nothing. We might have been able to defeat the Shiua, as we did the s irrindimwho came on us long ago. But now we have come to this, that armed force has entered this place, where arms never have come before, and some have faith in them."
"Lellin Erirrhen has said," the elder arrhadeclared, "that lie is hers,lord Merir. And therefore he insists on coming and going at her bidding, refusing ours."
"Else," Morgaine said in a loud voice, "the council would keep me blind and deaf. And Lellin and Sezar in their service to me have kept me from taking other action, my lords. They know what you do not. By serving me .. . they have served you."
Merir's lips made a taut line, and Lellin looked at the old lord, bowed to him very slowly, and to Morgaine… faced his grandfather again. "Of our own choice." Lellin said. "Grandfather-the arrhendimare needed. Please. Come and look. They cover the riverside like a new forest. Come and look on this thing." He cast an anguished glance about at all the arrha."Come out of your grove and see this horde. You talk of taking it into Shathan. Of peace with it… as we found with the remnant of the sirrindim.Come and look on this thing."
One more dangerous to us," said the elder, "is already here." And Gate-force flared, making the air taut as a drawn string. It shimmered about the elder.
nd it grew. One and another of the arrhabegan to bring forth that power, until the arrhendimflinched back against the wall, and the whole dome sang with it.
Liyo,"Vanye murmured, and whipped his sword from its sheath, for two of the arrhabarred the doorway, and the air between shimmered with the barrier they formed.
Cease!" Morgaine shouted.
he elder stamped the heel of his staff on the floor, a sound almost drowned in the taut air; his half-blind eyes were set rigidly. "Six of us have invoked the power. There are thirty-two. Surrender that which you bear."
Liyo-"
Morgaine slipped Changeling'sring and dropped the sword to her hip. Vanye looked about him, at the elders, at the frightened arrhendim . ..and Roh, whose face was pale, but whose hands stayed from his weapons.
Two more," said the elder. The singing in the air grew louder, numbing hearing, and Morgaine lifted her hand.
"You know what the result will be," she cried.
"We are willing to die, all of us. The passage we open here may be wide enough to work ruin on the enemies of Shathan as well. But you who do not love this land… may not be willing to become part of that. One by one we shall add to the force. We do not know how many of us will be needed before the passage is complete, but we shall discover it. You cannot leave. You can try your other weapons. If you do, we will answer you with all we have. Or you can draw that sword and complete the passage beyond any doubt: its force with ours is sufficient beyond any argument. It will drink us all up, and more besides. But surrender that weapon and we shall deal well with you. Our word is good. You have nothing to fear from us."
Gate-force keened in the air. Another joined it.
"Liyo,"Vanye said. Very small his voice sounded in that power. "Your other weapon-"
She said nothing. He dared not look at what was happening before her, but kept his eyes to the arrhendim,who were at her back and armed; and Roh, Lellin and Sezar were apart from the others, fear in their faces, but they stood with arms folded and had never moved.
"My lords!" Morgaine exclaimed suddenly. "My lord arrha!We are gaining nothing by this. Only your enemies gain."
"We have made our choice," said Merir.
"You sat here-sat here until I should become desperate enough to try to come stir you out of it. A trap of your working, lord Merir? It is a well-devised one."
"We are utterly willing," said Merir, "to perish. We are old. There are others. But there is no need of it, unless you value power more than your own life. If we add many more jewels to the web, lady Morgaine, it will be accomplished. You sense that. So do I." He held up his hand, with the jewel-case upon it. "Here is another mote of that power you hold. Perhaps this will complete it. It is that near. Shall I add it to the others?"
"Enough! Enough. I see that you are capable of doing it No more."