When the last of the ashes had blown away, Athina raised her hands and a shimmering silver mist rose up from the ground, enveloping the reunited companions, the horses, the entire campsite. When it dissipated, the clearing which had been the home of both tragedy and joy was empty once more.
33
TO SAVE A WORLD, TO SAVE A LIFE
Avithan lay on Dael’s bed, looking like the corpse he had so nearly become, the gashes of his horrific wounds standing out livid on his body, and his skin appearing bloodless and translucent under the silvery sheen of the time spell. The Cailleach looked down on him, with Iriana standing at her side. Melik was in his favourite place, slung like a heavy fur collar around the Wizard’s shoulders, lending her his sight.
The girl remained composed, her face betraying none of the anxiety she must be feeling. Athina could see, however, that the cat, so deeply attuned to his lifelong companion, could sense the feelings that she concealed so well. His eyes were wild, his ears were flattened, and the tip of his tail beat a restless tattoo against her shoulder. He’s on guard, Athina thought. He’s ready to protect her against whatever is causing her so much distress.
I wish I could do the same.
Having received a glimpse of Athina’s abilities when the Cailleach had brought them here, Iriana had been confident that this uncanny and powerful being would be able simply to wave a hand, and Avithan would spring to his feet, healed and restored. But she was doomed to disappointment.
Athina regretted bitterly that she was unable to help the girl. For the first time in an unimaginably long existence, she knew failure, and it filled her heart with fear. Her time in this world was running out fast, she knew. The strain of bringing the companions and their horses to her tower, following so closely on her similar transportation of Tiolani, had drained her power almost to the dregs. On their return, she had been forced to ask Dael to tend to the comforts of the new arrivals, instead of producing an instant hot meal out of thin air, as she had planned. It had cost her every shred of strength and control that she possessed to hold herself upright long enough to instruct him and welcome her guests, and she had barely been able to get back to her own upper chamber before collapsing with exhaustion. Dael had brought her food to restore her energies, but she had been forced to waste several precious hours resting while she recovered.
Food and sleep however, had restored her energies - up to a point. With Dael’s help, she had prepared a camp some distance around the lakeside for the ferals who would soon be arriving, and removed the glamourie from the island in the lake so that, for the first time since its creation, her tower would be visible to approaching strangers. But she knew all too well now that Uriel had been telling the truth. Each time she used her powers here she lost part of them, and the greater the effort she expended - as in transporting all those people and animals to her tower - the greater would be her loss.
Pulling her thoughts back to the business at hand, she turned to the waiting Wizard. ‘I’m so sorry, Iriana. There is nothing I can do for him at this time.’
Iriana swung towards her, anger in every line of her body and her lovely face. ‘What do you mean, there’s nothing you can do? I’ve seen what you can do, damn it. I’ve heard you bragging about how powerful you are; how you came here to change the future for us poor, primitive beings. Well, change this, you bitch.’ She seized the Cailleach’s shoulders and began to shake her. ‘Change this.’ Now that her iron control had finally snapped, her grief was pitiful to see.
‘Iriana.’ Gently, Athina caught hold of the Wizard’s wrists and pulled her hands away. ‘Iriana, I have to tell you something that will be very difficult for you to hear.’
Leading the girl to the broad window seat, she sat them both down. There was no easy way to do this. ‘There are two reasons why I cannot help your Avithan in the here and now.’ Quickly she explained that she should not have been in this world at all, then gave a brief account of Uriel’s visit, his dire warnings and the way they were beginning to come true with terrifying rapidity.
‘So you see,’ she finished, ‘I will barely have enough power to help you and your companions accomplish what you must. Healing Avithan would be a long, arduous and difficult task. Even if I survived it, it would be the final drain on my powers, one from which I could not recover. I would perish here, in this world I came to save, and with the death of an Immortal, the entire Universe, in this reality and others, would be thrown out of balance.’
Iriana remained silent for a moment, her face averted, then she turned back to the Cailleach. ‘But why? I don’t understand this. Even if your powers are so drained, it would only take a little - just a little - to preserve Avithan’s life. If you could only heal him enough to keep him from dying, our own Healers could carry on from there.’
This was the part Athina had dreaded most. ‘Iriana, I cannot. I’m afraid that the problem is the time spell you and Taine concocted.’ She gripped the girl’s hands tightly. ‘My dear, you must remember that you had no choice. In no way is this your fault. If the two of you had not wrought your spell, Avithan would already be dead, and immolated on that funeral pyre along with Esmon and Seyka. You did the only thing you could to save his life. But neither of you had performed that spell before, especially not on a living body, and the twining of Wizard and Phaerie powers has resulted in a tangle of magic that will take huge amounts of time and effort to unravel - if it can be done at all.’
The tears that began to fall from Iriana’s sightless eyes were like a knife in Athina’s heart. ‘Listen now.’ She put all her powers of compulsion into her voice. ‘Listen to me carefully. All is not lost. There remains one thing that we can do. When I return to my home beneath the Timeless Lake, I can take Avithan with me. There, where time holds no sway, I will be able to deal with the spells that surround him. Once my powers have restored themselves, I can heal his wounds and make him whole again. But . . .’ - she lifted a warning hand as she saw the Wizard’s face light up with hope - ‘I must tell you now that there is no guarantee that I will be able to return your companion to you. My brethren have forbidden me any more direct contact with this world. Once I am safely home, it is almost certain that they will act in concert to block any routes back here, lest I should be tempted to meddle again.’
The joy on Iriana’s face froze into a rictus of horror. ‘Never?’ she said in a small voice. ‘Avithan will never come back - ever?’
‘I’m sorry, my dear, but I must be truthful, no matter how much it may hurt. There is very little chance that Avithan will be able to return, though I will do my utmost to send him back. But now you, who love him, must make this decision for him, and for his parents. You know him best, Iriana. Would he want to be saved, and live in exile for all eternity? Or would he rather remain here, hovering between two worlds, neither alive nor dead? For I warn you, if I cannot undo the spell, then no one among the Wizards or the Phaerie will be able to do so.’
Iriana was utterly still. Even her tears had stopped falling. ‘Will you let me be alone with him for a while?’ Her voice seemed to come from very far away.