And now the rack of shuttle and the thump of batten surged in crescendo. . and then vanished altogether, as did Lady Doom.
The dusk disappeared as well, for night had fully fallen.
Staring in bafflement, Celeste peered through the wan starlight at the gift Urd had given.
It was an obsidian spool of shadowy thread.
30
Choices
Roel slammed a fist into palm. “Shift to a different trail? But we are so close-just two borders to cross-and there are but eight days left before Avelaine will be lost forever. We simply must rescue her ere then.” Celeste reached out and took Roel’s hand and unclenched his fist and smoothed his fingers. “Cheri, we must follow Lady Doom’s counsel. If we do not, we will fail.”
Roel sighed and nodded. “It’s just that. .” His words trailed off.
“I know, my love. I know. We’ve come to an unexpected crossroads. Yet the Sisters see what might be, what is passing, and what is nevermore, and so we need to heed their guidance.”
Roel shook his head and then softly intoned:
“To triumph in the Changeling realm, Shift to a different trail.
You must take the sinister path; Find the gray arrow or fail.”
After long moments of silence, Roel said, “I wonder what this gray arrow is?”
Celeste shrugged. “Whatever it is, and whatever it is to be used for, we will not succeed without it, and Urd did say that we needed to fetch it. Hence, we must find it.”
Roel nodded. “I note that when she told us to shift to a different trail, Urd glanced along the road in the direction you name ‘duskwise,’ and ‘sundownward’-a bearing I would call ‘west’-and she did tell us to take the sinister path; and certainly toward sundown is the leftward way from where we stand-here on what I would name the south side of the road-and we stood here when she said it. What does the map say lies in that direction? And will it take us to the Changeling realm in time?”
“Let us make camp, and then we will look,” said Celeste.
And so they unladed the geldings and unsaddled the mares and curried and watered and fed them, and they laid out their bedrolls and made a small fire from scrub and an armful of branches gathered from a nearby thicket.
As they ate, Celeste unfolded the map, and by lantern light and firelight she traced out a path duskward to reach a boundary crossing. “Hmm. . here is what we are to look for at the crossing itself, yet somewhat after the crossing, on a duskward bearing, it is marked Spx, whatever that might mean.”
She showed the chart to Roel, and he shrugged and said, “I haven’t the slightest notion either. But look, if we keep going sinister, the next crossing after is very close.”
Celeste stared at the map and blew out an exasperated breath and said, “And just beyond that crossing the chart is marked El Fd and nearly on top of that enigmatic note is Ct Dd. I wonder if El Fd means we are bound for an Elven realm.”
“Elven realm?”
“Where live Elves,” said Celeste.
“Under the hills, you mean?”
Celeste laughed. “Roel, in Faery some Elves do live under the hills, but others dwell as do we.”
“I see,” said Roel. “In the mortal realm, though, ’tis said Elves betimes are seen abroad, but for the most they remain under the hills.”
“A strange notion,” said Celeste. “Still, I wonder about the marking: El Fd. ”
Roel peered at the map. “Perhaps it refers to an Elven realm as you have guessed, cherie, but what about the Ct Dd right next to it?” Celeste sighed. “I have no idea what that might stand for. Ah, Mithras, why couldn’t whoever made this chart have spelled out the meanings?”
Roel snorted and said, “Mayhap the cartographer was one of the Fates.”
Celeste laughed but then sobered. “Take care, love, for they might be listening.”
Roel turned up a hand and said, “Most likely.” Then he raised his face to the sky and called, “Why couldn’t you have made the map plain?”
Celeste slapped a hand over her mouth to conceal a smile.
“Ah, well,” said Roel, “whatever those initials might indicate, we do have a clue:
“Creatures and heroes and the dead Will test you along the way.
Ever recall what we Three said,
To fetch the arrow of gray.”
“It seems we are to be challenged along the sinister path,” said Celeste. “My bow and long-knife will be ready if they are tests of arms.”
“And if not?” asked Roel.
“Then my wits,” said Celeste.
Roel nodded, and then looked at the map again.
“Think you we can fetch the arrow and then reach my sister in the eight days remaining?”
“I cannot say, for there is no scale,” said Celeste, tapping the map. “Still, if the Fates have sent us this way, surely there is a chance.”
They sat without speaking for long moments, eating waybread and jerky and drinking brewed tea. Finally Celeste said, “Lady Doom gave us one last admonishment ere she vanished: ‘Left is right, but right a mistake; you will fail if the wrong path you take.’ I wonder if she was speaking of these crossroads. Was she warning us to take the left-hand way and not the right?”
“Another puzzle,” said Roel, “another confusing instruction. Mayhap what she was saying is that we should take the right-hand way, for if left is ‘right,’ but ‘right’ is a mistake, then doesn’t that make ‘left’-that is, the left-hand way-the mistake?”
Celeste groaned. “I don’t know.”
“Agh!” spat Roel. “I just had another thought: we were travelling due south-due sunwise-when we came upon Lady Doom. What if the left-hand way, the sinister way, is based on the direction we were going, rather than where we were standing when she gave us the rede? That would make the sinister path be toward the east, dawnwise, sunupward.”
Celeste’s face fell. “Oh, Roel, do you think that could be so?”
“I know not, cherie. Regardless, let us see what lies along the road toward dawn,” said Roel. As his finger traced a sunupward route, he mumbled, “Hmm. . PR
and WT and over here GY. -Argh! That’s no help whatsoever.”
Celeste shook her head and said, “It all depends on which way one faces as to which of these roads-
dawnwise, sunwise, duskwise, or starwise-is sinister.
Yet the road running dawn to dusk is a ‘different trail’
from the one we were on, hence the one to follow, though in which direction, sunupward or sundownward, there’s the rub.”
Once again they fell into silence, but finally Roel glanced up into the star-filled night, and said, “Let us sleep on it. I will take first watch.” Celeste pushed out a hand of negation. “Non, love, for if you take first watch, you will let me sleep beyond my due. Instead, I will take ward now.”
“What’s to say you won’t do the same to me?” asked Roel, a smile flickering at the corners of his mouth.
Now Celeste peered at the spangled vault above and said, “The sun will rise ten candlemarks hence. I will guard the first five, you the last. -Done?” Roel reluctantly nodded and said, “Done,” and he held her close and kissed her tenderly, and then lay down.
Celeste listened to Roel’s breath slowing as he fell into slumber, and when he was fast asleep she stood and paced to the horses. They, too, were adoze, and so she returned to the fire and cast a branch thereon.
And she sat in the warmth and reviewed Lady Doom’s rede as well as Urd’s final message, seeking answers that did not seem to be forthcoming. And slowly her watch passed as she pondered which way to ride on the morrow. Candlemarks eked by, and when she awakened Roel for his turn at ward, she had come to a conclusion. She embraced and kissed him, and as she lay down, she said, “Roel, think on what should be our course from here, and by morn let us see if we agree.”