I didn't know where that left me now, and I admitted, as I stared at the ceiling and hid my thoughts from Loiosh, that none of it mattered, anyway. By surrendering to "right" as opposed to "practical," I had changed irrevocably. But once you allow yourself to recognize necessity, you find two things: One, you find your options so restricted that the only course of action is obvious, and, two, that a great sense of freedom comes with the decision.
By this time tomorrow, Vlad Taltos, Jhereg and assassin, would be dead, one way or the other. I made certain all of my documents were correct and decided that the time allotted for self-indulgent soul-searching had expired.
But I fervently hoped that I would have a chance to give my Demon Goddess a piece of my mind before all was said and done.
It was early afternoon when I was summoned to Morrolan's lower workshop, the place set aside for his exponents with sorcery. I was much calmer, and beginning to be nervous. Make that frightened.
I picked up Aibynn on the way. Sethra, Daymar, and Morrolan were there, staring at the black stone and speaking together. They looked up when I came in and Sethra said, "Here, Vlad, catch," and tossed me the stone. "Now, speak to me psionically." I attempted to do so, and it was like it was back on the island; no one was home. I shrugged. "Now," she said, "watch." She gestured with one hand, and my rapier began rising out of its sheath. She stopped, it slid back in. "Well?" I said.
"The stone has no effect on sorcery whatsoever." "All right. But then—"
She held up a hand. "Now, if you please, set Spell-breaker spinning."
"Eh? All right." I let the chain fall into my left hand, wondering what she was after. It was very cool in my hand, and alive like a Morganti weapon was alive, yet different. I did as she'd said. When it was going good, spinning between Sethra and me, she gestured again. This time, nothing happened, except perhaps the faintest tingling running up my arm.
"Well?" I said. "We knew Spellbreaker interfered with sorcery. That's why I gave it the name."
"Yes. And so does whatever else is on the island. Does the similarity strike you?"
"Yes. What's your point?"
"There is more to that chain than I know," she said. "But I think we are able to determine one thing now. It is not, in fact, made of gold. It is made of gold Phoenix stone."
"Is that what you call it?" put in Aibynn, who'd been so quiet I'd forgotten he was there.
"What do you call it?" asked Morrolan, in all innocence.
"In my land," said Aibynn, "we call it a rock."
I said hastily, "I'm not really surprised that breaker isn't just gold; I've never seen gold as hard as the links of this chain."
"Yes. Black disables psionic activity, gold prevents the working of sorcery."
I studied Spellbreaker. "It certainly looks like metal," I said. "And feels like it."
"As I said, there's more to that chain than I understand."
"Well, all right. Now, do you know how to use this information to get past it to the island?"
"Possibly. Set Spellbreaker spinning again." I did so. She looked at Daymar, nodded, and gestured. Once again, the sword began to rise from its sheath, only very slowly. She stopped, it returned.
"Looks good," I said. "How?"
"How did Aliera break through the wall the last time you were on the island?"
"Pre-Empire sorcery," I said.
"Yes."
"Can you control it well enough to teleport with it? I'd understood such fine control was impossible, which is why the Orb was invented in the first place."
"Yes and no," said Sethra. "I can create a disturbance in the field set up by the Phoenix Stone, which allows Daymar to direct his energy through the gold stone, ignoring the black, which allows me to channel mine through the black, ignoring the gold. It isn't easy," she added.
"It is similar," added Morrolan, "to the way you and Loiosh communicate. It isn't exactly psionically, it's more—"
"Never mind the details," I said, "as long as it works."
"It should," said Sethra. "As long as we can get a good enough image of the place."
She looked at Aibynn. He stared back, looking innocent.
"All right," I said. "Sethra, what about getting us
"Daymar will have to try to break through to you."
"All right, when?"
"Let's talk about it.
We decided that they would give us a couple of hours, and after that, Daymar would attempt to reach me psionically every half hour until we said we were ready to return.
Sethra said, "You know, don't you, that it is much more difficult to teleport something to you than from you?"
"Yeah," I said. "But I trust you."
"As you say."
"Then we can proceed."
"Yes," she said. "Are you ready?"
"I was bora ready."
"Then let us call Aliera and be about it."
Aliera arrived almost at once. She was wearing the black and silver battle garb of a Dragonlord. She was barely taller than I, which was quite short for a Dragaeran. It used to bother her, I guess, since she was in the habit of wearing long gowns and levitating rather than walking, but she had recently stopped doing this. I thought that I'd ask her why at some future date, then realized there probably wouldn't be some future date for me. I shivered. At her side was a shortsword called Pathfinder, which was one of the Seventeen Great Weapons, though I knew little about it beyond that. That it was Morganti was sufficient information for most people, myself included.
Morrolan, as always, wore black. At his side was Black-wand, about which the less said the better. Sethra had us stand in a triangle, with me at the V, Morrolan in front of me to the right, Aliera in front to my left. Loiosh was on my right shoulder, Rocza on my left. Rocza seemed a bit jumpy; Loiosh as cool as steel. Sethra said, "Put an arm on Morrolan's shoulder, and one on—hello, Master Taltos."
I looked up and saw my grandfather ambling his way toward me. For a moment I was afraid he was going to insist on coming along, but he only wanted to slip an amulet over my head and kiss my cheek.
"What is it?"
"It should prevent you from feeling discomfort while you journey in the elflands."
It took me a moment to translate that, then I said, "You mean I won't get sick anymore when I teleport? Noish-pa, my life is complete."
"No," he said. "It is not complete until you have given me a great-grandchild. Don't forget that."
I looked into his eyes for just a moment, then kissed his cheek. "I won't." He stepped back until he was next to Aibynn, who was next to Daymar and Sethra. I put my hands on Aliera's and Morrolan's shoulders and said, "All right, Sethra and Daymar. Cast off."
"Concentrate on the location, Aibynn. Do you have one in mind?"
"Yes."
"Very well. Concentrate on it, and open your mind to me—oh, take that thing off."
"Oh, yeah. Okay."
"Now, think about it. Remember every detail you can, what it feels like—excellent. You're good at this. I think we're ready, Vlad."
"Do it, then," I said, hoping Aibynn wasn't sending us back into a cell, or into the sea or something. I wished I could trust him a little more. I felt Daymar's powerful psychic presence, as if he were tiptoeing around in my forebrain. Then there was what I can only describe as a psychic twist. Imagine, if you will, that your thoughts are neatly rolling waves in a pond, and someone comes along and throws a boulder into the middle of it. I could no longer form coherent thoughts, and my perceptions became hopelessly muddled. I remember feeling as if Castle were loose inside my head, and I was desperately trying to tie it down against a storm, while simultaneously realizing how absurd that was.
More went on then, a great deal more, but there is no way I can reconstruct it, or even remember most of the images the spell created. The next thing I can recall clearly, and I have no idea how long we stood there before it happened, was being covered in a bright blue light that took us all in and then resolved itself to a spear of light that went off in some impossible direction, taking us with it.