“Wait here. Hold the horse. But when I come back, if I seem… ill… get on the horse and ride away.”
But she let the reins fall from her grasp and clutched his arm. So he took off its tack and let the horse roam. If he did not return it could run free. It was a death he would not be responsible for. The beast ambled away, looking for something palatable in the tussock.
The Chasm of Kelerish lay before him, a gaping slash in the plain, as if some great wrong had been done to it. And out of the Chasm howled the wind, like a chained demon imprisoned within its shadowy depths.
Did Tenari remember her time in the Chasm? She showed no sign of it.
He peered down into the sunless gloom. It was said to be bottomless. Hrangil and Althak had both agreed on that. Azkun had never been to the bottom. His life had been spent clinging to the walls of the Chasm in small caves, or so he thought. The years spent in the Chasm were a dimly remembered numbness.
And he had to re-enter that numbness or break his promises. Warnings cried in his mind. Gilish had been driven mad. What could Azkun do? But he could not listen to them. To do so would be to invite the Gashans into Anthor, and he could not live with that.
Tenari, at last, showed some reaction to the place. As he went to lower himself over the edge her grip on his arm tightened, holding him back. Well, that was to be expected. She was trying to protect him as usual. As gently as he could he prised her fingers from his arm and she made no move to renew her hold. It shook him, though. It was as if she was withdrawing her help. Did he have any chance of success?
Summoning his determination, he eased himself over the edge and began working his way down the cliff face, leaving her standing impassively on the lip above him. The wind-borne sand peppered his face and the howl filled his mind as he clawed his way down. He made himself remember the people of Atonir singing to him from the pier, and his promises. But the wind ate into his mind. He could feel something lurking here, a presence. It shifted as he reached for it with his mind. At first it felt like the well of sadness he had, long ago, thought was the call of the dragons. Then it was like the Monnar's standing stones. No, it was like Gashan. Something in the wind was thinking of murder.
But it was hard to think in the Chasm. The howling wind and the tedious handhold by handhold climbing drove these things from his mind. A numbness that was threateningly familiar slowly engulfed him. Only the pain in his arm, aggravated by climbing, kept him from falling into it completely
Hrangil had once said that the entrance to the Vaults of Duzagen lay directly below the Tor. That was all the guide he had. As he descended the howl of the wind grew worse. Once he missed his footing and caught himself in time to see a loose rock sail out into the abyss and out of sight into the darkness below. If it ever found the bottom of the Chasm the sound was lost in the noise of the wind.
The way was not very difficult for him to climb. If the wind and the evil he could sense had not been there it would have been a simple task, for he was bred to climbing in the Chasm.
It was midday, the sun shone directly into the Chasm, when he found what he sought: the entrance to the Vaults of Duzagen.
There was a narrow ledge. On one side was the drop into the shadowy depths far below; and on the other, surrounded by strange beasts carved into the rocks, was the awesome entrance. Nothing but blackness could be seen beyond the rough opening in the rock, and the carvings around it looked like the spectres he had seen so many times. Diamond eyes glared at him from the stone, and above the doorway was carved a double-headed axe.
He stood looking at the entrance, willing himself to go on, but he was afraid. The wind buffeted him, clawing at him. He felt small and weak, a tiny thing blown by the gales.
But he had to go on. All those promises he had made urged him forward. And he took a step.
As he did so the wind stopped.
The awful wind that had clawed and stung and howled at him for years stopped. For a moment he stood in the quietness, his ears still ringing and his eyes still squinting. But it was not a mere faltering of the gale. The wind had stopped, and it was replaced by a deep, brooding stillness. He could feel the presence of something nearby that he could not see; something evil.
Then he noticed the bones. Near the door of the Chasm lay a small pile of shattered bones. He had not seen them before because of the wind, and they were only just recognisable anyway, little more than a pile of broken fragments. A part of a human skull was discernible, and a longer bone, perhaps a thigh.
Bones, human bones, and the wind had stopped. He almost turned and fled from this dreadful place. But where could he run? To Gashan? He bent to examine the bones. Among them was entangled an encrusted piece of metal that might once have been finely worked.
“Your bones, Gilish,” sang a woman's voice.
He whirled to see who had spoken, but there was no one, only the tinkling of laughter. It sounded like water over rocks. If he had been anywhere but here it would have made him smile, but in the Chasm it made his skin crawl.
“Who are you?” His voice sounded flat and empty in the stillness. His own heartbeat seemed louder than the wind had been.
Again the laughter sounded. It was all around him.
“Do you not know me, Gilish, my love?” It was teasing, as a maid will tease a lover or a cat will tease a mouse.
“I am not Gilish! I am Azkun.” He tried to sound bold and defiant, but his voice shook with fear.
“No.” The voice sounded disappointed. “No, but you will suffice.” It sounded like a threat. “But do you not know me, my love? I am your wife, your Sheagil.” Again she laughed. “Have I not been a good wife? I saved you from the dragon fire and I taught you to speak. So many little things to make you happy, even though you wanted to leave me.”
The truth struck Azkun like a blow.
“I even followed you in my own way, my love.” More laughter. “For if you must be Azkun then I will be Tenari!” And she appeared before him in the entrance to the Vaults, no longer solemn but eyes alight with laughter.
“Tenari?”
She laughed again, and Azkun could see that hers was the voice.
“I could not often make it speak outside the Chasm, but at least I could be with you, my love, and I could see what you needed.” She seemed to see his injured arm for the first time. “Oh, I am sorry, Gilish. I could not protect you. The dragon was too quick for me.”
Was he Gilish after all? He was almost deceived by the words. But he could still see into minds. The mind he saw was boiling with malice.
“The magic? It was yours all along?”
“Of course,” she laughed. “It was always mine, my love. You have no magic of your own, you are not a Monnar like me. It was always mine. But I gave you the glory of it, for I am a good wife. I gave you the glory when I told them you built the palace of Atonir, when I told them you built the Lansheral. Always, always…” The voice was changing, and Tenari's expression began to writhe across her face. “But you, my love” the endearment was sarcastic now. “You wanted the power for yourself. You came to Duzagen because you were not satisfied with what I gave you freely! You wanted your own magic! Magic to use against me!”
“No!” shouted Azkun. “No. I am not Gilish. He died. These are his bones. I thought the magic was my own. I did not know-”
She was not listening.
“And you came here for magic to curse me to this Chasm, to howl my anguish in the wind forever!” Abruptly the anger returned to girlish laughter. “No, my love,” she said sweetly. “You cannot curse me and come back again. For I will kill you.”