Again, Haplo said nothing. But he did not move, did not step aside. He remained, blocking the door.
Xar looked past Haplo, inside Death’s Gate. He could not see Alfred, but he could see the swirl of chaos, guessed that Alfred must be having a difficult time of it. So long as chaos prevailed, Xar had nothing to worry about. He had time. He glanced at the runes glowing on the walls. He could read their warning. The Lord of the Nexus turned back to Haplo, who was blocking his way.
“Alfred has tricked you, my son,” Xar warned. “He is using you. He will turn on you in the end. Mark my words. He will cast you back into prison!”
Haplo did not move.
Xar was beginning to grow angry. He marched forward until he stood directly in front of Haplo. “Your loyalty belongs to me, my son. I gave you life.”
Haplo remained silent. His left hand moved to his chest, to the scars over the heart-rune.
Xar reached out, gripped that hand, nails digging into the flesh. “Yes, I let you die! It was my right to take your life, if I needed it. You pledged as much to me there”—the gnarled finger pointed back to the Labyrinth—“in front of the Final Gate.”
“Yes, Lord. It was your right.”
“I could have killed you, my son. I could have. I did not. Love breaks the heart.” Xar sighed. “There is a weakness in me. I admit it—”
“Not a weakness, Lord. Our strength,” said Haplo. “That is why we have survived.”
“Hatred!” Xar was displeased, his voice cold. “That is why we have survived! And now vengeance is within our grasp! Not only vengeance, but a chance to put the great wrong right! The four worlds will become one again—under our rule!”
“Thousands, millions will die,” said Haplo.
“Mensch!” Xar was scornful; then—glancing back at Haplo’s face—the lord realized he’d said the wrong thing.
But he was distracted. Keeping one eye on Death’s Gate, Xar could see the mad whirl of chaos slowing. He had not overestimated Alfred’s power. The Serpent Mage might actually be able to pull this off.
Xar was running out of time. “Forgive my callous attitude, my son. I spoke hastily, without thought. You know that I will do what I can to save as many of the mensch as possible. We will need them to help us rebuild. Tell me the names of those mensch you particularly want protected and I will arrange for them to be transported to the Nexus. You yourself can watch over them. You will be the guarantor of their safety—something you cannot do if Death’s Gate is shut. I will not be able to rescue them then. Go to Death’s Gate. Take this opportunity. I will send you back to Marit, to your child—”
Haplo did not hesitate. “No, My Lord.”
Xar was furious, frustrated. He saw that the chaos inside Death’s Gate was ending. A door, at the far end of a long corridor, stood open. Alfred was reaching out his hand to shut it ...
The Lord of the Nexus had no choice.
“You have thwarted my wishes for the last time, my son!” Xar stretched forth his hand, began to chant the runes.
Jonathon’s voice rose. “Do no violence!” The phantasm repeated the warning, but its voice could no longer be heard.
30
Alfred had forgotten the terror of journeying through Death’s Gate, which compresses and combines, sorts out and divides all possibilities at precisely the same moment in time.
Thus he found himself entering an immense, cavernous corridor that was a small aperture growing smaller all the time. The walls and floors and ceiling rushed away from him, expanding ever outward, as the corridor collapsed in on him, crushing him with emptiness.
“I have to ignore this, or I’ll go mad!” he realized frantically. “I have to focus on something ... on the Gate. On shutting the Gate. Where . . . where is it?”
He looked and instantly the possibility that he had found the Gate caused it to appear, even as the possibility that he would never find it made it vanish. He refused to admit the second possibility, held on fast to the first, and he saw—at the far end of the corridor, in front of him, to his rear, moving rapidly toward him, continually receding, growing ever more distant the closer he came—a door.
It was marked with a sigil, the same sigil as the door he’d entered. In between the two doors was the corridor known as Death’s Gate. Shut both doors, and he would shut off that corridor forever.
But in order to shut that far door, he had to walk down the corridor.
Chaos danced and shifted around him, the possibilities happening simultaneously, no two at the same time. He was shivering with cold because he was too hot. He had eaten so much he was starving to death. His voice was too loud; he couldn’t hear it. He moved extremely fast and never left the place where he was floating, standing, hopping, running, on his head, on his feet, sideways.
“Control,” Alfred said to himself desperately. “Control the chaos.”
He focused, concentrated, grappled with the possibilities, and finally the corridor was a corridor and it remained a corridor and the ceiling was up and the floor was down and all things were where they should be. The door was at the end of the corridor. It was open. He had only to shut it.
Alfred started forward.
The door moved backward.
He stopped. It kept going.
It stopped. He kept going. Away from it.
“Let go,” Jonathon’s voice echoed. “And take hold.”
“Of course!” Alfred cried. “That is my mistake! That was Samah’s mistake. That has always been our mistake, all through the centuries! We seek to control the uncontrollable. Let go ... let go.”
But letting go was not an easy thing to do. It meant giving himself up completely to the chaos.
Alfred tried. He opened his hands. The corridor began to shift; the walls closed in, flew outward. Alfred clenched his fists tight over nothing and held on for dear life.
“I don’t think I’m doing this right,” he said miserably. “Perhaps I wasn’t meant to let go completely. Surely it won’t hurt if I hold on to just a tiny piece . . ,”
A joyful whuff sounded at the far end of the corridor. Alfred whirled about, standing stock-still, and saw a dog—mouth open in a wide grin, tongue lolling—bounding down the corridor, heading straight for him.
“No!” Alfred shouted, raising his hands to ward off the animal. “No! There’s a good boy. Don’t come any closer! Nice dog! Good dog! No!”
The dog leapt, struck Alfred squarely in the chest. The Sartan tumbled head over feet backward. Pieces of the magic flew everywhere. He was falling up, soaring down . . .
And there was the door, right in front of him.
Alfred slammed to a halt. And he remained halted.
Thankfully, he mopped his sweating head with his shirt sleeve. It was all so easy, really.
In front of him—an ordinary wooden door with a silver handle. Not very prepossessing, almost a disappointment. Alfred looked through the door, saw the four worlds, saw the Nexus, the Labyrinth, the shattered Vortex.
The Labyrinth. Patryns and Sartan stood drawn up in battle formation on either side of a charred and blackened wall. High above the armies flew the good dragons of Pryan, but few could see them through the smoke and darkness. Everyone could see the Labyrinth’s creatures, terrible monsters that lurked in the forests, waiting to fall on the victor. If there could ever be a victor in this hopeless battle.
Other than the serpents.
Bloated, fat with the hatred and the fear, the serpents slithered along on either side of the wall, aiding both armies, whispering, urging, exhorting, lying, fanning the flames of war.
Horrified, sickened, Alfred reached out to slam shut the door.
One of the serpents caught sight of sudden movement, reared its head. It looked up, through the chaos, and saw Alfred.
Death’s Gate stood wide open, visible to anyone who knew where to find it.
The snake’s red eyes flared in alarm. It saw the danger: forever trapped in the Labyrinth. The way to the lush mensch worlds closed off.