The runes tattooed on his skin protected him from damage, the Patryn didn’t even have the satisfaction of feeling pain. Furious, he was about to hit the hull again when a sharp, imperative bark halted him. The dog stood on its hind legs, pawing at him frantically, begging him to stop. Haplo saw himself reflected in the animal’s liquid eyes, saw a man frantic, on the verge of madness.
The horrors of the Labyrinth had not broken him. Why should this? Just because he had no idea where he was going, just because he couldn’t tell up from down, just because he had the horrible feeling he was going to drift endlessly through this empty blue-green sky . . . Stop it!
Haplo drew a deep, shivering breath and patted the dog on the flank.
“It’s all right, boy. I’m better now. It’s all right.” The dog, eyeing his master uneasily, fell back down on all fours.
“Control,” said Haplo. “I’ve got to get control of myself.” The word struck him. “Control. That’s what’s the matter with me. I’ve lost control. Even in the Labyrinth, I was in control. I was able to do something to affect my own fate. Fighting the chaodyns, I was outnumbered, defeated before I started, yet I had a chance to act. At the end, I chose to die. Then you came”-he stroked the dog’s head-“and I chose to live. But here, I’ve got no choice, it seems. There’s nothing I can do. . . .”
Or was there? Panic subsided, terror was banished. Cool, rational thought poured into the void left behind. Haplo crossed to the steering stone. He put his hands upon it a second time, placing them over a different set of runes. Hand, stone, hand, body, hand. Again the circle was complete. He spoke the runes, and the beams shot out in all directions, this time with a different purpose.
They weren’t seeking mass-land or rock. This time he sent them seeking life.
The wait seemed endless, and Haplo began to feel himself sliding into the dark abyss of fear when suddenly the lights returned. Haplo stared, puzzled, confused. The lights were coming from every direction, bombarding him, streaming down onto the stone from above, below, all around him.
That was impossible, it didn’t make sense. How could he be surrounded-on all sides-by life? He pictured the world as he had seen it in the Sartan’s diagram-a round ball, floating in space. He should be getting readings from only one direction. Haplo concentrated, studied the lights, and decided finally that the beams slanting over his left shoulder were stronger than any of the others. He felt relieved; he would sail in that direction.
Haplo moved his hands to another point on the stone, the ship slowly began to turn, altering course. The cabin that had before been drenched in bright sunlight began to darken, shadows crept across the floor. When the beam was aligned with the proper point on the stone, the rune flashed a bright red. Course was set. Haplo removed his hands.
Smiling, he sat down beside the dog and relaxed. He’d done all he could. They were sailing toward life, of some sort. As for whatever those other confusing signals had been, Haplo could only assume he’d made an error.
Not something he did often. He could forgive himself one, he decided, considering the circumstances.
CHAPTER 14
SOMEWHERE, GUNIS
“WE KNOW THE BEST TRAILS,” REGA HAD TOLD PAITHAN.
As it turned out, there was no best trail. There was one trail. And neither Rega nor Roland had ever seen it. Neither brother nor sister had ever been to the dwarven kingdom, a fact they took care to keep from the elf.
“How tough can it be?” Roland had asked his sister. “It’ll be just like all the other trails through the jungle.”
But it wasn’t, and after a few cycles’ travel, Rega was beginning to think they’d made a mistake. Several mistakes, in fact.
The trail, such as it existed and where it existed, was quite new. It had been carved through the jungle by dwarven hands, which meant that it wended its way far beneath the upper levels of the huge trees where humans and elves were more comfortable. It meandered and turned and twisted through dark, shadowy regions. Sunlight, when it could be seen at all, appeared reflected through a roof of green.