purpose far better than he could have hoped. ―Yr,‖ he muttered around a mouthful of ham,
―perhaps you can tell Faraday of the Sacred Lakes while we breakfast.‖
―Sacred Lakes?‖ Faraday‘s eyes were round. ―Is the Fernbrake, the Mother, one of
them?‖
―Yes, sweet child.‖ Yr nibbled delicately at the core of an apple. ―There are four of them.
The Fernbrake, or Mother, whom we will visit today. Can you think of any others?‖
Faraday licked her fingers; the ham was exceedingly delicious. She wondered if it was
smoked over peat or wood fire. Perhaps the Goodpeople Renkin smoked it over dried pig
manure. She thought about that very hard for a moment, concentrating on forming a clear image
in her mind.
Jack gagged and spat out the last mouthful of ham that he had been chewing on. Faraday
let the image go and laughed delightedly, clapping her hands like a small child. The two
Sentinels looked wryly at each other. Caught. “Not polite,‖ Faraday laughed.
Yr repressed a smile. ―The Lakes, dear child. Can you think of any others?‖
Faraday concentrated. ―Why, the Cauldron Lake. In the Silent Woman Woods. That must
be one of them. Timozel told me how strange it was.‖
Yr inclined her head in agreement. ―But there is one you know even better.‖
Faraday blinked her eyes in confusion. ―What other strange lakes are there, Yr? There are
no other large lakes in Achar except…oh! Surely not!‖
―Ah,‖ Jack winked at Yr. ―I think she has it.‖
―Not Grail Lake,‖ Faraday breathed.
―Precisely, my sweet. But Grail Lake has buried its enchantment deep over the past
several hundred years. Of all the Sacred Lakes, it has been the most exposed to the works of
man. And of the Seneschal.‖
―And the fourth?‖ Faraday asked.
―It lies far to the north.‖ Jack smiled to himself. ―But I think it is the most beautiful of
all.‖
Faraday turned back to Yr. ―Why are they sacred, Yr?‖
Yr started to crunch her way through a currant biscuit, holding a hand beneath her chin to
catch the crumbs. ―Each has its own purpose, Faraday,‖ she muttered ambiguously, ―and its own
secrets. Today, or perhaps tomorrow, you may see why it is that the Avar people particularly
revere the Mother.‖
Faraday remembered what Veremund had told her about the Avar people. The people of
the forest. He had also called the Icarii the people of the Wing, and now Jack had told her that,
incredibly, the Icarii were actually winged people. ―Yr, if the Icarii are referred to as the people
of the Wing, and if they do indeed have wings, then what do the Avar look like if they are the
people of the forest? Do they have leaves instead of hair?‖
Now it was Jack and Yr‘s turn to laugh. ―No, dear one,‖ Jack said obscurely as he rose to
his feet. ―Hardly that. Come, it is time we were moving.‖
Just as they were beginning to climb again Faraday remembered what else Veremund had
mentioned about the Avar, that perhaps they could speak to the trees. She looked about the
slopes of the Bracken Ranges. The mountains were so named because of the dense growth of
ferns and waist-high bracken that covered most of their lower slopes. But now Faraday wondered
if the interior of the Ranges surrounding Fernbrake Lake supported plant life a little larger than
bracken. Some of Faraday‘s nervousness returned. Her entire life up to this point had revolved
about fear of the forest and the forbidden creatures it contained; despite her wonder at the Star
Gate, it was not easy to let go of such ingrained fear.
Timozel, caught in his enchantment, dreamed. Again he walked down a long ice tunnel,
enslaved, terrified, and again he approached the massive wooden door. Again a dreadful voice
boomed from the other side of the door to enter and Timozel’s treacherous hand closed firmly
upon the latch, which twisted open. “No!” he screamed, but the latch continued to move and
Timozel heard a click as the door lock gave way. Just as the door began to inch open his mind let
go and Timozel slipped back into sleep.
After many hours of climbing, Jack, Yr and Faraday topped a ridge and Fernbrake Lake
lay before them, a vast circular body of emerald water almost completely filling the collapsed peak of a mountain. Great ferns and bracken, as tall as a man, surrounded much of the lake, but
around one end there stood a stand of massive trees towering into the dark and cloudy sky. Jack
led them down the side of the ridge towards a smooth, well-grassed area between the trees and
the water‘s edge.
Faraday was subdued as they scrambled down the side of the ridge onto a steep path
hemmed in by the tall tree ferns. Fernbrake Lake, although beautiful, was not as wonderful as
Jack and Yr had promised. It was certainly nothing like the Star Gate. And Faraday was
depressed at the sight of the trees. For her they recalled the dreadful images of her vision, and
she did not think she could bear it if they wanted to sing her another like it. Yr turned and smiled
reassuringly at her. Yr had said that she would learn to love the trees almost more than life itself,
but Faraday thought it would take all her efforts simply to learn to accept them. Even the myriad
birds that called from the bracken did not calm her.
It took them close to an hour to climb down the steep path and work their way around the
lake towards the clear area in front of the trees. The clearing stretched some fifty paces between
the tree line and the water‘s edge, extending in an almost perfect crescent around the eastern rim
of the lake.
―This is a very sacred spot for the Avar people, dear one,‖ Yr whispered to Faraday.
―You see, the Avar revere the—‖
―I do not think your explanations will be necessary, gentle one,‖ Jack said, his voice very
still, gazing towards the tree line. ―I think that for once our luck has turned for the better. See, the Mother has an Avar Bane in attendance.‖
Both Yr and Faraday turned to look at the spot in the tree line where Jack‘s eyes were
riveted. ―A Bane,‖ Yr whispered, awed. Faraday stared at the trees, but for a long moment she
could see nothing. Then, just as her eyes adjusted to the shadows between the trees, a man,
carrying a small child, walked into the cold daylight of the clearing.
Timozel was trapped again in his dream, trapped before the slowly opening door. He
finally managed to force his hand from the door latch lest the opening door pull him
precipitously into the room beyond. The person—the creature—who was opening the door was
standing behind it, and all Timozel could see was his shadow stretching across the ice floor of
the room beyond. Even the ill-defined shape of the shadow was ghastly enough for Timozel to
finally wrench his mind from the power that held him and escape once more.
29
THE BANE AND THE CHILD
Faraday shifted a little closer to Yr. ―Who are they?‖ she whispered.
―Shhh!‖ Yr hushed, and stepped up to stand beside Jack as he stood, staff in hand.
Faraday looked back to the man and child. The man was of an indeterminate age, a little
shorter than Jack, about her own height, and very muscular with smooth olive skin and dark
brown hair waving down about his neck. He wore a short woven tunic with a subtle pattern
around its hem that Faraday could not quite make out and brown leggings underneath that. His
face was broad, open and peculiarly formed with a wide, almost lumpy, forehead above a long
aquiline nose, high cheekbones and a thin mobile mouth. Of all his features, however, it was his eyes that demanded most attention; they were so dark as to be almost black, deep liquid pools
that appeared to have witnessed both great tragedy and indescribable joy. He was one of the most
compelling people Faraday had ever seen, with a wild, alien air about him that almost vibrated.
The child was very young, no more than a toddler. She was of the same race as the man who
carried her, curly brown hair above a similarly structured face and black eyes. She smiled
happily at the group before her as the man stopped some five or six paces from them. At this
distance Faraday could see that the subtle pattern around the hem of his tunic was of leaping
deer.
The man‘s eyes were disturbed as they shifted between the three. He opened his mouth to
speak, but both Jack and Yr stopped him as they bowed deeply. Yr placed the heels of both her
hands on her forehead as she bowed, but Jack, encumbered with his staff, placed only the heel of