Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

far.

“Was that the test?” she said, looking at the caged golden glass.

It seemed familiar, somehow.

“Mostly,” said Isaiah. “What do you think of this chamber?”

“It is very beautiful, but…oh, the sadness here.”

“This pyramid was once called Threshold, Ishbel—” He stopped as he saw her flinch.

So.

“This chamber was known as the Infinity Chamber,” Isaiah continued, “because the men

who built Threshold used it to open a doorway into Infinity.”

Ishbel shuddered, and wrapped her arms about her shoulders. “It was a bad thing to do,”

she said.

“Yes,” Isaiah said, “it was indeed. Ishbel…” He took one of her hands, and wrapped it in

both of his. “Ishbel, I want to take you on a journey with me, share with you some of my sight.

Will you trust me?”

She gave a reluctant nod of her head.

He took a deep breath. “It will be for a moment only, and when I pull you out of it I am

going to ask you what you saw, what you felt. Your impressions are as gold to me. Will you do

that?”

Another nod.

“Very well. Ishbel, watch with me.”

Using his power, Isaiah opened up his senses to Ishbel, showing her what he saw.

Kanubai, far below them, his long, thin dark fingers inching ever upward, grasping hold

of every crevice in the wall of the abyss that he could.

Ishbel gasped, and Isaiah increased the pressure about her hand, trying to reassure her.

Kanubai”s eyes, shining red, malevolent, all-seeing. Seeing them.

And the something else that hovered about Kanubai, the something that Isaiah could not

quite discern.

Ishbel took in a breath that was almost a shriek, and Isaiah broke the connection.

“Ishbel—”

We need to get out of here now!

Isaiah was so astounded that Ishbel had used hitherto untouched power to communicate

with him that for an instant he did not react.

That instant almost cost them their lives.

The golden glass surrounding them turned black, then translucent, and then,

unbelievably, hundreds if not thousands of faces and hands appeared behind the glass.

Anger and agony consumed every face.

Suddenly the glass walls began to rush toward Ishbel and Isaiah, converging on them as if

the weight of the faces and hands was too much for it to bear.

Then the glass exploded, and Ishbel and Isaiah felt a blast of heat from the suddenly freed

flesh waiting behind it.

Isaiah reacted instantly. He dragged Ishbel toward the door, feeling as they went through

a hand grab at Ishbel”s hair. He yanked at her with all his strength, pulling her through, and then

they were running, running, running through the black tunnels, fingers and teeth snapping behind

them at every step, until they tumbled forth into the sunlight beyond the pyramid, and peace once

more returned to their world.

Satisfied that the danger was now past, Isaiah gathered Ishbel and held her until her

shaking stopped.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I had no idea it was that powerful.”

Then, unable to help himself, he asked her what she had seen in the vision he”d shared

with her.

“A being, darkness, crawling toward the surface,” Ishbel said, very low.

Isaiah nodded. Kanubai. “There was something else—”

She leaned in against him, almost burying her face in his chest so that he had to strain to

hear her muffled words.

“He is being helped to the surface,” she said. “He does not rise on his own power alone.”

Isaiah went very cold.

“The pyramid is aiding him, Isaiah. The pyramid is angry. Consumed with hate. It wants

revenge for some slight in its past. It…it has cast down to…”

“His name is Kanubai,” Isaiah said softly.

“The pyramid has cast down to Kanubai a rope of knotted souls, souls of the pyramid”s

victims. That being below, Kanubai, rises partly under his own power, but he is aided far more

powerfully by the pyramid. Isaiah, can we leave here now? Please.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Palace of Aqhat, Isembaard

W hat have you done? Were you mad, to expose Ishbel like that?

Isaiah was not in the least surprised that Lister should contact him in such a fury. He was

glad only that Lister had left it until Isaiah was back in his private quarters.

“She is the only one who can truly read the pyramid,” Isaiah said. “We needed to know

what was happening. We needed to, damn it! Ishbel was strong. In the end she survived.”

“In the end she survived.” Oh, what arrogance. You put her at such risk!

“And you put us at risk by communicating in this manner!” Isaiah snapped. “Is that not

why we had the pyramids, so that Kanubai would not know—”

You berate me over such a detail when you have just returned from taking Ishbel into

DarkGlass Mountain? Besides, you”ve used this method before. Stop trying to distract the

conversation from your stupidity, Isaiah.

There was a silence.

Tell me what you learned, then.

Isaiah gave a soft laugh. “Really, you want to hear? After all this posturing about what a

bad boy I have been?”

Tell me, Isaiah.

“The pyramid is as dangerous, probably more so, than Kanubai. It aids him to the surface.

Ishbel said it has cast down a rope of lost souls to Kanubai, who uses it to haul himself upward. I

think it possible the pyramid means to use Kanubai. We are going to battle two enemies, my

friend, and I think we may have been concentrating on the wrong one all this time.”

Lister made a formless sound which Isaiah interpreted as part curse, part cry of

frustration.

What can we do? Lister said eventually.

“Nothing more than what we have been. The invasion must go ahead. You cannot stop

the Skraelings, and I…well, I need to attain the north.”

How strong are they?

“They,” Isaiah noted with a great weariness. Until today there had been but “one.”

“Not so strong that they can strike yet. Kanubai needs to feed, and the pyramid…it is still

waiting for something. Possibly Kanubai himself.”

Where is Ba”al”uz?

“In Coroleas, I suppose. The man is not here, and that is all that matters. I have men set to

guard Ishbel. She is safe.”

We need to move soon, Isaiah. You are a laggard. I sense no great preparations for

invasion.

“All is progressing smoothly.”

You will need to move within a few weeks.

“Don”t pester me, Lister! We dance a dangerous game here. One misstep—”

Such as today”s adventure.

“—and all is lost.”

Isaiah, you need to mobilize soon. I have heard reports that Maximilian has left Escator

for Isembaard. He hunts his wife. Isaiah, he cannot get too close to DarkGlass Mountain—

“I will mobilize when I am good and ready, Lister! Autumn has barely set in, and surely

the Skraelings will not move before winter.”

I think today”s adventure has shown that we need to move sooner than that. Isaiah—

“Leave me in peace, Lister. I am tired, and need to rest.”

Ishbel sat in her chamber, curiously calm. After what she”d been through within

DarkGlass Mountain she assumed she would have been rendered agitated, scared, emotional.

But, no.

What she had seen and intuited about the pyramid was terrifying. She shuddered every

time she thought about those desperate, angry, agonized faces pressed against the glass.

About how they had broken through, reached for her, chased her.

She knew she”d been exposed to a malignant power this day, a power that for some

unknown reason knew her and loathed her. But there was something else she”d felt, heard, that

she had not told Isaiah.

The golden glass had spoken to her. Just before it had turned black, just before the faces

and hands had appeared, the glass had said to her:

The strength of the malignancy”s hatred of you is a direct reflection of your own

strength, Ishbel. Use it.

Lister strode around in circles. Snow blew about him, ice crystals flew up from the

impact of his boots, Skraelings drifted out of the mist to stare briefly at him, and then vanish.

Eleanon, Inardle, and Bingaleal stood to one side. High above, several more of the

Lealfast rode the icy air currents, watching.

Lister was angry.

More, he was furious.

“I can”t believe he put Ishbel in such danger,” he said.

“Still,” said Eleanon. “Now you have discovered that the pyramid—”

Lister swore, and Eleanon stopped speaking, his face assuming a martyred expression.

“He”s not moving, and he should be, he should!” Lister said. “Especially now, especially

after what he discovered today. Damn him, why doesn”t he move?”

“Perhaps—” Inardle began, but Lister ignored her.

“I don”t know what he is playing at,” Lister continued. “What is he doing? What? Gods

alone know where Ba”al”uz is, and I don”t like that. I need to get Isaiah moving, damn it. I need

to get Ishbel out of Aqhat and further north!”

He stopped suddenly, turning on his heel and striding over to the group of Lealfast.