At least now he could give the stranger a name.
CHAPTER 5
THE NEXUS
“SERPENTS, LORD,” SAID HAPLO. “BUT NOT SERPENTS AS WE KNOW them. The most deadly snake in the Labyrinth is a worm compared to these! They are old, old as man himself, I think. They have the cunning and the knowledge of their years. And they have a power, Lord, a power that is vast and… and…” Haplo paused, hesitated.
“And what, my son?” encouraged Xar gently.
“Almighty,” answered Haplo.
“An omnipotent force?” Xar mused. “You know what you are saying, my son?”
Haplo heard the warning in the voice.
Be very careful of your thoughts, your surmises, your deductions, my son, the tone cautioned. Be careful of your facts, your judgment. For by acknowledging this power almighty, you place it above me.
Haplo was careful. He sat long without answering, staring into the fire that wanned the lord’s hearth, watched its light play over the blue sigla tattooed on his hands and arms. He saw again the runes on the arms of the false Patryn: chaotic, unintelligible, without meaning, without order. The sight brought back the wrenching, debilitating fear he’d experienced in the serpents’ lair on Draknor.
“I’ve never felt fear like that,” he said suddenly, speaking aloud the thoughts in his mind.
Though he came in on the middle of Haplo’s mental conversation, Xar understood. The lord always understood.
“The fear made me want to crawl into some dark hole, Lord. I wanted to curi up and lie there cowering. I was afraid… of my fear. I couldn’t understand it, couldn’t overcome it.”
Haplo shook his head. “And I was born in fear, raised with fear, in the Labyrinth. What was the difference, Lord? I don’t understand.”
Xar did not respond, sat unmoving in his chair. He was a quiet, attentive listener. He never betrayed any emotion, his attention never wandered, his interest was always completely focused on the speaker. People talk to such a rare type of listener; they talk eagerly, oftimes incautiously. Their thoughts are focused on what they are saying, not on the person listening. And so Xar, with his magical power, was often able to hear the unspoken, as well as the spoken. People poured their minds into the lord’s empty well.
Haplo clenched his fist, watched the sigla stretch smoothly, protectively over the skin of his hand. He answered his own question.
“I knew the Labyrinth could be defeated,” he said softly. “That’s the difference, isn’t it, Lord. Even when I thought I would die in that place, I knew in my hour of dying a bitter triumph. I had come close to defeating it. And though I had failed, others would come after me and succeed. The Labyrinth, for all its power, is vulnerable.”
Hapio raised his head, looked at Xar. “You proved that, Lord. You defeated it. You have defeated it, time and again. I defeated it, finally. With help.” He reached down his hand, scratched the dog’s head.
The animal lay snoozing at his feet, basking in the warm glow of the fire. Occasionally, it opened its eyes a glittering slit, fixed their gaze on Xar.
Just checking, the dog seemed to say.
Haplo did not notice, from where he was sitting, his dog’s wary, watchful observation. Xar, seated opposite, did.
Haplo fell silent again, stared into the fire, his expression grim and dark. He had no need to continue, Xar understood completely.
“You are saying that this power cannot be defeated. Is that it, my son?”
Haplo stirred restlessly, uncomfortably. He cast the lord a troubled glance, shifted his gaze swiftly back to the fire. His face flushed, his hand unclenched, clenched again on the arm of the chair.
“Yes, Lord. That is what I am saying.” He spoke slowly, heavily. “I think this evil power may be checked, halted, driven back, controlled. But never beaten, never ultimately destroyed.”
“Not by us, your people, as strong and powerful as we are?” Xar put the question mildly, not arguing, merely requiring additional information.
“Not by us, Lord. As strong and powerful as we are.” Haplo smiled at some inner thought, a sardonic smile.
The Lord of the Nexus was angered by this, although, to the casual observer, his expression appeared as placid and calm as before. Haplo did not notice, he was lost in a tangle of dark thoughts. But one other person was watching their conversation, eavesdropping on it. And this person was not a casual observer. He knew well what the lord was thinking.