Crystal Gorge

“There’s one problem we’ll have to solve before we go much farther, though,” Narasan said, “and that has to do with smoke. We can build forts from one end of Long-Pass to the other, but they won’t be worth a thing if the bug-people send clouds of greasy smoke rolling down the pass.”

“I’m sure that we’ll be able to find a way to deal with that, Narasan,” Trenicia declared.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” Sorgan told her. “Longbow has that ‘unknown friend’ who can do almost anything that needs doing.”

Balacenia smiled. Mother’s reputation seemed to be growing every day.

“It’s always seemed to hit her earlier—and harder—than it hits the rest of us,” Zelana was saying to her brothers a bit later when the three of them were alone, they thought, in Dahlaine’s map-room. Balacenia was there, of course, but the elders seemed to be unaware of her presence.

“I think that might be the fault of that idiotic priesthood,” Veltan declared.

“No, little brother,” Zelana disagreed. “This was turning up long before the emergence of people. Aracia just can’t bear the idea that Enalla will be taking over in the East after we all drift off to sleep. If I remember correctly, the same sort of thing happened when the only living thing in the entire Land of Dhrall was grass. Aracia just can’t accept the idea that she won’t be in charge of everything after she goes to sleep. I think she actually hates Enalla.”

“That doesn’t make any sense at all,” Veltan objected.

“I know. When you get right down to it, Aracia has never made much sense. She cherishes her position so much that it’s unseated her mind. I shudder to think of what she might have become when we complete this particular sleep cycle.”

“We can deal with that later, dear sister,” Dahlaine said. “Right now, though, we’ve got this other problem. How are we going to deal with the Vlagh?”

“The Trogites seem to have found a way to persuade the servants of the Vlagh to go play somewhere else,” Veltan said. “Even the most devoted servants of the Vlagh seem to get distracted after they’ve been set on fire.”

“That does seem to work,” Zelana agreed. “Unfortunately, the Vlagh’s an imitator, so I’m sure it won’t be long before the creatures of the Wasteland start throwing fire at our friends. I’m not sure if it would work the way we might want it to, but eight or ten feet of wet snow would make it very difficult to start fires, wouldn’t you say?”

“We might want to plant that notion in Lillabeth’s mind,” Dahlaine said.

“Or possibly Eleria’s,” Zelana added. “I hate to say this, but Aracia might interfere if we depended on Lillabeth.”

“We can deal with that later,” Dahlaine said. “Right now I’d say that we should concentrate on moving the outlanders down to Aracia’s Domain.”

Veltan followed his older brother out of the map-room, but Zelana lingered for some reason. “All right, Balacenia,” she said when she was sure that her brothers were out of earshot, “what are you up to now?”

“Just gathering information, Beloved,” Balacenia said, mimicking Eleria’s voice and her traditional form of reference.

“Don’t do that,” Zelana scolded. “You’re not Eleria, and I know that as well as you do.”

Balacenia shrugged and stepped out into the open. “It was worth a try, I suppose. Stay calm, Zelana. Eleria and I know each other now, and we know that we’re not exactly the same person.” She smiled. “She’s the most delightful person I’ve ever known.”

“You’ve actually spoken with her?” Zelana sounded astonished.

“Of course. We’re making our own plans for the war in Aracia’s Domain. Please don’t interfere, Zelana. We do know what we’re doing. I’m sure that you’ve noticed that Eleria can bring just about everybody around to her way of thinking. I’m sure that it won’t be long before she’s kissed Mother herself into submission.”

“Are you saying that she’s met Mother?”

“Oh, yes. Mother loves her already, but there’s nothing new or different about that.”

“I’m not trying to insult you, Balacenia, but you don’t sound at all like Eleria.”

“I don’t go around begging for kisses, you mean? Dahlaine’s idea was very interesting, but he separated us. Eleria’s not me.” Balacenia smiled. “I was just a little startled when she called me ‘Big Me.’ It sort of rubbed off, and now I call her ‘Little-Me.’ She put her finger immediately on something that had never occurred to me. Our cycle this next time will have eight divinities instead of only four.” She gave Zelana that wide-eyed look of total innocence. “Won’t that be fun?” she said.

When Balacenia went looking for Longbow in Dahlaine’s cave, he was nowhere to be found, and when Balacenia realized that several of the other significant natives were also missing, she was sure that Longbow had taken them aside to discuss some things they didn’t want the outlanders to know about.

It took her a little while to find them. Longbow was very good when it came to concealing himself. “We don’t need to make a big issue of this with our outlander friends,” he was saying to the others, “but I’m catching a strong odor of reluctance from several of them to go down to Aracia’s Domain to fight the last war here in the Land of Dhrall. After Aracia tried to conceal Lillabeth’s Dream, our friends came to realize that she wasn’t to be trusted. I know several of them who don’t want to have anything to do with Zelana’s older sister.”

“I wonder why,” Red-Beard said sarcastically.

“There’s one thing that our friends from other parts of the world don’t seem to realize,” Longbow continued. “The Vlagh steals ideas, rather than gold, and ideas are making her servants grow more and more intelligent. When they reach the point that they’re more intelligent than people are, people are going to start to die out—and it won’t just be here in the Land of Dhrall. The Vlagh wants the whole world, and once people are gone, she’ll get what she wants.”

Balacenia saw Mother’s fine hand at work there. Mother had obviously told Longbow exactly what she’d mentioned to Balacenia herself in Dahlaine’s cave a little while ago.