felt safe. At least, as safe as he was.
'I'm ready.'
'I'll put you in a trance, else your eyes and ears will distract you.'
She submitted, and he did that. Her body sat motionless in Carcharon but now
her eyes saw nothing. Karan sought out through the Wall as he had instructed
her, her mind totally blank, only her senses live. All around her stretched
the void. She had thought it to be just emptiness, but in this state she saw
that it was a maze of spaces, ever changing, like the Forbidding itself only
extending in many dimensions. The structure of the void was impossible to
comprehend, but there was a Way through it; perhaps many Ways.
She floated past a murky clot that suddenly sprang against the layer between
her and it. It clung there like a black spider, bristly limbs rasping against
the barrier, trying to get at her. Karan was shocked out of her drifting
complacency. The void swarmed with violent life; she could sense it all
around. She knew that it sensed her too. Her disembodied spirit might not be
in danger, but those creatures would soon realise that there was a break in
the Forbidding. Freedom! A way out of the void! They would find it easily
enough, for the Ways between the Worlds were their garden paths. And her body
lay helpless before the portal in Carcharon, an invitation to a feast.
For a moment she lost concentration, but Rulke was there, steadying her across
the link. I am very afraid, she sent to him.
And you should be. There are things here that will rend us in an instant, if I
fail. But I'm protecting you.
The pressure of their violent urges hurt her, almost physically. How easy it
would be to go mad in this task. Rulke helped her to get control of herself
again. She kept on and at last found a track and knew that it was the Way to
Aachan. I've found it! she sang out across the link.
Back in Carcharon Rulke shouted with delight. He took his seat upon the
construct, his will locked totally to the task, trusting her as he must. The
Way, tenuous and ever-changing, skidded from her questing senses. The very act
of seeking and finding it, the seeing of it in her mind seemed to change it,
so that she must not only see what it is now, and how it will be then, but
must also know the unknowable - in what way it would shy away from her mind and put all these together into a path that Rulke could follow.
She slid her triune senses, that she barely knew how to use, along the Way,
preparing it as he had taught her to. The strain of holding it was terrible.
She could feel his struggle too.
It hurts! he cried.
Again Karan sensed an alien presence scratching at the boundaries of the Way,
sniffing it out even as she did. Then another! They began to move past, first
a trickle, then a flood of them, but though she cringed they passed by without
sensing her life force.
This Way was almost mapped now. Ahead Karan sensed the cold dark globe that
was Aachan. Behind her, through the link with Rulke, she felt the creatures
clustered about the pore through the Wall. How they clawed at it, trying to
get into Carcharon.
Karan felt a shock behind her as the first void-creature came up against
Rulke's will. Across the link she sensed his unguarded thoughts.
It's strong. Far stronger than I expected! We've been out of the void too
long. I'd forgotten how desperate they are. Unknowingly, his guard over the
pore through the Wall began to slip. She continued mapping the Way, though now
she could sense his whole body shuddering with the strain, his knuckles white
on the levers of the construct, his eyes staring but seeing nothing. I can't
keep it up! She felt the burning pain in his limbs as if he was being torn
between two straining
horses. Aaaaah! he screamed aloud, and did not realise it. I can't! I can't do
it! Then nothing.
Karan stopped at once, shocked at how quickly he had been overcome. What was
she to do? She hesitated, then the link was back. Rulke was back.
She felt the
'I'm ready.'
'I'll put you in a trance, else your eyes and ears will distract you.'
She submitted, and he did that. Her body sat motionless in Carcharon but now
her eyes saw nothing. Karan sought out through the Wall as he had instructed
her, her mind totally blank, only her senses live. All around her stretched
the void. She had thought it to be just emptiness, but in this state she saw
that it was a maze of spaces, ever changing, like the Forbidding itself only
extending in many dimensions. The structure of the void was impossible to
comprehend, but there was a Way through it; perhaps many Ways.
She floated past a murky clot that suddenly sprang against the layer between
her and it. It clung there like a black spider, bristly limbs rasping against
the barrier, trying to get at her. Karan was shocked out of her drifting
complacency. The void swarmed with violent life; she could sense it all
around. She knew that it sensed her too. Her disembodied spirit might not be
in danger, but those creatures would soon realise that there was a break in
the Forbidding. Freedom! A way out of the void! They would find it easily
enough, for the Ways between the Worlds were their garden paths. And her body
lay helpless before the portal in Carcharon, an invitation to a feast.
For a moment she lost concentration, but Rulke was there, steadying her across
the link. I am very afraid, she sent to him.
And you should be. There are things here that will rend us in an instant, if I
fail. But I'm protecting you.
The pressure of their violent urges hurt her, almost physically. How easy it
would be to go mad in this task. Rulke helped her to get control of herself
again. She kept on and at last found a track and knew that it was the Way to
Aachan. I've found it! she sang out across the link.
Back in Carcharon Rulke shouted with delight. He took his seat upon the
construct, his will locked totally to the task, trusting her as he must. The
Way, tenuous and ever-changing, skidded from her questing senses. The very act
of seeking and finding it, the seeing of it in her mind seemed to change it,
so that she must not only see what it is now, and how it will be then, but
must also know the unknowable - in what way it would shy away from her mind and put all these together into a path that Rulke could follow.
She slid her triune senses, that she barely knew how to use, along the Way,
preparing it as he had taught her to. The strain of holding it was terrible.
She could feel his struggle too.
It hurts! he cried.
Again Karan sensed an alien presence scratching at the boundaries of the Way,
sniffing it out even as she did. Then another! They began to move past, first
a trickle, then a flood of them, but though she cringed they passed by without
sensing her life force.
This Way was almost mapped now. Ahead Karan sensed the cold dark globe that
was Aachan. Behind her, through the link with Rulke, she felt the creatures
clustered about the pore through the Wall. How they clawed at it, trying to
get into Carcharon.
Karan felt a shock behind her as the first void-creature came up against
Rulke's will. Across the link she sensed his unguarded thoughts.
It's strong. Far stronger than I expected! We've been out of the void too
long. I'd forgotten how desperate they are. Unknowingly, his guard over the
pore through the Wall began to slip. She continued mapping the Way, though now
she could sense his whole body shuddering with the strain, his knuckles white
on the levers of the construct, his eyes staring but seeing nothing. I can't
keep it up! She felt the burning pain in his limbs as if he was being torn
between two straining
horses. Aaaaah! he screamed aloud, and did not realise it. I can't! I can't do
it! Then nothing.
Karan stopped at once, shocked at how quickly he had been overcome. What was
she to do? She hesitated, then the link was back. Rulke was back.
She felt the
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