ache as he took control again. It's not far now. Once I get
there, they can't touch me. She's done a better job than I dared hope. Karan,
where are you?
Here I am. Karan remained where she was, afraid to map the Way any further,
afraid of the creatures in the void, afraid that Rulke would fail again.
Aachan! he exulted. I know the way from here!
Rulke put his body into a trance and sent his senses through the pore,
tracking her link, following the Way she had mapped. Consumed by his triumph
he raced past Karan, leaving her to follow as she might. But who was guarding
their bodies now? This thought distracted Karan so badly that she lost touch
with her own job. She forgot the Way.
Karan could hear Rulke calling the Charon with all his might, trying to reach
those to whom he had not spoken in thousands of years. Yalkara! Vance!
Grendor! We have a chance now, to survive on another world.
Lost somewhere in his turbulent wake, Karan sensed that they answered
cautiously. But so quickly had he disappeared, leaving such chaos behind him,
disrupting her seeing, that she could not follow. It was like being lost in a
gate, unable to remember the destination. Then the voices were abruptly cut
off. She had lost Rulke, lost the link, everything. Her physical body in
Carcharon was unprotected.
The little intangible part of her that had sensed out the Way now drifted in
the limitless void, lonely and terrified. She was so alone, while around her
everything was black, menacing and alien.
In the distance a fast-moving spark lit up the void, a comet that left a
luminous trail. A few lines of verse popped into Karan's mind as she floated
there.
A restless zephyr ruffles my soul, Sculpting chunks of darkness into form,
While from the emptiness around, Twin vortices of piercing sound, Whisper to
each other.
Where had that come from? Her father? The scribblings of mad old Basunez?
Wherever, it summed up the void at this moment.
Just then the invisible cord that led back to her helpless body twanged as if
something had plucked it. Karan couldn't sense what it was. Rulke had gone
where she could not follow. Her increasingly panicked sendings raised no
response. He had abandoned her - he didn't need her any more.
There came an unpleasant sucking sound. Her disembodied senses sought around
in the void. The cord vibrated again and she realised what it was. Something
had begun to haul itself towards the hole in the Wall. Her senses struggled
desperately to find the way home, but whatever the thing was, it blocked her
path. She sang out across the Way, imagining her body about to be devoured.
Would she even know, or would she just fade out to nothing? Using one of her
triune talents that Rulke had developed, by supreme efforts Karan roused her
flesh and bones from the trance, just enough so that she could see what was
happening in Carcharon.
The Wall had grown transparent around the hole, so that she could just make
out something approaching. It settled over the pore with a splatting sound. It
had the shape of a blob of stuff with tentacles; though its form was in flux.
It glistened wetly like a slug.
Rulke had said she was safe, that nothing could get past his protection
through the Wall. Clearly the slug-thing did not know that, for it extruded a
shiny pseudopod like a needle and slid it right through the pore. It
lengthened until
it extended halfway across the room, while the body on the other side grew
smaller and smaller, and eventually the last of it popped through. The
creature resumed its former blobby shape.
Karan tried to mobilise her limbs, jerking this way and that like a beetle
trapped in a spider's web, but could not come any further out of her trance.
She could not get away from the creature either, for it was attached like a
limpet to her life-cord. Now the void-leech, or whatever it was, glided up to
her, its mucus-covered foot squelching across the floor.
Karan screamed as it put
there, they can't touch me. She's done a better job than I dared hope. Karan,
where are you?
Here I am. Karan remained where she was, afraid to map the Way any further,
afraid of the creatures in the void, afraid that Rulke would fail again.
Aachan! he exulted. I know the way from here!
Rulke put his body into a trance and sent his senses through the pore,
tracking her link, following the Way she had mapped. Consumed by his triumph
he raced past Karan, leaving her to follow as she might. But who was guarding
their bodies now? This thought distracted Karan so badly that she lost touch
with her own job. She forgot the Way.
Karan could hear Rulke calling the Charon with all his might, trying to reach
those to whom he had not spoken in thousands of years. Yalkara! Vance!
Grendor! We have a chance now, to survive on another world.
Lost somewhere in his turbulent wake, Karan sensed that they answered
cautiously. But so quickly had he disappeared, leaving such chaos behind him,
disrupting her seeing, that she could not follow. It was like being lost in a
gate, unable to remember the destination. Then the voices were abruptly cut
off. She had lost Rulke, lost the link, everything. Her physical body in
Carcharon was unprotected.
The little intangible part of her that had sensed out the Way now drifted in
the limitless void, lonely and terrified. She was so alone, while around her
everything was black, menacing and alien.
In the distance a fast-moving spark lit up the void, a comet that left a
luminous trail. A few lines of verse popped into Karan's mind as she floated
there.
A restless zephyr ruffles my soul, Sculpting chunks of darkness into form,
While from the emptiness around, Twin vortices of piercing sound, Whisper to
each other.
Where had that come from? Her father? The scribblings of mad old Basunez?
Wherever, it summed up the void at this moment.
Just then the invisible cord that led back to her helpless body twanged as if
something had plucked it. Karan couldn't sense what it was. Rulke had gone
where she could not follow. Her increasingly panicked sendings raised no
response. He had abandoned her - he didn't need her any more.
There came an unpleasant sucking sound. Her disembodied senses sought around
in the void. The cord vibrated again and she realised what it was. Something
had begun to haul itself towards the hole in the Wall. Her senses struggled
desperately to find the way home, but whatever the thing was, it blocked her
path. She sang out across the Way, imagining her body about to be devoured.
Would she even know, or would she just fade out to nothing? Using one of her
triune talents that Rulke had developed, by supreme efforts Karan roused her
flesh and bones from the trance, just enough so that she could see what was
happening in Carcharon.
The Wall had grown transparent around the hole, so that she could just make
out something approaching. It settled over the pore with a splatting sound. It
had the shape of a blob of stuff with tentacles; though its form was in flux.
It glistened wetly like a slug.
Rulke had said she was safe, that nothing could get past his protection
through the Wall. Clearly the slug-thing did not know that, for it extruded a
shiny pseudopod like a needle and slid it right through the pore. It
lengthened until
it extended halfway across the room, while the body on the other side grew
smaller and smaller, and eventually the last of it popped through. The
creature resumed its former blobby shape.
Karan tried to mobilise her limbs, jerking this way and that like a beetle
trapped in a spider's web, but could not come any further out of her trance.
She could not get away from the creature either, for it was attached like a
limpet to her life-cord. Now the void-leech, or whatever it was, glided up to
her, its mucus-covered foot squelching across the floor.
Karan screamed as it put
Similar Books
