The Spindle

Returning to the ground floor, my eye was caught by a spiral staircase leading down. I immediately resolved to investigate it, not only because it led in the proper direction, but because of its resemblance to a staircase I had seen at least once before...in Amber. Momus did not appear to make the same connection, doubtless not having ever been to see the Pattern in Amber, but he did not object to seeing where the stairs might lead. At least not at first.

It was a very long staircase, and it was quite some time before it ended near the entrances to what appeared to be catacombs. Momus did not seem to find this significant. Indeed, his only response was to mutter briefly about the length of the staircase we had just descended. I did my best not to smirk, instead faking an expression of sympathy. "Maybe you would like to sit and rest. I am sure I can manage."

He shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of leaving you alone in a place like this."

"How gallant," I responded. Not that I believed that chivalry alone guided him, if it truly did at all. It was just as likely that he feared I would make some discovery in his absence that I would not share with him. Which, indeed, I might, depending on what I happened to find.

I paused a moment to sense for the odd energy I had noticed earlier, then led us down a passageway, passing a number of cells and some dungeons. Beyond them, we eventually they came across a large stone door. It was slightly ajar, with a little light trickling in through the opening, and I could feel the odd energy I was tracking quite strongly now.

Momus appeared to sense it as well, for he commented, "Uh oh, that's not going to be good." He did not look especially happy.

I wondered briefly if the energy felt as disturbing to him as the Pattern's energy would. It did feel similar to Pattern, after all. Still, I was hardly going to remain outside just because he did not wish to go any closer. I pushed open the door and stepped inside the room. After hesitating for a moment, Momus followed me, although he looked rather uncomfortable. Inside, the room was empty except for something on the floor that looked akin to the Pattern. Except it was wrong. While the Pattern was all curves and arcs, with very few sharp angles, this thing was just the opposite. It was very geometrical, all lines and points, sharp angles, octagons, hexagons and triangles. It was also perfectly symmetrical.

I was in the process of studying this Pattern-like object when suddenly both of my hands were grabbed at the wrists and dragged up and apart above my head. Quite startled, for I had sensed no other presence, I looked at my wrists, but there appeared to be nothing holding them. Upon looking closer, however, I could make out bands of lines upon them, as if a small portion of that Pattern-like object had been made three-dimensional, like a glyph. My wrists were caught between the bands, some passing in front, some behind, but the bands themselves did not appear to be tied into anything. They simply ended a few inches beyond my wrists. Something had a hold of them, however, and I felt my wrists begin to be pulled backwards, towards the wall, dragging me along despite my efforts to resist. Thankfully, I had kept Werewindle at hand, and I was able to turn my wrist just enough to touch the blade to the bands holding my other wrist. As I had hoped, it disrupted the bands nicely, releasing my left wrist. It was then short work to free my other wrist, and then I turned quickly, Werewindle at the ready.

The first thing I saw was Momus stuck to a wall like a fly under flypaper, looking a little irritable. And then my gaze fell upon a rather familiar figure. It was the red-headed young man from the portrait upstairs, the one who had seemed so unnatural. He stared at me silently, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that I had freed myself. I did my best to look equally unconcerned as I addressed him. "I wondered if I would run into you down here."

His answer was succinct, his voice without inflection. "You can't walk it. I won't let you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why ever not? Assuming I even wanted to." Of course I wanted to, but not until I knew more about it.

"Because it's mine. You can't walk it. End of story."

Obviously, this topic was going nowhere. I tried another one. "And you are...?"

There was this kind of strange look when I asked him that, and he paused a moment before replying. "My name is Blethius. I was appointed guardian of this place."

Interestingly, he did not ask for my name, by which I concluded that either he already knew it, or he simply did not care. A guardian, was he? That would explain his unusual appearance. The question was, had be been created by Father, or did he predate Father's arrival here? By his appearance, I would guess the former. Still, it was easy enough to confirm. "By the owner, I would assume."

"Yes."

"And you are to prevent anyone else from walking it?"

"Correct."

I was afraid that might be the case. I wished Father had told me about this place before he died. It was possible, of course, that Blethius might prove more cooperative if he knew that I was Brand's daughter, but that would mean revealing that information to Momus as well, and I was not willing to do so just yet. I turned slightly, indicating the glowing object behind me. "I am simply curious about it.

"You know what they say about curiosity?"

"It depends on where you are. I have heard many different variations."

"I have only heard that it's fatal."

I had suspected that was what he was driving at. "Only if you are not cautious. It would be incautious to walk something about which you do not know anything in the first place."

"Well, then we are in perfect agreement."

"For all I know, it could kill me." Which was precisely why I was not trying to walk it.

"For all I know, it probably would."

"But you do not want to take that chance."

He looked at me then, and his face took on this soft, almost puppyish look for a moment. "I wouldn't wish to see you harmed...really. Most people just leave it alone."

I found his soft expression to be a bit disconcerting, and decided I preferred it when he merely looked disinterested. Still, he had made no attempt to reimprison me, so far. I found that an encouraging sign. I decided to keep him talking, to see what other information I might glean. "Guarding this place must get awfully boring, after a while."

He merely shrugged. "I have patience."

Yes, of course he would. Father would have seen to that. Speaking of Father... "I believe I saw your portrait."

"There are several portraits hanging in this place."

"I would not have thought you would want a painting of you, though. Being the guardian and all."

"What does it matter?"

"Indeed. You look rather like the owner of this place."

"Flattery."

I felt a cold chill go through me. I could not possibly have heard him right. "Excuse me?"

"Flattery."

"That was the owner of this place?" Could it be? Was I mislead by the statue in the courtyard? Had this been Llateri's domain?

"No, it was flattery that made the owner of this place make me in his own image."

I had to be certain. "Llateri the person, or flattery the vice?"

"I would say the vice, I know no such person named Llateri."

Relief poured through me, although I kept my expression casual. This place would be far more dangerous if she had been its owner. Momus squirmed slightly from his position on the wall, reminding me of his predicament. I inclined my head in his direction and asked, "I do not suppose you would care to let him down? I do not think he is going to walk it." Indeed, if it had any Pattern in it at all, and it certainly felt like it did, I doubted he would fare any better walking it than that unfortunate Chanicut lord had on the Magic Circle.

Blethius looked over at Momus for a moment, and then suddenly Momus' arms were released. He looked a little peevish about the whole situation, and I do not suppose that I could blame him. However, it would not have been prudent to press for his release straight away, lest Blethius suspect that he was of some value to me. Not that he was, but false impressions can be so difficult to correct later on.

Blethius indicated the doorway. "Shall we go upstairs to talk?"

"Oh, certainly," I replied, more for Momus' benefit than my own.

Blethius appeared to realize this as well, for he commented, "Being around this too long can have adverse affects on some people."

I merely nodded and avoided looking at Momus. There had been another reason I wanted to leave the room, as well. The longer we stayed, the more likely it was that Momus might begin to wonder why I did not look as uncomfortable as he felt.

We preceded out of the room, Blethius waiting for the two of us to go out the door first, then shutting it firmly behind us. I heard a click as the lock engaged, and had to smile slightly. In Blethius' position, I would have done the same, lest one of us make a break for the power he guarded.

As we began the long ascent up the stairs, I indicated the room we had just left. "Rather a careless guardian to leave the door open like that, do you not think?"

Blethius shook his head. "No, just a necessary test to see if you would choose to go there."

"You mean if I would choose to peer in through the open door?" Not much of a test, that.

"If you choose not to go down the staircase at all, there's no point in my even bothering you, or even revealing myself."

"I see. But why leave the door unlocked?"

"A locked door brings about questions, doesn't it?"

Not that leaving it unlocked had served to keep us out, either. "And now that we have seen what is in there, you are hoping that we will simply go away and not bother you any more?"

"Oh no. There's nothing saying I have to let you go."

"True." And something that had been troubling me, even before he mentioned it. If he could prevent us from leaving, he had no need to secure us with those odd bands of his. Still, if that was his intent, I had no means of stopping him, so I resolved not to let him intimidate me. Instead, I remarked lightly, "I noticed that the last painter you had here fared ever so well," allowing the slightest tinge of sarcasm to enter my voice

Blethius nodded. "Well, that was the strange thing...things were different before."

Now that sounded interesting. "Before what?

"Before this whole mess occurred, before everything got severed away. It used to be green here."

So the Shadow had not always been as desolate as it was now. I had not expected that. "When did that end?"

"Oh, I don't know. Um, a few weeks ago?"

I blinked in surprise. A few weeks? "I would have thought it would take longer than that."

"Oh no. The painter died only a few days back."

A few days? Impossible. Unless...

Momus looked at me at that point and said, "That doesn't seem a good thing."

Indeed. "Things must run awfully slowly here."

I had intended my words as a general observation, but Blethius addressed them anyway. "I don't know that I can make comparisons."

Even more interesting. "You never leave here?"

"No. I have neither the will, nor the way."

I nodded, still having trouble believing that the entire ocean had dried up so completely in just a couple of weeks. "So, one day, everything simply dropped dead?

"Overnight almost."

"Now how did that happen, I wonder?"

"The ground cracked open, the seas drained. The sky rained down salt that killed all the plants. Over the course of the next day, the sun came out brighter than it ever had and dried everything in the space of hours."

"That seems a rather extreme reaction."

"Who can control the weather?"

"So you have no idea what caused it?"

"I don't leave here. I assume it was something external, because no one was here."

"True, but you might have some idea as to what sort of thing could cause it." I had to wonder if Father's death had been the cause. Or perhaps it was a side affect of the Abyssal war.

Fascinating as this all was, I was eager to be gone. I had reached the limits of what I could discuss with Blethius while Momus was present, and if time did flow as slowly here as Blethius' tale indicated, every moment we tarried could be days, or even weeks, that passed in the Courts. And Sarah was going to walk the Logrus soon... I looked over at Momus. "Well, have you seen enough?"

Momus nodded, looking as eager to leave as I. "Yes I have. Let's go home." He looked at Blethius. "Not wishing to denigrate your hospitality in any way, but there are things important back at home I must keep an eye on."

"And we would not want to make you nervous lurking around your little...whatever that was," I added, doing one last bit of fishing.

Blethius bit. "Ah. I believe the Master called it the Spindle."

"The Spindle? Something he created, no doubt."

"Of course. Did he never tell you about it?"

"I do not see why he would have." Untrue, of course. Actually, I was rather annoyed that he never had. But why should Blethius think Father would have told me about it, when as far as he knew, I had never met his master?

"I just thought that, perhaps, you might have met him in passing."

I did my best to look confused. "Did he have a habit of casually telling people about it? You could of course enlighten me, if you thought he would want me to know." That last was a reach, I knew, but it never hurt to try.

"If he did not tell you, it would hardly be my place to."

"Perhaps he simply never had the opportunity." I hoped that was the reason. It was not as though we had had much opportunity to speak after I returned, and he was quite involved in his mad plans for Amber at that point.

Much to my surprise, Blethius replied, "I'll have to think on that."

"Do that. Perhaps I will come visit you again, sometime."

"Perhaps."

There was no 'perhaps' about it. I would be back. It was just a question of when.

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Last modified on September 27, 1999 by Kris Fazzari.