The Dark Disciple Omnibus by Margaret Weis

Author:Margaret Weis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Mina found the long, circular staircase that wound around the Tower’s interior and began her descent. The staircase was made of mother-of-pearl and spiraled round and round, reminding her of the interior of a nautilus seashell. She could see here and there cracks in the walls, presumably from the shaking the Tower was enduring at the hands of the outraged goddess, and she worried the next jolt might split the walls. Fortunately the quakes rocking the Tower ceased. Mina could not see outside, but she guessed Nuitari had returned and was now trying to placate his furious sister.

Inside the Tower was silent. The seawater surrounding the structure seemed to suck out the sound, so that every noise made within had a muffled quality to it.

The silence was soothing. Now that she was no longer a prisoner, she felt at home here. She found it comforting, knowing the sea cradled her. Perhaps this stirred some long-buried memory of the shipwreck that had taken her parents from her and left her an orphan, a memory that was always there, lying just beneath the surface. One she could never quite recall.

“Our minds blot out such traumatic events in order to protect us from them,” Goldmoon had once told Mina. “You may remember what happened to you some day or you may never remember. Do not fret over it, child. It is quite natural.”

Mina had fretted. She felt guilty and ashamed that she had no memory of those parents who had loved her dearly, perhaps even sacrificed their lives for her, and she tried hard to bring to mind their faces or the sound of a mother’s voice. She became obsessed with trying to remember, an obsession that ended only when the One God, Takhisis, chided her for wasting her time.

“It does not matter who gave you birth!” Takhisis had said, cold and furious. “I am your mother. I am your father. Look to me for protection and succor and nourishment.”

Mina had obeyed the god’s command as she obeyed all others given to her by the One God. She had never allowed herself to think about her parents again, not until she had been imprisoned in this Tower below the sea. She had so much time on her hands in the Tower, time to think, time to remember her childhood. The frustration and the shame and the need to know returned. Mina took care to keep her obsession to herself. She did not want to anger Chemosh as she had angered Takhisis.

The spiral stairs were lit by magical globules of light placed at intervals and renewed daily by Basalt. Doors, opening off the stairs, led to the other floors of the Tower. Mina glanced at them curiously. She would have liked to explore, to see how the rooms were constructed and what they looked like, for the Tower intrigued her.

She did not have time, however. “I will postpone that for another day,” she said to herself, smiling at the thought, for she knew perfectly well she was never likely to see the inside of this Tower again.

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