The Roads of Heaven Trilogy by Melissa Scott

Author:Melissa Scott [Scott, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2015-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Silence did her best to put Ceiki's misery out of her thoughts, concentrating instead on modifying the user's card for her own escape. That's the best help you can give the girl, she told herself firmly, and tried not to think about it any more. The first step was to distill from the lake water enough of the materia stellans to make a tincture strong enough to affect the user's card. That was a fairly simple process even without a magus's specialized equipment, and Silence set to work at once.

As Asterion's sun was setting, she took her place on the shielded balcony, the bottle of lake water balanced awkwardly between a flat silver dish and a dozen folded squares of Sareptan linen, all "borrowed" from the Palace storage cells. Silence set a work ring while the shadows deepened into evening, and as the first stars appeared, very pale against the darkening blue, poured the water out into the dish. It sparkled, very faintly, with a light that was not reflected starlight. It was a good thing Asterion had no natural moon, Silence thought, laying the first of the napkins across the dish. Lunar harmonies would only make the process more complicated.

When the last of the sunset had faded from the sky, Silence passed her hand gently over the dish, not quite touching the draped napkin. She felt nothing, and frowned, then composed herself and tried again. This time, she felt a feather's touch in the palm of her hand: the materia was reacting to the stellar harmonies, setting up the faintest of vibrations in the air around it. Good, she thought. At least I know there's enough materia to work with.

She had no monochord to set the proper harmonies, but for this process, almost mechanical in its repetitive simplicity, she hardly needed it. Murmuring the first cantrip, she let herself slip into the waking trance. The glimmering grew stronger beneath the napkin, silvery at first, then tinged with flickers of other colors, no sooner named than they were gone. The lake, too, shone with the same cold fires. Silence smiled and spoke the second cantrip, feeling the world shift and broaden, then spoke the words that released the materia from its temporary bond with the lake water. Very slowly, it began to work itself free, rising only to be stopped by the thin fabric of the napkin.

Silence waited while the materia gathered on the underside of the napkin, caught up in the strange timelessness that was the magus's view of reality. Overhead, the stars took on new depth and color, scattered against the blue-black magnificence of the sky. Once, there was a distant flash of red as a starship's keel touched atmosphere; Silence watched it slide from near zenith to the horizon, too far outside herself to wish she were its pilot. The lake shivered and glowed, the bonded materia in its heart writing strange patterns across its still surface.

After a while, the napkin glowed strongly. Silence passed her

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