Vallista by Steven Brust

Author:Steven Brust
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

WATERS BELOW THE GROUND

There was one more door to open before the hall ended; it was on the same side as the library.

I opened it and looked, and a fresh breeze hit me. Another thing that hit me was the realization that what I was looking at ought to be on the opposite side—that is, I should have been stepping out onto the cliff. And with that came the realization that the library ought to have extended far over the cliff.

I stepped through and was outdoors and Loiosh said, “We’re free! We’ve escaped!”

“Uh-huh. Notice how the ground is still wet from yesterday’s rainstorm?”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Yep. Maybe we can walk away and be somewhen, but I’ll bet not. Most likely, if we keep walking we’ll find ourselves back in the house.”

“Going to test that?”

“Yes.”

What I was seeing was just what I ought to have seen when I looked out the windows in those first rooms: the rough, rocky landscape that led to the cliffs, and what I’d seen from the roof: generally flat, not much growing except coarse grass and small shrubs. I looked for signs of Kieron Road but didn’t see any, which proved nothing.

I set out walking away from the place, and after about twenty paces turned and looked at it. It wasn’t gone, as I’d half expected it would be. I walked a little farther and turned again. Yes, it did appear the same as I remembered it, coming from the other direction. Speaking of directions, insofar as it made sense at all, the front entrance should be that way, to my right. I set off in that direction, looking for the road. The house, the manor, the “platform” was just to my right the whole time, and I kept looking at it. It annoyed me to admit that it was an awfully good-looking house, manor, “platform.” It was graceful, with swooping curves, and there was a sort of purity to it. And the windows looked good, as they reflected—

I stopped and looked up.

“Boss? Why does the sky look like that?”

“Just what I was wondering.”

It wasn’t entirely different from the sky I usually saw when I looked up. I mean, it wasn’t like I was looking at a different sky, but it seemed higher, if that makes sense, and there was some other color in there, muddying things up. The net effect was that the day seemed brighter, almost like it was out East—

I found where the Furnace was, and I could almost see it. Usually, you can feel it, but you can’t see where it is behind the Enclouding. Now I could: right there, high above me, east and a little north.

“We’ve gone back to the Interregnum,” I said. “I’d say pretty late in the Interregnum.”

“Okay.”

Rocza jumped around on my shoulder a little, nervous.

“Tell her to relax, Loiosh. We’re getting used to this ‘jumping around in time’ thing, right? Pretty soon it’ll be no big deal.”

“Whatever you say, Boss.”

I stared at the Furnace, hidden as it was behind the Enclouding, until I sneezed.

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