The Fall of the Readers Read online

  “I could step through it,” Soranna volunteered, “and see what’s on the other side.”

  “Aye, ye could,” said a voice, “but what ye’d see might not be th’ same as what’d be there if ye opened the thing, ye see? It’s the labyrinth, it changes things around all tricksy-like. And it doesn’t care for those that try t’ cheat.”

  A swirl of dust fountained upward in front of the door, clearing to reveal a stocky man of roughly Alice’s height. His clothes were old-fashioned and shot through with silver and gold thread, so he glittered as he moved, an effect enhanced by rings on his fingers and bracelets on both wrists. His lanky brown hair was tied into a fantastic multi-strand braid that incorporated several gold hoops and bands. Even his eyes gleamed gold, not the yellow of a cat’s but the smooth, buttery shine of precious metal.

  “As for pickin’ th’ lock,” he went on, in his strange accent—it sounded like a mix of Irish and German—“there be no need for that. I’ll open th’ door for ye, fair ’n’ square, if ye can best me.”

  “You’re going to fight us?” Alice said, tensing.

  “A fighter, eh?” He grinned and raised his fists in a classic pugilist’s pose. “Nah, that be a bit uncivilized. ’Tis more of a . . . contest. Wits, ye see?”

  Michael stepped forward, adjusting his glasses. “What kind of contest? Can we choose?”

  “Ever since the geas was laid on me, I been challengin’ whoever comes by here. Not many, truth be told, but the contest is a tradition, and ye can’t mess with tradition. Here it is, plain an’ simple. If ye can touch me, with yer hands or feet or anything ye can throw, then ye wins and I’ll open up the door, honest truth. If an hour passes, and ye can’t lay a finger on me, then the center of the labyrinth remains forever closed.”

  He waved a hand, and a tall hourglass materialized on a rock ledge overhead, sand already streaming out of the top bulb.

  “Just touch you?” Soranna looked at Alice and winked, then went on, “That doesn’t really seem like a fair contest. It can’t be all that—”

  She lunged forward in mid-word, hand outstretched, to tap the small man on the forehead.

  “—hard!” she shouted triumphantly. But her hand passed through her quarry as though he wasn’t there. A moment later, he shimmered and vanished, and there was movement all around them. A dozen copies of him, each identical down to the gleaming golden boots, appeared wearing identical grins.

  “The girl has the right spirit!” the closest one crowed. “But it’ll take more than quick hands to grab ol’ Halogelkin!”

  “That’s not fair!” Alice shouted. “How can we touch you if you’re not solid?”

  “Oh, there’s flesh an’ blood in the mix,” one of the duplicates said, and then another added, “But a fair dose of dust an’ magic, too! Which is which, now, that’s the trick, isn’t it?”

  As one, the twelve Halogelkins let out a laugh that was close to a cackle. Then they all started to run, jump, spin, and twirl as though they’d gone mad.

  “Get him!” Alice shouted.

  Pandemonium erupted. Each apprentice ran after the closest duplicate, skidding and stumbling in the sand. Flicker lunged for one of them, missing by inches, while Dex tripped as she tried to fake one out. She thought she got a hand on Halogelkin’s boot, but he merely looked down with a mocking smile before dissolving into mist. Soranna was turning in circles as two duplicates raced around and around her. Cyan, who apparently thought this was all great fun, ran madly at Michael’s heels with enthusiastic yips. Even Ashes had jumped down from Alice’s shoulder and was stalking one of the duplicates, rear end wiggling as he lined up for a pounce. Before he could spring, though, his prey dashed right toward him, and the cat leaped into the air with a startled hiss.

  Alice herself managed to corner one of the Halogelkins against the cliff face, match him feint for feint as he tried to dodge away. She was certain, from his cagey movements, that this was the real one, but when she finally lunged for him, her arm passed through his body like it was made of smoke.

  “Ah, ’twas a good try, though!” said another duplicate, passing behind her. “Have ye ever thought ye might be a ballplayer? I think ye’ve got a talent!”

  Let’s see if he laughs this off, Alice thought with a savage grin. She pulled the Swarm thread tight around herself, and her body dissolved into a pile of bouncing black swarmers. As they righted themselves on the sand, she split them into teams, seven or eight heading for each of the duplicates. The teams spread out, surrounding the Halogelkins. Dex shouted in delight, and the apprentices moved to complete the circles.

  “Oi!” Halogelkin shouted. “That’s a good trick!”

  One of his duplicates leaped over a line of swarmers and scampered away. Another tried to do the same, but not fast enough to avoid Michael’s outstretched hand. The image blurred and vanished.

  Alice’s head was already splitting from the effort of moving so many swarmers at once, but it was working. Between the others, the swarmers, and the walls of the cliff, Halogelkin was running out of room.

  “O’ course, splitting yourself into a hundred parts might be thought by some to be unfair,” Halogelkin said. “But I’ve always been a generous sort. Ye won’t mind, then, if I do the same?”

  One of the duplicates jumped up onto the cliff face, hanging from a rock by one hand. The air around him shimmered, and suddenly copies of Halogelkin were pouring down, dozens at once, overlapping one another in a mad scramble of gleaming gold and braided hair. They dodged around the apprentices, laughing in eerie synchronicity. Alice lunged at them with the swarmers, but all the images she touched vanished, leaving scores more. Michael hurled silver knives into the crowd, popping the Halogelkins like soap bubbles, but they merely pointed at him and laughed harder.

  A few minutes later, Alice had returned to human shape, and she and the others were huddled in the center of the island, surrounded by a capering, cackling horde of Halogelkins. Cyan was the only member of the group who seemed completely undaunted, still running from one duplicate to the next, yipping and pouncing. All the apprentices were panting for breath, their faces streaked with sweat. Alice’s head hurt like someone was driving nails in behind her eyes from trying to focus on too many things at once.

  “This . . . is not . . . going to work,” she gasped out.

  “Is he cheating?” Soranna said darkly. “What if there isn’t a real one?”

  “I’m sure there is,” Michael said. “I think I spotted him a couple of times. But he keeps splitting off new duplicates, so I can’t keep track of him.”

  “While this game is better than fighting for our lives,” Dex said, “time is against us. The sand is halfway through the glass. If our elusive friend is to be believed, when it is gone, our quest will be a failure.”

  “Give me a couple of dozen cats, and I’d clear him out,” Ashes said. “The problem is that none of you can do a proper pounce.” Cyan yipped at him, and Ashes shot back, “You don’t count!”

  “If there was a tree here, I’d be able to grab him,” Alice said. She hadn’t had time to prepare any of her magic acorns, unfortunately. “Isaac could put him to sleep. But—”

  “I have an idea,” Flicker said.

  The apprentices all looked at him. He’d been quiet thus far, chasing after Halogelkin with grim determination but no more success than any of the others.

  “I’m certainly open to suggestions,” Alice said.

  “Twice now,” Flicker said hesitantly, “Dex has made nets out of moon-stuff.”

  “I don’t think that will help here,” Dex said.

  “I know. But it made me think. There has to be some difference between the real Halogelkin and the duplicates.”

  “The duplicates aren’t solid,” Michael said.

  “Exactly.” Flicker ventured a smile. “How about this . . .”

  Wi
th twenty minutes left of their hour, Alice and the others broke from their huddle. They’d been gathered around a patch of tough, dry grass growing up out of the sand. Now each of them carried a twist of it, and Flicker touched the tip of each, one by one. These impromptu tapers caught fire, and the apprentices fanned out, touching them to the clumps of dry, half-dead grass scattered all over the island. Soon several small flames were blazing.

  The hordes of Halogelkins stopped their circling and watched curiously.

  “Well, this is new,” one of them said. “But if ye’re hopin’ to burn me out, I’m afraid ye’ll be disappointed!”

  “I’ve got gold in my shoes!” another duplicate said, jumping into one of the fires to demonstrate. The flames didn’t even tremble. “It’d keep my toes cool in a furnace!”

  “Ignore him,” Alice whispered to Flicker, when most of the grass was lit and burning. “Stick to the plan.”

  Flicker nodded. He went to the closest blaze, grabbing handfuls of it. The fire became near solid in his hands and he squeezed it into a fine line of flame and laid it on the ground. It sat there, burning without a source, and Flicker spooled more of it out like a rope. He reached the next tuft of burning grass, leaving a solid line of fire. Once there, he grabbed another handful of flames and began again, linking the burning grass to the next fire.

  “I don’t mean t’ alarm ye, but yer time’s running out,” Halogelkin said, through one of the duplicates close to Alice. “Are ye sure ye want to just stand and watch?”

  Alice gave him a shrug with exaggerated nonchalance, but she did look at the hourglass. There were at most ten or fifteen minutes left. Hurry, Flicker.

  Flicker was moving as fast as he could, laying lines of fire. The island began to resemble a web of flame, smoke curling upward in sheets from the unnaturally regular constructions Flicker had built. They weren’t much of a barrier, though. Even without the Swarm protecting her, Alice could easily leap from one side to the other.

  “I’ll keep working,” Flicker said. “Alice, go!”

  She nodded, and reached for the Swarm thread again. Once more her body dissolved into a pile of swarmers, and they fanned out in all directions. Tough as they were, the little creatures could run through the fires with no more than a passing discomfort. Alice distributed them evenly around the island, a few in between each of Flicker’s lines of flame. Halogelkin’s duplicates edged away from them.

  Michael stood poised, a dozen silvery knives hovering around his head. Flicker was still laying new tracks, crossing and recrossing the ones he’d already laid, dividing the space into smaller and smaller pieces.

  Here we go. Alice could feel the headache building again already, but she set all the swarmers into sudden motion, each lunging for whichever of the Halogelkins was closest. Some of them caught the duplicates, which vanished noiselessly as the swarmers’ beaks touched them. The rest of the Halogelkins sprang into motion, running around the island in a mad frenzy.

  Watch, Alice mentally urged her friends, her swarmers running back and forth. They chased after the duplicates that came their way, but were careful never to cross the streams of fire. Watch carefully . . .

  “Brother Michael, there!” Dex shouted, pointing.

  The nearest swarmer turned to look. One of the lines of flame had shifted, and the curls of smoke above it were disturbed. All around, Halogelkin’s duplicates continued their cavorting, but they didn’t cause the fires to waver with the wind of their passage or the smoke to ripple as they moved through it.

  Michael’s knives flashed out. One, two, three of the duplicates vanished as a knife touched them, and another ducked under the slashing blades. That Halogelkin shimmered and split into five more copies, all running in different directions. But when they crossed the lines of flame, only one of them left a trail of smoke behind him.

  “That one!” Soranna said. “Hit him, Michael!”

  More knives zipped across the island. Halogelkin ducked and spun, the blades missing him by inches. Dexterous as he was, though, he didn’t notice Alice moving several swarmers into his path until it was almost too late. He drew up short in a spray of sand, backpedaling rapidly, and Michael threw three more knives at him, leaving him nowhere to dodge.

  Halogelkin’s hand came up, viper-fast, and he caught one of the blades between two fingers a few inches from his face. The duplicates stopped moving, all at once, and turned to look at him.

  “Well,” Halogelkin said, and tossed the blade in the air, end over end. It vanished at the top of its arc. “I believe I would call that a fair touch.”

  Abruptly, all the duplicates burst into cheers. They slowly faded from sight, but their voices remained, filling the island with the sound of a jubilant crowd. Alice collected herself and turned back into a girl, wincing at the spike of pain in her temple.

  “A contest is a contest,” Halogelkin went on. “And no man or sprite can call me a cheat. Ye got me fair and square.” He grinned and waved a hand, and the huge black door swung open on noiseless hinges. “Ye may venture on yer way.”

  Dex let out a whoop of delight, and Michael grinned broadly. Even Soranna lost her usual grim aspect. Flicker came over to Alice, hair flaming a brilliant yellow. Impulsively, Alice wrapped him in a hug. In the background, Cyan yipped in triumph.

  “I don’ suppose I could dissuade ye from going on?” Halogelkin said. “Ye seem like nice enough sorts. It’s a shame, what’ll happen to ye.”

  “What do you mean, what will happen to us?” Alice said.

  “I’m bound not t’ reveal the secrets of the labyrinth. But them as laid my geas were not the kindest of folk. Ye’ll be better off if ye turn back, I warn ye.”

  “We know the old Readers are nasty,” Soranna said.

  “We’ll be careful,” Michael added.

  “But we need to get to the center,” Alice said. “Thank you for the warning. And thank you for playing fair.”

  Halogelkin gave a broad smile and a wink. He bent over, one arm in front of him in an exaggerated bow, and then vanished, the ghostly cheering of his duplicates slowly fading away.

  “An excellent plan,” Dex said to Flicker. “I admit I found myself at a loss.”

  “Very clever,” Michael said, pushing up his glasses. “Well done.”

  “Yes,” Alice said. “Well done. We couldn’t have done it without you.” She met Flicker’s pupil-less gaze, and raised an eyebrow. He smiled, and gave a little shrug, but the bright colors of his hair gave away his pride.

  “Hey! Get away from me, you little brute!” Ashes climbed Alice’s back, claws digging into her shirt, and took up his usual position on her shoulder. Cyan chased around her legs, exuberantly spitting a thin stream of water. “Heavens save me from things with more enthusiasm than brains.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of enthusiasm,” Alice said. “We won, didn’t we?”

  “We did.” Ashes licked a paw. “In no small part thanks to my own contribution. But we are running out of daylight.”

  “He’s right,” Dex said, looking at the sun. “Should we spend the night here?”

  Alice frowned, feeling for the fabric of the labyrinth. “I think the center is close. We should try and make it before dark. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back.”

  “You’ve got my support,” Ashes said. “The less time we spend in this place, the better.”

  “As long as we don’t have to fight our way through every crab and sea-slug in the ocean this time,” Michael said.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A CHOICE

  THEY LEFT HALOGELKIN AND followed a short tunnel through the rocks to another beach, Ashes riding on Alice, and Cyan at their heels. It was eerily silent. There were no squawking gulls here, and even the lapping of the waves on the shore seemed subdued, almost subliminal. The quiet magnified any sound the apprentices made, so that every
kicked pebble sounded like a rock clattering across a museum floor. They waited without speaking while Cyan got into the water and fluffed back up into a boat, and then climbed aboard.

  The water was startlingly clear, Alice noticed. She could see the bottom, even as they moved away from the beach and it grew deeper. Nothing moved, no darting fish or swaying seaweed. It looked like a scene in an aquarium before any fish had been added, utterly sterile. The steady swish of Cyan’s tail, almost inaudible before, now filled the world.

  “You said it’s not far, Sister Alice?” Dex said, in a whisper.

  “Not far.” Alice could feel another Veil already.

  “Good.” Dex looked around and hugged herself. “I do not like this place.”

  The others seemed to agree. Soranna had been carrying the bag with the last of the apples, and she wordlessly shared them out, along with some cold crab meat that Alice had saved. Ashes gobbled up a little bit of the latter, then pressed himself close against Alice’s side, staring out at the water. The tip of his tail swished back and forth.

  After another hour, the sun was nearing the horizon, and the light was shading into orange and red. Ahead of them, a sheer cliff rose from the water, with only a narrow landing at the bottom for Cyan to pull up against. Stone steps had been carved into the rock, angling upward.

  They disembarked. Even Cyan seemed to be affected by the strange quiet, shrinking back to his fox form and following Michael without so much as a yip. Alice led the way up the steps, the setting sun just peeking over the side of the cliffs and throwing their long shadows against the wall. As they climbed, something came into view at the top, a glossy black obelisk that shone with reflected light. When they were close enough, Alice saw that there were words inscribed there.

  SUBMIT TO JUDGMENT.

  “Judgment?” Michael said. “Of what?”

  “Let me go first,” Alice said, wrapping herself in the Swarm thread. She picked Ashes off her shoulder and placed him gently on the steps. Dex caught her eye, and Alice gave a slight smile. “I’ll call for help if I need it, don’t worry. Be ready for anything.”