Earth's Requiem(44)

Metae inclined her head. “I understand. Perhaps, once you have seen Taltos, you will change your mind.”

“If the half day begins now”—Aislinn wanted to get things moving before she completely lost her nerve—“that means Rune and I will be back outside in this clearing by noon.”



“Child,” Metae purred, “whatever has happened to you?” Compulsion ran beneath her words. “You used to trust me.”

“It’s been a rough few days,” Aislinn answered honestly. “I’ll fight all the Bal’ta, wargs, bats, and human shades I run across, but those dark gods are downright creepy. I particularly didn’t like it when Perrikus told me he wanted to use me as a brood mare.”

More clicks and clacks. She thought there might be an outraged undercurrent, but she wasn’t sure.

“Let us care for you. If only for a few hours.” Metae’s voice was honey. “Mayhap you will decide to stay longer—”

“Not this time. Promise you won’t force me.” The fear in Aislinn’s voice was real. Don’t be a fool, she chided herself. Their promises don’t mean shit. I sound like a ten-year-old.



“No, no. Of course not. Are you ready?” Metae held out a hand. Despite the Old One’s neutral tone, Aislinn picked up a note of impatience.

With Rune sticking to her like a shadow, Aislinn shouldered her pack and walked toward Metae, avoiding her touch. Whatever the Old Ones were did not include warm-blooded. Somewhere beyond the bulk of Mount Shasta, dawn was probably lightening the eastern sky. Aislinn stole a final glance at the world she knew, hunting for evidence that the sun was truly rising. She’d always craved its warmth. Something about retreating into the bowels of the earth—God only knew how deep—curdled her stomach. This was different than her cave, or Fionn’s. She was free to come and go there. What if they tried to trap her once she was in Taltos? Aislinn clamped down on her thoughts.

“So tentative,” Metae murmured.

A pronounced alien cadence knotted Aislinn’s muscles. Maybe it had always been there, and she’d just never noticed before. Rune leaned closer to her, warm and reassuring. The air began to shimmer, then to burn. Fire licked at her. She fought the urge to pull magic of her own and run. The fire would burn her long before it had any effect on the Old Ones, with their forty-degree body temperature. As quickly as they’d ignited, the flames died. The earth beneath her and Rune dropped away. For one gut-wrenching moment, they were suspended in midair, just before they fell into a void.

She traveled through blackness for a long time, an arm around Rune’s thick neck. Finally, the inky curtain around her shaded to a pallid gray. Lights took shape beneath her, like she was in an airplane looking down on a big metropolitan area. They glided to a stop in front of a gilt plaza with a fountain shooting blue-green water at least a hundred feet into the air. Gemstones glittered under the water. Aislinn looked around, trying to get her bearings. Twin suns sat halfway up the sky. Am I on another world? Old Ones passed in groups of twos, threes, and fours, chattering away.



“Welcome to Taltos,” one of her guides announced.

“This is the central square. The city is arranged in spokes spiraling outward from this point,” Metae noted.

Feeling like a tourist, all Aislinn could do was gawk. Tall, glittering buildings in pastel colors stretched as far as she could see. The roads were crowded with Old Ones walking purposively. Everybody seemed to have a destination in mind. She looked for cars and then laughed at herself for her stupidity. Of course there wouldn’t be any. The Old Ones used magic to go places.

Something jostled her mind. Her perspective shifted, and she realized she was looking through Rune’s eyes. She sucked in a surprised breath, turning it into a cough to cover her shock. The grand buildings had to be illusion, since the wolf didn’t see them. The fountain and gemstones were real enough, but the fountain was closer to twenty feet than a hundred. Rather than being paved with something golden, the streets were dirt. Aislinn adopted a neutral expression and tried not to stare. She shielded her thoughts so nothing would give her away. Her heart beat wildly in her chest, but she couldn’t do much about that, other than try to keep breathing.

“This way.” One of the Old Ones trotted down a street.

Aislinn wanted to ask where they were going, but didn’t trust herself to talk. She was afraid her voice would tremble and betray how anxious she was.

It wasn’t just buildings and streets that Rune perceived far differently than her. He saw the Old Ones for what they truly were. She swallowed hard. So what I always suspected is true. While still tall with whirling eyes, the creatures striding along with such purpose had lizard-like faces, scaled skin, and clawed appendages. They were wearing neither clothing or jewelry and looked more like tailless dragons walking on two legs than anything else. If she hadn’t been so nonplussed, that last thought might have made her smile. She’d had no idea illusion could stretch so far. D’Chel was a piker by comparison. That thought did bring a grin to her face.