Chapter 2
Through shadows and mist and twisting paths she went and knew not the way, heeding neither phantom, terror, wraith nor ghost. Their cries were gone, and it was as if a great silence had descended upon the Wood, so that she heard only the single name that remained in her ears like the beating of a heart.
Claraiel.
She knew not how long nor far she went, but came at last to a place where the dark gave way.
Here the trees withdrew before a sky of ghostly twilight beneath which lay a pool of water blanketed with a mist that shone. From its depths there floated the notes of a whispered wordless song, sorrowful and deathly.
Beyond it lay a deep valley between two great mountains of rock. In the center there stood a mighty tower of black iron, dark and terrible. To this her eyes were fixed and did not turn away.
Claraiel.
A single step she took. But then another voice sounded from behind.
“Daughter!”
She turned as her father came out of the Wood, ashen-faced and trembling with fear as he grasped her shoulder.
“We must leave this place,” he whispered. “I saw it on the first of my travels here, and have shunned it since. It is the source of the danger which the New Order fears. Some dreadful fate lies within its walls. Come with me now before it comes for you!”
But even as he spoke there came a new sound out of the darkness. Not the groaning of shadows but the growl of hungered beasts. Shapes emerged from amongst the trees. Twisted, man-like forms blood-eyed, clawed and fanged, their bodies clothed in the remnants of tattered uniforms. And as the girl looked upon them, she knew what befell the army which had vanished.
“These are not phantoms,” said her father. “Fly!”
But even as he spoke they found themselves surrounded and could flee only towards the tower. The creatures were swift behind them, so that their claws tore at their backs and would have snared them. But they dove into the pool and swam for the other side. Their pursuers did not follow. And as they both climbed out, they saw them at the farther shore, prowling and snarling, and yet fearful of the water. Then one by one, they dispersed into the shadows of the Wood from which they came, so that the girl and her father were left alone beneath the tower.
Then her father turned and looked upon her. “My daughter! You are wounded!” For there lay a great bleeding gash upon her back where one of the creature’s claws had fallen.
But even as he stretched forth his hands to the wound, they heard a dark and dreadful voice.
“Who has dared to cross my sacred waters?”
Then they turned to behold a towering black form before the Tower itself. A living shadow it stood, clothed in armor and helm beneath which they saw naught and yet felt the ray of a terrible gaze in whose presence the twilight gave way to blackest night and darkness effaced the stars. The girl and her father it left with neither strength nor speech, and their bones became as water.
And yet as the stare fell upon her, it seemed to the girl that for the barest moment it paused and lingered, so that she perceived a glimmer of wonder and sadness. But as it turned on her father the dark voice spoke again, implacable and full of wrath.
“Long have I watched your comings and your goings, interloper, and forbore so long as you came not to my sanctum. But here I abide no trespassers and both your lives are forfeit. Speak now your final words ere I slay you and cast your flesh unto the monsters of the Wood.”
As the Lord of the Tower spoke thus, the girl regained her voice.
“Let your own law prevail on your own ground, my Lord, but I beg you do not thus. It is I who brought us here, and my father came but to stop me ere I transgressed your bounds. I make myself your slave forevermore. Only spare my father and let him go.”
“Daughter, no!” Her father cried. But it was as if the Dark Lord heard him not. For his gaze fixed silently upon the girl, and he raised his hand.
“So be it.”
Then from the tower there flew a cloud of dark, winged creatures with the bodies of men and the faces of bats. These grasped her father in their talons and drew him into the sky, carrying him back from whence he had come beyond the Wood and Wall.
Then the Lord of the Tower stepped forth and offered the girl his hand. And taking it she found his fingers cold as stone.
“Come,” he said, and led her into the Tower through a shadowed door.
Beyond it lay a great twisting stair within a hall that held no other doors, nor rooms, nor passages. Of blackened stone it was, and lit by a strange, grim light whose source she could not see. Within this he led her and they climbed. Hours it seemed and yet a moment of silence until they came before a second door which opened of its own accord.
Within it lay a room. Though it was too of stone, it was illumined by the candlelight of natural lamps and held a bed covered in silk upon an embroidered carpet. Upon one wall lay a great mirror before which was a table with a pitcher of water and a basin for washing. The other held a great window through which she saw the sky and Wood. And at the very center a raised pedestal atop which lay a ball of crystal.
“Here you shall dwell in my Tower,” said her host, “And will have food and drink and raiment. No service do I ask of you, save that you sup at my table each night. And the magic crystal shall show to you such things as you wish. Wash now, rest, adorn yourself, and be ready at the hour I shall summon you.”
Then he pointed toward an hourglass which lay before the mirror and which she had not seen before. Thus he left her and the door closed at his back. When his footsteps were done, she dared to open it. But where the hall had been there was now only open air with a great chasm far below. Then she understood some great enchantment lay upon the Tower and that she was truly a prisoner.
So she obeyed her Lord’s command and washed and dressed herself in a glittering gown and jewels that had been left for her upon the bed. Thus adorned, she stood before the mirror. Its like she had never seen, for in her own home all mirrors had been forbidden. Therefore she saw her own face clearly for the first time and the marks of her degenerate blood. And she lowered her eyes and wept.
