Shadowplay

You know what I mean.

Gyir stared at him, then nodded. Yes, I do. There are things I ca

Our time is short, Gyir said. You both must listen well. He spread his pale fingers. There are two ways other than experience that wisdom comes to the Peo¬ple. One is the gift of the Fireflower-this made a an idea in Barrick's mind he could barely contain, something that was as large and complicated as any¬thing Gyir had ever said-and the other is the Deep Library.

In the most hidden places within the House of the People, the wisdom of our old¬est days remains mostly in the form of the Preserved and their Voices-that is the Deep Library. These Voices speak the wisdom of the Preserved and thus are the Peo¬ple taught and reminded. Gyir's thoughts were rhythmic, almost singsong, as though he passed on a story that he had learned in childhood. These Voices, along with the wisdom of the Fireflower, which is sometimes called the Gift, are what lifts the High Ones above the rest of the People and what has brought us dominion over our lands and songs.

You have heard that the gods have been banished from this world into the realms of sleep. That was the work of the god we call Crooked, and about that mystery I can say little, but it is the foundation of all that comes afterward. The place where those events burned brightest, and where they still smolder thousands of years later, is at the place we name Godsfall-the place your people call Southmarch.Yes, Prince Barrick, your home.

Barrick stared at him, confused. Was the fairy trying to say that the gods had lived in Southmarch? Or died there? It was so bizarre a thought that for a moment he feared he was dreaming again.

Only a few years ago, Gyir continued, the Voices began to warn us that the slumber of the gods in their exile had grown very shallow, very fragile, fust as the moon may pull on the earthly tides when he swings close, creating perturbations in the blood of those most sensitive, so the gods, even in sleep, are closer to us now than they have been since they were driven from the waking lands. Gyir paused to lis¬ten to something Vansen asked. No, I ca

But now the gods loom close, pushing into the minds and dreams of both your people and mine, and in countless other ways as well. That would be grim enough-dangerous too, because even in their eternal sleep the gods can still make mischief both small and great, and they ache to have back what was theirs. But by a grave chance, this ominous hour has arrived when another terrible thing was already hap¬pening to the High Ones of my folk, a thing that has plunged all of the House of the People into terror and mourning. Our Queen Saqri, the Mistress of the Ancient Song, is dying.

Barrick had never seen the fairy show much in the way of emotion, but it was obvious from the pain in his thoughts that what he was saying struck him to his core.

The High Ones, Gyir went on at last, at least those in the Line of the Fire-flower, do not die as mortals die. We can all of us meet a violent end, and we are prey to illnesses and accidents just as you sunlanders are, but those of our highest house like Saqri and Y

But I can tell you this. Queen Saqri is dying, and that which she needs most was to be found only in the old sacred place of our people-your people's home, the castle called Southmarch. Desperation had driven us to recapture it two hundred years before, but we were driven out again. Now desperation has driven us back there once more.

But this time, there was the matter of the gods' restless sleep to consider. Your Southmarch is a place that touches closely on the realms oj the gods, Even the Voices of the Deep Library agreed that there was a terrible chance that an attempt to re-capture the sacred place and use its virtues to save Queen Saqri would wake the gods from their slumber and bring an era of blood and darkness over the earth.

But why? Barrick could not help asking. Why would waking the gods do such a thing? He looked to Vansen, but even in the dim light he could see that the soldier had gone quite pale, as though he had just been told the in¬cipient hour of his own death.

"Blood and darkness…?" Vansen whispered. He looked as though he had been stabbed in the heart.

The gods would not be able to avoid it, Gyir declared, any more than a wolf could let itself starve to death while apiece of bloody meat lay before it. Such is the nature of their godhood-they have been trapped in sleep for century upon century, powerless as great beasts caught in hunters' nets. One of the gods' most fearsome at¬tributes is the mightiness of their angers. But even faced with such terror, humans would not easily give up dominion. When the gods lived on the earth in the distant past, mortals were their servants, small in numbers and weaker in self-regard, but they have grown in both wisdom and numbers. If the gods wake, there will be a war to end all wars. In the end, though, the gods will triumph and the pitiful survivors will begin sifting the ruins of their cities to build new temples to their greedy, victo¬rious, immortal masters.

Barrick wasn't certain he understood everything, but it was impossible to ignore the dreadful certainty in Gyir's thoughts.

So in our fear of waking the gods, the House of the People became divided be¬tween those who wished to see the queen saved at any cost, led in spirit by my lady Yasammez, and those who sought some other path. That was KingY

We call that compromise the Pact of the Glass, and at this moment it is all that stands between your people and a

Barrick felt light-headed again. And… and you still feel that way, Gyir? That killing every man, woman, and child in Southmarch would be an acceptable cost to reach your goal?

You will never understand without knowing the true stakes. The fairy's thoughts came to him like drips of icy water on stone. And I ca

So what are you saying? That your king and queen are at war with each other? But they've made some kind oj truce?

War is too simple a word, Gyir told him. When you understand that they are not only our lord and lady, husband and wife, but also brother and sister, you of all people may understand something of the complexities involved.

They're brother and sister…?

Yes. Enough. I do not have time to explain the full history of my people to you, or any great urge to defend the Line of the Fireflower against the ignorance of sun-landers. Be silent and listen! Gyir's frustration was so palpable that his words came almost like blows. The Pact of the Glass is the most fragile of wisps, but at the moment it holds. We defeated your army but we have not attacked your strong¬hold. But if we must, we will, and I promise you with no joy that if we do the blood will run like rivers.