Mirror 04 The Way Between the Worlds Read Online Free PDF Page A

visibly took herself in hand. A street brat no longer, she was an
apprentice librarian now and the great Nadiril was her tutor. She schooled her
voice to calmness. 'What do you want me to do?'
'See if you can get these shackles off.'
Lilis bent down, her hair caressing his boots. 'Oh,' she said. 'Your leg is
all bloody. And your other leg too.'
    Llian couldn't have cared less. 'The ice scratches the skin. It's not
serious.'
Her fingers worked at the irons. 'They're locked,' she said. 'Do you know who
has the key?'
'Mendark! I don't suppose - No, it's too much to ask.'
She moaned under her breath and stood up. 'Poor Llian,' she said, looking into
his eyes. In the light from Carcharon hers were the size of apricots. 'Of
course I'll go. For you I will even rob Mendark himself; though I'm very
frightened.'
'I'm ashamed to ask you, dear Lilis.' He hugged her thin frame. 'But I've got
to get in.'
She crept across the snow and ice. Llian was more ashamed than Lilis realised,
for she was just a diversion. She would be discovered as soon as she tried to
rob Mendark, but it might just give him time enough. He did not wait to see
what happened.
Everyone else was huddled at the back of the amphitheatre out of the worst of
the wind. No one seemed to be watching
him. Llian slipped down between the snow-covered stone benches. He was just
above the steps and the path to Carcharon.
There came an outcry from the other side of the platform. Lilis must have been
caught! Llian slid over the edge and crashed down the steps feet first,
bumping hard on his bottom. Landing right at the edge of the ravine, he
staggered as fast as his hobbles would allow him along the treacherous path.
'What are you doing, you little thief?' he heard Mendark roar. Lilis's
frightened squeak of an answer was inaudible. A minute later Mendark roared
again, 'He's gone! After him!'
Llian redoubled his efforts, his terror of being caught before he found Karan
more powerful than his fear of Rulke, or the hideous pain in his legs.
He reached the bottom of the steps that led in an up-curving arch to the front
gate. He dragged himself up fifty or sixty steps, but near the top had to
rest, no matter what. Llian slumped over the stone rail. At least there was
one here, though each of the balusters was covered with gargoyle faces of
profound hideousness, all grinning and jeering at him. In his fevered mind the
railing seemed to move beneath his hand, as if they reached out for him. Llian
snatched his hand away and looked up to be confronted by a sight even more
palpitating.
At the top of the stairs was a landing, on the far side of which the stairs
curved away from the gate to meet the side of Carcharon tower. In the open
space between the left-hand rail and the wall loomed a vast menace out of
legend, a creature half-human and half-beast, with short though massive legs
and a barrel chest, long hanging arms and overarching bat-wings that cast the
crested head and fanged mouth into shadow. Its hands were the size of Llian's
head, with retractable claws. The joints of its wings and the bony crest of
its head were tipped with spikes. In one hand it clutched a flail, each lash
being tipped with a spiked ball like a tiny morning-star, while the other hand
gripped a rod like a wizard's baton.
Llian fell back against the railing before realising that the beast was just a
statue, though a brilliantly lifelike one. It was made of brass, impervious to
time and the elements. On the other side of the landing crouched another of
the creatures, equipped with a spear in one hand and a set of pincers in the
other. This one had wings that soared out on either side and the chest armour
was curved to accommodate a pair of breasts as large as melons.
Between the statues was a great gate of wrought-iron, clustered with heads and
faces and squatting gargoyle figures. The gate was ajar but beyond was a solid
door set with decorated metal plates.