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"He doesn't die, not from anything," said Roland, the cruel one, the one without feeling. "Not from starvation, not from thirst. I've left him a month without either food or drink. I haven't tried other means. But what did you see? What did you see that he couldn't conceal? Did he give you anything?"
Then came the warmer voice of Rhoshamandes....
"I saw this place, this spectacular city, and this amazing phenomenon. It was as if a skyscraper, an intricate high-rise tower made of glass were growing from an egg!"
No. How did he see these things? Help me. Derek felt the tears slide down his cheeks. He tried to raise a hand to his face but he couldn't find his hand. It would be a while before he could feel his body again. But he could feel his tears. Help me. Find me. Get me out of here--Garekyn. Garekyn, was it you that they saw in Saint Petersburg? Garekyn, your brother is alive.
"But it was a great city, humming as if alive with electricity, running water, power, illimitable power--and the towers, I've never beheld anything like it, these giant spectacular towers...everything looked to be translucent as if made of glass...and beyond there were huge walls of glass...a great roof of glass...."
"Could you identify the city!"
"No, I've never seen anything like it! And I saw his companions with him, creatures who looked like him as you said."
"I knew it. I knew you could go deeper than I've ever gone," said Roland. "What else, tell me!"
"They were like him, but one was a female, and they did all have the gold streaks in their black hair. They had these streaks to identify themselves to one another. Or identify them to someone else. And there were names, but I couldn't catch them, I couldn't catch the name of the city, the city had a name, though, I knew it--but I caught one name, one name and that name was Amel."
"Well, he's heard us talking of Amel for years. And now with the Prince and the Court, he's heard Arion and me speaking of Amel over and over. He's heard me speaking of Amel from time to time with others who pass through. He can hear keenly. He can hear the conversations we have in the rooms above."
"No, the name was coming from that time and that place, I'm sure of it, and he didn't want me to hear it, but he had no control over it. Roland, this Great One, this one who planted the seed that grew into a skyscraper, it was Amel!"
They were moving away. They were leaving him. The door shut, the key turned in the lock. The bolts slid into place. Soft footfalls on the staircase.
"Describe him."
"Reddish hair, golden. Tall. Finely dressed, dressed as if in my time. Roland, their clothes, their clothes were simple, wool but mostly silk, like the clothes of my time, but it wasn't my time. It wasn't any time or place I've ever seen. Roland, it could have been long before my time!"
Farther and farther away they moved.
Derek strained to hear them. What have I done!
Rhoshamandes talked excitedly. "This place, I don't know where it is, but don't you see, Roland, don't you understand what this means?"
They lapsed quite abruptly into another language. For a moment the words confused Derek, but he had only to wait, to concentrate before they became clear. He sensed, however, that this was an older and simpler language, a language they'd shared aeons ago. Soon the sense was clear.
"No, what does it mean?" asked Roland. He sounded sullen and cross, Roland. He had not the wit or passion of his friend, Rhoshamandes.
"Good Lord, Roland, if Amel was there in this place with this creature and his friends, don't you see, he's not a spirit, not a spirit at all, he's a ghost!"
"What does that matter? These spirits come from somewhere, don't they? Maybe they're all ghosts. What's the difference between a spirit and a ghost? I've never heard of any difference. What does that matter to us?"
"But Roland, if he's a ghost, if he lived before, if he had a personality and power, why this might change everything!"
"I don't see that it changes anything," said Roland. "But if Fareed and Seth are as interested as you are, they'll want this creature most certainly! They'll be willing to pay for him, Rhosh, pay a great deal. I could use that payment. I could use it for centuries to come. I need such a payment."
"I can give you all the gold you want, Roland. Think no more on any problem with gold. I'll pay you handsomely for the creature now. But you're not grasping the significance..."
Far away. Sounds of traffic. Vibrations moving down through the earth under the traffic.
Rhoshamandes was still speaking in a rush of excited words, Derek could no longer understand him.
"I still say..."
"No, you're wrong." And then it was a rumbling again like water in the pipes of this house, or cars on the boulevard above. And the monsters had left the house.
Derek sat up. He was nauseated, weak, thirsting. He grabbed for the pitcher on the table beside him. Empty. The monsters had left him without water. He lay back down again thirsting from every pore in his body. With all his will, he tried to feel vigor but his body was deadweight.
All he could hear now was the vibration of Rhoshamandes's voice and then he raised his voice in exasperation. "No, no, they mustn't know anything about this for now, Roland. Nothing. No one must know of this until I think this through."
