XVII.
Nothing much was said during the rest of the ascent. Coin did snarl with the stone furiously for a few minutes before Hunnah forced them to set off, but it came to nothing. Except perhaps that suddenly the cleric listened to the monk and not the gem. They climbed cautiously, weapons still drawn. Only habit had saved them from blundering around in the darkness: Coin's pack always held a bundle of torches in case of emergency. Coin let Hunnah lead the way with her strange staff. He'd seen what it did to the troll, but it was a suspicion that could wait to be confirmed. A bigger treasure was beckoning him again.
Hunnah heard it first, the echo of water lapping gently against rock. For a second she imagined herself back in the monastery's steamy bathhouse, where you could lie back in the warm water listen to its slap-slap-slap against the stone. And she understood what her senses where telling her. She nudged Coin, and indicated he should listen. He lowered the torch and cocked his head.
"Water," he murmured after a minute, "That shouldn't be there. Jothanial said the Zenni diverted the stream."
She nodded silently. Coin fumbled one-handed at his purse. He found the gem and dug it out. Holding it up to the torch light they waited, but the presence of Jothanial Kauld said nothing. Coin shook it impatiently.
"We can hear water in the last cavern," he said curtly "Why?"
"I promised to lead you to Kang's Treasure and I have," the stone's words slid into their minds "Go forwards and find out for yourselves."
The presence fell silent and left them. Hunnah imaged a bloated black spider crawling out of her head and suppressed a shudder. They glanced at each other. Coin was snarling wordlessly but Hunnah only felt resigned.
"It is better to be walking forwards," she quoted. The old proverb raised a reluctant smile from the boy-priest. "Let's go."
With Coin again holding the torch above their heads, they walked up the winding stream-carved passage.
They found the entrance to the last cave easily. On the third twist of the ascent Hunnah found herself right in front of it. She saw it as a rectangle of sky framed in rock. When she stopped, dazzled by the light, Coin bumped straight into the back of her.
"What's wrong?" he hissed "Why have we-. Oh. Oh my."
In front of them a huge cavern lay exposed to the sunlight. An underground lake had once lapped here. Now the rubble of the roof littered the cave floor, from great chunks of rock to tiny shattered fragments. Roots and leaves curled around rocky ledges. There were no icy mountain winds to struggle with here. There was moss and heather and wild grass, stunted pine and even a handful of scattered flowers; Hunnah recognised Bitterroots and the bell-shaped Purple Fringes, though nothing else. And at the lowest point of the old cave floor a pool of grey water waited, pristine and undisturbed.
They stared and they gaped. They were standing in a huge bowl that dipped deep into the mountainside, teaming with life and perfectly hidden. Hunnah smiled. For her part she felt nothing but relief. Coin, still staring stupidly about him as if expecting gold and jewels to leap out of the rocky ground, just gabbled.
"What is this place? Where is the treasure? How can there be treasure here?"
"This is the sacred retreat of Cleric-Captain Kang of the Hiladic 8th Imperial Legion, his personal shrine to the Goddess Shan. He came here often you know. Strange to think no one ever realised a half-elven nature priest might have very different ideas on what was valuable enough to keep hidden. I did once find it very amusing listening to the stories they made up about this place."
Coin was silent, staring at the distant pool. Hunnah watched his breathing quicken, becoming fast and tight.
"Oh come, come boy, what did you expect to find? Rusting swords and mouldering coins issued in the name of dead emperors? It was all spent winning the mountain chiefs."
To Hunnah's surprise Coin did not explode, though he trembled with barely suppressed rage.
"I want to know why," he said eventually.
"Very good boy, you're starting to think. I knew I could use you."
"Why?" repeated Coin "Why dangle this place in front of me all the way back at Shandon Hall? You didn't just want to escape your daughter. You wanted me to take you here from the start."
Hunnah started. Inside her mind she heard Jothanial cackle.
"Now you're upsetting your guide," he said "Look at the water with your spellsight boy. What do you see?"
Without any gesture Hunnah could see, Coin looked negligently over at the pool. But he cried out when he saw it and turned sharply away, screwing up his eyes.
"The glare!" he gasped, "My eyes! It shines! You could have warned me!"
"That pool is filled with powerdust," Jothanial said "Flecks of it are washed down in the spring that feeds it from deposits so deep inside the mountain that no mage has ever found them. It was Shan's gift to her champion. The Beshtel's migration north was a catastrophe for these lands. They burned the farms and the villages, they cut down the woods for their fires and their cattle ate the crops. The rivers and streams were polluted with the filth and offal of their passing. The land couldn't support them for long, so they kept moving, stripping everything in their path bare. Shan demanded he restore the balance."
"Fascinating," Coin said shortly "No-one remembers this dead elf's secret except you, and you wait until you're dead before you tell anyone. I don't care about its history. What do you want with it?"
"He wants the power for a spell," Hunnah said softly "He's crippled like this, trapped in that jewel with no magic and no body. Dependant on others and at their mercy; just what he always feared."
"Very astute of you my dear," Jothanial said, "Wrong, but close enough for a non-mage. Actually, the spell has already been cast- I am in the gem. But it isn't complete yet."
"Your daughter," Hunnah guessed quickly.
"Yes!" Jothanial sounded positively delighted with her "My dear little Zia poisoned me just before I could bring the gem here. She froze arsenic into the ice cubes of my water jug. My body was dying, and I had to transmigrate into the gem immediately. So here I ended up, stuck-"
"Until I came along and stupidly carried you here," said Coin bitterly.
"Such a small, frightened little creature you were," mocked the stone "Zia's little pastimes didn't sit well with your stomach did they? Especially when they begged you to let them go…"
Coin paled and shut his mouth. Hunnah avoided his eyes. Instead she glared at the stone.
"Shut up wizard," she snapped "He never revelled in what he did. What happens when you finish the spell?"
"Rebirth," the voice in their mind seemed to breath the word "Place me in that pool and you trigger my completion. The spell draws in magic from other sources, and with it the crystals of this stone form and form again, shaping me a new body. One that needs no rest, no food, and no water. A moving crystal statue, impervious to fire or swords, with the strength of rock. I could return to the clan as leader, their new stone Emperor."
"I see," she said curtly "You want us to bring you back."