The Seekers of Shar-Nuhn. Ardath Mayhar

the waters rolled and tumbled about the foot of the Tower, Si-Lun’s skill was sorely tried, but he was adept, and he brought the dory to rest at last at the foot of the steps that led from the floor of the sea to the door of the Temple of Truth. There were those who said that, at times, the Initiates had been seen to descend those stairs and to disappear beneath the waters, as those who, descending a mountain, pass through a layer of cloud. None could say truly, for the ways of the Initiates are not the ways of mortal men.

      But Si-Lun and Kla-Noh were not concerned with any tales save that of the Third Secret of Shar-Nuhn. They carefully tethered their dory, then made their silent way up the great stair to the door of the Temple. The door, as the law said it must, swung open to a touch, and Kla-Noh peered cautiously within. No voice, no footstep was to be heard. The spiraling stair rose into the silent Tower, and all the doors were closed upon the inner chambers. Yet the hall and the stair were brightly lit, for the law said that Truth must never stand in darkness.

      So the two Seekers entered into the Tower and set their feet upon the stairway. And at the first doorway they stopped to read the writing upon the door. It said:

      THIS IS THE CHAMBER OF THE FIRST SECRET, A QUIET SPELL, FOR THE USE OF SEAFARERS. ENTER, AND WELCOME.

      But they passed on.

      ’Round and ’round they went, past the doors of the Ini­tiates’ chambers, and came to:

      THE CHAMBER OF THE SEC­OND SECRET, A DANGEROUS DEVICE. SEEK COUNSEL BEFORE ENTERING.

      And they passed on.

      Up they went, past rank after rank of closed doors, and came at last to a door across the stair, whereon was writ­ten:

      CLIMB NO HIGHER IN THE TOWER OF TRUTH, FOR THAT WHICH LIES BEYOND CONCERNS NO MORTAL MAN.

      The door yielded to the touch.

      Behind it stood a man.

      The two Seekers looked upon him with awe and with dread, for his was a face scarred by long suffering, ravaged by unthinkable years. His eyes seemed to have looked upon nothing save agony and death, pain and tor­ment.

      He stretched out his hands before him and said, “The Creator of Truth has sent you at last to relieve me of my burden. It is written that, when the toll of the years grows too great upon the Oldest Initiate, there will be sent a substitute. The secret that you seek lies in the inner chamber. Go, either or both, and examine it. Yet I am required to tell you one thing. He who lifts the burden of the secret must bear it, as I have done, that I may go free. Each day I have gazed upon the workings of the secret. Each night I have meditated upon its purposes. Look upon my face: there you will see its reflection. Only death may erase its mark from me.” He folded his hands in the sleeves of his robe and stood silent, under their gaze.

      Long they looked upon him. Then Kla-Noh turned to Si-Lun, and each looked into the eyes of the other. With one accord, they went down through the Temple of Truth, got into their dory, and rowed away. Some itches, Kla-Noh realized, are better left unscratched.

      Chapter Two

      The Cat with the Sapphire Eyes

      Kla-Noh sat upon his terrace, looking over the silken furrows that ridged the Purple Waters. His heart was leaden beneath his green robe, and his hands fidgeted in his lap. He said nothing, but now and again he breathed a deep sigh, gazing across the curve of the bay toward the Tower of Truth.

      Then his companion would nod in sympathy and offer him fruit or wine. For Si-Lun knew what it was that trou­bled the old Seeker After Secrets, and his heart also was full of unrest.

      “We must not look back, my friend,” he said at last to Kla-Noh. “The world is full of secrets. To let our hearts yearn over one, no matter how great, is not the course of wise men. We looked into each other’s eyes and turned our backs on the great secret of Shar-Nuhn, and now we must busy our hands with other things.”

      The old Seeker turned his eyes upon Si-Lun, as one waking from a dream. “Other things?” he asked. “But I have retired from my profession. No longer do I sniff in the shadows for secrets to peddle in the hidden places. I have no need for more riches than I possess. And small, tawdry secrets no longer tease my palate. The great secret was strong wine, though we only sniffed at it. It has spoiled my taste for the petty and the trivial.”

      As he spoke, his servant approached from the house door. Now he folded his hands and bowed his head and said, “My master, there is one who would speak with you.”

      Kla-Noh raised his grizzled brows. “Now who would be seeking an old man dreaming by the bayside?”

      “One of the Great Ones, it seems to me, Lord,” an­swered the servant. “Her robes are fine, though simple, and her bearing noble.”

      “Then I will go in to her,” said the Seeker, and he rose and sought the arm of his friend.

      Within the high-ceilinged receiving room waited one who filled it with her aura. The two Seekers looked into her eyes, then bowed low.

      The lady rose from her chair and looked upon them with eyes the color of smoke across summer-blue sky. She extended her fan and directed them to rise, and with a dip and a swirl of her wrist indicated chairs, and they all sat.

      “Lady,” said Kla-Noh, “you honor my house. What service may this old and useless Seeker perform in your behalf?”

      She glanced slantwise at Si-Lun and spoke softly. “It is a secret matter, Wise One. Is this a confidant?”

      The old man smiled. “This is Si-Lun, my strong young hands and sturdy legs in my elder days. He is a Seeker himself, and other things, many of them secrets in them­selves.”

      Her pointed chin dipped into the cup of her lotus hand as she studied the two. “Some tale I have heard whispered,” she said, “of two who mounted through the Tower of Truth to the very top, but were wise enough to turn their backs upon the Third Secret of Shar-Nuhn. Such wisdom, coupled with an affinity for...secrets...and the ability to ferret out that which is hidden, for these I have need. I have lost the Cat with the Sapphire Eyes, and it must be found before my father returns from his voyaging. You perhaps know my father,” she said to Kla-Noh. “He is the mer­chant lord Tro-Ven.”

      The old man’s face seemed to shrink upon its bones. His breath hissed through his teeth as he answered, “Some little dealing have I had with that noble and...talented... lord. But that he had a daughter I had never heard, and secrets are—were—my stock in trade.”

      “Your tact, old one, is gentle, for you do not mention that my father is also a powerful warlock. He it was who found the First Secret of Shar-Nuhn, for he had need to still the savage waters for the protection of his fleet. Something he had to do with the Second Secret, and his enemies have known the earth to tremble beneath them. And I am his daughter, whom he has sought to conceal from the eyes of men and even the ears of rumor. Little does he love me, but so long as I have my talisman... which I have lost. Lost! Oh, help me, Seeker, for I am in dire need!”

      “Gladly would I, Lady, but I have never been a finder of lost objects,” the old man whispered.

      “But this object is a terrible secret also,” she cried. “It is a powerful thing, and its loss must be even more a se­cret than its existence. And if you can find it, I may be able to enrich you beyond your dreams.”

      “Not riches do I need,” said the Seeker quietly. “But I will help you in your need, for I am old and need useful work to do until I find my grave.”

      The lady bowed her head into her hands for one heartbeat, then lifted her chin and said to the two, “You have my gratitude, do you succeed or fail, for there are few in these days who will succor the needful for that poor coin. And I am, or shall be again, powerful when my talisman is in its place.”

      She stood abruptly, and her gray robe moved lightly about her. “I can be away from my place for only a short time. The simulacrum that I left cannot endure for long to deceive my watchers. And it is dangerous for me to at­tempt the deception more