She mentally extended her senses, searching for the magical ley lines that threaded Stardeep. When asked, Cynosure quickly and easily manipulated those functions on her behalf. In some ways, those functions were one and the same as Cynosure . . . better not to worry about that right now.
Delphe closed her eyes and began to search the stronghold.
* * * * *
Telarian grabbed the sweat-slicked guardroom lever and pulled. The mechanism yielded slowly, with a drawn-out screech resembling a banshee's scream. The gate tunnel's iron-reinforced floor ratcheted into place, sealing the Knights—their corpses, at least—in their final resting places.
The Keeper rushed into the tunnel to gaze across the Causeway. He estimated the Knights who remained outside were unlikely to succeed. It was time for him to directly intervene. His grip tightened on Nis's pommel. He stepped . ..
The landbridge faded into pale mists.
Several blinking Knights appeared in the gateway tunnel, turned around and nauseated from their sudden recall. What—
The Causeway had closed!
"Cynosure! Open the Causeway! Immediately!"
No answer. He sheathed Nis to wipe his brow. The instant he lost contact with the hilt of his darkling sword, Telarian's composure collapsed.
With a voice now breaking with sudden fear, he called again, "Cynosure? Answer me! Cynosure, open the Gate!"
Telarian looked left, right, up, down as his mind whirled with confusion. His eyes finally settled on the two niches in the gate tunnel, one on either side. Each was filled with a hulking stone shape. Either or both could serve as a temporary nexus for Stardeep's construct sentience, even physically animating to defend the entrance. At the very least, speaking if spoken to.
The diviner ran to stand between the two shapes. Both stared vacantly down at him. Cynosure was resident in neither.
A crackle of light and the sudden scent of ozone pulled his gaze around. Striding from a rough discontinuity was Delphe.
"Telarian!" she yelled, her eyes wild, her face flushed as she approached him. Did she know what had just occurred? Were all his secrets laid bare to his fellow Keeper? A guilty conscience grabbed him roughly, draining blood from his face and putting a shake in his hands. To salvage his scheme, and thereby save future generations unborn, must he now cut down Delphe, too, in cold blood?
As he reached for Nis, Delphe said, "Cynosure is corrupted, and the Traitor stirs! Thank the Twelve Stars I've found you—we must prepare our strategy!"
Telarian's wavering hand dropped away from his weapon's hilt.
"Tell me, Delphe, what has happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse. He gripped one hand with the other to hide a telltale quaver.
She began, "An entity . . ."
Her eyes looked past him down the tunnel. Telarian turned and saw the bloody streak smeared from the open guardroom door, as well as the gore splash from where Brathtar and Dharvanum had gasped out their last. He'd disposed of the bodies in the deeps, but there'd been no time to scrub away the incriminating blood. The recalled Knights yet milled at the far end, still pale and confused to Telarian's eyes.
"The invaders breached the Causeway?" she gasped. "I closed the Causeway not a moment too soon!" She turned to look at him. "Why didn't you close the Causeway Gate after you sent forth the Knights to defend Stardeep?"
Telarian replied without missing a beat. "Of course I tried, but Cynosure failed to answer me. By the time I realized a manual seal was necessary, I and a reserve unit of Knights already fought to hold the tunnel. If you hadn't closed the Causeway Gate when you did, I'm not sure what would have happened." Internally, he cursed her for an interfering fool. If she hadn't closed the Causeway, even now he'd have Angul and Nis, together.
"What kind of force—"
He interrupted, "Hold!" The diviner knew where Delphe's questions led. A distraction was required lest she too closely examine the gate tunnel. If she queried the Knights now visible in the tunnel, she'd learn they hadn't been part of any tunnel defense—they'd been fighting a Keeper! If she began unraveling that knot, he'd have to spin his web of lies all the wider.
Telarian continued, "You claim Cynosure is corrupt and the Traitor's dreams are uneasy? I would hear more of that!"
Delphe nodded, her eyes again focusing on Telarian. She said, "Some sort of. . . probe entity burst from the boundary layer and ascended the Well."
Telarian didn't have to act surprised. Delphe continued, "A powerful working, not a phantom. It was a qualified escape attempt."
"What shape did it take?" Telarian's voice was hoarser.
She replied, "A self-improving tissue mass. It resembled an eyeless snake, or a questing tentacle. It improved and expanded every moment it remained free of the Well. What a time for Cynosure to fail!"
Delphe raised a conciliatory hand as she noted his eyes growing huge. "Breathe easy. I quelled the escape. Cynosure woke up at the last, and between his working and my abjurations, the Traitor's sending, if that's what it was, failed to emerge into the Throat."
Telarian shook his head. "I am sorry I was not there to aid you." The Keeper of the Outer Bastion's faith in his prognostication was fast approaching zero; he hadn't foreseen such a potent emergence so soon. Still. . .
"But Cynosure did acknowledge the danger and helped you, if not as quickly as you desired. Are you certain he is corrupt?"
"I'm not certain of anything. I know this, though; he has suffered too many lapses of late. Have you noticed? Too many silences during critical moments in the Well. I was forced to turn off some functions."
Telarian hissed with surprise.
She nodded, misunderstanding his response. "Yes, it was necessary, despite the danger."
"But, Delphe—"
"Telarian, listen! Add up the Traitor's sudden flurry of activity with Cynosure's glitches and the attack on the Causeway, and the result is trouble. It could imply an external force seeks the Traitor's release, and worse, has managed to infiltrate Stardeep so thoroughly that Cynosure, our first and best defense, is compromised. Then again, you already knew something of this, didn't you?"
Telarian cocked his head, guilt once again rising like gorge in his mouth.
"You knew an external force might move against us. You told me yourself you had the Knights investigate a suspicious wood elf encampment in the Yuirwood. What did they find?"
He breathed easier. She didn't know anything. "Delphe, in all truth, the Knights found no evidence the wood elves knew anything of the Traitor or about Stardeep." He spoke no untruths, he reflected. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand. Of course, to safeguard the presence of the Knights, the encampment had been eradicated.
"What of these that attacked recently? Were they wood elves?"
"Some were. I'm not sure from whence they came. Certainly not from the encampment, which disbanded not long after the Knights investigated."
Delphe nodded, considering, her eyes narrow in thought.
Telarian continued. "How do you suppose the attackers managed to corrupt Cynosure, when they've yet to enter Stardeep? Are you sure Cynosure's problems are part of this conspiracy you've outlined?"
Delphe rocked back, shook her head. "Of course I'm not sure. But the timing is too awful to be a coincidence. Isn't it?" Telarian saw she was willing to be argued away from her theory.
Relief continued to cool his feverish mind like a spring rain. He knew with certainty Cynosure was not corrupted by outsiders.
No, he himself was responsible for Cynosure's odd habits. He'd sought to gain control over the sentient idol's abilities and knowledge. It appalled him to think his efforts might have prematurely compromised Cynosure's ability to restrain the Traitor. If the Traitor emerged too early . . .