Ian Irvine - The Tower on the Rift, Volume 2

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The Tower on the Rift

A Novel of TheThree Worlds

[The View from theMirror 02]

By Ian Irvine

Scanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU

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Contents

SouthernHemisphere of Santhenar

MeldorinIsland

North-easternMeldorin

TheDry Sea

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MAPS

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Synopsis of

The View From The Mirror

TheView from the Mirror isa tale of the Three Worlds, Aachan, Tallallame and Santhenar, andof the four human species that inhabit them: Aachim, Charon, Faellem andold human. The setting is Santhenar, a world where wizardry - the Secret Art- is difficult, and doesnt always work, and every using comes at a price -aftersickness.

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Longago a whole race was betrayed and cast into the void between the worlds, aDarwinian place where life is more desperate, more brutal, more fleeting thananywhere. In the void none but the fittest survive, and only by remakingthemselves constantly. A million of that race died in the first few weeks.

The terrible centuries groundon. The exiles were transformed into a new human species, but still they couldnot survive the void. Reduced to a handful, they hung over the abyss ofextinction. Then one day a chance came, an opening to another world - Aachan!

They gave themselves a newname, Charon, after a frigid moonlet at the furthest extremity of the void.Escaping it, they took barren Aachan from the Aachim, reducing them toservitude. The Hundred, as the remaining Charon became known, dared allownothing to stand before the survival of their species.

Despite their efforts, they didnot flourish on Aachan.

One of the Hundred, Rulke, commissionedthe golden flute, an instrument that could open the Way between the Worlds.Before it could be used, Shuthdar, the old human who made it, stole theflute and fled with it to Santhenar. Unfortunately Shuthdar blundered. Heopened all the paths between the worlds, and the four species scrambled to getthe flute for themselves. Rather than be taken Shuthdar destroyed it, bringingdown the Forbidding that sealed Santhenar off completely. Now the fate of theThree Worlds is bound up with those marooned on Santhenar. They have neverceased to search for a way home, but no way has ever been found.

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Volume 1

A Shadow on the Glass

Llian, a brilliantyoung chronicler at the College of the Histories, presents a new version of anancient Great Tale, the Tale of the Forbidding, at his graduation telling,to unprecedented acclaim. But Wistan, the master of the College,realises that Llian has uncovered a deadly mystery - evidence that a crippledgirl was murdered at the time the golden flute was destroyed. The crime musthave occurred to conceal a greater one, and even now such knowledge could bedeadly, both for him and for the College.

Llian is also Zain, anoutcast race despised for collaborating with the Charon in olden times. Wistanpersecutes Llian to make him retract the tale, but Llian secretly keeps on withhis research. He knows that it could be the key to a brilliant story - thefirst new Great Tale for hundreds of years - and if he were the one to writeit, he would stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest chroniclers of alltime.

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Koran, a young womanwho is a sensitive, was at the graduation telling when Llian told hisfamous tale. She loves the Histories and is captivated by the tale and theteller. Karan returns to Gothryme, her drought-stricken and impoverished home,but soon afterwards Maigraith appears. Karan owes an obligation toMaigraith, the powerful but troubled lieutenant of Faelamor, andMaigraith insists that she repay it by helping to steal an ancient relic forher liege. Faelamor is the age-old leader of the Faellem, exiled on Santhenar bythe Forbidding. Desperate to take her people back to her own world, shebelieves that the relic may hold the key.

Yggur the sorcerer now holds therelic in Fiz Gorgo. Karan and Maigraith steal into his fortress, but Karan isshocked to learn that the relic is the Mirror of Aachan, stolen from theAachim a thousand years ago. Being part-Aachim herself, she knows that theAachim have never stopped searching for it. Either she must betray her fatherspeople or refuse her debt to Maigraith - dishonour either way. And Karan has adangerous heritage: part Aachim, part old human, she is a blending. Blendings,though prone to madness, can have unusual talents, as she has. They are also atrisk: sometimes hunted to enslave the talent, as often to destroy it.

Maigraith, captivated bysomething she sees on the Mirror, is surprised by Yggur. Finally she isovercome but Karan flees with the Mirror into the flooded labyrinth below thefortress, pursued by Yggurs dreadful Whelm guards. Karan is clever andresourceful, and eventually escapes, but is hunted for weeks through swamp andforest and mountains. The Whelm, who are also sensitive, are able to track herthrough her nightmares. In a twist of fate, Karan saves the life of one of theWhelm, Idlis the healer. She heads towards Chanthed, a place of hauntingmemories for her because of Llian and his wonderful tale. Pursued by the Whelmand their dogs, she thinks of Llian as a saviour and reaches out to him in herdreams.

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Mendark, a mancer who isYggurs bitter enemy, hears that the Mirror has been stolen and sends out hislieutenants to find it. Learning from Tallia that Karan is heading forChanthed he asks Wistan to find her. Wistan, who would do anything to get ridof Llian, orders him to find Karan and take her to Mendarks city, Thurkad.

Llian is terrified to be castout of his secure world, yet knows that if he does this task well, Mendarksname will open any door, and he will surely solve the murder and make his GreatTale. He travels into the mountains in a romantic dream.

At the tiny village of Tullinhe dreams that Karan is calling for help and wakes to find two Whelm at histhroat, trying to trace her sending. Llian is rescued by Shand, anold man who works at the inn but is more than he seems. After asking Shand forhelp but being refused, Llian heads out into the snow to find Karan. Eventuallyhe does, after many perils, but crashes into her hiding place and knockshimself out at her feet.

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Atfirst Karan feels that Llian is a dream come true, but the great teller isrevealed to be callow and awkward. Worse, he does not take her seriously, andwhen he tries to get her to go to Thurkad with him Karan grows angry. Sith isher destination, and to pay her debt she must give the Mirror to none butFaelamor. That night the Whelm find her again and, full of mixed feelings aboutLlian, she flees with him into the high mountains.

After a number of narrowescapes they lose their pursuers, but Llian gets mountain sickness and they beginto run out of food. Karan has no choice but to head for Shazmak, a secret cityof the Aachim, where she grew up. She is afraid to go there with the Mirror,and more afraid to take Llian to a place forbidden to outsiders.