Felisin glanced at the mage. 'I'll need those straps from your belt.'
With a grunt, Kulp began removing the leather band at his waist. 'Damned strange time to be wanting to see me without my breeches, lass.'
'We can all do with the laugh,' she replied.
He handed her the belt, and watched as she affixed the binding strips at each end to her ankles. He winced at how savagely she tightened the knots.
'Now, what's left of your raincloak, please.'
'What's wrong with your tunic?'
'No-one gets to ogle my breasts – not for free, anyway. Besides, that cloak's a tougher weave.'
'There was retribution,' Heboric said. 'A methodical, dispassionate cleaning-up of the mess.'
As he pulled off his sand-scoured cloak, Kulp scowled down at the ex-priest. 'What are you going on about, Heboric?'
'First Empire, the city above. They came and put things aright. Immortal custodians. Such a debacle! Even with my eyes closed I can see my hands – they're groping blind, so blind now. So empty.' He sank down, suddenly racked with shuddering grief.
'Never mind him,' Felisin said, stepping up as if to embrace the jagged pillar. 'The old toad's lost his god and it's broken his mind.'
Kulp said nothing.
Felisin reached around the column and linked her hands on the other side by gripping two ends of the cloak and twisting them taut. The belt between her feet hugged this side of the pillar.
'Ah,' Kulp said. 'I see. Clever Dosii.'
She hitched the cloak as high as she could on the opposite side, then leaned back and, in a jerking motion, jumped a short distance upward – knees drawn up, the belt snapping against the pillar. He saw the pain rip through her as the bindings dug into her ankles.
'I'm surprised the Dosii have feet,' Kulp said.
Gasping, she said, 'Guess I got some minor detail wrong.'
In all truth, the mage did not think she would make it. Before she had gone two arm-spans – a full body's length from the ceiling – her ankles streamed blood. She trembled all over, using unimagined but quickly waning reserves of energy. Yet she did not stop. This is a hard, hard creature. She surpasses us all, again and again. The thought led him to Baudin – banished, likely to be somewhere out there, suffering the storm. Another hard one, stubborn and stolid. How fare you, Talon?
Felisin finally came to within reach of the hole's ragged edge. And there she hesitated.
Aye, now what?
'Kulp!' Her voice bounced in an eerie echo that was quickly swept away by the wind.
'Yes?'
'How close are my feet to you?'
'Maybe three arm-spans. Why?'
'Prop Heboric beside the pillar. Climb onto his shoulders—'
'In Hood's name what for?'
'You've got to reach my ankles, then climb over me – I can't let go – nothing left!'
Gods, I'm not as hard as you, lass. 'I think—'
'Do it! We have no choice, damn you!'
Hissing, Kulp swung to Heboric. 'Old man, can you understand me? Heboric!'
The ex-priest straightened, grinned. 'Remember the hand of stone? The finger? The past is an alien world. Powers unimagined. To touch is to recall someone else's memories, someone so unlike you in thought and senses that they beckon you into madness.'
Hand of stone? The bastard's raving. 'I need to climb onto your shoulders, Heboric. You need to stand firm – once we get up we'll rig a harness to pull you up, OK?'
'On my shoulders. A mountain of stone, each one carved and shaped by a life long since lost to Hood. How many yearnings, desires, secrets? Where does it all go? The unseen energy of life's thoughts is food for the gods, did you know that? This is why they must – they must – be fickle!'
'Mage!' Felisin wailed. 'Now!'
Kulp stepped behind the ex-priest and set his hands on Heboric's shoulders. 'Stand steady now—'
Instead, the old man turned to face him. He brought both wrists together, leaving a space between them where hands should be. 'Step. I'll launch you straight to her.'
'Heboric – you've no hands to hold my foot—'
The man's grin broadened. 'Humour me.'
Something pushed Kulp beyond wonder as his moccasined foot settled into the firm stirrup of interlaced fingers he could not see. He placed his hands on the ex-priest's shoulders once again.
'Straight up you'll go,' Heboric said. 'I'm blind. Position me, Mage.'