The Lady Tower

By Elsa Frohman Part 4

The section of ladder came to rest wedged across the shaft just below where Todo clung to the central cable. He could hear Elora panting and see the green glow from the light still hanging around her neck.

"Elora, are you all right?"

"No!"

"Hang on, I'm coming."

"Hurry! My hands are slipping!"

Todo loosened his grip on the cable and slid down far enough to be level with her. He reached out with one arm, but found she was just beyond him.

"You're going to have to swing a little so I can reach you."

Elora swallowed and nodded. She kicked her legs backward and let them swing forward toward Todo. On the first swing, his fingers brushed her knees. The next time he got his arm around her legs, but he could see instantly that it wasn't going to work. Her weight nearly pulled his remaining hand on the cable loose. He let out a frustrated "Ooph," and let her go. He simply didn't have a secure enough grip to pull her off the ladder and stay on the cable himself.

"Wait," Elora said, her voice showing that the panic was starting to subside. "I've climbed trees. I think I know what to do."

Elora increased the length of her swing, then as she reached the extreme point, she kicked one leg upward. Her toe glanced off the ladder.

"Once more," she said, nearly to herself. "I can do this."

On her next try she got her foot through the space between rungs and hooked. A bit of wriggling later, she was hanging by her knees. Uprighting herself and getting on top of the ladder took a little more work, but she managed it.

"I think the ladder is wedged solid," she said, looking down at Todo. "It will probably hold both of us."

Todo nodded and shinnied up a little bit. Then when he could reach, he carefully pulled himself up onto the broken section of ladder.

"Now what?" Elora said.

Todo pointed to the wall opposite. They were level with a door. It was a difficult reach to the access panel and crank, but Todo managed it, flattening himself out to distribute his weight and avoid rocking the ladder loose. A few minutes later they were in a dim, dusty corridor on the sixth floor.

Todo slid out of the shaft on his belly. As he stood up, he winced in pain.

"You're hurt!"

"I think I wrenched my knee. But it's not bad. Hurts a bit, but it will hold me up."

He took a few limping steps. "There, I'll be fine. A little slower than usual, but clearly ambulatory."

"What now?"

"We see whether your father and his party made it to this level."

"Right, they came up the hard way," Elora said ironically.

"Suffice it to say, that ladder never did that before," Todo said with a chuckle.

"Obviously."

He set out along the corridor, keeping a close eye on the dust on the floor for any signs of intrusion. They found what they were looking for quickly. The footprints came out of the stairwell at the end of the hall, meandered around a bit, then headed back.

"They got above this level," Todo said.

"So we go up the stairs now?"

"We can go up one level that way, but the staircase has collapsed between the seventh and eighth levels." Todo stopped and looked undecided.

"I wouldn't do this if I hadn't hurt my knee," he said slowly. "Can I rely on your discretion?"

"I don't know. What are you talking about?"

Todo sighed and decided.

"There's a much easier way up."

He went back to the opening on the shaft, and then to the next portal over. Rather than taking the crank out of his bag, he took out a tool and removed a metal panel from the wall. He fished inside for a moment and brought out two strands of wire. Using another tool, he stripped the insulation of a section of each and touched them together. A spark jumped out from the connection and there was a sharp odor of ozone. Elora watched fascinated.

"Magic," she whispered.

"Don't be silly," Todo said with a frown. "Technology."

"How do you know about this?"

"Never mind that. Just keep in mind that if it's possible to save your father and brothers, it will be because I know about this."

Todo repeated the process with another pair of wires; then there was a deep growl from somewhere high above them. Elora was alarmed at first, but she saw that Todo had expected just this to happen. The sound came closer, then stopped. The doors shook, then cracked open just a bit.

"Rusty, but still functional. They built the systems in this tower to last. Even the power system is self-perpetuating." He pushed the doors the rest of the way open.

"Your carriage, milady," he said, motioning for Elora to enter the car. She looked in and saw that there was indeed a floor.

"Is this safe?"

"At least as safe as the ladder," Todo said with a smile.

Inside, Todo poked at some bumps on the wall, but when that produced no effect, he removed another panel and did some more fiddling with the wires inside.

The car lurched into motion.

They checked four more levels without much trouble. The Baron's party had made steady progress through this area, that much was clear.

As they took the lift to each successive level, got off and looked for footprints, Elora's unease grew.

"What's the matter?" he asked, finally, as she stood staring at him.

She hesitated, knowing this was hardly the time to broach the subject, but unable to stop herself.

"Everything about you is a lie," she said slowly.

Todo stopped dead. He didn't know what to say.

"I've never really looked at it that way," he said finally.

"You even have two ways of talking. There's the 'Yes, miss, no miss,' act you put on to show you're just a humble handyman. Then there's the way you talk now, that's, I don't know -- confident -- in charge."

"It's necessary," Todo said flatly.

"But you know the secrets of the Ancients."

"Not all of them. Just enough to do what I have to do."

"With that knowledge, you could change everything. Fiorenza could be what it was in the Ancient Times. There could be an end to hunger and disease and suffering!"

"The Old Time wasn't as wonderful as you think it was," Todo said slowly. "The secrets of the Ancients aren't, most of them, about growing better crops or building better houses or curing the grippe. There are dark things, Elora. Things that no sane person would want to know. They knew how to kill thousands upon thousands of people with a single stroke of the hand. How to level a city with no more effort than picking up a coin. They must have been mad to seek such knowledge in the first place. And their madness destroyed them."

He started back for the lift, hoping the subject was closed.

"I can't keep your secret," Elora said flatly. "It's too important. People have a right to know."

Todo stopped. "I can't stop you from doing whatever you believe is right. But I can tell you that I won't reveal what I know. You will simply be making things very difficult for me, and in all probability, it will mean that I have to leave Fiorenza. It's not just your home. It's my home as well."

"I don't want to hurt you, Todo. But how can I keep this a secret?"

"Think about it. Don't be hasty."

She followed him back to the lift in silence. As the rode up to the next level, a new question occurred to her.

"What if we can't find them?"

"We'll find them -- one way or the other. The trail they've left is too clear to lose them."

"The other?"

"I hope we find them alive," Todo said. "But with each level there is more danger."

Elora forced herself to ask the next question. She didn't want to say it, but felt she had to. "And if they're dead?"

"Let's not consider that until we have to."

"But don't you see? If they're, they're ... lost, I can't go back. That would solve everything. We could go away together!"

Todo regarded her with a mixture of chagrin and affection. "I don't think your father and brothers would enjoy that solution very well."

"I want them to be safe with all my heart," Elora said, starting to cry again.

"I know," Todo said gently. "And I'm really very flattered. Thinking that you fancy me isn't doing my self-esteem a bit of harm. But if it comes to that we'll have to look at all the options for you.

"Besides, I think you're not giving Vandon deCorentha much of a chance."

"What would you know of him?"

"There now, you're convinced I know all the secrets of the Ancients, but you're not even asking whether I know something that might actually be of use to you."

"You've met him?"

"Yes. About 10 years ago, I believe it was. I did a little traveling. The boy -- he was about 14 then, I think -- takes after his mother more than his father. A very serious lad. He wanted to be a scholar rather than a statesman, but his father was forcing him to prepare for leadership. They didn't get along very well."

"But is he handsome?"

"I'm not sure I'm a judge of that, but he seemed a comely lad -- tall for his age."

"Is he ... nice?"

"What I remember of him was that he was very fond of his hunting dog. He was having a dispute with his father over whether the dog should be allowed to sleep in his chamber rather than out in the kennels. He seemed an affectionate and compassionate boy."

Elora fell silent.

"Now, shall we check another level?"