Part 29 (1/2)
Hollis looked from one to the other of them, completely at a loss. At last she managed to murmur her thanks.
”That's settled, then,” Andrade sighed, ”even if nothing else is. Go to bed, Hollis. I want to talk with Rohan and Sioned. And this captive of yours ought to be showing up soon, yes?”
Hollis bowed and left them. Sioned nodded to herself. ”She's going to make Maarken very happy.”
”You're learning my tricks,” Andrade accused with gruff fondness. ”How did you know? Did he tell you?”
Before Sioned could do more than look smug, Tallain appeared in the doorway of the white tent. ”My lord, he's here. Not too willing about it, either, when he heard who he'd be seeing.”
”Afraid of the old witch, is he?” Andrade asked. ”Well, bring him in.”
But the guards got him no farther than the threshold. The man's dark hair and pallid face suddenly seemed to glow with the chill radiance of the stars behind him in the night. Horrified eyes fixed on Andrade, he groped out with stiffened, white-boned fingers, then slumped to the carpet.
Tallain fell back in shock. ”My lord-what-”
Rohan knelt beside the p.r.o.ne figure, searching in vain for signs of life. The slack-jawed guards could have dealt with an escape attempt, threats of violence, shouts of defiance-but not with this. ”M-my lord,” one of them whispered, ”we did him no hurt, none!”
Rohan nodded slowly, fingers resting lightly on the man's chest. ”His heart has simply stopped,” he murmured.
Andrade stared at the corpse with a stony glare more frightening than anger. ”So,” she said at last. ”The sorcerers still live after all.”
Rohan's head snapped around, a scowl darkening his face. ”What do you mean?”
She paid him no heed. ”Get this-” she pointed to the dead man, ”-out of my sight at once. Throw it into the sea for all I care. But it shall not know Fire. Nothing touched by such foulness could ever be cleansed.”
After the corpse had been removed, with Rohan's caution that nothing be said of this to anyone, Sioned faced Andrade. ”What do you mean, sorcerers?” she asked, repeating Rohan's question.
”Just what I said.” She sighed heavily. ”Sweet G.o.ddess, to be able to kill at a distance, using starlight. . . .” A shudder coursed through her and she drew her cloak tighter around her breast. ”There's a scroll Hollis didn't mention, but it seems I must tell you about it now. We've called it the Star Scroll for the design on its first page. And it deals with sorceries. Probably with things just like this.”
”Has it been fully translated?” Rohan asked.
”Not yet. And I don't know that I want it to be. Not if it contains knowledge like this. Oh, Andry is full of reasons why we should learn all that the Star Scroll can offer, and use their own weapons against them-including dranath dranath-but what would that make of us?”
Despite the bitterness in her voice, Rohan almost smiled at her. ”It seems you and I agree on one thing, at least.”
Sioned nodded thoughtfully. ”Now I know why you asked Tobin to have me bring along this packet.” She produced, to her husband's astonishment, a small piece of folded parchment and handed it to Andrade. ”It's very old, though. Rohan took it from Roelstra over twenty years ago. Will it still be good?”
”Nothing about dranath dranath is good, except its use against Plague,” Urival muttered, absently rubbing the rings on his hands as if they pained him. is good, except its use against Plague,” Urival muttered, absently rubbing the rings on his hands as if they pained him.
”It ought to be potent still,” Andrade mused. ”It's all we have access to, so it had better be. I didn't want to ask Pandsala to bring me some from the Veresch. She's not someone I'd trust with knowledge like this.”
”I think you're wrong about her,” Sioned replied mildly. ”But it doesn't matter. What do you plan to do with it?”
”Conduct a few experiments of my own, the way Andry did. Urival, stop looking at me like that. Who's more qualified to investigate sorceries than an old witch like me?” She smiled humor lessly, turning the parchment square over in her hands. ”You used a little of this to help you over some rough spots on the way home that year, didn't you, Sioned?”
”Only a little. A pinch in a gla.s.s of wine, less as the days wore on. Roelstra gave me quite a bit that night. The same happened after the dose that cured the Plague.” Her shoulders s.h.i.+fted to shrug off the memory. ”Be careful with it.”
”She will be,” Urival stated, his face grim.
”Do you think Roelstra knew about the old sorceries?” Rohan asked.
”If he had, he would have used them-not just the dranath dranath to addict poor Crigo.” Urival shook his head. ”I've talked myself hoa.r.s.e with warnings that no one listens to.” to addict poor Crigo.” Urival shook his head. ”I've talked myself hoa.r.s.e with warnings that no one listens to.”
”Would you rather see Andry at his little demonstrations again?” Andrade snapped. ”What frightens me about him is that he's not as frightened of the Star Scroll as he ought to be.” Andrade eyed the royal couple. ”I hope you've instilled a little respect in that hatchling of yours. Andry has been a handful, but Pol's stubbornness might be the death of me.”
Sioned hesitated, then said, ”Andrade-I don't want Pol coddled or given special treatment, but promise me you won't bully him too much. He's not like any of the others, not even Maarken or Riyan. Who he is, what he'll become one day-promise me you'll keep those things in mind.”
”We can hardly escape them,” she responded in dry tones. ”Leave me now. I won't be drugging myself tonight, so stop scowling. All I want is some sleep.”
Rohan and Sioned were silent as they returned to their pavilion. He sank wearily into the chair at his desk.
”So that's why Meath was attacked on his way to G.o.ddess Keep. Today has been h.e.l.lish all the way around. And the way she talked about Andry-”
”He's not a little boy anymore.”
”No. But I can't share her apprehensions about someone I used to play at dragons with. What an interesting interesting family we have,” he added wryly. family we have,” he added wryly.
Sioned began taking off her clothes, pausing only to throw a bedrobe at him. ”Here. If you're going to be up half the night, at least be comfortable.”
”What do you you think about the Star Scroll?” he asked as he shrugged out of tunic and s.h.i.+rt before wrapping himself in the blue silk. think about the Star Scroll?” he asked as he shrugged out of tunic and s.h.i.+rt before wrapping himself in the blue silk.
”I think the potentials for danger and knowledge are just about equal,” she mused. ”The old sorcerers are are still around. What happened tonight-” She s.h.i.+vered. ”Tradition generally confirms Sunrunners on the continent for at least three hundred years. That's a long time to be in hiding.” still around. What happened tonight-” She s.h.i.+vered. ”Tradition generally confirms Sunrunners on the continent for at least three hundred years. That's a long time to be in hiding.”
”But where? Why? What are they waiting for?” When she only shrugged, he said, ”You're awfully calm about this. Is it because you, too, know how to use the stars?”
She would not look at him, only stood smoothing the folds of her bedgown with fingers that trembled a little. ”I'm scared to death,” she whispered. ”What I did was instinctive. There was no other light to use. I had to know where you were. . . .” At last she met his gaze. ”Rohan, what if I'm-”
”One of them?” He shook his head. ”Don't you remember what we were saying about power? It's not power of itself that's good or evil, Sioned. It's the person wielding it. You're wise enough to know that.”
”If you say so.” She shrugged again, and in a steadier tone went on, ”To the Sunrunners, these people are a threat. To the other princes? I don't know. But Pol is both Sunrunner and prince. That makes him dangerous to them in new ways, it seems. They went to a lot of trouble to kill the only witness who could challenge this Masul's claim and make it seem as if Merida were responsible. So they're still hiding.” She sighed and extinguished the bedside candle. ”Make sure your feet are warm before you come to bed.”
”Prosaic advice. Are you so certain I'll be awake that late into the night?”
She stretched out and drew the blanket over her shoulders, replying unanswerably, ”I know you, my lord azhrei. azhrei.”
Chapter Eighteen.
Everyone knew that no serious business would be transacted by the princes in the time before Lyell of Waes addressed them that morning. Rohan spent half the night wondering how he might save himself the embarra.s.sment of trying to conduct what were bound to be fruitless discussions. He resigned himself to a morning that would reflect badly on his leaders.h.i.+p through no fault of his own-while cursing Kiele's cunning that had deliberately arranged the time at which her husband was scheduled to speak.
But Prince Lleyn spared him any awkwardness. The old man insisted on making an uncharacteristically garrulous report on the current state of s.h.i.+pping throughout the princedoms. Everyone used Lleyn's merchant fleet, so everyone was compelled to pay attention. Rohan blessed him and kept an eye on the water clock.
It was a new device, more reliable than the old sandgla.s.ses. Sand eroded crystal as it pa.s.sed through, shortening the days. Time in the form of water dripped from a sphere through a hole cut into a flawless ruby, down to another sphere marked off in regular increments. The hinged, airtight lid of the upper crystal was a golden dragon with emeralds for eyes. Rohan had ordered it made for him two years ago after a Fironese crafter had written to him about its principles, and one of his goals was to establish the manufacture and trade of such clocks. But as Lleyn droned on, and there was no discernible difference in the level of water in either sphere, Rohan began to doubt that accurate measurement of time was such a good idea after all. Waiting was waiting, no matter how one counted off the time.
At a little past the fifth level of the clock a guard in Desert blue slid into the tent and around to Rohan's chair. Lleyn immediately gave over the meeting without a single indication that he had rambled on at great length to very definite purpose. Rohan thanked his grace of Dorval for his valuable information, then addressed the other princes.
”Cousins, yesterday Lyell of Waes requested a few moments of our time. As all of us know, it's not unusual for an athri athri to have something to say.” He smiled slightly to imply that Lyell's words had about as much importance as the customary whining of a dissatisfied va.s.sal. ”Shall we hear him out?” to have something to say.” He smiled slightly to imply that Lyell's words had about as much importance as the customary whining of a dissatisfied va.s.sal. ”Shall we hear him out?”