Part 33 (1/2)
”It wasn't me who told her,” he explained, beginning to smile. ”We had a bet going that she'd guess.”
Chay reached around Sorin to grasp Maarken's arm. ”If she's as clever as she is beautiful, you're a lucky man. A Sunrunner, too-how many rings is it?”
”Six, like mine.”
”Your grandfather Zehava always said he wanted good-looking descendants,” Rohan teased. ”I think his ambition is safe into the next generation.”
Andrade sat quietly, smiling, while the others added their congratulations. Finally she said, ”I had nothing to do with it this time, Sioned. As a matter of fact, they managed it in spite of me. Someday you'll have to get them to tell you how it came about.”
”My Lady!” Maarken protested automatically, red to his earlobes.
”If you don't, I may tell them myself!” she threatened with a grin and a wink-startling those in the group who had experience only of her more caustic humor, or who had no experience of her at all.
Andry returned to the tent alone and bewildered. ”Maarken-I told her she was to come here, and why, and she said-”
”Something self-effacing, I trust,” Andrade remarked, but her gaze had sharpened.
Andry shook his head. ”She said she couldn't in conscience join us because-because it would be under false pretenses.”
Maarken gasped as if someone had hit him in the gut. He shoved back his chair and strode from the tent, leaving a shocked silence behind him.
Rohan had to clear his throat twice before he could say with reasonable calm, ”Andry, why would she say such a thing?”
”I don't know. Maybe she's just tired. She hasn't been all that well most of the summer. And it would probably scare me, too, being summoned to a conference like this. After all, none of us is exactly n.o.body.”
”Succinctly if inelegantly put,” Andrade said. ”Alasen, I trust we do not intimidate you too much? Good. Andry, sit down. There's nothing we can do that Maarken can't do for himself, so we'd best get on with this. Sioned, I a.s.sume you're the one with the explanations. You'd better begin them before curiosity kills us.”
”Yes, my Lady.” Sioned looked around the circle once, then began. ”Someone called Fire down onto the course today, threatening Sorin but not Masul. Afterward, Masul approached Sorin and they exchanged words-”
”As they're both alive and intact,” Andrade interrupted, ”I may a.s.sume that the words were at least marginally polite.”
”You may. But when I hinted at Sunrunner's Fire, Masul reacted very oddly. He knows as well as Sorin and I what happened. Only I led him to believe it was one of us who had done it.”
Sorin gave a m.u.f.fled curse. ”You wanted him to think the flames had been meant for him, not for me!”
”I thought he might sweat a little. Anything that unbalances him works in our favor.”
”Good thought,” Rohan said. ”But the problem is that we we know the Fire was meant for Sorin.” know the Fire was meant for Sorin.”
”It rose up right in front of me,” the young man confirmed. ”It was easy for Masul to avoid it.”
Chay leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands clasped between them. ”Do we have another renegade Sunrunner, then, like the one Roelstra corrupted?”
”I doubt it very much,” Urival replied quietly. ”For reasons I will explain shortly. Sioned, did he admit to having seen the Fire at all?”
”Not out loud, no.”
”Then there are three alternatives. First, he didn't expect it but now believes that someone wishes to help him, and doesn't wish to jeopardize that person by admitting he even saw the Fire. Second, he knew in advance and is certain it was meant for Sorin, and doesn't wish to admit that someone with faradhi faradhi gifts is working for him. The third alternative is suggested by his reaction to your mention of Fire, Sioned. He may believe that a Sunrunner did indeed do this, and will do something even more deadly if he complains of it. Do you think he's honestly frightened of us?” gifts is working for him. The third alternative is suggested by his reaction to your mention of Fire, Sioned. He may believe that a Sunrunner did indeed do this, and will do something even more deadly if he complains of it. Do you think he's honestly frightened of us?”
Sioned frowned, then nodded slowly. ”He's extremely wary, at least, of what he believes we're capable of. Sorin, did he look frightened to you?”
”It seemed as if he resents faradh'im faradh'im more than he fears them, although you made him really nervous tonight when you lit the candles.” He grinned suddenly. ”I think Masul's just started to realize that Pol's surrounded by Sunrunners.” more than he fears them, although you made him really nervous tonight when you lit the candles.” He grinned suddenly. ”I think Masul's just started to realize that Pol's surrounded by Sunrunners.”
Chay said, ”Whichever of Urival's alternatives holds true, he'll be worried about us.”
”Us?” Tobin asked, surprised. ”Do you know that's the first time you've ever included yourself with the Sunrunners?” Tobin asked, surprised. ”Do you know that's the first time you've ever included yourself with the Sunrunners?”
He shrugged. ”I have a wife, two sons, a sister-by-marriage, and a nephew who're are faradh'im. faradh'im. My eldest son is about to marry one. We're sitting here with the Lady of G.o.ddess Keep, the whole place is lousy with Sunrunners, and you object to my saying 'us'?” My eldest son is about to marry one. We're sitting here with the Lady of G.o.ddess Keep, the whole place is lousy with Sunrunners, and you object to my saying 'us'?”
”How nice to know the Lord of Radzyn finally accepts us,” Andrade said dryly. ”The question is, how can we turn events to our advantage?”
Rohan looked thoughtful. ”If we a.s.sume Masul was as surprised as Sorin and doesn't know there's somebody helping him, then it might be possible . . .”
”To do what, Father?” Pol asked.
”To encourage this belief and present him with a somewhat stupefying source of help.” He turned to Pandsala. ”Could you swallow your hatred long enough to convince him?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. ”I've been too vehement. Had this come several days ago, after my talk with Kiele-she and I are agreed that Chiana's humiliation by whatever means would be most satisfying. But after yesterday's encounter with Masul. . . .” She lifted her hands, let them fall back into her lap. ”I'm sorry for it, because the idea is an excellent one. But a sudden conversion to his cause would be suspect. If there were others of my sisters who had the gifts, it might be possible. But I cannot even think his name without wanting to spit.”
”You're not the only one,” Tobin muttered. ”Sorin, how's your shoulder?”
”Healing, Mother. Don't worry.”
”Well, so much for that idea.” Rohan sprawled his legs out in front of him and stared at his boots. ”We can discount the a.s.sumption about the Fire being meant for Masul, because we know this to be untrue. We have to work with what we we believe to be the truth, which is either that he didn't know and welcomes the help, or that he knows very well indeed.” He paused, then slowly lifted his gaze to Urival. ”I'd be interested to hear your reasons now, my lord, for thinking that there is no Sunrunner corrupted to causes other than our own.” believe to be the truth, which is either that he didn't know and welcomes the help, or that he knows very well indeed.” He paused, then slowly lifted his gaze to Urival. ”I'd be interested to hear your reasons now, my lord, for thinking that there is no Sunrunner corrupted to causes other than our own.”
Urival's golden-brown eyes darkened, the angles of his face like rough-hewn stone. He looked around the circle as Sioned had done, but not to collect their attention. He judged each face in turn, from the prior knowledge in some to the frank bewilderment in others. At last he spoke, having satisfied some inner criteria for each person present.
”I suspect none of the faradh'im. faradh'im. I trained them all; I know them. The person I suspect is an unknown, and adheres to the old ways of sorcery, which the Sunrunners left Dorval to oppose. It is a shock, but not really a surprise, to know that some of the descendants of those sorcerers still exist.” I trained them all; I know them. The person I suspect is an unknown, and adheres to the old ways of sorcery, which the Sunrunners left Dorval to oppose. It is a shock, but not really a surprise, to know that some of the descendants of those sorcerers still exist.”
”But they work with starlight, not the sun,” Andry protested. ”What went on today happened in broad daylight!”
Ostvel's gaze was focused on the glowing brazier, his gray eyes lit almost to rubies by the coals. ”My late wife was from the Fironese mountains, as her dark coloring made obvious. The legends of sorcerers were more than legends where she grew up. There were two kinds of gifts-one kind we see in the faradh'im, faradh'im, and the other very similar but of a different emphasis. They could use sunlight if they chose, but preferred the stars, believing that power more potent and moonless nights the best time to work. Camigwen always thought that the reason Sunrunners were forbidden the starlight was because these others had used it. The ancient and the other very similar but of a different emphasis. They could use sunlight if they chose, but preferred the stars, believing that power more potent and moonless nights the best time to work. Camigwen always thought that the reason Sunrunners were forbidden the starlight was because these others had used it. The ancient faradh'im faradh'im did not wish to be mistaken for their enemies.” did not wish to be mistaken for their enemies.”
Sioned murmured, ”She told me some of the tales when we were very young. I never believed them.”
Andrade's fingers beat a slow rhythm on the arm of her chair, her jeweled rings catching the light in a rainbow of colors. ”The prohibition regarding use of the stars is as adamant as that regarding use of the gifts to kill.”
Ostvel's gaze now lifted to Sioned across the circle. ”Yet it cannot be intrinsically evil to weave light from the stars. Sioned has done it-the night Rohan battled Roelstra in single combat. Others were caught up in it-Princess Tobin, the regent, Urival, Lady Andrade herself. No one could suspect any of you of being sorcerers. So it must have been forbidden simply because the old ones did it. What could be evil about starlight, except in the way one uses it?” He paused a moment, then bowed to Andrade. ”Forgive me for presuming to interpret faradhi faradhi matters, my Lady.” matters, my Lady.”
”Presuming?” She snorted. ”You are as much one of us as if you wore the rings.”
”Thank you. Then I will further say that because Sunrunners can use starlight, as Sioned proved, Andry is mistaken in his a.s.sumption that it is the only sort of light with which these sorcerers work. They may prefer it, but. . . .” He shrugged. ”All this leads to a conclusion I don't think any of you will like. There is no reason to a.s.sume that these people cannot call Fire or use the light of sun or moons. Therefore there is no reason to a.s.sume they cannot become faradh'im. faradh'im.”
Urival's spine became a swordblade. ”Are you telling me I might have trained the descendants of our enemies?”
”You have undoubtedly trained people, my lord, who aren't aware of the real source of their gifts. The power is the same. The uses are not.” He turned to Andrade. ”Is there any way to tell the two apart?”
Andry was the one who answered. ”I haven't got all the scrolls translated yet, my lord. It may be that there are clues within-”