Part 48 (1/2)
One was dead now. Not ”Sejast,” but Segev. Segev, who had killed Andrade.
Urival carried Ianthe's son to the bridge. Aching with exhaustion, he paused in the center of the span. The Faolain was dark and deceptively quiet below him. Upriver the water thundered, but from here to the sea all was swift, powerful silence. Desirable silence.
The muscles of his shoulders and back tore as he hefted Segev's body over the rails and let it drop into the current. The gray-clad corpse surfaced once, then vanished forever.
”Urival came in just before midnight to tell us the boy, Sejast, was responsible. Sorcerer's get, living all this time at G.o.ddess Keep. It doesn't bear thinking about, Meath.”
”It can't become common knowledge, Sioned. Andry's going to have trouble enough convincing everyone he's as strong as Andrade was-if this was known, no one would have confidence in him at all. He let Sejast work with him on the scrolls.” Meath downed his third cup of wine in two swallows. ”G.o.ddess! Andrade's death, and now this!”
Rohan pushed the flask across the table to him. ”With no body to hand, we can say that the boy died the same way Pandsala did. The problem is, we don't really know why she died.”
”I can tell you that.” He glanced up suddenly, and set both cup and pitcher down hard on the table, spilling some of the wine. ”Pol!”
”What are you doing up?” Sioned asked sharply. But Meath was already rising to give the boy a rough hug.
”G.o.ddess, but I'm glad to see you! Sioned, don't make him go back to bed. He wouldn't sleep, anyway.”
She shrugged. ”Oh, very well. As long as you're up, you probably ought to listen so we don't have to repeat ourselves. Sit here by me, Pol.”
He did so, settling into a place between her and Rohan. ”You look tired to death,” he told Meath.
The Sunrunner dropped back into his chair. ”I've been on horseback ever since word came about Andrade. And you don't look so great, yourself.”
”Why did Pandsala die?” Pol asked softly.
”Sioned was in charge of a powerful conjure, right? Every faradhi faradhi in the place dragged into it.” in the place dragged into it.”
”And we were winning, too,” Pol muttered.
”Of course,” Meath said, surprised that he would even mention it. ”You've got a lot to learn about your mother, y'know. From what's been described to me, all of a sudden you felt like the whole world was shattering around you. I'm not surprised-and I know exactly what it feels like. The same thing happened to me. I was in the middle of a conjuring and got a knife in me. And do you know why I didn't die?” He paused for another swallow. ”I pulled it out.”
If he'd had the energy left, Rohan would have been pacing the carpet. ”You faradh'im faradh'im are forbidden to use your arts to kill. Are you saying-” are forbidden to use your arts to kill. Are you saying-”
”I've been reading Andry's translations,” Meath interrupted. ”The precise wording is that we're forbidden to use our skills in battle. And this is why. A working Sunrunner hit by arrow or sword or knife is dead.”
”But why?” Sioned exclaimed. ”There's no reason for it! Why should a minor wound taken during a conjure kill us?”
”I don't know. But think about this for a moment. There's a mention in the scrolls of the Merida and their gla.s.s knives. They worked for the sorcerers. Gla.s.s was said to be sacred. It became a matter of pride to use gla.s.s, almost a religion. It was their hallmark, their signature on a murder. But why gla.s.s?”
”Iron,” Pol said abruptly and succinctly. Then he seemed to hear what he'd said, and his face changed. He reached across the table, poured wine for himself, gulped it down.
Meath nodded. ”My reading exactly. The knife that hit me and the one that stabbed Pandsala were steel. And I'm betting that Kleve's wounds weren't ones to kill him, either. He was trying to use the gifts, and the knife-”
”But the steel was removed,” Rohan pointed out. ”It had to be, for Masul to sever more than one finger.” He saw the Sunrunners look a little ill at that, their hands clenched instinctively into fists, and added, ”Forgive me. But I don't see how your theory works here, Meath.”
”I'm guessing that even though the knife wasn't in him all the time, each successive cut acted the same way, shocking his mind until he died of it. You told me Pandsala had only the one wound on her leg. And yet she's dead. You also said that just as suddenly as the pain began for the rest of you, it stopped. That must have been when Hollis removed the knife. The iron was no longer disrupting the linked conjuring. But Pandsala was already too far gone. Think of it like blood going to the brain through the big arteries in the neck. If they're severed, the brain dies. There must be something that happens inside us when we weave light or conjure Fire-something that iron breaks. Thank the G.o.ddess that Sejast was not part of the Sunrunner conjuring when Hollis stabbed him.”
”And if the sorcerers formed the Merida,” Rohan said, ”they'd make them use gla.s.s because they didn't trust them not to turn those knives on their masters. Meath, I'll even bet that the sorcerers forbade iron weapons in their presence. They knew why, but n.o.body else did. For someone ungifted, gla.s.s or steel wouldn't matter. Both kill.”
Sioned laced her fingers together. ”So here's another reason we must keep this quiet. If anyone knew how vulnerable we are to iron and to sorcerers pretending to be faradh'im faradh'im-”
”We'd all be dead before next summer,” Meath finished for her.
Rohan leaned back in his chair. He felt a million years old. ”Very well. Try this. Pandsala and Sejast died because they weren't strong enough for the power of Sioned's conjuring. This adds to her already substantial reputation as a faradhi, faradhi, a nice bonus. Everyone around the two of them and Hollis was a Sunrunner and in no condition to see, let alone remember, exactly what went on. Sejast's body is gone-hmm, that's a problem. How about this: Urival, as chief steward of G.o.ddess Keep, dealt with the corpse in private. That's only the truth, after all. We can tell Naydra the knife was poisoned. Urival has it right now, and he'll have to get rid of it. What have I forgotten?” a nice bonus. Everyone around the two of them and Hollis was a Sunrunner and in no condition to see, let alone remember, exactly what went on. Sejast's body is gone-hmm, that's a problem. How about this: Urival, as chief steward of G.o.ddess Keep, dealt with the corpse in private. That's only the truth, after all. We can tell Naydra the knife was poisoned. Urival has it right now, and he'll have to get rid of it. What have I forgotten?”
”Nothing that I can think of,” Meath said. ”You've a gift of your own, your grace.”
Rohan smiled faintly. ”I thought you cured of that 'my grace' nonsense.”
”Certainly-your royal highness.” Meath grinned at him.
Sioned rubbed the nape of her neck. ”I think we can expect Chiana to be utterly loathsome tomorrow. G.o.ddess give me the patience not to slap her.”
”Are the rumors true, that Halian's going to marry her?” Meath asked.
”I wish him much joy of her,” Rohan said. ”And I pity Clutha more than I can say.”
”The one I feel sorry for is Alasen,” Pol said. He got up and stood behind his mother's chair to ma.s.sage her shoulders. ”Better?”
”Thank you, hatchling.” She smiled and leaned back into his careful, soothing hands. ”Why Alasen?”
”Didn't you feel it? She was caught up in it, too. And it terrified her.”
”Alasen?” Meath asked. ”Volog's youngest girl?”
”Sunrunner,” Rohan confirmed. ”But once she learns to use her gifts-”
”I don't know that she wants to,” Sioned mused. ”She doesn't much like the idea of being faradhi, faradhi, Rohan. We had a talk about it-G.o.ddess, only six days ago? Is it really the last day of summer?” Rohan. We had a talk about it-G.o.ddess, only six days ago? Is it really the last day of summer?”
”By dawn, the first of autumn.” Meath pushed himself to his feet. ”I've got to get some sleep. I'd suggest that all of you do the same, if I thought suggesting would do any good. And even I hesitate to give a direct order to the High Princess.”
”She doesn't obey me, me,” Rohan said. ”Why should she listen to you?”
”Stubborn as ever.” Meath went to kiss Sioned's cheek. ”I can hardly wait to get back to Graypearl, where I do do have the authority to order Pol around.” He gripped the boy's shoulder. ”Eolie and I have a lot of work to do with you. And none of it has any bearing on being a squire.” have the authority to order Pol around.” He gripped the boy's shoulder. ”Eolie and I have a lot of work to do with you. And none of it has any bearing on being a squire.”
”You mean you're going to teach me faradhi faradhi things?” He stared at Rohan. ”But I thought Andry would be the one to-” things?” He stared at Rohan. ”But I thought Andry would be the one to-”
”Eventually,” Sioned interposed. ”But they'll teach you certain things you need to know.”
”Good,” Pol stated. ”I'm not all that comfortable with the idea of going to G.o.ddesss Keep not knowing any more than the usual new people there. I'm not usual; I'm a prince.” He smiled as Rohan's brows shot up. ”I don't mean it like that. I just mean that my position makes me unique. And I don't think Andry is going to relish having the ruler of Princemarch underfoot.”
So Pol senses it, too. The unspoken words darted between Rohan and Sioned. The unspoken words darted between Rohan and Sioned.
Meath stretched, bones cracking, and yawned. ”I find you rather pesky, myself,” he said amiably. ”May I commandeer a bed in one of your tents, my lord prince?”
”Anything not already occupied by one of my female retainers,” Rohan replied equably, and Meath grinned before bowing a good night.
”I think sleep is a very good idea,” Sioned murmured after Meath was gone. ”We've princes to face tomorrow and a very long ride back home to rest up for.”