Part 31 (1/2)
Ladhar rejected that tell. ”And his body lost forever, no doubt. Convenient. You couldn't tell me where it is or show it to me.”
Fhada blinked as if a strong light had been shone in his eyes and said, ”In the depths of Mertuile there is a chamber, open to the Sea by vents and sluices-”
Blood rushed from Ladhar's face and extremities as if sucked through a hole beneath his feet. ”Enough! I've heard of this chamber. Believe me, I'll go there and expose your tell for the lie it is. Daimhin Feich would never have dared to murder an Osraed of Bevol's stature. After all, he expected Bevol to be discredited-”
”How so?” asked Fhada. ”Cyne Colfre had taken Taminy into his house and his heart, insofar as he was able. Bevol was Taminy's champion. A persuasive champion, if the reaction of the Hall was any indication. A threat to all Daimhin Feich held dear.”
Ladhar put up his hands. ”Past history. You try to confuse me. Get out of here, before I call down the guard. There are Malcuim regulars here now, you know.”
Fhada nodded. ”Yes. We walked past them on our way in. Listen to us, Osraed. Do not dismiss us so quickly.”
”Why should I not?”
”Can you deny that Feich is a threat to the Crystal, to the Throne, to the fabric of our society?”
”I . . . I do not deny it, but he is a threat I can handle.”
”He has powers,” said Lealbhallain, his verdant eyes on the Stone. It turned them to topazes and his hair to flame.
”I have seen them. They are . . . limited.”
”They are stronger than you think, Ladhar,” said Fhada. ”Strong and capricious and uncontrollable.”
”He lacks discipline. He has no real training.”
”Which makes him even more dangerous. Perhaps he would be less a danger if you were to teach him some discipline-or have you already tried and failed?”
”I wouldn't teach him to squat in the privy!”
”Will you let him have the Stone?”
”I . . .”
”He will take it.”
”I won't let him take it. I will Weave a Ward for it.”
”Please, let us hide it,” said Lealbhallain, begging now. ”Replace it with this. He need not know.”
Ladhar's eyes widened at the sight of the crystal the boy clutched in his hands. It was identical to the Osmaer in every way.
”Where did you get that? Whose crystal is it?”
”Bevol's.”
Quivering, Ladhar sat hard upon his bench. ”You mock the Osmaer.”
”We try to save her.” Lealbhallain moved to sit beside him, cradling Bevol's accursed Stone in open hands. ”From Daimhin Feich, Abbod. Think of it. Look into your heart. Your soul. Tell me you don't see the danger here.”
”Oh, I see the danger, boy. As well I see that you have given me a choice that is no choice.”
”Still, you must choose.”
Ladhar snorted. ”The lesser of two evils? That is a choice I decline to make.”
The young heretic gazed up at his elder, resignation in his eyes, the sign and symbol of his heresy bright upon his brow.
Fhada, gazing back, shook his head. ”You make a choice in not choosing, Abbod. You make Feich the victor by your inaction.”
”If,” Ladhar said, barely understanding why he said it, ”if this matter is so vital, so grave, why do you not force me to part with the Stone? Why do you not take it from me unwilling?”
Lealbhallain rose. ”That isn't the Meri's way, Abbod Ladhar. You know that. Violence is the way of evil.” With another glance at Fhada, the boy held Bevol's crystal out to him. ”If you will not let us take the Stone, at least let me give you this one.”
”What am I to do with that?”
”Replace the Osmaer with it before Daimhin Feich returns. Hide the Osmaer in some safe place.”
When Ladhar made no move to take the crystal from the boy's hands, he laid it in the Abbod's broad lap.
”Don't let him get his hands on the Stone, Osraed Ladhar. For love of the Meri, don't let him.”
They left him then, and were wrapped in their aislinn veil before they reached the outer corridor. The weak light of dawn rippled with their pa.s.sing.
Ladhar opened his mouth to give alarm, but uttered no sound. It would do no good. The guards' eyes would not penetrate the Weave of the heretics' inyx. Besides, he no longer had the strength. Instead, he sat and stared at the thing in his lap-Bevol's crystal. Aiffe, it was named-”life-giver.” Ironic, since its master was dead.
He laid a hand to the facets. Beneath his fingers, the stone warmed, emitting a soft glow. Still, Ladhar s.h.i.+vered, wrapped in the chill of a dank, sea-fed chamber below the foundations of Mertuile.
Dawn brought storm, if only to Daimhin Feich's soul. Lightning lashed his mind and thunder shook his bones. He was beset by demons; he was in the company of aingeals and saints. They shrieked at him; they sang to him, and when he emerged from the cacophony, leaving even the quiet sobs of the Cirkemaster's daughter behind a closed door, he was certain of his invincibility.
And hungry. G.o.d-the-Spirit, but he was hungry! He returned to his own rooms long enough to bathe and change his clothing, then he ordered up a breakfast fit for two men. Ruadh came down while he was eating, but didn't stay. With a mumbled ”good morning,” he slunk off to the kitchen to scavenge a meal.
”Not hungry,” he said.
Jealous, Daimhin thought, savoring his tea. Everything tasted glorious this morning. His senses were sharper, clearer. Sounds, sights, smells-all held a pungency he had never known. He basked in all of it, knowing without looking in any mirror, that he fairly glowed.
”So . . . you had the child.”
He glanced up from his tea. Coinich Mor stood at the end of the table, smiling at him, the bruises on her face a soft pattern that contrived to look more gold than yellow. The smile annoyed him. Somehow, he had been hoping she would snarl and snap at him when she learned of his new conquest.
He nodded.
She returned the nod. ”You think you no longer need Coinich Mor?”
”I suppose I could still make use of an able tutor.”
”Make use of an able tutor,” she parroted. ”The girl satisfied you so with her virgin tears and innocent screams? I had thought you more worldly than that.”
”The girl is a fountain of Eibhilin power. While it's true the fleshly satisfaction was . . .” He paused to search for the right word. ” . . . meager, there was abundant compensation for its lack.” He took a deep breath, stretched his muscles, feeling every ripple. ”I tingle with the energies she gave up. They pulse in my blood, race through my mind. Can't you feel it, Coinich? Can't you see it in me?”