Part 45 (1/2)

'I think you need to understand the nature of the wolf. Has it ever attacked you?'

'No.'

'It is you who hunt the wolf, yes?'

'That is true. Whenever I see it I draw my swords. Usually it disappears. The last time, though, it padded towards me.'

'It did not charge? Its fangs were not bared?'

'No. It just walked towards me. I raised my swords to kill it, but Diagoras woke me.'

'The swords again. Did you know that the Old Woman conjured demons and trapped them within the blades?' Skilgannon shook his head. 'The demons give them power. It is a trade, however. Slowly the demons will exert an influence over you. They will corrupt you, increasing your angers and your hatreds. It is they who wish to kill the White Wolf. That is why whenever you see it in your dreams they leap to your hands.'

'Why do they need to kill the wolf?'

'That is for you to answer, Olek. The White Wolf is usually driven from the pack. He is different, and the other wolves fear him. So this wolf stands alone. He has no mate, no pack to follow or to lead. Does he remind you of anyone?'

'The wolf is me.'

'Yes - or rather your soul. He is all that is good in you. The swords need him dead before they can overcome you. Did the journey to the Citadel help you?'

'I believe that it did. The troops there are demoralized. The Nadir have fled. More will desert as the days pa.s.s. They fear Druss. Merely knowing he is coming is filling the soldiers with terror.'

'And you, Olek Skilgannon. They fear you mightily.'

'Yes, that is true.'

'I sense you knew one of those we saw. You even have affection for him.'

'I knew him years ago. And, yes, I liked him then. Strange to see a man like him following a monster like Boranius.'

She laughed then. 'You humans amuse me. When someone is evil you need to demonize them. He is a monster, you say. No, Olek, he is merely a man who has given in to the evils of his nature. All of you have a potential for evil, and for good. Much depends on the stimuli applied. The soldiers you led into Perapolis butchered and raped, mutilated and destroyed other humans. Then they went home to their wives and their sweethearts, and raised children and loved them. You are all monsters, Olek. Ma.s.sively complex and uniquely insane. You teach your children that to lie is wrong. But your lives are governed by small lies. The peasant does not tell the lord what he truly thinks of him. The wife does not tell the husband she saw a man in the marketplace who made her loins burn. The husband does not tell his wife he went to the wh.o.r.ehouse. You follow a G.o.d of love and forgiveness, and yet you rush into war bellowing, ”The Source is with us.” Need I go on?

Boranius is evil. That is true. Yet in all his life he has not ordered as many innocents slain as you.'

'I cannot argue with you, lady,' said Skilgannon sadly. 'I cannot undo the past. I cannot bring them back.'

'You can give them peace,' she said softly.

He looked at her, meeting her gaze. 'By letting Garianne kill me? You said yourself that she is probably unhinged, and that there are no ghosts inside her head.'

'I could be wrong.'

He laughed then. 'One problem at a time, lady. First we need to rescue the child. After that I will consider the problem of Garianne, Where is Druss?'

'He is with Rabalyn. The boy is recovering well.'

'And Diagoras?'

'He and the twins are in the lower gardens with Garianne. Diagoras has discovered much in common with Nian. They argue wonderfully about the nature of the stars.' Ustarte turned and stared out over the red mountains. 'There is something else you should know, Olek. The Old Woman has cast a concealing spell over the lands to the northeast of the Citadel. I cannot penetrate it.'

'The northeast?' he repeated. The lands of Sherak?'

'Not all of Sherak. Even she is not that powerful. No, it is merely a ... mist, if you like . . .

over a small area.'

'Her purposes are a mystery to me,' he said, 'save that she wants Boranius dead.'

'There is something more,' said Ustarte. 'I know that she hates Druss. Twice he has thwarted her.'

'She is none too fond of me,' said Skilgannon, 'though, to my knowledge, I have done nothing to cause her harm.'

'She has sent Garianne to kill you. Of that I have no doubt. So, at the very least, she requires three deaths. Boranius is obviously the most important. Otherwise Garianne would already have tried to slay you. The Old Woman's actions are most odd. She slew the Nadir shaman with a fire spell. His body became a living candle. This is powerful magic, Olek. To achieve it, while in spiritual form, is awesome indeed. What it means, though, is that, if she desired it, she could kill you and Druss in precisely the same manner. Or indeed Boranius. The question then is: why does she not? Why this elaborate quest?'

'Our deaths alone are not sufficient,' said Skilgannon.

'I don't understand.'

'Take Boranius, for example. You might ask why, when he kills, he does it so slowly. He takes pleasure in torture and pain. The Old Woman is no different. To merely kill us holds no attraction for her. Druss is a proud man. He wants to rescue the child. Imagine how he would feel if that rescue were to fail. Worse, if he were to arrive and watch her die.'

Ustarte shuddered. 'I do not want to understand such depths of evil. If what you say is true, then what is it she requires of you?'

'That is more simple, I think. I fear Boranius, more than I fear death. It would please her to see Boranius cut me to pieces.'

'And the concealment spell she has cast?'

He fell silent for a while, thinking the problem through. 'Someone else is coming,' he said at last. 'If she wants Boranius to kill Druss and myself, then she will need another weapon to dispose of Boranius. More warriors drawn into her web.'

'And knowing this you will proceed against the Citadel?'

'The child is the key to it all,' he said. 'That is the beauty of her plan. We cannot now walk away. This she would have known. Even if we survive - which is doubtful - the child will be slain before our eyes.'

Ustarte took a deep breath. 'We do not usually take part in the affairs of this world,' she said. 'I shall make an exception now. I will help you, Olek.'

Diagoras was enjoying the conversation with Nian. They had moved from the nature of the stars and the planets to the fundamental complexities of nature. So engrossed did the Drenai officer become that he quite forgot, for a while, that Nian was under sentence of death. Jared, meanwhile, sat back, taking little part in the discussion. He watched his brother, his expression showing a mixture of admiration and sadness. Garianne was sitting by the banks of a stream that flowed through the indoor garden. She was staring at the water as it bubbled over a bed of glistening white rocks.

Nian walked over and kissed her golden hair. 'It is good to see you again, my friend,' he said.

'We are happy that you have come back,' she told him. Nian looked over her shoulder at the stream, then walked to the edge of the water, squatting down and pus.h.i.+ng his hand into the pool at the base of the stream. Then he rose and examined the five foot high waterfall that bubbled from the rocks by the north wall.

'What do you find so fascinating?' asked Diagoras, moving to join him.

'Do you not see? Watch the waterfall.' Diagoras did so.

'What am I supposed to be seeing?'

'The pink rose petals swirling on the water's surface.'

'What about them? They are coming from the rose bushes on the other side of the stream,'