Part 20 (1/2)
Liara sat beside a fire and tasted something she stirred. Several bantas and a coney roasted on a spit. ”Where have ye been?” she asked.
”In yon tower.”
Her eyes widened. ”Ye have a sword unlike any I've ever seen.”
He nodded. ”Fits my hand as though 'twas forged for me... And there was this.” He held up the portrait.
Andalor strode from the pool. He stared at the picture. ”How came ye by a painting of Reena and Liara?”
Brader shook his head. ”Look closer, 'Tis not your Queen and Liara but an ancient portrait of two who are long dead.”
Valmir and Stilenta waved from the entrance to the courtyard. ”Come and see the mosaic map we found. 'Tis a marvel,” Valmir said.
”If it's accurate, another five days will see us to the Screaming Hills.” Stilenta tugged Liara's hand.
”Let Brader go. I don't want our dinner to burn.”
When Brader reached the area near the pool, he crouched and studied the map. He saw the port of Quato and the isle of the High Sanctuary. s.h.i.+ps seemed to move on the sea. The road from Pala was clearly marked. He blinked. For a moment, he thought he saw movement on the Pala road not too distant from the other side of the Hills. How could that be? He sank back and looked at his friends.
”Ye are right. 'Tis a marvel.” He rose. ”Where's Disa.”
”Gathering briarberries,” Stilenta said.
”Let me help her.” Brader headed toward the pools.
CHAPTER 29.
From The Songs of Earda Ho hum, diddley dum, Diddley, diddley dum. Once there was a lyrcat As sleek as he could be. He spotted a glittering flitter High in a willah tree. Oh, Mistress Flitter Come to me. We will fall in love And become a family.
Andalor moved into the courtyard and reached for Stilenta's pack. He slipped out several packets of medicinals he knew could either cure or cause illness. He dropped them in the pockets of the desert robe. Not for his travel companions, but for the balalas.
Five days to the Screaming Hills. When he'd studied the mosaic map, he'd seen movement on the Pala road. He'd returned several times and seen that the small dot had changed. He had to give Reena a chance to find and destroy the White before Liara held the fabled Jewel.
”Andalor.”
He turned. How much had Disa seen? ”What do ye want? Have they sent ye to watch me? I'm impressed that they trust ye since ye owe me a life.”
”Just as ye owe Brader and Liara one, but they won't accept those bonds.” She sat on a stone that had once been part of a low wall. ”I owe ye a life, but I will not give ye one at the risk of theirs. They are my friends, as ye could have been if ye could but see the truth.”
”And the truth is what they tell ye? Ye will not give Reena a chance to prove she is different from those who came before ye?”
”Have ye forgotten all ye have seen and heard? Lunars have pa.s.sed since she became Queen and what has she done?”
”She cannot act because she fears Liara and the trouble she will cause.”
She shook her head. ”Ye do not hold a Jewel. Would that ye could, for ye would see how the Jewel and a Holder interact. She is tainted by the Black.”
He grasped her arm. ”Ye judge where ye do not know.”
She pulled free. ”Believe me when I say holding a Jewel changes the Holder. I now see things with greater clarity.”
”Then why is it different for Reena?”
”Have ye ever looked at things through a piece of dark gla.s.s and seen how shadowy and distorted your view?”
”The Jewel is not gla.s.s.” Andalor hurled a piece of stone against the broken wall. ”I will not hold ye to the life.”
”'Tis not your decision. There is a tie that only I can break.”
”Then believe me when I say Reena wants for Earda only peace and plenty. She listened to my songs and stories and vowed she would change the land.”
”Ye are the most stubborn man I've ever met.” Disa leapt to her feet and strode away. ”Do not harm my friends. Ye saw what happened to the dire wolves.”
Andalor's shoulders slumped. He had failed his beloved again. If she had the Yellow Jewel on her side, he would not have to fear that she would lose in the struggle. If the Black was destroyed, Reena would die. She had told him that. What was the fate of a Chosen then?
He spent the rest of the day exploring the ruins. In the tower of the Orange Holder, he found two whimsical statues, one a lyrcat and the other a flitter. Reena had laughed when he'd sung his song about the strange courts.h.i.+p. He placed the pair in his knapsack and stored his lute in a sheltered niche. 'Twas all he had of his father's work and the lute had served him well. When this was done, he would return and bring Reena. Together, they would banish the ghosts of the ruin's past.
At dusk, he joined the others. To his dismay, the balalas seemed unaffected by the medicinals he'd fed them. So be it, he thought.
In the distance, he could see the Hills, but by the end of the night's journey they seemed no closer. He crawled into the tent with the other men and slept.
Rough hands jerked him upright. Nalor dragged him from the tent. All but two of the balalas lay on the ground. ”Are ye responsible?”
”Mayhaps I am, but even if 'twere a natural event, ye would blame me,” Andalor said.
”I should have let my men kill ye. When this ends if ye still live, your life is mine to claim.”
”Do ye want to see Disa dead? She would step into the path of any weapon ye would use.”
”I'll find a way to sever that bond.” Nalor's fist shot out and clipped Andalor's jaw.
Andalor got to his feet. ”We'll see who's standing at the end.”
CHAPTER 30.
From The Lore of the Jewels And when the Black Jewel had coalesced from molten bits of all the gemstones found on Earda, she lifted it from the cooling bath. The bond formed hard and fast, absorbing her anger, hatred, jealousy and self-righteousness. She hid the gem beneath her robe and returned to the Palace of the Seven Jewels. When her sister laid the White Jewel aside to give birth to a daughter, the Black Holder acted.