The Lightstone: The Ninth Kingdom

by David Zindell

  ‘You smelled it?’ he said. ‘You must have the nose of a hound.’

  ‘It was poisoned with wenrock,’ she said. ‘Its scent is almost like that of poppy. I’ve been trained to detect such things.’

  ‘Trained by whom?’

  ‘By my mother and grandmother,’ she said. They were master tasters to King Kiritan’s father and grandfather.’

  ‘Then are you King Kiritan’s taster?’

  ‘Not any more,’ she said. You see, I disobeyed him.’

  As trumpets sounded and new guards took their places about the lawns, she told us a little of her past. Having studied very hard with her mother and grandmother, as a young woman she had entered King Kiritan’s service in the very year he had ascended the throne. So devoted had she been to protecting him that she had forsaken marriage, as King Kiritan had demanded of her. But in the eighth year of her service, she had fallen in love with Count Kinnan Marshan and had married him against the King’s wishes.

  ‘He banished me from his court just before you were born,’ Liljana said to Atara. ‘He told me that love would cloud my senses and leave me unable to protect his family from his enemies. But I told him that love was like an elixir that sharpened all the senses. Unfortunately, he never believed me.’

  And so Liljana had lived many unhappy years in the Count’s house. Her three children had each died in infancy, while her husband had been called away almost constantly to fight in the King’s many wars. One of these had ruined his leg while another had crippled his manhood. He had died soon after this, leaving Liljana a widow.

  ‘When King Kiritan called the quest,’ she said, ‘I decided it was time for me to leave Tria and all its plots and poisons behind me.’

  As she turned into the light of the moon, the medallion that she wore glowed with a soft golden light. And all the while, Kane’s black eyes bored into her as if drilling for the truth.

  ‘What I don’t understand,’ Maram said, stroking his beard, ‘is why Baron Narcavage was willing to drink the wine if it was poisoned?’

  ‘That should be clear enough,’ Kane snapped. He nodded at Liljana and said, ‘Tell him.’

  Liljana nodded back at him, then explained, ‘Certain men and women who use poisons such as wenrock take minute quantities of it over a period of years to build an invulnerability to it.’

  ‘And who are these men and women?’ Kane demanded.

  ‘They’re priests of the Kallimun,’ Liljana said. ‘The Kallimun uses such poisons.’

  At the mention of this dreadful name, Alphanderry shuddered and said, ‘Before Galda fell to the Kallimun, they poisoned many. And crucified many more. My friends. My brother.’

  Kane seemed to forget himself for a moment, and laid his hand gently upon Alphanderry’s head. ‘So, the Baron was certainly Kallimun.’

  ‘A priest, then?’ I said. ‘But when he served the wine, I was sure he wanted to celebrate with me.’

  ‘The priests hide well, don’t they? Especially beneath their own emotions. Celebrate, ha! He wanted to celebrate your death.’

  As if troubled by his own tenderness, Kane suddenly snapped his hand away from Alphanderry’s head and stared at me.

  ‘And now,’ I said to him, ‘you celebrate his.’

  ‘That I do,’ Kane said savagely. He looked about the grass where only a short while before the bodies of Baron Narcavage and his men had lain. ‘The Baron’s plot must have been hastily planned – even so it nearly succeeded.’

  ‘But were they plotting to kill the King and Queen or me?’

  ‘Both,’ he said. ‘It’s obvious that your death was to be the signal to attack them.’

  He went on to say that all the Baron’s men obviously belonged to the Kallimun, as did some of King Kiritan’s guards.

  ‘In Galda,’ Alphanderry said, ‘there were many such plots before the King was brought down.’

  He rubbed the side of his head where Baron Narcavage had bludgeoned him with his fist. He looked at me and asked, ‘But why would the priests want to kill you?’

  Kane flashed me a warning glance then. Liljana, who was staring at my forehead, said softly, ‘Because he has the mark.’

  At this, Kane whirled upon her and demanded, ‘What do you know of that?’

  We were all waiting to hear what she would say, but she would not be hurried. She carefully drew in a breath, then said, ‘Earlier, I overheard the Baron whispering to one of his knights that Val had the mark. I didn’t know what he meant.’

  ‘He meant that Val was marked out for death,’ Kane said. ‘Nothing more.’

  But Liljana clearly did not believe him. Her eyes fell upon my face as if searching for the truth.

  ‘You saved my life,’ I said to her. ‘Is there anything you would ask in return?’

  My question seemed almost to offend her. ‘Do you think I told you about the wine in hope of gain?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘But in so doing, you’ve gained much, even so. My gratitude – my trust.’

  She smiled, revealing her small, even teeth. She said, ‘I’ve been looking for a company to join on the quest. It’s not easy for a woman to take to the roads alone.’

  Alphanderry smiled at me as well. ‘I’ve been looking for companions myself. Would you consider adding two more to your company?’

  ‘As you’ve seen tonight,’ I said softly, looking first at Alphanderry and then at Liljana, ‘there are those who would hunt me. If you joined us, you’d be hunted, too.’

  Because I trusted them both – and because they needed to know – I told them how Morjin had sent assassins to kill me in Mesh; I told them of the Grays and of our battle in the woods; lastly, I gathered in all my faith and told them the full prophecy of Ayondela Kirriland.

  ‘You do have the mark, then,’ Liljana said, looking at me in wonder. ‘I’d be sorry for you if I didn’t feel so much hope. But hope or not, if what you say is true – and I’m sure it is – you need more companions to help you.’

  Alphanderry, as well, looked happy, as if he were setting out on a great epic that he would one day sing about. All that he said to me was, ‘Please, take me with you.’

  And then Maram said, ‘The prophecy told of the seven brothers and sisters of the earth. We’ve need of two more to make seven.’

  Yes – two more warriors,’ Kane said.

  ‘Warriors we already have,’ I said, looking at Atara and Kane. ‘Ours are not the only skills we might need on a long journey.’

  The seven brothers and sisters,’ Master Juwain said. He smiled at Alphanderry and Liljana. ‘It seems that this was meant to be.’

  We all stood looking at each other. And then Atara whispered, Val – I can see them with us. On the road. In the forest by the sea.’

  ‘Ah, I can see them, too,’ Maram said, not quite understanding what she was talking about.

  I turned to Kane and asked, ‘Will you have them join us?’

  ‘Is this what you truly want?’

  Yes,’ I said, ‘it is.’

  Kane touched his sword and told me, ‘I pledged this to your service in seeking the Lightstone. And that your enemies would be my enemies. Well, I suppose I should pledge that your friends will be mine as well.’

  So saying, he held his hand out and laid it on top of mine. Then Atara covered his hand with hers, and so with Master Juwain and Maram. Then Liljana carefully placed her hand on top of Maram’s, while Alphanderry laughed happily as he slapped his hand down upon all of ours.

  Soon after that, King Kiritan and Queen Daryana, accompanied by many guards, strode from the palace and rejoined the celebration. The guards from the garrison stood about with their shields and spears to provide a sense of enforced safety at odds with the gaiety that the King wished to encourage. After all, this was still the night of his fiftieth birthday and the calling of the quest, and he wasn’t about to let a little poison and death spoil it for him.

  The King and Queen walked straight toward us across the lawn. The
glowstones around the fountains cast their pure white light upon them – and upon the faces of Belur Narmada, Julumar Hastar, Hanitan Marshan, Breyonan Eriades, and other great nobles of Tria who stood near us. Baron Maruth of Aquantir and Duke Malatam of Tarlan, waiting with other lords and their ladies, bowed their heads to the King. Even Sar Yarwan and Sar Ianar and the other Valari knights seemed glad to see that he was still alive.

  The King drew up close to us; he stood stiffly and sternly, as if in great pain. I noticed that he seemed unable to use his right arm. His eyes fell upon me with a great heaviness as he said, ‘Sar Valashu Elahad, we wish to thank you and your friends for saving the Queen’s life. We had heard that the traitors wounded you.’

  ‘They did,’ I said, bowing my head. ‘But it was nothing that Master Juwain couldn’t take care of‘.

  The King smiled as if he didn’t quite believe me. Then he turned to Liljana and said, ‘It seems we should have kept you in our service after all. Perhaps you would have sniffed out the Baron’s plot even as you did the poison in his wine.’

  She returned his smile and told him, ‘I’m sorry, Sire, but I had to follow my heart.’

  ‘As you now follow Valashu Elahad and my daughter to lands unknown?’

  The hard glint of his eyes told me that, gratitude or no, he would never relent in his pronouncement that I must bring the Lightstone into Tria if I ever hoped to marry Atara.

  Liljana smiled at me, and then took this opportunity to speak on our behalf. She told the King that the power of love between a man and a woman was greater than the force that raised up mountains and must always be exalted. Then she said that the recovery of the Lightstone would be meaningless in the absence of this purest and most purifying of forces.

  ‘Why else should we seek the Lightstone,’ she said, ‘if not to bring a little more love into the world?’

  ‘Why, indeed?’ King Kiritan said. Then he sighed and called out to us, ‘Well, why don’t we all drink to that, then?’

  He nodded at a groom standing near the fountain. A few moments later, the water bubbling out of it gave way to a dark red liquid I mistook at first for blood. But it proved to be wine: a special vintage with which King Kiritan had filled this fountain and reserved for the ending of his celebration. The King, I saw, was a man who would insist on his child getting right back on a horse who had thrown her.

  He motioned for us to follow him over to the fountain, and this we did. He took up a goblet and filled it with the rich red wine and invited us all to do the same. Considering the evening’s earlier events, the King’s guests were reluctant to drink it. And then Liljana sniffed the contents of her goblet and smiled, and many others did, too. Then the King raised his goblet and called out, ‘To the finding of the Lightstone and to those who have pledged here tonight to seek it!’

  I clinked goblets with my friends, and took a sip of the wine. The tang of the grapes touched my tongue, along with the fainter tastes of chocolate and oranges. We all stood about drinking and laughing with that nervous relief that comes after a narrow escape from death.

  Then the King gave another signal, and the sky over the Elu Gardens filled with a booming like thunder. All at once, fireworks burst into the air like lightning splitting the night. Flowers of blue light opened outward in perfect spheres; millions of red and silver sparks spun through space and outshone the very stars. Flick, perhaps mistaking these lights for Timpum, spun with them. I saw him as a swirl of silver against the line of trees at the edge of the Gardens. Farther to the east, in the districts of the city running down to the river and beyond it, more fireworks were exploding: from the rooftops of buildings and above the various great squares and out above the dark islands at the mouth of the river. I was afraid they might set the nearby houses on fire, but Tria was a city of stone. And that night, it was a city of happy people, for the King had commanded that free bread and wine be distributed to them so that the whole populace might help him celebrate. The distant roar of their cheering spread out from the West Wall to the East Wall, and from the docks along the river to the Varkoth Gate, for now the sky above the whole of the city blazed like a fiery umbrella of light.

  As I stood there with my friends, Maram admitted that he had never seen such a sight in all his life. None of us, I thought, had. It called us to hope that the Lightstone might someday be regained, even as we had vowed it would. Toward that end, we began discussing our dreams of finding it.

  ‘When I set out from Mesh,’ Maram said, looking out at the fireworks, ‘all I wanted was to reach Tria safely. I never really thought about the Lightstone as existing somewhere, ah, you know, in a place where someone could actually go and find it. But now it’s now. And now I suppose we do have to go looking for it. But who has any idea of where to look?’

  At this, Alphanderry smiled at us and said, ‘I know where.’

  We all turned toward him as his large eyes lit up with a different kind of fireworks. He said, ‘You see, I know where Sartan Odinan hid the Gelstei.’

  And then, as three great, red flowers of fire burst in the air above us and my heart boomed like thunder, he smiled again as he told us where the Lightstone might be found.

  20

  Near Senta in the faraway reaches of the Crescent Mountains, there is a series of caverns whose walls are lined with colored crystals. Some are violet or emerald and hang like pendants from the caves’ glittering ceilings; some shine like sapphires and arise in great blue pillars from the floors. All the crystals, whatever their shape or hue, vibrate like chimes in the wind. In truth, they sing.

  For centuries, it is said, men and women from across Ea have come to the caverns to listen to these singing crystals and add their own voices to the music that pours out of them. For it is also said that the crystals will record any words that fall upon them so long as they are true and sung with the fire of one’s soul.

  Upon entering the caverns, all but the deaf hear a million voices trolling out the words of living languages and those long dead. The seven caverns resonate with ancient ballads, love songs, canticles, carols and the death songs of those who have come to say goodbye to the earth that bore them. Their walls, ashimmer with a radiance that also pours from the crystals, echo with plaints and whispers, with cries and prayers and exaltations. The great sound of it has been known to drive men mad. But others have found there a deep peace and an answer to the great mystery of life. For in the Singing Caves of Senta, people hear only what they are ready to hear. Even a deaf man, it is said, might hear the Galadin speaking to him, for the voices of the angels are not carried upon the wind alone and can sometimes be heard as a soundless music deep inside the heart.

  All this Alphanderry told us on the lawn of King Kiritan’s palace as we watched the fireworks. He told us as well of an Hesperan minstrel – his name was Venkatil – who had journeyed to Senta to learn the secrets of the caves. There, almost by chance, Venkatil had listened in wonder to the words of an old ballad that told of where Sartan Odinan had brought the Lightstone. Some months later, when he had heard that there would be a great quest to find it, he had set sail for Tria only to be shipwrecked in Terror Bay off Galda.

  ‘I met Venkatil in the forest west of Ar,’ Alphanderry told us. ‘He’d been set upon by robbers and mortally wounded. But before he died, he sang me the words to the ballad. They were in Old Ardik but their meaning was dear enough: “If you would know where the Gelstei was hidden, go to the Blue Mountains and seek in the Tower of the Sun.”’

  That particular Tower of the Sun, as Alphanderry told us, was also known by its more ancient name: the Tur-Solonu. Once the greatest of Ea’s oracles, it had lain in ruins since Morjin had destroyed it in his first rise to power during the Age of Swords.

  ‘Just so,’ Kane muttered upon hearing what Alphanderry had to say. ‘The Tur-Solonu is destroyed. There’s nothing there but a heap of burnt stones. Why should we waste our time there?’

  ‘Because,’ Alphanderry said, ‘the Singing Caves have never been
known to tell anything but the truth.’

  ‘So, it’s gobbledegook they tell!’ Kane said with inexplicable vehemence. ‘I’ve been to the Caves, and I know. There may be truth somewhere in the babble you hear there, but who could ever know what it is?’

  We debated the course of our journey long into the night. Kane and Maram both doubted the wisdom of exploring a dead oracle, and Master Juwain seemed inclined to agree with them. But Liljana pointed out that Sartan Odinan might indeed have brought the Lightstone to the Tur-Solonu, in order to hide it in a place that even Morjin might not think to search.

  Such an accursed site, whose ruins were said to be haunted by the ghosts of the many scryers murdered there, would likewise be avoided by anyone making the quest. With knights journeying to every other oracle on Ea to find clues as to where the Lightstone was hidden, no one – especially not Morjin’s priests or spies – would suspect our objective. And it was as good a place to start as any.

  Atara, whose eyes took on the faraway glister of the stars, spoke the name of the Tur-Solonu in a strange voice. She looked to me for affirmation that we should journey there. But I hesitated a long time while I listened to the wind sweeping above the lawn’s soft grasses.

  ‘If we can’t decide,’ Maram said, ‘perhaps we should take a vote.’

  ‘No, there’s to be none of that on this quest,’ Kane said. ‘We must agree, as one company, what we should do. And if we can’t all agree, then one of our company must set our course.’

  He proposed then that I lead us. It was I, he said, who had set out for Tria alone only to draw everyone else to me. It was I whom Morjin sought and would first be killed if he found us. And it was I who bore the mark of Valoreth.

  To my surprise, everyone agreed with him. At first I protested this decision, for it seemed to me that as elders, either Kane, Liljana or Master Juwain should more properly bear the burden of leadership. But something inside me whispered that perhaps Kane was right after all. I had a strange sense that if I did as he said, I would be completing a pattern woven of gold and silver threads and as ancient as the stars. And so I reluctantly bowed my head to my six friends and accepted their charge. And then we set the rules for our company.