Tris took a step closer. "If it's me you want," he said evenly, "here I am. Let her go."
"We have sought her the length of Margolan for her treachery," the voice rasped. "She is ours."
"She is her own. Let her go."
"I'll let her go," the voice boomed. "Into the arms of the Dark Lady." A burst of light streamed from the orb and Kiara convulsed, held suspended in its blood-red glow.
"Not if I can help it," Tris grated, diving for the globe. He gasped in pain as his body cut through the crimson light. "Shield!" he cried, summoning his power, and a blue glow rose to envelop him, blocking the light from its target.
Behind him, Kiara slumped to the ground. Carina rushed to her side, placing her own body between Kiara and the globe.
"You have grown stronger," the voice boomed. "I should have killed you when I had the chance. Give up your foolish quest now, and I can cut short your sister's torment," the voice baited. Within the globe, Kait's face, twisted in fear and pain, pressed against the inside of the glass.
"Go to the Whore!" Tris rasped as he summoned all of his power to make one great push against the crimson light, forcing it back toward the nexus of the scrying ball. A scream, Kait's scream, tore through the chamber as Tris gave one final effort, hurling all of his strength against the crimson light.
The globe flared like the sun, blindingly bright. The ball exploded, raining fragments that glowed like embers. Tris fell forward and the blue glow vanished as the others crowded around.
"I think we can all agree-no more scrying," Vahanian said, getting his shoulder under Tris's arm and helping Tris into a chair. "Agreed," Carina said from where she and Devin and Royster knelt beside Kiara. She lay still on the floor and like the rest of them, bled from the shards of the scrying ball.
"You're not going to hear any arguments from me," Tris said weakly, sagging back against the chair, his head throbbing. "How is Kiara?" he managed, proud that he was still conscious.
Carina looked up. "Alive. Unconscious. I'd like to get her to bed so she can sleep it off." She looked at Tris. "That was Arontala, wasn't it?"
Tris nodded, then stopped as his head pounded so hard that he nearly blacked out. "It was the same thing I felt back with the caravan." He paused. "Jared wants Kiara," he said quietly. "She's defied him and he knows it. He won't stop until he has her under his control."
The worry in Carina's eyes showed that she had reached the same conclusion. "Then we really have no choice, do we?" Carina said. "We can't break the wasting spell on King Donelan while Arontala lives. Nowhere is safe for Kiara while Jared rules. We must help you defeat them, or Isencroft and Kiara will never know safety again."
"I agree," Mikhail said. "To destroy the beasts that plague Dhasson, we must destroy Arontala." He met Tris's eyes. "Even Dark Haven is no longer safe," he said. "I will help you."
"Thank you," Tris whispered, feeling the last of his strength fading.
Mikhail bent to gather up Kiara in his arms. Carina gave Devin and Berry a list of herbs and items from the kitchen.
"I'll get Kiara back to her room," Mikhail said. "You look like you've got all you can handle just getting back upstairs," he added, appraising Tris's condition.
"Here, lean on me," Vahaman said as Tris managed to stand up, then stumbled. "Carroway, come around on the other side, he's going to need some help."
Maire looked at Tris worriedly- "I will bring up some hot tea and something to clean those cuts."
Carina looked back at Tris, as she headed for the door behind Mikhail. "I'll be up as soon as I get Kiara taken care of," she promised.
"I'll send up Seldon," Royster said, promising the herbalist's help. The librarian looked scared.
Carina turned to Vahanian. "What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Where do you stand? Arontala has to know you're with us. You don't think he's going to let you off any easier than the rest of us."
"Right now, my job is to get you to Principality City alive. If we live that long, I'll worry about it then," Vahanian said. Carina turned on her heel and followed Mikhail.
"I should have stayed in Margolan," Tris said quietly as Vahanian and Carroway helped him toward the stairs. "If I'd killed Jared right then, none of this would have happened."
"We carried you out on a stretcher," Carroway reminded him. "Did you forget that part? We were outnumbered. We'd all be dead by now. There would be no one who could stop Jared."
"I'll go back alone, I'm the one Arontala wants-"
"Your friends have their own reasons for choosing to go with you," Royster said from behind them. "Their quests are as important as your own."
"This is exactly the kind of stunt I warned you about," Vahanian grumbled as they worked their way up the stairs. "I've a mind to lock you in a cell somewhere just to make sure you live long enough to get to Margolan."
Tris found that he was too exhausted to reply. He managed to stand long enough to wave off further help once they reached his room, but halfway to his bed his vision blurred, and the last thing he remembered was grabbing at a chair to break his fall.
CHAPTER THIRTY
TRIS OPENED HIS eyes slowly. His head pounded hard enough that everything he saw was surrounded by a nebulous glow. Even the light from the fireplace was far too bright. The skin on his hands and face burned as if from nettles, and he felt as if he had been thrashed.
"Glad to have you back." Taru's voice came from the shadows beside his bed. He managed to turn his head to see her. The effort made his head swim.
"I made it as far as my room before I blacked out this time."
Taru sniffed. "As soon as your friends let go of you, you fell face down in the middle of the floor." She smiled slightly. "At least they pulled off your boots before they put you to bed," she added. "But you are correct. You stayed conscious after the working, you got up the stairs without being carried-so they tell me-and you have been out only a few hours. Your training is paying off." Tris closed his eyes. "Not good enough." Taru stepped closer, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "No, not yet," she said, her voice a little gentler. "But there are months yet before you must face Arontala. This is promising."
"How is Kiara?" Tris asked, realizing that if he whispered, it didn't hurt quite so much to hear his own voice.
"She's sleeping it off," replied Taru. "Carina tells me that scryings have always gone hard on her. The attack was intentionally meant to be both terrifying and draining. Had you not intervened, she would not have survived." She paused. "Which reminds me," she added, her voice taking on an irritated edge, "what were you thinking to attempt this when I was gone?"
Tris sighed. "Kiara said she did it many times before, and since I wasn't the one doing the scrying, I really didn't think it would attract attention. We were wrong."
"You might as well have lit a bonfire." She bustled with some objects on the stand next to the bed and Tris opened his eyes again. He lifted his hands and saw that they were covered with fine cuts. "Here," Taru said, taking his hand. She smoothed ointment over the cuts, reducing their sting. Tris gratefully allowed her to do the same with his neck and face.
"Forcing power back through a breakable object isn't the most efficient move," Taru said.
"You were fortunate. If the power truly concentrated in the ball itself, and not in the sender's channel, you might have had a nice explosion on top of just spraying the room with shards of glass."
"Understood," Tris replied, abashed.
Taru's expression softened. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You did the right thing, in an unorthodox manner. It worked. However, there are reasons for the methods we teach you. Things mages have learned the hard way-like exploding scrying balls. Devin and I will confer. Your level of power creates dangers at this point in your training that would not normally pose a hazard until much later. We must reconsider."
"We can't stay here much longer," Tris said, as Taru helped him sit up and pressed a cup of Carina's headache tea into his hands.
; "No, you can't," she agreed. "You cannot afford to be snowbound here. That is one of the reasons I went to confer with my Sisters. They have been monitoring your lessons from afar. They agree that you have completed nearly all that is possible here at the Library." She paused. "All but Argus."
"Now, there is a new danger," she said, drawing up a chair and settling herself. She poured herself a cup of the tea, and from her reaction as she sipped, Tris realized she was pushing her own energies as well.
"Because of what happened tonight? Can Jared reach us here? We're not in Margolan."
Taru shook her head. "That is true. But we are not yet far enough into Principality for the king's troops to patrol this area heavily. Arontala will not have a precise bearing on your location, but it will be close enough. The vayash mora tell us that there are already small squads of Margolan soldiers, traveling out of uniform beyond Principality's borders, searching. If they comb this area, it will make the road to Principality City more dangerous for you."
She paused again, deep in thought. "The most dangerous section will be the first day's ride, from here to Gibbet Bridge. Beyond the crossing, the king's soldiers patrol the riverbank. I do not think even Jared would dare send troops that far inside another sovereign state. It would mean war.
"Royster will come with you. Given the… unusual circumstances, I have gained the Sisterhood's permission to take texts with us, so that they may be used in your training. But you have one more task remaining."
Tris leaned back on his pillow, feeling the full fatigue from the last many weeks. "Mageslayer."
"That, also, was a part of my consultation with my Sisters," said Taru. "We are in agreement that you are the rightful bearer. But you must still win the sword."
"What makes you think that I can succeed?"
"None who have challenged Argus were Summoners."
Tris thought about that for a moment. "Is it worth the risk? As Jonmarc pointed out, getting myself killed before the main event accomplishes nothing," he said with a lopsided smile, thinking of Vahanian's original wording.
Taru must have realized the paraphrase, because a smile hinted at her lips. "Your friend hides his skills well, but there is good reason that the Lady chose him for this purpose."
"Don't tell that to Jonmarc," Tris said, sipping the rest of his tea. "He thinks he makes his own decisions."
Taru smiled. "The Lady permits our self-deceptions where it suits Her purpose," she replied. "But to your question, we believe the answer is 'yes.' I raised that point with the Sisterhood, and there was… debate," she allowed. "While I do not have great faith, as a general rule, in talismans and amulets, it is not wise to discount their power. Rarely are they sufficient by themselves; yet, the right tool in the hand of the Lady's chosen becomes a powerful weapon. We believe that Mageslayer has a role in your quest. The risk of failure in Margolan is greater, my Sisters believe, than the likelihood of defeat by Argus." She paused. "However…"
"However?"
"It would be unwise to underestimate the threat. Once you are rested, it will be time. If all goes well," she said, "we will leave for Principality City when you return."
If all goes well, Tris thought, thinking about all that Taru left unsaid. She's not completely comfortable with this, he thought, watching Taru. She's not sure that I'm up to it yet, but we're running out of time. We could go to the city, train further, but there's the risk we couldn't get back here. And if we can't go on without it, then there's no option. He watched Taru drink her tea. She's starting to feel boxed in, and the Sisterhood doesn't like to have their hand forced. Welcome to my world.
"Please don't tell the others about the risk," Tris said, leaning back into the pillows as he felt a wave of vertigo wash over him. "Whatever happens is beyond their control. They've come so far, risked so much-I don't want them to worry."
Taru removed the extra pillows so he could lie down. "I have already spoken with Carina and Devin. Their assistance may be required. But I will honor your request, although I suspect your companions will figure it out for themselves."
She might have said more, but Tris could no longer resist sleep and he let it take him, hoping it would be dreamless.
THE NEXT EVENING, Kiara and Carina took dinner in the former's room. Kiara was still recovering from the scrying, which had left her badly drained. Taru went to bring more herbs for Carina's salve to soothe the small cuts from the shattered orb. As they waited, Kiara and Carina sipped their tea, lost in thought.
Finally, Kiara spoke. "Taru says it is almost time for us to leave the Library. Then I guess we go on to Principality City." She saw a look of discomfort cross her cousin's face. "I know you'd rather avoid that if you could," she continued, quietly. Carina hesitated, and then nodded.
"It's just that it… brings back a lot of things I'd rather not remember," the healer said quietly. "It's been seven years since Ric died. I should be over it by now," she said in a voice above a whisper.
"You know," Kiara said gently, "even after all this time, you've never really told me what happened."
Carina was silent for a moment, staring into the fire. Finally, she spoke, almost too softly for Kiara to hear. "When we were sixteen, Cam and I signed on with an Eastmark mercenary troop. He was so big, no one even asked our ages. They needed a healer and were happy to get Cam in the bargain. We made a good living."
She smiled faintly, her gaze far away. "Ric was the troop's captain. Best swordsman in the company. He was five years older than we were, and a bit of a rogue," she chuckled sadly. "He took good care of us. He broke a lot of rules, but he looked out for his men. We'd have gone to the Crone for him." She paused again, longer this time. "I fell in love. The next winter, he asked me to marry him. I said yes. And then word came that there was some trouble on the Dhasson border. Raiders. It was supposed to be an easy skirmish. Only it wasn't," she said, looking down.
"They brought Ric back with a bad belly wound. I tried to save him," she said, her voice thick with self-condemnation. "I ignored everything I'd ever learned about healing, about going too deep, hanging on too hard. When he died, I nearly went with him." She looked up at Kiara, tears bright in her eyes. "And I don't remember a thing after that until I woke up in the citadel of the Sisterhood in Principality," she said.
"Afterwards, Cam told me it was like I was dead and alive at the same time. Said I couldn't hear, couldn't speak, couldn't see. He was desperate," she said, looking down again. "The only place he could think to go was the Sisterhood, and he begged them to take me in." She shrugged. "He said they sent him away and told him they would find him if they succeeded."
Kiara knew the rest of the story. With nowhere else to go, Cam rode for Isencroft, where Donelan welcomed him. A year later, the Sisters summoned Cam back to Principality City. Carina was healed, but Cam said that she was changed, distant. Kiara suspected that was the reason her cousin had managed to elude any potential suitors-at least, until Jonmarc Vahanian.
"It's been a long time," Kiara said quietly. "Things are different now. You're not alone. You know we won't let anything happen to you… especially Jonmarc." She paused. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed the way he looks at you."
Carina blushed and turned away. "You know," she said, "in the slavers' camp, when they brought Jonmarc to me and he was so close to death, it was like having it all happen again. If it hadn't been for Tris, I would have lost him. I felt him slipping away. Tris anchored him. I was scared that if Tris went too deep to hang onto Jonmarc I'd lose them both."
"But you didn't."
"But I could have," Carina replied softly. "It's just so much safer not to care."
Kiara got up and walked over to stare out the window for a few moments in silence. The sky was gray and the trees bare. Deep snowfalls would come soon. They were silent for a while, each lost in thought.
"I can't believe I've come this far, only to fail at my Journey," Kiara said quietly.
"What are you talking about?"
"The
Oracle sent me to the Library at Westmarch to find out how to save Isencroft. Everyone else has gotten what they came for. You found out that Cam reached father with the Sisterhood's elixir, and you've found more information to help father recover."
She sipped her tea. "Tris seems to have found what he needed, even if he will need to study with the Sisters for the rest of the winter. Mikhail found out more about the beasts, Carroway has his tales and songs and legends, even Berry has gotten the stories she wanted. Jonmarc's had a proper salle to train everyone and some time off the road. But I'm no closer to saving Isencroft than I was when I left," she said, looking out the window at the barren landscape.
They heard the door latch click as Taru closed the door behind her. "Tell me, Kiara Sharsequin, what you have learned on the road from Isencroft?" the Sister asked, and Kiara was chagrined that the mage had overheard her lament.
"I saw the bloodshed in Margolan and the dispossessed farmers," Kiara said quietly, remembering. "I've seen just what kind of king Jared Drayke is. I've met vayash moru and fought magicked monsters and discovered that the Library exists."
"And your companions? What have you gained from them?"
Kiara thought longer this time. "I've certainly had a good brush-up on my sword skills from Jonmarc!" she said with a rueful smile. "Mikhail has promised to ask King Harrol for advisors." She paused. "He's also offered to introduce me to King Staden, and help me make a case for Principality's assistance."
"And what of Martris Drayke?" Taru pressed.
Kiara looked at her cup as she thought about that answer. "Tris promised me that if he takes the throne, Margolan will pose no threat to Isencroft," she said softly. "And that he will send whatever help he can."
Taru nodded once more. "You did not completely answer my question. What have you learned about Martris Drayke himself?"
Kiara blushed and looked away. "He is an honorable man, a brave man, a man of his word. He would make a good king."
Taru fixed Kiara with the considered stare of a teacher. "Would you have believed those things possible of Jared Drayke's brother, had you not traveled beside him?"
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