'Nor I,' Liljana admitted.
Kane, whom I expected to upbraid us for our faithlessness, lost his fathomless gaze in the blue waters of the lake.
'Atara,' I said, turning toward her, 'we have made vows. And you more than the rest of us.'
I expected this noble woman to affirm that vows must always be fulfilled. Instead she said, 'A vow is a sacred thing. But life is more sacred still. And I've never felt so alive as I do here.'
'Have you seen us remaining here, then?'
I was sure that she would confuse me with some sort of scryers' talk as to the different paths into the future tangling like the limbs of a thornbush. Instead, she surprised me, saying, 'Yes, I have. If we chose this, our lives would be long and happy, blessed with many children. The rest of Ea might go up in flames, but here there would be only peace.'
Only peace, I thought looking out into the green pastures of the valley.
Wasn't peace what I truly wanted? Wasn't this really why I had set out to find the Lightstone in the first place?
I noticed Lady Nimaiu studying my face, but I feared that I wouldn't find the answers I sought in her soft, dark eyes which reminded me so much of my mother's.
I didn't know where to look to find the wisdom that would decide my path. And then I chanced to see Flick glittering above the waters of the lake. His form was that of a whirling, white spiral of stars.
'Our children,' I said to Atara, 'would know peace here, yes?'
'Yes, they would,' she assured me.
'But what of their children? And their children's children? How long before the Dragon finds this island and destroys everything here?'
'A hundred years, perhaps,' Atara said. 'Perhaps a thousand, or perhaps never - I don't know.'
'And what of the rest of Ea?' I asked. 'What of the Wendrush and Alonia and Mesh?'
Atara had no answer for this; she just stared at me with her diamond-clear eyes that opened upon the future.
Then I heard inside myself the undying voice, whispering in fire. The same flame, I knew, burned inside Atara and my other friends.
'I can't remain here,' I told her.
Atara's eyes filled with a terrible sadness. Then she said, 'Nor I.'
'Nor I,' Liljana said, looking at Master Juwain.
'Nor I,' he said as well. 'I'm afraid the Lightstone will be found - if not by us or others who stood with us in Tria, then by the Red Dragon.'
And so it went, each of our company passing the ineffable flame back and forth as we remembered our purpose and reforged our wills to fulfill it. Even Maram broke off gazing at Lailaiu and said, 'I hate to leave this island, but it seems I must.'
I turned to Lady Nimaiu and said, 'Your offer that we may stay here is beyond mere graciousness. But we must continue our quest.'
'To find this gelstei that you call the Lightstone?'
'Yes, the Lightstone,' I said.
'But why would you risk your life for such a thing?'
I heard in her words a question beneath the obvious question, and I sensed that I was somehow being tested again. And so I asked myself for the thousandth time why this golden cup must be found. The answer, I was now certain, lay not in pleasing my father or brothers nor even winning Atara as my wife. As for my being healed of the valarda and the kirax that quickened my gift, what did the sufferings of a single man matter? If only I could find the strength, I would accept all the pain in the world and pass on the Lightstone to one more worthy if that meant such as Meliadus would never be born and evil places like the Vardaloon would never blight the world again.
At last I looked at Lady Nimaiu and said, 'I would find the Lightstone to heal the lands of Ea and make them like yours. I'd fight all the demons of hell that this might be.'
After Liljana had translated this, a sad smile broke upon Lady Nimaiu's face. She bowed her head as if acknowledging the purity of my purpose and finding it distressful even so. And then, as the many people behind us on the lawn began murmuring quiet words of approval, she looked deep into my eyes for a long time.
'You are of the sword,' she finally said to me, glancing down at the hilt of my kalama. 'And so if you must fight you should have a sword to fight with.'
She took my hand then and led me down the steps to the lake's edge. I had no idea what her intentions were; perhaps, I thought she wanted to cleanse me of blood that I must someday spill in pursuit of this dream.
After taking many deep breaths, she suddenly let go my hand. And then she turned to walk down the steps into the water.
'What is she doing?' Maram cried out
I, too, wondered this, as it seemed did everyone else. Many of the Maii stared at Lady Nimaiu as she took one final breath and disappeared into the lake. Their cries of concern told me that this was no part of any purification ceremony they knew.
My heart began beating quickly as if it were I who was holding my breath. I peered into the water and thought that I saw Lady Nimaiu swimming down toward a stone altar covered with silt and swaying with strands of lake moss. But then the mountains moved, casting a glow of fire into the sky and causing the earth to tremble. Gleaming ripples cut the lake's surface making it impossible to see very far into its icy depths.
' Quiwriri Lais Nimaiu?' A young man behind me half-shouted. Now he and many of his people were on their feet pointing at the lake and murmuring, ' Quiwiri Lais Nimaiu?'
The pressure in my chest grew into a pain almost too great to bear. I couldn't move, so keen was the cold in my limbs that froze me to the shore gazing at the deep blue water.
And then, even as the swans suddenly cried out and leapt toward the sky with a great thunder of beating wings, a hand holding a sword broke the lake's surface. A moment later, Lady Nimaiu's face appeared as water streamed from her glistening black hair and she gasped for breath. Her feet found the marble steps, and she climbed them one by one, arising out of the lake while she held the sword high above her.
'The Sword of Flame,' I heard Alphanderry whisper behind me. 'The Sword of Light.'
Although I didn't dare believe that he might be right, I saw that the sword was bright enough to be called that and more. It was long and double-edged like the swords of the Valari; its blade shone more brilliantly than silver, and its edges were so keen they seemed to cut the very rays of the sun.
While all the Maii stood and the temple attendants stirred excitedly, while my friends looked on and Kane's eyes blazed like black coals. Lady Nimaiu approached to give me the sword. My hands closed around a hilt of black jade that was carved with swans and set with seven starlike diamonds; a much larger diamond, cut with many sparkling facets, formed its pommel stone. At the sword's first touch, fire leapt inside me. And something like a numinous flame ran along its silvery blade from the upswept guard to its incredibly sharp point for it seemed suddenly to flare much brighter. I couldn't take my eyes from it or let it go. It was very heavy, as if truly wrought of silver or other noble metal, and yet strangely light, as if the sun itself were filling it with its radiance and drawing it toward the sky. I sliced the air with it a few times to get the feel for wieldingit; its balance, I thought, was perfect. How such a marvelous weapon had come to be kept beneath the waters of the Maii's lake I couldn't imagine.
Now it came time for Lady Nimaiu to tell of this. Having shaken the water from her dripping kirtle and caught her breath, her hand swept out toward the sword as she recounted this story: Long ago in another age, she said, a Maiian fisherman named Elkaiu had cast out his net hoping to catch some of the silver salmon that swim off the coast of their island. But instead his net snagged on something heavy, and he hauled it in to find the silver sword gleaming among the folds of knotted rope. Elkaiu was amazed, not only because he had found an object for which he had no name, but because the sword bore no mark of rust or tarnish even though it had drifted for untold years along the currents of the salty sea. Elkaiu had brought the sword to his Lady, who had sensed that there was a great power in it. She sensed, too, that it had been
cast into the sea to be cleansed, and so she had ordered it kept beneath the lake to continue its purification. The Lady had eventually grown old and died, of course, but she had passed on the knowledge of the sword to her successor. And so it had gone, generation after generation for many hundreds of years, the secret of the sword known only to the various Ladies of the Lake who preserved it. Over the centuries, Lady Nimaiu said, there arose a legend that one day the sword's true owner would come to take it away.
'And that must be you, Sar Valashu,'she said as she pointed at my sheathed kalama whose hilt was also carved with swans and stars 'And this sword, as you call it must be the gelstei of which the Sea People told.'
Yes, I thought as I stared at the shimmering wonder of it, yes, it must be.
'The silver gelstei,' Master Juwain said, breathing deeply. 'So this is why we've come here.'
He went on to say that on all of Ea, throughout all the ages, he knew of no greater work of silver gelstei than this sword.
'If,' he said, 'this truly is the Sword of Light.'
For a moment everyone fell silent as they looked at this long blade gleaming in the bright morning sunlight. Kane, who loved good steel almost more than life, seemed to gaze at it the longest and most deeply. And his eyes burned more brightly than anyone else's as he said, 'Alkaladur - so, Alkaladur.'
Here Alphanderry, standing by his side, rested his hand on his shoulder as he sang out:
Alkaladur! Alkaladur!
The Sword of Flame, the Sword of Light,
Which men have named Awakener
From ages dark and dream-dark night.
'What words are these?' Maram asked.
'So, they're from a much longer song telling of how Kalkamesh forged the Bright Sword,' Kane said. 'This was in the time after the First Quest when Morjin had nearly killed Kalkamesh and taken the Lightstone for himself.'
'Do you know the whole song?' Maram asked Alphanderry. 'Will you sing it?'
Alphanderry nodded his head, but then looked at Lady Nimaiu and her attendants who were combing out her tangled hair. It would have been rude for him to sing words that Liljana could have no hope of translating quickly and faithfully enough to be appreciated. But Lady Nimaiu, when apprised of this difficulty, asked Alphanderry to continue. She said that the spirit of the song would come through in his voice, and that was all that mattered. And so she stood smiling encouragingly at Alphanderry as all the Maii turned toward him and he began to sing: When last the Dragon ruled the land,
The ancient warrior came to Mesh.
He sought for vengeance with his hand,
And vengeance bitter burned his flesh.
And yet a finer flame he held,
The sacred spark, aglow, unseen,
In hand and heart it brightly dwelled:
The fire of the Galadin.
He brought this flame into the realm
Of swans and stars and moonlit knolls
Where rivers ran through oak and elm
And diamond warriors called swords souls.
To Godhra thus the warrior came
Beside the ancient silver lake.
By might of mind, by forge and flame,
A sacred sword he vowed to make.
Alkaladur! Alkaladur!
The Sword of Flame, the Sword of Light,
Which men have named Awakener
From ages dark and dream-dark night.
No noble metal, gem or stone –
Its blade of finer substance wrought;
Of essence rare and form unknown.
The secret crystal ever sought.
Silustria, like silver steel,
Like silk, like diamond-frozen light,
Which angel fire has set its seal
And breath of angels polished bright.
Ten years it took to forge, ten years
To shape the crystal, make it whole;
The blade he quenched in blood and tears,
And in its length he left his soul.
A diamond for its pommel stone
Its swan-carved hilt was blackest jade
And set with seven gems that shone:
White diamonds in which starlight played.
Alkaladur! Alkaladur!
The Sword of Truth, the Silver Blade,
Which men have named the Vanquisher
Of bitter lies that men have made.
With Aramesh he rode to war
Upon the Sarburn's blood-drenched field;
He charged with knights tween wood and tor,
His bright avenging sword to wield.
He sought his foe with beating blood,
The Beast who stole the Stone of Light;
Through flashing steel and reddened mud
Pursued him all the day and night.
The silver sword, from starlight formed,
Sought that which formed the stellar light,
And in its presence flared and warmed
Until it blazed a brilliant white.
And there on Sarburn's battle ground,
Among the dying and the dead,
Where lords were killed and kings uncrowned,
The Dragon saw his doom and fled.
Alkaladur! Alkaladur!
The Sword of Sight, the Sword of Fate,
Which men have named the Harbinger
Of death to all who rule by hate.
In Tria thus the Dragon cowed,
Behind its star-flung walls of stone.
The ancient warrior, vengeance vowed,
Pursued him to his dragon throne.
But also came King Aramesh
At ending of the bitter strife,
And there despite his wounded flesh,
In ruth, he spared the Dragon's life.
The King then claimed the golden bowl,
Thus broke their star-blessed amity.
The warrior now with bitter soul:
He cast the sword into the sea.
And there it dwelled beneath the waves,
Through ages new and ages old.
But so it's told in ancient caves:
The silver gelstei seeks the gold.
Alkaladur! Alkaladur!
The ageless blade, immortal sword
Which men have named Deliverer –
To pure of heart will be restored.
Alphanderry fell silent as he stared at my sword; I stared at it, too, as did everyone else gathered around the lake.
Maram slowly nodded his head. Then he looked at Kane and said, 'If Kalkamesh did cast the sword into the sea in his anger at King Aramesh sparing Morjin, then it seems a rare chance that the sea carried it a thousand miles to this island only to be caught in this man Elkaiu's net.'
'Ha, chance,' Kane called out. 'There's much more at work here than mere chance.'
Now Alphanderry asked Liljana to tell the sword's story in the Maiian language, which she did. When she had finished, Lady Nimaiu gazed at the sword for a long while. 'Now I understand why it lay so long beneath the lake - and in the sea perhaps longer. Upon this sword, there must have been much blood.'
Perhaps once there had been, I thought. But now, as I held it up to the sun, the blade's silver surface reflected its light so perfectly that it seemed nothing could ever stain it or mar its beauty.
Master Juwain, whose mind turned over thoughts more times than the wind tossing about a leaf, nodded his bald head toward the sword and said, 'This must be the Awakener told of in the song. But we must be sure that it is before Val claims it as his own.'
'But, sir, how can we be any more sure than we are?' Maram asked.
'Well, there is the test to be made,' Master Juwain said. 'If it is truly of silustria and not some lesser gelstei or alloy, it will pass this test.'
'What test?' I asked him sharply.
'The silver gelstei is said to be very hard - harder than any stone save the Lightstone itself.'
He motioned for me to hold the sword with its blade flat to the earth so that he could get a better look
at it. 'The sea carried it a thousand miles across its rocks and sands.
Did they make many scratches? Do you see any mark upon it?'
I turned the sword over and over, trying to detect on its gleaming blade the faintest featherstroke of a line or scratch. But it was as unmarked as the surface of a still mountain lake.
'Hard is silustria - harder than adamant,' Master Juwain said as he looked at the two sparkling stones of my knight's ring. 'Why don't you use these diamonds to try to scratch this blade?'
Again I looked at the sword's wondrous finish. I no more wanted to scratch it than I did the lens of my eye.
'It must be tested, Val. It must be known.'
Yes, I thought, it must be. And so, making a fist, I touched the diamonds to the blade and drew them in a small arc across it near the hilt. The silver remained untouched. Now I singled out one of the stones and positioned it precisely; I found a point where three of its facets came together and pressed it as hard as I could against the silver, all the while trying to dig and drag the diamond down the entire length of the sword. But it slid off like light from a mirror and left not the slightest mark.
'Alkaladur,' Master Juwain said reverently. 'It is the Bright Sword.'
Now that our ceremony was completed, many of the Maii came down to congratulate us and get a better glimpse of this miraculous sword that had lain in their lake for so long unknown to them. Although they craned their necks to see it, none tried to touch it, nor would I have let them if they had.
'There are lines from the song I would like to understand better,' Maram said as he came up by my side. 'What does it mean that the silver gelstei seeks the gold?'
'Hmmph, that should be clear,' Atara said. 'Weren't you listening to what Alphanderry said?'
Her eyes fixed on the sword as she sang out:
The silver sword, from starlight formed,
Sought that which formed the stellar light,
And in its presence flared and warmed
Until it blazed a brilliant white.
'Yes, I see,' Master Juwain said, rubbing his shiny pate. 'The lines tell truly. Some believe that the Lightstone, far from merely coming from the stars, is the source of their light. It is known that the silver gelstei was first sought in an attempt to forge the gold. And so it has a deep resonance with it. It's said to love the Lightstone as a mirror does the sun. But whether it flares in its presence as the song has it, I do not know.'
The Lightstone Page 64