The Lightstone

by David Zindell

  Atara's feat of shooting down a charging lion was heralded not only by us. As it happened, two warriors of the Manslayer Society, with long hair even yellower than Atara's and wearing leather armor decorated much the same as hers, were out hunting along the Pom that morning. They immediately thundered our way to greet one of their bloodsisters. It didn't matter that Atara was of the Kurmak while they counted themselves as Urtuk - and eastern Urtuk at that. And they only honored Atara, as imakla, for gracing their country with her presence. When they studied the dead lion, killed so cleanly, they insisted that Atara return to their camp and share wine with them. They produced knives and quickly skinned the lion. It was their intention to dress the fur and make for Atara a lion-skin cloak so that all might appreciate her

  prowess.

  They were reluctant however, for the rest of us to accompany them. Liljana they might have taken into their confidence, but they looked at Kane, Maram, Master Juwain, Daj and me with the challenge that they reserved for all males. They fired their arrows of suspicion especially at me for I was a knight of Mesh and therefore the Urtuks' ancient enemy.

  It cooled their bellicosity not at all thai 1 assured them that our peoples were not at war and that I was only returning homeward. Only Atara's claim that we were great warriors who had killed many of Morjin's men softened these two warriors. Atara also insisted that we remain together, and more, that the Manslayers of the Urtuk provide us escort as far as the Morning Mountains. So great had Atara's reputation now grown -to say nothing of her will - that the two Manslayers took a long look at the blindfold wrapped around her face and agreed to her demand.

  Later that day, when we returned with them to their camp, their other sisters met in counsel and decided to honor their decision. They made only a single demand of their own: that Atara remain with them and teach three of the younger sisters her skill with the bow while the older sisters were preparing her lion skin.

  And so there, along a stream sheltered by great cottonwoods, we waited for five long days. I felt the passing of time most keenly; an overwhelming sense that I must return home as soon as possible beat like a drum though my blood. Still, I was glad to make friends with these fierce women. At night, we sat around the fire sharing food with them and stories. It amazed them - and us - when one night Flick appeared and entertained them with his dance of silver sparks. We offered them no explanations as to this little miracle. We, ourselves, could only believe that the Lightstone's power had somehow quickened Flick's being and brought forth his colors for all to see.

  At last, when the sisters had finished tanning the lion's skin and sewing into it a lining of purest, Galadan satin, they brought it to Atara to put on. With the black fur of the lion's mane framing her blond hair and her white blindfold circling her striking face, she did indeed look like one of the imakil heroes of past ages come to life.

  The next morning, we set out to cross the Urtuks' country. Twelve of the Manslayers, acting as escort, rode out before us. After cutting across a little triangle of the steppe for thirty miles, we came to the Diamond River and followed it east.

  This band of clear water, flowing down from the Morning Mountains, reminded me how close I was to my home. I prayed that I would reach it without further incident 1

  needn't have worried. Although a company of fifty Urtuk warriors rode north from their winter camp father down along the Pom to witness the strange sight of the Manslayers leading seven outlanders toward Mesh, they did not challenge us or offer battle. Indeed, they offered us cheers in the from of their terrible war cries, for they had heard that we had entered Sakai and had slain many of the Red Dragon's men.

  A hundred miles, as the raven flies, it is from the confluence of the Poru and Diamond Rivers to Mesh, and we rode nearly as straight. It took us only a day to cover half this distance. By the morning of the eleventh, when we awoke to a few puffy white clouds floating along the sky, the mountains of Mesh were a purplish haze along the horizon. As we urged the horses toward them during that long, long, day, the mountains grew ever greater and more distinct. By noon, I was able to make out the lines of Mount Tarkel's soaring white summit. Although I had never seen it from this vantage, there was only one mountain that stood just south of the Diamond River and overlooking the golden grasses of the Wendrush.

  That evening we made camp scarcely three miles from the foothills beneath its western face. The pounding of my heart demanded that we ride up into Mesh even through the falling darkness; but my head told me that it would be foolhardy to brave the wild, rocky approaches to Tarkel at night. And more, such a course would be ungracious and sad beyond thinking because Maram, Master Juwain and I would have little time to say goodbye to the rest of our friends.

  It was only during the five hundred miles of our flight from Argattha that I had gradually come to accept the rightness of the breaking of our company, though I hadn't yet made peace with this difficult decision. After we had thanked the Manslayers for their kindness and they had ridden off back toward their camp, the seven of us gathered around the fire that Maram had made for a last council.

  It was a cold, clear night of many stars and a moon just past full. Flick spun about against the backdrop of the sky, and his swirling form seemed to match the twinkling lights of the constellations. The wind carried down the scents of my homeland and set my heart to beating more quickly. Before us was a little fire of burning sagosk bricks mat smelled surprisingly sweet.

  We spoke of many things; for a while, we told stories of Alphanderry, whose voice we now listened for in the wind and in the music of the stars. We had decided that Kane should inherit his mandolet, which was all we had left of him - except that we had our memories and a song in our hearts, and that was everything. Kane sat plucking at the mandolet's strings and singing to us. When he wished, he, too, had a fine, clear voice, as strong and beautiful as an eagle soaring across the sky. I thought that he was trying to recapture the words of Alphanderry's last song; I knew that someday he would.

  'That's a music that should be heard in Mesh,' I said to him. 'Are you sure you won't reconsider your plans?'

  Kane put down his mandolet and looked at me; I wondered if he would waver in his decision.

  'It would be an honor if you could meet my father,' I said to him. Then I laid my hand on top of the diamond pommel of the sword that he had forged in Godhra so long ago. 'And my brothers, certainly my mother and grandmother. All my countrymen. Your name is still rembered in Mesh.'

  'That name you have promised not to speak, eh?' He bowed his head to me in trust that I would keep this promise. And then he said, 'No, I'm sorry but I must return to Tria - I've business there.'

  Master Juwain, holding his gnarled hands out to the fire, looked up at him and asked,

  'The business of the Black Brotherhood?'

  In all our miles together, Kane had said very little about this secret brotherhood of men whom we supposed he led. And he told us only a little more now, saying, 'The Great Beast must be opposed with any weapons we can find.'

  'Even assassination?' Master Juwain said to him. 'Even poison, terror deceit?'

  Kane looked far off into the star-spangled heavens. Somewhere, unseen, golden bands of light streamed out from their center, touching many of the universe's earths.

  'No, perhaps not those things,' Kane finally said. He looked over at me and stared at Alkaladur. 'Perhaps it's time we found other means of fighting.'

  'I've said before,' Master Juwain told him, 'that evil cannot be defeated with the sword.'

  'No, perhaps not,' Kane admitted. 'But evil people can.'

  He cast me a long, sad look, and my hand tightened around Alkaladur's hilt. I feared that fate would once more call me to draw it before the world was rid of such as Morjin. And yet I knew that Master Juwain was right, that even the greatest of swords could never put an end to war.

  'There are still battles to be fought,' I said. I drew forth the Lightstone and sat gazing at it. 'Different kinds of battles.'
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  As I remembered why I had fought so hard for this little cup and why the Galadin had sent it to Ea, it suddenly began pouring out an intense, golden radiance. For a moment, I held in my hands a little sun whose light could perhaps been seen from the mountains to the east of us, if any were looking.

  'There will be battles, and soon,' Kane assured us. He nodded his head at the Lightstone and added, 'Now that we've taken this from the Beast, he'll bend all his will toward getting it back.'

  'Then you believe he'll recover from his wound?' Maram asked.

  'Yes, his kind cannot be killed so easily,' Kane said. 'A sword through the heart, or the severing of the head - that's almost the only way to kill one of the Elijin.'

  He went on to say that Morjin would now be forced to accelerate his plans for his conquest.

  'So, he's always looked to Alonia and to the Nine Kingdoms, Delu too, for he knows that if they fall, all of Ea falls, too.' He nodded at Atara, Liljana and me. 'But with the Sarni divided and much of the Wendrush held against him, to say nothing of the Long Wall, he can't attack your lands directly, eh? So, first he'll surround you - that's been his strategy all along.'

  'Do you think he'll invade Delu from Galda?' Mararn asked nervously.

  'Not yet, he hasn't the strength,' Kane said. 'No, he'll move first against Eanna.'

  'But if Surrapam holds,' Maram said, 'then he'll have to -'

  'Surrapam won't hold,' Kane said. 'We all saw that.'

  'Perhaps not,' I said. 'But the Hesperuks can't consolidate their conquest of Surrapam and attack Eanna.'

  Kane nodded his head savagely and said, 'Not by themselves. That's why Morjin needs a backdoor into Eanna. And now he has that, with Yarkona.'

  The Lightstone's radiance had now faded, and I gave the cup to Maram to hold. I sat staring at the fire. In its flames I saw the conflagration of the great Library; I saw the hateful eyes of Count Ulanu, as well.

  'Count Ulanu,' I said to Kane, 'still isn't strong enough to attack Eanna.'

  'He will be soon,' Kane said. 'Morjin will reinforce him.'

  'Through Elivagar?'

  'Just so - that's the key to his conquest, eh? Once the Ymanir's land is taken, he'll have a road through the mountains to march his armies into Yarkona and so into Eanna. And when Eanna falls, so will Thalu and the whole northwest.' Kane paused to catch his breath, and continued, 'And then nothing will stop Morjin from assembling a fleet and sailing his armies past Nedu and through the Dolphin Channel to attack Alonia.' I watched the fire's flames gather in the Lightstone's bowl; in Maram there now gathered a different kind of fire.

  'Then we must,' he said, 'stop Morjin first.'

  Again, I gripped my sword as a great bitterness ate at my belly. And I said, 'Perhaps I should have killed him.'

  Kane reached over and laid his hand on my shoulder. And then he said a strange thing, 'You did what you did out of compassion, and there's nothing to be sorry for in that. Would that we all had such compassion.'

  Atara, who was now holding the Lightstone, faced me from next to Maram and said,

  'Not even a scryer can see all ends, you know. If you had died in Argattha, we might never have escaped. And so one of Morjin's Red Priests might be holding this even now.'

  It was one of those moments when the Lightstone's gold seemed to reveal a clear light within its depths - as did Atara. She nodded at me and asked, 'Will the Valari come to the Ymanir's aid and fight Morjin?'

  'Yes,' I told her. 'If we don't fight each other.'

  Maram looked at Kane and then said, 'I couldn't bear it if the Beast ever saw Alundil.

  He would destroy it, I think. Is there no way that the Star People might return and send help?'

  We all understood that Kane was forbidden to speak of other worlds around other stars, even as he forbade himself to speak of his past. And so he surprised us, saying, 'They did send help, once. But they'll never come again so long as Morjin is free to work his evil. You tell of the glory of Alundil. It's nothing against that of the cities of the Star People and the Elijin. And the Galadin, so, the Galadin. What if Morjin or another were to place the Lightstone in the Dark One's hands? So, they'll not risk the destruction of worlds and a splendor that you cannot imagine.'

  Liljana, who had been passed the Lightstone, nodded at Kane and said, 'And that is why we must first and always look to this world. And that is why I must return to Tria. The Sisterhood must prepare for what is to come.'

  She said as little about the Maitriche Telu as Kane did his Black Brotherhood. But it gladdened my heart when she looked at Master Juwain and said, 'Perhaps the time has come when our two orders can make our purposes known to each other.'

  She gave the Lightstone to him, and his ugly face brightened with the most beautiful of smiles. 'The time has come, I see I would like nothing more than for us to call each other Sister and Brother.'

  As Daj next took the Lightstone, his eyes wide with the wonder of it Liljana clasped Master Juwain's hand.

  Now Master Juwain took out his varistei and sat gazing at it. Seized with inspiration, he held it in front of Daj's forehead. The Lightstone seemed to pour its radiance into the green stone. Then a green light leaped from the crystal, and its rays seared into the tattoo of the red dragon disfiguring Daj. After a few moments, the crystal grew quiet And we all stared at Daj through the fire's flames to see that the tattoo was gone.

  'Is it really?' Daj said, handing the Lightstone to Kane. He scurfed his fingers across his forehead as if feeling for the hated tattoo. 'I want to see! Val, will you show me, in your sword?'

  I drew Alkaladur so that he could behold himself in its gleaming silver. But the sword, in the Lightstone's presence, suddenly flared so brightly that for a moment none of us could see. After it had returned to only a mirror-like brilliance, Daj sat looking at himself in wonder.

  'It is gone,' he said. 'Now they won't stare at me in Tria.'

  We had decided that he would go with Kane and Liljana to Tria, where Liljana would look after him. Atara would accompany them along the mountains facing the Wendrush; she must pay her respects to Sajagax and the Kurmak, she said, before continuing on with Kane and the others to Tria to conclude her business with her father.

  'King Kiritan,' she said, 'must be told that the Lightstone has been found and the Quest fulfilled. And I must tell him.'

  'That I would like to see,' Kane said, gazing at the cup that he held. His eyes, like the black stone he kept hidden away, seemed to touch upon the fiery light of creation itself. 'Almost as much as I'd like to see his face when Val shows him this.'

  He passed the Lightstone on to me and asked, 'Are you sure you won't reconsider your plans?'

  I squeezed the cup between my hands and said, 'The Lightstone must first be brought to the Valari. We are its guardians, and we can't guard it if I alone of my people take it into Tria.'

  'But, Val,' Maram reminded me, 'King Kiritan is expecting its finder to bring it to him. Our vows -'

  'We vowed to seek the Lightstone for all of Ea and not for ourselves,' I said. 'For Ea, Maram - not for King Kiritan.'

  'But what about your vow, then?'

  Now the gold of the Lightstone suddenly felt as cold as ice in my hands. I remembered too well standing in King Kiritan's hall before thousands of knights and nobles, and promising King Kiritan that I would bring the Lightstone to him and so claim Atara as my bride.

  I looked over at Atara sitting rigidly as a statue, and I said, 'That vow is not mine to fulfill. Not mine alone.'

  After that, our talk turned toward the remembrance of all that we suffered together, the glories as well as the sorrows. Kane recounted the story of Flick spinning on Alphanderry's nose; this made Daj break open with an easy, boyish laughter that was a delight to hear. We had thought that he would never laugh again. His sudden joy made us weep, especially Liljana, who seemed to have lost her own laughter, even as Atara had warned on the beach of the Bay of Whales. For she had looked too deep into Morjin's mind and seen
there an evil so great that her own joy of life seemed forever dimmed. Even the Lightstone's gleaming presence was not enough to restore her peaceable temperament and her lovely smiles.

  At last it came time to begin the long and painful rounds of making our goodbyes.

  Master Juwain sat telling Daj of the Great White Brother hood and gave him his copy of the Saganom Elu; Daj promised to read it and someday make the journey to Mesh. I gave Kane the sharpening stone of pressed diamond dust that my brother, Mandru, had once given me. Alkaladur's edge never needed sharpening, but the kalama that Kane bore would. In return, he gave me one of the bloodstones that he had taken from Morjin's chambers, and instructed me in its use. Much past midnight, with the moon dropping lower in the sky, I spoke with Liljana about a few of the things she had seen in Morjin's mind.

  Still later, I walked with Atara through the swishing grass at the edge of our camp.

  Twice she almost stumbled as the long grasses snared her feet. It was one of those times when she was truly blind. I offered her my arm, but she wouldn't take it.

  'I must learn to get on by myself,' she told me.

  'No one was meant to get on alone,' I said to her. 'If this quest has taught me anything, it's that.'

  'Still, you can't walk for me. You can't see for me.'

  'No,' I said, touching the mail over my chest where I had returned the Lightstone.

  'But now that this has been found, I can marry you.'

  'I still have my vow,' she reminded me.

  I stopped to look off across the steppe, west, toward Argattha. I asked her, 'How many men have you slain,, then? Sixty? Seventy?'

  'Would you have me slay more?'

  I listened to the beating of my heart, then said, 'Your vow isn't what keeps you from wanting to make vows with me.'

  'No,' she said softly, touching the cloth around her face. 'I can't marry you like this.'

  'But your sight will return,' I said, speaking of her powers of scrying, which seemed to be growing ever stronger. 'In Argattha, when Kane touched -'

  'Kane will go his way, and I will go mine,' she told me. 'And Kane is still Kane, don't you see?'