The Darkling Child

SEVEN

PAXON LEAH WAS WORKING OUT IN THE PRACTICE YARD WITH Oost Mondara, his prickly Gnome sword master and close friend, his black–bladed sword flashing in the sunlight as he progressed through a series of feints and strikes, thrusts and parries, incorporating everything into positions of defense and attack. It had been five years since these lessons had begun, and another man might have decided long ago that he had learned all there was to learn of swordsmanship and there was no point in continuing to study. But Paxon wasn’t just another man, and he took nothing for granted when it came to improving his skills. That he had discovered the power of the ancient Sword of Leah was a gift to be honored. That he had been given the chance to serve as the Ard Rhys’s Blade and had been given a home and life in the Druid Order was not something he would ever take for granted or fail to view as a challenge.

So every day he came down to the yard to practice with his blade, and every day he learned a little more and progressed a step farther. Oost continued to instruct him, doing it now more out of the satisfaction he derived from viewing Paxon’s enthusiasm and steady development than he did out of a sense of obligation. In Paxon, the Gnome had found a kindred spirit–a fellow believer in the importance of hard work and dedication to a talent that clearly set him apart from almost everyone. Paxon was good with a blade, maybe the best the gnarled trainer had ever encountered, and if there was a way to make him even better then there was no reason not to employ it.

But Paxon was bored with practice and anxious for a chance to do something of a more practical nature, so he was more than a little excited and relieved when Keratrix arrived to tell him that Isaturin wished to see him when his practice time was finished. Paxon tried not to rush through what remained of his session, but failed miserably. Finally, Oost broke it off, throwing up his hands.

“That’s enough. You are sleepwalking through your disciplines! I’ve lost you completely.” His voice was gruff and accusatory. “Go find out what the Ard Rhys wants of you. Might as well do something useful.”

With muttered apologies thrown back over his shoulder, Paxon hurried off to do as the other had suggested, a sense of anticipation making him light–headed and happy. He was certain a mission awaited him, a chance to travel to another part of the world, an opportunity to use his skills to help someone. It was the reason he had accepted this position in the first place, the end result of the effort Aphenglow Elessedil had expended to bring him to Paranor and abandon his old life hauling airfreight.

He thought momentarily of his mentor and benefactor, dead six weeks now, gone down into the netherworld and the company of Druids past. She had done much more for many others than she had for him, but he treasured the gift of the life she had given him every day. He would never forget what she had meant to him. He could still see her face in his mind as clearly as he had on the last day he had been with her, accompanying her to the Hadeshorn to bear witness as the Shade of Allanon bore her away. He could still hear her voice, encouraging him to believe in himself, telling him there would always be a home for him and for Chrysallin at Paranor.

His sister, he believed, owed Aphenglow even more than he did. It was Aphenglow who had saved her, who had taken her in and helped her to heal. But this reminded him that the Ard Rhys had wanted him to tell Chrys about her magic–something he still had not done. He had not found the right moment or even a way to act on her warning. So he prevaricated, still uncertain. But he did not think he could put it off much longer. Sooner or later, something would happen to cause the wishsong to surface again. The consequences of that happening were unknowable. The Ard Rhys had believed it would help Chrys if she understood what was happening and could better find a way to deal with it. But Paxon continued to worry that telling her would have the opposite effect and send her back into a state of catatonia similar to the one she had been placed in after her first use of the magic.

Since he could not reconcile his fears with hers the debate continued, unresolved.

These were his thoughts as he changed out of his practice clothes, washed himself down, dressed anew, and climbed the stairs to the Ard Rhys’s quarters. It still seemed odd that Isaturin now occupied those rooms and that Aphenglow was really gone. He liked Isaturin well enough, although he would never think about him in the same way he thought about his predecessor. For Paxon, Aphenglow Elessedil would always be the real Ard Rhys of the Druids.

Still, on this occasion he was more than anxious to meet with the new Ard Rhys and find out if there was finally something for him to do besides practice with his sword and sit around waiting.

“Come in, Paxon,” Isaturin said at his knock, looking up from behind a desk as the Highlander entered. “Come sit.”

Paxon did so, noting that Isaturin seemed as consumed by record keeping and paperwork as Aphenglow had, his work space littered with documents and books. Keratrix stood to one side, organizing files, handing things over and taking them away, all without a word being spoken, apparently knowing exactly what it was the Ard Rhys required.

“We’ve registered a disturbance of some significance in the scrye waters.” Isaturin leaned back, locking his fingers behind his head. “It happened late last night and was reported to me this morning. This is of particular interest because the nature of the disturbance closely resembled the one we recorded when Chrysallin used the wishsong.”

Paxon was surprised. “Someone else has use of it?”

“Possibly. The reading of the waters isn’t an exact science. We can tell the general nature of a disturbance. We can tell the extent of the power expended to create it. And we can tell where it came from. The rest we have to guess at, using whatever information we have at our disposal. In this case, the Druid monitoring the waters was the same Druid who was monitoring when your sister used her powers.”

“So we have a solid comparison. Who was the Druid?”

“Avelene.”

An image of her face came immediately to mind–small, slender, dark skin, lavender eyes, sharp features that seemed perfectly suited to her look and temperament. He hadn’t seen much of her in the past few years, busy with his own pursuits, caught up in caring for Chrysallin. But he remembered hearing about her in snatches of conversation. Fiercely intelligent and independent–minded. Always ready to challenge authority if she didn’t agree. A student of magic, her own and others’ no matter the nature.

“Can I speak with her?”

Isaturin cocked an eyebrow. “All you want. She will be your companion for the next few days. I’m sending you both south into Federation territory to try to sort this out. I want the source of the magic found and its nature determined. If you think it advisable, I want it recovered and brought here. Avelene will be in command of the expedition; you will act as her protector.”

Paxon started to rise, anxious to begin preparations. “Wait a minute.” Isaturin held up his hand. “We haven’t finished here yet.”

Paxon sat back down. “There’s more?”

“There is. Tell me about your sister. Have you spoken with her about her condition?”

It was a reasonable question, but Paxon felt himself become irritated anyway. “Aphenglow must have told you she recommended that I tell Chrys. But I’m still not certain that’s the right thing to do.”

“I find myself wondering if there is a right thing, Paxon. This is a difficult situation with no clear path forward. But maybe you should consider the relative risks. If you tell her now, you can be there to talk to her about it. You can make use of the Druid Healers to help her come to terms with it. But if you wait and she discovers it on her own–perhaps in a life–and–death confrontation of the sort she faced before–you will have to hope she isn’t so severely impacted by the unexpectedness of the surfacing of the magic that she is flung into an even deeper catatonia than she was the last time.”

“I am doing what I can!” Paxon snapped back. “A day doesn’t pass when I don’t think about it.”

Isaturin nodded. “Indecision is the enemy. I think you should tell her. I know I am meddling, but I have an obligation to persuade you to what I think is the right course of action. Please give it some thought.”

Paxon forced himself not to say something he would regret later. “I will. I promise.”

Isaturin was already turning back to his paperwork. “Now go find Avelene and make your plans. I have assigned you one of the clippers and a crew of three members of the Druid Guard. You leave at first light.”

Paxon went out the door, still angry about the Ard Rhys’s interference, stomping down the hallway toward his quarters, paying no attention to those he passed on the way. What angered him most, he realized by the time he had reached his room and closed the door behind him, was that he knew Isaturin was right. Just as Aphenglow had been right. He should tell Chrys. He shouldn’t leave it to chance.

The real problem was that he was afraid to tell her. He was afraid of what it would do to her. She had been so good since her recovery. She had become a familiar face in Paranor’s halls and a friend to many who lived there. She had done well with her studies, and she had regained her footing in a way that encouraged him to believe she could find a home here–just as Aphenglow had promised.

He didn’t want to risk all that. He didn’t want to disrupt her life by revealing a truth so startling and immense that it might leave her crippled all over again.

He stood where he was in the middle of the room for a long time, pondering the matter, thinking he should put the matter behind him by going to her now, telling her the truth, getting it over with, and letting them face the consequences together.

He turned back toward the door and went out again into the hallway. But instead of going to his sister, he began searching instead for Avelene.

He found her a short time later in a quiet corner of the garden, sitting on a bench with her feet up, bent over an open book with several more sitting on the ground next to her. She looked up at his approach, and he was reminded again of how supportive she had been of him on his arrival five years earlier.

“So we’re off on an adventure together,” she said, arching an eyebrow at him. She set down the book. “Do you think we’re up to it?”

He grinned. “I think you are. I hear you might be the best in all Paranor when it comes to magic.”

“I hear you might be the best swordsman in the Four Lands. If Oost Mondara can be believed.”

Paxon stared. “Oost really said that? Was he sober?”

“Apparently you impressed him considerably with your work ethic. Impressed me, too, I might add. I’ve had my eye on you, even if you didn’t see me. You work hard. You’ve dedicated yourself to becoming the Ard Rhys’s Blade. No one gave you anything. You worked for all of it.”

“You, too. Can I sit?”

She moved her legs to give him room, drawing them up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “Seems like a long time ago that we first met,” she said. “You were kind of uncertain back then. I don’t see any of that now.”

“Oh, I’m still pretty uncertain about most things. I’ve gotten comfortable with using a sword, but you can’t cut your way through uncertainty. I still struggle with the moral issues surrounding the uses of magic.”

“Well, mostly, it’s not your concern, is it? It’s a Druid issue.”

“That might be, but I’m acting as their representative. I like to be sure about what it is I’m representing.”

She laughed. “That’s fair. But remember, we all struggle with what’s right and wrong, Paxon. That’s the nature of our lives. We have to figure out what we can live with, and hope that what we do to bring it about doesn’t exact a cost that’s too high. We have to decide where to draw the line. Are you thinking of Sebec?”

He shook his head. “Not so much. I was thinking more of Chrysallin. I haven’t figured out if she’s where she belongs, being here. I don’t know if studying to join the Druid Order is what’s right for her.”

He was hedging with his response. His real concern was not his sister’s presence at Paranor but his reluctance to be honest with her about why she was there. But he couldn’t tell Avelene that.

“She’s fine here. She’s got you to watch out for her. She’s got people who care about her. Lots of them, in case you hadn’t noticed. She’s made friends, Paxon. She belongs as much as you do.”

She brushed at her dark hair and studied him. “But that’s not what you’re talking about, is it?”

Too perceptive by far, he thought. “Can I ask you about your readings of the scrye waters? Isaturin said you were on duty with this latest disturbance, but you were on duty, too, when Arcannen was trying to take over the order. Isaturin said you believed the magic used might be the same?”

“I said the properties evidenced by each were similar.”

“Can you explain that to me?”

“Magic of different types causes different sorts of disturbances to the scrye waters. Not in the strength of the disturbance, which is really a result of the power expended, but in the look of the ripples and shimmers. Rapidity, length, closeness, even color–these all say something about the magic. We keep records on this, as you know, and over time we have been able to determine after the fact where the similarities lie.”

“So the records told you something about these two?”

“No. In this case, we don’t seem to have any records. We never found out the exact nature of the magic that erupted five years ago, and it’s up to you and me to try to determine it in this latest instance. What I do know, since I was on duty both times and had a chance to observe personally, was that they were almost exactly the same. That’s not a coincidence.”

“But shouldn’t there be something in the records?”

“We only started keeping those records since Aphenglow Elessedil decided to track down and recover the magic that was being used by those not of the Druid Order. So we have barely more than a hundred and fifty years of records to date. This magic, whatever it is, might have been around awhile. It might have been used countless times over the centuries. We just don’t have anything that would tell us that.”

Which would explain why no one in the Druid Order but Aphenglow and now Isaturin knew it was the wishsong. Both must have decided it was better to keep it quiet.

Then he wondered suddenly how much Avelene knew. Could Isaturin have decided not to tell her about the wishsong? Had he kept that to himself? Or if she knew about it, why was she hiding it from him? Was it because he wasn’t a Druid?

“I have to go,” he said. “I just wanted to tell you how much I’m looking forward to going with you. I wish it could have happened sooner.”

She gave him a look. “You do?”

“I said so, didn’t I?”

She studied him a moment. “See you bright and early then.” She picked up her book and went back to reading. “You do have something of a silver tongue, don’t you? You just make my little heart beat with excitement.”

She was angry. Or, at the very least, irritated. He started to say something in response, but gave it up. Whatever retort he made, she would have another poised on the tip of her tongue.

“I meant what I said,” he threw back anyway.

She didn’t look up–just gave him a dismissive wave of her hand.

He was a dozen steps removed when something occurred to him. An Ard Rhys would never dispatch members of the Druid Order on a mission like the one they were embarking on without telling them exactly what they were up against. Not if he knew, and Isaturin did. It would be putting Druids at risk unnecessarily. And there was no good reason for him to so here.

He slowed, and then turned around. Avelene was still reading her book. Slowly, he walked back over to her and waited until she looked up at him.

“Forget something?” she asked.

“Common sense,” he answered. “The magic we’re looking for is the wishsong.”

Her smile was brilliant. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“You already knew?”

“Of course.”

“And you didn’t think you should tell me that?”

“Well, you’ve apparently known for some time, right? Shouldn’t you have been the one to tell me?”

He took a deep breath and exhaled. “That was what I just decided. If we’re traveling together to find what might be a wild magic, we need to trust each other.”

She nodded. “And now we do. I do, at least.”

“I do, too.”

“Then all is right with the world.” She resumed reading. “See you in the morning, Paxon.”

This time she sounded happy about it.