LITMIR.BIZ

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our lapidaries are fashioning two Great Stones from it even as we bespeak one another. We intend to employ them as weapons in our intensified attack on the Sovereignty.

      ‘Good luck. But what do you want of me, Kalawnn?’

       We have just discovered the location of the second Moon Crag. It lies on a mountaintop in Cathra. We were informed by the Great Lights that YOU are the appropriate person to climb the mountain and bring us more sigil-making mineral from its summit.’

      ‘Me?!’

      If you agree, we invite you to come to Royal Fenguard as soon as possible. I myself will use the Potency’s sorcery to free you of the Lights’ curse before you set out to fetch moonstone specimens for us. When you bring us the raw mineral, we will reward you with a goodly number of minor sigils to advance your own ambitions. A Strength-Giver would be useful, wouldn’t it? And maybe a Shapechanger or Concealer to disguise you from unfriendly observers? We are prepared to be very generous.

      Beynor was stunned. The slimy imbeciles had no notion of what they were offering. Minor sigils? He’d take them, of course, to augment the Great Stones of his trove…and thus enable him to steal the Potency itself from Kalawnn!

      But what if the Stone of Stones didn’t abolish the curse? The Salka archival tablet he’d studied had given tantalizing hints, but no certainty. Moonstone sorcery ultimately derived from the Beaconfolk. If the curse still held, using even a sigil rendered pain-free by the Potency might bring down the wrath of the Lights upon him.

      There’s no simple solution to this dilemma, Beynor realized. Yet –

      Do you understand our proposal? the Salka shaman asked.

      Beynor said, ‘We attempted to strike a bargain and work together years ago, Master Kalawnn. Regrettably, the collaboration fell apart due to Ugusawnn’s hostility. If I agree to work with you again, there must be solid guarantees. And your Supreme Warrior will have no part in the operation.’

       The Warrior repents his crass behavior, and we other Eminent Ones are willing to be magnanimous. In our earlier alliance, it was agreed that the Salka would take back High Blenholme Island, our ancestral home, using sigil magic. We would then assist you to conquer the nations of the Continent. Does this scenario still meet with your approval?

      ‘It does.’

       So are we agreed? You will help us to obtain fresh sigil-making materials?

      ‘I can do nothing for you until I finish certain urgent business of my own. Even then, the terms of the new agreement must be clarified to our mutual satisfaction. I tell you here and now that the gift of a handful of minor sigils is totally inadequate.’

       This can be negotiated.

      ‘Where is this Moon Crag mountain? Is it difficult of access?’

       It lies in the range you call Dextral, above Swan Lake, and would not be hard for a human to approach and climb. I won’t be more specific until we speak face to face and come to an agreement.

      ‘I don’t intend to discuss your proposition further until I’m satisfied that I won’t endanger my life or liberty by meeting with you.’

       I can assure –

      ‘Look here, Kalawnn. I said that I was busy with other matters. Consult your fellow-Eminences. Work out a scheme whereby you and I and one other Eminence – excluding Ugusawnn! – can at least meet safely to hammer out the terms of the agreement. It will have to be a generous one. Bespeak me again with a general hail two or three days from now, around sunset. Needless to say, I won’t be staying long in the place where I am now.’

       I understand. I will develop a plan acceptable to all of us. Farewell.

      The windthread snapped, but Beynor had already traced it along most of its course. It led directly toward Fenguard in Moss. If the second Moon Crag was situated in the eastern Dextrals, the Salka leaders could gain access to it only through a full-scale invasion of Cathra. Even then, their amphibian physique was unsuited to rock scrambling. Using a trustworthy human confederate was the only reasonable option.

      That the Great Lights seemed to have recommended his services to the monsters was peculiar and perhaps even ominous, given that they had imposed the curse on him in the first place. It would be the height of folly to act hastily in this matter.

      Beynor sipped brandy and watched the sun go down, until he caught sight of a train of torch-bearing riders approaching the fortress from the southwest. It had to be the sons of Conrig Ironcrown.

      ‘I ought to find out more about these princes,’ he decided, ‘since their father must play a crucial rôle in my plans.’

      He set aside the cup and left his room, intending to get a good look at the three young men upon their arrival.

      Prince Orrion followed his brother Vra-Bramlow from the Castlemont keep to the herb garden within the outer ward. It was surrounded by stone walls seven feet high on all sides in order to trap sunlight and shield the valued plants from cold winds, and had a sturdy oaken gate, which the royal novice unlatched.

      ‘She awaits you within,’ Bramlow said. ‘There are lanterns lit to dispel the twilight gloom and to…assist you in your revelation. Certain rooms within the keep overlook the garden, so I’ll remain outside and conjure a spell of couverture to defeat anyone who might try to spy on you. You’ll have half an hour with her at most before we are to dine privately with her parents.’

      ‘I understand. Thank you for arranging everything, Bram.’ Orrion slipped into the garden and closed the door behind him.

      A medley of rich odors hung in the evening air – lavender, hill-thyme, tea-sage, melilot, some sort of mint, even the perfume of late-blooming musk-roses. The herb beds were neatly organized, separated by narrow paths. Nyla had been sitting on a bench beneath a small apple tree heavy with nearly ripened fruit, head bowed and hands folded in her lap. She wore a pale blue gown with a cloak of fine white wool. As the latch clicked she jumped to her feet and ran to him with a glad cry. Her long unbound hair, the color of cinnamon, flew behind her like a banner gleaming in the lantern-light.

      ‘Orrion! Oh, love, I thought we’d never see each other again.’

      ‘Nyla –’ His voice broke and his eyes filled. He embraced her with both his whole arm and the truncated limb, which was now free of its sling but still disguised with a grain-stuffed gauntlet simulating the missing member. ‘My dearest, my darling love.’ They kissed and clung together until finally he released her and said, ‘We have only a little time before we must join the others. I have so much to explain – including why I asked you to meet me here at Castlemont. And I must also show you something and ask you an all-important question.’

      ‘Of course.’ She sensed the unease in his voice and the joy faded from her face.

      He took her hand and led her back to the bench, seating himself near one of the iron lanterns. ‘I feared you would not come. That your parents would forbid it.’

      ‘Father resisted my entreaties. But I told him I’d never take food again if he and Mother ignored your urgent summons and prevented our meeting. My heart told me that something tremendous had happened, and there might yet be a chance for us…’ She trailed off into silence.

      He took a deep breath of the scented air. ‘There is. Listen now without interrupting, sweetheart, for what I must tell you is difficult and frightening. Yet if you can accept it bravely, I will be the happiest man on earth.’ He pulled off the glove and began to unwind the disguising bandages from his right arm. ‘An improbable turn of fate has rendered me ineligible for the Throne of Sovereignty. I have been injured. I have lost my sword-hand and lower arm.’

      ‘Oh, no!’ She burst into tears.

      ‘Hush. There is no pain. If you can summon the courage, you must look upon the wound. It is no ordinary one. May I roll

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