City of Sorcerers (34 page)

The odd thing was there was no physical door, only an open space looking out on the stairs and the hallway.

The girl quickly pulled her light into the room and increased its bright glow to shine on the room from corner to corner. The chamber she had found was not a particularly large one, perhaps fifteen paces deep and twenty long, but Kelene realized instantly that it had been an important place.

Floor-to-ceiling shelves, tall wooden cupboards, and detailed murals covered all four walls. A wide worktable sat in the center of the floor. Everywhere Kelene looked, she saw bottles, vials, small boxes, mortars and pestles, bowls, utensils, many odd tools, and things she could not identify. There had to be something here they could use!

"Come here!" she called excitedly. "I found another storeroom." The men came hurrying at the sound of her voice, but she was surprised when they stopped at the end of the hallway and milled around, looking perplexed.

"Kelene, where are you?" Rafnir called.

She hobbled to the door, a mere step or two away from him, and said, "I'm right here!" He started like a spooked horse.

She stuck her head out the door, and to her amusement, all four men leaped backward. "The entrance is right here," she informed them.

Morad stared at her, his eyes bugged out. "What entrance? All I can see is your head in a stone wall!"

"Well, I can see the way from this side!" Kelene insisted. "Just put your thumbs in those little depressions and push. You can walk right through."

However; the spell would not work for them. One by one they tried it, but no one could go through the entrance. It was the Korg who finally understood. "It's keyed to healers," he said half aloud. "I didn't know they used that, too."

Rafnir smacked his hand against the wall. "Used
what
, too?" he asked irritably.

"Use spells that could only be triggered by magic-wielders with specific talents.

Like healing. Obviously Kelene has that talent, so the doorway opened for her."

Kelene felt a strange flush of excitement warm her face. The truth was confirmed.

Her empathic touch and her interest in healing were not coincidences but part of a greater talent to heal with magic. "Oh, Amara! Thank you," she whispered. Smiling now, she said to the men, "Tam's cat is in here with me. How did she come through?"

"She must have stepped in as you tripped the entry spell," the Korg replied.

Kelene abruptly stepped through the stone. "Then let's try it with all of you," she said in a brusque tone. Putting her thumbs in the depressions, she repeated the old spell. One after another the men ducked under her arms and stepped into the storeroom.

The Korg made a grunt of satisfaction as Kelene followed the last man in. "No wonder they used a door keyed to healers. This was probably their pharmacy," the old sorcerer explained. "The healers prepared all the medicines used in Moy Turn."

"So there might be something here that could help us," Savaron said. He and the others spread out, opening drawers and poking around shelves.

"Maybe," the Korg responded hesitantly. "But most of those powders, herbs, and oils will be worthless by now."

"Why would they need medicines?" Kelene asked from a corner where she was looking into a row of large jugs. "Couldn't your healers heal everything with magic?"

The Korg sighed and leaned against the table. "Of course not. The human body is too complicated, too fragile to assail with heavy doses of magic. All a healer can do is influence the natural healing processes of the body. Look at those murals." He pointed to one on the wall near Kelene's head.

Kelene twisted around to look up at a life-size painting of a human male. At least she guessed it was a male. Although the mural was faded and dusty, she recognized it as a detailed representation of the bones and major muscles of the body. Her mouth dropped open.

"Healers studied anatomy and physiology for years, as well as medicines and magic." He chuckled dryly. "You have to know what is broken before you try to fix it." A sharp and poignant memory surfaced in Kelene's mind of her mother and the Khulinin horse healer looking helplessly at her smashed ankle as they tried to work the broken pieces back together. Even though they had tried to be gentle, the pain had been agonizing. Yes, Kelene decided, it would be very useful to know what to do. She nodded mutely and went back to her search, her expression thoughtful.

It wasn't long before Rafnir made the first discovery.

Behind the closed doors of a tall wooden case he found a collection of rolled scrolls, tied with silk cords, and two small leather-bound manuscripts. Bursting with hope, he carried the fragile writings to the worktable and began to gently undo them.

The Korg and Kelene joined him, and the white cat hopped up on the table to play with the cords.

"Look at this," said Kelene. She was scanning the yellowed pages of one of the small books. "Recipes! I know this one. It's a cough syrup from wild cherry bark.

Here's an astringent made from something called marigolds."

"What's an astringent?" Rafnir asked from behind an unrolled scroll.

"A skin wash to help heal small wounds," she replied. "And here's a restorative that looks very interesting. I wish I knew more about herbs and medicines. I'll have to show this one to Mother." She continued to turn the pages, yet her face slowly clouded over. "There is some valuable information here and many things I don't recognize, but I don't see anything that specifically mentions a plague or any illness with the effects we have seen."

Rafnir turned to the Korg. In spite of the chill in the room, the young warrior's face was sweating. He had to wipe his forehead before he asked, "Did the healers have any other books or manuscripts?"

The sorcerer's reply was discouraging. "I remember they had a large collection that they kept in a room upstairs. I doubt the clan warriors made an effort to save them."

Just then, Savaron gave a yell of delight. "Hey! Didn't Piers have one of these?"

He held up a smooth red stone about the size of an eagle's egg.

Kelene nearly bowled him over in her rush to see what he had found. He carefully laid the stone in her hand and stood aside to reveal the place where he had found it. Kelene's fingers curled around the precious stone. There, in a long, shallow drawer Savaron had pulled from a cupboard, lay a wooden tray neatly divided into seven sections. In each compartment lay a variety of polished stones of different sizes and colors. Kelene pulled the tray out of its drawer and reverently laid it on the table by-the scrolls.

She put the red stone back in its place and asked the Korg, "Do you know what all of these are for?"

The sorcerer's brow wrinkled even more as he studied the collection. "I know they're healing stones. The healers used them to help treat specific problems. That red one you had was made to remove traces of magic from a body. The healers made several of those at the request of the clan chieftains in case of accidents or malicious attacks. Anyone could use those, but I think the rest of the stones could only be used by healers."

"Piers did have one of those red stones, but he never told me about any others.

What do they do?" Kelene asked, almost breathless with hope.

"Well," he said, pointing to some green stones, "those have a sleeping spell.

These yellow ones are topaz used to help heal broken bones. Now these might be interesting." He picked out several opaque golden stones that gleamed with dark translucent streaks. They were about the size of a baby's fist and polished to a brilliant sheen. The Korg held one up to his eye. "Lion's Eye," he chuckled lightly. "The healers had to use this one to help Kelyra after a miscarriage. It breaks fevers."

Kelene's chin came up, and her dark eyes bore into his yellow-brown ones.

"Fevers. Are you sure?"

"Certain. It saved her life."

"Could it help Sayyed?"

The flicker of humor died from his eyes, and his face became heavy and set.

"That I cannot answer, Kelene. It is for you to find out."

She plucked the golden stone from his hand and juggled it in her fingers. She was suddenly frightened---afraid of the immense job of learning the healing craft and of the awesome responsibility of trying to save lives. "I know so little about healing,"

she murmured as if to herself. "Will I be able to do any good?"

Savaron, Morad, and Rafnir were silent, watching her, but the old sorcerer drew himself straight and stood before her like the councilor he had once been. "You were born with a rare talent to heal, Kelene. It is a talent that requires compassion, desire, and courage. You have all of those in full measure, clanswoman. Don't let a little self-doubt stand in your way."

Her gaze snapped up to his face, to those yellowish eyes that had seen so much, and she felt her fear recede enough so she could banish it to the back of her mind.

Trained or not, she had the potential to be a healer and the talent to use the healing stones. It was the best hope her party had found to fight the wraith's deadly plague.

There was only one way to find out if she and the stones could be effective. She held the Lion's Eye up to the light. "How do I use this?" she asked the Korg.

A slow, satisfied smile creased his face. "Before you try anything, perhaps you should have one of these." He reached into the tray, drew out a small package wrapped in soft leather, and laid it on the table beside her.

Kelene untied the cord holding the package together. Her breath came out in a gasp of surprise as the contents rolled glittering onto the tabletop. Savaron, Morad, and Rafnir crowded around her to see the crystal slivers that sparkled like diamonds under the white light of the magic spheres.

Savaron was the first to recognize them and his strong hands reached out to touch them. "Splinters! Why are they here?" The others shifted and smiled at one another.

The diamond splinters were the traditional emblem of a true magic-wielder.

"A healer was always present to insert them during the rites of completion," the Korg informed them. "But I am surprised you know of splinters since none of you have one."

"My mother received one," Kelene said.

"Then you know what a splinter does." Rafnir replied, "It enhances a person's ability to control magic."

"Can you insert them?" Savaron asked the Korg.

The sorcerer tipped his head toward the door. "Outside."

Kelene felt her hands begin to tremble. Hurriedly, -she returned the stones to their tray, piled the manuscripts and scrolls on top, and covered the whole thing with a cloth. Tray in hand, she led the way from the room and down the hall, the men and the cat close behind. They filed silently past the children's bones and out the door into the tunnels.

Rafnir, at the end of the line, paused to rub his aching temples before he softly closed the door behind him. Gods of all, he felt lousy. Sweat was running down his forehead and chest, and his strength was draining away. He had to draw several deep breaths before he could walk after the others up the passage toward the exit. .

The sun hit them with its blinding light when the searchers climbed from the stairwell into the ruined temple. The day was well advanced, and the ruins sweltered in the afternoon's indolent heat.

The Korg took Kelene's hand and led her to the steps of the temple, where he turned her to face the sun in the western sky. He stretched out her arm, palm up.

"There is usually more formality than this," he apologized, "but I don't think your friend, Sayyed, has the time." While the clanspeople watched, he retrieved a splinter from Kelene's tray and began to speak the words of the ancient rite.

Kelene's trembling eased. A warm, still peace infused her soul. Her nervousness and fear fluttered once more and disappeared as the words of the rite filled her mind and the significance of their meaning finally put to rest the last of her reluctance. Her anger from the past rose in her mind and was cast away along with her indecision and insecurity about herself. She had taken the first step with Demira when she accepted at last her power to wield magic. Now she faced the Korg and embraced the full range of her power with her entire heart and soul. She would be a healer, the best she could be, and the knowledge sang in her mind like a litany of joy.

Her face was radiant when the Korg finished the last prayer of the rite and lifted the diamond splinter to the sun to absorb the heat and light of Amara's grace. The sliver glowed between his fingers with a pure white light. Then, the Korg pierced Kelene's right wrist and slid the splinter under the skin. There was not a drop of blood spilled.

Pain shot through her arm and the heat from the diamond burned under her skin.

The splinter immediately began to pulse a reddish light to the pounding of her heart.

Kelene stared down at it, entranced. She could feel an invigorating sensation spread up her arm, to her head, and down into every part of her body. It sang in her blood and filled her with an incredible sense of completeness. She lifted her eyes to the Korg and smiled her understanding.

All at once, a huge dark shadow swept over them. The Korg ducked, and, with yells of surprise, Savaron and Morad drew their swords. Rafnir's hand went to his hilt, too, but he was so weak by that time that he simply gave up and sat down on the stone steps. Only Kelene looked up at the sky and grinned in triumphant delight.

A joyous neigh echoed in the temple ruins.
I can fly!
Demira trumpeted to the skies. She curved around and swept overhead again, the wind thrumming through her magnificent, outstretched wings.

The men stared up at her, their eyes bulging, their jaws slack. "Good gods!"

Morad cried. "Look at her!"

The filly glided down toward Kelene, drew in her wings, and tried to land by the steps. Unfortunately, she had not learned yet to coordinate two wings, four legs, and a heavy body. She came in too fast, tripped over her legs, and nearly fell on her nose.

Rustling her wings, Demira righted herself and shook off the dust. She snorted at Kelene.