The Shining Ones (27 page)

‘Is that how you feel about us too, little mother?’ he asked her sadly. ‘We’re Elenes, and as a race we’ve proved time and again that we’re not to be trusted. Do you want to chain
us
as well? – and
force
us to obey you?’

‘Don’t be absurd. Bhelliom’s not a person.’

‘The Delphae
are,
though, aren’t they?’

‘No!’

‘You’re being illogical, Sephrenia. The Delphae
are
human. We don’t care for the Zemochs or the Rendors, but we’ve never tried to pretend that they aren’t human. There are a lot of Elenes who don’t like you Styrics, but we’ve never gone so far as to try to deny your humanity.’ He paused, then drew in a deep breath. ‘I guess that’s what it comes down to, love. If you’re going to deny the humanity of the Delphae, how can I be positive that you don’t secretly feel the same way about me? I’ve lived in Sarsos, and many of the Styrics there wanted to treat
me
like some lower life-form. Did you agree with them? Have I been some kind of pet, Sephrenia? – a dog maybe? Or a tame ape that you kept around for your private amusements? Hang it all, Sephrenia, this is a question of morality. If we deny
anyone’s
humanity, we open the door to unimaginable horror. Can’t you see that?’

‘The Delphae are different.’

‘
Nobody’s
different! We
have
to believe that, because if we don’t, we deny our
own
humanity as well. Why
won’t
you understand?’

Her face was very, very pale. ‘This is all very highsounding
and noble, Vanion, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Delphae. You don’t know anything about what they are or who they are, so you don’t really know what you’re talking about. You’ve always come to me for guidance in the past when your ignorance was putting you in danger. Am I correct in assuming that we’re not going to do that any more?’

‘Don’t be silly.’

‘I’m not. I’m being very serious. Are you going to ignore me on this issue? Are you going to take up with these monstrous lepers, no matter what I tell you?’

‘We don’t have any choice in the matter, can’t you see that? Bhelliom tells us that we’re going to fail if we don’t – and we
can’t
fail. I think the whole world’s going to depend on our not failing.’

‘You seem to have outgrown your need for me, then. It would have been polite of you to have told me that
before
you brought me to this accursed valley, but I suppose I was silly to expect politeness from an Elene in the first place. As soon as we get back to Matherion, I’ll make arrangements to return to Sarsos where I belong.’

‘Sephrenia…’

‘No. This concludes it. I’ve served the Pandion order well and faithfully for three hundred years, and I thank you for your generous payment for my years of toil. We’re through, Vanion. This ends it. I hope the rest of your life will be happy, but happy or sad, you’re going to live it without me.’ And she turned and swept from the room.

‘It will be very dangerous, Anari,’ Itagne warned, ‘and Xanetia is the most important of all your people. Is it prudent to risk her life?’

‘Truly, Itagne of Matherion,’ the old man replied, ‘Xanetia is precious to us, for she will be Anarae. She is, however, the most gifted of us, and it may well be
that
her
gifts will weight the scale in our final confrontation with our common enemy.’ Sparhawk, Vanion and Itagne had been summoned to meet with Cedon prior to their departure from the valley of Delphaeus. It was a fine autumn morning. A hint of frost, fast melting in the newly risen sun, steamed on the meadow, and the shade under the boughs of the evergreens beyond that meadow was a deep, deep blue.

‘I merely wished to point it out, Anari,’ Itagne said. ‘For all its splendor, Matherion is a city filled with hidden dangers – with rough, ignorant people who will react very strongly to the appearance of one of the Delphae in their midst. Your gentle Xanetia is an ethereal, unworldly sort of person, hardly more than a girl. The fact that she’s a Shining One will protect her to some degree against overt physical attack, but are you really willing to expose her to the curses, the vituperation and all the other kinds of abuse she’s sure to encounter there at the center of the world?’

The Anari smiled. ‘Thou hast misperceived Xanetia, Itagne of Matherion. Doth she truly seem so much a child to thee? Would thy mind be more easy if thou wert aware that she is well past her first century of life?’

Itagne stared at him and then at Xanetia, who sat quietly near the window. ‘You are a strange people, Anari,’ he said. ‘I’d have guessed her age at no more than sixteen years.’

‘It is impolite to speculate about a lady’s age, Itagne of Matherion,’ the pale woman smiled.

‘Forgive me, Anarae,’ Itagne replied with a courtly bow.

‘His Excellency here has raised a fairly important point, Anari,’ Vanion said. The Preceptor’s face was still marked by the pain of the previous day’s conversation with Sephrenia. ‘The lady’s appearance won’t go unnoticed – not only in Matherion itself, but along the
roads we’ll have to follow as we ride east as well. Is there some way we could disguise her enough so that whole villages won’t go into absolute panic the moment she rides by?’ He looked apologetically at the Delphaeic woman. ‘I wouldn’t offend you for the world, Anarae, but you
are
very striking.’

‘I thank thee for the compliment, gentle sir.’

‘Do you want to take over, Sparhawk?’ Vanion said. ‘I just seem to be digging myself in deeper.’

‘We’re soldiers, Xanetia,’ Sparhawk said bluntly, ‘and our answer to hostility is fairly direct. We can butcher our way from here to the imperial palace in Matherion if we have to, but I get the feeling that you might find that distressing. Would a disguise of some kind offend you?’ Then a thought came to him. ‘
Can
we disguise you? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you glow. Some of your people have come fairly close to us before the light started to show. Can your internal fire be dampened?’

‘We can control the light, Anakha,’ Cedon assured him, ‘and Xanetia, the most gifted of us all, can control it even better than most – though it doth cause her pain to do so. For us, it is an unnatural thing.’

‘We’ll have to work on that, then.’

‘The pain is of no moment, Anakha,’ Xanetia assured him.

‘Not to you, perhaps, but it is to me. Let’s start with your coloration, though. Your features are Tamul, but your skin and hair are the wrong color. What do you think, Itagne? Could she pass for Tamul if we dyed her skin and hair?’

‘That is not needful, Anakha,’ Xanetia told him. Her brow furrowed briefly in concentration, and gradually, almost like a slow blush, a faint golden tint began to mount in her cheeks, and her hair slipped from its colorless white into pale blonde. ‘Color is a quality of light,’
she explained quite calmly, even as the embronzing of her skin and the darkening of her hair continued, ‘and since I can control the light from within me, so can I also control my color – indeed, by thus altering the light rather than suppressing it entirely, I can lessen the pain. A most happy solution for me – and for thee as well, I wot, since thou seemest sensitive to the pain of others. This is a simple matter.’ Her skin by now was almost the same pale gold as Itagne’s, and her hair was a deep, rich auburn. ‘The change of shape is far more difficult,’ she conceded, ‘and the change of gender more difficult still.’

‘The
what?
’ Itagne choked.

‘I do not do that often – nor willingly,’ she replied. ‘Edaemus did not intend for me to be a man, and I find it most uncomfortable. A man’s body is so cluttered and untidy.’ She held out her arm and examined it closely. ‘The color seemeth me correct,’ she observed. Then she took a lock of her now-black hair and looked at it. ‘And this as well,’ she added. ‘What thinkest thou, Itagne? Would I pass unnoticed in Matherion now?’

‘Hardly, divine Xanetia,’ he smiled. ‘Thy passage through the streets of fire-domed Matherion would stop the hearts of all who beheld thee, for thou art fair, and thy beauty doth bedazzle mine eye beyond all measure.’

‘Well said,’ Sparhawk murmured.

‘Thine honeyed words fall sweetly upon mine ears, Itagne,’ Xanetia smiled. ‘Thou art, I do believe, a master of flattery.’

‘You should probably know that Itagne is a diplomat, Anarae,’ Vanion advised her, ‘and his words aren’t always to be trusted. This time he’s telling you the truth, though. You’re an extraordinarily beautiful woman.’

She looked at him gravely. ‘Thine heart is sore within thee, is it not, Lord Vanion?’ she observed.

He sighed. ‘It’s my personal problem, Anarae,’ he replied.

‘Not entirely so, my Lord. Now are we all of the same fellowship, and the troubles of one are the troubles of all. But that which troubleth thee is of far greater note and causeth us all much greater concern than that which might grow from our comradely feelings for thee. This breach between thy beloved and thee doth imperil our cause, and until it be healed, our common purpose doth stand in peril.’

They rode eastward, following a scarcely perceptible track which seemed more like a game trail than a route normally followed by humans. Sephrenia, accompanied by Bevier and young Berit, rode some distance to the rear, her face set and her eyes as hard as flint.

Sparhawk and Vanion rode in the lead, following occasional directions from Xanetia, who rode directly behind them under Kalten’s watchful eye. ‘Just give her some time, Vanion,’ Sparhawk was saying. ‘Women deliver ultimatums and declarations of war fairly often. Things like that are usually intended to get our attention. Any time I start neglecting Ehlana, she says something she doesn’t really mean to bring me up short.’

‘I’m afraid this goes a little further than that, Sparhawk,’ Vanion replied. ‘Sephrenia’s a Styric, but she’s never been so totally irrational before. If we could find out what’s behind this insane hatred of hers, we might be able to do something about it, but we’ve never been able to get any coherent reasons out of her. Apparently, she hates the Delphae simply because she hates the Delphae.’

‘Aphrael will straighten it out,’ Sparhawk said confidently. ‘As soon as we get back to Matherion, I’ll have a talk with Danae, and…’ Sparhawk broke off as a sudden thought chilled his blood. ‘I have to talk with
Xanetia,’ he said, abruptly wheeling Faran around.

‘Trouble?’ Kalten asked as Sparhawk joined them.

‘Nothing immediate,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘Why don’t you go on ahead and ride with Vanion for a while. I need to talk with Xanetia.’

Kalten gave him a questioning look but rode on forward without any further questions.

‘Thou art troubled, Anakha,’ Xanetia observed.

‘A little, yes. You know what I’m thinking, don’t you?’

She nodded.

‘Then you know who my daughter is?’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s a sort of secret, Anarae. Aphrael didn’t consult with my wife when she chose her present incarnation. It’s very important that Ehlana doesn’t find out. I think her sanity depends on it.’

‘Thy secret is safe, Anakha, I do pledge thee my silence on this issue.’

‘What really happened, Xanetia? – between the Styrics and the Delphae, I mean. I don’t want your version or Sephrenia’s. I want the truth.’

‘Thou art not meant to know the truth, Anakha. A part of thy task is to resolve this issue without recourse to the truth.’

‘I’m an Elene, Xanetia,’ he said in a pained voice. ‘I
have
to have facts in order to make decisions.’

‘Then it is thine intent to judge? – to decide if the guilt doth condemn the Styrics or the Delphae?’

‘No. My intent is to get to the bottom of Sephrenia’s behavior so that I can change her mind.’

‘Is she so important to thee?’

‘Why do you ask questions when you already know the answers?’

‘My questions are intended to help
thee
formulate
thy
thought, Anakha.’

‘I’m a Pandion Knight, Xanetia. Sephrenia’s been the mother of our order for three centuries. Any one of us would give up his life for her without any hesitation at all. We love her, but we don’t share all of her prejudices.’ He leaned back in his saddle. ‘I’ll only wait for so long, Xanetia. If I don’t get the real truth out of you – or out of Sephrenia – I’ll just ask Bhelliom.’

‘Thou wouldst
not
!’ Her now-dark eyes were filled with a sudden chagrin.

‘I’m a soldier, Xanetia, so I don’t have the patience for subtlety. You’ll excuse me? I have to go talk with Sephrenia for a moment.’

‘Dirgis,’ Xanetia told them as they crested a hill and saw a typical Atan town lying in the valley below.

‘Well,
finally,
’ Vanion said, taking out his map. ‘Now we know where we are.’ He looked over his map for a moment and then squinted up at the evening sky. ‘Is it too late in the day for us to take one of those long steps, Sparhawk?’

‘No, my Lord,’ Sparhawk replied. There’s plenty of light.’

‘Are we still concerned about that?’ Ulath asked. ‘Haven’t you and Bhelliom hammered that out yet?’

‘We haven’t been having any private chats,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘There are still people out there who can locate Bhelliom when it’s out in the open, so I’ve been keeping it inside its little house – just to be on the safe side.’

‘It’s well over three hundred leagues, Sparhawk,’ Vanion pointed out. ‘It’s going to be later there.’

‘I’m never going to get used to that,’ Kalten said sourly.

‘It’s really very simple, Kalten,’ Ulath told him. ‘You see, when the sun goes down in Matherion, it’s still…’

‘Please, Ulath,’ Kalten told him, ‘don’t try to explain
it to me. It just makes things worse. When people start to explain it, I sometimes think I can actually feel the world moving under me. I don’t like that very much. Just tell me that it’s later there, and let it go at that. I don’t really need to know
why
it’s later.’

‘He’s a perfect knight,’ Khalad told his brother. ‘He doesn’t even
want
explanations.’

‘Look on the bright side of it, Khalad,’ Talen replied. ‘After we’ve gone through the wonderful training they’ve got planned for us, we’ll be exactly like Kalten. Think how much easier life’s going to be for us when we don’t have to understand anything at all.’