Stone of Tears tsot-2

by Terry Goodkind

  Zedd shifted irritably on his bench. “Ahern, I think you’re simply trying to boost price.”

  “And I think you’re trying to lower it.”

  Zedd let his slightest smile touch his lips. “I don’t think it as difficult a job as you make it.”

  Ahern’s frown returned. “You think it easy?”

  Zedd shrugged. “You drive in the winter now. I simply want you to drive in a different direction, that’s all.”

  Ahern leaned forward, his jaw muscles tightening. “Well, the direction you want to go in is trouble! First of all, there are rumors of civil war in Nicobarese. Worse, the shortest way, unless you want to spend weeks going to the passes far to the south, is across Galea.”

  His voice lowered. “There’s trouble between Galea and Kelton. I hear tell there’s fighting along the border. Keltish towns have been sacked. The people here in Penverro are nervous, what with being so close to the border with Galea. It’s all the talk. Going into Galea is sure trouble.”

  “Fighting? Wagging tongues of gossips. The war is ended. The D’Haran troops have been called home.”

  Ahern slowly shook his head. “Not D’Haran raids. Galean.”

  “Piffle!” Zedd snapped. “Keltans think it’s a Galean attack every time a farmer knocks a lantern over and a barn catches fire, and the Galeans see Keltans every time a lamb is taken by wolves. I’d like to have the price of all the arrows that have been shot into shadows.” He shook a finger at the man. “If either Kelton or Galea were to attack the other, the Central Council would have the heads of those who spoke the orders, no matter who they were!” He thumped his cane. “It would not be allowed!”

  Ahern shrank back a little. “I don’t know anything about politics, and less about those wicked Confessors. I just know that going through Galea can get a man shot full of arrows coming out of those shadows. What you want is not as easy as you think.”

  Zedd was tiring of the game. He didn’t have time for this. Something Adie had said was nagging at the back of his mind. Something about light. Deciding to resolve the discussion one way or the other, he drained his tea in one gulp.

  “Thank you for conversation, Ahern. But I can see you’re not the man able to get me to Nicobarese.”

  He rose, reaching for his hat. Ahern laid a big paw on Zedd’s arm and urged him down. He squirmed forward on his bench.

  “Look, Ruben, times have been hard. The war with D’Hara disrupted trade. Kelton was spared the brunt of the war, but many of our neighbors weren’t. It’s hard to trade with dead people. There’s not as much cargo as there used to be, but we still have more than enough men wanting to haul. You can’t blame a fellow for trying to get his best price when an opportunity comes along.” His eyebrows lifted as he leaned in a little more. “Trying to get the best price for the best fruit, as it were.”

  “Best fruit indeed.” Zedd waved his hand impatiently toward the room. “Any one of these men will gladly offer to hire out. Any one of them can offer me a boastful story just as good as yours, as to why they would be the best driver. You’re working up to asking top price. That’s fair enough, but stop playing games with me, Ahern. I want to know why I should pay it.”

  With the tip of one thick finger, Ahern slid his cup to the middle of the table, indicating he wanted a refill. Zedd smoothed out his sleeves before obliging him. Ahern drew his cup into the protective shroud of his big arms as he leaned in. He glanced around the room.

  Everyone was watching the bard sing a love song to one of the serving girls. He was holding her hand, singing words of eternal devotion. The girl’s face was red. She held her tray behind her back with her other hand as she studied her feet and giggled.

  Ahern extracted a chain with a silver medallion from under his green flannel shirt. “The reason I want top price is because of this.”

  Zedd frowned down his nose at the regal image on the medallion. “That looks to be Galean.”

  Ahern gave a single nod. “In the spring and summer, D’Hara laid siege to Ebinissia. The Galeans were slowly being choked to death, and no one would help them. Everyone had troubles of their own, with the D’Harans, and didn’t want a piece of theirs. The people there needed weapons.

  “I took loads of weapons, and some badly needed salt, up through some of the more isolated passes. The Galean guard had offered to escort any who would risk the run, but few took the offer. Those back passes are treacherous.”

  Zedd lifted an eyebrow. “Very noble of you.”

  “Nothing noble to it. They paid handsomely. I just didn’t like to see them folks trapped like that. Especially knowing what D’Haran soldiers do to those they vanquish. Anyway, I reasoned that some Keltish swords might give them a better chance to defend themselves, that’s all. Like I said, we make the best.”

  Zedd lifted a hand from where it was folded over his cane, and gestured to the medallion, now back under Ahern’s shirt. “So what is that about?”

  “After the siege was lifted, I was called before the Galean court. Queen Cyrilla herself gave this to me. She said I had helped her people defend themselves, and I was always welcome in Galea.” He tapped his chest, where the medallion hung under his shirt. “This is a royal pass. It says I may go anywhere I wish in Galea, unhindered.”

  “And so now,” Zedd said, looking up from under his eyebrows, “you wish to put a price on something that is priceless.”

  Ahern’s eyes narrowed. “What I did was a small bit; they bore the brunt of the hardship. I helped those people because they needed help, and because I was paid well. I’m not claiming to be a hero. I did it for both reasons. I wouldn’t have done it for one alone. Now I have this pass, and if it will help me to make a living, well, I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

  Zedd leaned back. “You’re right, Ahern. The Galeans, after all, put a price in gold to your work for them. I shall, too, if I can. Name your price to take us to Nicobarese.”

  The teacup looked tiny in Ahern’s big hands as he rolled it back and forth. “Thirty gold. Not one less.”

  Zedd arched an eyebrow. “My, my. Don’t we think a lot of ourselves.”

  “I can get us there, and that’s my price. Thirty gold.”

  “Twenty now, ten more when you get us to Aydindril.”

  “Aydindril! You never said anything about Aydindril. I don’t want anything to do with Aydindril, with their wizards and Confessors. Besides, we’d have to cross the Rang’Shada again!”

  “You will have to cross anyway to come back here. So you cross in the north. It’s hardly out of your way. If you don’t like the offer, then I’ll offer twenty to take us to Nicobarese, and I’m sure I can find someone there more than willing to take us to Aydindril for the other ten, if we even need carriage after my wife is healed. If you want all thirty, then I’ll commit to it now, if you agree to take us all the way. That’s my offer.”

  Ahern rolled his cup back and forth. “All right. To Aydindril. Twenty now, ten in Aydindril.” He pointed a meaty finger in Zedd’s direction. “But you have to agree to one condition.”

  “Such as?”

  Ahern’s finger moved, to point at Zedd’s red hat. “You can’t wear that hat. That feather will spook the horses sure.”

  Zedd’s wrinkly cheeks spread in a grin. “One condition of my own, then.” Ahern cocked his head. “You have to tell my wife that it’s your condition.”

  Ahern grinned back. “Done.” His grin vanished as quickly as it had come. “This isn’t going to be an easy journey, Ruben, up into and across those mountains. I have a coach I bought with my earnings from hauling to Ebinissia. I can mount runners to it. Make easier going in the deep snow.” He tapped a finger against the side of the cup. “Now, the gold?”

  The bard’s fingers danced across the strings, playing an enthralling tune without words. Practically every toe in the room was moving in time with it, adding a drumlike accompaniment. Zedd reached into his robes and put a hand around the two purses of silver coins. He watch
ed the room without seeing it.

  And then the wizard did again that which he had had to do far too often of late: he channeled a warm flow of magic into the bags of silver coins—and changed them to gold.

  But what choice did he have? To fail in this endeavor was to see the world of the living die. He hoped he was not simply providing himself justification for an act he knew was dangerous.

  “Nothing is ever easy,” he muttered under his breath.

  “What was that?”

  “I said I know it’s not easy, this journey.” He plunked the dark brown bag of gold on the table. “This should make it possible. Twenty now, as agreed.”

  Ahern pulled open the draw top and put two big fingers into the bag, counting, while Zedd idly watched people enjoying the food and drink and music. He was anxious to be off to Nicobarese.

  “This some kind of joke?”

  Zedd brought his attention back to Ahern. With two fingers, the big man drew a coin from the bag and flicked it across the table. The coin spun with a dull color before finally toppling over, making a sound just as dull. Zedd stared incredulously.

  The coin looked just like an ordinary coin. Except it was wood instead of gold.

  “I . . . I . . . well . . .”

  Ahern had poured the rest of the gold coins into his big mitt and was now letting them tumble back into the purse. “And there are only eighteen here. You’re two short. I’m not taking wooden coins.”

  Zedd smiled indulgently as he pulled the light brown purse from his robes. “I apologize, Ahern.” He swept the wooden coin from the table. “It would seem I gave you the wrong purse, the one with my lucky coin. I would never give that away, of course. It’s more valuable to me than gold.”

  He peered into his purse. Seventeen. And two of those were wood, too. There should have been nineteen, altogether. His mind reeled as he tried to make sense of it. Could Master Hillman have tried to short him? No, that would be too clumsy a theft. Besides, to carve a coin from wood, hoping to pass it off as gold, would be witless.

  “My other two gold?”

  “Oh yes, yes.” Zedd pulled two gold coins from the purse and slid them across the table.

  Ahern added them to his purse, jerked the drawstring tight, and stuffed the dark brown bag into a pocket. “I’m at your bidding, now. When would you like to leave?”

  The silver coins that were turned to wood instead of gold did not concern the wizard; that could be explained. Somehow. But there were three coins missing. Vanished. That could not be explained. That did concern him. Concern him down to the bones in his toes.

  “I would like to leave as soon as possible. At once.”

  “You mean tomorrow?”

  Zedd snatched up his hat. “No, I mean at once.” He glanced at the man’s puzzled frown. “My wife . . . there is no time to waste. She needs to get to her healers.”

  Ahern shrugged. “Well, I just got back from Tristen. I’ll need to catch a little sleep. It’s going to be a long, hard run.”

  Zedd reluctantly nodded his acquiescence. “First I’ll put the runners on the coach. That’ll take a couple of hours. Less if I can get one of these fellows to help me.”

  Zedd thumped his cane. “No! Tell no one what you’re doing, or where you’re going. Don’t even tell anyone you’re leaving.” He snapped his mouth shut when he saw Ahern’s frown, and thought he had better say something to ease it. “Those shadows you spoke of. Does no good to let them know where to point an arrow.”

  Ahern stared down suspiciously as he stood to his full, towering height, drawing his longcoat on. “First you talk me into taking you to the accursed land of wizards and Confessors, and now this. I think I asked too little.” He flicked the ends of the coat’s belt together into a loose knot. “But a bargain is a bargain. I’ll get the coach set up, and get some provisions together before I snatch a little sleep. I’ll meet you back here three hours before dawn. We’ll be across the border and into Galea before midday tomorrow.”

  “I have a horse at the stables. We might as well take her along. Stop by and fetch her before you come for us.” Zedd dismissed the man with an absent wave of his cane. “Three hours before dawn.”

  His mind was racing in other directions. This was more serious than he had thought. It was imperative that they have help as soon as possible. Maybe the woman in Nicobarese who had had the three daughters had studied somewhere, perhaps someplace closer. Maybe they could find what they needed without going all that way. Time was of the essence.

  The light only knows, Adie had said, where the woman had learned about the skrin. The “light” was a common reference to the gift. It was also an obscure reference to something else entirely. He thumped his cane on the floor. Must Adie always speak in sorceress’s riddles!

  As Ahern headed for the door, the wizard rose and headed for the stairs.

  Chapter 35

  Zedd opened the door to be confronted by a haze of smoke that smelled of creosote. The window was opened, letting in icy cold air, and letting out the smoke. Adie sat on the bed, wrapped nearly to her neck in a blanket, brushing her straight, black and gray, jaw-length hair.

  “What’s going on? What happened?”

  She pointed with the hairbrush. “I be cold. I tried to start a fire.”

  Zedd glanced to the hearth. “You need wood, Adie. You can’t have a fire without wood.”

  He expected a scowl. Instead, it was a look of disquiet. “There be wood. I used magic, to try to light the fire from where I be in bed. But there be a big puff of smoke and sparks. I opened the window to let out the smoke. When I looked to the hearth, the logs be gone.”

  Zedd stepped closer to her. “Gone?”

  She nodded and went back to brushing. “Something be wrong. Wrong with my gift.”

  Zedd stroked a hand down her hair. “I know. I had a similar problem. It must be the taint.” He sat and took the brush from her hand, setting it down. “Adie, what can you tell me about this taint, about the skrin? We must have answers.”

  “I have already told you all I know. The skrin be force on the cusp between the world of the living and the world of the dead.”

  “But why won’t the cut heal? Why won’t my magic work to heal it? What made the logs disappear when you used magic?”

  “Skrin be from both worlds. Do you not see?” She shook her head in frustration. “Skrin be magic, magic of both worlds, so it can work in both worlds. Additive and Subtractive. We be touched by that force. The taint be Subtractive.”

  “You mean that you think the taint of Subtractive Magic is corrupting our magic? Our gift?”

  She nodded. “It be like you have just cleaned ashes from a hearth with your bare hands, and without washing them clean you try to hang up freshly washed white sheets to dry. Your hands be tainted with the ash, and it gets on the clean, damp, white sheets. Sticks to them.”

  Zedd silently considered the problem for a time. “Adie,” he whispered, “we must somehow clean our hands. Wash the taint away.”

  “You have a talent for stating the obvious, old man.”

  Zedd checked his tongue and took a different tack. “Adie, I hired us a coach to take us to Nicobarese, but you’re getting weaker, and I’m not going to be long behind. I don’t know if we can wait. If there’s another way, maybe someone else closer who can help us, I must know.”

  “There be no other way. There be no one else.”

  “Well, what about this woman who had the three daughters? Perhaps she studied somewhere closer to learn some of these things. Maybe we could go there, instead.”

  “It not be a help.”

  “Why not?”

  Adie considered him a moment, and at last yielded. “She studied with the Sisters of the Light.”

  Zedd shot to his feet. “What!” He paced back and forth between the bed and the fireplace. “Bags and double bags! I knew it. I knew it!”

  “Zedd, she studied with them to learn. Then she returned home. She not be a Sister. The S
isters not be so . . . unreasonable . . . as you think.”

  He halted to peer at her with one eye. “And how would you know that?”

  Adie gave a resigned sigh. “The round skrin bone, the one that be given to me just before the woman died, the one I told you be important, the one we lost back at my house . . . the gifted woman who gave it to me be a Sister of the Light.”

  “And what was she doing in the New World?” Zedd asked in a level tone.

  “She not be in the New World. I be in the Old World, at the time.”

  Zedd put both fists on his hips as he leaned toward her.

  “You crossed the Valley of the Lost? You went into the Old World! You’re just filled right up full with little secrets.”

  Adie shrugged with one shoulder. “I told you I searched out women with the gift, to learn from them what I could. Some of them be in the Old World. I used my one passing through the valley and back to learn what I could of what I needed to know.”

  Adie snugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “The Sisters, some of them, taught me the little bits they knew. Important little bits. The Sisters view it as their province to know about the Keeper, the Nameless One as they call him, in order to keep souls from his grasp.

  “I did not stay at their palace long; they would not let me stay unless I wished to be one of them, but for a time they let me study with them, study things in their vaults. There be Sisters in the palace I would not trust to cook me breakfast, but there be some who were great help.”

  Muttering, Zedd started pacing again. “The Sisters of the Light are misguided zealots. They make the Blood of the Fold look to be reasonable men!” He came to a halt. “And when you were there, did you see any of their boys? Did you see if they even had any with the gift?”

  “I had my own learning to attend to. I not be there to argue theology with the Sisters. That not be a wise thing to do. They did not let me have anything to do with their charges, if indeed they had any. I be sure that if they had any boys, they be ones from their side.