by Lisa Shearin
I didn’t know whether to be insulted at his less-than-glowing assessment of my former abilities, or concerned by his accuracy. But it was his last opinion that struck the nerve.
“No one ever asked me if I wanted to play, Paladin Eiliesor. I’m a seeker. A good one. Aside from that, I can defend myself, and I have a couple of parlor tricks up my sleeves. That’s all I knew until two days ago. Many in this town wouldn’t mind having what I have now. I’d like nothing better than to pitch this piece of metal in the nearest canal, but I can’t.”
The Guardian looked puzzled. “Can’t?”
“Can’t. Remember an hour after I left Stocken’s warehouse? You said you sensed the beacon again?”
“Yes.”
“That’s when I tried to take it off. It was like having a lightning bolt strapped to my neck. It almost killed me. I’ve had to wear it ever since.”
Eiliesor searched my face for signs of something only he knew. He took his time doing it, and the intense scrutiny of a gorgeous, silk-robed Conclave Guardian made me want to squirm. I resisted that impulse, as well as some hands-on urges that were trying to get my attention. I really hoped Eiliesor wasn’t a mind reader, too. I’d had enough embarrassment tonight.
“That’s impossible,” he said after what seemed an eternity. “Eamaliel keyed it to himself. No one else should be able to use it.”
“I’m not trying to use it. And I don’t know this Eamaliel person or care about his taste in jewelry. I just want to know how to get this thing off without it killing me.”
“And you can’t?”
For some reason, that single, simple fact just wasn’t getting through to him.
“I think we’ve established that,” I said, rapidly losing what little patience I came with. “Why shouldn’t I be able to take it off?”
“From what I’ve learned, your partner, whose name is Quentin Rand, since you seem to have forgotten, is a gifted thief, but not the best. Sarad Nukpana could have done better. A goblin loyal to the Khrynsani cause would have been a more logical choice. I don’t think Nukpana chose your partner, Mistress Benares. And neither do you. He called you by name in that warehouse for a reason.” He took a step toward me. “I want to know what that reason is.”
I didn’t move, but I was more than ready to. “So do I. I have no idea how Sarad Nukpana knows me. I don’t want to know him. That’s the truth.”
“Your involvement in this goes much further than you believe.” Eiliesor’s voice had lost some of its edge. Maybe he had some sympathy that my world had been kicked upside down and that a couple of those kicks had been his. “Sarad Nukpana knows the full extent of that involvement. I don’t. I don’t believe you do either, but I will find out.”
I had no doubt that he would.
His eyes were on mine. “Tell me about your father.”
Sarad Nukpana’s words from just hours before came back to me. I didn’t want them to.
“I never knew him, and my mother died when I was less than a year old. What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has much to do with everything. If you’re linked by blood to Eamaliel Anguis, it’s possible that the beacon would respond to you. It would also be possible for you to have direct contact with the Saghred without any of the usual side effects.”
“Side effects?”
“Contact with the Saghred causes delusions, insanity, then death. But during that time, the wielder is capable of channeling the stone’s full power. You’ve used the Saghred, yet you’re completely unaffected. That tells me only one thing.”
“Only one?” I heard myself ask. Then again, maybe I didn’t hear it. Maybe I was being delusional.
“That you are somehow related to Eamaliel Anguis. It would have to be a close link, within at least two generations, closer would be more effective. Did Prince Chigaru tell you anything about him?”
“Only that he’s been dead for about nine hundred years. That’s a little old to be related to me by less than two generations.”
“Eamaliel’s missing, not dead,” Eiliesor corrected. “In addition to being a link to the Saghred, the beacon is a lifemarker. Eamaliel had the beacon keyed only to him. If he died, the link to the beacon would be severed, as would the beacon’s link to the Saghred. Events of the past two days have shown that link remains. If the link remains, so does Eamaliel.”
That remark had implications I wasn’t prepared to deal with anytime soon. I knew who my mother was; and according to Garadin, she wasn’t a nine-hundred-year-old elven mage turned Conclave Guardian. She was a talented sorceress, but she hadn’t been that good. If she’d been better, she would still be alive. That left the possibility that Eamaliel Angius was my father. That possibility was disturbing, but the other was too horrible to contemplate. Unfortunately, I contemplated it before I could stop myself.
“Nine hundred years old?” I whispered.
“It’s not unheard of for links with objects of power to lengthen life. The Saghred is known for it.”
Not unheard of in his world maybe. It was a good thing I was sitting down. Thoughts and questions darted in panicked circles in my head, running into each other. One question managed to stay on its feet. I wondered how my blood could run cold if I hadn’t brought my blood with me.
I heard Mychael Eiliesor’s voice as if from another room. “Mistress Benares?”
“Raine,” I finally heard myself say. “Call me Raine. You might as well.”
Eiliesor knelt in front of my chair. “Are you all right?”
“Sure.” I spoke from a daze. I was everything but all right, and I didn’t think I’d ever be all right again. I forced myself to take a deep breath. I didn’t ask for any of this, I certainly didn’t want any of this, but I had it, and there was nothing to be done but to deal with it. My screaming fit would have to wait a little longer.
“Tell me,” I said, forcing my voice to be steady. I wished I felt the same.
“Excuse me?”
“Tell me everything you know about the Saghred and Eamaliel Anguis.” My fear was giving way to anger. I welcomed it with open arms. I knew what to do with anger. “You know, Nukpana knows, the Mal’Salins know. I even think one of my goblin friends knows. I don’t like the dark and I’m tired of being kept there. So tell me.”
Eiliesor considered me for a moment. I patiently waited, and looked back at him. His sea blue eyes were just as beautiful, but no longer as intimidating. I wasn’t surprised by my sudden calm. It’s easy to be patient when you’re about to get what you want.
He stood and went to sit on the corner of the bed closest to me, his back against the bedpost. “You know the events that led up to the Guardians taking the Saghred from King Omari Mal’Salin.” It was a confirmation, not a question.
I nodded.
“Eamaliel Anguis led the team who recovered it. When he returned to Mid, the survivors of that team and a few select Guardians tried to destroy the Saghred. They failed. Lucius Cavan, the Conclave Archmagus at that time, ordered Eamaliel to hide the Saghred to keep it out of the wrong hands. Eamaliel didn’t want to spend the rest of his life sealed in a vault, so he had a beacon made so he could guard the stone from a distance. But rather than an open beacon, which would allow anyone who wore it to find the Saghred, he had it keyed to himself.”
“Not very trusting.”
“He had reason,” Eiliesor said.
“Lucius Cavan tried to take it?”
“He wasn’t even the first in line.”
Garadin always said a man didn’t have to have power to be corrupted, but it sure happened faster when he did.
“Eamaliel expected it,” Eiliesor said. “But when he hid the Saghred, he did the same with himself. Lucius charged Eamaliel with desertion, but Eamaliel didn’t see it that way. The Saghred was his charge, his duty. There were others on Mid to take his place there, only he had the connection to the Saghred. So, he devoted his life to guarding it. That was nine hundred years ago. Neither have been he
ard from again, until rumors surfaced a few months ago. As a protector of Eamaliel’s legacy, I take those rumors—and my duty—very seriously.”
His expression was just as serious. Cancel that, it was downright grim.
“And that duty is?” I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know.
“Find the beacon, find the Saghred, and return both to Mid.”
A question occurred to me. “If only Eamaliel can use the beacon, how were you planning to find the Saghred—that is, until I came along?”
“Eamaliel keyed the beacon to himself,” Eiliesor said. “So we’ve had to do it the hard way. As a seeker, I’m sure you’re aware that when something is moved, it leaves a trail, both magical and mundane. We followed both. They led us here.”
“And your mundane trail included…?”
“People see and hear things. People talk.”
“In other words, old-fashioned footwork. I do a lot of that myself.”
The Guardian shrugged. “Time consuming, but it gets the job done. Unfortunately the Khrynsani know as much as we do. And as far as your connection to Eamaliel goes, it appears Sarad Nukpana knows more. We’ve traced the Saghred to Mermeia, but no farther.”
“Mermeia’s not small.”
“We’ve noticed.” He paused. “There’s only so much more we can do on our own. Will you help us find the Saghred?”
I leaned back in the chair. “Chigaru Mal’Salin asked me to do the same thing last night.”
“I’m not Chigaru Mal’Salin.”
“I noticed.”
“The only way to remove the beacon is to find the Saghred.”
I kind of thought it’d be something like that.
“Just out of curiosity, what do you want with the Saghred?” I asked the Guardian. “Everyone else has plans once they get their hands on it. What are yours?”
“To keep it out of anyone’s hands,” he said. “If you agree to help us find it, we’ll decide if it’s secure in its present resting place. I would rather not disturb it unless it’s absolutely necessary. To move it means drawing attention to it.”
“And that would be bad.”
“Very much so. Lucius may be long dead, but there are others eager to take his place. If the Saghred is secure, we will leave it where it lies, along with your beacon, of course. If the beacon behaves normally, once it is touching the object to which it was keyed, you will be able to remove it.”
“Let me see if I understand this. I have to touch something called Soul Thief before I can take this thing off?”
“That is the way a beacon typically works.”
“That’s not the way I work, typically or otherwise.”
“The other option is to go though the rest of your life, greatly abbreviated though it would be, with the beacon hanging around your neck. I wouldn’t advise that option.”
“And if it isn’t in a secure location?” I asked, though I was almost certain I didn’t want to know the answer.
“Then we have the means to take it with us,” Eiliesor said. “There is a chest which held the Saghred during its time on the Isle of Mid. We brought it with us.”
“The Saghred and the beacon both in the chest.”
“That is correct.”
“But not me.” I wanted confirmation on that point.
Eiliesor’s lips creased in a smile. “Your presence would not be required.”
“And I would be free to go.”
“Yes.”
Best news I’d had in days.
He stood in a whisper of silk. “May I see the beacon?”
Unlike the goblin prince, Mychael Eiliesor asked nicely enough. I stood and pulled the beacon from its hiding place under my shirt, and held it by its chain. It was completely solid and it shouldn’t have been. I wasn’t here, so it shouldn’t be either. That should have bothered me, but it didn’t. I was already way beyond bothered.
Eiliesor closed the distance between us in two strides. I would have backed up, but there was the small matter of a chair behind me and only his silk robe between us. It was a very nice robe. Matched his eyes.
He reached out to touch the slowly spinning disk, but stopped just short of making physical contact. Like Janek, Mychael Eiliesor didn’t get to where he was by being stupid.
“Not very impressive, is it?” I managed. Suddenly there wasn’t nearly enough air in the room. “Looks can be deceiving.”
His blue eyes were on mine. “I’m not easily deceived, and I am impressed.”
I was talking about the beacon. I don’t think he was.
He looked down at the disk. “Eamaliel chose a perfect disguise,” he murmured in admiration.
I closed my fingers around the disk and dropped it into the front of my shirt. For a moment, I thought Eiliesor was going to go in after it. My look stopped him.
“A disguise isn’t worth much if everyone knows what it is,” I told him. “Too many people want to get their hands on this thing. Since I can’t take it off, they want to get their hands on me. I can’t let that happen.”
“And it won’t,” the Guardian assured me.
I didn’t like his tone. Or the narrowing of his eyes. It painted pictures of me being tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried off to Mid. I chose to ignore that thought for now, and tried even harder to ignore that I think I liked that thought. For now I had the very real and immediate problems of getting Eamaliel’s handiwork from around my neck and keeping myself from becoming anyone else’s permanent guest.
Too much to do in one night. And too much to do by myself. I was good, but I did have limits. I looked up at the Guardian. I didn’t need the beacon’s help to tell me exactly what he was thinking.
“I want to put you under protective custody,” Eiliesor said.
There was a lot of that going around.
“That would involve me locked in a room with a bunch of Guardians outside, right?”
One corner of his mouth tipped upward. “I believe two would be sufficient.”
“I’ve made other arrangements.”
“The same arrangements you had last night?”
“No, these are new and improved arrangements.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it’d have to do until I came up with something else.
“I should hope so,” Eiliesor said. “As long as you wear that beacon, I can’t allow you to remain unprotected. I can’t risk Nukpana capturing you.”
“You mean capturing the beacon.”
“Unfortunately, you and the beacon are one and the same.”
“Unfortunate is right,” I muttered.
“Nukpana knows what you’re capable of now. He was caught off guard once.” Eiliesor gave me a level look. “He won’t be caught unawares again.”
He was right. I didn’t want to admit it, but I certainly couldn’t deny it. I just nodded. A couple of Guardians to watch my back might not be all that bad. The blond one I had met last night seemed like a nice, homicidal sort. And it wasn’t like Eiliesor could act immediately on any impulse he might have toward keeping me prisoner. Since my body was still onboard the Fortune, he couldn’t keep me here against my will. At least I didn’t think so. Then again, a lot of what I deemed impossible two days ago had turned out to be all too possible. The way my luck had been running, this would turn out to be one of them. And if I looked in those blue eyes for much longer, I might decide house arrest was a simply wonderful idea.
“I’m not opposed to a little extra protection,” I said. “The only way I can protect myself from Nukpana and his like is by running or using the Saghred, or more accurately, letting it use me. It happened last night, and I never want it to happen again.”
“Then we’re in agreement. I’ll have a few of my men keep you under surveillance.”
“A tentative agreement,” I clarified, like I could stop him from having me followed. “I have family and friends who I won’t endanger any longer. Some are capable of protecting themselves; some are not. Nukpana wouldn’t hesitat
e to use them to get to me. I can’t allow that to happen, either.”
“The young spellsinger?” Eiliesor asked.
I nodded. I didn’t like the way Sarad Nukpana had looked at Piaras last night. I liked it even less knowing what I knew about Sarad Nukpana.
“I can provide protection.”
“Thank you,” I said, and meant it. “My family is taking care of it. But I do appreciate your offer.”
“I appreciate your cooperation.” His voice was oddly gentle. At least he seemed to realize that he had just turned what was left of my life upside down. I think he expected a fight from me. I would have liked to have given him one, but the truth was I needed to save my fight for when it was really necessary. Sarad Nukpana was out there.
“I’ll meet you tonight at a nightclub called Sirens off Heron Row in the Sorcerers District,” I told him. “Do you know it?”
“I do.”
“I’ll be there at nine bells.” I managed a grin. “With a few family members, of course.”
“Of course.”
I had one more question, but was more than a little embarrassed to ask.
The Guardian sensed my dilemma. “Yes?”
“How do I get back to where I am?”
I heard voices talking.
At first there was one, then I could distinguish two. Thankfully, I knew them. It meant I was waking up in the same place where I had fallen asleep. I liked it when that happened.
“Let me get this straight,” Phaelan was saying. “You tackled Chigaru Mal’Salin, kicked his guards, and later decked a sentry?”
I slowly opened one eye. The other side of my face was still firmly buried in the pillow. Phaelan was grinning from ear to ear. From the other side of the cabin, Piaras’s own expression was a perfect match as he nodded.
He was sitting cross-legged on Phaelan’s bunk. The bruise was fading nicely, the swelling all but gone. It looked like Phaelan’s ship’s healer had been in while I slept. Considering what had happened last night, he looked amazingly calm. While I still had the urge to keep him safe, I no longer felt as much of a need to protect him, if that made any sense. The Piaras who woke up on the Fortune was a more mature version. He wore it well.
