A donkey, eyeing an apple dangling in front of his nose, might he impelled in its direction, especially if whipped in its hindquarters by a stick. But my father was no donkey. He would not be tempted by a marriage alliance with Alonia, much less moved by King Kiritan's badly veiled threat of war.
'Surely,' my father added, staring at Count Dario, 'King Kiritan will succeed in controlling his barons, whether or not the Lightstone is brought into Tria. As you have said, they will remain loyal to him, won't they?'
Having rather neatly finessed Count Dario and his king's demand for the Lightstone, my father said, 'As for the conclave being held in Tria, it will be difficult to persuade the Valari kings to meet there.'
And with that, he turned toward one of these kings. This was King Kurshan of Lagash, who now stood on his long legs to address my father and all gathered in the hall. His blue tunic, embroidered with the white Tree of Life, fell about his long form as he turned his much-scarred visage toward my father and said, 'Tria is far from the Nine Kingdoms, as is Sakai. We Valari need not fear invasions from outland kings, be they the Lord of Lies or those who should be allies against him. No, our worst enemy will remain ourselves.'
King Kurshan, I thought, had the good grace not to publicly reveal his desire to make a marriage for
his
daughter to Asaru or me. I waited for him to say more.
'For far too long,' he continued, 'we Valari have made war against other Valari . .. because we have forgotten who we really are.'
He stared up at the Lightstone, and for a moment he seemed transported to another world. As he looked back at my father and resumed his speech, his words, too, seemed those of another world: "It is said that once we Valari sailed the heavens from star to star. Why can't we
do
so again? In two weeks, lords and kings from Lagash to Mesh wil meet in Nar at the great Tournament. Why can't we agree there, as one people, to build a fleet of ships such has never been seen in Ea? For it is said, too, that the waters of all worlds in the universe flow together. If we were to sail across the Alonian sea and into the ocean, we might find at last the Northern Passage to the worlds where the angels walk The Lightstone will show the way. It was meant for the hands of the Maitreya, yes - but surely not
only
for his hands.'
So saying, he sat back down in his chair. The hall was so quiet that I could almost hear the quick burn of his breath. No one seemed to know if he were more than a little mad - or touched with great dreams
For once my father seemed at a loss for words. Finally he smiled at King Kurshan and forced out, 'That... is a beautiful idea. Perhaps we
will
build ships to sail the heavens' starry sea. You are a man of vision.'
The ferocious-seeming King Kurshan returned his smile like a little boy praised for a painting he has made. Then my father's gaze swept out into the hall. His eyes fixed upon a table near its far end where three women dressed in white robes sat with other outlanders and exiles. And my father called out, 'It seems that it is time that we heard of
other
visions, as well. Kasandra of Ar would speak to us tonight.'
Kasandra was a tiny woman who seemed as ancient as the cracked stone of the walls. As she struggled to rise out of her chair, Lord Tanu stood up at his table and called out, 'Sire, it might be best if this scryer were made to hold her tongue. We should not have to hear the words of distant oracles, most of which are corrupt.'
His hand swept out toward Kasandra and the two women who accompanied her. 'More to the point, these scryers are from
Galda,
and so who knows if they are Morjin's agents or spies?'
Lord Tanu, I thought, was a crabby and suspicious man. He would mistrust the sun itself because it rose first over the mountains of another land. I sensed that his words wounded Kasandra. There she stood, old and nearly bent double with the weight of some prophecy that she had traveled many miles to deliver - and her shame at Lord Tanu's loathing of scryers burned through her, as it did me.
And so I stood up and tried to make light of his insult. I, who had too often listened uncomprehending as Atara spoke of her visions, called out to Lord Tanu and the others in the hall: 'The real difficulty is in understanding the words of
any
scryer. It's like trying to grasp fish bare-handed in the middle of a rushing stream.'
But if I had hoped to cool Kasandra s rising anger, I hoped in vain. Kasandra looked across the hall toward me, and her sharp, old voice cracked out like thunder: 'I must tell you, Valashu Elahad, I have brought words that
you
will want to hold onto with all the strength you can summon.'
From the pocket of her robe, she took out a small, clear scryer's crystal that sparkled in the sudden pouring from the Lightstone.
'This is the vision that I and my sisters have seen: that you Valashu Elahad, will find the Maitreya in the darkest of places; that the blood of the innocent will stain your hands; that a ghul will undo your dreams; that a man with no face will show you your own.'
She stared at me as my heart beat three times, hard, behind the bones of my chest. And then, without waiting for Lord Tanu or others to question her, she gathered up her sister scryers and stormed past the rows of tables and out through the western portal.
A dreadful silence fell upon the hall. No one moved; no one said anything. Her words seemed to hang in the air like black clouds. I knew, with a shiver that chilled my soul, that she had spoken truly. I wanted to leap up and follow her, to ask her the meaning of her prophecy. But just then a blast of hatred drove into my belly and left me gasping for breath.
While my father and family sat nearly frozen in their chairs, I struggled to turn toward the table of the Red Priests. The red dragons emblazoned on their yellow robes seemed to burn my eyes like fire. These seven men, I thought, were the descendants in spirit of others who had once crucified a thousand Valari warriors along the road to Argattha and had drunk their blood. And now one of them, I thought, perhaps incited by Kasandra's words, was crucifying me with his eyes and sucking at my soul. I looked for his face beneath the drooping cowls, but all I could see were shadows. And then I looked with a different sense.
All men and women burn with passions such as hatred and love, exuberance, envy and fear. These flames of their beings gather inside each person in a unique pattern that blazes with various colors: the red twists of rage, the yellow tint of cowardice, the bright blue bands of impossible dreams. And now the flames of one of these priests -the tall one hunched over his glass of brandy - came roaring out of the black cavern of memory and burned me with their fiery signature. With a sudden certainty that made my hand dose around the hilt of my sword, I knew that I knew this man all too well.
And he knew it, too. For he raised up his head in a pride beyond mere arrogance and threw back his robe's yellow cowl. As he stood up to face me, one of the warriors called out, 'It's the traitor! It's Salmelu Aradar!'
'He's been banished from Mesh!' someone else shouted. 'On pain of death, he's been banished!'
'Send him back to the stars!' a familiar voice cried out.
I looked across the hall to see Baltasar standing with his sword half-drawn as he trembled to advance upon Salmelu.
'Hold!' my father called to him. To Salmeiu, he said,
'You
have been denied fire, bread and salt while on Meshian soil Yet here you stand, having taken much more than bread with us tonight!'
'It is true that Salmelu of Ishka has been banished,' Salmelu said. He was an ugly man, with a great bear-snout of a nose and a scar that seamed his face from his low hairline to his weak chin. His small eyes, black as pools of pitch, smoldered with spite for my father and me. 'But you should know, I am Salmelu no longer, for he is dead. You may call me Igasho, which is the new name Lord Morjin has given me.'
On the middle of his forehead was tattooed Morjin's mark: a coiled, red dragon. Some months before, by the banks of the Raaswash, I had exposed this mark for all to behold - and exposed Salmelu as a traitor and aspiring priest of the Kallimun. In the time since then, Salmelu must have travelled to Sakai to be confirmed in Morjin's evil priesthood. And returned here as the chief of Morjin's emissaries.
'It doesn't matter if he's called Igasho or Salmelu ... or the Dark One himself!' Baltasar cried out, sliding out his sword another inch. 'A corpse by any other name would smell as foul. Let us put this one in the ground!'
'No, hold!' my father commanded. 'Whatever this Igasho is, he
is
Morjin's lawful emissary and may not be harmed. On pain of death, Baitasar - on pain of death.'
It cost my father much to deliver these words, especially in sight of Lansar Raasharu, who was not only his seneschal but his oldest friend. Lord Raasharu sat at his table frozen to his seat; he stared at Baltasar and silently implored his son to put away his sword. As Baltasar's kalama slid back into its sheath with a loud click. Lord Raasharu breathed a heavy sigh of thanks.
'You',
my father said to Salmelu, 'defile the sacred calling of the emissary. But an emissary you still are, and you have come here to speak for Morjin. So then, speak.'
Salmelu - or Igasho - lifted up his head in triumph. He moved toward the center of the room so that he stood directly in front of the Lightstone, and he fairly whipped out these words: 'Tonight you have heard one scryer's prophecy. I bring you another, from Sakai that the Day of the Dragon is at hand. For it has been foretold that Lord Morjin will regain the Cup of Heaven that was stolen from him.'
Here his hand pointed like a sword straight past my father's head at the Lightstone. 'Your son, King Shamesh, stole this from Lord Morjin's throne room, and
my
king demands that it be returned!'
'That's a lie!' Maram roared out, rising from his chair. 'How can Morjin claim as stolen that which
he
himself stole long ago?'
Salmelu cast Maram a look of scorn as if to ask why he - or anyone - should listen to the words of a drunkard. Then he turned and pointed his finger at me.
'You
broke into the sacred city of Argattha - and broke into Lord Morjin's private rooms themselves. You are a thief who took gelstei from my lord: a bloodstone and the very Lightstone that now shines above you. You are a liar who has told false as to how you came by these things. And you are a murderer: how many Valashu Elahad, did you put to the sword in making your escape? You even butchered a poor beast the dragon, Angraboda, who was only trying to guard her eggs from you.'
Salmelu paced back and forth in front of my family's table, here pausing to stab his finger at me as he made a point, there sneering at me as he spat out his filthy accusations. He was all of Morjin's rage and hate, which bubbled up in his blood like poison and transformed him from a once-proud Valari warrior into a snarling, vengeful mockery of a man.
Once before, in King Hadaru's palace, Salmelu's lies had nearly driven me mad. And so I had challenged him to a duel that left him with terrible wounds - and had nearly killed me. Now, in the heart of
my
father's castle, I placed my hands flat upon the cool wood of the table before me where I could see them. I commanded them not to move.
'You
,' Samelu said, pointing at me again, 'are also an assassin who tried to murder Lord Morjin. Is any crime so great as regicide?'
Once, in a dark wood not far from this place, Salmelu had fired into my body an arrow tipped with kirax in which Morjin had set his spite The poison would always burn through my veins and connect me heart to heart with Morjin. His Red Priest, Salmelu who was now Igasho, continued firing poison into me in the form of his hateful words.
'And now
you
,' he continued, 'pose as the Lord of Light when you know that it is Lord Morjin who has been called to lead Ea into the new age.'
My hands, welded to the table by the stickiness of some spilt beer, no less my will, remained motionless. But I could not keep my lips from forming these words: 'If the Maitreya is Morjin, then light is dark, love is hate, and good has become evil.'
'You
speak of evil, Lord Valashu? You speak that of one who is famed for his forgivingness?'
So saying, he removed from his pocket a small, gilded box. He stepped forward and laid it on the table just beyond the tips of my fingers.
'What is this?' I asked.
'A gift from Lord Morjin.'
'I want nothing from him!' I said, staring at the box. 'It cannot be accepted.'
'But it belongs to you. Or, I should say, to one of your friends.' I looked across the hall to see Maram craning his neck to get a glimpse of what the box might hold. Baltasar, too, had half risen out of his seat.
'Don't open it, Val!' Master Juwain called from his table. 'Give it back to him!'
At last, as if my hands had a life and will of their own, they moved to grasp the box and open it. I threw back its lid and gasped to see inside two small spheres that looked like chunks of charred meat. They stank of hemlock and sumac and acids used to tan flesh. I coughed and choked and swallowed hard against the bile rising up from my belly. For I knew with a sudden and great bitterness what these two spheres were: Atara's eyes that Morjin had clawed out with his own fingers and cast into a brazier full of red-hot coals.
Every abomination,
I thought.
Every degradation of the human spirit.
'Do you
see?'
Samelu said to me. His mocking voice beat at me like a war drum. 'Lord Morjin would return this treasure to your woman by your hand. And now the Cup of Heaven must be returned to
him'.
Despite myself, I moved my fingers to touch these blackened orbs that I had once touched with my lips; it was as if I had touched the blackness at the very center of Morjin's heart. I felt myself falling into a bottomless abyss. I leapt up as I whipped out my sword and pointed it at Salmelu.