Lights can see me. I’m only beyond their reach here. That’s why they had to send you.’
‘You have other wild talents that exceed those of most professional magickers. And you have the two sigils that the Source compelled you to keep in spite of yourself, the ones you used to escape Conrig’s men. Are the stones now enclosed in that golden case hanging round your neck?’
He gripped the pendant in one fist without answering.
‘Subtle Gateway will transport you to Castle Morass in the blink of an eye,’ she said, ‘just as it enabled you to travel from Tarn to this place. And with Concealer you’ll be able to move about with complete invisibility at your destination. No other person has these advantages.’
When he replied, his voice trembled with an anger not directed at her. ‘In the sixteen years I’ve dwelt here, I’ve never used these accurst moonstones. They imperil one’s soul, as you already know. They seduce the user with the promise of more and more power and make him believe that the price is worth paying…Duna, I’ve wanted that power.’
‘The Source knows that, love. He also knows your strength. You can turn the sigil magic against the Pain-Eaters if you choose to. You can help end their ability to enslave and harm persons living in the Ground Realm.’
‘Let others fight this New Conflict! Why must I do it?’
‘You know why. Accept the mission, Deveron, if you’ve ever loved me. If I could relieve you of the burden, I’d take it on myself in an instant. But I can’t do this thing. Only you can.’
He gave a great sigh. ‘It means so much to you?’
‘On my life – it does.’
‘Then how can it mean less to me?’
Her face lit up. ‘You’ll go?’
He nodded. When he spoke, his voice was sad. ‘But only for your sake…as the Source knew well enough when he sent you.’
It took him the rest of the night to prepare for the journey.
Besides questioning Induna at length, he consulted maps and reference tomes before deciding on the supplies he would need. The Source’s choice of Castle Morass as his destination was puzzling. The place was a primitive, ill-situated little fortress above the Wold Road, owned by old Ising Bedotha, one of Didion’s most intransigent robber-barons. It was the last spot likely to be chosen by Conrig as a staging area for a strike against Salka pushing south along the Beacon River corridor toward human settlements surrounding Black Hare Lake.
Induna explained to him that, for unknown reasons, the shockingly swift Thunder Moon invasion by the monsters had come to an abrupt halt just three weeks after it began. Now, at the start of Harvest Moon, the Salka were still massed some fifty or sixty leagues north of Black Hare, in the heart of the Green Morass. If their advance remained stalled in that desolate wetland forest much longer, the onslaught of the bitter northern winter would force them either to hibernate or to retreat into the Icebear Channel. But there were disquieting rumors that the Salka were considering a new plan of action. Not even the Source knew what it might be.
Deveron decided he must be prepared for both rainy and cold weather. Leaving Induna to collect and dispose safely of the potentially harmful chymicals and herbal substances he would have to leave behind in the apotheck, he embarked for the city center in his dinghy. He had no furs or heavy leather garb of his own, but such things would be readily available from ship-chandlers he could roust out of bed at Mikk-Town quay…along with other merchants selling more unusual wares he had long since eschewed.
Dawn was breaking by the time he returned home. The dinghy was laden almost to the gunwales. Induna was surprised to see him unload it, then haul a second, lighter craft ashore and begin restowing almost everything inside it.
‘I’m taking the skiff with me to Didion,’ he explained. ‘It’ll be useful for getting around in the Green Morass. I don’t dare transport myself directly to the near vicinity of the castle. Who knows what’s waiting there besides my alleged twice-great-grandma? I’ll ask the sigil to set me down in a safe place a few leagues away, then scry out the situation before presenting myself.’
‘That’s wise,’ she agreed. ‘It’s such a long journey, though. You’ll probably suffer severe pain-debt on your arrival.’
‘Another excellent reason for not going straight to the castle. If my uncanny trip from Tarn to here was any indication, it’ll be at least three days before I recover enough to function – even marginally. But I won’t be struck down helpless the moment I arrive. There’ll be a very brief interval during which I’ll be able to move about and find shelter.’
‘When you used Gateway to transport you and your companions on the search for Princess Maude, you were smitten nigh unto death.’
‘I overreached myself. Asked the sigil to carry me too far with too many companions and too much baggage. And I did it again, having no choice, when I carried all of us to safety from Skullbone Peel to Donorvale. This time the power I demand will be much less.’
‘Still…Perhaps you should take me with you. I weigh very little and I could make myself useful. I’ve hardly had time to tell you anything of events in Blenholme while you were away.’
‘I’ll learn soon enough,’ he muttered. ‘You are not going with me into the middle of a sorcerer’s war. It’s bad enough that you had to make this long sea voyage alone.’
‘But you might have great need of my healing arts or magic.’
‘You’re staying here.’
‘What if you should arrive badly disabled?’ she cried in growing desperation. ‘If I were there, I could once again share my soul’s substance with you. It would cure you at once –’
‘At the cost of your own wellbeing!’ He took hold of her upper arms, drew her close, and kissed her hard on the lips. When he finally broke away, she saw there were tears in his eyes. ‘Twice you made that terrible sacrifice for me, shortening your own life God only knows how much in the process. You won’t do it again. I won’t allow it! We must both face the fact that this journey is likely to be one that I won’t return from alive.’
‘No!’ She clung to him. ‘The Source wouldn’t be so cruel. And he never forbade me from accompanying you to Didion. How do you know what kind of place the capricious Lights will set you down in? It could be next to a tundra-lion’s lair!’
‘And you’d rescue me from the ravening beast?’
‘Yes! Why not?’ She broke free and suddenly held a small ball of crackling flame in her hand. She flung it with a powerful overhand lob into the dark waters of the canal, where it was quenched with a loud hiss.
He showed her a small smile. ‘You’ve learned new tricks, I see.’
‘Deveron, take me!’ she pleaded. ‘I love you so much. We’ve only just found one another again.’
‘Do you think I want to leave you? It’s for your sake that I go! For you, Duna. Don’t ask more of me.’
Replying not another word to her continuing entreaties, he finished loading the skiff, lashing down both a sheathed broadsword and a crossbow to the
