'
'That is an easy thing to say when it is someone else's home they have besieged, ' Galaeron said. 'The phaerimm are enemies to the elves, I assure you. '
'And who's fault is that?' Alduvar turned to glower at him, but there was no anger in his eyes, no ire or malice- no emotion at all. 'Was it not you who freed them in the first place?'
'And who cursed us with the Shadovar?' added Irreph Mulmar, the ruddy-faced Constable of the High Dale. Like Alduvar, he was one of the three envoys from the Dales, and like Alduvar's, his eyes seemed oddly empty. 'Were you not the one who brought them back from the Plane of Shadow?'
Somewhere inside, Galaeron realized that the vitriol of the Dalesmen was strangely at odds with their vacant eyes, but his shadow was already rising to the bait, bristling at the accusations and urging him to answer with blade or spell. He started to stand and found Ruha's hand clamped to his arm, her nails digging in hard to remind him that he had to be strong, that to indulge his anger was to yield to the darkness devouring him from the inside.
'What is done is done, ' she said, continuing to hold Galaeron down. 'Is there anyone here who can say he would not have made the same mistake?'
'Mistakes have consequences, ' said Mourngrym Amcatha, the third and last of the Dalelands envoys. A huge, powerfully built man with a brown mustache and neatly trimmed hair, his eyes were as vacant as those of his fellow Dalesmen. 'The elf is the one who made the mistake. It's his people who should suffer for it-not ours. '
Mourngrym's comment drew a chorus of astonished murmurs, for he was as respected across much of Faer?n as he was in his own dale. For him to speak so openly against Evereska's interests was to condone the resentment harbored in secret by many of the alliance's lesser leaders, who gathered at night in quiet little groups to complain of the hardships visited upon them by the mistake of one elf.
Galaeron was filled with such a black fury that he forgot about the vacant eyes and no longer felt Ruha's hand on his arm. He was up and leaning across the table toward Mourngrym, his weight braced on his hands and his words tumbling from his mouth of their own accord.
'And who would you blame had the Shadovar unleashed the phaerimm on the Dalelands instead of Evereska?' Galaeron demanded. 'Some saurial from Tarkhaldale?'
Mourngrym's lip rose in a sneer, but his eyes remained as blank as before.
'A saurial did not release the phaerimm, ' he said. 'An elf did. You, to be exact'
Suddenly finding himself off balance, Galaeron looked down to find his hand a foot above the table, his fingers curled as though to call a shadow bolt Ruha was using both hands to hold his arm so he could not cast the spell. Behind her, Piergeiron Paladinson was rising to help, watching the struggle with an expression that was half alarmed and half forbearing.
The sight was enough to shock Galaeron back to his senses. He let his arm go limp.
'Humans!'
Knowing he was still not fully in control of himself, Galaeron freed his arm and turned toward Alusair.
'If the princess will excuse me-'
'She will not, Sir Nihmedu. ' Motioning him into his seat, she nodded at a pair of Purple Dragons posted along the wall. As they stepped forward to stand guard behind Galaeron's chair, she said, 'Actually, I have a keen interest in hearing Lord Mourngrym's answer. '
Galaeron sat, and Mourngrym turned to face Alusair.
'What answer would that be, Your Highness?'
'To Galaeron's question, Lord Mourngrym. ' Alusair replied, her expression growing suspicious. 'Who would you blame if the Shadovar had unleashed the phaerimm in the Dalelands instead of Evereska?'
'But they didn't, Princess. '
'Lord Mourngrym, ' Alusair said, 'I am asking what if they had. '
'The question is meaningless, Your Highness. It was the elf who unleashed the phaerimm. '
An astonished murmur filled the chamber. Paying no attention, Mourngrym turned to gesture at Galaeron, and at last Galaeron understood what he had been seeing-or rather, not seeing-in the eyes of the Dalesman.
Anger clouded Alusair's face.
'Lord Mourngrym, ' she said, 'as a guest in my realm, you owe me the courtesy of an answer. '
Mourngrym responded with an counterfeit smile.
'Of course, Your Highness. What I fail to understand… '
Galaeron did not hear the rest of the answer, for his own thoughts were whirling like one of the cyclones that had of late been laying waste to so many of Faer?n's farms and villages. The Dalesmen's attack on him had been carefully coordinated, with the envoys of lesser stature laying the groundwork for a final indictment by their most respected member. Given that the three came from the same area, it seemed entirely plausible they had come together before the council and settled on the strategy, but Galaeron suspected another explanation-a far more menacing one.
He leaned toward Ruha and felt a Purple Dragon's armored hand grasping his shoulder.
'Milord, ' the soldier whispered. 'I think the princess meant for you to stay in your own chair. '
'As I will. ' Though Galaeron answered in an amiable tone, it was all he could do to keep from cursing the man aloud. If he was right-and he was-the last thing he needed was the lout drawing attention to him. 'I only wanted to thank Harper Ruha for her support'
Ruha raised her kohl-rimmed eyes to the guard and said, 'Galaeron will do me no harm. '
The soldier regarded her suspiciously for a moment, then nodded gruffly and released Galaeron's shoulder. Ruha looked to Galaeron, and as Alusair and Mourngrym continued their argument in more heated tones, waited.
'Uh, thank you, ' Galaeron said. It was all he dared say, at least with one of them lurking somewhere in the room, eavesdropping on the council and manipulating its mind-slaves. 'I'm afraid I lost control of myself. '
Ruha knitted her black eyebrows and replied, 'Considering what was said, I thought you did well to keep your shadow in check. '
Galaeron continued to look at her, trying to think of some other way to convey his suspicions without alerting the one spying upon them.
Irreph and Alduvar were lending their voices to
Mourngrym's, protesting that Alusair was wasting the council's valuable time with a meaningless exercise of imagination.
'Galaeron, ' Ruha asked, 'is there something else?'
'No, ' he said. If only she understood fingertalk; as it was, he was beginning to fear he would have to use his own magic to save the council. 'That's all. '
Ruha nodded-a bit uncertainly-and turned back to the council.
Galaeron sat fidgeting, lost in his own thoughts, trying to think of some other way to do what was needed. It was easily two months since he had last cast a spell. Surely, he could cast this one, not even a very difficult spell. It was just a simple abjuration to reveal the spy he knew to be lurking somewhere in the council chamber putting words in the mouths of the Dalesmen. Of course, he would need to use shadow magic; he was no longer sure that he even could use normal magic, but shadow magic was better against the phaerimm anyway. Normal spells had a tendency to ricochet off their magic-resistant scales, but shadow magic always worked.
The thought of touching the Shadow Weave again sent a shiver of anticipation up through Galaeron's body. He could almost feel the cold power rising through him, quenching a thirst that had been building for two months. One simple spell was not going to do any harm. It would hardly give his shadow self the strength to overpower him completely-not for long anyway-and he had to expose the spy, didn't he? He had to make the council see that the Dalesmen's words were those of the enemy, that the phaerimm were trying to split the alliance-
A day never passed when Galaeron did not find some reason just as compelling to break his vow and reach out to the Shadow Weave. The temptation was always there, always awaiting the weak moment, always inviting him down the dark path, but he had only to remember Vala to resist, to think of her enslaved in Escanor's palace in Shade and imagine the abuse being visited on her nightly in the prince's bed.
It had been Galaeron's shadow self that had persuaded him to abandon her there, that had filled his thoughts with so many bitter suspicions that he had finally surrendered to the darkness and vowed to have
