He turned to Nyara, who shrank farther back into her corner, her eyes wide and frightened. 'Stop that,' he snapped, his tightly-strung nerves making him lash out at her as the only available target. 'I'm not going to kill you.'
'Yet,' Treyvan rumbled. He had taken Nyara's news much worse than Hydona. His mate tended to ignore the past as beyond change, and was interested only in what she could do to fix what had been done to her younglings. Treyvan felt doubly guilty; because he had failed to protect Hydona, and because he had failed to protect his offspring.
Darkwind knew exactly how he felt.
Nyara tried to melt into the rock behind her, her eyes now wide and focused on Treyvan.
Darkwind recaptured her attention. 'I want to know everything that you know about us, and what he knows that you're sure of. I mean not only what you've told your f-Falconsbane, but what he knew before this.' Nyara shivered but looked as if she didn't quite understand his question.
He stood up, walked over to her, and towered over her. 'What does he know about the Vale?' he asked, speaking every word carefully.
'Begin from the very first thing you knew.' Nyara began, stuttering, to tell them fairly simple bits of intelligence that anyone could have figured out for himself. That the only nodes Falconsbane could possibly access were in Tayledras hands. That he had made several attempts to get at one or the other of the nodes. She identified each attempt that she knew of, going back to long before the arrival of the gryphons. Most of these trials had been low-key, tentative feints.
And as she spoke, she gained confidence, until she was no longer stuttering with fear, and no longer speaking in short, choppy sentences.
Most of the feints she described, Darkwind had already been aware of. But then she took him by surprise.
'Then F-father decided to take the Vale from within, I think,' she said, her hands crooking into claws, as her eyes glazed a little. 'This was when he was angry with me, and he was-he was-he was angry with me.' Her expressive face was as still as stone, and Darkwind sensed that this had been one of those periods when Falconsbane had 'trained' her, using methods it made him ill even to contemplate.
But this was important. She had said that Falconsbane meant to 'take the Vale from within.' He had to know what that meant, and what had happened.
'What did he mean by that?' he prompted. She gave him a frightened, startled look, as if she had forgotten he was there.
'He set a trap,' she replied tightly. 'He set a very clever trap. He sent many of his servants to create diversions-emptying the Vale of all but one of the Adepts.' This was beginning to sound chillingly familiar-but she was continuing.
When that one was alone-he knew that there was but one Adept still present by the level of power within the Vale-he created a disturbance that required an Adept.' She licked her lips nervously and gave him a pleading glance. 'I truly do not know what that was,' she said,
'I was not in favor. He did not grant me information.'
'I understand that,' he said quickly. 'Go on.'
'When the Adept came to deal with the disturbance, Mornelithe sprung the trap and closed him off from the Vale. He was hurt-and that was when Mornelithe cast illusions to make him appear to be of the Birdkin, so that the Adept would accept him as rescuer. The bird, Father slew. It was not deceived, and attacked him. But by then the Adept's hurts were such that he was unconscious, and did not know. Father took him to the stronghold and imprisoned him to break him to Father's will.
'And you know who this Adept is?' Darkwind felt himself trembling on the brink of a chasm. If it was his father-it would explain so much.
And yet he dreaded the truth-She looked directly up at Darkwind, and said, clearly and forcefully,' I did not know until Father called me on the night of moondark who that man was. It was your father, Darkwind. It was he that is called Starblade.' She licked her lips, and raised one hand in a pleading gesture. 'He wanted you, as well, the son as well as the father-he wanted me to-entice you. I told him 'yes,' but I told myself 'no,' and I kept myself from working his will, as he worked it upon your father.' There it was, the blow had fallen. He surprised himself with his steady, cold calm. 'So Falconsbane succeeded?' She nodded, dropping her eyes, her voice full of quiet misery. 'When he sets out to break one to his will, he does not fail. I was-present-for much of it. It was part of my t-t-training. That this could be happening to me. Both the pleasuring, and the punishment. I can tell you some of what he did, what he ordered Starblade to do when he returned to the Vale. You do not want to know... what was done to control him.' Darkwind tried to speak and could not. Treyvan spoke for him, in a booming, angry rumble. 'Continue! All that you know.'
'He was, firstly, to forget what had happened to him. Mornelithe gave him false memories to replace what had truly occurred-until Mornelithe chose otherwise. Then he was to creep in secret to the heart of the Vale.' She gave Darkwind a look of entreaty. 'I have not the words-'
