Magic's Promise

Tashir did freeze physically when this happened, he was quite conscious, if not in conscious control of what he was doing.

Finally Vanyel decided to force the issue - to deliberately evoke the same state of mind the younger man must have been in on that fatal night.

'The night I found you,' he said, 'your father told you something, and you refused him, and he hit you. Do you remember what that was?'

Tashir shook his head, a breath away from hysterical breakdown. The blue aura of the Truth Spell continued to glow.

'He told you that he was going to send you to your Mavelan relatives to stay; that he was washing his hands of you.'

It was hard to tell in the blue glows of mage-light and Truth Spell, but Tashir seemed to become paler. Vanyel shook his head regretfully, and deliberately turned his back on the youngster. “I don't know what to do about you,' he said expressionlessly. 'You've brought me nothing but trouble, and you're about to cause a major diplomatic incident between Valdemar and Lineas. You could even start a war. I'm sorry, Tashir, but your uncle Vedric is petitioning that you be put into his custody. King Randale is likely to order just that. Given the circumstances, I think it would be the wisest thing if I admitted where you are and my part in this mess and turned you over to Vedric in the morning.'

He waited for an attack; he waited for the shield to break under the stress of Tashir's Gift at the kind of level of manifestation that was indicated by the slaughter at Highjorune.

Instead, he heard a peculiar little whimper, and felt the pressure within the shield go null.

Vanyel pivoted in surprise just in time to catch the youngster as he fell over in a dead faint.

It took him the better part of a candlemark to revive Tashir. It took longer to convince him that although it might be the wisest thing to do, it was not the course of action Vanyel intended to take. The youngster was totally terrified of being sent into Mavelan hands, yet even under the stress of this absolute terror, his Gift manifested at no higher level than before.

Eventually Tashir believed him when he told the youngster that he would continue to shelter him, to try to find out what had really happened.

And then, when the young man had settled a little, he began the questioning again.

With a cool and calculated assessment of the stress he was putting Tashir under, Vanyel brought him to the breaking point over and over, until he was certain that nothing was going to evoke the kill-storm.

Finally the boy was too exhausted to be pressed further. And Vanyel wasn't too far behind him - at least emotionally. 'Why, Tashir?' he asked, looking for any clue as to the truth of that night. 'Why did you make up that fantasy for Jervis?'

'Because - because I wanted him to like me!' the young man blurted desperately. 'How could he like me if my own father hated me? How could he like me if he knew what my mother wanted to -'

Vanyel interrupted, trying not to show the frustration he was feeling. 'Tashir, Karis tried to protect you. Why did you think Jervis would be any different?''

'But Karis was there, he saw what was happening. If I told anybody else they'd think I was lying, Mother said so.'

Tashir paled again, but Vanyel assumed it was only the stress of having to face that unnatural relationship squarely.

'Karis,' he whispered, 'was there.'“

'Tashir, from what I've been told, she was the one who lied; why would you think she'd have told you the truth about -'

'V-Vanyel,' the young man interrupted. 'Karis - they never told me who besides - was Karis - one of - was he -“

Then Vanyel saw what Tashir had finally realized; saw the plea in Tashir's eyes to be told that Karis was still alive, and couldn't answer it. He looked away - which was answer enough.

The youngster crumpled, holding the stone balustrade for support, his entire body shaking with harsh, racking sobs. Vanyel remembered, as he banished the shield and uncast the Truth Spell, that one of the most telling pieces of evidence against the youngster - in the eyes of Herald Lores, at any rate - was Tashir's lack of emotion when he'd been told what had happened.