Ever.
In fact, if there was a way to destroy his very soul, she'd do it, so that there wouldn't even be a chance he'd be reborn and start over again, as some mages could.
'You arrre angrrry,' Hydona observed. 'This enemy of yourrrsss angersss you.'
'I'm always angry when I think about Ancar,' she replied fiercely.
'I can't help it; the man's another Falconsbane, just as evil and as corrupt, and I want him dead as much as any Tayledras could ever have wanted Falconsbane dead.' She raised her chin defiantly. 'More than that, I want Ancar's liver on a plate, so I can feed it to something vile.
I not only want to kill him, I want to hurt him so that he knows some Of what his victims felt. I hate him, I'm afraid of him, and if there were any way to put him through what he has put others through, I'd take it.~ Hydona shook her head with open admonition. 'You arrre too angrrry.' she said. 'It isss not underrr contrrol, thisss angerrr. Hate will not serrve you herrrre. And ssssuch hate, sssuch angerrr will weaken you. You musst learrrn to contrrrol them, orr they will contrrol you.
Thisss I know.' Elspeth grimaced, but kept her lips clamped tight on what she wanted to say. This wasn't the first time she'd heard this particular lecture; the first time, it had come from Darkwind. And it just made her angrier.
How could she not hate the bastard, after everything he'd done to her friends and her land? How could she not hate him after seeing what he had done to his own people? How could she not feel enraged at everything he had done?
And how in Havens could an emotion that strong possibly be a weakness?
It was a contradiction in terms.
But there was absolutely no point in getting into an argument over it, so she elected to keep her thoughts to herself, and her tongue on a very short leash, until they reached the sanctuary of the Vale.
Hydona said nothing more.
The gryphons left them once they were well within the 'safe' area that was kept under close watch by the mages, and full of alarms that would be tripped by strangers. By the time they arrived at the shielded entrance to the Vale it was already dark, and her temper had cooled considerably. Not that she had changed her mind about anything she'd said, but she wasn't quite so ready to bite off someone's head over it.
One thing had calmed her down a bit; she discovered that Gwena felt the same as she did-at least about Ancar. The Companion was of two minds about Darkwind warning the Changechild, admitting that there were good reasons for either decision, whether to warn or not-but on the subject of Ancar of Hardorn, Gwena was in full accord with her Chosen. the man is a mad dog,' she told Elspeth flatly. 'You don't give a mad dog a chance to bite you, and you don't try and cure it. You get rid of it, before it destroys something you love.' That backing of her own thoughts on the matter made her feel a bit more secure about her own judgment, and that Gwena shared her anger eased her own somewhat. That helped her temper to cool a lot faster.
She was quite ready to see the Vale long before they actually reached it. She discovered, somewhat to her surprise, that it was no real effort to keep her Mage-Sight invoked-and since Mage-Sight gave her an enhanced, owl-like view of her surroundings, she left it in force. It occurred to her, as she noted how every living creature and some things that were not alive each bore a faint outline of energy, that this must be what Companions used for night-sight. After all, in order to tap into and manipulate mage-power, you had to be able to See it, and since this kind of Sight worked equally well by day or night, why not use it to give you a nighttime advantage? Yet another Companion power she could explain away, which gave her a perverse feeling of satisfaction.
Once they approached the shields surrounding the Vale, she had to drop the Sight; the energies there were so powerful they threatened to 'blind' her.
Well, that's one reason not to count on it for night-sight. And if powerful energies can 'blind' you-well, that's something to be wary of. Hmm. And something to keep in mind as a weapon.
The faint tingle of her skin as they passed the entrance to the Vale, as if lightning were about to strike her, told her that they had crossed the shields and protections standing patient guard over the only way in and out. But even if she had not felt that little tingle, she would have known they were inside k'sheyna Vale, for in the space of half a heartbeat they went from deep autumn to high summer. Suddenly her clothing was much too warm.
Gwena stopped as Darkwind went on ahead, pushing through the foliage draped over the path and vanishing into the shadowy gloom.
Elspeth dismounted, unfastened her cloak, and draped it over the saddle.
Even then she was a little too warm; she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and opened the collar to the balmy night air, heavy with the scent of night-blooming flowers she could not even put a name to.
This place was the closest thing on earth that she had ever seen to the Havens of scripture and sermon. Too bad I can't bring a little bit of this back with me, she thought wistfully. Fresh fruit and flowers in the dead of winter, hot springs and cool pools to bathe in-trysting nooks, and I can think Of Plenty of people who'd enjoy those! Near- invisible servants. Balmy breezes.
No wonder Vanyel visited k'treva whenever he was exhausted.
Darkwind had said more than once that this Vale wasn't even a real showplace of what the Hawkbrothers could do. K'Sheyna, he'd wistfully related, was the smallest of the Clans even when they were at full strength, and the Vale was neglected and run down. Half tended at the very best, with no water-sculptures, no wind-harps-more than half the ekeles untenanted and falling to ruins-no one making vine-tapestries or flower-falls. No concerts except on the rarest of occasions, no artists except Ravenwing and the hertasi. Still, Elspeth found it beautiful beyond her wildest dreams.
She could only wonder what the rest of the Vales must be like. And could the Heralds create something like this, if only in miniature?
But-should they?
She brushed aside a rainbow-threaded dangling vine and wondered about that.
This Vale was a very seductive, hedonistic place, and many people already thought that the Heralds were a bit too randy as it was. It was also a place that could encourage sloth; she found it very easy to justify sleeping a
