can learn For they leave no trace in passing, as if all who watched were
blind
Like a dream of evil sending, Nightblades passing, nightblades rending, Into darkness once more blending Leaving only dead behind.
First a threat-and then a death comes in the darkness of the
night
And a dozen would-be allies have begun to show their fright. When the nightblades strike unhindered, and can take a life
at will,
There's no safety in alliance And much peril in defiance It is best to show compliance And the Karsite ranks to fill.
The chief envoy summons Vanyel, for one ally still seems
brave
And the treaty may be salvaged if Vanyel this life can save. Herald Vanyel feigns refusal, senses one would play him
fool;
Thinks of treachery in hiding, Lets his instincts be his guiding. His own counsel he is biding He'll be no unwitting tool.
Garbed in black slips Herald Vanyel to their last lone ally's
keep; Over wall and into window, past all gates and guards to
creep. Past all gates and guards-no magic has them wrapped in
deadly spell-
They are drugged, and they are dreaming.' Some foe strikes in friendly seeming- See-a metal dart there gleaming! Vanyel knows the symptoms well.
Now he hears another's footstep soft before him in the dark And he hastes to lay an ambush while the nightblade seeks
his mark.
Now he waits beside the doorway of the ally's very room And the nightblade, all unknowing, With a single lamp-beam showing To a confrontation going Not to fill another tomb.
Out of shadow Vanyel rises and he bars the nightblade's way. He has only that slim warning- Vanyel has him soon at bay. When the guards have all awakened, then he bares the night-blade's face-
And all minds but his are reeling When he tears off the concealing- And the envoy's face revealing- Brings the traitor to disgrace.
MY LADY'S EYES
(This is drivel. It's supposed to be. It's Vanyel's mother's favorite song. Van puts up with it because he can show off his fingering.)
My Lady's eyes are like the skies
A soft and sunlit blue
No other fair could half compare
