Diamond Warriors

Bemossed, upon noticing this, stepped up to Chantaleva, too, and rested his hand on top of Estrella's. Then he said to King Waray, 'Your daughter is cachetic — it is the white plague, isn't it?'

At this, Lord Jurathar looked at the immense Lord Starvaru in surprise, while old Lord Marjun studied King Waray's angry face. And King Waray shook his long finger at Master Juwain as he snapped at him: 'You promised, upon your honor as a healer, to keep this confidence!'

'But I have, King Waray!' Master Juwain said. 'I have told no one — not even my order's Grandmaster.'

Abrasax nodded his head to confirm this. It now came out that Master Juwain, on his mission to Nar two years before, had attempted something more profound than purloining gelstei, and that was the healing of Princess Chantaleva. As King Waray saw things. Master Juwain had failed. Even though, in truth, he had not failed completely.

'There is no cure for the white plague that I know,' Master Juwain said. 'Morjin bred this disease with the aid of a green gelstei two thousand years ago, and I hoped to use my gelstei to undo its hold upon the princess. I am sorry that I could not.'

'But it seems you kept the disease from progressing,' Abrasax said. 'At least, from progressing too quickly. How many can live with the white plague eating at them as long as the princess has?' Chantaleva's face seemed to grow even paler. I did not think that she had made her peace with her inevitable death. And from the look of adoration and dread with which King Waray favored her, I knew that his fear for his daughter was even greater than her own.

'My apologies,' King Waray said to Master Juwain with a real warmth flowing out of him. 'We must be grateful for the time that my daughter has had. But I would give a barrel of diamonds to anyone who would give her a long and happy life.'

I said nothing to this declaration, and did not question King Waray as to where these diamonds might have come from. At least, I did not question him, with words. But I thought that King Waray sensed my doubt of him, for his belly tightened up as if he had eaten tainted meat, and he fell back upon his habit of evasion and scheming.

'My daughter is dear to me, and I possess no greater treasure,' he told me. 'I would give my own life and claim upon my kingdom to see her made well, but if she were healed, well, then I would have to see her married and leave my house. A king, a father, can take consolation in this loss only by seeing his daughter wed to the most worthy of men, and one who could make her happy.'

He smiled at me, and his handsome face seemed as bright as the sun.

'A worthy man, indeed,' he continued, repeating himself as he looked at me. 'A great warrior who will sire grandchildren great not just in their prowess at arms, but strong and bright in their spirits. Such a son-in-law I have always longed for, one who might stand by my side in accomplishing the greatest dreams of our people.'

I looked right back at King Waray. I gathered that he was offering Chantaleva to me as a wife, only I would support him as the Valari's warlord.

'Of course, it is true,' he said, 'that my daughter might not be healed, and then she would have only a few more years to live, as might I. And so the rule of Taron would have to pass to the man I called my son.'

Now I noticed Chantaleva gazing at me — not in desire of me as a husband, I thought, but only from a gnawing wish that somehow I might help her to live long enough to see her children grow up healthy and strong.

'A true treasure,' King Waray said as he regarded his daughter with what seemed a deep love. 'The greatest of all treasures.'

I did not know what to say to him. Certainly I could not consider marrying Chantaleva, sick or well. But neither did I wish to antagonize King Waray with too blunt a refusal. It was then that Liljana, who had remained quietly seated all this time, came to my rescue by drawing his aggression toward her.

'Your daughter is indeed beautiful,' Liljana said to King Waray. She had her hand buried in her pocket, and I sensed her grasping her gelstei. 'Any king would be proud to have her as a wife. Or any prince. I am sure that Prince Issur looks forward to being just the son-in-law of whom you have spoken.'

King Waray's eyes grew dark with a quick and sudden rage. He must have realized that his deepest maneuvering had been exposed. He did not, however, attribute this uncovering to its correct source, for he turned from Liljana to Master Virang, and pointed his finger at him as he called out: 'You are the Brotherhood's Meditation Master, aren't you? Have you then turned from the most profound of arts to reading minds? It is said that the Brotherhood keeps the ancient blue gelstei, once used by the accursed witches of the Maitriche Telu.'

As King Waray glowered at Master Virang, Liljana managed to keep her face as still as a mountain lake. No hint of emotion rippled upon it.

'Many things are said of the Brotherhood,' Master Virang called out with his almond eyes twinkling. 'But I had never heard that we could read minds.'

'Then you must keep spies at your schools in Ishka. You should not heed too closely the rumors they report or share them with King Valamesh's companions and confidants.'

Liljana might have smiled at this, if she had been able to smile. Instead, she looked at King Waray and said: 'It is certainly no rumor that King Hadaru made battle against Taron in response to your conspiring against him — and that you lost this battle. And that King Hadaru was pierced with a lance and the wound still festers. As many do, you wait for him to die, don't you?'

King Waray looked at Liljana with a sudden new understanding — and dread. He must have finally suspected that she might be one of the witches he had just decried. 'And what do you know of this … Lady Liljana Ashvaran of Tria?'

King Waray turned all the considerable force of his person upon her in a blaze of his black eyes. But Liljana would be cowed by no man, and so she answered his question with another: 'What did it take for you to make the peace with Ishka?'

'Only the blood of too many of my warriors!'

'And also your promise of your daughter's hand in marriage to Prince Issur — is that not so?'

'Yes!' King Waray cried out. 'And your support of King Hadaru as the warlord of the alliance?'

King Waray took a step away from his rock, and he clapped his hands across his temples as he shouted at her: 'Witch! Mindreader! Leave me alone!'

But Liljana had not finished with this vain, manipulative king. She said to him, 'King Hadaru does not know that your daughter is ill, does he? No doubt you hope that he dies before this is discovered. And then, with your daughter wedded to the new and inexperienced king of Ishka, you would use all your influence to — '

'I should lead the Valari!' King Waray cried out. 'It is what I have striven for all my life!'

In the silence that fell over the rocks around him, the rushing of the stream seemed as loud as the ocean. King Waray stared at Liljana with such a deadly intensity that he did not immediately notice Bemossed pressing his hand against Chantaleva's chest. He turned just in time to behold the radiance that passed from Bemossed's hand into Chantaleva. I might have thought that it would take some days, at least, for this healing force to work upon her. Within moments, however, the color returned to her face, and she stood breathing more easily as she stared at Bemossed in awe.

'I am well!' she cried out. She bent to kiss Bemossed's hand.

'But how do you know?' King Waray asked, going over to her.

'I know!' she said. She clasped Bemossed's hand to her chest. 'There is no more pain here.'

And upon her utterance of this word, I felt a sudden new pain come alive within King Waray's chest.

'Maitreya!' he called out to Bemossed. He bowed his head, then declared, 'I shall give you two barrels of diamonds.'

'Thank you, King Waray,' Bemossed told him. 'But I would not know what to do with such wealth.'

'What is it that you want, then?'

In answer, Bemossed looked at me in a deep and painful silence.

'That, surely, must be obvious,' King Waray continued, answering his own question. 'You would see Valashu Elahad lead the alliance.'

'To lead it, yes,' Bemossed said. 'But not to war.'