'You dare too much, Valari!' he snapped at me. 'Should we then give her our own dagger so that she can stab us in the back?'
'Please, King Kiritan – give her your blessing.'
From somewhere to our side, a woman called out, 'Your blessing, King Kiritan!'
Others picked up this cry so the hall rang with the sound of many voices, 'Give her your blessing!'
But the King was the King, and would not be so easily swayed. He stood before his jeweled throne, above the last chest of medallions, staring at both Atara and me as if we were rebellious barons who had dared enter his own hall to defy him.
How is it that we set out with so much love for our fathers, daughters or brothers, ready to make great sacrifices or even die for them – only to see this most sacred gift transmuted by an evil alchemy so that we caused them the greatest hurt and brought them its opposite instead?
As I stood there holding Aura's hand. I felt both her anguish and adoration for her father surging through her. It was strange, the sense I had that I could touch King Kiritan with either of these. In my dream, Morjin had told me that I would one day strike out at others with the black dagger of my hate; it hadn't occurred to me that I might also thrust the bright sword of another's love straight into their hearts.
'Don't look at me that way, Valari,' King Kiriun whispered to me. 'Damn your eyes – don't look at me!'
But I couldn't help looking at him. And he couldn't help turning toward Atara as a great tenderness softened his face. Few were close enough to see the tears welling in his eyes. And only Atara and Daryana – and I – could feel the great love pouring out of him.
'We were afraid you were dead,' he said to Atara.
'There have been many who tried to make me so,' Atara told him. 'But as you always said, Sire, we Narmadas are hard to kill.'
'Yes we are,' he said with a grateful smile. 'And by the grace of the One, as we set out on this Quest, may we continue to be.'
So saying, he nodded at Daryana, who reached into the chest to hand him a medallion. With a gentleness few would have suspected he possessed, he placed this over Atara's head and told her, 'Atara Ars Narmada, accept this with our blessing that you might be known and honored in all lands.'
To the cheers of almost everyone in the hall he clasped her to him, kissed her fiercely on the forehead and stood there weeping softly. But it look him only a few moments to compose himself and put the steel back into his countenance. And the anger, too. He glared at me darkly as he called out to the knights and nobles around us: 'All who have wished have made their vows and have received our blessing. Now please join us outside that you might help us celebrate this great occasion and our birthday as well.'
And then, with a last, cutting glance at me, he turned and stormed from the hall.
Chapter 19
For some time after that, I stood off to the side of the throne with Atara. Still stunned by what had just happened, all I could think to ask her was, 'Why didn't you tell me who you really were?'
'That's just it,' she said sadly. 'Atara Ars Narmada is who I was. But now I am Atara Manslayer.'
'Is that the only reason, then?'
'No – I was afraid that if you knew, you'd look at me differently. As I'm afraid you're looking at me now.'
'Please don't mistake my astonishment for anything else,' I told her. 'There's only one way I could ever see you. I know who you are.'
As my heart measured out the moments of my life in great, surging beats, I looked for that deep light in her eyes and found it. For a single, brilliant moment we returned to our star. Then I smiled at her and said, 'It is astonishing what passed with your father. My apologies if what was said caused you embarrassment.'
'Please don't mistake my astonishment for anything else,' she said, returning my smile. 'But perhaps you should have asked me first if I would marry you.'
'Will you, Atara?'
'No, I won't,' she said sadly. 'I've made my vows, and I must keep them.'
'But if someday you fulfill them, then -'
'This is not the time for anyone to marry,' she said. 'Should I bear your children only to see them slain in the wars that must surety come?'
'But if the Lightstone were found and the Red Dragon defeated, war itself brought to an end, then -'
'Then it would be then,' she said, smiling at me. 'Then you may ask me about marriage – if that is still what you desire.'
She squeezed my hand, and turned toward Master Juwain, Maram and Kane, who were fighting the throngs streaming toward the doors.
They came up to us, their gold medallions showing beneath their cloaks.
'This is a kingly gift,' Maram said, cupping his hand beneath his medallion. 'I never thought to be given anything so magnificent.'
'And I never thought to hear you vow to seek the Lightstone,' Master Juwain told him. 'But you seem to have a fondness for making vows.'
'Ah, I do, don't I?' Maram said.
'I seem to remember you were to forsake wine, women and war.'
'Well, I suppose I'm not very good at forsaking, am I? And that's just the point, isn't it? I won't forsake this Quest.'
Maram's sudden earnestness made me smile. I clapped him on the shoulder and said, 'But why make vows at all? Didn't you set out only so far as to see Tria?'
'True, true,' he said. 'And i have seen Tria. And a great deal else.'
'We've vowed to seek the Lightstone until it is found,' I reminded him. 'We can't do very much of that seeking in taverns or boudoirs.'
'No, perhaps we can't, my friend. But maybe we'll find a few glasses of beer along our way.' Here he paused to eye a beautiful Alonian woman dressed in a blue satin gown. 'And perhaps great treasures as well.'
'We also vowed to go on seeking unless we're struck down first.'
'Ah, I am mad, aren't I?' he muttered as he shook his head and turned back toward me. 'But someone is bound to find this cup, and it might as well be us. 'Do you think I'd let you have all the fun yourself?'
With a brave smile, he clapped me on my shoulder. Then I nodded at Master Juwain and asked him, 'But what about you, sir? Didn't you come to Tria to verify the truth of the prophecy?'
'I did,' he said, 'but Kane has already verified it as much as these things can be. I'm afraid I must tell you, though, that my true business was always the finding of the Lightstone.'
We stood there wondering what to do next. All our plans and efforts had been directed toward bringing us to King Kiritan's palace by the seventh of Soldru; by the slimmest of chances (and more than one miracle), we had succeeded. But there were four points to the world, and five of us, and all directions beckoned with the gleam of gold upon the horizon.
'I'm too hungry to think about the Quest just now,' Maram said as he watched the last of the nobles leaving the hall. It's the King's birthday why don't we help him celebrate it?'
'I think the King has seen enough of us for one night, eh?' Kane said. 'Others have seen us, too. So, we should find a quiet inn where we can sleep safely tonight.'
Kane's was the voice of prudence, and perhaps we should have heeded it. But before leaving the palace, Master Juwain wanted to use the King's library, said to be one of the finest in the city. Atara wished to talk with her mother. As for me, now that I had already called attention to myself, I didn't want to have to slink away like a whipped dog.
'We've come this far through much worse,' I said- 'If King Kiritan has gone to so much trouble to honor us, then we should accept his hospitality.'
I led the way out of the north door of the hall. There we found a broad corridor giving out onto a vast lawn. The King's thousands of guests easily might have become lost upon it if not directed by a line of torches toward a
