«I didn’t want to say anything to the King.» Lauren’s uneasiness increased. «Or to any of the others. I’m not really sure how much of this they know… and we don’t talk about her…»
He trailed off. Ander waited patiently.
«It’s about Amberle. My Lord, after her choosing, she spoke with the Ellcrys many times — long conversations.» The words came slowly. «It was different with her than with the rest of us. I don’t know whether she ever realized that. We never really talked about it…»
Ander had stiffened sharply. Lauren saw his reaction and hurried on. «But maybe the Ellcrys would talk to her again. Or she might understand better. Perhaps she might learn something we could not.»
There was a long moment of silence as the two faced each other. Then Ander shook his head slowly «Amberle can’t help us now, Lauren. She’s gone: Even her mother doesn’t know where she went. There’s no possible way we could find her in time to make any difference.‘’
The red–haired Elf nodded slowly, the last trace of hope leaving his face. «It was just an idea,” he said finally, then turned back toward the compound. «Good–night, Prince Ander.»
«Good–night, Lauren. Thank you for telling me, anyhow.»
The Chosen nodded again before moving back up the pathway, his white robes rustling softly as he disappeared into the night. Ander stared after him for a moment, his dark face troubled. His father had asked for any hint — anything that might offer a clue to the location of Safehold. Yet there was really no hope of finding Amberle. She might be anywhere within the Four Lands. And now was hardly the time to bring her name up to Eventine. She had been his favorite, the granddaughter whose choosing had filled him with deep pride and joy. But her betrayal of her trust had been harder for him to bear than even the death of her father Aine.
He shook his head slowly and continued on toward the manor house.
Gael was still on duty, his face drawn with fatigue and his eyes troubled. It was inevitable that he should come to know of, the problem they faced, but he could be trusted to maintain secrecy. Now he started to rise, then sank back again at Ander’s motion. «The King is expecting you,” he said. «He’s in his study, refusing to retire. If you could persuade him to sleep, even for a few hours…»
«I’ll see what I can do,” Ander promised.
Within his private study, Eventine Elessedil looked up as his son entered. His eyes studied Ander’s face momentarily, reading the failure written there. Then he pushed himself back from the reading table at which he had been seated and rubbed his eyes wearily. He rose, stretched, and walked slowly to the curtained windows, peering through the folds into the darkness beyond. On the book–littered table, a tray of food had been pushed aside, hardly touched. Candles burned low, their wax dripping and puddling on the metal holders. The small study was still and somber, its oak bookcases and tapestry–covered walls a dim mix of faded colors and shadow. Scattered about in piles lay the books that Gael must have spent the day bringing up from the vaults.
The King looked back momentarily at his son. «Nothing?» Ander shook his head silently Eventine grimaced. «Nor I —” He shrugged, pointing to the book that lay open on the table. «The last hope. It contains a single reference to the Ellcrys seed and the Bloodfire. Read it for yourself.»
The book was one of more than a hundred volumes of the histories kept by the Elven Kings and their scribes from days that were lost in myth. They were worn and old, carefully bound in leather and brass, sealed in coverings that served to protect them against the ravages of time. They had survived the Great Wars and the destruction of the old race of Man. They had survived the First and Second Wars of the Races. They had survived the ages and ages of life and death that they chronicled. They contained the entirety of the known history of the Elven people. Thousands and thousands of pages, all carefully recorded through the years.
Ander bent to the open pages; the ink had turned brown with age and the script was of an ancient style. But the words were clear enough to read.
«Then shall the One Seed be delivered unto the Bearer that is Chosen. And the Seed shall be borne by the Bearer to the Chambers of the Bloodfire, there to be immersed within the Fire that it might be returned to the earth. Thereupon shall the Tree be Reborn and the Great Forbidding endure forever. Thus spake the High Wizard to his Elves, even as he did perish, that Knowledge be not lost unto his People.»
Eventine nodded as Ander looked up again. «I have read through every one of those books, studying every passage that might apply. There are others — but none tells more than the one you read.»
He walked back to the reading table and stood fingering the gilt–edged pages of the volume idly. «This is the oldest volume. It contains much that may be only myth. The tale of the ancient war between good and evil magics, names of heroes, everything that led up to the Forbidding. But no mention of Safehold or of the location of the Bloodfire. And nothing on the nature of the sorcery that gave life to the Ellcrys and to the power of the Forbidding.»
The last omission was hardly unusual, Ander thought. His ancestors had seldom placed the secrets of their magics in writing. Such things were handed down by word of mouth so that they could not be stolen by their enemies. And some sorceries were said to be so powerful that their use was limited to but a single time and place. It might have been so with the sorcery that had created the Ellcrys.
The King lowered himself back into his chair, studied the book a moment longer, then wordlessly closed it.
«We will have to rely on the little we have learned from the Ellcrys,” he said quietly. «We will have to use that to determine the possible locations of the Bloodfire and then search each of them out.»
Ander nodded wordlessly. It seemed hopeless. Then was only the smallest chance that they could find Safehold with nothing more than that vague description to aid them.
«I wish Arion were here,” his father murmured suddenly.
Ander said nothing. There was good cause for the King to have need of Arion this time, he admitted to himself. For the leadership that would be required in directing and furthering the search, Arion was the proper choice. And his presence might give some comfort to their father. Now was no time to begrudge him that.
«I think you should sleep, father,” Ander suggested after a moment of silence. «You’ll need rest for what lies ahead.»
The King rose once more and reached out to extinguish the candles on the table. «Very well, Ander,” he said, making an effort to smile at his son. «Send Gael in to me. But your day, too, has been a long one. You go on to bed as well and get whatever sleep you can.»
Ander returned to his cottage. To his surprise, he did sleep. While his mind spun dully in useless circles, sheer physical fatigue took over. He awoke only once during the night, his rest broken by a nightmare of indescribable horror that left him damp with sweat. Yet within seconds of waking, he drifted back asleep, the dream forgotten. This time, he slumbered undisturbed.
It was already dawn when he came awake again, slipping hurriedly from the bedcovers to dress. A sense of renewed determination strengthened him as he breakfasted hastily and prepared to leave his house. Somewhere there was an answer to this dilemma, a means by which Safehold could be found. Perhaps it lay with the dying Ellcrys. Perhaps it lay with the Chosen. But there was an answer — there had to be an answer.
As he went down the gravel walkway, he could see the early morning sunlight seeping through the screen of the surrounding forests as the new day began. He would go first to the Chosen — they would be in the Gardens of Life by now, their day already begun — in the hope that by talking once again with them something new would be discovered. They would have been thinking about the matter; turning it over and over in their minds, and possibly one of them might have recalled something more. Or perhaps the Ellcrys would have spoken to them again this morning.
He stopped first at the manor house, where Gael was already at his post. But the young Elf raised a finger to his lips, indicating silently that the King still slept and should not be disturbed. Ander nodded and left, grateful for any rest his father might find.
Dew still glimmered on the palace lawn as he moved toward the gates. He glanced expectantly at the gardens as he passed and was surprised to see that Went was not at work. He was more surprised still to see a scattering of the old fellow’s tools at the edge of the rose beds, dirt still fresh upon their metal. It was not like Went to leave a job half done. If he was having that much trouble with his back, he should be checked on. But that would have to wait. There were more pressing concerns at the moment. He glanced through the shrubbery at the flower beds a final time, then hurried on.
Minutes later he was striding past the ivy–grown walls of the Gardens of Life, following the worn pathway that led to their gates. From atop the Carolan — the towering wall of rock that rose abruptly from the eastern shore
