In the east, the crest of the sun broke over the ragged edge of the Dragon’s Teeth, silver gray light spilling down through the dying night shadows.
Brin heard Rone exhale sharply, and her hand reached over to grip his. At the edge of the Hadeshorn, Allanon dropped to his knees, head bowed.
«Rone!» she whispered harshly and started forward. The highlander seized her arm in warning, remembering what the Druid had told them, but she pulled free, racing for the lake. Instantly he was after her.
Together they rushed to the Druid, slid to a halt on the loose rock, and bent down beside him. His eyes were closed, and his dark face was pale. Brin reached for one great hand and found it as cold as ice. The Druid seemed to be in a trance. The Valegirl glanced hesitantly at Rone. The highlander shrugged. Ignoring him, she put her hands on the big man’s shoulders and gently shook him.
«Allanon,” she said softly.
The dark eyes flickered open; met hers. For an instant she saw clear through him. There was a terrible heedless anguish in his eyes. There was fear. And there was disbelief. It shocked her so that she moved back from him quickly. Then all that she had seen disappeared; in its place there was anger.
«I told you not to move.» He pushed himself roughly to his feet.
His anger meant nothing, and she ignored it. «What happened, Allanon? What did you see?»
He said nothing for a moment, his eyes straying back across the murky green waters of the lake. His head shook slowly. «Father,” he whispered.
Brin glanced hurriedly at Rone. The highlander frowned.
She tried again, one hand touching lightly the Druid’s sleeve. «What has he told you?»
Depthless black eyes fixed upon her own. «That time slips away from us, Valegirl. That we are hunted on all sides, and that it shall be thus until the end. That end is determined, but he will not tell me what it is. He will only tell me this — that it will come, that you will see it, and that for our cause you are both savior and destroyer.»
Brin stared at him. «What does that mean, Allanon?»
He shook his head. «I don’t know.»
«Very helpful.» Rone straightened and looked away into the mountains.
Brin kept her eyes on the Druid. There was something more. «What else did he say, Allanon?»
But again the Druid shook his head. «Nothing more. That was all.»
He was lying! Brin knew it instantly. Something more had passed between them, something dark and terrible that he was not prepared to reveal. The thought frightened her, the certainty of it an omen that, like her father and her great–grandfather before her, she was to be used to a purpose she did not comprehend.
Her thoughts snapped back to what he had said before. Savior and destroyer to their cause — she would be both, the shade had said. But how could that be?
«One other thing he told me,” Allanon said suddenly — but Brin sensed at once it was not the thing he kept hidden. «Paranor is in the hands of the Mord Wraiths. They have penetrated its locks and broken through the magic that guards its passages. Two nights earlier it fell. Now they search its halls for the Druid histories and the secrets of the ancients. What they find will be used to enhance the power they already possess.»
He faced them each in turn. «And they will find them, sooner or later, if they are not stopped. That must not be allowed to happen.»
«You don’t expect us to stop them, do you?» Rone asked quickly.
The black eyes narrowed. «There is no one else.»
The highlander flushed. «Just how many of them are there?»
«A dozen Wraiths. A company of Gnomes.»
Rone was incredulous. «And we’re going to stop them? You and me and Brin? Just the three of us? Exactly how are we supposed to do that?»
There was a sudden, terrible anger in the Druid’s eyes. Rone Leah sensed that he had gone a step too far, but there was no help for it now. He stood his ground as the big man came up against him.
«Prince of Leah, you have doubted me from the first,” Allanon said. «I let that pass because you care for the Valegirl and came as her protector. But no more. Your constant questioning of my purpose and of the need I see has reached its end! There is little sense to it when your mind is already decided against me!»
Rone kept his voice steady. «I am not decided against you. I am decided for Brin. Where the two conflict, I stand with her, Druid.»
«Then stand with her you shall!» the other thundered and wrenched the Sword of Leah from its scabbard where it lay strapped across the highlander’s back. Rone went white, certain that the big man meant to kill him. Brin darted forward, crying out, but the Druid’s hand lifted quickly to stop her. «Stay, Valegirl. This lies between me and the Prince of Leah.»
His eyes fixed on Rone, harsh and penetrating. «Would you protect her, highlander, as I might myself? If it were possible, would stand as my equal?»
Rone’s face hardened with determination across a mask of fear. «I would.»
Allanon nodded. «Then I shall give you the power to do so.»
One great hand fastened securely on Rone’s arm, and he propelled the highlander effortlessly to the edge of the Hadeshorn. There he returned the Sword of Leah and pointed to the murky green waters.
«Dip the blade of the sword into the waters, Prince of Leah,” he commanded. «But keep your hand and the pommel clear. Even the smallest touch of the Hadeshorn to mortal flesh is death.»
Rone Leah stated at him uncertainly.
«Do as I say!» the Druid snapped.
Rone’s jaw tightened. Slowly he dropped the blade of the Sword of Leah until it was completely submerged within the swirling waters of the lake. It passed downward without effort — as if there were no bottom to the lake and the shoreline marked the edge of a sheer drop. As the metal touched the lake, the waters about it began to boil softly, hissing and gurgling as if acid ate the metal clean. Frightened, Rone nevertheless forced himself to hold the blade steady within the waters.
«Enough,” the Druid told him. «Draw it out.»
Slowly Rone lifted the sword clear of the lake. The blade, once polished iron, had gone black; the waters of the Hadeshorn clung to its surface, swirling about it as if alive.
«Rone!» Brin whispered in horror.
The highlander held the sword steady before him, blade extended away from his body, eyes fixed on the water that spun and wove across the metal surface.
«Now stand fast!» Allanon ordered, one arm lifting free of the black robes. «Stand fast, Prince of Leah!»
Blue fire spurted out from the fingers of his hand in a thin, dazzling line. It ran all along the blade, seering, burning, igniting water and metal, and fusing them as one. Blue fire flared in a burst of incandescent light, yet no heat passed from the blade into the handle. While Rone Leah averted his eyes, he held the sword firm.
An instant later it was done, the fire was gone, and the Druid’s arm lowered once more. Rone Leah looked down at his sword. The blade was clean, a polished and glistening black, the edges hard and true.
«Look closely, Prince of Leah,” Allanon told him.
He did as he was asked, and Brin bent close beside him. Together they stared into the black, mirrored surface. Deep within the metal, murky green pools of light swirled lazily.
Allanon stepped close. «It is the magic of life and death mixed as one. It is power that now belongs to you, highlander; it becomes your responsibility. You are to be as much Brin Ohmsford’s protector as I. You are to have power such as I. This sword shall give it to you.»
«How?» Rone asked softly.
«As with all swords, this one both cuts and parries — not flesh and blood or iron and stone, but magic. The evil magic of the Mord Wraiths. Cut through or blocked away, such magic shall not pass. Thus you have committed yourself. You are to be the shield that stands before this girl now and until this journey ends. You would be her protector, and I have made you so.»
«But why… why would you give me… ?» Rone stammered.
But the Druid simply turned and began to walk away. Rone stared after him, a stunned look on his face.
«This is unfair, Allanon!» Brin shouted at the retreating figure, angered suddenly by what he had done to
