Hoskiko nodded. “We know,” she said, “just as we have been waiting for aeons to welcome aJin’Sai into our midst, and to tell the tale. We are responsible for your and your sister’s existences. In turn, you and she are responsible for helping our world, here so far away. It has been this way since the War of Attrition started. With your coming, we hope to change things. We need each other-perhaps more than at any moment in our history. Please listen carefully as we explain your destiny’s true meaning.” Reaching out, she lovingly placed one hand against his cheek.
Gently, she said, “In many ways, it’s not what you have been led to believe.”
CHAPTER XXXI
“YOU STILL HAVEN’T SAID WHY YOU’RE TAKING US FORa carriage ride at this hour, old man,” Abbey chided Wigg. She playfully poked one elbow into his ribs. The First Wizard winced. “What are you up to?” she asked.
Even though she was as confused as the herbmistress, Shailiha smiled. “I agree,” she said. “The least you could do is to tell us what’s going on. You were so secretive back at the palace!”
Tyranny would be next in line to complain. Sitting beside the princess, she crossed her arms and scowled at the First Wizard.
“Scars and I should be with the fleet-not out on some midnight joyride!” she protested. “Much remains to be done! We sail for the Citadel tomorrow, you know! Or have you lived for so many centuries that your memory is finally starting to go?”
Shailiha snorted a short laugh down her nose, but Tyranny found no part of this mysterious trip amusing. She lit a cigarillo and angrily blew the smoke toward the carriage roof.
Scowling, Wigg took his gaze from the passing street to regard the three strong-willed women traveling with him. They could certainly be a handful. Worse, once they learned why he had asked them to come, there would be no end to their questions.
It was a cool, pleasant evening. Streetlamps cast their welcoming glow across the nondescript coach-and-four as it rattled its way down a busy Tammerland thoroughfare. Scars sat up top driving the team.
Letting go a sigh, Wigg gathered his gray robe closer against the chilly night air. He had chosen this garden- variety coach from the palace stables because he wanted no heraldic adornments giving away its passengers’ identities. The First Wizard cleared his throat.
“I’m killing two birds with one stone,” he replied. “First, I wanted to talk to you about Tristan. I needed a private place in which to do it, so I chose this coach ride. Moreover, we head to a place where I hope to unravel a riddle. You will find it interesting.
“Besides,” he went on to say, “had I not brought you along, then told you all about it later, there would have been no end to your caterwauling! Faegan agreed that this trip was needed, but he chose to stay behind to remain immersed in his work.”
At the mention of her brother, Shailiha leaned closer. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.
“The fact is, Faegan, Jessamay, and I believe Tristan might return soon,” Wigg answered.
“What!” Tyranny exclaimed. “How could you know that?”
Pursing his lips, Wigg looked thoughtfully down at his hands. “We can’t know for sure,” he answered. “But we have reasoned it through, and we believe we’re right.”
Abbey gave him a wry look. “Out with it,” she said, “or we’ll have to gang up on you.”
Wigg took a moment to gather his thoughts. “We all know that Xanthus could have killed Tristan that night during the masquerade ball, but he didn’t,” he answered. “That means that the Heretics need him for something. Then there is this equally strange business about the Darkling granting the index forestallments to Faegan’s blood. Perhaps even more important, the Darkling spoke about Tristan’s possible return. If that comes true, Faegan and I believe that Xanthus might be needed to guide Tristan home again. The azure magic that fills the pass still has us baffled-it’s like nothing we have seen before. But we are reasonably sure that a unique spell is needed to safely navigate its depths. Moreover, we have reason to believe that the Heretics alone control the pass, because no Vigors servant has exited it. If that is all true and Tristan returns, we might have to take some unusual steps on his behalf.”
“What do you mean?” Shailiha asked.
“When next we see theJin’Sai he could be a changed man,” Wigg answered soberly, “and perhaps not for the better. Why would the Heretics want him? He is untrained in magic, so he cannot add to their craft knowledge. They might want his blood to somehow help win their long-standing war against the Ones-but Faegan, Jessamay, and I can’t imagine how. In the end, we can come up with but one logical reason why they would summon him into their midst, only to return him to us.”
Although she was immensely interested in Tristan’s welfare, Shailiha was hesitant to hear what Wigg had to say. Finally her curiosity overcame her worry.
“What is it?” she asked.
Thinking, Wigg looked out the window for a time. When he returned his gaze to them, his expression was grim.
“Simply put, they want to interfere with his destiny,” he said. “And yours as well, Princess. Somehow they want to keep you and your brother from combining the craft’s opposite sides. If they return him to us a changed man, they might well succeed in doing just that.”
“But if that is the case then why return him to us at all?” Tyranny asked. “Simply keeping him on their side of the world would do that.”
“Yes,” Wigg answered, “but perhaps at a far greater risk to them, and with less effectiveness.”
“But how so?” Abbey asked. “What Tyranny said seems sensible enough.”
“At first glance, it is,” Wigg answered. “But you are forgetting something. The Ones also exist on the world’s other side-or so we believe. If that is the case, then-”
“The Ones might somehow rescue Tristan from the Heretics,” Shailiha mused. “He would then becometheir ally. It might make more sense for the Heretics to change his thinking in some way, then send him back. If his blood was gifted with their Forestallments, he could do incredible damage to the Vigors.”
“Precisely,” Wigg said to the princess. “The azure pass might be just the thing the Heretics have been wanting for aeons. They once sentK’tons through the pass to serve Wulfgar. One can only guess what might come next. Tristan, perhaps, with a Vagaries army all his own and bent on destroying the Vigors? Only time will tell.”
The travelers went quiet for a time as they considered Wigg’s ominous warning. Finally Abbey broke the silence. “You said that should Tristan return, we might have to take some unusual steps,” she said. “What did you mean?”
“If the prince comes home, we must watch him closely and perform regular examinations of his blood signature before we can rest assured that he is unaffected,” Wigg said. “We might even be forced to affect his memory, then lock him away, as we have done with the traitorous consuls. Such things are painful to imagine, I know. I don’t like it any more than you, but there it is.”
Her heart heavy, Shailiha looked out the carriage window. Tristan becoming their enemy was frightening in the extreme. Moreover, since his disappearance she felt immensely guilty about doing so little to try to find him.
But she also knew that Jessamay and the wizards were right. Trying to send someone through the azure pass without first knowing its secrets might be a death sentence. Worse, should the Heretics detect any tampering with the pass’s magic, they might somehow close it. That could make Tristan’s return impossible, imprisoning him on the other side forever. Then she remembered his last words to her, just before he disappeared with the Darkling.
“Promise me that you will attack the Citadel!”he had ordered. In truth that was all she could do. But with the Black Ships sailing tomorrow, she felt like she was abandoning him. She turned back to Wigg.
“Where are you taking us?” she asked.
Sitting back in the seat, Wigg folded his arms across his chest. “I want to learn aboutK’Shari, ” he said simply. “I think it has more to do with our problems than we might suspect. Faegan believes that besides a lifetime of martial training, the gift might also be granted by Forestallment. In fact, using his newly acquired index
