‘And now – what? What of Jaer, and Medlo, and Terascouros?’
‘Now we go see. We must heal you quick, you and Hazliah, so that we may go away to the north. You, and Jasmine, and me. We are needed there.’
‘Does the Crown tell you this?’ she asked him, weighted with weariness. ‘You are never satisfied, my friend. Either we must wait and do nothing when we do not wish to wait, or we must go at once when we are unable to go. When we are healed we will go as quickly as we can.’ And she tucked the little brown-backed book into her belt pouch. She would give it to Jaer, who would treasure it.
Around them the people of Orena moved to carry the wounded of Hazliah’s kindred within the walls and dispatch the serpent beasts which still lived. Of the ghosts of Gahl, there was no sign except for the grey and barren earth which they had crossed.
FROM THE QUEST BOOK OF EPHRAIM THE ARCHIVIST
The Prophecy of Geraldhis
Between Gerenhodh and the sea,
by Gahlian maimed, by capture grieved,
three chainbound captives are set free
that one great end shall be achieved.
From shadows a dark warrior comes
with Widon’s sons and Power’s Sword.
A singer beats the dead-march drums
to welcome him, the Lion Lord.
The King of Rhees shall rise again,
beside him maiden, mother, hag,
and go to reign in otherwhen,
Basiliskos, his battle flag.
The Queen of Beasts wanders the lands
with Wisdom’s Crown upon her hair.
Eastward the fabled postern stands,
the Girdle goes to meet it there.
In Orena the Remnant dwells,
these seven shall the Girdle bind.
Throughout each age, this voice foretells,
shall all men seek what these shall find.
Wounded nor whole shall they prevail
until a weary time is past,
nor cease, nor turn, nor die, nor fail
until their Healing comes at last.
FROM THE QUEST BOOK OF EPHRAIM THE ARCHIVIST
The Prophecy of Geraldhis
Between Gerenhodh and the sea,
by Gahlian maimed, by capture grieved,
three chainbound captives are set free
that one great end shall be achieved.
From shadows a dark warrior comes
with Widon’s sons and Power’s Sword.
A singer beats the dead-march drums
to welcome him, the Lion Lord.
The King of Rhees shall rise again,
beside him maiden, mother, hag,
and go to reign in otherwhen,
Basiliskos, his battle flag.
The Queen of Beasts wanders the lands
with Wisdom’s Crown upon her hair.
Eastward the fabled postern stands,
the Girdle goes to meet it there.
In Orena the Remnant dwells,
these seven shall the Girdle bind.
Throughout each age, this voice foretells,
shall all men seek what these shall find.
Wounded nor whole shall they prevail
until a weary time is past,
nor cease, nor turn, nor die, nor fail
until their Healing comes at last.
CHAPTER FORTY
THE GATE
Day 18, Month of Sowing
Taniel sat with them on a grassy knoll beside the river, all gathered together in firelight. Tharliezalor cut knife edges of dark against the stars, and they could hear the sea where it crashed upon the city walls. Lights moved in the city, carried by some unknown explorers. Once Medlo had thought he heard soft laughter coming from the city, nymphlike, perhaps, but he could not be sure. Jasmine told him she had heard nothing, but he did not think she was listening to anything except Taniel’s voice, She spoke so softly that they had to be very still in order to hear her.
‘It was very long ago,’ she was saying. ‘Sometimes I do not remember clearly. We were very wise, very clever, and when the First Cycle ended, we gathered together here in Tharliezalor. Some of us decided to leave the world, to go out among the stars, Some of us, the Thiene, decided to stay. We were few, but we thought ourselves the wisest of our kindred. Not for us the far reaches, the endless voyaging. No, we chose the earth, chose to make it our own, chose to perfect it and ourselves. We were very proud.’ She mused at the fire, placing a small stick upon it, first this way and then that, watching the flames climb along it on hungry, undulant feet. Presently she went on.
‘There were two among the Thiene who loved me, whom I loved. Urlasthes and Omburan. Unlike as day and night, one fair, one dark, one sharp, one smooth, one all angles and exclamations, one all silences. Both wise. Both students, learners.’ Again she watched the flame, feeling the sweet warmth of it play on her skin. ‘Omburan discovered a Way, a Way into the heart of earth, into very Earthsoul. It was a way of long study, of silences, of losing oneself. It was a way of seeing and becoming. He tried to teach it to me, but I was impatient. I was young then.
‘Urlasthes found another way, a way to create life in new forms, change it, combine it. He and Audilla and Lucimbra, and Talurion, too. I was not that wise, you understand. I was only there, among them, very young, loving them all, but mosdy Urlasthes and Omburan. It was Urlasthes who brought the gryphons to life within the people of Anisfale, though it was not Anisfale then. It was Omburan who taught them the rites to protect themselves from themselves. It was Urlasthes who brought me a tiny horse with wings, delicate as a carving, prancing and neighing in the green meadows he had set it in. A gift. I showed if to Omburan, challenging him, perhaps to say, “Oh, prove you love me more!’ H6w do I know, now, what my reasons were then? Omburan only smiled and told me,
