'Fascinating,' the old man said in a voice barely above a whisper. 'In a sense, this is a child, isn't it?' He smiled. 'How appropriate. I've always been good with the young ones.' He turned to Galharath. 'Did you learn anything else about our new friend?'
'A few things. He calls himself Solus. When representatives of House Cannith came to investigate why they'd ceased to receive communications from this facility, Solus hid, cloaking himself from their perceptions, just as he did with us. They found the bodies of the others, decided the project was a failure, and closed down the facility. They departed, unaware of Solus's existence. Solus has remained within Mount Luster ever since, rarely venturing outside. I'm not certain, but I got the sense that he's been trying to learn how to control his abilities so that he won't endanger anyone else. He has obtained a modicum of mastery over the years, but he still has quite a way to go.'
Cathmore reached out and placed an arthritic claw on Galharath's shoulder. The assassin's touch was cold as ice. 'Excellent, Galharath. Well done.' The old man turned to regard Solus once more. 'Remember what I told you about Fate? It appears that Fate has granted us an opportunity to learn more about psi-forged before we begin producing our own. There is much we can learn from our new friend. Much indeed.'
If he doesn't destroy us first, Galharath thought.
CHAPTER TEN
Rocking, swaying… wood creaking, wind howling, cold seeping into his bones, slowly turning them to ice. A ship-they were on a ship.
Diran struggled to open his eyes, but whatever drug the Coldhearts had used upon him and Ghaji was strong, and its hold was not easily broken. He fought to escape the black numbness that held him in its grip, but like a drowning man on the verge of going down for the third and final time, he was too weak. Despite his efforts he felt himself sink back down into nothingness.
'Do you know why I summoned you here?' Cathmore asked.
Diran shook his head. He hadn't been in his new home long, but he'd already learned through painful experience that if he didn't know the right answer to a question, it was better not to say anything at all. He felt an urge to reach up and touch the bruised and swollen flesh of his face, but he resisted, not wishing to risk adding another injury by displaying weakness before Cathmore.
The two of them-man and boy-stood within a large room located on one of the lower levels of Emon Gorsedd's manor home. Diran had never been here before, but he'd heard of this place from the other students. It was called the Proving Room, though why it was named so, or what took place inside, no one would say. The ceiling was high, the walls and floor wooden and bereft of decoration of any sort. They weren't even painted. The only features in the room save for the cold fire globes hovering near the ceiling were a door on the far wall opposite from the one through which Diran had entered and a wide mahogany chest with double doors set against one wall.
Diran was a fisherman's son, and before coming here, he'd never seen anything as fine as the highly polished wood the chest was made from, but Emon Gorsedd was a man with, as he put it, 'refined' tastes. Diran had quickly learned that refined really meant expensive. Diran wished Emon was here now. The man was warmer than Cathmore, and while Diran didn't exactly trust Emon, he wasn't terrified of him, not like he was of Cathmore. The man's eyes were cold and lifeless, like those of a dead fish, and his voice was flat and emotionless. Cathmore didn't seem altogether human to Diran, and he found it hard to believe that the man was Emon's half-brother. The two didn't seem to have anything in common at all.
Cathmore's eyes narrowed as he regarded Diran more closely, and Diran fought to suppress a shiver. 'None of the other students told you what was going to happen to you in this room? Not even so much as a hint?'
Diran shook his head again. He'd been at the manse for two weeks, and during that time the other students, almost all of them older than Diran, had barely looked at him, let alone spoken to him. One girl around his own age had smiled at him a few times, though. He thought he'd heard another student call her Makala, but he wasn't sure that he'd heard right.
Cathmore's lips stretched into a thin lizard-like smile. 'Good. That's as it should be.'
Diran was startled by Cathmore's response, and for the first time since his arrival he wondered if the real reason none of the other students spoke to him wasn't because they were unfriendly but rather because they were afraid.
Diran wore a simple gray tunic and sandals; the outfit seemed to be the unofficial uniform of Emon Gorsedd's students. Cathmore, however, wore a light brown long-sleeved shirt, tan pants, and boots. Diran had noticed that Cathmore tended to dress in colors similar to his surroundings, and today his clothing matched well with the wood that this chamber had been made from. During his years on the Lhazaar fishing with his mother and father, Diran had witnessed how the octopus could blend into its surroundings by altering the color and even the texture of its skin. He wondered if Cathmore made his wardrobe choices for the same reason: protective coloration.
'What are you thinking right now?' Cathmore asked.
Diran didn't think it a good idea to share his observations about Cathmore's manner of dress, but he knew he couldn't remain silent any longer, not now that he'd been asked a direct question.
'I'm thinking about my parents.' Saying the words turned the lie into reality, and he was filled with a sudden mixture of sorrow and anger.
'Do you miss them?'
Diran thought this an odd question. Was Cathmore simply asking as some sort of test? He sounded sincere, almost as if he didn't quite comprehend how one human being could mourn the loss of another.
Diran decided to put up a brave front. 'I was raised in the Principalities. My parents taught me that life was harsh and death is only ever a heartbeat away.'
Cathmore nodded slowly, as if considering Diran's reply. 'Wise words, but I don't imagine such knowledge makes you miss your parents any less.'
Diran didn't think Cathmore meant that as a question, but he responded anyway. 'That's true.'
'I doubt they're any more effective in quelling the anger surging within you… anger toward the raiders that killed your parents.'
Diran gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. 'Also true.'
'There is one thing that will help, though, one thing that will give you the peace that you seek.' Cathmore stepped toward Diran and when next he spoke, his voice was almost a purr. 'Would you like to know what it is?'
Diran sensed that Cathmore had some sort of trick planned, but he knew he had no choice but to go along. Moreover, part of him-a cold dark part that had been born the day his parents died and their bodies left for the sharks-wanted to know.
'Yes,' he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Cathmore smiled, displaying his teeth, and Diran thought that not all sharks lived in water. Cathmore clapped his hands loudly and the door on the far side of the chamber opened. A pair of men garbed entirely in black entered carrying between them a naked man whose wrists and ankles were bound by leather thongs. The man was gagged, and though he struggled to break free from his captors, the men in black were too strong. The prisoner was bald, his bare scalp covered with a concentric tattoo, and he had a drooping black mustache. He was broad-shouldered and well-muscled, his skin bronzed and leathery from decades of living and working outside. His flesh was marked with criss-crossing scars which spoke of a life lived in conflict. The men in black dragged the prisoner to Cathmore then unceremoniously dumped him onto the floor. They then looked to Cathmore as if awaiting further instructions. 'That will be all.'
The two men bowed then returned the way they'd come, closing the door behind them. The man got to his knees and glared at Cathmore, who paid him no attention. He stared at Diran with a penetrating gaze, as if he were trying to see inside Diran's mind.
'Do you recognize this man?' Cathmore asked.
Diran had trouble hearing Cathmore over the pounding of his pulse in his ears. His vision went gray around the edges, almost as if everything else had ceased to exist, save for the naked man bound before him. 'He's the captain of the raiders who killed my parents.'
