Wizards Daughter

mourning the loss of my mate.

'Now Clandus is offended and has doubtless flown back to his cliff to huddle next to a fire in his mother's cave, his wings spread, naturally, to protect his fire from the flying creatures. It will be interesting to see what Taranis does after Clandus whines in his ear about how loathsome you and the mistress are. Taranis hates sulking, and that is what Clandus is doing right at this moment.'

'I hope that a father dragon disciplines the son by smiting him hard with his tail,' Nicholas said.

The red Lasis bowed his head in agreement, his thick lashes fluttering. They heard his deep voice, amused now. 'It seems like only yesterday that Taranis and I wagered about your coming and what would happen. But again, my mate's death seems such a short time ago as well.

'I have waited for you, my lord, and you, mistress. It is a strange thing to see you. mistress, as a woman and not the small girl whose face Sarimund placed in my mind. As for you, my lord, you are yourself and yet also the boy.

'And there is Epona, a witch who is vicious to her soul, though I do not know if she has a soul; probably not. She kills cleanly, no madness for gore in her. There is not a wizard in Blood Rock who isn't afraid of her, or, at the same time, who doesn't admire her immensely. She is very dangerous, my lord. I pray you will not forget that.'

Rosalind said, 'But she wanted Sarimund.'

'That is so.'

'Because he is so beautiful?' Rosalind asked. 'That is so as well.'

'What is your wager with Taranis?' Rosalind asked.

'Taranis wagered you wouldn't come, mistress, that the passage of time had distorted what should happen, but you are here. You are very powerful, both of you. I wagered you would come, that you would save Prince Egan, that my lord would indeed pay his debt to you, for both your lines are powerful.'

Rosalind asked, 'What was your prize if you won the wager with Taranis?'

'Taranis swore to intercede for me with the wizard Be-lenus. He is more powerful than he should be, Belenus is. with his big white teeth. The fiend cursed me to shepherd about the occasional magician who found his way to the Pale. He laughed, said since my mate was dead I had more than enough time to see that the few straggling humans who wander into the Pale do not end up Tiber victuals.'

'What did you do to bring down Belenus's curse?' Nicholas asked.

'He did not come to my mate's interment. My grief was great, and so was my anger. I sent an army of black snails to invade his living quarters on Blood Rock. They naturally found their way into his bed to sleep with him at night. Belenus cursed me for it. And so I have protected the pathetic magicians who have come here for a very long time now, surely a millennium. Perhaps.

'At last you have come, both of you. Mistress, I watched you save his lordship by breaking off a yellow Sillow branch and striking Clandus with it. My lovely eyelashes thickened with the excitement of witnessing what you did so naturally, without a human's infernal questioning or doubts. I was convinced at that point that you were the two predicted to come to the Pale, even more so when his lordship reattached the branch to the yellow Sillow tree. I have seen that done only once in my life. By Epona. Ah, but withal, I must make certain you are indeed what you say you are.' He stopped and suddenly opened his mouth and sang to the three blood moons in a beautiful baritone:

I dream of beauty and sightless night

I dream of strength and fevered might

I dream I'm not alone again

But I know of his death and her grievous sin.

Without hesitation, Rosalind sang back to him, joyously, her beautiful voice filling the silent Pale night:

I was small and I was weak He left me broken, without a name But I lived and now I seek What to do to end the game.

'Ah,' said Bifrost, 'it is time for you to ride Taranis, the Dragon of the Sallas Pond, to the fortress on Blood Rock.'

He fluttered his eyelashes at them again, then simply faded into the cave wall.

Rosalind called out, 'No! Wait, come back here. Where is Sarimund?'

There was only silence. The red Lasis was gone.

They stood inside the cave opening, looking out beyond the river in the distance, at the far end of a vast flat plain to Mount Olyvan, and at its peak the dark brooding fortress of Blood Rock that speared up toward the moons.

They heard a scuffle, panting, grunts. Suddenly standing before them was Sarimund, and he seemed to shimmer, his golden hair brilliant beneath the bloodred moons. He muttered, 'Ah, you are hare,' and he gave them a beautiful smile.

Rosalind stepped up to the beautiful man who looked like an angel. 'I first saw you in a vision. You were stirring a pot. You told me I would be with you soon.'

'And here you are, my beauty. Here you are. Ah, to see you as a woman grown.'

'Are you my father?'

'I? Certainly not, but I will say that I have held you close for a very long time, the spirit of you, the promise of you. Now I am here and let me tell you it was difficult. Although Bifrost believed you would come, Taranis did not. He believed I had failed, that too much earth time had passed, but you are here and that proves that I did not.' He cupped graceful hands beside his mouth and shouted, 'Do you hear me, Taranis? I have succeeded. I am the bringer of peace-'

'-and destruction,' Nicholas said. 'That is what you told her.'

'Yes, both she and I are the bringers of peace and destruction.'

'Are you speaking to us, in English, or are you thinking all of this to us?'

'I speak beautiful English.'

'But it is modern English you are speaking,' Rosalind said.

'Even a dumb beast like the Tiber keeps abreast of things. His English is halting, but the grammar is well nigh perfect, which surprises me since he has the brain of a fig.

'You have met Bifrost, known as the Scholar. He was hollowed out when his mate was killed in a moon storm so long ago. Everything lasts for a very long time in the Pale, affections included.'

'Where is the Pale?' Nicholas asked.

Sarimund studied Nicholas's face. 'The Pale is as close as those three bloodred moons above our heads, yet it is apart, a study in contrasts. But it is as real as an eternal dream. Am I not real? Am I not standing here before you? Do you not see me? Am I not speaking to you?'

'You could be another specter like Captain Jared,' Nicholas said.

'His is not idle curiosity, Sarimund,' Rosalind said, lightly touching his arm, a very real arm, the muscles rippling beneath her fingers. Whatever he was, he was no specter. 'Listen, we are here because you brought us here. You set this all into motion almost three hundred years ago when you convinced Captain Jared that he owed the little girl the debt, didn't you?'

'Yes.'

'Did you really bring a storm to destroy Captain Jared's ship, or was it all an elaborate illusion?'

He made a choked noise in his throat and his golden hair lifted, very nearly standing on end. 'The little girl had no bite to her, no impertinent questions for a wizard, but you, the woman, do,' he said, now visibly calming himself. 'I am more powerful than you can begin to imagine, I can whip the skies into a froth of madness, I can-'

'Yes, yes,' she said. 'Then you wrote the Rules of the Pale and prayed I would find it, somehow, so everything would be in motion.'

'No, I did not pray; a wizard casts his spells, and waits to see them unfold. And waits. And watches. And guides. Of course you found it.'

'Well, yes, I suppose you did that right, though you were a bit on the late side. And you finally released the final pages for me to read, but still that last page was stark white and perfectly blank. I only realized a little while ago that you had written Prince Egan's name on that page.'

Nicholas said, 'You planned for the little girl to come to the Pale, but she didn't come because it wasn't yet