That's …' She stopped, then said, 'A ridiculous thing to die over.'
'It is the blackest of arts to raise the undead, Elaine. Blaine died to save this village. He died to save you. Those are good reasons.'
She stared at her lap and said softly, 'There are no good reasons to die.'
He knelt beside her, taking her hands in his. Her skin was cold to the touch. 'Elaine, you know what we are, what we strive for. It is a worthy goal to destroy evil. It is worth dying for.'
The look she gave him was so bleak he flinched. 'Blaine was worth more to me than this cursed village. I beat on a door. I screamed for help, and no one helped me. Not a single door opened. They don't deserve our help.'
'Elaine, Elaine, we do not help them for their sakes. We help them because it is the right thing to do. We do the right thing, even when others do not.'
'I say, let them die.'
He was so astonished at the cold hate in her voice that he didn't know what to say.
'I say we find out who is raising this army and kill him instead,' Konrad said. He knelt on the other side of Elaine. His face softened, almost the old Konrad looking up at her, a gentleness in his eyes that surprised Jonathan.
Elaine stared into his face. Jonathan wasn't sure what she saw in his eyes, but it seemed to satisfy her. 'Yes, we'll find who did this, all of it, and kill him.'
'We are agents of justice, not mere revenge,' Jonathan said.
Elaine and Konrad looked at him, and their expressions were almost identical. They said quite clearly that he was a fool. He had become accustomed to the bitterness in Konrad, but it was chilling in Elaine's lovely face.
'We have the same goals,' Tereza said suddenly. Her voice startled Jonathan, why, he wasn't sure. 'We all want this evil to end. We all want the person or persons behind it stopped.'
'We are not vigilantes,' Jonathan said. 'If we can bring the sorcerer to prison for trial, we will do so.'
Konrad and Elaine exchanged glances. Jonathan knew in that instant that they would kill the sorcerer if they had the chance. He did not find it surprising, coming from Konrad. He believed the fighter could kill in cold blood, but Elaine. Little Elaine-could she kill for the sake of vengeance?
He looked at her bleak, pain-filled eyes and believed she could. Some piece of her heart had died when Blaine died.
If Jonathan allowed her to kill in cold blood, that piece would never live again. He would stop her, if he could. But he hadn't been doing a good job keeping his people safe of late.
There was a soft knock at the door, but it opened before anyone could speak. Gersalius stood in the doorway. 'I felt your thoughts, your grief. I am so sorry.' From the wizard the empty words seemed to mean something.
Elaine nodded. 'Thank you.'
'If you are well enough, I would show you a spell I have found.'
She looked up at that. 'What do you mean, found?'
'There is a spell on almost everything in this village. It is subtle, like a trip spell, but it is there. I thought Jonathan might trust my news better if you saw it and explained it to him.' The wizard didn't seem offended by that bit of truth.
Elaine glanced at Jonathan, either for permission or confirmation.
Jonathan nodded. 'Go with him. Learn what you can and report back.'
She touched his face, fingers gentle. 'So there is room in the brotherhood for a wizard, after all?'
He glanced back at Gersalius, startled that she had spoken in front of him. 'He can read my thoughts, Jonathan. It's hard to keep secrets that way.'
'My word of honor that all secrets accidently overheard are safe with me,' the wizard said.
Jonathan looked back at Elaine. Her face was calm. She had faith in the wizard. Jonathan had faith in Elaine. 'Very well, go with him. Report back as soon as you can.'
'Night will be falling in a few hours,' she said.
'Yes,' he said, 'and we must have answers before then.'
Elaine looked down at her lap. 'I can heal Tereza's arm.' She looked up at him, glancing toward Tereza.
Jonathan exchanged a look with Tereza. He loved Elaine, but he would not let her heal again. It was magic, and it was evil. He believed that. He still believed that. But it was Tereza's arm.
'Thank you, Elaine, but no,' Tereza said. She made her voice gentle, as inoffensive as possible.
Elaine took a deep breath. 'I am not evil.'
'Child, I know that,' Tereza said.
'Let us agree to disagree on this one matter,' Jonathan said. With his eyes he tried to ask her, please, please let this not stand between us. He had thought her lost for all time. She was back, and he did not want to lose her again, not so soon.
Elaine nodded. 'Very well, I think you are both being foolish, but it is your right.' She leaned forward and kissed Tereza on the cheek. She brushed her lips on Jonathan's beard, giving it a tug as she had as a child.
'We will not let this stand between us,' she said.
Jonathan smiled. 'No, we will not.'
She gave her hand to Konrad, and he raised it to his cheek, not kissing it, but it was an intimate gesture.
Elaine stood and followed the wizard from the room. Jonathan watched her go, watched Konrad watch her. In the midst of every disaster were the seeds of hope. He knew that, but it was good to be reminded.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Gersalius led Elaine out into the street. They had found her another cloak. It was brown and stiff, but warm enough. It wasn't until she was outside that she realized she hadn't taken time to clean off the blood. Gersalius had offered her breakfast, but she had refused; though she felt light and empty, it wasn't food she needed. What she needed was to see Blaine's face, hear his voice, feel the touch of his hand. She needed his death to not be true.
Konrad had hugged her. The softness in his face that she had always longed to see was finally there. What would Blaine have thought? Would he have been happy for her? Or would he have been jealous? She would have given up Konrad's newfound love, if that was what it was, to have Blaine back.
Konrad returned her feelings, at last, and it was ashes in her heart. She walked down the snow-covered street. The cold air touched her face. There was a hood on the borrowed cloak, but Elaine left it down. She wanted to feel the cold on her face. Her hair fell unbound round her shoulders. She hadn't even thought to tie it back. It was so like Blaine's hair. She would see a shadow of him in every mirror for the rest of her life.
Gersalius led her to the town square. There was a fountain in the middle of the paved area, and the water within it had frozen to solid white ice. The ice coated even the figure in the center, making it unrecognizable, though a thin trickle of water still played through the ice. The soft sound of water moved oddly through the silent courtyard, echoing off the two-story buildings that hedged the paving.
'It was a large town once. This is the center of an ambitious town,' Gersalius said.
Elaine stood by the frozen fountain and let her breath out in a white cloud. Huge fluffy clouds hung low in the sky, pale gray, as if they held not snow but rain. But it was far too cold for rain.
The gray clouds cast everything in a sameness. The day was as dull and downtrodden as her mood. 'Why did you bring me here?'
Gersalius turned to her. His smile died as he looked at her. 'I know that right now you won't believe this, but it will hurt less as time goes by.'
She shook her head. 'Why are we here?'
'This is the heart of the town. It wasn't the first thing built, but it was the center of all their hopes. A fountain in a courtyard, very cosmopolitan. This is the heart of the village, and here is where the spell was laid.'
Elaine looked around. 'I don't see anything.'
'Look at the fountain, Elaine. Open that inner sight and truly look at it.'
It seemed like such an effort that she wanted to say no, I can't.
'If we can trace this spell back to its owner, we will find the person responsible for all this misery,' Gersalius
