Whisperings of Magic (15 page)

“And there is more,” Launan said, his voice triumphant. “Show her, Bruhn, show her what you have brought to me.”

Bruhn stepped away from Launan and threw back his cloak. Around his waist he wore Dahl’s scabbard. Even as Catryn watched, he drew forth the sword. Dahl’s father’s sword. Horrified, Catryn heard the Elder’s words echo in her mind: “Beware, it can be used for evil as much as for good.” He faced her, his stance bold, but his eyes slid away from her appalled stare.

No!
It was a scream within Catryn’s mind. She could not even try to hide it.
Not Dahl’s sword! Now Dahl is truly defenseless!

“True, Catryn,” Launan gloated. “Oh, so very true. Why else do you think I have been tempting Bruhn to betray you? And when you left Dahl you opened the way for me. It was easy to work on him then. Convince him that Dahl had forsaken him for you. Convince him to bring Dahl’s sword here to me. Dahl is doubly lost, Catryn. That sword is the only weapon that can slay me. And now it is mine.”

As if hypnotised, as if he had heard only the last words, Bruhn turned quickly to Launan. “You said it would be mine!”

“And so it shall, my son. When Dahl is dead.”

Bruhn grimaced for a moment, as if with a stab of pain, but Launan spoke again quickly.

“You shall have the sword, my son, and you shall have power greater than Dahl could ever know. No longer the servant,
you
shall be the lord. You shall have what is rightfully yours.” He turned to face Catryn.

“As for you, Catryn, you shall die,” he said. “I gave you a chance and you refused it. I have no need of you now. Now that I have the sword of Taun in my possession, no one—not even Dahl—can harm me.”

You cannot kill me, Catryn shot back desperately. I am immortal. I cannot die!

“Your body may not die, but what of your mind, Catryn?” Launan laughed.

Catryn felt herself shrivel. Desperately, she shielded her mind from him.

“Shield yourself as you may,” Launan gloated. “It will do you no good. I have many ways of murdering your mind, Catryn. We will explore them together, you and I.”

He turned back to Bruhn. “And when I have finished with her, I will go forth again and you will accompany me. Then you will see the extent of my power—the extent of the power that will be yours, as well.”

Bruhn’s hand tightened convulsively on the sword’s hilt. “Where do we venture? To Dahl …?”

Catryn could see the weapon tremble in his grasp. His knuckles grew white.

“No, not yet. First we make another foray and you will accompany us on it.”

“Us?” Bruhn repeated.

“Myself,” Launan answered, “and the creature that does my bidding. We have one more village to acquire—the village of a boy who interests me particularly. I almost had him once, but he escaped. This time I will find him. Then it will be time to take Daunus itself, and I will make an end to all this. Dahl will die and with him the one who betrayed me.” His words were as hard and implacable as stone, but his eyes glittered with a hatred so intense it was almost joy.

Bruhn paled.

Good, Catryn thought. Let him feel fear. Let him realize what he has done. With whom he has allied himself. And what the dangers are therein!

Launan reached out a hand to Bruhn. “Give me the sword,” he commanded.

Bruhn unbuckled the scabbard and held the sword out to Launan. Launan reached for it, then gasped and jerked his hand back. His eyes went wide with shock. Catryn could see a red welt rising where Launan’s flesh had met the steel of the weapon.

He could not touch it!

Bruhn stared at him, confused, but Launan recovered himself quickly. He hid his hand within the folds of his gown and regained his composure.

“Wait,” he said, as if nothing had happened, as if a thought had only just occurred to him. “I have a better idea.” He gestured with his unburned hand toward a chest that sat against the farther wall. “Let the sword rest here tonight where Catryn can see it and reflect on her failure. The sight of it, so near and yet so completely out of her reach, will torment her more than anything else that I could devise. A fitting reward for scorning me. Let her see the visible proof of what her pride has cost her.”

“It is no more than she deserves,” Bruhn said, summoning up a defiance Catryn could not believe was real. “She turned Dahl against me.”

Not true! Catryn raged. You did it yourself! You have no one but yourself to blame for Dahl’s loss of faith.

But Bruhn could not hear and Launan merely laughed.

Then Bruhn spoke again. “Is it wise to leave the sword here?” he questioned. “If you cannot touch it, I could guard it …”

Launan fixed him with a cold, hard stare. “Do you dare think this sword has power over me?” he demanded.

“No …” Bruhn stumbled over the word. The air of confidence he had been assuming was suddenly shaken. “Of course not. I was mistaken. I must have been.”

“You were. Now do as I bade you. Catryn can do naught but look at it and despair. She is helpless.”

Bruhn placed the sword and scabbard carefully on the chest.

“Look long and look well, Catryn,” Launan gloated. “It is the price of your defeat.” With that, Launan threw his arm once more across Bruhn’s shoulders and led him out of the room. Catryn stared after them. The anger and the defiance drained out of her. Launan was right. She was helpless and Dahl was alone. She did not even know if the Sele had managed to return to him. It could be dead. Unbidden, the memory of the Usurper’s followers killing Sele for sport and eating them returned. If Sele the Plump had been caught in his own form by Launan’s guards, they would have thought him no more than an animal. They would have made sport of killing him. They might already have feasted on him.

The horror she thought she had conquered returned to flood over her. They had lost. Taun was lost! Her stomach clenched and she retched. If a cat could weep, she would have wept.

Shadows fell; the room darkened. Catryn barely noticed, so overwhelmed was she by her grief. Only gradually did she notice that the darkness was not complete. Indeed, it seemed to be lessening. Surely the night could not have passed without her noticing? She raised her head and looked around. The blackness outside the slit that served as a window was total, but the room was illumined as if with candles. She looked again and saw the sword, lying on the chest. It was glowing. The light from it seemed to
pulse and radiate a kind of warmth that she could feel touching her, awakening her senses.

In an instant she was fully aware and concentrated on the weapon. There was more than warmth emanating from it. She could feel a magic, too. As she stared, she could feel enchantment entering her, filling her. Her powers were being returned to her, even in this cat form! She closed her eyes and sent an unbinding spell spinning into the lock of her cage, then waited, hardly daring to breathe. It sprang open. She was out in a heartbeat. One shiver, and she was back in her own form. She paused only long enough to settle herself into her body, then she was across the room. She caught up the sword and the scabbard on which it rested. She buckled the belt around her waist, but the sword she kept in her hand at the ready.

Catryn crept across the room to the door. It was locked but that was no barrier now. She unlocked it with an almost casual wave of her hand, then opened it as quietly as she could and slipped out into the passageway beyond. A sudden wild notion thrust itself into her mind.

Launan! With this weapon she could find him and kill him herself. And then—Bruhn. The thought of revenge was sweet and heavy. Enticing. She looked down the hall. Where, in this vast palace, would Launan have his rooms? She sent an exploratory tendril out. But, as she searched, another faint awareness pricked back to her along her thread. A stirring. She drew back her probe in an instant.
Launan! Of course, he would feel her seeking. Had she alerted him? She held her breath, trusting to her ears alone now to warn her of danger. She must get away! Get out of the palace as quickly as she could—return the sword to Dahl. The sword was his; it was he who would wield it to slay Launan. What Bruhn’s fate would be she did not know, nor could she think on it now.

She turned the other way, certain somehow that this was the path to her freedom. Cautiously, Catryn made her way through the gloom. The sword glowed now but faintly, only enough to show her the way. She watched for guards, tentatively sent her mind ahead of her to ensure there was no danger, but she found nothing. How sure Launan was of his power that he felt no need for guarding here!

Fear rose within her. Launan’s presence loomed everywhere. She came to the end of the hallway and paused. Two more passageways led off from it in opposite directions. Which one to take? Her desire for haste made her frantic. It was only with the greatest of efforts that she calmed her mind enough to seek the proper direction. Still, she must guard it carefully. She could not let Launan sense her seekings.

Finally she turned a corner and there, in front of her, was the hall and the door through which she had entered. With a last quick glance around her, she darted across and put her hand to the latch. It did not give under the pressure, nor did it respond to her unlocking spell. A very strong magic must be guarding
it. For a moment panic threatened to overwhelm her yet again, then she gathered herself together. She would use the power of the sword, as well as her own. She touched the door with the shining blade and sent the most powerful of the unlocking spells she had learned through the weapon and into the ancient wood of the portal. Soundlessly, it swung open.

Once outside, Catryn forced herself to wait in a dark alcove and take stock of her situation. She sheathed the sword and hid it under her cloak. Only then did she allow herself to move forward. Keeping to the shadows, she circled around the palace until she found the cobblestoned road. The silence here was almost as profound as the silence beyond the portal to the domain of the Elders, but here it was a threatening, uneasy silence. She allowed herself to breathe more freely when she reached the shelter of the trees, but still was careful to keep hidden until she judged she must be near where the cart had come through. She set herself to searching for the portal with her mind. She found it, but then sensed something else as well. Dahl and the Sele—they were here! On this side of the portal!

“Dahl?” she called softly. “Sele? Where are you?”

A bush rustled, leaves parted. Dahl stepped out of hiding, closely followed by Sele the Plump.

“Catryn!” Dahl cried. “Thank all that is good in this world that you escaped!”

“Did you hear me, then?” Catryn asked the Sele. “When I was captured?”

“Yes,” it answered. “I heard you. I knew there was nothing I could do here, so I made haste to return to Dahl to seek his aid. We have been planning as to how to reach you.”

“Is …” Dahl’s voice, usually so strong and sure, faltered. “Is Bruhn with you?”

“He is not,” Catryn answered. “But we must not tarry here.” She cast an anxious glance behind her. “Quickly, through the portal and we will talk then.”

She began to make the opening. One by one, they slipped through. Only then, in the light of their own familiar twin moons, did she see Dahl’s face. It was the face of a man ravaged by hurt. She reached out to him.

“Bruhn has betrayed us,” Dahl said. “Even as you warned, Catryn. But worst of all, he stole the sword of Taun while I slept. I rejoice that you have escaped, but our quest is doomed. Taun is doomed. Without that weapon I cannot fight.”

Catryn unclasped the fastening of her cloak and let it fall to the ground. Dahl stared as she unbuckled the heavy belt and held out sword and scabbard to him. The sword glowed no longer, but it reflected the moons’ light in sharp-edged, silver shards.

“I could not return Bruhn to you, Dahl, but I have brought your sword.”

“How …?”

Quickly, she recounted all that had transpired. When she finished talking, Dahl sat silent for a long moment, his head bowed.

“I would have sworn upon my own life that Bruhn would never have betrayed me,” he said finally.

“The blame is not all his,” Catryn said. “Launan’s power is great, so great that he entrapped me. How could he not lure Bruhn to him? It is my fault. The Elders enjoined me to help Bruhn; that I did not do. I let my anger at him cloud my judgment. And I should never have left you. If I had been there, Launan would not have been able to prevail upon Bruhn. I trusted too much in my own powers, Dahl. Launan said that it was my pride that caused my downfall and he spoke truth.”

Dahl straightened. He fastened the sword once more around his waist. The dragon scar flamed. For one brief second Catryn saw the Usurper look out through Dahl’s eyes, dark with fury. This time she did not quail. Dahl hooded his eyes and forced him back. His voice was flat and cold when he spoke again.

“If what you say is so, then Launan’s own pride is by far the greater. And so much the greater shall be his downfall. I will speak no more of Bruhn. You say Launan intends to attack another village?”

“Yes,” Catryn answered. Suddenly she remembered what Launan had said about “one particular boy” who had escaped him. Could he have meant Norl? He must have. But what was so special about Norl? She shook her head to clear it. There was no time to think on that now. “That is what he told Bruhn. I think he meant the village of that boy, Norl. After that he will take Daunus itself.”