their own borders. We cannot follow your course, but must
live in the world.’
Xanetia rose to her feet, putting one hand on Kalten’s shoulder.
‘Stay, gentle knight,’ she told him. “I must confer a moment
with Anakha in furtherance of our pact. Should he detect falsity
in me, he may slay me.’
Sparhawk stood up, crossed to the door, and opened it for
her. Danae, dragging Rollo behind her, followed them from the
room.
‘What is it, Anarae?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘Let us repair to that place above where we are wont to speak,’
she replied. ‘What I must tell thee is for thine ears alone.’
Danae gave her a hard look.
‘Thou mayest also hear my words, Highness,’ Xanetia told
the little girl.
‘You’re so kind.’
‘We can’t hide from her, Xanetia,’ Sparhawk said. ‘We could
go to the top of the highest tower in Matherion, and she’d fly
up to eavesdrop on us anyway.’
‘Canst thou truly fly, Highness?’ Xanetia looked startled.
‘Can’t everyone?’
‘Behave yourself,’ Sparhawk told his daughter.
They climbed the stairs to the top of the tower again and went
out onto the roof. ‘Anakha, I must tell thee a truth which thou
mayest not wish to believe,’ Xanetia said gravely, ‘but it is truth,
nonetheless. ‘
‘That’s an unpromising start,’ Danae observed.
“I must speak this truth, Anakha,’ Xanetia said gravely, ‘for it
is not only in keeping with our pact, but it doth also have a
grave import on our common design.’
“I get the feeling that I should take hold of something solid,’
Sparhawk said wryly.
‘As it seemeth best to thee, Anakha. I must advise thee, however,
that thy trust in Zalasta of Styricum is sorely misplaced.’
‘What.?’
he hath played thee false, Anakha. his heart and his mind
are Cyrgon’s.’
CHAPTER 18
‘That’s absolutely impossible!’ Danae exclaimed. ‘Zalasta loves
my sister and me. he’d never betray us!’
‘He doth love thy sister beyond measure, Goddess,’ Xanetia
replied. ‘His feelings for thee, however, are not so kindly. In
truth, he doth hate thee.’
“I don’t believe you!’
Sparhawk was a soldier, and soldiers who cannot adjust to
surprises rapidly do not live long enough to become veterans.
‘You weren’t at Delphaeus, Aphrael,’ he reminded the Child
Goddess. ‘Bhelliom vouched for Xanetia’s truthfulness.’
‘She’s just saying this to drive a wedge between us and
Zalasta.’
“I don’t really think so.’ A number of things were rapidly
falling into place in Sparhawk’s mind. ‘The alliance is too important
to the Delphae for her to endanger it with something that
petty, and what she just told us explains several things that
didn’t make sense before. Let’s hear her out. If there’s some
question about Zalasta’s loyalty, we’d better find out about it
right now. Exactly what did you discover in his mind, Anarae?’
‘A great confusion, Anakha,’ Xanetia said sadly. ‘The mind
of Zalasta might have been a noble one, but it doth stand on
the brink of madness, consumed with but one thought and one
desire. He hath loved thy sister since earliest childhood, Goddess,
but his love is not the brotherly affection thou hast believed
it was. This I know with greater certainty than all else, for it is
ever at the forefront of his mind. he doth think of her as his
affianced bride.’
‘That’s absurd.’ Danae said. ‘She doesn’t think of him that
way at all.’
‘Nay, but he doth think so of her. My sojourn within his
thought was brief, therefore I do not as yet know all. As soon
as I did perceive his treachery, my pledge bound me to reveal
it to Anakha. With more time, I will discover more.’
‘What prompted you to look into his thought, Xanetia?’ Sparhawk
asked her. ‘The room was full of people. Why did you
choose him? – or do you just listen to everybody simultaneously?
It seems to me that would be very confusing.’ He made a face.
“I think I’m going at this backward. It might be helpful if I knew
how your gift works. Is it like having another set of ears? Do you hear
every thought going on around you? – all at the same
time?’
‘Nay, Anakha.’ She smiled faintly. ‘That, as thou hast perceived,
would be too confusing. Our ears, will we, nil we, hear
all sound. My perception of the thought of others doth require
my conscious direction. I must reach out to hear, unless the
thought of one who is near me be so intense that it doth become
as a shout. So it was with Zalasta. His mind doth scream the
name of Sephrenia again and again. In equal measure, moreover,
doth his mind shriek thy name, Goddess, and those shrieks
are filled with his hatred of thee. In his mind art thou a thief,
having stolen away all his hope of joy.’
‘A thief? Me? He was the one who was trying to steal what
was mine. I put my sister here on this world. She’s mine. She’s
always been mine how dare he?’ Danae’s black eyes were flashing,
and her voice was filled with outraged indignation.
‘This isn’t one of the more attractive sides of your nature,
Divine One,’ Sparhawk suggested. ‘We don’t own other people.
‘i’m not a people, Sparhawk. I own what I want.’
‘You’re just digging yourself in deeper. I wouldn’t pursue it
any further.’
‘But I do, father. I’ve devoted hundreds of years to Sephrenia,
and all that time Zalasta’s been sneaking around behind my back
trying to steal her from me.’
‘Aphrael,’ he said gently, ‘you’re an Elene in this particular
incarnation, so you’re going to have to stop thinking like a Styric.
There are certain things that decent Elenes don’t do, and You’re
doing one of them right now. Sephrenia belongs to herself – not
to you, not to Zalasta, not even to Vanion. Her soul’s her own.’
‘But I love her!’ it was almost a wail.
‘i’m not built right for this,’ Sparhawk muttered to himself.
‘How can any human hope to be the father of a Goddess?’
‘Don’t you love me, father?’ Her voice was tiny.
‘Of course I do.’
‘Then you belong to me too. Why are you arguing with me
about it?’
‘You’re a primitive.’
‘Of course I am. We’re supposed to be primitive. All these years
Zalasta’s been pretending to love me – smiling at me, kissing
me, holding me while I slept. That wretch! That lying wretch
I’ll have his heart for supper for this!’
‘No, as a matter of fact, you won’t. I’m not raising a cannibal.
You won’t eat pork, so don’t start developing a taste for people.’
‘i’m sorry,’ she said contritely. “I got excited.’
‘Besides, I think Vanion’s got first claim on Zalasta’s tripes.’
‘Oh dear. I completely forgot about Vanion. That poor, poor
man.’ Two great tears welled up in her eyes. ‘I’ll spend the rest
of his life making this up to him.’
‘Why don’t we let Sephrenia take care of that? Just heal the
breach between them. That’s the only thing he really wants.’
Then Sparhawk thought of something. “it won’t wash, Xanetia.
Zalasta could very well be in love with Sephrenia, but he hasn’t
gone over to Cyrgon. When we encountered those Trolls in the
mountains of Atan, he was the one who saved us from them and
it wasn’t just the Trolls. There were worse things there as
well.’
‘The Trolls do not loom large in Cyrgon’s plans, Anakha. The
deaths of a hundred of them were of little moment. All else was
illusion – illusion wrought by Zalasta himself to allay certain
suspicions in the minds of diverse of thy companions. he sought
to win thy trust by destroying those shadows of his own
making.’
“it does fit,’ Sparhawk said in a troubled voice. ‘Would you
ladies excuse me for a moment? I think Vanion should hear this.
It concerns him too, and I’d like his advice before I start making
decisions.’ He paused. ‘Will you two be all right here – together,
I mean? Without someone here to keep you from each other’s
throats?’
‘All will be well, Anakha,’ Xanetia assured him. ‘Divine
Aphrael and I have something to discuss.’
‘All right,’ he said, ‘but no hitting – and don’t start screaming
at each other. You’ll wake up the whole castle.’ He crossed the
parapet to the door and went back down the stairs.
The meeting in the royal apartment had adjourned for a time,
and Sparhawk found his friend sitting with his face in his hands
in a room quite some distance from the one he normally shared
with Sephrenia.
“I need some help, my friend,’ Sparhawk said to him. ‘There’s
something you need to know, and we’re going to have to decide
what to do about it.’
Vanion raised his grief-ravaged face. ‘More trouble?’ he asked.
‘Probably. Xanetia just told me about something we should
deal with. I’ll let her tell you about it herself. She and Danae