learned under the tutelage of Ogerajin of Verel. The royal chaplain
was central to his plan, but first was it necessary to corrupt
him beyond all hope of redemption.’
‘He did that part of it well enough,’ Ehlana said bleakly.
‘Step by step did Arissa, guided by Zalasta, lead the chaplain
down and down until all semblance of decency had been washed
from him, and then it was that the Styric proposed the ultimate
degeneracy – that the lustful princess, aided by her now equally
foul paramour, should seduce thy father, her brother, and when
he should be wholly in her thrall, should she broach the idea of
incestuous marriage to him. Zalasta did well know that Anakha’s
father would resist such abomination to the death, and hoped
he thereby to separate the house of Sparhawk from the royal
house of Elenia. Reckoned he not, however, upon the iron will
of the Sparhawks nor the weakness of King Aldreas. The elder
Sparhawk compelled thy father to wed another, but in truth
had Zalasta’s goal been achieved. A breach had been opened
between the two houses.’
‘But we’ve healed that breach, haven’t we, Sparhawk?’ Ehlana
said with a warm smile.
‘Frequently,’ he replied.
‘What can I do?’ Sephrenia wailed, wringing her hands.
‘You can stop doing that, for one thing,’ Kalten told her,
gently separating her hands. “I found out a little while ago just
how sharp your fingernails are, and I don’t want you tearing
off your skin.’
She looked guiltily at the fresh scratches on his face. “I hurt
you, didn’t I, dear one?’
“it’s nothing. I’m used to bleeding.
‘I’ve treated Vanion so badly,’ she mourned. ‘He’ll never forgive
me, and I love him.’
‘Then tell him so. That’s all you really have to do, you know.
just tell him how you feel about him, say you’re sorry, and
everything will go back to being the way it was before.’
“it won’t ever be the same.’
‘Of course it will. As soon as you two are back together,
Vanion will forget it ever happened. ‘ He took her two small
hands in his great ones, turned them over, and kissed her palms.
‘That’s what love’s all about, little mother. We all make mistakes.
The people who love us forgive the mistakes. The people who
won’t forgive don’t really matter, now, do they?’
‘Well, no, but…’
‘There aren’t any buts, Sephrenia. It’s so simple that even I
can understand it. Alcan and I trust our feelings, and it seems
to work out fairly well. You don’t really need complicated logic
when it comes to something as simple as love.’
‘You’re such a good man, Kalten.’
That embarrassed him a bit. ‘hardly,’ he replied ruefully. “I
drink too much, and I eat too much. I’m not very refined, and
I usually can’t follow even a simple thought from one end to
the other. God knows I’ve got faults, but Alcan knows about
them and forgives them. She knows that I’m just a soldier, an
she doesn’t expect too much from me. Are you just about ready
for that cup of tea?’
‘That would be nice,’ she smiled.
‘Now that comes as a real surprise,’ Vanion said, ‘but why
Martel?’
‘Zalasta did perceive that of all the Pandions, Martel came
closest to being a match for Anakha,’ Xanetia replied, ‘and
Martel’s hunger for the forbidden secrets provided Zalasta with
an opening. The Styric did pose as an unlettered and greedy
Zemoch, and did accept Martel’s gold with seeming eagerness.
Thus did he beguile the arrogant young Pandion until there was
no turning back for him.’
‘And all this time he was posing as Otha’s emissary?’ Bevier
asked her.
‘Yes, Sir Knight. He served Otha’s design so long as it suited
him, but his heart and mind remained his own. Truly, he did
corrupt Primate Annias and the Pandion Martel for his own ends,
which did ever center upon that day when Anakha would lift
Bhelliom from the place where it lay hidden.’
‘But it wasn’t Anakha who lifted it, Anarae. It was Aphrael,
and none of Zalasta’s scheming could have taken that into
account.’
They all turned quickly at the sound of the familiar voice.
Sephrenia, her face still drawn, stood in the doorway with
Kalten hovering behind her. ‘Zalasta might possibly have been
able to take the stone from Sparhawk, but not Aphrael. That’s
where everything fell apart on him. He couldn’t bring himself
to believe that anyone – even a God – would willingly surrender
Bhelliom to someone else. Maybe someday I’ll explain it to him.’
“I have seen into the mind of Zalasta, Sephrenia of Ylara,’
Xanetia told her. ‘He could not comprehend such an act.’
‘I’ll make him understand, Anarae,’ Sephrenia replied in a
bleak voice. “I have this group of big savage Elenes who love
me – or so they say. I’m sure that if I ask them nicely enough,
they’ll beat understanding into Zalasta.’ And she smiled a wan
little smile.
CHAPTER 22
Ehlana rose from her chair, went to Sephrenia, and kissed her
palms in greeting. Sparhawk often marveled at how his young
wife instinctively knew the right thing to do. ‘We’ve missed you,
little mother,’ she said simply. ‘Are you feeling better now?’
A faint smile touched Sephrenia’s lips. ‘Exactly how do you
define “better”, Ehlana?’ She looked closely at the blonde queen.
‘You’re not getting enough sleep.’ Even now, Sephrenia automatically
mothered everybody.
‘You look a bit drawn yourself,’ Ehlana replied. “I suppose we
both have reason enough.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Sephrenia looked around at the slightly apprehensive
faces of her friends. ‘Oh, stop that,’ she told them. ‘i’m not
going to throw a fit. I behaved badly.’ She reached up and fondly
touched Kalten’s cheek. ‘My overbearing friend here tells me
that it doesn’t matter, but I’d still like to apologize.’
‘You had plenty of reason to be upset,’ Sparhawk told her.
‘We were very abrupt with you.’
‘That’s no excuse, dear one.’ She drew in a deep breath,
squared her shoulders, and crossed the room to Xanetia with
the air of one about to perform an unpleasant duty. ‘we don’t
really have any reason to be fond of each other, Anarae,’ she
said, ‘but we should at least be civil. I wasn’t. I’m sorry.’
‘Thy courage becomes thee, Sephrenia of Ylara. I do
confess that I would be hard pressed thus to admit a fault to
an enemy.’
‘Exactly what did Sir Kalten do to bring you around, Lady
Sephrenia?’ Sarabian asked curiously. ‘You were in absolute
despair, and Kalten wouldn’t have been my first choice as a
comforter. ‘
‘That’s because you don’t know him, Sarabian. His heart is
very large, and he demonstrates his affection in a very direct
way. He kicked my door down and smothered me into submission.’
She thought about it for a moment. ‘About all he really
did was wrap his arms around me and tell me that he loved me.
He kept saying it over and over again, and every time he said
it, it struck me right to the heart. Elenes are very good bullies.
I screamed at him for a while, and he ignored me. Then I tried
hitting him, but hitting Kalten is sort of like pounding on a brick.
I even tried crying – I’ve always had good luck with crying but
all he did was offer to make me a cup of tea.’ She shrugged.
‘After a while, I realized that he was going to continue to love
me no matter what I did and that all I was really doing was
making a fool of myself, so here I am.’ She smiled at Alcan. “I
don’t know if you realize it, dear, but you may just be the luckiest
woman in the world. Don’t let him get away.’
‘No fear of that, Lady Sephrenia,’ the soft-eyed girl responded
with a rosy blush.
Sephrenia looked around, suddenly all business. ‘i’m sure we
have more important things to discuss than my recent tempertantrum.
Have I missed much?’
‘Oh, not really, dear sister,’ Stragen drawled. ‘About all we’ve
discovered so far is that Zalasta’s been responsible for nearly
every catastrophe in human history since the fall of man. We
don’t have quite enough evidence to implicate him in that yet.’
‘We’re a-workin’ on it, though,’ Caalador added.
Sparhawk briefly summarized what Xanetia had told them of
the hidden side of Zalasta. Sephrenia was also startled to learn
that it had been Zalasta who had corrupted Martel.
‘i’m not trying to be offensive, dear sister,’ Stragen said, ‘but
it seems to me that the Younger Gods weren’t quite firm enough
in dealing with these renegade Styrics. They seem to lend themselves
to just about every bit of mischief that comes along. Something
a bit more permanent than banishment might have been
a better solution.’
“The Younger Gods wouldn’t do that, Stragen.’
‘pity,’ he murmured. ‘That sort of leaves it up to us, then