‘Nor me,’ he agreed. ‘Come with me anyway.’
‘Do you order it, lord?’ she asked him, her tone faintly mocking.
‘Indeed I do, Captain,’ he said, moving alongside her and laying his hand on her shoulder. Leaning towards her he tenderly kissed her cheek. ‘I adore the perfume of your hair,’ he whispered.
Together they walked the long corridor, descending the circular stairs to the lower levels. Torches shone on the bare stone walls and a sleek, fat rat ran across their path as they moved towards two double doors. Sirano paused. That rat was altogether too well-fed for my liking,’ he said. ‘Remind me to send for the quartermaster when we are finished here.’
‘Perhaps the rat is a pet,’ she said, with a grin.
‘Perhaps. More likely the vermin have found a way into the grain store, which I ordered sealed tight.’
Sirano pushed open the double doors and they entered a large circular room, ablaze with the light of twenty lanterns. Three sorcerers in robes of velvet stood around a flat table to which a naked young girl was strapped by her arms and legs. Just beyond the altar, set on an upturned eagle’s claw of bronze, rested the Eldarin Pearl. Karis had never seen the jewel, and was stunned by its beauty. It seemed to pulse with living colour, and she could feel warmth emanating from it.
‘Oh, please, my lord, save me!’ wailed the girl tied to
the altar table. Karis swung to look at her. She was no more than fourteen.
‘Be silent, child,’ ordered Sirano. Swinging to the tall bald sorcerer, he asked, ‘Why has the ritual not yet been completed?’
‘It has, my lord. That is, what is of interest.’
‘Spare me the riddles, Calizar.’
‘Observe, lord.’ The tall man raised his left hand and began to chant. Red smoke flowed from his fingers, oozing out towards the milky beauty of the Pearl. As it came closer the smoke shifted, forming what appeared to Karis to be a large four-taloned claw which descended towards the Pearl. Just as the red smoke was about to touch the globe, a jagged spark of lightning lanced up. Blue fire exploded within the smoke, flaring in an intricate web of light. The red claw disappeared.
As the smoke faded, the sorcerer raised his right hand. The curved dagger he held flashed down, plunging into the young girl’s heart. Her slender body arched up, and a strangled cry was torn from her lips. Calizar dragged the knife clear. A white cloud billowed from the Pearl and swept out over the murdered girl, masking her completely. The huge room filled with the scent of roses. Sirano watched with interest. Karis stood by, her distaste for the attempted sacrifice washed away by a sudden feeling of prescience as she stared intently at the child on the altar.
After several seconds, the white cloud rose from the girl and flowed back into the Pearl.
‘No more, please!’ wailed the child. Sirano stepped in close, his hand pressing down on the white flesh of her small breasts. There was not a mark, nor a speck of blood to show where the knife tore into her heart.
‘How many times has this happened?’ asked Sirano.
This was the fourth, my lord. The Pearl will not, it seems, allow a human sacrifice.’
‘Fascinating! What do you make of it, Calizar?’
‘It is quite beyond me, Lord Sirano.’
‘Give me the dagger and cast the talon-smoke.’ Calizar handed him the blade, then began to chant. The girl on the altar started to cry. Sirano smiled at her, and stroked her hair.
‘Don’t hurt me!’ she begged him.
He did not reply. The red smoke closed around the Pearl, lightning and blue sparks came out once more in response.
‘Now!’ whispered Calizar.
Sirano turned . . . and slammed the dagger into the wizard’s chest, driving in the blade up to the hilt. Calizar staggered back and then fell to his knees, his long upper body slumping forward until his brow thudded against the cold stone of the floor.
The white cloud issued from the Pearl, sweeping over the wizard. But as it touched him it recoiled and returned instantly to the globe, seeping through the multicoloured outer layer.