that promise that you would break it if you had to. The very
minute you made it!”
Par frowned. “Well, I wouldn’t say …”
Coil cut him short. “The point is, I can usually tell when
you’ve made up your mind about something. And I think Walker
was right. I think you’ve made up your mind about going after
the Sword of Shannara. You have, haven’t you?”
Par stared at him, surprised.
“Your eyes say you’re going after it, Par,” Coil continued
calmly, actually smiling. “Whether it’s out there or not, you’re
going after it. I know you. You’re going because you still think
you can leam something about your own magic by doing so,
because you want to do something fine and noble with it, be-
cause you have this little voice inside you whispering that the
magic is meant for something. No, no, hold on, now-hear me
out.” He held up his hands at Par’s attempt to dispute him. “I
don’t think there is anything wrong with that. I understand it.
But I don’t know if you do or whether you can admit to it. And
you have to be able to admit to it because otherwise you won’t
ever be at peace with yourself about why you are going. I know
I don’t have any magic of my own, but the fact is that in some
ways I do understand the problem better than you.”
He paused, somber. “You always look for the challenges no
one else wants. That’s part of what’s happening here. You see
Walker and Wren walk away from this and right away you want
to do just the opposite. That’s the way you are. You couldn’t
give it up now if you had to.”
He cocked his head reflectively. “Believe it or not, I have
always admired that in you.”
Then he sighed. “I know there are other considerations as
well. There’s the matter of the folks, still under confinement
back in the Vale, and us with no home, no real place to go,
outlaws of a sort. If we abandon this search, this quest Allanon’s
shade has given us, where do we go? What possible thing can
we do that will change matters more thoroughly than finding the
Sword of Shannara? I know there’s that. And I know …”
Par interrupted. “You said ‘we.’ ”
Coil stopped. “What?”
Par was studying him critically. “Just then. You said ‘we.’
Several times. You said, what if ‘we’ abandon this search and
where do ‘we’ go?”
Coil shook his head ruefully. “So I did. I start talking about
you and almost before I know it I’m talking about me as well.
But that’s exactly the problem, I guess. We’re so close that I
sometimes think of us as if we were the same-and we’re not.
We’re very different and no more so than in this instance. You
have the magic and the chance to leam about it and I don’t. You
have the quest and I haven’t. So what should I do if you eo.
Par?”
Par waited a moment, then said, “Well?”
“Well. After all is said and done, after all the arguments for
and against have been laid on the table, I keep coming back to
a couple of things.” He shifted so he was facing Par. “First,
I’m your brother and I love you. That means I don’t abandon
you, even when I’m not sure if I agree with what you’re doing.
I’ve told you that before. Second, if you go . . .”He paused.
“You are going, aren’t you?”
There was a long moment of silence. Par did not reply.
“Very well. If you go, it will be a dangerous journey, and
you will need someone to watch your back. And that’s what
brothers are supposed to do for each other. That’s second.”
He cleared his throat. “Last, I’ve thought it all out from the
point of view of what I would do if I were you, go or not go,
measuring what I perceive to be the right and wrong of the
matter.” He paused. “If it were up to me, if I were you, I think
I’d go.”
He leaned back against the poplar trunk and waited. Par took