“Damson, listen . . .” he began, but she quickly put a hai c;
over his mouth.
“No, you listen, Elf-boy.” She paused, staring down at hisn
as she might a curious discovery.’ ‘What is the matter with you
Par Ohmsford? Haven’t you an ounce of common sense to call
your own? You barely escaped with your life last night and all-
ready you are looking to risk it again. Haven’t you the least
regard for yourself?”
She took a deep bream, and he found himself thinking su-
denly of how warm her hand felt against his face. She seemed
to read his thoughts and lifted it away. Her fingers trailed acres’
his cheek.
He caught her hand in his and held it. “I’m sony. I couldn’t
sleep anymore. I was drifting in and out of nightmares about
last night.” Her hand felt small and light in his own. “I can’t
stop thinking about Morgan and Padishar…”
He trailed off, not wanting to say more. It was too frighten
ing, even now. Next to him, Coil’s eyes blinked open and fixeo
on him. “What’s going on?” he asked sleepily.
Damson’s fingers tightened on Par’s. “Your brother cannot
seem to sleep for worrying about everyone but himself.”
Par stared up at her wordlessly for a moment, then said, “Is
there any news. Damson?”
She smiled faintly. “I will make a bargain with you. If you
promise me that you will try to go back to sleep for a time-or
at least not leave this bed – I promise you that I will try to leam
the answer to your question. Fair enough?”
The Valeman nodded. He found himself pondering anew
padishar’s final admonition to him: Trust her. She is the better
part of me!
Damson glanced over at Coll. “I depend on you to make
certain that he keeps his word.” Her hand slipped from Par’s
and she stood up. “I will bring back something to eat as well.
Stay quiet, now. No one will disturb you here.”
She paused momentarily, as if reluctant even then to leave,
then turned and disappeared out the door.
Silence filled the shadowed room. The brothers looked at
each other without speaking for a moment, and then Coil said
quietly, “She’s in love with you.”
Par flushed, then quickly shook his head. “No. She’s just
being protective, nothing more.”
Coil lay back, sighed and closed his eyes. “Oh, is that it?”
He let his breathing slow. Par thought he was sleeping again
when he suddenly said, “What happened to you last night. Par?”
Par hesitated. “You mean me wishsong?”
Coil’s eyes slipped open. “Of course I mean the wishsong.”
He glanced over sharply. “I know how the magic works better
than anyone other than yourself, and I’ve never seen it do that.
That wasn’t an illusion you created; that was the real thing! I
didn’t think you could do mat.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Well?”
Par shook his head. What had happened indeed? He closed
his eyes momentarily and then opened them again. “I have a
theory,” he admitted finally. “I came up with it between steep
and bad dreams, you might say. Remember how the magic of
the wishsong came about in the first place? Wil Ohmsford used
the Elfstones in his battle with the Reaper. He had to in order
to save the Elf-girl Ambeiie. Shades, we’ve told that story often
enough, haven’t we? It was dangerous for him to do so because
he hadn’t enough true Elf blood to allow it. It changed him in a
way he couldn’t determine at first. It wasn’t until after his chil-
dren were born, until after Brin and Jair, that he discovered what
had been done. Some part of the Elf magic of the Stones had
gone into him. That part was passed to Brin and Jair in the form
of the wishsong.”
He raised himself up on one elbow; Coil did likewise. The
light was sufficient now to let them see each other’s faces cleady.
“Cogline told us that first night that we didn’t understand the
magic. He said that it works in different ways-something like
that-but that until we understood it, we could only use it in