to go back for Padishar. But Coil’s my brother.”
She moved so that she could see his face. Her eyes searched
his and did not look away. “You’ve made up your mind about
this, haven’t you? ” She looked terrified. “This is probably a
trap, you know.”
His smile was bitter. “I know.”
She blinked rapidly. “And I can’t come with you.”
“I know that, too. You have to continue on to Firerim Reach
and get help for your father. I understand.”
There were tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I don’t want to leave you either.”
“Are you sure it was Coil? Absolutely sure? ”
“As sure as I am that I love you. Damson.”
She brought her arms about him again. She didn’t speak, but
buried her face in his shoulder. He could feel her crying. He
could feel himself breaking apart inside. The euphoria of find-
ing Paranor was gone, the discovery itself all but forgotten.
76 The Talismans of Shannara
The sense of peace and contentment he had experienced so
briefly on getting free of Tyrsis was buried in his past.
He pulled away again. “I’ll come back to you,” he said qui-
etly. “Wherever you are, I’ll find you.”
She bit at her lower lip, nodding. Then she fumbled through
her clothing, reaching down the front of her tunic. A moment
later she pulled forth a thin, flat metal disk with a hole in it
through which a leather cord had been threaded and then tied
about her neck. She looked at the disk a moment, then at him.
“This is called a Skree,” she said. “It is a kind of magic, a
street magic. It was given to me a long time ago.” There was
fire in the look she gave him. “It can only be used once.”
Then she took the disk in both hands and snapped it in two
as easily as she might a brittle stick. She handed the loose half
to him. “Take it and bind it about your neck. Wear it always.
The halves will seek each other out. When the metal glows, it
will tell us we are close. The brighter it becomes, the closer we
will be.”
She pressed the broken half of the disk into his hands. “That
is how I will find you again. Par. And I will never stop look-
ing.”
He closed his fingers about the disk. He felt as if a pit had
opened beneath him and was about to swallow him up. “I’m
sorry. Damson,” he whispered. “I don’t want to do this. I
would keep my promise if I could. But Coil’s alive, and I
can’t—”
“No.” She put her fingers against his lips to silence him.
“Don’t say anything more. I understand. I love you.”
He kissed her and held her against him, memorizing the
touch and feel of her until he was certain the memory was
burned into him. Then he released her, retrieved the scabbard
for the Sword, picked up his blanket, rolled it up, and slung it
over his shoulder.
“I’ll come back to you,” he repeated. “I promise I will.”
She nodded without speaking and would not look away, so
he turned from her instead and hurried off into the trees.
VIII
Sy was nearing midaftemoon of the day following the sep-
• aration of Par and Damson when Morgan Leah at last
w came in sight of the borderland city of Varfleet. The sum-
mer was drifting toward autumn now, and the days were long
and slow and filled with heat that arrived with the sun and lin-
gered on until well after dark. The Highlander stood on a rise
north of the city and looked down at the jumble of buildings
and crooked streets and thought that nothing would ever be the
same for him again.
It had been more than two weeks since he had parted com-
pany with Walker Boh—the Dark Uncle gone in search of
Paranor, the Black Elfstone his key to the gates of time and
distance that locked away the castle of the Druids, and the
Highlander come looking for Padishar Creel and the Ohmsford