Curse of the Shadowmage - Mark Anthony [96]
The ghost shrugged. "Forsooth, why should I care, Mari Al'maren? The concerns of the dead are not those of the living. Yet I will tell thee, this form doth mean nothing. Once, I was a child as Kellen stands now. I couldst as easily have chosen that form over this. It matters not. In death, I shall forever be all that I was in life-babe and child, minstrel and mage, and yea, Shadowking as well. But, I choose to appear to thee in this manner. Is it well with thee, Mari Al'maren?"
Mari nodded dumbly. Who was she to argue with a ghost about what form he should take? Ferret cleared his throat nervously. "Excuse me, Verraketh, your… er, ghostliness. My friends seem to be a little more accustomed to dealing with spirits than I am. You see, most of the dead people I'm familiar with aren't nearly so active as yourself. Anyway, I was just wondering…" The thief screwed up his weasely face.
"Let's see. How can I put this tactfully? Are you going to be killing us anytime soon?"
The ghost's mirthful laughter echoed from all directions, an eerie but not altogether unpleasant sound. "Fear not, gentle thief. I bear thee no grudge for thy actions in my tomb beneath Iriaebor. Thou and thy companions did free me from the dark thrall of the Shadowstar and let me at last find peace in death. For that, I thank thee."
Ferret bowed in his saddle. "Don't mention it."
"Then why have you come to us?" Mari asked, emboldened by the spirit's words.
"To help thee," the ghost replied. "So that the meta-morphosis that made me into the Shadowking shall not be worked once again upon my scion, Caledan Caldorien. "For only thou doth have the power to save him."
"How would you help us?" Morhion asked, his blue eyes gleaming.
"Listen," Verraketh intoned. "On the other side of yon dark ridge doth lie the vale in which I discovered the Shadowstar after it fell from the sky. There also lieth the heart of Ebenfar-the throne from which I once did rule as Shadowking. There is a secret to the vale, a secret unbeknownst even to the shadevari. A secret that, were it known, doth have the power to defeat the Shadowstar."
"A secret?" Mari repeated. "What do you mean?"
Verraketh explained. "Long ago, there did echo in the vale a strange and wondrous music. Some claimed that it was an echo of the song the gods sang at the time of the forging of the world. If this is so, it is beyond my ken. Yet one thing I do know. When the Shadowstar fell into the vale, it was hot and molten, and before it could cool and grow solid, the music that echoed in the vale did infuse the Shadowstar, becoming a part of its being. Ever after the music of the vale has had the power to quell the medallion. Thus the song is the key to defeating the Shadowstar. It was a fragment of that music that my son, Talek Talembar, wove into the shadow song with which he did defeat me once."
"Then when Caledan enters the vale, the echo of this song will nullify the Shadowstar. We'll be able to away from him!"
Verraketh shook his head. "It shall not be so easy as that, Mari Al'maren. Thou seest, when I was Shadowking I feared the music of the vale. I sought to mar it, and alas I succeeded. By mine own hand, the ancient song of the vale is flawed, and as long as it is flawed, it is powerless against the Shadowstar. Therefore, thou must seeketh to restore the song."
"But how-" Mari began. Her words were interrupted by a shriek from above. She gave Morhion a startled glance. He nodded, confirming her fear.
"The shadevari have found us," the mage said grimly.
"Go," the ghost of Verraketh ordered. "I shall find a way to delay the Eyeless Ones."
"But what about the song in the vale?" Mari protested.
"How are we to restore it?"
"There is not time for me to explain the way," Verraketh said curtly. "If indeed, after all these centuries,