Heirs of Prophecy - Lisa Smedman [22]
"It's magic," Tal said in a hushed voice, as if afraid hi words would activate it. "If you say 'illunathros' while holding it, the blade will glow with the brightness of a torch. It may also have other magical properties, but I don't know what…" He hastily amended whatever it was he'd been about to say. "I, uh… haven't used it that much, so I'm not sure what they are."
Larajin saw a twinge of guilt in his eye. She refrained from asking whom he'd stolen the dagger from. By the crest on its pommel, she could guess.
"You're too generous, Tal. I'll never be able to repay you."
Out in the street, a member of the city guard called the All's Well. Larajin glanced nervously at the gate, even though she knew the guard couldn't see in to where they were standing. Across the courtyard, the sound of singing stopped, as the Song of Sunrise ended.
"I have to go," she whispered. The clerics I'll be traveling with are leaving now."
Tal's eyes ranged up and down the crimson vestments Larajin was wearing and lingered on the freshly painted eye of Sune upon her midriff.
Hesitantly, he asked, "You're not just… making this up as an excuse to follow some cleric on a quest, are you?"
Larajin's anger flared at his over-protectiveness, but
then she realized he was only asking because he cared. Tal wasn't the one who had sent men after her to force her back to the city, when she'd tried to follow Diurgo Karn on his abortive pilgrimage to Lake Sember eighteen months past. Despite Tal's animosity with the Karn family and his own personal dislike for Diurgo, he had defended Larajin's right to follow the dictates of her heart-and of her budding religion. It had earned him stony silence from his father for several days afterward.
"Nothing like that, Tal. The Hulorn's wizard really did recognize me. The danger's real enough."
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"North, to Ordulin," she answered, giving him a partial truth.
, "Ordulin?" Tal gaped. "Why there? That's where our armies will be mobilizing, if war comes. It's no place for-" He paused abruptly at the look Larajin gave him, then changed his approach. "Why not go to ground here, in the temple, and let me deal with the Hulorn's men? Wouldn't that be safer?"
"Tal," she said carefully, "I can't tell you exactly where I'm going, or why, except to say that I feel the goddess calling me. There are some secrets that have to be kept, even from…" She paused, choosing her words more carefully. "Some secrets that can't be shared, even between a brother and sister. Can you understand that?"
To her surprise, he nodded. "I suppose we all have secrets," he muttered.
His gaze shifted to something behind her. Turning, Larajin saw the Heartwarder and four novices heading toward them. She gave his arm a squeeze.
"I love you, Tal. If it comes to war, take care of yourself."
"You too," he said gruffly, then he turned and left through the gate, without looking back.
As the clerics shouldered their luggage, chattering brightly about the five-day carriage ride that lay ahead of them, Larajin's thoughts were grave. She'd known there
was tension between Sembia and the elves to the north. Shed heard of caravans being attacked-had known that this was not the best time to be traveling to the Tangled Trees-but she hadn't reahzed that Sembia was on the verge of war. If it came to that, the Tangled Trees wouldn't just be a strange and foreign land, it would be behind enemy lines.
S- ** *
Larajin made her way through the streets of Ordulin, navigating by three buildings at the city's center that rose above all the rest: the Great Hall where the Merchant Council sat, with its gilded dome that shone golden in the late afternoon sun; the crenellated Tower of the Guards that housed the city's soldiers; and the so-called Guarded Gate-in actuality, an enormous stonewalled and column-fronted