High druid of Shannara_ Jarka Ruus - Terry Brooks [147]
She shook her head slowly. “No more. Not ever again.”
She held the other’s gaze for a moment longer, then turned and walked from the room. Unimpressed, Shadea watched her go. She thought it unfortunate that Iridia could no longer sort things out in a reasonable manner. Her attachment to Ahren Elessedil had left her emotionally unstable, and Shadea found herself hoping that the Elven Prince had gone the way of the Galaphile. Then, perhaps, Iridia would come back to herself.
Shadea looked over at Traunt Rowan. “Are you of a like mind?”
The Druid shrugged. “I am no one’s tool, and I do what I choose. Iridia’s problems are her own. On the other hand, I question the wisdom of your decision to send Terek Molt after that boy. I don’t see the benefit to it. It distracts us from what matters.”
“What matters is making certain no one finds a way to bring the Ard Rhys back!” she snapped at him. “Why can’t you see that? All of you are so certain it can’t be done. But remember who she is. Others thought her dead and gone, as well, and lived to regret it.”
“No one can go into the Forbidding — ”
“Hssst! Don’t even speak the word!” She leaned close. “It is bad enough that Ahren Elessedil and the boy know what has happened, and it would be a mistake for us to think that they do not. They will seek a way to reach her. Successful or not, they will not forgive us for what we have done. This matter will not resolve itself while they live. If you think otherwise, say so now!”
He stared at her in silence, then shook his head. “I think as you do.”
Shadea wasn’t sure she believed him, but it was enough of an affirmation for now. She looked back at the scrye waters. Another message would arrive by tomorrow if Terek Molt was still alive. If not, then she could only hope that he had taken the boy, the Elven Prince, and that sycophant Tagwen with him to the grave. Then she could stop thinking about all of them and concentrate on what was happening at Paranor.
It occurred to her suddenly that she had forgotten about Aphasia Wye, dispatched with the Stiehl, as Iridia had reminded her, to eliminate the boy and his protectors. What of him? Even if the Galaphile was destroyed, even if Terek Molt was dead, perhaps the assassin was still carrying through on his task. Nothing would stop him once he set his mind to it. The only character flaw she had ever discovered was his troublesome streak of independence. On a whim, he might abandon the whole project.
She stared down again at the scrye waters, studying the diminishing series of ripples that marked the passing of the Galaphile.
With Aphasia Wye, she thought, you never knew.
Iridia Eleri strode blindly from the cold chamber and down the hallway beyond, so furious she could barely make herself think.
Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, a series of ragged, glistening tracks on her perfect features. Had she stayed a moment longer, she would not have been able to hold them back. She stopped now, turning into a deep alcove in the empty hallway, and cried freely for several minutes, her body racked with sobs, her world collapsed about her. She knew what Shadea only suspected. Ahren Elessedil was dead. The voice had told her so.
When she stopped crying, she stood motionless in the alcove’s darkness and forced herself to confront the truth. She had lied to herself, lied to them all. She was still in love with Ahren. She had always been in love with him and always would be. Shadea might sneer and the others might doubt, but it was so. It didn’t even matter that he was dead. She loved him anyway.
What she could not bear was that he had not loved her, in turn.
She stared into space, the words echoing in her mind. The voice had promised that this would change, that with time and patience, he