Legacy of the Darksword - Margaret Weis [62]
Her smile faded. Resolutely, she buried her dream. “I was wrong,” she said, and started to stand up.
I stopped her. I had a great many questions, mostly concerning Simkin. I thought it extremely odd and perhaps even sinister that he was suggesting giving the Darksword away. But those questions could wait.
The army base is a long distance from here, I told her. Many miles. You could not reach it tonight or even tomorrow by walking. Certainly not carrying the heavy sword.
“We weren’t planning to walk all the way,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “We can’t use the magical routes we normally travel, because of the Darksword destroying the magic. But Simkin said that you . . . um . . . had an air car. We were only going to borrow it. I would have brought it back. I know how they operate. I’ve even ridden in one before, though no one knew I was there.”
So much for Prospero’s daughter. The brave new world was old hat to her.
Please come back home, I wrote. This burden is not your burden. That is why it seems so heavy. It is your father’s and he alone can cast it off or choose to carry it. Besides, you could be in danger.
“What?” She stared at me, amazed and disbelieving. “How? There is no one here beyond the Border but Father Saryon, my parents, and ourselves!”
I did not feel that I could offer adequate explanation. Come back. Talk to Father Saryon. Besides, I added, your mother told us that, by morning, Joram will have had a change of heart. He is reacting out of hurt and anger. When he thinks about things, he will do what is necessary. You shouldn’t take that decision away from him.
“You are right,” Eliza said, after a moment’s thought. “It was only by accident I found the sword. We missed Papa one afternoon—it was the day after that horrible Smythe-man came. Mama was worried and sent me to look for him. I searched all over and no sign of him. When I finally found him, where do you think he was?”
I shook my head.
“In the chapel,” she said. “I came in the door and there he was. He wasn’t praying, like I thought at first. He was sitting on the stair beneath the altar and this—the Darksword—was across his knees. He was staring at it as if he hated and loathed it, but yet as if he loved it and was proud of it.”
Eliza shivered and drew her cloak more closely around her. I pressed my body a little nearer, to warm her and warm myself both. The picture she painted with her words was not a pleasant one.
“The look on his face frightened me. I was afraid to say anything, because I knew he would be furious. I wanted to leave. I knew I should leave, but I couldn’t. I sneaked into a little alcove near the door and I watched him. He sat for a long, long time, just staring at the sword. And then he gave a great sigh and shook his head. He wrapped the sword up in this cloth and opened up a little hidden door inside the altar itself. He put the sword in there, inside the altar, and he shut the door and left. I waited until he was gone before I dared move. I felt ashamed. I knew I had seen something I shouldn’t have seen. Something that was secret and private to my father. And now he’ll know.” Her head drooped. “He’ll find out I was spying on him. He’ll be so terribly disappointed.”
Maybe not, I typed. We’ll take the sword back to its hiding place and he’ll never realize it was gone.
“Are you sure that would be right?” she asked me, troubled. “Wouldn’t that be lying, in a way?”
The truth will serve no purpose, I wrote, and only hurt him. Later, when all this is passed, then you can confess to him what you did.
She liked that. She agreed to return to the Font with me, although she refused to let me carry the sword.
“It is my burden now,” she said with a half smile. “At least for a little while.”
I was given the honor of carrying Teddy. Trying to ignore the fact that the bear winked its button eye at me as I took hold of it, I