Pool of Twilight - James M. Ward [108]
Daile shivered. She thought she knew what he meant.
"Always remember, Daile, that when you become a hawk, you must lock a part of yourself away in a corner of your mind, a part that remembers what it is to be a human."
"What would happen if I didn't?" she asked.
"Then you would forget you were once a woman, and you would become a hawk forever."
With that, Gamaliel moved swiftly through the trees after Evaine. Daile hesitated a moment and followed, thinking of the way her hunt for creatures of evil had nearly consumed her in the Valley of the Falls. For those three days after burying Ren, she had thought of nothing but the hunt, as if she were an animal. She had almost lost herself, she knew now.
She shivered. "I will never forget that I am human," she whispered fiercely. "Never again." She hurried to catch up with the sorceress and barbarian.
* * * * *
The crystal resting in Evaine's brazier flared brightly, then flashed into dust. Her locating spell was complete. The sorceress's eyes flew open.
"I've found it!"
She stood weakly. The sun was fast sinking toward the western mountains, and the companions had made camp in a grove of ancient fir trees.
"The pool of twilight?" Kern asked, unconsciously gripping the haft of the Hammer of Tyr.
"No, Kern, she means the button she lost from her tunic last tenday," Listle replied, rolling her eyes. Despite the elf's usual flippant humor, her delicate face was wan and tight.
Evaine sat on a log near the crackling campfire. She, Gamaliel, and Daile had found Kern and the others on a windswept pass around midday. The reunion had been a joyous one. It had been good to see that Kern and Listle were well. And Miltiades.
There had also been a new introduction, but Evaine found that she was already enjoying Trooper's company-as well as the old paladin's tongue, which was as sharp as his rune sword and wielded with similar dexterity.
"Yes, Kern, the pool of twilight," Evaine said. She threw a handful of crystal dust into the campfire. The flames flared higher, an image appearing within. A pinnacle of dark stone with a distinctive cloven summit was revealed. At its base was the dark opening of a cave. "Always before, the mountains interfered with my locating spell. But this time we are finally close enough. I have a solid fix on it. This spire is located in a valley no more than a dozen leagues from here. And the pool of twilight lies beneath. But…"
"But what, Evaine?" Miltiades asked when the sorceress paused.
Her face turned grim. "This time, when I detected the pool, I sensed a dangerous change in it. The guardian Shal and I encountered was no longer there. Instead, there was a new… presence. One even more evil than the last."
"Sirana," Kern growled.
Evaine nodded. "Yes, it could be that she controls the pool now."
Kern stood, regarding the others. "You should stay here. Tomorrow, I'll journey to the valley alone. After all, it's the hammer she wants to get her hands on. I'll confront her in the cave and-"
"And get burned to a crisp, Son?" Trooper snorted. The old paladin's eyes flashed like steel against stone. "I don't know where you got the notion that foolishness is akin to heroism, but you would do well to use that hammer of yours to knock the idea out of your head." He tugged at his beard in agitation. "Go to the pool alone? You might as well hand this Sirana the hammer on a silver platter. Fine lot of good your heroics would do us. Sirana would have the hammer, you'd end up a pile of ashes, and I'd have been wasting my time trying to turn you into a real paladin." He poked a bony finger at Kern's breastplate. "And I don't have much