Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [45]
"but she had many powerful friends, and the Harpers didn't have the strength to drive her from the north. The opera made the details of the sorceress's life common knowledge. Cassana couldn't stand ridicule. The gossip following the opera's performance caused her sufficient embarrassment to leave the region,"
Morala said. A grin lit up her wrinkled face.
Alias grinned back. She found herself liking the foxy old woman, even if she was a priestess and one of Nameless's judges.
"I have something else I want to show you," the priestess said, holding out a lump of what appeared to be ordinary red mud. "I picked this up from the floor.
Grypht held it when he first appeared. It's clay-of very high quality and rare color."
"Maybe this duke of the Nine Hells is a potter," Alias joked.
Morala smiled gently. "The clay was glowing when Grypht first appeared… as would a spell component," she explained.
"Don't creatures from the lower planes have a natural ability to cast magic without spell components?" Alias asked.
"That's what I've always been told," Morala answered. "Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Kyre knocked the clay out of the beast's hand and ruined its spell before it was cast, so we don't know what the beast intended. In clerical spells, clay is a component that affects stone, though I'm sure it has other uses in spells for wizards. Elminster might have been able to identify such spells for us. Could your friend Akabar Bel Akash do so?"
"Akabar's pretty clever," Alias replied. "When he recovers, we can ask him. So you think Kyre made a mistake?"
"In elvish, Kyre means 'flawless,'" Morala said, shaking her head. "She has a reputation for not making mistakes. I think it more likely she wanted us to believe that Grypht was something evil." Morala smiled slyly.
"You mean you think she lied?" Alias asked with surprise. "Why would she do that?"
"She may have put some personal goal ahead of her duties as a Harper," Morala suggested. "Kyre is a bard, after all."
"You think she planned Nameless's escape!" Alias guessed. "Grypht is just a smoke screen. Then Nameless is all right!" Alias said excitedly. "You don't have to scry for him!"
"But I do," Morala insisted. "Kyre might have made a foolish alliance. Grypht may not be from the Nine Hells, but he still could be an evil wizard. He might be holding Nameless against his will, threatening his life."
"But suppose Nameless is all right?" Alias asked.
"He must still be brought back here for his trial," Morala said.
Alias's face fell. "Don't you think Nameless has suffered enough?"
"You misunderstand, child. The Harpers did not send Nameless to the Citadel of White Exile to make him suffer. We sent him there in order to protect other innocents from his reckless behavior"
"But you don't have to send him back," Alias insisted. "He's sorry about the apprentice who was killed and the one who was hurt. He wouldn't do anything like that again. Besides, now that he's done creating his singer, he's satisfied."
"Is he?" Morala mused. She leaned forward and stroked Alias's hair with a withered hand. "He would be a fool not to be pleased with you, child. Tell me, do you love Nameless?"
Alias lifted her chin and answered proudly, "Yes, I do."
"As a daughter loves a father?" Morala asked.
Alias nodded.
Morala pursed her lips together and shook her head sadly. Alias could see that the old woman's eyes were moist with tears. "He does not deserve your love," the priestess whispered.
"Love is something people give freely," Alias argued. "It's not a commodity to be earned or forfeited."
Morala sighed and clasped her hands together in her lap. "Yes. That's the problem, all right. It doesn't have to be earned, and it is not easily forfeited." Morala was silent for several moments. Then she said coldly, "Maryje loved Nameless, though not as a father. Maryje was one of Nameless's apprentices … the one who was wounded."
"She lost her voice, then she committed suicide," Alias recalled from Nameless's tale. "Is that why you can't forgive Nameless