Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [103]
Fyodor nodded, and the warrior's shoulders sagged in despair. "i had feared this might be so. But how was this done, and why can i remember nothing?"
"i can help you remember," Liriel said confidently. "The truth of your actions is hidden in your mind, which, by the power of my goddess, i can read."
Without waiting for Wedigar's consent, the drow retreated into herself and silently spoke the words of the clerical spell. The result was sudden and dramatic. Usually the spell yielded a peek into another mind-an image, an impression, perhaps a few words. This time the wall built by the nereid's charm tumbled down, and Liriel knew the whole truth of the warrior's part in the troubles that beset the land he helped to rule and defend.
And so, apparently, did he.
Wedigar groaned and buried his face in his hands as the horrors he had committed came back to him in a single, vivid rush. He sat in tortured silence for many long moments, but when at last he lifted his eyes, they were set with determination.
"i will call a Thing," he said firmly. "i will own up to what i have done and accept the ruling of the people i have betrayed."
An exasperated Liriel cast her eyes skyward and then turned to Fyodor. "You talk to him."
"i understand your decision," the Rashemi began. "Your sense of honor demands that you face your actions and accept punishment. Yet your duty to your homeland demands otherwise. Strange things have happened to us and to the people of Ruathym-more than can be explained by the curse the nereid placed upon you. No, there is more at work here, and we must know what. If there is a single dark purpose behind all these things, would it not be wise to bide your time in silence until the answer is found?" "You ask me to put the lives of my people at risk!" Wedigar protested. "i would rather die in battle than let this foe continue his work!"
"But how will you fight? Who is the foe?"
The First Axe shrugged helplessly, utterly at a loss for an answer. Fyodor put a hand on the man's shoulder. "What is needed now is patience and skill at intrigueboth of which are foreign to the Northman warrior. But the drow are bred and trained for just such things. Bide your time in silence and let us seek answers. It might be this work has been laid upon us as part of the rune quest that brought us here," he added suddenly, and for some reason he was certain the words were truth.
Liriel nodded agreement, her eyes deeply reflective as she added this new insight to the growing pattern. Wedigar threw up his hands. "i will do as you say," he muttered, "but i like it not."
Fyodor could not help but agree, for he could not rid himself of the lingering cloud of despair that Liriel's clerical spell had left behind. He had seen Liriel in prayer before, and her link with the dark goddess of the drow troubled him deeply. This time the thread of power had been much stronger. As she'd cast the spell that allowed her to peer into the shapeshifting warrior's mind, Fyodor had been assaulted by a sense of seething chaos and overwhelming evil. The moment passed quickly, as did all glimpses given him by his limited Sight, but he knew he would remember it always. He knew Liriel's strength of spirit and her uncanny resilience, but he did not see how she could remain untainted by such evil.
Wedigar's unwitting deeds in animal form had been many and terrible. Fyodor's own transformations into a berserker whirlwind would probably bring about his death. But even these things paled before the Rashemi's dawning fear that Liriel, in her quest for power, might undergo another, even more deadly type