The Blood Knight - J. Gregory Keyes [174]
Mother Uun was silent for a moment, then she sighed.
“The great forces of the world are not aware of themselves,” she said. “What drives the wind, what pulls the falling rock to earth, what pulses life into our shells and pulls it away—these things are senseless, with no will, no intelligence, no desires or intentions. They simply are.”
“And yet the saints control these things,” Anne said.
“Hardly. The saints—No, leave that aside. Here is what is important: Those forces might be diverted by art, certainly. The wind can be harnessed to pump water or drive a ship. A river can be dammed, its currents used to drive a mill. The sedos power can be tapped. But the forces themselves dictate the ultimate shape of things, and they do so by their nature, not by their design.
“The Skasloi knew this; they did not worship gods, or saints, or any other such creatures. They found the sources of power and learned how to use them to their advantage. They fought for control of these sources, fought for millennia, until their world was all but destroyed.
“Finally, to save themselves, a few banded together, slaughtered their kin, and began remaking the world. They discovered the thrones and used them to keep the powers in check.”
“Thrones?”
“It’s not a good term, really. They aren’t seats or even places. They are more like the position of king or queen, an office to be filled, and once filled it confers the powers and obligations of the throne on the person who is filling it. There are several sorts of arcane power in the lands of fate, and each possesses a throne. These powers wax and wane in relative puissance. The throne that controls the power you know as sedos has been strengthening for millennia.”
“But you say there are others?”
“Of course. Do you think the Briar King is nurtured by the sedoi? He is not. He sits a very different throne.”
“And the Faiths?”
“Counselors. Queenmakers. They fight to see you receive the power, sit the sedos throne, rather than seeing it fall into the hands of another. But they have enemies, as do you.”
“But the sedoi are controlled by the Church,” Anne said.
“Up until now, yes, insomuch as they were controlled at all.”
“Then surely Fratrex Prismo already sits on that throne,” Anne said.
“He does not,” Mother Uun said. “No one does.”
“But why?”
“The Skasloi hid it.”
“Hid it? But why?”
“They forbade the use of the sedos power,” she replied. “Of all the forces they knew, it was the most destructive and could be used most effectively against the other thrones. Whoever sits the sedos throne can destroy the world. Virgenya Dare found that throne, used it to free your people and mine, and then abdicated it for fear of what it might do. For two thousand years men have been searching for it in vain. But now, like a season long in coming or a slow tide rising, the sedos power waxes again, and the throne will reveal itself. When that happens, it is important that the right person seize it.”
“But why me?” Anne asked.
“The throne isn’t open to just anyone,” Mother Uun replied. “And of the possible candidates, the Faiths probably consider you the best chance for preserving the world.”
“And the Briar King?”
“Who knows what his desires may be? But I should think his intention is to destroy whoever fills the throne before the sedos power can destroy him and everything he embodies.”
“And what is that?”
Mother Uun raised an eyebrow. “Birth and death. Germination and decay. Life.”
Anne set her cup down. “And how do you know all this, Mother Uun? How do you know so much about the Skasloi?”
“Because I am one of his keepers. And along with him, my clan preserves the knowledge of him from generation to generation.”
“But what if none of this is true? What if it’s all lies?”
“Why, then I know very little at all,” the Sefry said. “You must decide for yourself what is true. I can only tell you what I believe to be so. The rest is up to you.”
Anne nodded thoughtfully. “And the Crepling passageway? There is an entrance in