The Born Queen - J. Gregory Keyes [47]
“To use as slaves.”
“Pets at first. Curiosities. But eventually slaves, yes.”
“Until the pets found the sedos power.”
“Exactly.”
A thought struck him. “So the monsters, the black thorns, the things destroying the world—that’s from using the sedos power?”
“Yes. You told me about the boar you saw in the Sarnwood, how it gave birth to a greffyn. The sedhmhari are born from natural things poisoned by sedos power. Some say they are shadows of the elder beasts that walked the world before the great dying, the ancient life trying to push through the new, but tainted by the venom of the sedos.”
He remembered the Sarnwood again, the strange plants that grew in its heart. “The Sarnwood witch,” he murmured.
“We don’t know what she is, but she is very, very old. Older maybe than my race.”
“She’s from the old forest. The one your people destroyed. The one my forest replaced.”
“Maybe,” she said cautiously. “As I said, we don’t know much about her.”
“What does she want?”
“We don’t know.”
Aspar nodded, but he had an idea he already knew. If he was the witch of the Sarnwood, he knew what he would want.
“What’s all this got to do with Fend?”
“That’s another legend, a prophecy, really. There are seasons larger than the ones you know, seasons that last hundreds and thousands of years. The powers—we call them thrones—of the world wax and wane with those seasons. When Virgenya Dare found the sedos power, it was strong. But over time it weakened, and the other thrones waxed, bringing on the Warlock Wars and all sorts of havoc. But now the sedoi swell very powerful, more powerful than ever. They say that whoever controls the sedos throne at its peak will be able to subjugate the other thrones forever and end the long, slow change of seasons.”
“And these other powers—these thrones—what are they?”
“There are only three. The sedos we’ve been talking about. The second is the power your folk call shinecraft and witchcraft, and it comes from the abyss beneath the world. It makes unlikely things likely and the certain impossible. It can bring a rain of fire from heaven or stop water freezing even though it is bitter cold. It brings things together that belong apart and pushes things apart that belong together. That was the throne the Skasloi mastered, and after them the warlocks. We called that throne the Xhes throne.”
“And the third power?”
“That’s the one you’ve felt in your bones every day of your life, Aspar White. Generation and decay. Death and birth. The energy that makes life into dirt and dirt into life. We called that throne the Vhen throne.”
“The Briar King’s throne.”
“Not anymore,” she said softly.
“Because Fend killed him. Why did he do that?”
“According to the elders, the master of the Xhes throne is a creature we know as the Vhelny, a demon. The Blood Knight is said to be his servant. He is the foe of the masters of the other thrones.”
“So now that he’s slain the Briar King, he’ll go after the sedos throne. Who is the master of that?”
“No one. The Church has used the sedos power, but the throne hasn’t been occupied since the time of Virgenya Dare. But it will be soon. That’s what all of this is about.”
“The Briar King was fighting the sedos power.”
“Of course. It was destroying his forest.”
“But the Xhes throne wasn’t, yah? So it seems like he and this Vhelny should be allies against the sedos throne when it rises. Why kill the Briar King now?”
“Because the Vhelny wants all the thrones, of course.”
“Ah,” Aspar murmured, rubbing his forehead. He wished he could see Leshya’s face, but he knew he still wouldn’t be able to tell if she was having him on.
“You don’t know how much of this is pure sceat?” he finally said.
“Not really,” she said. “You asked, and I told you what I know. I’ve never lied to you, have I?”
“Knowing all this and not mentioning it earlier is very much like a lie, I maun,” he replied.
“To have told you earlier, I would have had to tell you what the Sefry really are. After that, you wouldn’t have listened to anything I said. But after Fend let the secret slip, and after all