The Queen of Stone_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [72]
She felt a faint buzz in the back of her mind … Steel’s sigh. How have you found your way through the tunnels of the Crag when there have been no lights?
“My ring allows me to see through darkness.” Thorn couldn’t see the connection.
And how did you locate Drego Sarhain when he was following you in the Duurwood?
“I … don’t know.”
Try.
“I heard him moving,” Thorn said. “I felt his presence. I felt the motion in the air.”
Place the masking bag over your head.
Thorn sighed. Trust the advisor, I suppose. She pulled the black cloth over her face and the world fell into darkness.
Now throw me into the corner of the room, Steel said. Then get up and find me.
“How—”
Do it.
Fine. Thorn was happy to throw the dagger away. She heard it clatter against the stone and hoped that the sound wouldn’t wake Beren. Part of her was tempted to leave the dagger on the floor, to forget this mad mission and go to sleep. But the shards still burned in her back, and she remembered the voice of her father. Why do you go to war? she’d asked him. What makes it worth the risk? His words had been the light that had brought her down this path; she wouldn’t let him down.
She stood up, spreading her fingers and holding her hands out low at her sides. The layout of the room was strong in her mind; it was barely large enough to hold the bed, with little floor space to speak of. She knew how she’d thrown Steel, the trajectory and the force she’d used. It wasn’t hard to calculate where he should be … and when she bent down, she found the dagger exactly where she’d guessed.
“Memory won’t help me in a room I don’t know.”
It’s not your memory, Steel replied. Your memory wouldn’t have found the invisible sorcerer in the Duurwood. The ring doesn’t just sharpen your eyesight. It provides a tighter focus for all of your senses.
It seemed impossible, but she had been able to sense Drego’s presence in the woods. And earlier that day, she’d known exactly where Sheshka was from the sound of her serpents. “Vague impressions aren’t a substitute for my eyes.”
It can be more. You’ve only touched a fraction of this ability. You need to let your instincts guide you. Scent, sound, the pressure of air on your skin—let these paint a picture of your surroundings. Stop trying to see, and allow yourself to feel.
“And how do I do that, exactly?” Thorn turned in place. Stop trying to see. She opened her eyes. She’d been holding them closed behind the hood, and that alone was a distraction. With her eyes open, there was still nothing around her but darkness. She turned around. The room’s too small, she thought. How can I not know what’s inside it?
Thorn spun around, faster and faster, until she felt the touch of vertigo. She stopped moving, trying not to stumble; she didn’t want to touch any surface. She’d play Steel’s game until she could show that it was madness.
But it wasn’t.
As the dizziness faded, she knew where the door was. She could feel the faint flow of air around the frame, and the scent of the latrine across the hall painted a clear outline. As she moved forward, she could feel the wall ahead of her. It was hard to take hold of any one sense, to seize on the sensations and analyze them. But if she just acted, her instincts told her what was nearby. It wasn’t a new sensation; in the Duurwood, she’d scoffed at Drego’s flawed invisibility, thinking how his noisy footsteps gave his presence away. Now she realized that Drego wasn’t an amateur; she hadn’t known the power she possessed.
Anger flared inside her. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” She’d been given the ring just before she was sent to Far Passage. If she’d known about it then …
The ability to see in darkness is a simple thing. There’s nothing simple about this. Your mind needed time to adjust to it, for it to become instinct before you tried to force it.
“I would have liked to know about it before my staring contest with the basilisk.”
Steel didn’t apologize. Beren and Sheshka will remember your fear. Should Sheshka survive,