The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [140]
‘Near the ships, you mean?’
‘Just that.’ Dallandra’s eyes turned grim. ‘Just in case. If Dar dies, Rodiveriel’s the prince of the Westlands. They’ve got to keep him safe, even if it means heading out to sea. We have a treaty with the gwerbret of Aberwyn, and he’ll shelter the boy if it’s necessary.’
‘It’s just as well to plan for the worst, I suppose, but I doubt me if the Horsekin force at Zakh Gral is large enough to threaten Mandra.’
‘Oh, so do I, or I’d be a gibbering madwoman out of sheer terror.’ Dallandra smiled briefly. ‘I’ve got herbs to sort. Do you want to go talk with Val?’
‘I most certainly do. I’ve been vexing myself about that obsidian pyramid. If anyone knows anything about that most peculiar, bizarre, and just plain odd crystal, it will be Val.’
Salamander found Valandario in her tent. A dweomer light hung in the air to supplement the sunlight filtering in from outside; the silver glow gleamed on her silk scrying-cloths and sparkled on the gems spread across them. Valandario herself was sitting cross-legged on a leather cushion behind the array. When he came in, she looked up and smiled without a trace of surprise, as if perhaps she’d not noticed he’d been gone for weeks.
‘Val, I know you’ll be leaving soon,’ Salamander said. ‘So I need to ask you a question. My apologies for interrupting.’
‘You’re not really interrupting, actually. I was just studying a fine point from yesterday’s omens.’ She waved at another cushion on the other side of the cloth. ‘Sit down and ask away.’
Salamander sat down as carefully as he could to avoid disturbing the arrangement of gems.
‘When I was at the Horsekin shrine,’ he began, ‘I saw some objects they keep as holy relics. One of them was a crystal, and I thought you might know something about it and why the wretched Horsekin would value it. It was a piece of obsidian in the shape of a pyramid, but the top point, the peak, as it were, looked as if it had been lopped off at an angle.’
For a long moment Valandario stared at him, her eyes wide, her lips half-parted.
‘Uh,’ Salamander said, ‘is it at all important, or is this an utterly stupid question?’
‘Not stupid, no, merely painful. So that’s where it went.’ Val set her lips in a thin line of grief. ‘That wretched awful gem.’ Her voice wavered. ‘I was so glad to get it, too. When I think what it brought with it—’ She caught her breath and steadied her voice. ‘What I wonder now is how did the filthy Horsekin get hold of it? It suits their nature, I suppose, a wicked little morsel like that.’
‘I take it you know what this thing is.’
‘Well, there might be more than one of them, but I doubt it. Don’t you remember it? It’s the gem that Loddlaen was stealing when he murdered my beloved.’
Salamander let out his breath in a sharp puff. Val looked away, her face set, her delicate hands clenching into fists.
‘I was off in Deverry when the murder happened.’ Salamander made his voice as soft as he could. ‘So I only heard about it much later. I’m sorry I’ve reminded you of it.’
Valandario shrugged, then let her hands relax. Still, it took her a moment more before she looked at him. ‘About the gem itself, though.’ Val’s voice had steadied again. ‘It’s a showstone of sorts—very much of sorts. You were the only person who could ever see anything in it. I honestly don’t understand why Loddlaen wanted it so badly.’
‘I was? I don’t remember ever looking into it.’
‘You were a very young child at the time. Let me think.’ She paused, her mouth a little slack as she considered her memories. ‘You saw a book with a dragon on it, and a man who turned out to be Evandar.’
‘By every god!’ Salamander whispered. ‘I’ve got no memory of that at all!’
‘I’m not surprised. You were just learning to talk at the