The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [210]
‘I’ll turn around,’ Sidro said.
She saw the flash of blue light and turned to see him jump down from the log, back in human form, and grinning in triumph, though his sweat carried the strong scent of exhaustion. He grabbed his brigga from the floor and put them on, then sat down on one of the stump chairs.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘aren’t you going to tell me I was stupid to take such a chance?’
‘I’m just glad you’re not dead.’
‘I am, too, actually. The archers were too far away to loose a shaft at me, if indeed they even knew what was happening.’ He grinned, then bent over to pull on his boots. ‘Where’s my shirt? I want to be properly dressed to savour this moment.’
With a weary shake of her head, Sidro tossed him the shirt. He finished dressing, then swung around on the chair to face the table and the odd-looking bundle. Beside it lay the white pyramid in its nest of sacks. He unwrapped the white first and set it down carefully on its silk pouch, then laid a hand on the bundle containing the black.
‘It seems,’ Laz said, ‘that our minstrel friend has wrapped his treasure in an old shirt.’
‘That used to be in the shrine. Rocca sewed it to a strip of cloth to make a banner. She insisted he’d worked a miracle and had joined the ranks of the holy witnesses.’
Laz rolled his eyes in disgust, then cut the thong with his hunting knife. Among the folds of cloth the black pyramid gleamed under the dweomer light.
‘The spirit’s gone,’ Sidro said. ‘It had a spirit bound in it when it stood on our altar.’
‘One of the Ancients probably released it, then,’ Laz said, ‘and a good thing, too. Who bound it?’
‘I have no idea. The holy witness Raena, maybe. It was always there as far as I know.’
‘Ah, I see. Well, most likely it was releasing the spirit that brought the twins back to their full glory. Look at the sparks between them. You won’t even need to use the Sight.’
With her ordinary vision Sidro could see a bluish flow, heavier than air but much less substantial than water, and flecked with silver, between the white pyramid and the black. When Laz pushed the white a little closer to the black, the flow increased and began to spit like a fire in green wood.
‘I wonder what would happen if I touched them together?’ Laz picked them up, one in each hand.
‘Don’t!’ Sidro suddenly felt so cold and sick that she could barely speak. ‘Laz, don’t! It’s dangerous. Look at them! Can’t you see?’
He flashed her his knife-edge grin, then brought his hands together. The tips of the pyramids, a bare inch apart, began spewing silver flames like tiny fire mountains.
‘Stop it!’ Sidro hissed. ‘Please—’
Too late. He touched the tips one to the other. Silver sparks exploded all around him. Blue light flashed, blinding her. A sound like thunder rolled around the cabin. She heard a woman scream, realized that the scream was hers, screamed again and again as she blindly groped for him. Her hands found only the table edge.
‘Laz! Laz!’
She spun around, flailing open-handed. The air smelled oddly clean with the tingle of lightning. From outside she heard footsteps, men’s voices, and Vek, howling as if in agony. The cabin door banged open. In a silver-tinged blackness she turned towards the sound.
‘Sidro!’ It was Pir’s voice. ‘What happened?’
‘I don’t know. Where’s Laz? I can’t see! Is he dead?’
‘He’s not in the cabin. What happened?’
The only thing that prevented her from collapsing onto the floor was her grip on the table. She began to sob, and the tears eased her vision. The darkness turned to a smear of reddish-gold light that floated in front of her like a mask. When Pir threw an arm around her shoulders, she turned to him and let her head rest against his chest while she wept, fighting to bring her tears under control. The red-gold mask shrank down to a point, freeing her vision at last. Pir let her go and stepped back, looking around him wide-eyed.
‘What happened?’ he repeated.