The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [83]
‘Well, well,’ Nevyn said to him. ‘What brings you here, lad?’
Ebañy shrugged, popped his thumb in his mouth, and stood looking around him. When he noticed the stone, he took the thumb out and smiled.
‘Pretty,’ he said. ‘Pretty stone.’
‘It is, truly,’ Nevyn said.
Ebañy toddled over and plopped himself down into Nevyn’s lap without so much as a by-your-leave. Nevyn put one arm around the lad and held the black stone up to give him a look at it.
‘Shiny,’ Ebañy said, then laughed aloud. ‘Look, island! An island in there.’
‘Indeed?’ Nevyn worked to keep his voice level. ‘So, you see an island inside the stone, do you? Do you see anything else?’
‘Water all around. Tall house. Boat with a funny head on it. Lizard head.’ Ebañy leaned closer, his eyes suddenly wide. ‘And a man, a funny man. Yellow hair.’
‘Yellow like Valandario’s hair?’ Nevyn kept his voice low.
‘Not. Yellow buttercups. Blue eyes, funny blue eyes.’
‘Does he live on the island?’
Ebañy shook his head no. ‘Island all gone. The funny man’s got somewhat in his hands.’
‘Can you tell me what the somewhat looks like?’
‘A flat thing, a flat white thing, and a black lizard. A lizard on it. Not a lizard. A bird.’ Suddenly he frowned and shook his head. ‘Clouds, and now it’s all gone.’
Valandario had been watching wide-eyed. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I think our Dev has fathered a very remarkable child.’
‘I’d say so, too,’ Nevyn said.
Aderyn nodded his startled agreement. Outside the tent a frantic female voice began calling Ebañy’s name.
‘Morri.’ Ebañy slipped off Nevyn’s lap, then stood up. ‘My go to Morri.’
‘By all means,’ Nevyn said. ‘Let’s not make her worry.’
Ebañy launched himself into a flat-footed run and barrelled out of the tent. They could hear Morwen laugh in relief and call out to someone, ‘I’ve found him! I’ll just give him some dinner.’ The voices moved off slowly.
Valandario ran her fingers over the stone. ‘A very remarkable child indeed,’ she said, ‘and he seems to have some kind of kinship with a very remarkable crystal.’
‘Indeed,’ Nevyn said. ‘You’re too young to take an apprentice, but then, Ebañy’s too young to study the dweomer. When his time comes, you’ll be ready.’
She looked up sharply, her lips half-parted.
‘It’s part of the work,’ Nevyn went on. ‘Passing on the lore, that is. We don’t want to see it lost again. Remember the bitter price of secrecy.’
‘True spoken. I only hope I’m good enough to teach him when the time comes.’
‘I have a feeling you will be.’ Nevyn paused for a smile. ‘And now we know what this bit of obsidian is: a showstone.’
‘Indeed. But what is it showing us? I wonder who that “funny man” is, for instance.’
‘Evandar.’ Aderyn spat out the name like a curse. ‘There’s only one creature it could be. This whole thing is doubtless another one of his blasted riddles.’
‘How odd!’ Valandario said. ‘Little Ebañy seems to be the only person who can see into the stone. Could Evandar have planned that?’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, even down to the names. Evan and Evandar, I mean—he might well have intended us to see the resemblance.’ Aderyn paused for a grimace. ‘Oh, who knows the all of what the Guardians can or can’t do? Or why they do it, either. I suppose the lizard that might be a bird is a dragon.’
‘Ye gods!’ Nevyn said. ‘So the Maelwaedds of Aberwyn are mixed up in this?’
‘So it would seem,’ Aderyn said. ‘I wonder if I’ll ever forgive Evandar? I wonder even more if I should bother.’
‘Of course you should,’ Nevyn said wearily, ‘but for your own sake, not his. Hatred binds a man to what he hates, and I think me you need to be free of him.’
For a brief moment, rage flared in Aderyn’s eyes. Then he managed to smile, a twisted wry smile, but a smile nonetheless. ‘True spoken. Well, this certainly explains why that box is so new.’
‘It does indeed,’ Nevyn said. ‘Evandar must have put both the