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questioningly at Taroith. 'They aren't going to free him, are they?' The Sorcerer's eyes left her at last. 'No.' He gazed at his hands. 'He will not be released. The League will plead for his life, but he may yet face the headsman. It is a pity.' 'A pity?' Elienne scuffed savagely at a tuft of moss between the cobbles. 'You said yourself he was mad. A killer. And the Seeress was murdered by someone who wished to know her secrets.' Taroith touched her gently on the arm. 'There is no way known to League mystery, or Black Sorcery either, that Faisix could personally have been involved with breaking the Seeress's vows of silence. His death would achieve nothing. Alive, he has something left of dignity, Page 109 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html ancf a cfiance Oa recover- from/fis Though Elienne had seen enough of death to sympa- thize, the Sorcerer's logic did nothing to relieve her inner distress. Perhaps she was hopelessly prejudiced, but she 218 219 was unable to imagine that the man who had tormented her could ever recover humanity enough to be trusted. 'You don't believe me.' Taroith withdrew his hand and sighed with weary regret. 'Lady, look at him. See for yourself. Perhaps then you'll gain a measure of understanding.' E!ienne did not wish to comply. The raw forces that once had swept her from Ielond's arms during transfer were too potent a memory for simple forgiveness, what- ever sentiment the sight of the man who had wielded them might arouse. Since she could not dismiss the issue without appearing hard-hearted, reluctantly she looked again. The square had cleared partially, allowing a clear view of the prisoner. Though his tall frame and elegantly handsome features were recognizably the same, the man himself had changed profoundly since Elienne had seen him last. From bared head to the plain, unassuming set of his shoulders, the former Regent exhibited a poignant humility that alienated all previous impressions. Even from a distance, his expression of sorrow touched the marrow of Elienne's soul. She swallowed, suddenly sub- dued. As though purged by remorse and loss, Faisix seemed reawakened to compassion. His attitude of defer- ent gentleness made her heart cry out for reprieve, even against the recent scars of remembered terror. 'I don't understand,' she said softly. 'That's not surprising.' Taroith steered her across the cobbles toward the palace door. 'You lack the back- ground. Faisix's father, the Earl of Torkal, was killed in a drunken quarrel with his steward. His son was ten at the time, and motherless. Ielond took him in, reared him as his own. The boy idolized him.' Taroith opened the heavy, studded panel door and 220 waited for Elienne to pass. 'As a child, Faisix had tremendous aptitude for sorcery. Everyone assumed, when he came of age, he would apply for League training.' The Sorcerer fell silent. His booted step echoed hol- lowly down the corridor. At his side, Elienne waited patiently for him to resume. Taroith halted abruptly. Tall lancet windows silhouetted his gaunt frame as he drew breath, and his words fell as an incantation upon stillness. 'The requirements for apprenticeship are unimaginably stringent. It takes a bold heart and a dedicated, disci- plined mind to undertake the examination for candidacy. Only the strongest are permitted to try, for the slightest irregularity of character is enough to constitute failure. And failure, without exception, engenders emotional loss greater than anything else a human soul can endure. The effect can be crippling; some aspirants never recover.' 'Then Faisix was found unsuitable?' said E!ienne. A gust rattled loudly against the leaded glass casements. She had to lean close to hear Taroith's reply. 'lelond himself conducted the test. He was a fair judge, though the adverse decision must have cost him great pain. At first Faisix seemed to handle it well. He went on to become a brilliant statesman and was granted the Regency when Darion's parents perished in the fire.' Taroith gazed out over wind-tossed gardens. 'No one knows what turned him, Page 110 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html whether he became jealous of the Prince for sharing Ielonds's affections, or whether, all along, resentment of his rejection from apprenticeship festered in him. Whatever the cause, the League assumes full responsibility. I will save him from execution, if I can. The Prince supports me.' The statement came as a surprise, reminding Elienne of the distance that separated her from Darion. Weeks 221 had passed since she had last reached for the mirrowstone, and for days at a stretch she had avoided his company. Caught suddenly by a chili of foreboding, she realized how easily that isolation might augment the threat to her child and Darion's succession. For though Faisix's repen- tant attitude roused her to pity, she did not trust him. Despite Taroith's insistence, she was not convinced that the Seeress's death was coincidence. The only justification she had to balance her distrust lay in the third of the Trinity of Fortune that was hers alone. Elienne laced her fingers tightly together to keep them shaking openly. Above anything else, she did not want to confide that information. In the wrong hands, the knowledge could ruin her. 'Gifted,' she said at last. 'I think you are making a grave mistake.' 12 lelond' s Paradox Taroith abandoned the window, his expression sharply surprised. His dark eyes met hers with a directness that turned Elienne's chills to sweat. 'Tell me why, Lady.' E!ienne fought an onset of discomfort. Ielond had urged her to seek Taroith's guidance, yet intuition made her suddenly doubt the advice. Repentant or not, Faisix sought her destruction. Uncertain how to express her mistrust, and pinned by the intensity of the Sorcerer's attention, Elienne groped clumsily for a reply. A shout in the corridor spared her. With characteristi- cally poor timing, Kennaird burst around a bend into view, the hem of his mourning robe splattered heavily with mud. 'Master Taroith!' He paused to catch his breath and rubbed a nose pink with chill. 'Have they told you? The Grand Council has appointed you Regent until Darion's coronation.' 'I was aware.' Taroith stepped back from the window and resumed his interrupted course. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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