Arkhan, to forgive me for betraying you.” Rieuk scowled at the polished marble.
“I will let you live this time, Rieuk, because Lord Estael tells me you are going to create a new Lodestar and bring Azilis back to Ondhessar.”
“My lord is merciful.”
“You've done well, Oranir,” said Sardion. “Come and sit by me. I've missed you.”
“Oranir?” Rieuk raised his head, not caring if Sardion punished him for doing so. “What does this mean?”
“I've missed you too, my lord.” Oranir rose and without even a glance at Rieuk, went over to Sardion's chair. Sardion stood and, raising the young magus's face to his own, kissed him on the lips.
Rieuk stared. The earlier humiliation was nothing, compared with this. He could not bear to watch the familiar way Oranir returned the Arkhan's kiss.
Taking Oranir by the hand, Sardion made him sit beside him. Both gazed down at Rieuk, with a look that said blatantly, You poor deluded fool, didn't you have any idea?
CHAPTER 6
In the Rift, it was as if everything had been reversed, like an engraver's plate. The sky was black as charcoal yet the Emerald Tower and the skeletal branches of the great trees were etched in ghostly acid white. And the emerald moon was waning; only the thinnest sliver of a pale crescent showed from time to time from behind fast-scudding clouds, blown across the sky by the wind that was gusting in from the Realm of Shadows.
“Can you see any hawks?” Rieuk called to Ormas over the whine of the wind.“ Not one… ” Ormas's desolate cry was borne back to Rieuk from the turbulent darkness.
“Come back to me now, Ormas.” The farther Ormas flew away from him, the more Rieuk feared that he might find it impossible to return. The distance between them felt as if it were growing greater by the second.
“Ormas!” he cried again.
The hawk came skimming down over the treetops, battling the wind, and perched on his shoulder.
Rieuk put his head down and set off into the Rift. But there was a dull, bitter ache around his heart. Oranir had betrayed him. Did all the time we spent together mean nothing to him? Was he playing me for a fool the whole time? Oranir had gone to Sardion's side as soon as he was bidden without even a backward glance.
Find the aethyr crystals, and get out as fast as possible. But he didn't know where to begin to look. Lord Estael had spoken of a mine thatlay far beyond the Tower, deep in the Rift. But it was many centuries since any magus had dared venture so far in to seek out the source of the Lodestar.
“You're a crystal magus; you'll be able to sniff the crystals out, like a pig scenting truffles,” Estael had said to him as he left him in the Rift. The analogy was not at all flattering and Rieuk had resented the comparison.
“Yet here I am, rooting about in a forest; I might as well be a pig,” he muttered to himself.
He notched a mark on the trunk of each tall tree that he passed, so that he could find his way out again. Already he could feel the disorienting effect of the atmosphere in the Rift seeping into his mind. The fitful light from the waning moon cast verdant shadows across his path from time to time; whenever the slender crescent reappeared from behind the clouds, he looked back to see if he could still make out the stark silhouette of the tower. He must have penetrated deep into the forest, for the moon had vanished from sight.
“Where can the hawks have gone?” he asked Ormas. “And is Imri among them?”
“ I cannot tell. If they were blown far away on this wind, they may have become lost in the shadows. ”
Lost in the Realm of Shadows. There was such a bleak, hopeless ring to Ormas's words. But Rieuk felt nothing but anger as he struggled onward.
Why must it be I who has to put this right? Linnaius stole the Lodestar. Why must I pay for his crimes?
Buffeted by a sudden violent gust of wind, Ormas was flung violently away from him into the dark air.
“Return!”
It was then that he
“I will let you live this time, Rieuk, because Lord Estael tells me you are going to create a new Lodestar and bring Azilis back to Ondhessar.”
“My lord is merciful.”
“You've done well, Oranir,” said Sardion. “Come and sit by me. I've missed you.”
“Oranir?” Rieuk raised his head, not caring if Sardion punished him for doing so. “What does this mean?”
“I've missed you too, my lord.” Oranir rose and without even a glance at Rieuk, went over to Sardion's chair. Sardion stood and, raising the young magus's face to his own, kissed him on the lips.
Rieuk stared. The earlier humiliation was nothing, compared with this. He could not bear to watch the familiar way Oranir returned the Arkhan's kiss.
Taking Oranir by the hand, Sardion made him sit beside him. Both gazed down at Rieuk, with a look that said blatantly, You poor deluded fool, didn't you have any idea?
CHAPTER 6
In the Rift, it was as if everything had been reversed, like an engraver's plate. The sky was black as charcoal yet the Emerald Tower and the skeletal branches of the great trees were etched in ghostly acid white. And the emerald moon was waning; only the thinnest sliver of a pale crescent showed from time to time from behind fast-scudding clouds, blown across the sky by the wind that was gusting in from the Realm of Shadows.
“Can you see any hawks?” Rieuk called to Ormas over the whine of the wind.“ Not one… ” Ormas's desolate cry was borne back to Rieuk from the turbulent darkness.
“Come back to me now, Ormas.” The farther Ormas flew away from him, the more Rieuk feared that he might find it impossible to return. The distance between them felt as if it were growing greater by the second.
“Ormas!” he cried again.
The hawk came skimming down over the treetops, battling the wind, and perched on his shoulder.
Rieuk put his head down and set off into the Rift. But there was a dull, bitter ache around his heart. Oranir had betrayed him. Did all the time we spent together mean nothing to him? Was he playing me for a fool the whole time? Oranir had gone to Sardion's side as soon as he was bidden without even a backward glance.
Find the aethyr crystals, and get out as fast as possible. But he didn't know where to begin to look. Lord Estael had spoken of a mine thatlay far beyond the Tower, deep in the Rift. But it was many centuries since any magus had dared venture so far in to seek out the source of the Lodestar.
“You're a crystal magus; you'll be able to sniff the crystals out, like a pig scenting truffles,” Estael had said to him as he left him in the Rift. The analogy was not at all flattering and Rieuk had resented the comparison.
“Yet here I am, rooting about in a forest; I might as well be a pig,” he muttered to himself.
He notched a mark on the trunk of each tall tree that he passed, so that he could find his way out again. Already he could feel the disorienting effect of the atmosphere in the Rift seeping into his mind. The fitful light from the waning moon cast verdant shadows across his path from time to time; whenever the slender crescent reappeared from behind the clouds, he looked back to see if he could still make out the stark silhouette of the tower. He must have penetrated deep into the forest, for the moon had vanished from sight.
“Where can the hawks have gone?” he asked Ormas. “And is Imri among them?”
“ I cannot tell. If they were blown far away on this wind, they may have become lost in the shadows. ”
Lost in the Realm of Shadows. There was such a bleak, hopeless ring to Ormas's words. But Rieuk felt nothing but anger as he struggled onward.
Why must it be I who has to put this right? Linnaius stole the Lodestar. Why must I pay for his crimes?
Buffeted by a sudden violent gust of wind, Ormas was flung violently away from him into the dark air.
“Return!”
It was then that he
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