Read Online Kavin's World by David Mason - Free Book Online

people I had known, I thought. And glimpses of places, Dorada as it was once, scenes from my own life… and then the face of Uncle Hogir, drifting like a cloud. But it was a dead face, blood-smeared, a severed head.
    Then that too vanished, and all else… except eyes. There were a number of pairs of eyes in that pool, all regarding me with an unpleasantly knowing look.
    “Ask.” The humming voice came deeply.
    I had thought about it, with great care, and arranged my questions as best I could in their order of importance.
    “How may I restore Dorada to peace and happiness, as the land once was?” I asked, at last.
    The humming grew again, and the voice spoke.
    “Because we may not give you an answer that will please you, we ask only a small price. For this, give us the life of a friend.”
    “A prince has few friends to spare,” I said, bitterly. “If that’s a small price—and for an answer that won’t please me—no, I think I’ll give you back that question, and try another.”
    The voice seemed to laugh alarmingly. But it said again, “Ask.”
    “All right, then. How may I defeat the invaders?”
    The voice again: “The answer will not please you, and we ask only a small price. For this, give us the life of a woman who loves you.”
    It was my turn to laugh now. “You offer fine bargains, ghost. Well, then, I’ll defeat the dogs with my own wit, and if there’s a woman who loves me—Isa, perhaps—I’ll keep her alive a while. There aren’t many women who love princes.”
    This time the laughter was louder, and nearer.
    “Ask,” the voice boomed.
    “At your prices, I can’t afford to ask you the way home. You’d ask my right hand to give me the time of day.” I took a breath. “Well, then, I’ll ask once more. Tell me if I’ll live long, well, and wisely. What price is that?”
    This time the laughter was deafening, and it seemed a long time before the voice came.
    “Because you will not like our answer, we ask only a small price; give us the color of your black hair, O Prince.”
    “Well, that’s more reasonable,” I said. “Take it and welcome.”
    “You will live longer than you wish, O Prince; your life will be hard, filled with struggle, and never long at peace. And you will be not much wiser at the hour of your death than you are at this moment.”
    And suddenly I saw it clearly. Wise, indeed! What fool would give the demons of this pool the best things there were in life for answers he could gain himself soon enough, at no price at all… except maybe his own life? Wise? I’d never be wiser than at this moment, the moment when I made no bargain with these. Except, of course, for the color of my hair… which troubled me not a bit.
    “I have asked enough,” I said. “Take this, as free gift, from Kavin of Hostan; return to your own place.”
    This too was custom; I took a heavy gold ring from my arm, and tossed it into the pool. The humming rose again, and the distant laughter.
    Once more the voice spoke.
    “Take this, as free gift from us to you, Kavin of Hostan. Firstly: remember the north wind cleanses best. Second: seek the roots of an evil tree. And third: the long way around may be the swiftest.”
    Then the pool darkened at last, and the silence came. The lamp-bearers, pale and shaking, went before us, back up the long passages to the surface world again.
    There I paused in the dimness of the inner temple, and drew a deep breath of fresh air. The high priestess regarded me, darkly.
    “So great a risk, boy,” she said. “And for so little.”
    I looked at her with stony eyes, “Lady, I am no boy.”
    “True enough, now,” she said. “Your hair. It’s as gray as your robe.”
    My hand flew to my head, and I yanked a strand out; she spoke the truth. The payment had been made.
    “Well,” I said. “It would have turned, some day.”
    “You got little enough for that,” she said.
    “I learned I’m to lead a hard life, which I already knew,” I said. “But I