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Authors: Elizabeth Haydon
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town, and when the sun hit it, well, it sort of exploded with color." His face grew hot and his stomach weak as he realized he was telling his secrets to an almost total stranger.
Tuck pushed his straw hat back and eyed the stone. In the morning light Ven could see more of his face than he had in the darkness of foredawn. It was wizened and slightly wrinkled, like an old apple, but pleasant, as if the lines had come from laughing a lot, even though he seemed to be very quiet. His eyes were green as summer leaves, and thin silver hair fringed his head. There was an angle to his face that was definitely not human, a lot like Amariel's. He held out his hand for the stone.
"Let's have a look," he said.
I sat there, staring at his hand, feeling my heartbeat in my ears. From the moment I left home I have had to make choices about who to trust with secrets, or things that might be secrets, that could save or end my life. I usually try to keep most things I am not certain about to myself, or sometimes I tell Char .
Amariel, for instance. I told Char while we were on board the Serelinda that I thought I had seen a merrow. But I never told him I had actually met her, and that she had saved my life .
So here I was with the king's forester, who I met in the dark and have only known for a few hours. He is about to take me and my best friends in the world into unknown lands past the Great River, on the run from the Thief Queen's thugs and spies. I don't know anything about him, except that the king trusts him .
Then I thought about what he had said to me .
Tuck knows the lands east of the Great River better than any man I know. I would trust him with my life, and I think you're safe trusting him with yours, and that of any of your friends you feel might also be in danger .
So even if I don't know Tuck that well yet, if the king trusts him, I guess that is good enough for me .
And even if it wasn't, I don't know what other choice I have .
Nervously Ven handed over the oval stone.
The king's forester's eyebrows arched, but he said nothing. He took the stone and turned it over in his hand, examining it carefully. He rubbed his forefinger along the top edge, then handed it back to Ven.
"Black Ivory," he said. "Where did you get it?"
"In—in Kingston, in an alleyway," Ven said. The pit of his stomach was boiling. As much as his curiosity was raging, he was certain that Madame Sharra would not want him to tell the whole world about their meeting. "What's Black Ivory?"
"The tusk of a narwhale," Amariel whispered. She looked like she was going to cry.
"A narwhale?" Ven asked.
"A whale with a horn," the merrow said shakily. She put her hand up to her forehead like it was a unicorn's horn.
Tuck shook his head. "No, not at all. Ivory's a bad name for it, because normally ivory comes from an animal. This is not the same. Black Ivory is a piece of stone that was once alive but now is past dead. All of its magic, its lore, has been stripped from it, leaving it totally without life."
"Isn't all stone lifeless?" Ven asked.
Tuck chuckled. "I cannot believe a Nain just uttered such words. Clearly you have been upworld all your life." His eyes took on a look of sympathy as he saw Ven's face flush with embarrassment. "All stone still has some kind of life within it, I've been told—all except Black Ivory. It's so dead that it makes a great hiding place from anyone or anything that can feel vibrations on the wind."
Ven nodded. "Like a Lirin Singer," he said. "Or a Kith, like Galliard, the king's Vizier. His Majesty once told me that Kith were an ancient race even older than the Nain or the Lirin. Kith have the power of wind in their blood, and can hear what is being spoken on it."
"Or even those who just have normal senses," Tuck said. "Black Ivory is so good at masking vibrations that it's almost invisible. Even if it's in your hand, you can almost forget that it is there."
Like I did , Ven thought.
"Black Ivory is extremely rare,"
Tuck pushed his straw hat back and eyed the stone. In the morning light Ven could see more of his face than he had in the darkness of foredawn. It was wizened and slightly wrinkled, like an old apple, but pleasant, as if the lines had come from laughing a lot, even though he seemed to be very quiet. His eyes were green as summer leaves, and thin silver hair fringed his head. There was an angle to his face that was definitely not human, a lot like Amariel's. He held out his hand for the stone.
"Let's have a look," he said.
I sat there, staring at his hand, feeling my heartbeat in my ears. From the moment I left home I have had to make choices about who to trust with secrets, or things that might be secrets, that could save or end my life. I usually try to keep most things I am not certain about to myself, or sometimes I tell Char .
Amariel, for instance. I told Char while we were on board the Serelinda that I thought I had seen a merrow. But I never told him I had actually met her, and that she had saved my life .
So here I was with the king's forester, who I met in the dark and have only known for a few hours. He is about to take me and my best friends in the world into unknown lands past the Great River, on the run from the Thief Queen's thugs and spies. I don't know anything about him, except that the king trusts him .
Then I thought about what he had said to me .
Tuck knows the lands east of the Great River better than any man I know. I would trust him with my life, and I think you're safe trusting him with yours, and that of any of your friends you feel might also be in danger .
So even if I don't know Tuck that well yet, if the king trusts him, I guess that is good enough for me .
And even if it wasn't, I don't know what other choice I have .
Nervously Ven handed over the oval stone.
The king's forester's eyebrows arched, but he said nothing. He took the stone and turned it over in his hand, examining it carefully. He rubbed his forefinger along the top edge, then handed it back to Ven.
"Black Ivory," he said. "Where did you get it?"
"In—in Kingston, in an alleyway," Ven said. The pit of his stomach was boiling. As much as his curiosity was raging, he was certain that Madame Sharra would not want him to tell the whole world about their meeting. "What's Black Ivory?"
"The tusk of a narwhale," Amariel whispered. She looked like she was going to cry.
"A narwhale?" Ven asked.
"A whale with a horn," the merrow said shakily. She put her hand up to her forehead like it was a unicorn's horn.
Tuck shook his head. "No, not at all. Ivory's a bad name for it, because normally ivory comes from an animal. This is not the same. Black Ivory is a piece of stone that was once alive but now is past dead. All of its magic, its lore, has been stripped from it, leaving it totally without life."
"Isn't all stone lifeless?" Ven asked.
Tuck chuckled. "I cannot believe a Nain just uttered such words. Clearly you have been upworld all your life." His eyes took on a look of sympathy as he saw Ven's face flush with embarrassment. "All stone still has some kind of life within it, I've been told—all except Black Ivory. It's so dead that it makes a great hiding place from anyone or anything that can feel vibrations on the wind."
Ven nodded. "Like a Lirin Singer," he said. "Or a Kith, like Galliard, the king's Vizier. His Majesty once told me that Kith were an ancient race even older than the Nain or the Lirin. Kith have the power of wind in their blood, and can hear what is being spoken on it."
"Or even those who just have normal senses," Tuck said. "Black Ivory is so good at masking vibrations that it's almost invisible. Even if it's in your hand, you can almost forget that it is there."
Like I did , Ven thought.
"Black Ivory is extremely rare,"
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