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And then the wizard did again that which he had had to do far too often of late: he channeled a warm flow of magic into the bags of silver coins—and changed them to gold.
But what choice did he have? To fail in this endeavor was to see the world of the living die. He hoped he was not simply providing himself justification for an act he knew was dangerous.
"Nothing is ever easy," he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"I said I know it's not easy, this journey." He plunked the dark brown bag of gold on the table. "This should make it possible. Twenty now, as agreed."
Ahern pulled open the draw top and put two big fingers into the bag, counting, while Zedd idly watched people enjoying the food and drink and music. He was anxious to be off to Nicobarese.
"This some kind of joke?"
Zedd brought his attention back to Ahern. With two fingers, the big man drew a coin from the bag and flicked it across the table. The coin spun with a dull color before finally toppling over, making a sound just as dull. Zedd stared incredulously.
The coin looked just like an ordinary coin. Except it was wood instead of gold.
"I... I... well..."
Ahern had poured the rest of the gold coins into his big mitt and was now letting them tumble back into the purse. "And there are only eighteen here. You're two short. I'm not taking wooden coins."
Zedd smiled indulgently as he pulled the light brown purse from his robes. "I apologize, Ahern." He swept the wooden coin from the table. "It would seem I gave you the wrong purse, the one with my lucky coin. I would never give that away, of course. It is more valuable to me that gold."
He peered into his purse. Seventeen. And two of those were wood, too. There should have been nineteen, altogether. His mind reeled as he tried to make sense of it. Could Master Hillman have tried to short him? No, that would be too clumsy a theft. Besides, to carve a coin from wood, hoping to pass it off as gold would be witless.
"My other two gold?"
"Oh yes, yes." Zedd pulled two gold coins from the purse and slid them across the table.
Ahern added them to his purse, jerked the drawstring tight, and stuffed the dark brown bag into a pocket. "I'm at your bidding, now. When would you like to leave?"
The silver coins that were turned to wood instead of gold did not concern the wizard; that could be explained. Somehow. But there were three coins missing. Vanished. That could not be explained. That did concern him. Concern him down to the bones in his toes.
"I would like to leave as soon as possible. At once."
"You mean tomorrow?"
Zedd snatched up his hat. "No, I mean at once." He glanced at the man's puzzled frown. "My wife... there is no time to waste. She needs to get to her healers."
Ahern shrugged. "Well, I just got back from Tristen. I'll need to catch a little sleep. It's going to be a long, hard run." Zedd reluctantly nodded his acquiescence. "First I'll put the runners on the coach. That will take a couple of hours. Less if I can get one of these fellows to help me."
Zedd thumped his cane. "No! Tell no one what you are doing, or where you are going. Don't even tell anyone you are leaving." He snapped his mouth shut when he saw Ahern's frown, and thought he had better say something to ease it. "Those shadows you spoke of. Does no good to let them know where to point an arrow."
Ahern stared down suspiciously as he stood to his full, towering height, drawing his longcoat on. "First you talk me into taking you to the accursed land of wizards and Confessors, and now this. I think I asked too little." He flicked the ends of the coat's belt together into a loose knot. "But a bargain is a bargain. I'll get the coach set up, and get some provisions together before I snatch a little sleep. I'll meet you back here three hours before dawn. We'll be across the border and into Galea before midday tomorrow."
"I have a horse at the stables. We might as well take her along. Stop by and fetch her before you come for us." Zedd dismissed the man with an absent wave of his cane. "Three hours before dawn."
His mind was racing in other directions. This was more serious than he had thought. It was imperative that they have help as soon as possible. Maybe the woman in Nicobarese who had had the three daughters had studied somewhere, perhaps someplace closer. Maybe they could find what they needed without going all that way. Time was of the essence.
The light only knows, Adie had said, where the woman had learned about the skrin. The "light" was a common reference to the gift. It was also an obscure reference to something else entirely. He thumped his cane on the floor. Must Adie always speak in sorceress's riddles!
As Ahern headed for the door, the wizard rose and headed for the stairs.
35
Zedd opened the door to be confronted by a haze of smoke that smelled of creosote. The window was opened, letting in icy cold air, and letting out the smoke. Adie sat on the bed, wrapped nearly to her neck in a blanket, brushing her straight, black and gray, jaw length hair.
"What's going on? What happened?"
She pointed with the hair brush. "I be cold. I tried to start a fire."
Zedd glanced to the hearth. "You need wood, Adie. You can't have a fire without wood."
He expected a scowl. Instead, it was a look of disquiet. "There be wood. I used magic, to try to light the fire from where I be in bed. But there be a big puff of smoke and sparks. I opened the window to let out the smoke. When I looked to the hearth, the logs be gone."
Zedd stepped closer to her. "Gone?"
She nodded and went back to brushing. "Something be wrong. Wrong with my gift."
Zedd stroked a hand down her hair. "I know. I had a similar problem. It must be the taint." He sat and took the brush from her hand, setting it down. "Adie, what can you tell me about this taint, about the skrin? We must have answers."
"I have already told you all I know. The skrin be force on the cusp between the world of the living and the world of the dead."
"But why won't the cut heal? Why won't my magic work to heal it? What made the logs disappear when you used magic?"
"Skrin be from both worlds. Do you not see?" She shook her head in frustration. "Skrin be magic, magic of both worlds, so it can work in both worlds. Additive and Subtractive. We be touched by that force. The taint be Subtractive."
"You mean that you think the taint of Subtractive Magic is corrupting our magic? Our gift?"
She nodded. "It be like you have just cleaned ashes from a hearth with your bare hands, and without washing them clean you try to hang up freshly washed white sheets to dry. Your hands be tainted with the ash, and it gets on the clean, damp, white sheets. Sticks to them."
Zedd silently considered the problem for a time. "Adie," he whispered, "we must somehow clean our hands. Wash the taint away."
"You have a talent for stating the obvious, old man."
Zedd checked his tongue and took a different tack. "Adie, I hired us a coach to take us to Nicobarese, but you are getting weaker, and I am not going to be long behind. I don't know if we can wait. If there is another way, maybe someone else closer who can help us, I must know."
"There be no other way. There be no one else."
"Well, what about this woman who had the three daughters? Perhaps she studied somewhere closer to learn some of these things. Maybe we could go there, instead."
"It not be a help."
"Why not?"
Adie considered him a moment, and at last yielded. "She studied with the Sisters of the Light."
Zedd shot to his feet. "What!" He paced back and forth between the bed and the fireplace. "Bags and double bags! I knew it. I knew it!"
"Zedd, she studied with them to learn. Then she returned home. She not be a Sister. The Sisters not be so... unreasonable... as you think."
He halted to peer at her with one eye. "And how would you know that?"
Adie gave a resigned sigh. "The round skrin bone, the one that be given to me just before the woman died, the one I told you be important, the one we lost back
at my house... The gifted woman who gave it to me be a Sister of the Light."
"And what was she doing in the New World?" Zedd asked in a level tone.
"She not be in the New World. I be in the Old World, at the time."
Zedd put both fists on his hips as he leaned toward her. "You crossed the Valley of the Lost? You went into the Old World! You're just filled right up full with little secrets."
