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Adie shrugged with one shoulder. "I told you I searched out women with the gift, to learn from them what I could. Some of them be in the Old World. I used my one passing through the Valley and back to learn what I could of what I needed to know."
Adie snugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "The Sisters, some of them, taught me the little bits they knew. Important little bits. The Sisters view it as their province to know about the Keeper, the Nameless One as they call him, in order to keep souls from his grasp.
"I did not stay at their Palace long; they would not let me stay unless I wished to be one of them, but for a time they let me study with them, study things in their vaults. There be Sisters in the Palace I would not trust to cook me breakfast, but there be some who were great help."
Muttering, Zedd started pacing again. "The Sisters of the Light are misguided zealots. They make the Blood of the Fold look to be reasonable men!" He came to a halt. "And when you were there, did you see any of their boys? Did you see if they even had any with the gift?"
"I had my own learning to attend to. I not be there to argue theology with the Sisters. That not be a wise thing to do. They did not let me have anything to do with their charges, if indeed they had any. I be sure that if they had any boys, they be ones from their side.
"They know better than to risk violation of that truce. They strongly fear what wizards on this side would do if they did. They let me learn what I could from them, and let me study in the vaults, but they never let me see any boys, nor would they tell me if they had any."
"Well of course they don't have any!" he snapped. "There are almost never any born with the gift, anymore. Too many wizards have been killed in the wars. We are a dying breed.
"And as First Wizard I would never turn down the teaching of one with the gift as happened thousands of years ago. Nor would any wizard I taught. And the Sisters know that! They know the rules! They may not take a gifted one unless every wizard declines to teach him. To go against the rules just once would mean a death sentence to any Sister that ever again crossed that Valley."
"They know that, Zedd. They take that threat seriously."
"Well they ought to know it! I met up with one of them once, when I was young, and I sent my warning to the Prelate." He flexed his fists as he stared off. "They are barbaric in their methods. They are children, teaching surgery. If I knew how to get past those accursed towers, I'd go down there and lay waste to the Palace of the Prophets."
"Zedd, in that time past many with the gift died because there be none who would teach them to control it. Those with the power were possessive of it, and did not want to train another who one day might be a threat to their power. They abandoned those born with the gift, left them to die by the power of the thing they be born with, but didn't know how to control. The Sisters didn't want to let those abandoned boys die. They just be doing what they think best to help people."
He cast her a withering glare. "The Sisters of the Light do only what is best for the Sisters of the Light."
"Maybe so, but they are sworn to follow the rules, the truce, just as you do, by letting them be when they come here."
He stared off, shaking his head. "To let those with the gift die, simply for their own selfish gain... If they would have lived up to their responsibilities as wizards, the Sisters of the Light would never have come to be. Never been needed."
With his boot, he brushed a dead ember on the flagstone hearth back into the fireplace. "They would never think of allowing a wizard to teach a young sorceress to use her gift, yet they presume to teach a young wizard how to use his."
"Zedd, I believe as you, but listen to me, dead and buried causes and wars not be our concern. The veil be torn. The Stone of Tears be in the world of the living. Those be our concerns.
"I went to those women to learn. Magic I learned there, and have taught you, though insufficient to stop the taint, has been able to slow it. We must purge the taint before it claims us."
His mood cooled under the scrutiny of her white eyes. "Of course you are right, Adie. We have pressing problems to deal with."
She favored him with one of her little smiles. "I be glad you be wise enough to listen to wisdom."
He rubbed the ache in the back of his neck, squeezing the tight muscles. "Do you really think this woman with the three daughters would have known about this taint? It's a long way to go on a hunch and a hope."
"She studied with the Sisters of the Light many years. They liked her and wanted her to stay, to be a Sister. But she did not believe as they, and so finally went home. I don't know the extent of her knowledge, but if the Sisters know anything about the taint, and taught her, she would have taught her daughters. As much as I don't like the idea, they be in Nicobarese."
When Zedd saw Adie wrapping the blanket up around her shoulders, he closed the window. Kneeling at the hearth, he placed a handful of kindling on the grate and stacked on wood from the bucket to the side. He was about to use magic to start the fire, but thought better of it and instead lit a stick in the lamp. He squatted, touching the flame to the curls of the kindling.
"Zedd, my friend," Adie said in a quiet, gentle voice, "I not be a Sister of the Light. I know that be what you are wondering. I not be one of them."
That was exactly what Zedd had been wondering.
"And if you were," he asked without turning, "would you tell me?"
She was silent. He looked over his shoulder to see her smiling at him. "The Sisters of the Light value honesty above almost anything else. But to them, lying in the service of their Creator be a virtue."
The fire took a good start. Zedd stood before her, looking down without returning her smile. "That is no comfort to me."
She took hold of his hand, patting it with her other.
"Zedd, I will tell you the truth. I be in debt to some of them for the things they did for me, but I give you an oath on the soul of my dead Pell; I not be a Sister of the Light. I would never let them have one of the gifted from our side, as long as I knew there be a wizard to teach him. I would never allow a boy to be taken and subjected to their ways, had I a say."
Zedd smoothed the fringe of a carpet with his foot. "I know you are not one of them, dear lady. It is just that I hate the thought of those women doing those things to ones with the gift, when I can show them the joy of their talent. It is a gift. They treat it like a curse."
With a thumb, she rubbed the back of his hand. "I see you have yourself a dashing new cane."
Zedd grunted. "I hate to think what Master Hillman is scheming to charge me for it."
"And did you find us transportation."
Zedd nodded. "A man named Ahern. We better try to get a bit of sleep. He's going to be here with a coach three hours before dawn."
He gave her a grim look. "Adie, until we get to Nicobarese and can rid ourselves of this taint, I think we had better consider the consequences very carefully before using magic."
*****
"Are we safe here?"
A soft hand extended from the fog of dim light, brushing her cheek, comforting her.
You are safe here, Rachel. Both of you are safe. Now, and always. You are safe.
Rachel smiled. She did feel safe. Safer than she ever felt before. Not just safe like she felt when she was with Chase, but safe like she had felt in her mother's arms. She hadn't been able to remember her mother before, but she remembered now, remembered the encircling arms holding her to a breast.
The terrible fright she had shared with Chase while they raced to catch Richard was melting away. The bone tired worry of whether o
r not they would catch him in time was melting away. The terror of the people who had tried to stop them, the fights Chase had had, the horror of the blood she had seen, all the blood she had seen... it was all melting away.
As she stood before the sparkling pool, the hands reached to her again. Reached to her from the gentle smiles of reassurance. The hands helped her undo the buttons of her dirty, sweaty dress, and pull it off. She flinched when her dress pulled against the bruise on her shoulder, the bruise she got when a man chasing them had knocked her down.
The smiles turned to sad looks of concern for her pain. The soft, gentle voices cooed comfort to her. The glowing hands caressed the shoulder, and when they lifted, the bruise was gone. The hurt was gone.
All better?
Rachel nodded. "Yes! It's all better. Thank you."
The hands pulled off her shoes and stockings. She sat on a warm rock and dangled her bare feet in the soothing water. It would be so wonderful to bathe and be rid of the dirt and sweat.
The hands reached for the stone hanging on the necklace around her neck. The hands drew back, as if afraid.
We cannot remove this thing. You must do it without our help.
Through the soothing warmth and security of the beautiful land around her, through the comfort of the peace she had found, through her desire to do as the gentle murmurs had asked, a voice rose up in her mind. It was Zedd's voice, telling her that she must not give the Stone to anyone, for any reason, telling her how important it was for her to guard it always.
She looked up, from the circles of ripples her feet made in the water, to the gentle faces. "I don't want to take it off. Can't I leave it on?"
The smiles returned and widened.
Of course you can, Rachel, if that is what you wish. If that is what would make you happy.
"I want it to stay on. That would make me happy."
Then it will stay on. Now, and forever, if you wish.
She smiled a smile of peace and security as she slipped into the soothing water. It felt so good. She floated and drifted. She felt all her troubles sloughing away with the dirt. One moment, it seemed she couldn't feel any more safe or happy, and then the next moment she did, and the next yet more.
