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appeared, surely the sword would have cracked, if not shattered, it.
But this was not glass. And the Death God did not intend to give up sacrifices
rendered him. The chamber filled with god-light, a terrible crackling
blueness, limning One-Ear, racing up the blade to the hilt and into his body.
Transfixed, his mouth agape in a silent scream, One-Ear was rigid in agony. As
abruptly as it began, the blue light vanished.
One-Ear slumped away, sprawling onto his back, sword and dagger falling from
lax fingers.
As Tyrus and the others approached the body, the corpse twitched a few times.
But the eyes were vacant and lifeless. Aubage stepped over the supine form and
reached for the fallen sword.
"Touch nothing!" Tyrus said emphatically.
Sobered by One-Ear's punishment for ignoring such an order, Aubage jerked away
as if burned by that unearthly light which had killed the brigand.
"I& I only meant to return the sword to Miquit's kindred," Aubage said.
"Meager fare for the Death God, compared to this," Erejzan said, looking in
awe on the Hetanya crown. The cage had no mark upon it, no sign to show the
sword had ever struck it. The famous crown floated in iridescence, locked away
from the world.
"But& but you touched the cage that held the harper," Jathelle said, and she
eyed Tyrus worriedly, fearing a belated punishment might befall him.
"I took a risk I did not realize then. It must be that I escaped because I
had no covetous intent. One-Ear meant to steal the crown, and it cost him his
life."
Jathelle made an obeisance to the holy object, shaping Hetanya's sacred
triangle with her fingers and thumbs. "How the people of
Sersa-Ornail must mourn for this priceless treasure," she murmured.
The heavy gold was intricately carved, the work of Sersa-Ornail's finest
artisans. Reliefs of flowering trees and ripe grain fields encircled the
glittering band. Figures of priests and priestesses paraded through golden
woods and pastures, honoring the Mother of Earth. There were the black pearl
and the rare stones of blue ice Tyrus had described to the gem merchant in
Cou-redh; these dangled from a delicately meshed gold chain set with many
carnelians, a lacy drape below the crown's brim. The leaves of trees were
individual tiny emeralds, and on the crown's top stood a single, stunning
emerald of great size, radiantly faceted, cradled amid golden petals. The
crown was too large for a mortal woman, for it had been made for Hetanya
herself.
"No longer to be seen by humankind," Jathelle said sadly. "No longer
Hetanya's. We are in the snow-clad lands of Omaytatle, but the crown is
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Nidil's now."
"We must not linger here," Tyrus said. "There could be other brigands also
seeking treasure, and Vraduir's eyes are mending fast."
They needed no prodding, quickly leaving the chamber and continuing through
the citadel's maze of rooms and halls. Time and again they dodged the Death
God's minions. Fortunately, for Tyrus disliked taxing his returning powers,
they met no sorcerer's illusions. He wondered if Vraduir was nursing his
blindness and too pained to control his slaves or send them in a logical
search for the fugitives.
They found other chambers and other sacrifices.
Each discovery made Jathelle's worry the worse. There was a cage holding the
renowned tapestries of Arniob, from far in the South Clarique
Sea. The tapestries had been the first irreplaceable prize taken by Vraduir
and the crew of the ship, nearly a full turn of the seasons ago. How long
Vraduir had worked to his present evil scheme! He had stolen this delicate
weaving while Qamat's ashes were still smoldering with fresh-spewed lava.
Another chamber held the silver fish net of Aza-Dun, he who had come from the
sea, the dweller-in-water. Like the Arniob tapestries, this was a treasure
from the times of Traecheus, legendary, priceless.
Lives had been lost in these thefts, temple guards and valiant soldiers of the
islands of Arniob and Ben-dine, who had sought to protect their people's
honor. Enchantments and the merciless will of Captain Drie and his sailors had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
