Redemption Of The Sacred Land (Book 3) (15 page)

“What are you trying to do? You will pop out your stitches,” Seandara said. “Here, I brought you some more bittering tea.” She set out a tray with a porcelain pitcher and matching cups. “I just saw Lady Shey and Gondrial. They wanted me to tell you they have gone.” She poured some of the brown liquid from the pitcher into his cup.

“Thank you for the tea,” Dorenn said. “Did they decide where to look for Veric?”

“Aye, Lux Enor. I also heard them tell Morgoran they thought he would be passing through the Sacred Land before going to Lux Enor. Tatrice and Bren were in Trigothia when they were approached by Toborne. Morgoran thinks the logical place for Toborne to go after leaving Trigothia would also be Lux Enor. He says that Veric would likely draw the same conclusion and travel to Lux Enor to intercept him.”

Rennon, looking like he had just woken up from a fitful sleep, came up to the table. “What are you two gabbing about?” He wore a red night robe over cotton linens. “Is that bittering tea I smell?”

“You may as well pour me a cup, too,” Bren said. He walked slowly and a bit hunched over.

Seandara took the cups from the tray and began pouring the tea.

Dorenn took a sip. “If only Vesperin or any other cleric would have been here this morning, we would be nearly completely healed,” he said.

“The clerics of Loracia are returning today in a few hours, I heard,” Rennon said. “They have done all they can for the survivors of Brookhaven.”

Bren took a sip from his cup. “It’s gone, then?”

“Aye, burned to the ground except for a few homes and the archives, which Lady Shey and Gondrial managed to save,” Rennon said. “I wish I could have done something, but I had to be in bed recuperating.”

Dorenn sighed. “I can only say how sorry I am so many times. I didn’t know it was you.”

“Aye, but even if it was Morgoran, what you did was a bit harsh.”

“Veric told me his poison dried up. I thought the dragon spine was just something to cause enough pain to reveal if Morgoran was truly himself. How was I supposed to know Veric reconstituted his poisons?”

“All right,” Bren said. “What is done is done, and arguing doesn’t do anyone any good. We have a lot to think about and a lot to discuss.” He took a drink of his bittering tea. “We need to find some way of rescuing my wife from the clutches of that mindwielder.”

Dorenn was in the middle of taking a sip of his bittering tea. He swallowed wrong and began to cough when he heard the word wife. Seandara was there behind him, patting him on the back to help him breathe.

“Wife?” Dorenn said when he could catch his breath.

Bren looked confused. “She told me she told you about our marriage.”

Rennon hung his head down and drank his tea, trying to wish himself into the background.

“No, she didn’t.” Dorenn felt the sting of betrayal. How could she do something like this to him?

“Well, rest assured, it wasn’t intentional,” Bren said.

“What wasn’t intentional? You telling me here?”

“No, the marriage. The marriage wasn’t intentional. We didn’t realize we were getting married. We were not well-versed in the customs of Trigothia. That’s why we traveled there recently, to get the marriage annulled, but we were ambushed before we could find the right woman to annul it.”

“But you are currently still married.”

“Aye, but as I said, we were ambushed before we could have anything done about it. Also, we were told the woman who performed the marriage, and therefore could annul it, had been killed. I now consider her death a lie, but at the time, I believed it.” Bren looked into Dorenn’s confused and hurt face. “Only the one who first performed the marriage can annul it, according to the customs of Trigothia. We discussed just ignoring the fact that we were married and carry on like it never happened, but Tatrice said she would always feel like she was living a lie.”

“But you consider her your wife enough to acknowledge her as wife?”

“I suppose I got used to it. Don’t go making a big deal out of it. I’m trying to tell you the marriage is not a true reflection of how she feels about me. She didn’t like me referring to her as my wife, if it makes you feel any better.” He took another sip of tea. “Look, we are only husband and wife in spirit. We are not husband and wife in the eyes of Loracia, goddess of all life.”

Dorenn took a deep breath and then sipped his tea. He happened to inattentively look at Seandara, who had begun absently cleaning up the tray. Her face was solemn and stern, and her lips were curled, almost in a frown. At last, he got the hint. Seandara was interested in him. Even after he had acted like a complete fool in Endil, when he was ill with essence sickness, she still liked him. He decided he needed to talk to her to break the mood, even if the conversation was off topic. “Seandara, where are Morgoran and Sanmir?”

She looked at him with puzzlement. “I thought I had already told you. Morgoran and Sanmir are busy in the lower tower rebuilding the Migarath Portal. They were saying something about getting it to connect to a portal closer to the Sacred Land.”

“Actually, this is the first I am hearing of it. Morgoran has a working Migarath Portal here in the tower?”

“Aye, he does. He said he tried to test it again lately and it didn’t connect to the other portals as it should, specifically to the Migarath Portal in Lux Enor and the one closest to the Sacred Land. I believe he was referring to a forgotten portal in one of the Eastern border villages. At any rate, the portal system is old and prone to misalignments.”

Rennon’s stomach growled. “Is there anything to eat around here?”

“I think so. Do you want me to go and check the kitchen?” Seandara asked.

“If you would be so kind,” Rennon said.

Seandara left the room, and Rennon’s smile turned to seriousness. “Dorenn, Morgoran wants to take some men through the portal and attack Naneden and Toborne at Lux Enor or the Sacred Land. He could get Tatrice injured.”

“I never understood why Naneden doesn’t just destroy Lux Enor’s Migarath Portal. Doesn’t he realize it’s there?” Dorenn asked.

“Morgoran says Toborne doesn’t want it destroyed. It’s too useful to him. Toborne destroying his portal would be the same as us destroying ours—not smart.”

“He should at least guard it better,” Dorenn said. He stared across the table at Bren sipping his bittering tea, oblivious to his surroundings, and the pang of that man being married to Tatrice hit him again. All at once, Dorenn realized that Bren was oddly not the least bit interested in the attack on Naneden or Toborne.
Is he a plant, designed to infiltrate my camp
? Dorenn thought.
He couldn’t be disguised or Rennon would see through it. What if Bren was still under the influence of a mindwielder? Would Rennon know somehow?
Am I just being paranoid, seeing shadows everywhere now
? He tried to twitch his face muscles to warn Rennon to shut up and stop telling secret information about Morgoran’s plans, just in case Bren was still under the mindwielder’s control, but his friend was not getting the hint.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Rennon asked. Bren looked up to see as well, so Dorenn had to stop twitching. Rennon launched right back into talking about attacking Lux Enor, and Bren seemed to be disinterested, but he was actually listening intently while fiddling with his tea. Desperate, Dorenn drew in essence through his own mind and projected.
Shut up, Rennon. I think Bren is still under the spell of the enemy!

Rennon’s eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped.
Did you just mindwield?

I don’t know. Is this mindwielding?
Dorenn projected.

Aye, loud and clear. No wonder you can see through the Drasmyd Duil’s disguises occasionally. I should have realized you could mindwield.

Seandara returned with some pastries on a silver tray. Bren was quietly sipping his bittering tea, and Rennon and Dorenn looked at her as if they were up to some mischief.

Seandara grinned. “What is it? Do I have food on my dress or something?” She looked down to check.

Veric tracked Ianthill up to a mound of dead trees, deep into the Sacred Land. Night had fallen, and the moonlight was just bright enough to illuminate the area, even though it was not completely full. Veric spotted Ianthill ahead and approached him.

“I don’t know why I am surprised you tracked me here. You always did have a way of tracking even the lightest footfalls,” Ianthill said.

“Why did you slip away from the group like that?” Veric asked.

“Morgoran and I agreed I should come here to investigate the tomb of the Oracle. Dorenn would have insisted he come along if we told him, and we wanted to investigate this without him. His friends might be involved, and we wanted to make sure before we involved him in a delicate situation. Veric had Theosus create the illusion for me to escape without alerting anyone. That is, except for you apparently. All the others forgot I was with them, but not you. Did you give us away?”

“No, I made up some barely believable excuse to part company with them to come after you.”

“Good, we have another illusion to cast when I return. They will never know I left. Why did you decide to follow me? I thought you were after Sylvalora?”

Veric studied Ianthill for a moment. “Sylvalora is fine. She
is
with Toborne, but all is not as it seems. Toborne believes he has her under his spell, but Ianthill, my wife has gifts from the gods. Do you believe for a moment that she didn’t sense my reawakening and contact me?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“She has been with me every step of the way. I am bonded to her as dragon knight and husband. She is the reason I was not fooled by your illusion, and she sent me after you. She is also worried that the Oracle may be awakening with the Sacred Land. She says Toborne is planning to use her to take control of the Oracle.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because it was Golvashala, the Oracle, who originally took the power of the god Aedreagnon and created the foul creatures of this realm. Toborne was merely an apprentice, but he now wants
all
of the power of his master. He wants to kill the Oracle, take his powers, and become a god!”

“It’s worse than Morgoran and I feared, then.”

“My task is here with you. We need to see if the Oracle is attempting to return, and formulate a plan to defeat him again,” Veric said.

“Before Toborne can defeat him and take him over,” Ianthill added.

“Oh, Toborne will never be able to do that. Sylvalora would never allow it. His feeble plan will be thwarted. It’s the return of the Oracle with the power of the Sacred Land that Sylvalora fears. The Oracle is the real threat here. Toborne is just a way for Sylvalora to get closer to the real danger and tie up a few old threads that need tying. I thought you realized; Sylvalora has been plotting all of this from the day she and Sheyna found Dorenn with the peddler on the road outside Brookhaven.”

“It would have been nice to have been included in the plan,” Ianthill said.

“You are. I just included you.” Veric looked off into the distance. “There is one other point I need to tell you about. The Oracle cannot awaken on his own, and not with the magic he possesses at his fingertips. He has to be resurrected by two clerics of life.”

“Why would he play by the rules? We have been getting reports from the Sacred Land. The grounds around the temple are stirring as if the Oracle
is
awakening,” Ianthill said.

“Do you think he can somehow resurrect on his own?”

“Not if we can find his tomb and prevent it. That mound on the next hill is where the Temple of the Oracle stood one thousand seasons ago when we fought the War of the Oracle. It’s the last place anyone ever saw him. Follow me.”

Ianthill led Veric across the rocky soil to the spot in question.

Veric surveyed the barren ground. Other than the bare, dead trees and a good-sized boulder, there was nothing to indicate a temple once stood there. “Are you certain this is the spot, Ianthill?”

“Without a doubt. Morgoran and I put that boulder there to mark it.” He examined the stone. “See, here is the chisel mark we carved into the stone.”

“This was where the Temple of the Oracle stood, then.” Veric reached down and took a handful of soil and let it slip between his fingers. “It seems you were wrong about the stirrings here. The Oracle still sleeps.”