‘The rest fell into place,’ Phoenix went on, ‘once I examined the annals for other cases matching your symptoms. Such cases are very rare, but with diligence they can be found.’ He paused to consider his next statement. ‘It’s said that I can defy death. This is untrue.’ Fleetingly, his grin flashed again. ‘Perhaps not even Melyobar can do that. I confess I haven’t discouraged tales of my longevity. They have value as far as Covenant’s image is concerned. But what of the enduring nature of
your
life, Caldason? Would there be some justification if such tales were told of you?’
‘As you said, my wounds heal quickly. Broken bones reknit. I never get ill.’
‘Never?’
‘I came through the black spot epidemic in Shalma, and the outbreak of rotting sickness in Deeve. Other plagues at other times left me untouched too.’
Kutch stared at him in wonderment, and with not a little apprehension. ‘You mean you’re immortal?’ he whispered.
‘No. Extremely resilient rather than indestructible is the way I’d put it. There seems to be a limit. If I had a severed limb, I can’t imagine it would re-grow, for instance. I guess I’d die if someone pierced my heart or parted my head from its shoulders. Then again, I was poisoned once and survived.’
‘Who gave you poison?’
‘I did.’
A moment passed in silence while they took that in.
Phoenix broke it by asking, ‘Do you age?’
‘Imperceptibly. My appearance hasn’t changed much over time.’
‘How long have you been like this?’
‘Since the last great massacre of my people, at Keskall Pass.’
Karr didn’t hide his astonishment. ‘That was seventy years ago!’
‘Seventy-two,’ Reeth corrected.
‘That makes you older than my master was when he died. Yet you look…’ Kutch faltered.
‘I know.’
‘Is it some kind of curse?’
‘It certainly feels like one. But I don’t think it is in the way you mean, Kutch.’
‘Now I understand what you meant about your friends dying in ways other than violently.’
‘I’ve seen too many age and pass from this world. I’m not keen to repeat the experience.’
‘But what
happened
to you?’ Phoenix pressed. ‘At Keskall.’
A pained expression wreathed Caldason’s features. ‘I… I don’t know. I survived the massacre somehow, though I took wounds. Wounds that should have been fatal. Somebody helped me. I’m not sure about much else. It’s confused, jumbled in my mind. There are holes in my memory. Though, sometimes in dreams… Well, not dreams really, more like visions or…’ He shook his head, defeated by the challenge of explaining.
Karr said, ‘Isn’t it true that historically the Qaloch had good relations with the rulers of Bhealfa?’
‘Yes. Our independence was respected and our borders were inviolate. Something changed that.’
‘And the paladins broke the treaties and all but wiped out your people.’
‘They were the instrument of our ruin, and for that I’ve tried to make them pay. But for all their power they weren’t the masters. I’ve never been able to find out who the Qaloch were such a threat to that they’d engage in genocide against us.’
Disgleirio had proved a man of few words. Now he said, ‘It’s been my honour to have Qalochians as comrades in battle, and in resisting the tyranny of the empires. They were the most courageous and skilled fighters I’ve ever known.’
Caldason gifted him the slightest of nods, and a fleeting, dilute smile of gratitude.
‘These are deep waters and we may never get to the bottom of them,’ Phoenix pronounced.
‘I need to,’ Caldason told him.
‘I understand. But best to concentrate on your affliction for now.’
‘An affliction,’ Disgleirio echoed thoughtfully. ‘Yet immortality, or at least a version of it like yours… isn’t that something people would kill to have?’
‘Rather than try killing themselves because they had it, you mean?’ Caldason replied. ‘That depends on whether you see it as a privilege. I don’t, because it’s a trade-off, and I fear the ultimate cost will be the loss of my mind. It makes me feel like I’m connected to something… malevolent, and incredibly powerful.’
‘I told you that Covenant knew about conditions similar to yours,’ Phoenix reminded him. ‘It would be more accurate to say that we’ve heard of such things rather than actually encountered them.’
‘What have you heard?’
‘Enough to suspect that Founder magic could be involved.’
‘But Founder magic’s dead,’ Kutch broke in.
‘You know better than that, boy. It’s all around us. It’s the Founders who are dead. Their heritage is the magic we take for granted.’
‘How does that help me?’ Caldason said.
‘Founder magic was the most powerful ever known. Our skills are petty compared to theirs. Your search for a cure was always doomed because no magic we have could lift your burden. But perhaps, just perhaps, there might be a Founder solution.’
‘How could there be? The Founders and all their works disappeared before recorded history.’
‘Covenant is very old. Some believe that our creed’s antecedents go back to the Dreamtime itself. I don’t know whether that’s so. But we’ve studied the Founders for a very long time. We’ve tried to find out as much as we can about them and their ways. It’s one of the reasons we’re so frowned upon by the authorities and approved sorcerers.’
‘There can’t be much left for you to study.’
‘Precious little. The achievements of the Founders moved from history to memories. Memories became stories, handed down by our barbarous ancestors. The stories slipped into legends, and the legends ripened to myths. Our harvest of knowledge, after centuries, is piteously small.’
‘Have you learnt anything that could help me?’
‘It’s more that we have an inkling of where such knowledge might be found. If we’re right, and if we can master it, there’s hope for you. For all of us.’
‘That’s a lot of maybes.’
‘More than you have before you now, I daresay.’
‘Be clear about this knowledge. What is it, and where?’
‘There aren’t straightforward answers to such questions. I’ll try. One of the most persistent legends about the Founders is that they left certain legacies apart from our system of magic. These include something we call the Source, which is the way we refer to the vast repository of knowledge they must have had. That knowledge would be of immeasurable value to us. After all, the Founders used the same earth energies we employ. So it must have been in their
techniques
that they were so advanced over us.’
‘What form would this hoard of knowledge take?’
‘That’s one of the difficulties,’ Phoenix confessed. ‘We might think of such a thing as a grimoire, a tome of spells or the like. A whole library. But it’s important to understand that the Founders didn’t think like us. It could well be something quite different. Something we can’t imagine.’
‘Whatever it is, you’re saying it could help me?’
‘
If
it exists that would be one of its lesser miracles.’
Caldason looked dejected. ‘You don’t even know if it’s real or just another fable.’
‘Granted we’re not entirely sure. For a long time we were convinced it was only a story, with no substance. Lately, our researches have led us to doubt that. If we’re right, the benefits would be enormous, not least in breaking the shackles of the empires. A great tyranny requires a great counter force to combat it.’
‘It all ties together, Reeth,’ Karr added. ‘You’d have a chance to lift the hex from your shoulders, and with Founder magic the Resistance would have a weapon that could give us a fighting chance against both empires.’
‘All right, I see where you’re going with this. But still no one’s told me where this source is.’
‘Have you ever heard of the Clepsydra?’ Phoenix asked.
Caldason shook his head. ‘No. Another fairy tale, is it?’
The magician chose not to be affronted. ‘We think not.’
‘I’ve heard of it,’ Kutch offered. ‘It’s known to everyone with an involvement in the Craft.’
‘What is it?’ Caldason said.