The other Mages 'round the Council chamber muttered and nodded in agreement. Sage Arilla rapped for order, and when quiet fell, she said, "All of us are quite in the dark, Wizard Belgon. Yet perhaps if we reason together we may shed some light on this mystery. In particular, we should strive to resolve the riddle of just who these others are whom Lady Arin must find to aid her in her mission."
A murmur whispered around the Council Chamber, but fell to silence when Lysanne said, "Forget not the legend Warrior Aiko recounted, for it, too, may have some bearing-being, as it is, a tale of a Wizard warrior-king who is to raise the nation of Moko to conquer the world, and who will wield a mighty talisman before which even the Dragons must bow."
"Do you believe it is the Dragonstone?" asked Irunan from his seat against the wall.
Arilla raised a negating hand. "Leap to no conclusions, for the whole tale smacks of but a fable and may have no bearing at all on the Dragonstone or on Dara Arin's mission."
"And then again perhaps it is very relevant," said Belgon, "coming as it does at this particular time. It speaks of war and Dragons and of a Wizard warrior-king."
Gelon, at Irunan's side, called out: "But who among Wizards would do such a thing?"
"Renegades, Black Mages, others," replied Belgon. "Anyone consumed with ambition to rule, no matter the cost to those who get in the way." He paused and looked about the chamber, then said, "Perhaps someone in this very hall."
Shouts of denial followed Belgon's words, and Arilla rapped the gavel hard and long ere order was restored. The Sage fixed Belgon with a cold stare. "There was no cause for that accusation, Belgon."
Belgon sketched a seated bow and said, "I do apologize to this entire assembly, Sage."
Arilla looked long at him and finally said, "Well and good, Belgon. Well and good." She turned to the others and rapped once with her gavel. "And now, Council, let us get to the matter at hand: Lady Arin solicits our advice as concerns the words of her vision. Specifically she desires suggestions as how to find those who are to aid her in her mission." Arilla leaned back in her chair and spoke to Lysanne. "Would you repeat the list?"
"These are the remaining ones she seeks," said Lysanne, holding up her fingers and ticking them off one by one: "One-Eye in dark water; mad monarch's rutting peacock; the ferret in the High King's cage; a cursed keeper of faith in the maze."
A dark-haired Mage raised her hand. "Yes, Ryelle," acknowledged Arilla.
Ryelle looked back and forth between Arin and Lysanne and asked, "Do you think that all these are people, or could some truly be the thing described: a peacock, a ferret, even a cat?"
Arin slowly shook her head and shrugged, and Lysanne said, "All we know, Ryelle, is what the recovery of her vision revealed."
"Well then," said Ryelle, "all I can think of concerning one of the lines of the rede is that the High King's cage could be anywhere… though Caer Pendwyr is most likely to be the place, but I do not know if Bleys keeps ferrets. As to the other lines…" She turned up her palms in surrender.
"Ha! If you ask me," said white-haired Halorn, "there are mad monarchs aplenty about the world. Peacocks, too."
"I say," called Perin from his chair against the wall, "cannot one of ye Wizards use thy powers to help narrow the field?"
"Point the way, so to speak?" added Biren.
A tall, gaunt Mage shook his head. "When it comes to the Dragonstone, we are helpless. It blocks all attempts."
"It did not block Lysanne," said Arin.
"No, child," replied the Mage, ignoring the fact that Arin was perhaps many times his elder, "you are mistaken. Your own wild magic had already succeeded in doing what we cannot, and Lysanne did but help you unlock memories hidden away."
Arin glanced at Lysanne, and she smiled and nodded, confirming what had been said.
Arin sighed, then asked, "Do ye think I must find these others-be they peacocks, ferrets, or aught else-in the given order of the rede?" She gestured at Aiko kneeling on the stone floor behind. "First the cat, next the one-eye, then the rutting peacock and so on?"
Mages looked at one another, unable to answer out of knowledge. Then old Halorn said, "I would guess that since you found the cat first, you should go after the one-eye next, and so on down through the slate."
"Then I say," declared Arin, "let us debate as to what each of the phrases of my vision mean, for I would value whatever advice ye can yield."
The debate lasted for tens of candlemarks, and in the end they were no closer to knowing the truth than they were at the beginning, though many options had been proffered as to the meanings of the prophetic words.
It was Vanidar Silverleaf who finally said, "Enough! We are now chasing our own tails."
Arilla agreed, and after minor additional discussion, adjourned the meeting.
As they headed back toward their quarters, Aiko, who had remained silent throughout, said, "Perhaps dark water is a village rather than-"
"Vada!" exclaimed Vanidar, slapping a palm to his forehead. "Aiko could be right! Mayhap it isn't a lake, a pond, a stream, a place in the sea." He turned to Rissa. "Mayhap it is a village."
Rissa frowned in concentration. "Let me think, I seem to recall…" They strode down the hall, Rissa staring at the passing floor and mumbling to herself. At last she looked up and said, "There is a place in Fjordland, a town named Darkwater, only in their tongue they call it Morkfjord."
"But there could be hundreds of towns named Darkwater, Morkfjord, or the like," protested Biren.
"Throughout Mithgar," added Perin.
"Nevertheless," said Silverleaf, grinning and casting art arm about Rissa, "it is a place to start."
"Too," added Ruar, "the towns and villages named after dark water must certainly be fewer than the places throughout the world where water lies dark-every shadow o'er a stream, every dark hole in a pool, every overhanging rock, every deep in the ocean… all have dark water and are, I think, without number. Nay, I deem Lady Aiko has the right of it: the dark water of the rede is most likely to be a town… or other place so named."
"Where dwells a one-eyed person," added Melor, raising a finger, "or so I would believe."
"A person who will aid in this mission," appended Silverleaf, nodding.
Arin looked across at Rissa. "Where lies this Morkfjord?"
"In Fjordland along the Boreal Sea."
"I know neither the sea nor the land nor the town, Rissa, for I have not traveled widely as hast thou."
"I will guide thee there," replied Rissa.
"Nay," said Silverleaf. "Thou cannot."
"Oh?"
"Recall the words of the vision, chier: Take these with thee, no more, no less, else thou wilt fail to find the Jaded Soul.' Neither thou nor I nor anyone here save Lady Aiko may go with Dara Arin."
"Kha!" gritted Rissa. "The rede."
"Regardless, Aiko and I still need to know the way to this town of Darkwater," said Arin.
Rissa turned to Mage Lysanne, who strode alongside. "Hast thou a map broad enough to show the way?"
Lysanne smiled and said, "Follow," and led them through corridors and upward, climbing stair after stair within Black Mountain. At last they came to a great spherical chamber in the middle of which was a huge globe rotating slowly on a tilted axis. A catwalk led to a sturdy, latticed framework enclosing the globe, and on one wall of the chamber was a lensed lantern in a housing affixed to a track marked with days and seasons running full 'round the room.
"There is your map of Mithgar," said Lysanne, pointing to the globe. "And the lantern is the sun. We have not yet added the moon, but will someday."
Aiko, who had never been in this particular chamber in all of the months she had served as a warrior of the Mages, cocked an eyebrow. "That is Mithgar?"