Kirisin and Simralin sat nearby, watching as Elven healers bandaged the King’s wounds, their backs to the wall, their arms wrapped about their drawn–up legs.
“He doesn’t look good,” Kirisin observed quietly.
“He’s in shock,” his sister said. “No different from you or me.”
No arguing that, Kirisin thought. Who would have believed that an attack of the sort they had just witnessed could ever have taken place in these chambers? Such things didn’t happen. Tragen had gone berserk. Or the demon had, he corrected. Gone mad. Determined to do what Culph had failed to do, to convey him to the demons and make him use the Loden to imprison the Elves. Was there ever any chance of him doing that? Any chance of making an escape from these rooms with Kirisin in tow? Clearly the demon had thought so. It would have killed everyone to make it happen.
“I should have waited,” he said. “I should have kept quiet.”
His sister looked over. Her face was bruised, and there was blood smeared on her forehead. She looked a wreck. “Let’s not revisit what you or I should have done. I probably have more regrets on that subject than you do.”
He thought about her involvement with Tragen, thinking that she must feel violated in a way he could never understand. In any case, she was right. It was a waste of time to wish that things had happened differently. It was easy in retrospect to think that he should have held off exposing Tragen until it was safer to do so.
“What do you think will happen now?” he asked.
Simralin shook her head. “What we want to happen, I hope.”
The boy nodded. His gaze wandered over the blood–drenched room. The bodies had been removed, but the evidence of their fate was still there for everyone to see. The cleanup would begin when the King gave his permission. For the moment, it seemed, Arissen Belloruus seemed intent on burning the image into his memory.
Ordanna Frae reappeared, still shaken but otherwise unhurt. He stopped in front of them. “That was very brave of you, Kirisin. To fight back like you did. Very brave. You saved our lives. I think we all believe now that you are more than capable of protecting the Elves, should it come to that.”
He moved away, joining the King on the dais, bending close to speak with him. “You were brave, Little K,” Simralin agreed.
The King was on his feet now, his healers moving away. With Ordanna Frae trailing, he walked over to where they sat, looking angry and determined. He shouted to his attendants to clean up the room, and they moved quickly to comply.
Kirisin and Simralin got to their feet at once. The King faced them, his strong features set.
“Erisha loved you,” he began, speaking directly to Kirisin. “She believed in you, and she trusted you. I know you fought from time to time, but you played together as children and have been each other’s friend since birth. You were–you are—a member of our family. I never wanted to think that you could harm Erisha. Even now, when I saw you again, come back to Arborlon, I didn’t want to believe it.”
For a moment, he couldn’t continue. It took everything he had to compose himself, but he managed to subdue his grief. “I have not been thinking clearly on this. Not for some time. I realize that now. I have been a fool. What I’ve witnessed here has convinced me of that.”
He paused, his eyes still locked on Kirisin. “When my daughter came to me about the Ellcrys and the Loden Elfstone, I turned to Culph for help. I asked him to look into the Elven histories to see what was recorded. He did so and told me that he had researched the histories front–to–back, as well as all the notes that might possibly bear on the matter of the missing Elfstones, and had found nothing. He lied, of course, but I did not realize it. He insisted there was nothing, even when I pressed him to look harder.
But he said there were rumors he had heard as a child from other, wiser heads. Rumors warning that using a Loden Elfstone was dangerous. The user of such a magic, he had heard, was bound to it. What that meant, he warned, was that if this Elfstone were recovered and the Ellcrys placed within, the user must carry the Stone until the tree could be released. He cautioned that the weight of such responsibility was too much for my daughter to bear, too much for any child of Erisha’s temperament, and that I must do what I could to protect her. He suggested that it would be best if I discouraged her from being involved and left the matter to you.”
He shook his head. “I did as he suggested. I chose to sacrifice you in order to protect my daughter. I didn’t see it that way at the time. I convinced myself that it didn’t matter, that none of this would ever come to pass. I convinced myself that the danger to the Ellcrys was exaggerated. I convinced myself that you were on a hopeless mission to find something that didn’t exist. I persuaded myself that I could not risk my only daughter.” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I am ashamed for this, and I apologize.”
Kirisin nodded his understanding, even though he wasn’t sure he understood at all. But the anger he might have felt before did not surface now. Instead, he felt only sadness for the King.
“I am going to do what you have asked of me,” the King declared, his voice firm and steady once again. “We have to protect the Elven people and the city. I’m convinced that you are capable of that. Your use of the Elfstone magic to stop Tragen tells me so. Erisha saw that, as well, I think. Are you still willing to use the Loden and to act as our protector?”
The boy nodded at once.
“Then this is what you will do. As soon as dawn breaks, you will place the Ellcrys, Arborlon, and the Elven people within the Loden. I will remain outside with our Elven Hunters to protect you. We will do whatever is needed to see that you get safely away from the demon army to where it is that you are supposed to go. You have some sense of where this is, don’t you?”
Again, the boy nodded. In truth, he wasn’t sure. But he wasn’t about to admit to it. “I will need to speak with the Ellcrys,” he said.
“You will have that opportunity. She has guided you well so far. Much better than I have.” He glanced quickly at the room behind him, as if making sure it was secure. “Ordanna Frae is now first minister. He will go into the Loden with the rest of the Elves to form a new High Council and advise the Elven population of my decision. He will be responsible for preventing panic and for preparing our people for whatever awaits them.”
He paused. “A lot depends on you, Kirisin.”
“I know.”
“If anything happens to you, the Elves will be trapped within the Loden. Perhaps forever. Basselin was right about that much.”
“He knows,” Simralin answered for Kirisin.
The King glanced sharply at Simralin, but did not rebuke her. “I suppose he does.” He looked back at the boy. “If you find yourself in real danger or are injured badly, you must release the Elves. If you are trapped and cannot escape, you must release them. If I order you to do so, you must release them. They are not to be abandoned, no matter what. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
The King nodded. His strong face tightened with determination, and he straightened his big frame. “Do you think there might be other demons among us?”
Kirisin had no idea. He hadn’t even considered the possibility, still shaken from discovering that Tragen was one. The suggestion that there might be others still was terrifying.