Galaeron left the sitting room with the hair prickling on his neck and his thoughts roaring like one of the sandstorms that occasionally forced the city to rise into the cold air miles above the desert. Like Melegaunt before him, the Most High clearly had plans to help Galaeron realize his full potential as a magic-user-and no hesitation about what it might cost Galaeron or those around him. Given the price he had paid merely for learning how to draw on the Shadow Weave, he was not at all eager to increase the depth of his knowledge-especially considering what Telamont had just said it would cost him. He was still enough of an elf to balk at the idea of giving up his emotions, but losing Vala was unthinkable-especially losing her to Escanor.
Galaeron arrived at Villa Dusari angry and determined. He found his companions gathered in the courtyard, sitting on cushions on the ground so they could share the evening meal with Aris, who was reclining along one side of the courtyard with his head propped on a palm as large as a saddle. "Galaeron, what a surprise," Vala said.
There was no real enthusiasm in her voice. She had yet to forget the sharp words he had spoken to her after the battle at the mythallar, and every time Galaeron thought to apologize, the shadow in him seemed to turn the moment into something awkward or bitter.
"Fetch yourself a plate and mug," she said. "There's plenty to eat."
Instead of stepping into the shadowed colonnade to do as Vala suggested, Galaeron crossed straight to the group. Ruha glanced from him to Vala, then back again, and rose with ghostlike grace. Malik kept his seat, watching the witch with narrow eyes. Aris nodded a welcome to the elf. "You sit," the witch said. "I'll go."
She vanished into the building. Vala reluctantly moved over to make a place for Galaeron, but he stopped at her side and remained standing, ignoring Malik and the giant altogether. "Vala, you can't go with Escanor tonight."
She looked up at him with an expression of disbelief. "Who are you to tell me what I can't do?" An angry heat rose to Galaeron's face. "I… I…"
Surprised to find it was a question he could not answer, he let his reply trail off. What right could he claim over her decision? He had never spoken the words of love to her, had in fact denied even to himself that he felt such a thing-until Escanor had begun to take an interest in her. Only one oath had ever passed between them. "You made a promise to me," he said.
"Were I you, that is not something I'd be eager to remind me of."
Realizing he would get nowhere butting heads with a Vaasan, Galaeron took a moment to cairn himself-and to quell his shadow, which was whispering dark warnings about the sincerity of the threat implied in her words.
When he finally felt under control, he said, "Vala, I need you to stay."
"You've a funny way of showing it-and I'm not just talking about what you said at the mythallar," she said. "You've been treating me like some two-copper wench and everyone else like house servants. I don't much care for it."
The outrage Galaeron felt from his shadow quickly gave way to a colder kind of anger, something more subtle and cunning. He found himself nodding and looking at the ground.
'You're right," he heard himself say. "I owe you an apology." Vala cocked an eyebrow and said nothing.
"And I'm going to give it to you at the proper time," Galaeron said. His shadow would not let him say he was sorry. He actually wanted to, but those were not the words that rose to his lips. "And in the proper place." Vala frowned. "Now is fine."
Galaeron shook his head. "No, when we're out of this cursed city." Vala's jaw dropped. "You want to leave?" "As soon as possible."
Galaeron sat beside her. He felt a little sick inside because the words were only what his shadow knew Vala wanted to hear, but what was the harm, really? If Telamont would not do a small favor like keep Vala in the enclave, then Galaeron was ready to leave.
"We'll start planning after dinner and be gone as soon as we can collect everything we need," he said.
Malik rose so fast he spilled his plate. "Leave? What of your training?"
"As far as I can tell," Vala said, "Telamont is less interested in teaching Galaeron to control his shadow self than in turning him into a tool of Shade Enclave. He's getting worse, not better-we all see that."
"7 have not seen that!" Malik tried to stop there, but his face contorted, and he continued, "Except, of course, that what I mean by 'better' is much influenced by the current needs of the One."
"There can be no doubt of what Vala says," Aris said. "Galaeron is turning evil."
"And so what if he does?" Malik demanded. He turned to address Galaeron directly. "Have you forgotten Evereska? Telamont needs the knowledge inside your head to defeat the phaerimm."
"The need cannot be that great," Vala countered, "or he would not have moved the enclave so far from the battlefront."
"You can't know that… though there is much to be said for your argument." Malik grimaced at the curse that forced him to add this last part, then tried another tack. "Even if the need is not great, there is an implied bargain. If you desert the Shadovar, why should they defend Evereska?"
"I don't think anything Galaeron does will influence the Shadovar one way or the other," Aris said. He sat upright and spoke even more thoughtfully than usual. "The Shadovar serve the Shadovar in all things. They will defend Evereska because that is the best way to destroy their enemies."
"Can no one here let a man make his arguments without spoiling them with logic and common sense?" Malik demanded. Fuming, he began to shake a leg of roasted fowl at Galaeron. "And who is this 'we'? I am going nowhere."
"You are," Galaeron insisted, feeling vaguely betrayed. "Do you think Hadrhune will let you stay in this comfortable house after we're gone? You are here only because I am."
Malik drew himself up to his full height, which was only a little taller than a dwarf. "I have means of my own," he said. "And even if they fail me, I have lived in gutters before, when service to the One demanded it… or when I could afford no better."
"And you prefer that to our company?" Aris asked. "My friend, I do not understand."
Malik sighed. "I do not prefer that at all. You are the best friends I have ever known… at least without paying." Face darkening, his beady eyes caught Ruha as she returned to the courtyard with a mug and plate for Galaeron. "It is what is safest The minute we are gone from this city, the hellwitch will plant a jambiya in my back."
"Only if you are fleeing the Harp's justice," Ruha said from behind her veil. "But why be fearful? You are safe in Shade Enclave… unless you are planning to leave?"
"That is no affair of yours," Malik said, face contorting as his curse compelled him to continue speaking. "Except that my friends are the ones leaving, not I. The One demands my presence in this city so that its denizens may bathe in the light of the Black Sun."
"Ah." Aris nodded as though this made perfect sense. "My behorned friend, I know too much of your god to wish you success, but duty I understand. Your assistance will be missed at the shapings."
Galaeron continued to feel betrayed but knew better than to think he could argue the Seraph of Lies out of obeying his god's will.
"Do as you must, Malik. Can we trust you to keep our secret?"
"Of course," Malik answered. "I am sure I could profit handsomely by running to Hadrhune the moment you are gone and announcing your escape, but in truth Aris's talent has already made me a wealthy man, and I have learned enough of his art to continue the business until his departure is discovered. You may be sure that I will be as loyal to you as I am to my own god and for the sake of my own profit remain silent on the subject of your departure… at least until someone tricks me into revealing it against my will."