"I agree," Mikhail said. "To destroy the beasts that plague Dhasson, we must destroy Arontala." He met Tris's eyes. "Even Dark Haven is no longer safe," he said. "I will help you."
"Thank you," Tris whispered, feeling the last of his strength fading.
Mikhail bent to gather up Kiara in his arms. Carina gave Devin and Berry a list of herbs and items from the kitchen.
"I'll get Kiara back to her room," Mikhail said. "You look like you've got all you can handle just getting back upstairs," he added, appraising Tris's condition.
"Here, lean on me," Vahaman said as Tris managed to stand up, then stumbled. "Carroway, come around on the other side, he's going to need some help."
Maire looked at Tris worriedly- "I will bring up some hot tea and something to clean those cuts."
Carina looked back at Tris, as she headed for the door behind Mikhail. "I'll be up as soon as I get Kiara taken care of," she promised.
"I'll send up Seldon," Royster said, promising the herbalist's help. The librarian looked scared.
Carina turned to Vahanian. "What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Where do you stand? Arontala has to know you're with us. You don't think he's going to let you off any easier than the rest of us."
"Right now, my job is to get you to Principality City alive. If we live that long, I'll worry about it then," Vahanian said. Carina turned on her heel and followed Mikhail.
"I should have stayed in Margolan," Tris said quietly as Vahanian and Carroway helped him toward the stairs. "If I'd killed Jared right then, none of this would have happened."
"We carried you out on a stretcher," Carroway reminded him. "Did you forget that part? We were outnumbered. We'd all be dead by now. There would be no one who could stop Jared."
"I'll go back alone, I'm the one Arontala wants—"
"Your friends have their own reasons for choosing to go with you," Royster said from behind them. "Their quests are as important as your own."
"This is exactly the kind of stunt I warned you about," Vahanian grumbled as they worked their way up the stairs. "I've a mind to lock you in a cell somewhere just to make sure you live long enough to get to Margolan."
Tris found that he was too exhausted to reply. He managed to stand long enough to wave off further help once they reached his room, but halfway to his bed his vision blurred, and the last thing he remembered was grabbing at a chair to break his fall.
CHAPTER THIRTY
TRIS opened his eyes slowly. His head pounded hard enough that everything he saw was surrounded by a nebulous glow. Even the light from the fireplace was far too bright. The skin on his hands and face burned as if from nettles, and he felt as if he had been thrashed.
"Glad to have you back." Taru's voice came from the shadows beside his bed. He managed to turn his head to see her. The effort made his head swim.
"I made it as far as my room before I blacked out this time."
Taru sniffed. "As soon as your friends let go of you, you fell face down in the middle of the floor." She smiled slightly. "At least they pulled off your boots before they put you to bed," she added. "But you are correct. You stayed conscious after the working, you got up the stairs without being carried—so they tell me—and you have been out only a few hours. Your training is paying off." Tris closed his eyes. "Not good enough." Taru stepped closer, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "No, not yet," she said, her voice a little gentler. "But there are months yet before you must face Arontala. This is promising."
"How is Kiara?" Tris asked, realizing that if he whispered, it didn't hurt quite so much to hear his own voice.
"She's sleeping it off," replied Taru. "Carina tells me that scryings have always gone hard on her. The attack was intentionally meant to be both terrifying and draining. Had you not intervened, she would not have survived." She paused. "Which reminds me," she added, her voice taking on an irritated edge, "what were you thinking to attempt this when I was gone?"
Tris sighed. "Kiara said she did it many times before, and since I wasn't the one doing the scrying, I really didn't think it would attract attention. We were wrong."
"You might as well have lit a bonfire." She bustled with some objects on the stand next to the bed and Tris opened his eyes again. He lifted his hands and saw that they were covered with fine cuts. "Here," Taru said, taking his hand. She smoothed ointment over the cuts, reducing their sting. Tris gratefully allowed her to do the same with his neck and face.
"Forcing power back through a breakable object isn't the most efficient move," Taru said.
"You were fortunate. If the power truly concentrated in the ball itself, and not in the sender's channel, you might have had a nice explosion on top of just spraying the room with shards of glass."
"Understood," Tris replied, abashed.
Taru's expression softened. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You did the right thing, in an unorthodox manner. It worked. However, there are reasons for the methods we teach you. Things mages have learned the hard way—like exploding scrying balls. Devin and I will confer. Your level of power creates dangers at this point in your training that would not normally pose a hazard until much later. We must reconsider."
"We can't stay here much longer," Tris said, as Taru helped him sit up and pressed a cup of Carina's headache tea into his hands.
"No, you can't," she agreed. "You cannot afford to be snowbound here. That is one of the reasons I went to confer with my Sisters. They have been monitoring your lessons from afar. They agree that you have completed nearly all that is possible here at the Library." She paused. "All but Argus."
"Now, there is a new danger," she said, drawing up a chair and settling herself. She poured herself a cup of the tea, and from her reaction as she sipped, Tris realized she was pushing her own energies as well.
"Because of what happened tonight? Can Jared reach us here? We're not in Margolan."
Taru shook her head. "That is true. But we are not yet far enough into Principality for the king's troops to patrol this area heavily. Arontala will not have a precise bearing on your location, but it will be close enough. The vayash mora tell us that there are already small squads of Margolan soldiers, traveling out of uniform beyond Principality's borders, searching. If they comb this area, it will make the road to Principality City more dangerous for you."
She paused again, deep in thought. "The most dangerous section will be the first day's ride, from here to Gibbet Bridge. Beyond the crossing, the king's soldiers patrol the riverbank. I do not think even Jared would dare send troops that far inside another sovereign state. It would mean war.
"Royster will come with you. Given the... unusual circumstances, I have gained the Sisterhood's permission to take texts with us, so that they may be used in your training. But you have one more task remaining."
Tris leaned back on his pillow, feeling the full fatigue from the last many weeks. "Mageslayer."
"That, also, was a part of my consultation with my Sisters," said Taru. "We are in agreement that you are the rightful bearer. But you must still win the sword."
"What makes you think that I can succeed?"
"None who have challenged Argus were Summoners."
Tris thought about that for a moment. "Is it worth the risk? As Jonmarc pointed out, getting myself killed before the main event accomplishes nothing," he said with a lopsided smile, thinking of Vahanian's original wording.