Both of them landed with a splash, and from a few yards off came heavy clapping.
"I m glad to see you putting those endowments to good use," Daylan Hammer said. "I daresay that those two can use the bath."
"Aye," Talon agreed. "But there is a kind of filth in them that water cannot remove."
The Madocs peered up at Talon, then at Daylan Hammer, and went slogging off without another word.
Daylan came close to the dogs, knelt next to Alun, and patted Wanderlust, smoothing out the grizzled hairs on her snout. "Do not use this dog for endowments," he said. "She s too old. I fear that she would die from the transfer."
"I wasn t thinking about that," Alun said. "She s earned her retirement. I just want her to live to a ripe old age."
Daylan smiled. "Let us hope that that is a very long time indeed."
That dog might live longer than me, Talon thought, for I am going into the wyrmlings lair.
Even if she survived, Talon would be taking six endowments of metabolism from men and dogs, so that she might move swiftly. But in doing so, it was like taking poison. Her life would pass away as if it were a dream. A day to her would seem like seven, and if she should ever have a daughter, Talon would age and die before the girl ever grew old enough to bear her own children.
I will wither before my parents do, Talon realized.
Daylan said absently to Alun, "Our facilitators are taking a rest now, but when they have recovered, they will prepare more forcibles, and grant us more endowments."
"But, aren t you leaving sooner than that?" Alun asked.
"Yes, we re leaving, but our Dedicates are staying. They can take endowments for us now."
"How can they do that?" Alun asked.
"Imagine that a man gives you his strength. When he gives that endowment, his strength flows to you, like a stream of water flowing into a lake.
"Now, imagine that another man gives more strength to your Dedicate through another endowment. His stream of water flows into that man s flow, just as happens when the winter showers create new streams. What happens then?"
Alun s face crinkled up as he tried to envision it. "There is more water in the first stream?"
"Exactly. The strength does not pool in your Dedicate. Instead, the strength of both men flows to you.
"Thus, as Talon s Dedicates take endowments, and vector those attributes to her, she will gain their powers as the day progresses. From time to time, she may feel a surge of strength, or a rush of wholesomeness when stamina is added."
He turned to Talon. "Are you ready to go?" Daylan asked. "Have you said your good-byes?" His voice was sober. He knew that they might be going to their deaths.
"I ve spoken my farewells," Talon said. "Is the emir ready? The Cormar twins?"
"Give them a few minutes more," Daylan suggested.
Talon glanced across the chamber and saw the emir talking to some old battle companions. The Wizard Sisel and Lord Erringale stood at his side, waiting for him to finish. At his back were the Cormar twins.
One of the twins was gazing off, deep in thought, when suddenly he burst out laughing. The emir turned to see what had caused the outburst, and the young man said, "Sorry, just thought of a joke."
Talon turned back to Daylan.
"Daylan," she asked softly. "I heard Lord Erringale say that you had been banished from this world. Why was that?"
Daylan smiled, considered how to answer. "Ages ago, there was a great danger on your world, the world of the Runelords. It was thousands of years ago. A young king had arisen, and his people were set upon by reavers. He begged for my help. His people were already studying rune lore, and they knew how to give one another blessings, by drawing runes upon their friends with their fingers. But it was a crude craft, barely understood, and those who gave the blessings failed far more often than not. Besides, such blessings fade quickly.
"So they begged for my help.
"I had only begun to suspect something back then. The Bright Ones call this world the One True World, and for countless ages the Bright Ones and Glories alike have thought that when the binding came, it would be upon this world, that it would be bound to some lesser world.
"You see, not all worlds are equal. Many of them are deeply flawed, and of all the worlds, this one reminds us most of what the world should be.
"But I had begun to suspect that looks can be deceiving. For rune magic worked on Fallion s world. In some cases, it worked better there than it does here. It was as if this True World of ours was only partly true, as if it had some fundamental flaws.
"Each of our worlds is like a puzzle with missing pieces, but no two worlds are missing the same pieces. This world, Fallion s world, the wyrmling s world-each seemed to contain something that the others had lost."
Talon asked "What powers were on the wyrmlings world that the others lacked?"
Daylan hesitated, as if he did not want to answer. "The dead were more alive there than upon other worlds. The barrier between the physical world and spirit world was thinner there. That is why they had the Death Lords and the Knights Eternal."
"So you were banished for teaching rune lore?"
Daylan nodded. "I brought my friends before the White Council, and I pleaded their cause.
"But the Bright Ones did not want to interfere. They knew the dangers of teaching such lore. They were afraid that evil men would take the rune lore and use it for selfish reasons. And they were right. Many evil men have been empowered by it. But the Bright Ones were afraid of something more: they were afraid that the lore might be spread from one shadow world to the next, a thousand times over, becoming a plague that runs through the universe."
"And has it?" Alun asked.
"No," Daylan said. "Men do not long to conquer worlds that they have not seen, or that they have never dreamed of."
Talon realized that Daylan was right. She d never seen any worlds but her own, had never imagined that there could be other fine worlds.
"Are there worlds that are not in peril?" Talon asked. "Fine places, I mean. Worlds where you might go just to rest from your cares?"
Daylan laughed, as if it were a naive question. "As I said the other night, there are more worlds than you can count, more than you can imagine. Some have life on them, and others are void. Some have people on them, not too different from you.
"But the worlds mirror each other. Somehow, even on worlds where one type of mold is struggling to dominate another, the great drama unfolds.
"No," Daylan laughed, "there is no fine place where you can really rest-unless, of course, we manage to bring peace to your world."
"And if we do, won t peace come to all of the worlds?"
"I suppose it will."
The emir, the Cormar twins, the Wizard Sisel, and Erringale were still saying their good-byes. Daylan glanced at them, got a sly look on his face, and whispered to Talon, "Come here."
He went to the back wall, and embedded in it were tiny stones like diamonds no larger than an infant s thumbnail. They glowed softly, so that from a distance they had looked like stars. It was these stones that lit all of the rooms, Talon realized.
Daylan said, "The folk of this world call these sunstones, for when left in the sun, they store its light. The beams then leach from the stones at night when darkness falls."
"They re pretty," Talon said. "A stone like that would be worth a man s weight in gold on our world."
Daylan pried a sunstone from the wall, cupped it in his hand so that the light would be hidden, then pinched it hard. The light flashed brightly.
"The harder you pinch, the brighter it flashes. Try it. The stone gets quite warm when you do. The sun s heat is stored in them, too."
He held the stone out for her, and Talon s fingers wrapped around it. She held it in her fist so that no one would see. She squeezed it briefly, felt it flare. It was like a tiny fire in her hand, leaking light so brightly that it glowed red through her fingers. She had to drop it.