Seven Swords

Chapter 14

Thane's face wore a puzzlement she had seen many times on Kendric's. He walked toward her, sensing importance in her lowered tone that made power-mad an sorcerers moot.

Irissa took Thane's hand in a way he did not resent, not as if he were a child, but an equal whose alliance she sought.

'Your father- The words came hard. 'Your father is aging, Thane, like the mortal man he has always claimed to be." He jerked his hand away, denying her words. 'Father? He is the biggest, the strongest man in Rengarth. He has magic to rival your own, you have said, although they are a patchwork of powers from many sources his mother, Phoenicia; yourself; the sword. There's nothing wrong with Father!'

Irissa remained calm. 'Nothing wrong with him were he wed to a mortal woman and sire to mortal children. Torlocs are long-lived, Thane, you know that. You share that heritage. Kendric does not.'

'But-'

'Have you not seen the silver in his hair? The new runes time has etched upon his face? He was not always so. And he is becoming more so every year. Somehow, despite the magic he has accrued, he has not been granted the longevity to accompany it.

' Thane paced, the first time Irissa had ever seen him do so. Beneath his knitted brows, his odd eyes glittered like spinning coins of gold and silver. She could not say denomination was more valuable to her silver that conferred untold powers upon her son, or the golden glint that echoed his father's eyes.

Thane stopped. 'He will die.'

'Yes. As will I. In good time. But he will die before time, Thane, while you and I still have centuries before us. It is not... fair... and I will not have it.

But... what can you do?' I have done it.' Irissa rose. She towered over her son. My quest to the Spectral City was an attempt to seek two things: a means of preserving Kendric's life for a time equal to mine - and a gate, for any answer must lie outside of Rengarth."

'And you found?' A cat who is not what it was.'

Irissa laughed ruefully, 'It is good to see Kendric sharpening his wit on a worthy opponent, though. He was fonder of Felabba than he would let anyone know.' 'But the answer!' 'I have it. It is the sword. Not the one here. That was mind-made, remember?" Thane turned numbly to face a tapestry behind him - a red-woven vignette of crimson dust and flying robes, Kendric amid it all fashioning a sword from his memory and magic.

'In the Inlands against Ivrium's Heirlings, Thane described the scene. Suddenly the tales his parents told by candlelight as bedtime diversions assumed a reality he could neither believe nor deny.

'Mother, if this sword isn't enough, what is?'

The original. The only one of the Six Swords that Kendric carried in Rule when we met, that bridged us on my departure from Rule, that he dropped to' - Irissa paused, her voice taut - 'to follow me through a Torloc gate. That is the sword we must have, that we must retrieve, to keep Kendric among us."

'How?'

'Go to Rule and get it.' Thane blinked.

But, Mother - then you must have found a gate at the Spectral City!' I found there is no gate, as there never was. Not in Rengarth. Oh, specters can come and go, but I am still merely flesh and blood and cannot pass." 'I'm sorry." Irissa stared at her son, surprised at the adult tone of comfort in his words. He embraced her as he had not in several years.

'I'm sorry,' he repeated. What shall we do? And what can...I... do?'

'Find a gate!' Irissa held Thane fiercely, feeling his shock. 'You are even better endowed than I to accomplish this. I know you can do it!"

'How? Mother, how?'

'I don't know. That's always the sting in the tail of magic. It seldom says how. But... I... know... you can do it. You are sublimely gifted, Thane. You have not even begun to unravel the knots of your magic. You are my sole hope. Your father's only hope. Follow your instincts. Think of your father, and trust your feelings."

'Father thinks I'm a freak,' he burst out. Irissa was struck dumb with shock. 'We're not alike,' Thane went on sheepishly. 'He seems afraid of my magical powers, the way they come to me.' Irissa straightened. 'Kendric is afraid of nothing for his own sake. He may fear the price your unheard-of powers will demand of you, but that is understandable. He wishes you less trouble in life than he found - any parent does.' 'He... might find immortality bitter coming from my hand, from my... freakish blend of powers."

'Thane.' Irissa almost shook her son. 'You are his immortality.' Thane shifted uneasily under the press of her hands on his shoulders. 'I always wanted to be like him, when I was young

'You are! Yes, in ways neither of you sees yet."

'Then I realized I could never be like him, that I had things greater magic that he would never have.'

'So do I.'

'You don't understand

'Yes, I do, better than either of you thinks. This will resolve itself with time. Kendric was always uneasy magic, even his own. You can't expect him to face your lavish supply of it without cold feet. It doesn't mean he doesn't love you, Thane. It doesn't mean he isn't proud of you."

But... if his... survival is up to me- Thane looked up at Irissa with a boy's anguished eyes, for all they gleamed magically silver and gold. Perhaps my talents are not enough, perhaps I will fail him.'

'Not if you don't fail yourself. Kendric more than any one would understand that to try is to accomplish, even in the face of failure. No, neither he nor I would hold you to achieving your quest. Kendric wouldn't even let you attempt it in the first place. That's why he must know nothing of this, nothing.'

'He is... hard to keep things from,' Thane said doubt fully. 'I always feel so... small.' 'I know. That is what you get for your mother wedding. an utterly honest man. But we Torloc, Thane, and there is much iron in our Iridesium. Kendric would say we are a race that avoids looking n***d truth in the eye. Perhaps our truth is simply hard to see. Will you try?' T'll try to find a gate, though I don't know how.

I'll try to fool Father, though I'll hate myself. If I ... get through, I'll get to Rule and bring back the sword though all Without stand between me and Rengarth."

'Hush.' Irissa pulled Thane's smooth-haired head to her shoulder. 'Don't tempt Those Without by mentioning their fell domain. Without is not so easy to get into - or get out of as you think. There'll be hazards enough in common worlds between gates.'

Thane submitted to her mothering as he had not in some years. Irissa cherished this moment when she saw her son standing at the crossroads of child and adulthood. If he found a gate, he would not return the boy she had known, and that was a loss beyond counting, no matter how dear the gift that came borne on the blade of the seventh sword.

'What of Javelle?' Thane asked suddenly.

'Javelle?'

He looked into her silver eyes, so deeply she could feel him probe to the very quick of her mind. In asking him to use his magic for Kendric, she had permitted him to apply it against herself. 'Javelle has no magical powers. What of her mortality?'

The question cast rings within rings, rippling the vast spaces of Irissa's inner self. She fought back coldstone tears.

'First,' she said, 'the sword and Kendric. Then there'll be time enough to worry about Javelle.'