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.He clung to rock with both hands.Something on the ceiling caught his attention."Oh!""What?" the boy asked, looking up.Sunbright pointed to long, shallow scratches in the smooth stone above."This was a bear cave when the mountain was upright.Those are claw marks."The boy peered, then looked back over the edge."You live down there?"Sunbright rolled, looked again.The idea of a bear cave, a familiar, homey image, helped anchor him, cheered him."I did," he said."Though not here exactly, and not in this time.But yes.""You get eaten by bears down there, I heard.""No," Sunbright chuckled."At least, not many do.It's a fine place.I'll take you there someday.""You will?" The boy's voice was a pipe of excitement.Sunbright was surprised himself, but he meant it."Yes," he said."Living in the air, under a poisoned city, is no life for a boy, or anyone.It's too far from the natural order of things, the way the gods laid out our lives.I have no idea what, Rolon, but we must do something.Your lives here are too fragile.A good start would be to get down there."But to do that," he muttered, "I'd need Candlemas."* * * * *When the two returned, Knucklebones was waiting.With a nod of her head, she steered Sunbright back down the tunnel and Rolon away.Out of Rolon's earshot, she told the barbarian, "We need to talk.""Very well."Sunbright waited patiently, and for some reason, this irritated her.Her single dark eye flashed as she demanded, "Can you fight that well all the time?"In answer, he extended both arms, showed her scars beyond counting."I've gained these and lived to tell it.""Can you steal? Thieve? Find things without getting caught?"Honest, he shook his head and told her, "I know naught about thieving.In my homeland, we gather the supplies we need.Sometimes it's easy, sometimes a struggle, but no, we've no need to steal anything.But I can learn."She puffed."What are you trained in, besides brawling?"Sunbright scratched a scar idly.Knucklebones had illuminated stripes along her wrists for light, but their ghostly glow did little to light their faces."To tell the truth, I was training to be a shaman.""A what?""Oh," Sunbright fumbled for words."Um.A healer among my people, but more than that.A warrior, but more a prophet, a seer, a reader of portents.Dreams are very important, for they teach us—"She cut him off with a wave of her hand and said, "Why was your training interrupted? Did you rebel against your teacher?""What? Oh, no," he said.Now he fiddled with his hands, jamming his thumbs in his belt."You learn on your own by embarking on a spirit quest.But I lost the ability to learn along the way.""How?""I was sucked dry by a—" He stopped and looked around uneasily.This tunnel could match the Underdark, and be just as haunted."—by a thing that sucks spirits.I lived, but there's, uh, a hole in my soul.It's a wound that won't close."Like the ache in his heart for the lost Greenwillow."Just what we need," snipped the woman."A big booby with holes in his guts and probably his head.Well, well let you stay until Ox feels better.After that, just remember I give the orders, and you better hop to.""Agreed," said Sunbright solemnly."May I ask you a question?"Immediately suspicious, she snapped, "What?""How long have you lived in these tunnels?""Since before I can remember.I'm a foundling.Do you know what that is?"The shaman-to-be ignored the sarcasm."Where did you get that knife? It looks elven.""It is, I'm told.It came with me, inherited since forever."And without another word, she stalked off down the tunnel to the homestead.Sunbright was left talking to himself in the dark."Another thing I forgot to add.Shamans are teachers.But you need to have the student listen in order to explain something."Chapter 9Karsus was away.No one knew where.With all the inbred intrigue of the empire, Candlemas first suspected that everyone knew but wouldn't tell, but even pestering folks couldn't make them spill secrets, and he concluded that really, no one knew where Karsus had gone.This was both mysterious and frightening, considering how heavily the empire depended on the man.Assigned no particular tasks—no one could even guess what Karsus wanted Candlemas to do—the friendless mage wandered the halls, laboratories, workshops, animal collections, and libraries.Everywhere were fascinating magical works, most of which he couldn't understand, but idleness made him itchy.At least, slaving for Lady Polaris, he'd had too much work to be bored.Uselessness was a new sensation.Finally, he sought out Lady Aquesita.He told himself he was merely being useful, seeking out Karsus's only living relative for practical advice.But in fact, he had a nagging doubt something else pushed him.Another weird sensation he couldn't finger.By now he'd oriented himself somewhat.Karsus controlled the top of a low hill called Mystryl's Mound by some.There had originally been two mansions atop it and a half dozen smaller ones encircling it.As his importance grew, Karsus had bought or been given all of them, and the city had erected an encircling wall and called the entire complex Castle Karsus.The eccentric magician had then, as if to put his own stamp on it, had the buildings linked and modified and added to, with some torn down or turned at a crazy angle, until the whole sprawl was brain wrenching to look at.The most disturbing aspects for Candlemas were the doors that opened from third floors into midair, or the winding staircases that just stopped.But Lady Aquesita had been given a smaller mansion—Candlemas suspected she'd coveted the gardens—stripped all rococo from her sight, painted it a lovely rose, and concentrated on improving the grounds.So his sandals crunched on plain white gravel as he wended his way to her "simple cottage" of only sixty-odd rooms and its acres of gardens both symmetrical and wild.A manservant conducted Candlemas to a stretch of garden behind a tall screen of blue-green spruces.There Lady Aquesita directed a dozen gardeners in the planting of a wagonful of cuttings and small bushes.She wore a gown of spring green that featured gold lace tucked and folded to hide her ample curves.She was issuing clear and polite orders for the plants' placement when Candlemas rounded the corner.Oddly, she stopped in mid sentence to brush back her hair and smile brightly."Good day, milady." Candlemas found his stomach fluttering as he spoke, as if he'd eaten rye bread and beer for breakfast."I, uh, just came to see you.Or, how you were doing.Or, rather, uh, whether you knew where your c-cousin was.Karsus, I m-mean," Damn it, why was he stuttering?Aquesita licked her lips and fussed with her hair some more."Good day, Master Candlemas," she said brightly."I trust you're well."She glanced at the servants and gardeners, told them to carry on, then took his arm to lead him along another path.Candlemas supposed she had some secret to convey.He found the touch of her cool hand tingly, as if she were enchanted.Or enchanting him."I'm so glad you've come, Candlemas.I wanted to show you some of my work.I like to show off my gardens, and I get so few visitors."The mage nodded vaguely.He'd come to ask about Karsus, though.Or had he already? He couldn't recall.What was wrong with him?She seemed to read his mind, saying, "Oh, Karry is away.That's Karsus, my little cousin.No one knows where, least of all unimportant me.But he'll return shortly and throw the whole castle into a tizzy.But I suspect you want something to do in the meantime.You seem the responsible, productive sort I so admire.I suggest you find an unused bench and work at whatever you like
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