2 To Light A Candle.13 by 2 To Light A Candle.13

Author:2 To Light A Candle.13 [Candle.13, 2 To Light A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePub Bud (www.epubbud.com)
Published: 2012-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

At the Siege of Stonehearth

CILARNEN HAD NOT gone far. He was too weak to stand, but he had crawled back around the corner of the building and was curled up against it, trying to shut out the sobbing and groans of the wounded. His eyes streamed tears. But he was not weeping. No, not he. Surely.

"Cilarnen," Wirance said, squatting down beside him, "are you hurt?"

"It thought I was Kellen, you see," Cilarnen explained—reasonably, he thought. "And then it realized I wasn't. So it killed everybody. It tried to kill me first, but I still had my Gift. Lord Anigrel was supposed to take it, but he didn't. That was wrong of him, wasn't it? They're supposed to take your Gift when they Banish you."

"We don't know what you're talking about," Kardus said gently. "We know who Kellen Wildmage is. Kellen came from Armethalieh. Did you come from Armethalieh too?"

"Yes," Cilarnen said, sitting back and looking up at the two Wildmages. "I'm a Mage of Armethalieh. I was, anyway. An Entered Apprentice."

"And you used your Armethaliehan magic on the Demon?" Wirance asked.

"I used Fire," Cilarnen said, his voice thick with exhaustion, and with what was certainly not weeping. It was hard to form words. But now—now his vision was clearing at last, and—he was tired. So tired. He couldn't even think, he was so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep. "Even an Apprentice can do that."

"I know nothing of Armethaliehan magic. How do you pay for your spells?" Wirance asked. ,

Cilarnen stared at him in utterly exhausted irritation. There must be a thousand things that needed doing right now. Why was this man sitting here with him asking how the High Magick worked?

"Pay? You don't 'pay' for spells in the High Magick." Something occurred to him in the back of his mind, something about the Talismans, but the thought flew away and escaped him.

"All magic has a price, young Apprentice, and woe to your teachers that they did not teach you this. You have paid dearly for the spell you cast today, and now you must rest," Wirance said.

He put an arm under Cilamen's shoulders, and lifted him to his feet. Cilarnen staggered, the world reeling greyly around him. Despite himself, he clutched at Wirance for support.

"It is as I said," Wirance said implacably.

Suddenly arguing with Wirance didn't seem worthwhile any longer.

"I will take him to a place where he may rest, then return to aid you," Kardus said, putting his arm around Cilarnen. Cilarnen leaned against the Centaur gratefully.

To his relief, they did not return to the square, but went back along the same back street he'd gone down not so long before. Kardus seemed to know Stone-hearth as well as Cilarnen did.

When they reached the place where Cilarnen had encountered the Demon, he flinched, as if it somehow might still be here.

"It was here," Cilarnen said shakily. "It looked human."

"They can appear in any guise they choose," Kardus said.

Suddenly the Demon's words came back to him, as if he were hearing them at that very moment.

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