A Flame In Hali by Bradley Marion Zimmer (Darkover)

Author:Bradley, Marion Zimmer (Darkover) [Bradley, Marion Zimmer (Darkover)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2012-02-14T04:18:43+00:00

23

“Yes, I still have my key.” Mhari looked surprised when, after breakfast the next morning, Eduin asked if she could show him the still room. “I have not used it for some time, not since I was last called upon to attend a patient. I thought I might need some of the things stored there for my own use, since there is now no one in the castle at risk for threshold sickness.”

Eduin did not ask for the loan of the key. He wanted Mhari to remain an unimpeachable witness to what he suspected they would find there. She might be only recently back in favor, but as the household leronis, her word was above question.

The still room lay some short distance from the root cellars, a little stone-walled chamber perfect for storing various medicines. Bunches of dried flowers and herbs hung from the rafters, and bottles, vials and oiled packets sat in neat rows on the shelves. Eduin paused, inhaling the mixture of scents, some familiar and reassuring, others odd. He recognized the distinctive, but very faint, tang of raw kireseth.

What can cure, can kill. Or drive a man mad.

Only someone properly trained could handle the dried blossoms safely, for the unrefined pollen was a potent hallucinogen. From it, a variety of extracts could be prepared for the treatment of threshold sickness and other ailments related to laran.

Eduin approached the nearest cabinet, scanning the contents. The doors were unglassed, but tightly-meshed and locked.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” Mhari asked.

With a surge of elation, he pointed to a shelf. The vial looked very much as he remembered it in Dom Rodrigo’s hand. “What is in that container?”

Frowning, Mhari bent to look. “That’s odd, it’s not in its usual place. Look, the dust has been disturbed.” She straightened up, eyes narrowing. “What is it you aren’t telling me? Why are you so interested?”

“First, tell me what it is.”

“Shallavan.” She practically spat the word at him.

Eduin felt sick. Shallavan was one of the more treacherous distillations known to the Towers. Auster, Keeper of Arilinn, had banned its use as too dangerous. In diluted quantities, it could quell the upheavals of newly-aroused laran. More concentrated, it could cripple a laranzu’s mind, leaving him senseless and paralyzed. An even greater dose . . .

Dom Rodrigo, who was no fool, must have guessed Saravio had laran, that Saravio used his mental gifts to cure Romilla.

“Take it out,” Eduin said. “Tell me who last handled it.”

The cabinet unlocked with a little key attached to the main key. Mhari removed the vial and cupped it in both hands. Eduin felt her mind scanning the surface of the glass for the lingering imprint of personality. After several long moments, she drew in a hissing breath. When she spoke, her voice rang like steel.

“How did you know—”

“I saw Dom Rodrigo pour some of it into a meal intended for Saravio.”

Too late, he realized he had used Saravio’s true name, not the alias of the Blessed Sandoval. Mhari

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