"As soon as you think you're superior, someone will come along and prove you're really an idiot," he said absently. His mother used to say that quite a bit.
"Hmph," Sarraya snorted, turning her nose up. "So, what did the fur-face have to say?"
"She's on the way to Suld," he told her. "She got everything settled at home. She'll probably be there in fifteen days or so."
"That's good. That devious snake should make things go more smoothly."
"You've never met Kerri."
"No, but I've heard what she's like from you. If she's not a devious snake, I'm really a Troll."
Tarrin actually laughed. "She's a Queen, Sarraya. She's supposed to be devious," he admitted.
"See?"
Tarrin smiled benignly at her. "I love her anyway, despite her faults. Just like I love you, despite your uncountable faults."
"Well!" Sarraya flared, putting her hands on her hips. "I didn't come up here to be insulted!"
"Probably not, but I'm pretty sure you came up here to insult me ."
"Tarrin! I wouldn't do such a thing! At least not planned, anyway." She gave him a mischievious grin. "You just bring out the worst in me, that's all."
"Right. And I haven't heard you practicing your insults when you think I'm asleep."
Sarraya's face turned a lovely shade of purple. That was what happened when red blood flushed blue skin. Sarraya was blushing furiously, and she could only look up at him with timid eyes. "A girl has to keep in form," she said with a sudden grin.
"Right," he said mildly. Then he looked away from her, towards the north. That sensation was still with him, with him all the time now. Whatever it was, he just had to see what it was, what it really did. It was driving him batty. "There's something we need to check out that way," he said, pointing. "It's a magical object, so strong that I felt it way back at the Great Canyon. I don't know what it is, but I think we'd better find out."
"You think it may be the Firestaff?"
He shook his head. "I seriously doubt it'd be that easy, Sarraya, but it is possible. This object is certainly strong enough to be the Firestaff. If it's not, it has to be some other ancient relic like the Firestaff, something with tremendous power."
"You know where it is?"
"Not yet. I just know it's north of here. I think as we get closer, I'll get a sense of its location."
"You said that you felt it back at the canyon?" Tarrin nodded in agreement. "Tarrin, how could you feel something so far away?"
"Because it's so strong," he said with a shrug. "That's the only thing I can think of."
"Possible, but you said that your power was growing, quite a while ago," she said. "You haven't even tried to use your power for days, yet it seems to be still growing."
"That was before I fought the Sha'Kar. Before I was changed."
"I don't think that makes a difference," she said, tapping her chin with a tiny finger. "You wouldn't have been able to sense something so far away after the Sha'Kar forced you to come into your full power. You're still developing your power, Tarrin. Maybe that's why you weren't able to use it."
"Maybe," he said. "The Weave has been feeling more and more, clear. Lately, anyway. I've been feeling strange little pulses in it. I haven't figured out what they are yet, but they're something I didn't notice before."
"Sorcery isn't like other abilities," Sarraya mused. "It's a natural ability, just like Druidic talent. Since your power was altered, maybe it's taking your body some time to adjust to it. I'll bet that inside another ride, you'll be able to use magic again," she said with a bright smile.
"We can hope so," Tarrin said absently. "I've come to discover lately that I don't need it as much as I thought, though. In a way, it's a good thing I lost my power. It gave me a chance to see what Druidic magic was like. If I still had my power, I probably would have never learned to Conjure so much as a strip of bark."
"Probably," Sarraya smiled. "It was certainly fun teaching you. You're a quick student."
"You know that Triana's going to kill both of us."
"Yeah, but what fun is it to get in trouble if you don't have company?" Sarraya said with an outrageous smile.
Tarrin laughed. "Have you told her yet?"
"No, but she knew," Sarraya sighed. "Triana's got ears everywhere. She's already promised any number of ugly things she's going to do to me for teaching you."
"It's not your fault," he protested. "I needed to know."
"True, but I get the feeling that Triana wanted to be the one to train you," she told him. "Triana's attached to you. I think she sees you as the son she could have had. Laren disappoints her anew every time they meet."
"He'd better hope he never meets me," Tarrin growled. "I don't like him."
"He's just like that, Tarrin. You get used to it."
"I won't."
"Then he'll avoid you."
"He'd better."
"Down boy," Sarraya teased. "Woop, it looks like our sleeping prince and princess are waking up," Sarraya said, looking down the rock spire. Tarrin leaned over and looked, and he saw the two Selani coming out of the nittle nook, stretching. Denai looked around, then closed in on Var and leaned over his back as he put on a boot. Tarrin couldn't hear what she said to him, but his reaction was immediate and certain. He whirled around and stood up, then looked around furtively. Then the two of them retreated back into the niche. Tarrin had no doubt that Denai had invited Var to a little competition of her own devising, one best contended when Tarrin and Sarraya were off somewhere else.
Sarraya laughed evilly. "Maybe I should go down there," she said. "If I time it right, I can catch them right as-"
"No you won't," Tarrin interrupted. "Leave them alone. I want them to be distracted when we reach the Cloud Spire."
Sarraya glanced at him. "I take it we're going to leave them behind?" Tarrin nodded. "Pity. I like them. Denai is fun, and Var tells funny jokes."
"We can't take them with us, Sarraya. This is their home. Best to leave them at the Gathering. I'm pretty sure we can make it the rest of the way without their help."
"They were helpful, though."
"I'll give them that."
"How long do you think we should wait?" Sarraya asked with a wicked little smile.
"Denai is young, but Var isn't. I'd say about an hour. She'll probably have worn him out by then."
Sarraya gave him a look, then laughed so hard she nearly fell off the spire. "Alright. We'll give them privacy. But it'll be fun to run them afterward. It'll give us an idea of how much stamina they have."
"You're wicked, Sarraya," Tarrin said with a little smile.
"I know. I have a good teacher," she said with a coy wink. "Now then, let's eat while we're waiting. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"We have to be something," she shrugged as she bent to conjuring up lunch.
To: Title EoF
Chapter 14
Var and Denai made no indication that they had expanded their relationship, but Tarrin wasn't all that worried about that. His mind was on other things right now.
It was sunrise the next morning, and his attention was captivated by what stood before him. It was a huge cloud, hanging on the northern horizon, blurring in the great distance. But it was apparent what it was. A massive cloud that obviously gave the Cloud Spire its name.
He didn't realize that they were so close to it, but the sudden emergence of Selani scouts should have hinted that they were very close. They began to see them yesterday afternoon, standing on rock spires, hiding in the denuded scrub that marked the passage of the Selani herds, perched on boulders watching the desert for possible dangers. None of them approached them or tried to talk to them, and that made sense. Selani from different clans didn't often go out of their way to talk to one another. They were forbidden to fight among themselves, but the clan mentality made Selani from other clans potential enemies, so there wasn't a great deal of communication between them outside the Gathering. They passed through them without incident, making camp in a small cave eaten out of the side of a rock spire by the scouring wind. Tarrin was atop that spire, eyes shielding from the sun coming up on his right, staring at the cloud bank intently.