Kamahl caught some movement out of the comer of his eye and rushed forward to grab his foe and pull him into the open. Skidding around the nearest tree, the barbarian caught nothing but air in his hands. When he turned back around, Kamahl was face to face with a huge beast, half-man and half-horse, covered in leather up front and a garland of leaves and berries all the way back to his tail.
"Seton!" cried Kamahl. He grasped his friend's hand and pulled the centaur forward a full pace into a hug. "I had no idea how I was going to find you, but here you are."
"Thriss knew you were coming," said the centaur cryptically. "This area has been pacified for your journey, and I was sent to welcome you to the forest."
"Pacified?" asked the barbarian. "You don't mean the creatures were…"
"No," said Seton as he led Kamahl back to his horse. "The natural order cannot be tampered with, but predators go where Thriss wills them. They must follow their prey. It is their… nature."
"Thriss?" asked Kamahl, his head whirling from this strange meeting.
Seton smiled. "Come," said the centaur, helping the barbarian back onto his mount. "You will understand in time. But first, we must get you to safety, and I must look after your sister. That is why you have come, is it not?"
"How do you…? How does… Thriss know why I am here?"
"All in good time, my friend. All in good time," said Seton. "Now, do you think you can follow me?"
"Of course."
"We'll see," said the centaur as he loped off into the forest, disappearing almost immediately into the vegetation. "We'll see. This is your first test."
Kamahl didn't bother responding, even though he had a hundred questions to ask. Instead, he concentrated on watching for signs of Seton's passing through the woods, which was difficult due to the camouflage of the vines, leaves, and berries the centaur wore on his back. Seton seemed able to move through the dense brush without upsetting even so much as a leaf or a twig.
Relying on the sounds of the centaur's hooves, the motion of trees, leaves, and branches around him, and the smell of Seton's leather clothes to guide him, Kamahl made his way as quickly as he could through the forest, weaving back and forth. Sometimes he moved north for long stretches, other times veering to the east, west, and even back to the south. After a while, he was no longer sure which direction he faced, but the barbarian was sure he was never more than ten yards behind Seton.
Suddenly Kamahl broke into a clearing. Twenty-five yards away sat a round dwelling made of brambles that seemed to grow up from the mossy ground to create a natural dome complete with windows. The barbarian could see light flickering from inside but could see no sign of the centaur anywhere within the large clearing. He crept up to the window to peer inside the bramble hut, finding Seton inside preparing a meal.
Kamahl looped the reins of his horse around a few of the brambles then untied his sister's body from the second mount. Glancing at the bundle that held his sword and the Mirari, Kamahl decided to leave it. He was not yet ready to touch the sword again. Carrying his sister over his shoulder, Kamahl looked for the door to the hut, walking a complete circuit around the bramble building and coming right back to the horses.
"Must be the second test," grumbled the barbarian, walking around the hut again, looking closer at the intertwined branches that formed the wall. He could see no natural breaks that might suggest an opening.
"Perhaps I should get my sword," Kamahl muttered after a second circuit around the hut. "No. I need to think more naturally. Perhaps a hands-on approach will work." The warrior walked around the hut once more to the side just opposite the window and placed his hand on the wall. He could feel it rustle under his touch, the vines still alive. Exerting his will on the brambles, Kamahl slowly opened a hole in the wall as the branches pulled to the side to let him through.
"Well done," said Seton from across the one-room hut. "You've changed a lot since we last met, barbarian. I half expected you to cut through the wall of my house to get to me."
"I thought about it," said Kamahl, stepping into the room. "I thought about it. Now, will you look at my sister's wound? We can get around to my questions later."
"Put her on the furs over there," said Seton as he maneuvered around the table to come to the back of the hut.
Kamahl placed his sister on the pile of furs. "I assume they all died natural deaths?" he asked as he looked at the skins.
"All life is circular," said Seton as he came up to the bedding. "There is no life without death and no death without life. Today they are my bedding. Tomorrow I may be their meal."
"Well, I'm not ready to be someone's meal just yet," said Kamahl. "And neither is my sister. Can you help?"
"I can help both of you," said Seton as he stared at the floor. From beneath the furs, branches pushed out of the wall and raised Jeska up into the air, forming a table in front of the centaur. "But I will need the Mirari. Only the blade that wounded her can heal her now. Please fetch it from your horse."
"Does this Thriss know everything?" asked Kamahl as he brushed the wall with his hand to open the doorway again.
"Only that the Mirari was used recently and that it has caused your sister great, great pain," said Seton, gazing at the glowing, blue wound in Jeska's stomach. "The rest you'll have to fill in."
Kamahl ran back to the horse and untied the bundle. He hesitated only a moment before grasping the wrapped sword and running back to Seton.
"Unwrap it if you please," said Seton, "and tell me everything about Jeska's wound and how she came to be infected by this blue fire."
While he unwrapped the blade, Kamahl told Seton about the conflict he had waged both against the lure of the Mirari's power and against his sister, who was only trying to save him. He told the centaur druid about their final battle and the curse he'd stabbed into Jeska that had caused her to bum from within until consumed.
Kamahl could feel the power of the Mirari in his hands and wanted nothing more than to gaze upon its splendor once again, but he resisted, holding his great sword down at his side and keeping his eyes locked on his sister. When Seton held out his hands for the sword, Kamahl glanced down at the pommel as he handed it over to the druid and saw the orb, just for an instant, then tore his gaze away from it.
It was as magnificent as he remembered from the first time he'd seen it in the pit treasure room and again later in the ruined hallway outside Chainer's quarters. The orb had grown dull during the tournament, or it had seemed to. Perhaps it was merely Kamahl's jaded memory of that time. Now the orb shone again with an inner light that threatened to outshine the moon on a cloudless, starless night, a dazzling beauty more magnificent than a glittering dragon's horde lit by a thousand candles.
Kamahl paused, not releasing the sword into Seton's hands nor pulling it back either. He just stood there, holding the sword and trying very hard not to gaze into the orb. But it was as if he couldn't let it go until he saw what the orb had to show him.
"What do you see?" asked Seton, seemingly reading his thoughts. "Look at it. What do you see?"
Kamahl slowly allowed his eyes to focus on the reflection in the orb, and it was different. No longer did he see a brave barbarian standing atop Mount Fiers with throngs of barbarians surrounding him.
"I see a mountain," he said in a hoarse whisper. "It's surrounded by forest, and the forest spreads up the slopes, growing faster and faster, trying to reach the top and envelop the mountain.