"That is not what we thought," Erisha snapped, jumping back into the conversation. "We just wanted to see for ourselves." She hesitated. "The truth is, we didn't know what you might have found. My father doesn't want me involved in this business for reasons he won't reveal. He was very insistent that I not do what the tree asked of me. He was adamant. So I can't be certain that what he told me is the truth. Or even that he told me everything he knows. Maybe there's more." She gave him a hard look. "Is there?"
Culph shrugged. "How would I know? I don't know what he told you. I do know what I told him. But why should I tell you? Why shouldn't I just wake your father and turn you over to him. That way it isn't my problem anymore."
Erisha glared. "You'd better not."
Culph grinned mirthlessly. "Or I might be very sorry I did, is that it? What I might be sorry about is if I don't and get found out. Your father is hardly the forgiving kind these days."
"What about the Ellcrys?" Kirisin pressed. "If we don't try to help her, she'll simply ask one of the other Chosen. She's already made it clear that she feels threatened. Don't you think we have an obligation to do something?"
The sharp old eyes fixed on him. "What I think is that you might be hallucinating about all this, the both of you. How do you know for cer–tain what you've heard? Move the Ellcrys by using an Elfstone that no one has seen or heard of in centuries? Move our most precious talisman because the end of the world is coming? Am I supposed to accept your word on this without stopping to question it?"
Kirisin hesitated. The old man had a point. "It means something that both Erisha and I heard the Ellcrys say the same thing at separate times. The humans have been working at the destruction of the world for years; that isn't something we didn't already know. There are signs of wilt and decay all through the Cintra. If you've been outside this building, you must have seen them. To just dismiss everything as the King has done is both dangerous and wrong. As Chosen, we have an obligation to find out the truth. We came here tonight to try to do that.
"By reading the histories to see if there is any mention of the Loden or the blue Elfstones, yes, I understand all that." Culph seemed unper–suaded. "But even if you were to find these artifacts, what would you do then? Would you actually try to move the tree?"
Kirisin took a deep breath. "I don't know. At least we would have a choice in the matter."
"Maybe my father will have changed his mind by then," Erisha said. "Maybe other things will have changed, too."
"Like the end of the world coming, that sort of thing." Culph sniffed and worked at rubbing away the stubble of his failed beard with one gnarled hand. "Well, you both seem pretty certain about this."
"We wouldn't be here otherwise," Erisha said.
"No, probably not, considering how your father would react if he found out what you were doing.
He won't even discuss the subject with me, even though he might learn something if he did." The wiz–ened face tightened. "Does he seem different to you these days? Less reasonable, less patient with matters in general?"
Erisha nodded, looking unhappy.
"Well, it isn't just me, then." Culph sighed. "I suppose turning you over to him wouldn't accomplish much. Even if you don't belong down here and are being disobedient." He thought for a moment, studying them. "Have you found anything yet?"
Erisha shook her head. "Have you?" Kirisin asked at once.
"Maybe." The old man considered the matter. "Maybe you'd like to hear what it was."
Kirisin felt his heart jump. "We would. We would like that very much."
Culph rocked back on his heels. "Then I'll tell you. But only if we all agree that anything said down here in this room goes no farther. Be–cause if I tell you what I know and it gets back to the King, I am out of a job and maybe exiled, as well. I don't care much for either result. I'll be taking a chance on you if I tell you anything. So everything stays right here. Do we have a bargain?"
Kirisin glanced at Erisha. She nodded doubtfully. "We have a bar–gain."
They settled themselves more comfortably on the plank flooring, leaning into the light and closer to each other, conspirators against the night. Kirisin could hardly contain his eagerness; this was the sort of help they desperately needed and could hardly have expected to find. He was a little surprised that Culph was willing to share what he knew with them, but maybe the old man's sense of responsibility for the Ell–crys was stronger than his sense of loyalty to the King.
"We begin at the beginning," Culph declared, clasping his hands in front of him as a teacher might to command the attention of his stu–dents. "The Elfstones are an old magic, going all the way back to the time of Faerie. They were mined by Trolls and given to Elves to be made over into talismans. Because it was the Elves who infused them with their magic, only the Elves could use them. They were of differ–ent colors and designed to do different things. They were formed and shaped in sets of three. The mix of minerals and magic made each set individual. It took years to make even a single set. There is no surviving record of exactly what it was they could do, at least not in the pages of the histories we have. Except for one kind. The blue Elfstones were seeking-Stones and could be used to find what was hidden from or lost to the seeker."
"The ones the Ellcrys said must be used to find the Loden," Erisha interjected.
Culph gave her a look suggesting that interruptions and unsolicited comments were not welcome.
"All the Elfstones had defensive capabil–ities. They were infused with power to protect the user. Their power was dependent on the individual, a reflection of the combined strengths of heart, mind, and body. The Stones were the most powerful of the Elven magic, and all of them were lost when the world of Faerie disappeared."
He gave Erisha another look, cutting off what he knew she was about to say. "Let me tell it, missy." He tightened his lips. "Again, except for the blue Elfstones. But they haven't been seen in centuries, their whereabouts a mystery."
The way he said it told Kirisin at once that he knew something of that mystery, something that might lead them to the Stones. But he held his tongue, knowing it was better to let the old man tell them what he knew in his own way.
"We know even less about the Loden Elfstone. The Loden was a single Stone designed for a particular purpose, one that was very special. Of all the Elfstones, only the Loden and the Black Elfstone were re–garded as more important than the others. But we don't know why. Maybe, as the Ellcrys has told you, the Loden is meant to act as her protector. Maybe it can form a shield for her as she forms a shield against the demons within the Forbidding. Whatever the case, we know almost nothing about it. There is no description of it in the histories and no explanation of how it is to be used. And no mention of where it might be found."
He paused again, regarding them in turn, a bright expectancy in his sharp old eyes. "But there is something."
He actually smiled then, and it was a frightening sight. Smiling did not seem to come naturally to Culph, and it must have cost him something to do so now. But at least he was showing some interest in their efforts, thought Kirisin.
"Everything I just told you is contained in the histories, and I am certain you would have found it all by yourself' The old man frowned. "It would have taken you more than one night, perhaps. It took me two days just to reread it all after the King asked me to look into the mat–ter, and I had already read all the histories at least several times before?"
He paused again. "The thing of it is, knowing all of it doesn't help you at all. The histories are only part of our lore, only a small piece of our recorded knowledge. There are other sources, too. Books that are not a part of the histories. Books that give us little–known information and unexpected insights. These books are also housed in this library, but they are not well read and not paid attention to. Most are rarely even opened."