“Do you remember how we all wondered who had drilled a hole in Lot-Ionan’s statue?”
“Someone trying… to kill him? To gain access to his magic powers?” Ireheart’s eyes grew huge. “No, someone was inserting something into him. By Vraccas! They put the seed of evil into him when he was defenseless and when we woke him up again the seed started to sprout!”
Tungdil nodded. “Franek says that Risava nearly killed him when he objected to her plan. It was her who wanted Lot-Ionan to turn evil after his release.”
Boindil’s face became thoughtful. “I’m trying to imagine what you stick into someone to make them evil. It sounds so… simple? But I’m sure it’s not.”
Coira nodded. “I can’t imagine it, either.”
“Don’t trouble your heads. You’d never work it out.” Tungdil picked up a stone. “Risava had picked up a splinter of the malachite crystal that used to belong to Nod’onn. She kept it. When Franek brought her the petrified statue of Lot-Ionan, she knew how she could try to use it. She drilled a hole and put the last fragment of evil into him. Lot-Ionan never had a chance to protect himself.”
Ireheart scraped his foot along the ash-strewn ground. “That would mean that Lot-Ionan is actually innocent. He can’t help what he has done. Because he… is possessed.” How infuriating. So we can’t just do away with him.
“I suppose we could have expected no less from Nudin, when the demon changed him into Nod’onn,” Mallenia interjected. “It doesn’t free us from the duty of pursuing him.”
“We have to. At all costs. We need him to defeat Vraccas,” Tungdil said emphatically.
“To defeat your master, Scholar, not Vraccas. The god Vraccas is my creator, but the dwarf we want to kill is no divinity.” Ireheart studied his friend. “I’ve been thinking: Can’t we take the splinter out of Lot-Ionan? And make him good?”
“We need an evil magus to help us against my former master,” Tungdil argued. “I would also have preferred to free him from the evil curse first.”
Coira wiped her nose with a handkerchief. “I hope we manage it. To free him from the malachite splinter.”
“I know exactly where it lies. It will be painful for Lot-Ionan but he will survive. With Goda and yourself, Your Majesty, we have two magae who can apply healing remedies to ensure his recovery after the operation.” Tungdil looked round. “Not a word of our plan to Franek. He has to think that we want to kill Lot-Ionan in order to liberate Girdlegard. If we deprive him of this goal, he may decide he doesn’t want to help us.”
Ireheart frowned. “All well and good, but we won’t let Franek enter the magic source, will we, Scholar? Who knows what deceitful tricks he has up his sleeve? He could easily have been the one who shoved that malachite into Lot-Ionan’s body. You can’t trust the word of a traitor.”
“I’m against it, too,” said Rodario, and Mallenia agreed with him. “We should overpower him and tie him up as soon as we arrive. Then the secondlings can decide his fate. He was involved in the destruction of their homeland and has that guilt to bear.” He looked at Ireheart. “I don’t suppose you want to let him get off scot-free.”
“Ho! I certainly do not!” Ireheart tapped his crow’s beak. “An eye for an eye.”
Tungdil studied his friend. “You watch him, Ireheart. Franek trusts us as little as we trust him. I’m sure he’ll want to cancel our forced alliance before we do. If he tries to escape, you’ll know what to do.” He looked at Coira. “And the same as before goes for you now. Don’t go using your magic. You’ve seen we can manage to keep the enemy off without it.”
She nodded. He was obviously not intending to blab out her secret. To make sure Rodario did not, either, she took his hand and pressed it. He looked surprised, but said nothing.
Tungdil pointed to the house behind them, while calling over one of the Zhadar to bring him the rucksack the dead famulus had been carrying. “You all get some rest. We’ll move on in the morning. Unfortunately the incident with Droman means we’ll have to speed up. Lot-Ionan will be wondering where his famulus has got to and he’ll be sending out scouts to find him. We know full well, ever since Lakepride, that he’s capable of causing serious trouble.” He unrolled the maps on his knee and called Barskalin. “Let’s find the quickest route.”
Mallenia got up. “What if we get there before the alfar?”
Tungdil was poring over the sketch map. “We’ll still head for Lot-Ionan’s realm. Time is running out.”
“So suddenly?” queried Rodario.
“So suddenly.” The one-eyed dwarf said nothing more on the subject and busied himself with the maps. The group retired, bewildered, to the gate house.
Coira found Mallenia, who had sorted herself out a corner of the attic and was spreading her blanket to lie on. “I wanted to thank you for coming to find me.”
“You would have done the same for me.” The Ido girl sat down and got comfortable, then spread her long mantle over herself. She looked at the maga for a long time. “You didn’t think I’d abandon you because of our rivalry for Rodario’s affections?”
Coira attempted a smile.
“Look,” Mallenia raised herself up on her elbows. “You’ve got an advantage over me when it comes to winning his heart. I saw you take his hand just now. He didn’t object.” Her eyes fixed the maga. “When I said at the pool that we should share him, I meant it. It’s up to you.”
“And up to Rodario,” Coira corrected.
“He’s a man. He’s bound to like the idea of having two women,” retorted Mallenia with a grin, settling down on her hard bed. “I’m not worried about the choice he’ll make.” She clasped her hands behind her head. “There are regions in Tabain where it’s considered quite normal for a man to have as many wives as he likes, as long as he’s able to feed and clothe them. There’s nothing shameful about a set-up like that. Or do you disagree? Nobody would be forcing us into it.”
Coira did not know what to reply. Of course they had heard in Weyurn about the practices in neighboring Tabain, but she had always been troubled by the idea of this kind of communal living. And she was not yet clear in her own mind how she felt about Rodario. Youthful infatuation or the love of her life? If he was the love of her life, would she be prepared to share him with another-and why should she?
“I didn’t get the impression that Rodario finds you attractive. Not enough to stay with you for long, anyway,” she said, puzzled to hear this sharpness in her own voice. Jealousy.
Mallenia, who had been amiable up to now, made a face. “I get it. You want to put it to the test and see which of us he’s more strongly attracted to.”
Coira sighed. “What do we do if he doesn’t fancy either of us?”
“The man does not exist who would turn down the offer of a princess and a queen for his mistress. And it’s us that are sharing him. We made the agreement first. We’ll continue to let him think he’s managing to wind us round his little finger.” Mallenia looked at Rodario, who was talking to Slin. “So, is it all right if I kiss him again and see how things develop? It might turn out in your favor.”
“And if he tells you he only loves me, will you stop pursuing him?”
“If he tells me that of his own free will and is prepared to swear it, then I’ll leave you both to it.” The Ido girl nodded and held out her right hand. “Is it a deal?”
The maga hesitated. “Won’t there be a strained feeling between the two of us, if one has to leave the field, defeated?”
“No.”
“And we won’t fall out?”
“No, Your Majesty,” said Mallenia, smiling. “We’ll complete our mission successfully and then relationships between our two realms will be more amicable than ever. I swear it on the soul of my ancestor, Prince Mallen of Ido.” She proffered her hand once more.
“And Rodario shan’t learn of our bargain?”