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they say I make them feel better. I thought it was because I tell them
stories,
but " Her eyes were hopeful as she looked at Alanna.
Remembering how Duke Baird had tested her on the day Jonathan took the
Sweating
Sickness, Alanna held out her hand. "I slept badly last night," she told
Kourrem. "I still feel tired. Take my hand and make me feel better."
Kourrem reached out, then pulled her hand back. "I don't know how."
"Find your own strength, and then shove some of it through your hand into
me,"
Alanna instructed. "Go on."
Kourrem obeyed. The next moment Alanna felt a tingling energy flooding into
her
body, making the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up. She yanked
her
hand away, and shook the tingling out of it. "I was only a little tired," she
told the girl, who looked as if she was about to cry. "You didn't need to
give
me so much!" She looked at them, bracing her hands on her hips. "We need to
think about what you should learn," she admitted. "You each already know
something, or you couldn't control your magic as well as you do."
"How do you know that?" Kara asked.
"Because Ishak could have burned up all four of us without any control,"
Alanna
replied. "Because if you couldn't rein in your magic, the village would have
been destroyed by winds or rain. And Kourrem could have blown me apart with
what
she did just now."
"Then why do you take such chances teaching us?" Kourrem demanded. "You
didn't
know I wouldn't hurt you, did you?"
Alanna grinned. "I may not be able to raise the weather or see the future, but
I
know something about protecting myself; and each of you, if I must." She
scratched her head. "I think we'd better practice the focusing exercise I
taught
you. Then you're going to get the tents I asked for and set them up by mine."
"Why do you want us to set up tents?" Kara asked as they sat on the ground
obediently.
Alanna settled beside them, crossing her legs beneath her. "As my
apprentices,
you should properly live with me," she replied. "But since there are three of
you, I had the tentmaker give me one larger tent for the girls and one
smaller
one for Ishak. Oh, stop that!" she cried as they threw themselves on her,
hugging her frantically.
After the evening meal, the apprentices went to furbish up their new homes,
and
Halef Seif came for Alanna. "The night is cool," he told her. "Will you go
riding with me?" She didn't need to be asked twice. It took them a few
moments
to saddle their horses and tell the sentries which direction they planned to
take. Once free of the village, Alanna drew a deep breath of relief. She
could
smell desert plants, dust, and horses a dry, reassuring scent that told her
more
than anything else her life was very different these days.
"I want them to sit with me at the campfire," she said abruptly, keeping her
voice low in case predators, animal or human, were near. "That's their right
as
my apprentices, isn't it?"
"Two of them are girls." There was little light with which to read his face,
and
his voice was bland.
"I'm a girl, too."
"I have noticed."
Alanna suspected him of teasing her. "I don't care if they're three-headed
toads," she whispered tartly. "They're all going to be shamans, and the tribe
must learn to "
The Bazhir hissed for silence. Faithful was erect in his cup on Moonlight's
saddle, his fur standing up, his tail lashing. Alanna tuned her ears to the
night sounds and heard it rock falling against rock as men made their way
through the small gorge just below. Soundlessly she and Halef Seif
dismounted;
with a touch, she made Faithful stay put. She followed the man to the edge of
the gorge where they flattened themselves on the ground, peering over.
Her eyes had adjusted to the moonless night, and now she could see the
shadowy
forms of five hillmen stealing along the ground below her. One tripped on a
rock
and cursed softly while his companions hushed him; Alanna sneered, knowing
she
would have received months of punishment duty if she had made such a mistake
even as a page.
"Raiders looking for our herds." Halef's breath stirred the hair by her ear;
had
she been a few inches further away she could not have heard him. "I think we
will not disturb the guards." He made as if to rise, then flattened himself
beside her once more. "Some light would be useful shaman." He was smiling.
Swiftly Alanna reached inside herself, finding that small bit of fire that
always burned deep where only she could find it. She drew the fire out,
feeling
a rush of excitement as it grew swiftly to meet her need. Violet-colored
light
burst from her palm, making everything brighter. The hillmen yelped,
shielding
their eyes. Halef Seif scrambled down into the gorge, screaming war cries.
Pressed for time and needing both hands, Alanna looked around frantically.
Spotting a stone, she pointed at it and gave her magic the command. She
didn't
know if it could be done, but there was no time to think. The violet fire
streamed into the big rock, filling it as it had filled her. For a moment it
seemed to flicker and die then it became part of the stone, a huge beacon
shining on the battleground below.
"Tortall and the King!" Alanna cried, following Halef Seif. She drew the
crystal
sword, feeling its ominous humming in her hand. Once more its magic reached
out,
seeking ways to take over her purpose, but Alanna was concentrating only on
the
hillmen attacking Halef Seif. She set her jaw and held on, mentally telling
the
sword, Stop that.
Two of them saw her and attacked, one with an axe, the other with a
broadsword.
She ducked under the swing of the axe-man and came up inside, running him
through. For an instant sick, black triumph roared up into her mind. She
froze,
knowing the sword's magic was turning her fierce pride in being the better
fighter into an ugly joy at killing. She trembled, fighting the desire to run
the man through again and again, until Halef Seif yelled her name. She
whirled
in time to catch a descending broadsword on the crystal sword's hilt. The
other
sword was bigger and heavier, its owner larger and stronger than Alanna, but
the
strange gray blade held. It flickered with a ghostly light that caught the
hillman's eyes. Alanna broke away and came back, cutting up and under. The
hillman was still staring at her sword; he tried to block, but he was
sluggish.
The crystal sword flicked up and inside his guard, cutting deeply into his
neck.
This time she was ready for the rush of power from the sword; this time she
struck back at it with her mind, tearing at its source. Had she been forced
to
describe it, she would have said that it felt like a knot in the threads of
power that made up the sword's magic. Now her mind cut through the knot,
pulling
it out of the sword's make-up, hurling it into the night. The last of the
would-be raiders had decided to run from the victorious Halef Seif; the evil
Alanna had thrown away struck his back, turning him instantly into a pile of
ashes.
"I didn't mean for that to happen," she whispered tiredly, wiping the blade on
a
fallen man's cloak. The sword's humming was less now, and the ugly triumph
she
had felt at killing was only a shadow on her memory.
"It is foolish to let such a one escape, to take reports to his tribe," the
headman told her sternly. "And what did happen? You were not fighting with
all
of you." His sharp eyes took in the crystal sword as she resheathed it. "The
sword is evil. It will turn on you."
She shook her head. "Very little that is real is evil, Halef Seif," she
replied.
"Magic itself isn't evil, but it can be turned to evil purposes. If you can
straighten the magic out somehow "
"And what if this sword's magic has been turned to evil for ages beyond
count?"
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