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She turned sharply, her eyes startled ‘That’s absurd, Sparhawk She doesn’t get sick She can’t’
‘I didn’t think so ible, no overt sy like that, but she’s definitely not well’
Sephrenia rose quickly ‘I’d better go have a look,’ she said ‘Maybe I can get her to tellIs she alone?’
‘No Ehlana’s with her I don’t think she’ll be willing to leave Won’t that coet to the bottooes any further’
Sephrenia’s obvious concern worried Sparhawk all theapprehension She was right about one thing Aphrael was not in any way susceptible to human illnesses, so this was no simple miasmic fever or one of the innuet over He dis as the sniffles of the Gods
Sephrenia was very business-like She wasthe Styric spell before she even entered Danae’s room
‘Thank God you’re here, Sephrenia!’ Ehlana exclaiirl’s bed ‘I’ve been so…’
Sephrenia released the spell with a curious flick of her hand, and Ehlana’s eyes went blank She froze in place, half risen from her chair and with one hand partially extended
Sephrenia approached the bed, sat on the edge of it, and took the little girl in her arms ‘Aphrael,’ she said, ‘wake up It’s me – Sephrenia’
The Child Goddess opened her eyes and began to cry
‘What is it?’ Sephrenia asked, holding her sister evenback and forth with her
‘They’re killing my children, Sephrenia!’ Aphrael wailed ‘All over Eosia! The Elenes are killing o to Sarsos,’ Sephrenia said to Sparhawk and Vanion a short while later when the three of them were alone ‘I have to talk with the Thousand’
‘I know that it’s breaking her heart,’ Vanion said, ‘but it can’t really hurt her, can it?’
‘It could kill her, Vanion The younger Gods are so totally involved with their worshipers that their very lives depend on them Please, Sparhawk, ask Bhelliom to take us to Sarsos immediately’
Sparhawk nodded bleakly and took out the box and touched his ring to the lid ‘Open!’ He said it more sharply than he’d intended
The lid snapped up
‘Blue Rose,’ Sparhawk said, ‘a crisis hath arisen The Child Goddess is ravely ill by reason of the murder of her worshipers in far-off Eosia We ht consult with the Thousand of Styricu a cure’
‘It shall be as thou dost require, Anakha’ The words cahtly uncertain ‘Is it proper for me to tell thee that I feel sympathy for thee and thy mate for this illness of thine only child?’
‘I do appreciate thy kind concern, Blue Rose’
‘My concern doth not arise entle hand of the Child Goddess touched ic of her touch For the love we all bear her, let us away to Sarsos that she ain’
The world seemed to shift and blur, and the three of them found themselves outside the marble-sheathed council hall in Sarsos Autu on the outskirts of the city was ablaze with color
‘You tait here,’ Sephrenia told the Elenes into the council chaolden case to put the jeay
‘Nay, Anakha,’ Bhellioh Vanion’s lips ‘I would kno Sephrenia’s proposal is received’
‘An it please thee, Blue Rose,’ Sparhawk replied politely
Sephrenia went on inside
‘It’s cooler here,’ Vanion noted, pulling his cloak a little tighter about hireed ‘It’s farther north’
‘That , Sparhawk Sephrenia has a great deal of influence with the Thousand I’ree to help’
They waited as the ed by
It was probably half an hour later when Sparhawk felt a sharp surge, alh Bhelliom ‘Come with me, Anakha!’ Vanion’s voice was sharp, abrupt
‘What is it?’
‘The Styric love of endless talk discontents er Gods themselves These babblers do talk away the life of Aphrael’ Sparhaas a bit surprised by the vehe in a gait that was peculiarly not his own, stor The bronze doors to the council chamber may have been locked The screech of tortured ested that they had been, at any rate
Sephrenia was standing before the council pleading for aid She broke off and stared incredulously at Vanion as he burst through the door
‘We don’t allow Elenes in here!’ one of the councilto his feet and waving his arled silence filled the cha upward and outward into enorhter and brighter around hi peals of thunder echoed shockingly back from the marble-clad walls Sephrenia stared at Vanion in sudden awe
Proestion which only he could hear, Sparhawk raised the glowing Sapphire Rose ‘Behold Bhelliohty voice!’
‘Hearfrom the enormity which a moment before had been Vanion was vast It was a voice to which mountains would listen and which waves and torrents would stop at once to hear ‘I would speak with your Gods! Too sht up in endless babble to consider this matter!’