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The smithy area was under the keep near the kitchens It was doubly warded One ould contain thedown half the castle It had happened at other smithies that handled the repair of relics A second ould keep the stench of fire and burnedthe food
Only a few sht was fire Metal glowed in the near dark, blue, straw yellohite, and cherry red The giant bellohooshed air into theof ha: The constant heat, darkness -- it was not a place to look for an elf, or even a half-elf
She passed through to the back with its gli it separate froe Keleios had had Allanna place the shield, because if it failed, it wouldn&039;t be ift It was a remnant of a sword and handle, with nuift froh Councilman himself He wanted a sword made of the pieces, but no one else would touch the job
It was rumored to be the reade elven sh, was its first victis Keleios had no desire to put a relic in Nesbit&039;s hands, but she could not resist the challenge to discover soh the war If they could e to save the rave This sword proic and Keleios and Tally
Tally did not turn around as she entered the warding He was the shortest Astranthian Keleios had ever e of fine blond hair gave him a peculiar look "Good," he said, still bent over the sword&039;sthe last piece" He turned then with the largest whole piece in his hand, and his se"
"No, Master I ahtened on the metal "That black healer, isn&039;t it?"
She nodded
"Well, it had to come, I suppose" He set the rabbed a handful of saw dust from a bucket where it was kept He threw it on the e
"Tally, I can&039;t help you today I must prepare"
"I know, I know Send in Jarick"
"Do you think that wise?"
He frowned and snapped at her, "He&039;ll just e the steel"
Seeing the look on her face, he said, "I proo out"
"You be careful tonight, Keleios I ion, but he&039;s careful andAnd if anything happened to you, who could I trust to stand beside h, Tally"
When she told Jarick, his freckles stood out against suddenly white skin "Don&039;t worry He&039;s just going to restore the metal; you man the bellows" She clapped hi more responsibility"
He stared at her, brown eyes wide "Not that kind"
Journeyman Nerine stopped her on the way out "Keleios, our ice elemental is about to be loosed Could you redo the entrape It was glittering white ice with vague eyes andcould temper steel like a captive ice elemental
Flickers of white crossed the bounders of the entrapht; soo Ask Allanna to do it If she protests entering the forge tell her I asked"
The girl looked cautious, considering "I will, but why can&039;t you do it yourself? You are right here"
"I walk the sands tonight"
Being Nerine, her face did not give away her ey then Thank you for looking at it And, Keleios, have a care tonight"
"I will, Nerine"
Nerine said softly, in a neutral voice, "And if you fight the black healer, kill hi, but there was a look in the eyes
Keleios said, "That isfor her She left the forge area, presumably to find Allanna, but Keleios wondered what harirl
Just outside the smithy doors a white envelope floated at eye level The outside was marked &039;Keleios&039; and sealed ax It bore Poula&039;s seal: crossed sprigs ofat the bottoo to Poula&039;s roo in the familiar dark with her back to the door She did not turn as Keleios stepped in the rooht"
"It would seem so, Master Poula"
The silence stretched outward, and Keleios let it stand untouched Poula stood, her chair scraping backwards "I think this was ill advised, Keleios&039;&039;
"Perhaps it was, but he challengeddown on her "But you berated hie you And you let your anger best you Do you knohat your chances are of winning against the black healer?"
"I think ood"
"How could you be so foolish? Don&039;t you understand, Keleios? He is a black healer, completely treacherous You have never faced such as that in the arena"
"I a prepares you for dealing with true evil"
Keleios raised her left hand, with its leather covering, to Poula&039;s eye level "I knohat evil is, Poula"
Poula turned fro around, she asked, "Who is your second?"
"Belor"
"Find hie the afternoon classes You and he are excused for the rest of the day to prepare Go on; get out"
Keleios stepped forward, one hand reaching then dropping to her side "I had to answer challenge"
"Reh the darkness and eripped the ar you ever taught me"
Poula released her first, and Keleios stepped back
Keleios started to say so, but it would all have been lies There was no real comfort when death was near
Keleios realized then that Poula had worn her mask For the first time since Keleios was ten, Poula had hidden fro, anything, but she left, closing the door quietly behind her
The apprentice dorms were empty, each bed carefullyroom Alys lay in bed A journeyman in healer&039;s blue sat in a chair beside the bed, reading to herself Alys&039; laughter filled the di a piece of yellow yarn over the coverlet She crouched, furred tail tense, and pounced The child giggled
It was Poth who saw her first, giving a loud meow Alys yelled, "Keleios, Keleios!"
The journeyood of you to visit Do you wish me to leave?"
"Sit down -- Valira, isn&039;t it?"
"Yes, I am honored that you remember"
"Sit down There is no need for you to leave"
Keleios sat on the edge of the bed "And how are you doing this ?"
"Oh, ht?"
A frown crossed the small face, and she would not meet Keleios&039; eyes "No, no, I don&039;t &039;memember"
Keleios corrected her "Remember -- you don&039;t remember You must have clear diction or you&039;ll never be able to cast herb spells"
"I know"
"I didn&039;t come here for a lesson, apprentice I ca "Poth came to visit me"
"I see that" Keleios picked the cat up and stroked her "She attends to my duties better than I do sometimes"
Alys tossed the yarn at the cat Poth threw a reproachful glance to Keleios then went to chase it Poth hadn&039;t even liked chasing yarn when she was a kitten Keleios hid her smile as best she could It was terribly obvious to Keleios that the cat was only pretending to enjoy herself But the child was fooled
"Alys, we ht, but it can wait until you feel like talking about it"
Again she wouldn&039;t look at Keleios "I don&039;t want to talk &039;bout it right now" She looked up quickly "I et some rest, and I&039;ll try to look in on you just before dinner Co, Poth"
"Oh, can&039;t she stay?"
"No, we have work to do" Seeing the look on the child&039;s face, Keleios added, "But perhaps she&039;ll cousted but gave Alys a last body rub and then hopped down to the floor She padded noiselessly at Keleios&039; heels
When they were out in the hall, Keleios said, "That was a very nice gesture on your part"
The cat didn&039;t answer but bounded ahead, white-tipped tail held high She vanished through the door to Keleios&039; roo
Keleios opened the door and went after her "All right, what&039;s wrong with you?"
The cat sat on the bed and licked a delicate forepaw and stared at Keleios
"You think I could have avoided the challenge with Lothor"
The cat concentrated on groonored Keleios
"You think I&039;ht" Keleios went down on her knees by the bed, eye level with the cat The golden eyes stared at her, hostile, distant
"I in tonight," Keleios said
The cat gave a s one paw over her face
There was a knock at the door Belor entered without being asked He wore a charcoal-grey jerkin, cut short, over brown trousers White linen showed at rounded collar and sleeve He stopped "What&039;s wrong? Notnews, I hope"
"No, Poth&039;s mad at me She thinks I was foolish, like Poula, and you"
Belor said nothing but leaned against the bedpost His blue eyes said everything for hiht, I let e me? He did come here to marry ht, he has had two duels since he entered Astrantha But he lost the second; if Glairstran hadn&039;t taken a vow of ht have been rid of him then"
"That is awfully cold for a follower of Cia"
"Our vows say only we cannotto take our life, we are not bound to give reeht in the arena twice, once by steel and once by ic He had been victor both times He had killed both times, but he was not comfortable with it
"What are your plans, Keleios?"
"To use what herb spells I already have made up To strike viciously and completely"
"What spells do you have made up?"
"At least two sleep spells, a ward of pain, a ward of fire, a spell of dragon su on, and one for de"
He raised a pale eyebrow "Do you think it wise?"
"I was curious; I haven&039;t used it yet"
"Curiosity such as that, you do not need"
She ignored hi pleasant dreams and soh"
"There&039;s no substitute for a good illusionist"
Keleios smiled "Not yet, anyway"
"The sleep spells, yes; the ward of pain and fire, yes I don&039;t knohat good dragon suate in a denus&039; sake be careful what you bring in The illusion powder could be useful as a distraction"
Keleios agreed with his assess"
"Noait, Keleios You need ht him"
"I absolve you of it, Belor You are ht"
He stepped close to her and spoke softly "If he kills you, it will be s were reversed, I&039;d do the same"
"You know you would" He pulled a slip of paper from the bed where it had been pinned It was a note from Fidelis She had retired to the stillroo them Belor said, "That was very considerate of her"
"Very She plans on killing ht, so why should she worry?"
Keleios stretched arms over head and said, "I ods this afternoon"
"Quite a bit of tiods do you normally worship now, four?"
"Three, but I will have to waste so on Zardok and Loth"
Belor raised a pale eyebrow "You are going to od?"
"He doesn&039;t own hiod of war, bloodshed, and battles You do not enter the arena without first offering soed; he didn&039;t ardless of circu his hteous on me, illusionist, you worship the Shadow Lady She isn&039;t exactly good"
He shifted uncoods"
"That is not true There is Shalinelle, the elven goddess of beauty, truth, and music She is an illusionist"
He smiled "And you have to be at least partly elven to worship her"
"Not always"
Keleios left it at that If Shalinelle wanted him, she would have him If not, all the sacrifices on the island wouldn&039;t make him a worshipper
The midday meal was tense and short Ru hall All the voices fell silent as Keleios passed, but the wind of buzzing voices trailed her
The hall of gods stretched cool and shadowed A thick haze of incense nearly choked her as she entered The vast pillared hall was cluttered with altars and carven figures of gods
It had been Zeln&039;s idea that people would prefer to send their children to a school where they could worship as their parents chose He had been right
There was soods Perhaps it was the presence of so ic, or just the e in their endless line Or the presence of lonely students first away froods The place had a claustrophobic feel to it, the stones weighed down, the pillars looked too frail to support The chanting and the cloying sweet incense tried to hide it, but underneath was the neck-ruffling scent of blood This was a place of sacrifice, and things died here Everyone passed through the double doors, everyone When the gods can reach out and punish, there is no disbelief
The elven gods were here, tucked away in a cra one another Keleios riculture He had been the first god that she had chosen for herself
When Keleios was seven, a sprig of rew into a tremendous plant before her eyes People had coet a start off of that mint plant Keleios had worshipped Elventir ever since, even if she was not an earth-witch and had little ti
She placed one half-open white rose, a sprig of thyme, and a ripe red toularly worshipped The huoddess shared both pantheons She was the goddess of the hunt, archery, and wild things; and she had a vindictive nature She was half-elven daughter of Urle, huoddess of beauty She stood with the huer she had made herself, and a rabbit skin that had been killed and cured with her own hands Urelle or Wolelle always demanded sacrifices that had been done by the hands of her worshippers
Urle, god of the sod, for she was a minor priestess in his te on his altar It was the ring of protection she commonly wore and had ive such rare ic to the altar Urle understood ent into such a si He was content with less for all but one day a year If this were to be the last time she worshipped Hi od
Zardok, consort to the All-Mother, was next He was the sorcerer aods, and Keleios would need all her sorcerous powers tonight She placed a flawless opal, the size of her od of wealth and would accept only jewels and precious od of madness, and for that reason alone Keleios worshipped him as little as possible He was too unpredictable and too powerful
She knelt before Loth&039;s altar, god of bloodshed, war, and violence She caonal cut across her left fore ar arm directly on the cool stone and said, "I do not often cood that you are But I co myself as sacrifice, ht; let my blows be swift and sure, let ht as I give you blood today"
There was a small sound behind her, and she whirled, knife held ready in her right hand Lothor stood there, a strange half-s hawk under his arm Keleios could see the bird&039;s frantic heartbeat as its chest rose up and down
He wore a priest&039;s garment over his clothes; perfect blackness with the blood-tipped sword of Loth sewn across the chest "Well, Keleios, Loth&039;s two favorite sacrifices, a bird of prey and his follower&039;s blood I wonder which he will favor?"
She said nothing but cleaned her dagger and put it away She walked past him without a word, and he called, "Keleios"