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How?
Jarid seemed at a loss. I just did.
He links to them all, Chime said.
Who links? Fieldson asked.
She looked up at him. Jarid.
Links how?
Everyone regarded her, expectant. Jarid seemed as puzzled as the others. Having lived all his life with his
gifts, perhaps he didn t see how he affected others. She hardly knew how to explain it herself. You
cover all the valleys and dales, she told him. Everywhere.
Jarid seemed bewildered. He glanced at Iris. Do you feel this? She nodded. I can tell if you are upset
or happy, she said. I don t even need my own spell.
Jarid touched his wife s cheek, the first time Chime had seen him show tenderness. Iris s face gentled,
and for a moment it was as if she and Jarid were alone in the corridor.
Then Jarid spoke to Della. What say you about this link? Do you feel it?
I sense your power, Della said. But not a link.
He turned his violet-eyed gaze to Skylark. Healer?
I m sorry, Your Majesty. I don t feel it.
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Fieldson considered them. So it is just the three of you. Jarid, Iris, and Chime.
Jarid glanced at Muller, who met his gaze with an impassive expression. To Fieldson, Jarid said only,
Yes.
The general rubbed his chin. I ve never heard of mages communicating across such large distances
before. Strategically it could be valuable. Chime rose to her feet, leaning on the wall for support. The
effects of the potion were fading, but her nausea surged when she moved. The intruder I don t think
he was the Harsdown mage.
Jarid came over to her and spoke in a low voice. You used a spell to escape the intruder. Only Muller
was close enough to overhear. I made heat, Chime acknowledged.
And it burned him.
I think so.
You gave pain with your gifts, Jarid said, intent.
Muller stiffened. She was protecting herself.
I mean no censure. Jarid regarded Chime. I would be sure only that you do not censure yourself,
either.
Aye, Your Majesty. She wondered if the severity of her reaction came in part from causing harm with
her spell.
Muller turned to the others and spoke to Fieldson. We should increase the guard on the castle. We
must have no more break-ins.
His assured tone startled Chime. She had never heard him address the King s Advisors with such
confidence. In the past, he had avoided them and bristled when they cornered him.
I can also put men on patrol outside, Fieldson said.
Yes, that would be good, Muller said.
Usually Chime couldn t focus a spell on more than one person, but right now everyone s unease
simmered in her awareness. The mosaics focused her power. They had given her the means to resist her
attacker, perhaps saved her life. When she had first come to Suncroft, she hadn t appreciated their
significance, but now she understood. The designs were two-dimensional, which limited the spells they
supported, but they were everywhere.
It was no wonder Jarid s presence filled Suncroft.
Iris found Jarid in the octagonal tower chamber. He was sitting in the dark at the round table, his face
silvered by starlight. His presence filled the room, blended with the light of an Azure Moon flowing
through the window. Iris sat with him. What troubles you?
His voice was low. I cannot absorb it all.
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She wanted to take his hand, but she feared he would withdraw. That is why you left the castle today,
yes?
Yes. His voice deepened. Varqelle knows.
Knows what, Jarid?
That our leadership is weak.
His intensity unsettled her. You think Wareman spied for Varqelle? I m certain of it. He stood and
walked to the window. Bathed in moonlight, he seemed more spirit than human. But why attack
Chime? She is a powerful mage. Or she will be, someday.
So are you, more so. And you are queen.
Iris went to him. Chime is more vulnerable.
Yes. But it is more than that. He needs her.
Why?
I wish I knew. Somehow she is the key. His pain sparked, magnified by the patterns on the frame of
the window. We are so vulnerable you, me, Chime, Muller. Varqelle seeks to demoralize us. To wear
us down. Ask Brant and Fieldson for help. Iris wanted to reach out to him, but she held back,
knowing he couldn t handle so much human interaction this soon, after so many years of isolation. They
have experience. Wisdom. Jarid rested his forearm on the wall by the window and gazed at the starlit
countryside. That night, after our coronation, you helped me to unlock my prison. But I remain lost. I
have sight now, but I cannot see what to do. I listen, but I do not understand what I hear.
Let your advisors interpret for you.
I have no trust in them. He glanced at her. Muller is my cousin. I loved him when I was a small boy. I
trust him now, even if he has no trust in himself. She spoke softly. And me?
His voice roughened. You terrify me. Taking her into his arms, he laid his head against hers. You
make me confront my nightmares. If you were to desert me, I would wither.
Her voice caught. I won t desert you.
I cannot see my path. He held her close. But again and again, my spells turn me toward Harsdown.
Hai, Jarid. Iris had no answers, for she feared he was right.
Harsdown waited, dark beyond the mountains.
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23
The Golden
Halo
Anvil the Forged walked with Varqelle along the top of a fortified wall that wound through the cliffs
above Castle Escar. The air was noticeably thinner up here and the sky a dark blue. Cold seared his
lungs, exhilarating in a way he never experienced in the humid, overly fertile lands of Aronsdale. Varqelle,
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