The Dragonstone

CHAPTER 23

They sat in a small, remote, darkened chamber, where nought but a single candle burned, and that but a scanty taper. Arin's eyes were fixed on the flame as Lysanne spoke softly to her. Aiko knelt nearby on the dark stone floor. None else were present. Arin's eyes were heavy-lidded as Lysanne murmured gently, and at last they closed.

Lysanne set the candle aside, then turned to the Dylvana deep in an unforced trance.

"Can you hear me, Dara Arin?"

"Mmm," replied Arin.

"You may speak, Lady."

"Vi oren ana."

"Speak in the common tongue, Dara. Can you hear me?"

"I hear thee."

"Good." Lysanne glanced at Aiko. "Remember, child of Ryodo, all that you see and hear."

Aiko's black eyes glittered, and she nodded sharply once.

Now Lysanne turned back to Arin. "Dara, you too shall remember all that passes within. Do you understand?"

Slowly, Arin nodded.

"Good." Lysanne leaned back in her soft, padded chair and steepled her fingers. "I want you to return to that night in the glade when you saw the vision."

Arin shifted uneasily and her breathing sharpened.

"It is all right, Dara," soothed Lysanne. "I am here, as is Aiko, and nothing evil is at hand."

There came the whisper of steel being drawn as Aiko slid her swords from their scabbards. "I will protect you, my Lady."

Lysanne frowned at the yellow warrior, but Arin seemed to relax slightly, though her breathing was yet sharp.

"What do you see and hear, Dara?"

"I see the flames. I hear the horns."

"Horns?"

"The hunting horns. I know the stag now runs."

"Ah." Lysanne nodded. "I understand. But now, Dara, I would have you move forward in time, to when the hunt is done and the hunters returned, to when the vision comes. Tell me now what you see."

"Blood."

"Blood?"

"The slain stag is bleeding."

"And…?"

"And I look away, into the flames. -Oh, oh, oh." Arin began weeping and her breath came in harsh gasps.

Lysanne leaned forward and took Arin's hand and winced in pain at her grip. "Stay calm, my dear. Stay calm."

But Arin squeezed tighter and called out, "Oh, Adon, let it not be."

"Dara Arin?"

"Slaughter. Bloody slaughter."

"Dara Arin!"

"Dragons…"

"Dara, listen to me!"

"Oh, the children. Oh, oh, oh… I cannot, I cannot, I cannot…"

Now Lysanne called out sharply, "Lady Arin, listen to me! Step beyond these vile seeings, past the slaughter, past the famine, past the disease, past the pestilence. Find a place of calm."

Arin jerked her head one way, then another, and back and forth again. "There is, there is no, no place."

"Then listen to me, Arin. Listen to my voice. Hear me. Time stands still! All is frozen in a single moment! Nothing moves! Nothing at all. Nothing. It is arrested as if in a painting, as if in tapestry."

Gradually, Arin slowed her thrashing until she was still, though she continued breathing in rapid puffs. She relaxed her grip, but Lysanne did not take her own bruised hand away.

"Arin, I want you to step past these frozen images until you come to that place where you could endure no more of these sights, where your mind and soul had to flee from the seeing of them. Go to the place where the vision you told to the Council comes to an end, but go no further, for here it is we would see that which was heretofore forgotten by you."

Arin groaned. "Horror," she murmured. "Between here and there."

"Past them, Dara, past them. To the end of your clear telling."

Again Arin moaned, and it seemed as though she were laboring to cross rugged land. At last her breathing slowed.

"Have you come to the place where your remembered vision ends?"

"Yes."

"Good. Heed me, I want you to tell me what you see."

Arin did not speak.

"Tell me," demanded Lysanne.

Arin shook her head and muttered, "Nothing. I see nothing. All is darkness."

"Darkness?"

"Aye."

"And you see nothing whatsoever?"

"Nothing."

Lost in thought, Lysanne glanced 'round the room, unperceiving. Now she turned back to Arin. "Are there memories from this darkness?"

Arin's breathing increased. "Yes."

"Memories of what?"

"Something. A voice, runes, knowledge, I don't know."

Lysanne leaned forward and placed a hand to Arin's forehead. "Recodare!" she demanded.

Arin sat up and her eyes snapped open, but they were focused on a point beyond time and space. And in a voice hardly her own she intoned:

"The Cat Who Fell from Grace;

One-Eye in Dark Water;

Mad Monarch's Rutting Peacock;

The Ferret in the High King's Cage;

Cursed Keeper of Faith in the Maze:

Take these with thee,

No more,

No less,

Else thou wilt fail

To find the Jaded Soul. "

And then Arin slumped forward as Lysanne caught her, the Dylvana unconscious to the world.