Then we were all there: my companions, the dragons, all linked into the great sphere of thought, our auras made one.
Anders, please share your experiences with us. We need to know everything.
But uncle, Woltan must show you the forgotten city.
Patience, Kara. First we must see and judge our new kinsman.
I felt a surge of panic. A thousand Kriek were going to judge my experiences, my thoughts, my guilt? Kara, what does he mean, everything?
Father, you are scaring instead of welcoming him; he does not know our ways.
I am sorry, Anders — you have barely arrived and instead of a welcoming feast you find yourself in full council. War is at hand. We ask you to share — we do not probe, we will not look at thoughts that are not for us. Yet we know the truth when we see it.
So I felt the tension drain out of me, and began to share, starting with my earliest memories of my father and my mother, and of the man who would become the dark lord…
Parts of my mind seemed closed to myself, even, but I showed them my testing, proving I was a full wizard born, and my tutors who had taught me the little wizardry I had learned, keeping me away from the other students. And then when everything had changed, when Kara had come into my life.
Pulling her through the barrier. And then Gerard. The first attack. And then the keiler, my first kill. The lost city. Being testing by Woltan and Jona. Training. Singing the sword together. My parents, frozen, as good as dead, yet alive. Reading the future, scrying. Pain and death. Recovery. The images flashed through my head, faster than I could read them. The tree mother, my new vision of plant life. The dragon that tested me and found me worthy. One test after another. And now one last test.
Enough. The boy has been through enough. Show us the dark lord again and these demons, and we will see if that tells us anything of use.
I was weary, but I felt Elias and Woltan and the others join us, and what came then was multidimensional, a composite recent history. From me came the image of the dark lord, when he had burned me red and destroyed Karsten’s mother. From me and the others came the memory of the dark lord when we had tried to teleport, and images of the demons. I heard their voices, and felt them. Now I was a spectator too, watching Woltan and Elias battle the demons, throwing spell after spell at them as the demons sucked the life out of the tree and killed with spittle and bite.
I heard whispers and echoes of horror. These are demons of the 6th level! How could anyone have conjured them? He must have had help… But who? And where would he get the knowledge?
The demons spoke words in an old ugly tongue.
Then the spell, that sent them back into another plane, and the rift that shimmered in the air. The healing of Woltan.
That was great old magic, magic we thought was lost but for the book of Id. He has not read it, has he?
Kara spoke then. It is in his blood.
And in the blood of the dark lord. His uncle.
Some of it, perhaps, yet incomplete. So the dark lord seeks the book, while this bloodsinger boy does not need it.
The dark lord seeks Anders, as well. With him he would not need the book.
A book is easier to understand than the blood of a boy. But still Anders would be a fearsome ally to the dark lord.
You’re right. He’s dangerous. He shouldn’t be here.
I felt anger welling up inside me, but it was nothing compared to that of the dragons and my companions. It came out together, in one great rush of thoughts. He has proved himself in battle! The dark lord has scarred him. How dare you question him!
There was silence for a moment.
Point taken. The boy knows his own parents are enslaved until his uncle is destroyed.
Take it to a vote — do we accept the boy and give him our full support, as kin?
I recognized the thoughts of King Thorald.
We vote. Those who doubt him, let us feel your doubts.
There were a flurry of thoughts. He is so young. He is fragile, but powerful. I fear he can be misused. He should not be a warrior; he should be with his parents!
My parents. As if it would be any use to be with them now. But I seconded their doubts. How could anyone expect me to le