S ara walked away from the Tezzarine clearing with Bern at her side. The great bird had vanished so quickly that there was no time for one last glimpse of its pearly wings. She who had freed it didn’t even have the chance to watch it fly away.
Bern laughed exultantly. "What powers you have, Sara!" She wouldn't look at him. She ran for the border of the seventh sacred ring, not answering him. She heard him behind her, crashing through the undergrowth, full of careless noise. Her head throbbed and her heart burned. She felt she’d missed something of great importance that she might never come across again. She wanted to outrun Bern, but he kept up with her however fast she went.
When she reached the seventh ring, he grabbed onto her shoulder as she pushed through the seal.
On the other side she caught her breath, daring to look at him again. She felt faint with relief to see the real Bern, the Bern she loved, reaching for her, his eyes alight. She went into his arms. "When we passed the last sacred ring, there must have been a spell. You looked like a sneering, evil person."
"The Ellowens," he said solemnly. "They don’t want us to have each other. They know it makes us too powerful. But
they cant stand between us, and now with the last Tezzarine
gone, they’ll be much weaken”
"The last?” Doubt began in Saras chest. What had she
done?
He stopped her doubts with a kiss. She melted into him, forgetting everything but the bliss of loving Bern.
Ellowen Renaiya moved fast for a small woman, Dorjan thought, as he strode next to her through the Keep's forest. The wide path she followed meandered among trees, rocks, and flowers, climbing steadily, moving through the sacred rings. Dorjan listened closely to every word she said as they went upward, about Charmals and about Bern.
"So, a Charmal is gifted but has no conscience?” he asked.
“Yes. Charismatic, but without goodness. Charmals eas- ily gain control over others. They wheedle their way into our confidence; the more secrets we give them, the more power they have over us.”
“If Bern is a Charmal, why don’t I find him charming? Does his charm work only on women?”
“Oh, no. The charm is felt by everyone. I was taught that the only people able to resist a Charmals designs are those who have been snared by one and then escaped. She gave him a sideways glance.
Dorjan hoped she wouldnt say anything more in that vein.“Since you know what he is, are you safe from Bern?”
“No. I must exert great vigilance or be trapped myself. But you—though you're young, you must have met with a Charmal before, and somehow seen through him.
“Can a Charmal be female?”
Renaiya nodded.
I did see through her, hut what a long time it took, "Is the Charmal's mind diseased?” Dorjan asked, hoping Ellowen Renaiya wouldn't see how desperately he wanted her to answer yes. "Would it be possible to heal one of them?”
“The Keep wisdom says no,” she answered gently. "It's been tried. I was taught that any gen expended on a Charmal's behalf would only strengthen the Charmal's capacity for destruction. Charmals are very dangerous, deceptively so.”
Dorjan tried to mask his disappointment, blinking rapidly. “Will Bern be dismissed from the Keep?”
"Yes, once I've convinced the Council of what he is. Only Mystives and Genovens are trained to spot a Charmal. I ought to have told the other healers at once, but I doubted myself As soon as we find Sara and Bern, I won't delay.”
“But what will you tell them? What makes a Charmal?”
“Charmals have a backward gift—it's close to that of a Mystive. Whatever we want most, Bern can sense. The gift is used to exploit and entrap others rather than to heal.”
Dorjan felt sick. He wished he'd insisted on talking to Sara that morning. "What if he exploits and entraps' Sara?”
"That's what I fear. If Bern corrupts Sara's gift. . .” Renaiya slowed her pace slightly. "The only thing that can help her is the truth. The truth is better and, for one with her gift, the only thing to hve by.”
"Her gift? What's her gift?”
“Firan. Spirit Warrior.”
"Firan. What does it mean to be a Spirit Warrior?”
"A Firan can fight with spirit weapons. It's a mighty gift, Dorjan, one that will take all the Ellowens in the Keep to train well.”
A sudden change in the light made Dorjan glance up. He didn't see any clouds, yet the sky had dimmed, as if the sun were a lantern that had sputtered and not regained its full radiance. Impossible. Yet the colors of the flowers at his feet were fainter somehow, and branches above him drooped, their leaves pallid.
"No," Ellowen Renaiya whispered. It cant be.
"What is it, Ellowen?"
"No,” she said again. "Impossible that the last Tezzarine
could leave."
"Tezzarine?"
"The great birds of the Keep. For centuries they lived wild in the high places here, communing with the healers, linking us with Ellowenity.” She looked absolutely forlorn, wilting like a plucked flower."They began disappearing a few months ago. Finally there was only one left. The Ellowens worked together to form a protection around it to keep it here." She lifted a thin arm. "The light! See how it falls, like an echo of what it should be. I m afraid the last Tezzarine
has left."
Not waiting for him to reply, she redoubled her pace. They walked in silence for a time. As they rounded a bend in the trail, they saw Sara and Bern coming toward them.
Sara was gazing devotedly at Bern.
"Hello, Ellowen. Dorjan." Bern spoke pleasantly, as if it were a normal day. Sara seemed startled.
"Where did you go?” Ellowen Renaiya sounded flustered. "We've taken a journey, Ellowen," Bern answered. "Exploring the Keep. Sara wanted to see if your rings were
truly strong.”
Sara took a step back.
“But you—you couldn’t go past the sixth ring?” Ellowen Renaiya asked.
“I’m afraid so, Ellowen. The sixth, and the seventh,” Bern answered, eyes gleaming.
Ellowen Renaiya gulped air, staring at Sara. “Did you see the Tezzarine—the bird?”
“Yes,” Bern said.“But it’s gone now.”
“No,” Ellowen Renaiya cried. “Please, no.”
“Why was it caged?” Sara asked, her voice quavering.
“For protection.”
Bern stepped forward, grasping Renaiya’s hands, looking into her crumpling face. "You knew she was trouble, didn’t you, Ellowen?” he said softly. “The granddaughter of Kareed the Invader. She has the same seed of conquest he carried. She should never have been trusted within the Healer’s Keep.”
Bewildered, Dorjan looked from Ellowen Renaiya to Bern to Sara. What was Bern talking of? King Kareed s grand' daughter?
Even in far-off Emmendae, Dorjan had heard the famous tales of Kareed, warrior king of Archeld. But Kareed had only one child, a daughter named Torina. That daughter had married Landen, the Bellandran prince who had once been driven from his kingdom by Kareed’s conquest. It was a romantic story, beloved by the bards.
And Landen once saved the life of a Sliviian conscript named Cabis, by pulling him from the ocean during the battle for GlavenrelL
Sara—the daughter of Landen? Was it true? How did Bern know?
“I would have stopped her, Ellowen,” Bern was saying. “But I didn’t know how.”
It looked as though something had blotted away the healthy color in Saras face. Even her lips were pale. Dorjan mastered his confusion, tried to send her some of his gen. It
wilt he all right, Sara. It will he all right
“How tired you must be, Ellowen Renaiya,” Bern said. “May I offer you my arm down the trail? Please.”
Ellowen Renaiya looked tiny, even shrunken, as she put her small hand on Berns elbow. Dorjan wanted to say some- thing to shake her out of the Charmals web. No words
occurred to him.
In another minute, Bern and Ellowen Renaiya were out of sight. Dorjan had the urge to run after them, throw him^ self on Bern, wrestle him to the ground, beat the false sincere ity from his eyes. But he stayed with Sara. He couldnt leave her now; her face was too stark. Afraid she might fall, he put a hand on her shoulder. At his touch, she sank to the ground, covering her face. Dorjan sat beside her, wondering what he might say.
The woods were oddly silent and the light still dim. Finally she lifted her head. “How could I have told him all my secrets? I told him everything—all about me. He knows”
“Sara. Bern has a ... backward gift. It makes everyone near him act witless.” He winced, for that wasnt the way he meant to say it.
A tinge of color came into her face. What backward gift?”
“Ellowen Renaiya told me only this morning. Bern is what they call a Charmal—his gift isn't a healing gift, doesn't belong to the Keep. It lets him charm others and get them to do what he wants.”
She chewed her lip. “I'm so ashamed.”
“Don't be,”
“You don't understand what I've done,"
“I understand you seem to have escaped a Charmal after a few days. It took me years."
“Years? You?" She stopped sniffling.
“Years." Dorjan didn't want to give Sara his secret, but Ellowen Renaiya had said truth was the only thing that would help her. “What will you do when Bern comes to you and says he never meant any harm?"
“I won't believe him." Her hands clenched into fists.
“Is what he said true? Are you a princess?"
She nodded fiercely. “Princess Saravelda. I didn't want anyone to know. I told him it was a secret."
How odd life is, shuffling kings and conscripts, princesses and commoners, to land next to one another, “Ellowen Renaiya said Charmals want secrets. The more secrets they know, the more power it gives them."
“Ugh." Sara looked as if she'd like to spit.
“She found your gift, and mine. She told me you're a Firan."
Sara frowned. “Firan? A warrior? But I wanted to learn to dance like the Trians." She seemed crestfallen, shaking her head and muttering, “Firan."
“She said it would take all the Ellowens to train you."
“They won't train me now. Don't ask me what I've done."
Dorjan got up and offered her a hand. “We'd best go back."
The light was still lackluster as they started down together. "What's your gift, Dorjan?" she asked.
He hesitated. “Genoven."
“Is that what you hoped?"
“I didn't believe it would be any of the others. Walking in dreams is something I've done since I was small. My fathers from a Dreamwen family."
“Dreamwenf*"
“It's a Sliviian word. I think it might mean the same thing as Genoven.
“Sliviia! The pirate country? But I thought you were from Emmendae.
“My father sailed here eighteen years ago as a conscript
with the great Sliviian invasion.”
“A conscript. What happened to him?”
“Rescued from the ocean.” Dorjan took a big breath. By your father, King Landen.” A chill raised hair on his arms. If it hadn't been for this girl's father, his own father would have died, and he himself wouldn't exist. And now, against custom and chance, he and she were both in the Healer s Keep.
“Wait.” Sara paused on the trail”! might know this story. My father told me about the night of the pirate invasion. And how they took a man from the sea ...”
“My father,” Dorjan said.”Cabis Denon.
“Cabis.” She sounded guarded. She started walking again, avoiding a root that crawled across the path. Yes. He served with my father for a while. Then he left.”
“Yes. He was lured away. Dorjan brushed aside a branch. “By a Charmal.” He didn't want to tell her anything more.
“What Charmal?” When he didn't answer, she asked again. “Who, Dorjan?'
He stared at the way the light struck the dirt dully. His throat hurt. I cant he sure shes a Charmal She jits the description: gifted, hut without conscience. But she isn t evil, not like Bern,
“What Charmal, Dorjan?”
He looked at Sara.“My mother,” he said.
"Oh ” She put a hand on his shoulder and changed the subject again. "So you think a Dreamwen and a Genoven are the same? What is a Dreamwen?”
"Dreamwens can be awake in dreams and visit other... places while they sleep."
She grabbed his arm, almost causing him to stumble. "That's how you were in my room at night?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
As they continued down the path through the sacred rings, he told her what Ellowen Renaiya had said about Charmals, and about Tezzarines. Her eyes grew puffy when he mentioned Tezzarines.
When they got near the border of the trees, Bern was waiting for them. He opened his arms to Sara, puUing her to him. Dorjan was suddenly sure that Sara would forgive Bern his betrayal. He remembered the way she'd looked at him that morning.
But Sara was stiff in Bern's arms. He drew back from her. "What is it?"
"You touched me. Don't do it again." She spoke with command. Like a princess.
"Sweetheart, you didn't take amiss what I said to Ellowen Renaiya? The Ellowens don't want us to be together. I had to distract her. Don't be sad—Renaiya won't disturb us tonight." He moved closer to her again, ardor in his eyes.
"Don't come near me," she said, pushing him away.
"You have to believe me!"
"I don't." She turned her back.
"You don't know what I can do," Bern said. "I can get them to dismiss you from the Keep.”
Dorjan smiled grimly to himself. A mistake. If Bern had continued to feign wounded love, Sara might have relented.
She spun around, advancing on Bern. Every line of her shrieked menace as she stood in front of him, raking him with her fierceness. “You re nothing, Bern, nothing but the sneering shadow I saw today. From now on I'll see you that way whether I'm past the seventh ring or not." She walked
away.
Bern stared after her, then turned on Dorjan.“You.'' His eyes roared with hate. When Dorjan didnt answer, he
stalked off.
At the edge of the lovely gardens, Dorjan stood irres- olute*. Should he go to the Council? Tell them what he'd seen? Repeat Ellowen Renaiya's warnings?
The Charmal was headed toward the Meeting Hall. He'd get there first. The bells for supper sounded, and soon Ellowens and students moved on the pathways. They walked with their customary uniform step, but the sunlight fell dimly across their faces. They looked washed out, as if they inhabited a painting, and the painter had mixed too much water with his colors.
Dorjan shivered. Why did everyone seem to be following the ordinary routine, as if nothing had changed? Ellowens were supposed to embody heightened perception. Just what was the connection Ellowen Renaiya had touched upon,
between Ellowens and Tezzarines?
The last Tezzarine has left the Keep, and it seems that not only has the light been dulled, hut also the awareness of the Keeps mem- hers, Dorjan wondered how much of his own perception was affected. And Sara—what had she done?