Wizards Daughter

Nicholas and Rosalind carefully climbed off Taranis's back. Suddenly Rosalind cried out, "Oh, dear, I cut my finger on one of the scales."

"Let me see," Nicholas said and took her finger. He didn't think, simply squeezed and more blood shot to the surface. Then he took her finger in his mouth and sucked the wound. He studied the prick for a moment, then looked closely at the drop of blood on the tip of Taranis's scales.

Taranis rose straight into the air. He hovered there, his great eyes on Rosalind. He sang so loudly Nicholas would swear all the beasts on the far plain could hear him. "I have mixed with your blood. A Dragon of the Sallas Pond mixed with a witch. Now, what will come of that? I wonder." And he g lided upward, wheeled to the right, and was away. They watched him fly back across the barren plain, where from their vantage point atop Mount Olyvan, the herds of crea tures below looked very tiny indeed.

"What did he mean mixing his blood with-" Rosalind got no further.

50

A young man stood directly in front of them, paying them no attention, as he shaded his eyes with his hand, watching Taranis fly away.

"He did not speak to me," the young man said as he turned to Nicholas and Rosalind. "Surely he did not see me, else he would have spoken to me. My lord, mistress, my name is Belenus. I am vastly important in your history, a god-of agriculture, the giver of the life force."

Rosalind eyed the brightest red hair she'd ever seen. Only his incredible blue eyes were brighter. She felt like a faded copy standing next to him. He had big, very white square teeth. She said, "The Romans called you Apollo Belenus and named the great May first festival after you, Beltane. In this modern age, we still celebrate Beltane. Did you know that?"

"Modern age? An age is an age, nothing more."

Belenus hawed to Nicholas, deep and graceful. "I am relieved you are finally here. There is only a sliver of time, feel it; all do. We must open the door and step into the seam that divides what Epona wished to happen from what actually will come to pass. You wonder how I know this. Taranis had no choice but to think it to me so I would not stand here like a dolt, questioning you but not understanding. I have no time to give you a nice cup of witmas tea." He gri

Nicholas and Rosalind fell in behind the young man with his pale white skin, and his burning blue eyes, and that violent red hair. It seemed even redder now. Nicholas felt the power in him, felt it drawing him, though he walked in front of them, saying nothing, simply walking.

They passed through impossibly wide corridors, like rooms really, some lined with Roman swords and helmets, others with skeletons, all standing erect against the corridor walls, like soldiers standing at attention. They walked through chambers, all painted in vivid colors, from the deepest purple to a pale, pale yellow, filled with precious Greek statues standing immediately next to crude wooden statuary, carved by ancient hands.

"All of this is much too large, too vast," Nicholas whispered to her. "It is an illusion meant to impress us."

"Of course it is an illusion," she said matter-of-factly, "and it is well done." Rosalind called out, "Belenus, perhaps you have created too many rooms and corridors to impress us with your power. However, you said we must hurry. Why are you delaying us?"

Belenus stopped at the next chamber, one whose walls were painted vivid bright blue, the color of his eyes, Rosalind saw. There were velvet-covered benches against all the walls, a sultan's large jeweled pillows stacked everywhere, and on the walls were niches where statues of the Celtic gods stood. How he knew this, Nicholas didn't know, but he was sure.

Rosalind looked toward Nicholas, at his long thick black hair, clubbed now at the nape of his neck, and that hardness about his mouth, the promise of infinite violence and cruelty. She felt also the promise of wholeness, perhaps of a long-missing justice. He was now of the Pale, he was now of Blood Rock. This wizard was unfettered; he was at home.

She said to Belenus, her voice imperious, the air shimmering around her, hot and alive, her red hair a fiery nimbus around her head, "You will lead me to Epona right now. I know that I must proceed alone and that my lord must remain here. There is not much time left. What must be done must happen now or else times can overlap and there would be confusion even I ca

Rosalind felt incredible power flow through her. She embraced it, felt it grow stronger, felt herself one with it. She said to Nicholas, her voice calm, remote, "I am more powerful than the three blood moons. I could lift them out of the black sky and juggle them. Perhaps I could even sing to you as I juggled the moons."

In the next moment, Rosalind stood in the center of a vast stark white chamber. It was as blinding a white as she and Nicholas had experienced at Wyverly Chase-had that happened only the night before? Or a hundred eons ago? There were many windows with white gauzy curtains blowing into the chamber. The windows were not open.

On the far side of the room stood a narrow bed draped in white gauze hangings. The hangings, like the draperies, billowed over it.

She called out, her voice sharp, impatient, "Epona! Come here immediately. I want Prince Egan!" Time passed. "Epona!"

There was only the dead white and silence.

Rosalind wasn't alone. She was standing tall, smiling, atop a large flat platform. Beside her was a smooth flat stone, an altar. On top of it lay a man, his arms and legs chained down. He was naked, unconscious, and it was Nicholas.

His eyes flew open, dark, nearly black. He smiled. "I will kill you," he said. "I will kill you."

"No, you will not." She raised the knife in her hand and brought it down in a firm clean line, and stabbed it deep into his heart. She jerked out the knife, then cut away the flesh. She reached into his chest and cut out his still-beating heart. She raised her head to the heavens and chanted words that had no meaning to her, and then she flung the heart away from her. A great wind came up and blew her hair away from her face, plastered her flowing white gown against her.

She looked down at the man, dead by her hand. And she saw that it was indeed Nicholas. She had killed him just as Richard had seen her do in his dream. She sank to her knees, blind with hollowed pain. She felt her own life seeping out of her, and welcomed it.

Silence fell around her, into her, pain roared through her head. Then she felt something move inside her, and it was awareness, and it was knowledge.

And she knew.

She stood and yelled, "A lie, it was all a lie! You will not fool me again, Epona! Show yourself, you bloody witch!"

Epona seemed to fly in through one of the large windows, though it appeared to remain closed, and the white draperies flowed about her until she was standing directly in front of Rosalind. She was gowned all in white. The material welled up, then settled around her, leaving one very white shoulder bare. Her hair was black as a moonless sky. She looked very young and very beautiful, her mouth as red as the blood tracking down the fortress stones.

Epona looked her up and down, sneered. "You are too late, witch. I had told Belenus to delay you and so he did, because he, like all the others, fears me. Yes, it is too late and you have failed. Sarimund has failed."

"Of course I am not too late, you witless creature," Rosalind said. "That illusion-you plucked it right out of my head, didn't you? You also gave it to Richard Vail in a dream to terrify him."