The Dream Spheres

"I will not kill an unarmed being," she said sternly. "Give him your sword."

Still Elaith hesitated, but the fomorian settled the matter by ripping a weapon—and the arm that held it—from a passing gambler. Arilyn lifted her sword in challenge. The fomorian charged, seeing only the elf behind her and the prospect of cutting him down. Arilyn would not give way, though. For several moments the battle went on. Two of the Watch took notice and began to close in on the combatants. One of them came to an astonished halt.

"That's it. I didn't sign on for this." The man turned and headed for the stairs.

Elaith followed the man's line of vision, and gasped in astonishment. A tall, rangy elven woman stood at the edge of the ring, her translucent sword drawn and her ghostly face daring any to interfere with the challenge beyond. More of the patrons noticed the apparently vengeful spirit, and more took to the exits in frantic haste.

Elaith could not move so much as a step. He knew that elf. It was—or had been—Thassitalia, a warrior whom he had known on Evermeet. She had wielded the moonblade Arilyn carried and had bequeathed it to Amnestria, the willful, wild-hearted princess he had loved. That was very long ago, though. Why was Thassitalia here? To help defend him, or to take vengeance upon him for his many misdeeds? Perhaps even to reclaim the Mhaorkiira and destroy the elf who dared to wield it!

Before an answer came, the ghostly elf faded away. Arilyn finished the battle and sprinted to Elaith's side.

"Any way out of here?"

The return to practicalities steadied him. Elaith used the points of his daggers to prod people out of the way. The two elves made their way to a back room. He threw aside a small carpet and opened the trap door hidden below.

They dropped into the opening and fled in silence through the tu

"What do you have to do with these dream spheres?"

Perhaps it was the appearance of Thassitalia, perhaps the sight of a moonblade raised in his defense. "I have them," he said frankly, for he suspected that there was little she did not know. "When presented with the opportunity, I took it. In a way, this is self defense: I am using them to set my enemies against each other."

"Do you realize the implications of what you have done?"

"Things may have gotten out of hand." The elf felt more vulnerable and open than he had for many years, and he described some of the truly ugly dreams that had recently been coming through the magical spheres. "I can't begin to fathom where some of them are coming from."

Arilyn thought this over. A suspicion that she could not entirely grasp came to her. "Let me see the Mhaorkiira."

When the elf hesitated, she drew her sword and threw it aside, following it with the knife in her boot and the hunting knife in her belt. "I am unarmed," she said. "You can easily take it back."

"That was not my concern," Elaith said.

"I know what your concern is," she snapped. "A moment's contact won't corrupt me, even if I'm wrong."

The elf's face was deeply puzzled, but he produced the ruby from a pocket of his jacket and handed it to her.

Arilyn studied the stone, turning it over carefully and ru

"How much did you pay for this?" she asked.

Elaith looked startled. "Six hundred gold. Why?"

"That's a lot for a piece of crystal."

The elf looked as if he wasn't sure whether to be puzzled or outraged. "Explain," he requested coolly.

"You're still alive," the half-elf said with a faint, cold smile. "You know what I am—what I have been. There is enough anger in me to give the Mhaorkiira a foothold. I wouldn't need much of an excuse to kill you.

"More importantly, Dan is still alive. You even came to his aid. I doubt you would have done that if you were under the influence of the rogue stone."

His answering smile was bitter. "You do not know the entire legend, Princess. If there is a seed of evil, the rogue stone will make it grow, but creatures beyond redemption can handle it with impunity. I am still clear of mind and will, quite capable of making decisions that suit my whim. What does that say of me?"

Arilyn had never seen such emptiness in living eyes, or such despair. If anything, that only convinced her she was right.

"It is a counterfeit," she persisted. "Take me to the fence you bought it from and I'll prove it."

The elf conceded and led the way to a shop in Castle Ward. Arilyn stalked up to the one-eyed man and placed the stone on his table. "You sold this gem."

The man's gaze flicked from Elaith's face to Arilyn's as if seeking permission to speak. The elf nodded. "That is so," the fence said. "Why?"

"It's a fake. A crystal."

He drew himself up, outraged. "I know precious stones. That is a ruby. I stake my life on it."

"A bad choice of words, considering the company," Elaith said pleasantly. "Convince me."

The fence took up the stone and a glass. He began to study it. His confidence faded away by the moment, and he raised a horrified gaze to his visitors. "This is not the stone I sold you."

"I assure you that it is none other," Elaith said.

"Then it is not the one I bought."

Arilyn began to see through the problem. "Did anyone else look at the stone?"

"Two or three people. One I remember in particular. A young woman, very richly dressed and haughty. Her eyes were green, her hair a very bright red."

The half-elf snatched up the stone and seized Elaith's arm. Before the elf could protest, she hustled him out of the shop.

"That's Errya Eltorchul," she said tersely. "We need to speak with her."

Elaith nodded and began to climb the stairs carved into the thick stone wall of a cobbler's shop. The half-elf, understanding his intent, fell into step. They made their way onto the rooftops and set an unerring course for the Eltorchul manor, following a hidden path known only to those who made their way in the shadows.

Arilyn fell easily into the task and into the rhythms of the elf's quick pace. Without speech, they circled the rooftops around the Eltorchul estate until they caught sight of Errya.

The woman was in the garden. They dropped lightly from the wall, flanking her and closing in. Elaith pointed a wand at her. A shimmering ball darted toward her, enclosing her head and shoulders and cutting short her shrill scream. She turned to run, but the elf seized her and sat her none too gently back on the bench.

Arilyn's attention was elsewhere. A familiar-looking cat had vacated Errya's lap and was now sitting crouched a few feet away The tabby's gray tail was lashing in agitation, but there was a decidedly unfeline expression of wrath in the creature's eyes.

It was the cat that Errya had held when they had come bringing word of Oth's death. It was also the tabby Arilyn had seen in Isabeau's chamber in the Eltorchuls' country estate.

It was, in short, one well-traveled cat—if indeed it was a cat at all.

Arilyn leaped, arms outstretched to seize the tabby. The creature vanished in a puff of acrid blue smoke.

"What the Nine bloody Hells was that?" demanded Elaith.

Arilyn looked down at the noblewoman and saw her suspicions confirmed in Errya's look of mingled panic and fury.

"That," she said emphatically, "was Oth Eltorchul."

Eighteen

"It all fits," Danilo said thoughtfully when they brought the matter before him. "That ring Isabeau had at the Eltorchul estate—was it like the one we found on the severed hand?"