Shadow Blizzard

Epilogue

Little Bee recognized me and snorted happily, reaching her muzzle forward for a treat. I gave her the apple I had ready and patted her on the neck. I was glad to see her, too. It turned out that when Honeycomb left Cuckoo to come to Avendoom, he had taken my horse, and there was no way I could thank the Wild Heart enough. The groom had already saddled Little Bee and all I had to do was put the saddlebags on and set off.

After what happened in the Tower of the Order, I’d been confined to bed until the middle of spring. I didn’t know what it was that saved me on that terrible night, Valder’s power or good luck, but the magicians who came dashing to the “fire” were rather surprised to find a man lying beside the ruined tower, clutching the Rainbow Horn in his hands.

I was surrounded with care and attention all the time I lay unconscious. And then when I came round in early spring, the magicians who were there beside the bed asked me what had happened and how I was feeling. In that order.

Sagot be praised, Kli-Kli had told the members of the Order almost everything she knew, and they didn’t pester me too much. The magicians were too busy trying to restore the reputation of the Order and restore the tower to waste time on interrogating a thief. So they almost believed my suggestion that the magical explosion happened because Artsivus made a mistake in one of his spells. As for the Horn, I really had no idea how I happened to be holding it in my hands. I definitely remembered throwing it away before I blacked out.

So they left me alone. For the time being, at least.

Lying in bed was incredibly boring. And I wasn’t exactly spoiled for visitors. At first Kli-Kli never left my bedside, but then she almost completely stopped coming to see me, because of some commotion at court. And when she did come, she just dropped in for a minute and went away again, without even telling me all the news.

“So you’ve definitely decided?”

I swung round. Kli-Kli had somehow appeared in the stable, and she was leaning against the wall, nibbling on a carrot. Invincible was ensconced on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” I said, embarrassed. “It’s time. I can’t put it off any longer.”

“So you were going to clear out of town without even saying good-bye?” she asked with a frown.

“I did try to find you.”

It was true. I had tried, but they wouldn’t let me into the palace, and I hadn’t been able to get any news to the gobliness for a week. It was as if she’d vanished into thin air.

“I know,” she sighed. “I’m sorry, I was snowed under. We have a new king, have you heard?”

“The whole city’s talking about it,” I laughed.

Stalkon Deprived of the Crown had suddenly recovered his reason, and since he was the elder son of Stalkon the Ninth, he had more right to the throne than Stalkon of the Spring Jasmine.

“What does Spring Jasmine think about it all?”

“He’s never clung to power. He’d have been quite glad to let his elder brother have the crown. But his brother refused to take it. The elder son has been completely out of touch with the state of the kingdom for far too long in order to take power. You know, I think Artsivus was to blame for the prince losing his wits.”

“The same idea occurred to me, Kli-Kli. The question is: Why did the Master of the Order do it?”

“Who can understand the Player? But I think that somehow or other, the prince found out that Artsivus wasn’t really such a benign old gentleman after all. So the magician had to … He didn’t dare kill a prince of the royal blood, so he turned him into an idiot. And when Artsivus died, the spell was broken.”

We said nothing for a while. I checked the bags, Kli-Kli gnawed on her carrot. Invincible twitched his little pink nose.

“I see you’ve made friends with the ling.”

“Uh-huh. Honeycomb decided the mouse would be better off dining at the king’s table. I don’t have anything against the little beast.”

“Are you going to stay in Avendoom for long?”

“I don’t know. For as long as I’m needed. In any case, I’ll stay until everything settles down. Then I’ll go back home. I have to help my grandfather.”

“With his shamanism?” I chuckled.

“Yes, with his shamanism,” she chuckled in reply. “Maybe you shouldn’t go away?”

“Yes, I should,” I sighed. “There’s nothing to keep me in Avendoom. I’ve already put all my affairs in order, and the magicians … I should leave before they remember about me and the Rainbow Horn. The Master won this round of the Game, in spite of everything.”

“There’ll be more rounds to come. If the magicians lose the Horn, Valiostr’s in for trouble in three hundred years’ time.”

“I shan’t live that long. They can find some other fool to get the Horn for them,” I laughed.

“You will live that long,” she said, giving me a serious look. “You’re a Dancer.”

“And how are all our friends?”

To my great regret, I hadn’t managed to see any of them.

“Egrassa’s in Zagraba. He’s the head of the house now. I think our elf friend’s really got his hands full—the orcs gave the dark ones a really bad mauling. There’s talk of uniting all the dark houses. Egrassa could be top elf in the Black Forest before you know it!” She grunted delightedly. “The Wild Hearts have gone back to the Lonely Giant. They told me to say good-bye, they couldn’t just hang about here any longer. Before he left, Hallas palmed the h’san’kor horns off on the Order for a mountain of gold pieces. He bought an entire trade caravan of wine and a heap of other stuff, just like he was going to do with Deler. They’re already restoring the Lonely Giant, have you heard?”

“Yes. It’s a pity I didn’t get to say good-bye to them,” I said sadly.

“It is. By the way, Eel asked me to give you this,” she said, holding out a long bundle.

“What is it?”

“How should I know? You don’t think I’d go rummaging in other people’s things, do you?”

I politely ignored that and unwrapped the bundle. Just as I thought—it was Eel’s “brother” and “sister.”

“The Garrakian told me you knew what to do with these.”

“I do. How will he manage without them?”

“The king gave them all new weapons. Much more beautiful than the old ones.”

I wrapped the two blades in the cloth and set them beside the saddlebags.

“If you see Eel, tell him I’ll do everything he asked.”

“All right. Listen, about the Commission…”

“Yes?”

“You realize they’re not going to pay you fifty thousand gold pieces? The Commission was annulled.”

“Don’t worry, Kli-Kli, I understand.”

“But when the king found out what happened, he decided that wasn’t very fair.”

“And?”

“Well, here’s a royal pardon for you,” she said, handing me a charter rolled up into a tube. “The king pardons all your wrongdoings. Frago Lanten will be absolutely raging. And here’s some money for you. As much as they could manage…”

“And how much could they manage?” I asked, taking the heavy bag from the gobliness.

“You understand, after the war the treasury’s completely empty,” Kli-Kli began cautiously.

“Listen, just tell me, will you?”

“A hundred fifty gold pieces. It will be enough for a start.”

“Well, now,” I said with a nod. “That’s not bad at all.”

As I put the money away, I thought about the other two hundred gold pieces I’d taken from For’s secret hiding place. My old teacher had left the nest egg for me specially. So now I had quite a tidy sum.

“And there’s something else. Egrassa asked me to give you this.”

Kli-Kli laid a string of smoky yellow topazes in my hand. The same ones that Miralissa had worn at Balistan Pargaid’s reception. I breathed in sharply. These stones were valuable. Very valuable. But they had belonged to Miralissa … and that made them more valuable than any amount of gold.

“I’m afraid I’ll never bring myself to sell them, Kli-Kli.”

“I know,” she said with a smile. “I think Egrassa knew, too. And by the way, he said the doors of the House of the Black Moon will always be open to you.”

“It’s not likely I’ll ever be in Zagraba again. But thanks for the offer.”

We stopped talking. We both realized it was time for me to leave.

“Where will you go now?”

“First to Isilia, then by ship to Garrak. I’ll visit For—he’s in Hozg now—and I have to deal with Eel’s business. And after that … We’ll see. Maybe to the Lowlands.”

She gave a little nod.

“Is it time?”

“Yes.”

“Lean down.”

“What?”

“Lean down, you blockhead!”

I obediently leaned down and she kissed me on the cheek.

“You can go now.”

I climbed into the saddle.

“Be seeing you, Kli-Kli.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “We’ll probably never meet again; I think you understand that as well as I do.”

“Well, maybe sometime,” I said awkwardly.

“‘Sometime’ and ‘never’ are very similar. The world’s too big for us to meet, and some day you’ll go to join the shadows. I know that. So good-bye forever, Dancer in the Shadows.”

“Good-bye,” I sighed. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Likewise.” She cleared her throat. “Only when you go, don’t look back until you reach the city gates. That’s a bad sign for goblins.”

I nodded, looked at her one last time, and touched my heels to Little Bee’s sides. I kept my word and didn’t look back once. Although I wanted to very badly.

Although it was early morning, the Chicken Gates leading out of the city to the west were standing wide open. The guards were playing dice, and they took no notice of the solitary traveler leaving Avendoom at such an early hour. But then, our glorious servants of the law weren’t taking any notice of the beggar who was sitting right beside the gates with his clay cup for alms.

The vagrant was wearing dirty boots and a hooded cloak that had seen better days. He was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, and when he spotted me, he held out the empty cup. I stopped Little Bee, reached into my purse, and tossed him a full gold piece. The beggar took the money and gave me a dignified nod. I nodded back to him and rode on.

When I’d ridden a quarter of a league from Avendoom, I threw the charter with the royal pardon into the ditch at the side of the road. I’d lived all this time without it and I could manage without it for the same number of years. I looked back. The walls of Avendoom were shrouded in light morning mist. I took a deep breath of the cool air.

Sagot take me, but that felt good! It was spring, after all.

“Forward, Little Bee,” I said, and didn’t look back again.