Free Wrede, Patricia C - SSC by Book of Enchantments (v1.1) Page A

always a price, even for
you." She looked at him, and her eyes were shadowed. "Especially for you."
    "Once I could have given you
any treasure in the kingdom as your price." He looked at her. "Once,
I would have."
    "Gold is no price for the
earth," she replied. "Birth and death, blood and healing, the slow
changing of seasons—these are the coin for the earth magic. Whose life will you
spend to buy your desire this time, king without a throne? A daughter? A son?
Who will pay the price of the earth magic for you, so that you may have the
victory and the kingdom when your war is over?"
    Evan stiffened, stung by the
bitterness of the accusation. "I have no sons. Nor daughters. Nor wife.
All I can offer for the price of your magic is myself. And I am offering."
As the words left his mouth, he found, to his surprise, that he meant them.
    She stared at him in silence for a
long time. Finally, she asked, "Why?"
    "Because I am the king, throne
or no," he said. "The people look to me to save them from the
Dhainin, and while they wait, they die." His hands fists clenched in
sudden anger. "They will die until the Dhainin leave, and I cannot make
the Dhainin go."
    "And that is all?"
    "Isn't it enough? I have seen
too much death. I want an end to this, Mariel."
    She studied his face warily, as if
she were not certain she believed him. Anger washed over him again, followed by
a great weariness. "Do not toy with me," he said. "Will you help
or no? Whatever I must do for it, I will."
    "I, too, do what I must,"
she said, and he thought she sounded shaken. "I can promise you nothing.
Tomorrow I will consult the fire and water; then you shall have your
answer." Her raised hand cut off his protest. "Sleep now. You cannot
hurry the times of the earth, and whether you have my help or no, you are in
need of rest and food." She rose and vanished into the gloom of the cave.
    Evan pushed himself up on one elbow
and peered after her. If she had been only Mariel, his Mariel, he would have
risen and followed her, but she was the Earthwitch now, and he did not quite
dare. He dropped back to the bed and grimaced. Not dare? He had barely strength
to hold himself up. To try to chase an unwilling woman through a dark maze of
caves ... he would not get three paces before he collapsed. He had kept moving
out of necessity and will for so long that he had not realized how tired he had
become. Mariel was right; he should sleep.
    But he could not sleep. If
Mariel—if the Earthwitch—agreed to help him, then he would pay for that help
with his life. He had said it, and meant it, and he could not fool himself into
thinking that the offer alone would be enough. Well, Corbin would be upset, but
he would make a good king, and he had sons to follow him. A clear succession
was important, or the substance of the kingdom was wasted on the sort of civil
wars that had raged before he had taken the throne for himself.
    Evan frowned. He had done what he
could to assure that Corbin would have the throne if he did not return, but a
king who vanished left doubts behind, no matter how good the preparations.
Perhaps Mariel would let him send a message before he died. Mariel. . . His
eyes closed at last, and he slept.
     
    He was the same, and he was not.
The arrogance was still there, but tempered in some way she did not understand.
The old Evan would have demanded help and thought to haggle over the price; the
old Evan would scarcely have noticed the pain of the people who died in his
war.
    He had changed, but not enough. If
she went back to him, back to her old life, he would swallow her alive without
even intending to. She could see it, feel it, in every look he gave her. She
would fade to a shadow of his shadow, mouthing whatever words pleased him, and
he would not even notice. Or perhaps this new Evan would notice, and be
saddened, but he would never see how or why it had happened.
    She could not go back. She did not
dare. Oh, she wanted it—wanted him—more than she would