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so-called'dragon-skins' the girl was wearing. Halfbloods are a myth; they
were'sposed to have started a war called the Wizard War. That's why it's death
t' let a human breed with an elven lord. Therewas a Wizard War; wiped out
about three-fourths of the high mages, but I don' think it had anythin' to do
with halfbloods. They're'sposed to be fabulous mages." He had snorted at the
thought. "When slaves don't have magic an' even if they did, the collars'd
block it, an' even mages like Dyran have t' try decades t' get a kid with th'
same powerhe has an' outa nowhere, these halfbloods are'sposed to have enough
magic t' whip us all?"
"But the Wizard War " Keman had said tentatively.
"Nursery tales. Stuff t' cover up whatreally happened. Tell you what,
I think the Wizard War had plenty of the lords onboth sides. Prob'ly wasn't
anything to do with halfbloods at all most likely the other side was a bunch
of the ones got tired of bein' on the bottom all the time, an' got together,
an' the winners blamed everything on the halfbloods sotheir kids wouldn't get
ideas in their heads." Iri sloshed the wine in his cup, gesturing with it.
"Tell you what, the High Lords coulduse some young blood in the Council! They
could damn welluse some shaking up again!"
Then Iri was off on his favorite tirade, about how the old oppressed
the young, the powerful oppressed the weak, and how everything would be better
if every elven lord was a lord intruth , with one vote to his name, and
everything shared out equally, no matter who was a powerful mage and who was a
weak one.
Keman refrained from asking, "What about the humans"; he knew from
past experience that In would just give him the same kind of look as if he'd
asked, "What about the two-horns." When Iri spoke of equality, he meant
equality of the male elven lords. Females were to be pampered and protected.
Humans were livestock.
But that business about the halfbloods, and the death sentence, had
given him the clues he needed to search the library of the town house where
they both were staying, and now he knew exactly the kind of danger Shana was
in. And he also knew a little more about the Wizard War and the Prophecy of
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the Elvenbane.
She was a halfblood, she was the daughter of Dyran and his concubine,
and by now everyone who wanted to get his hands on her had at least guessed
that was what she might be. Keman couldn't imagine how she had managed to find
her mother's collar but that must be why he couldn't speak mind-to-mind with
her. Just one more piece of rotten bad luck& if shehadn't found it, likely no
one would ever have guessed what she was. But since she had found it, they
were bound to at least think about the possibility.
The real fanatics would kill her on sight, just on the suspicion of
being a halfblood. Lords like Dyran would take her, try to find out about the
dragon-skins, and then kill her.
The only thing that kept his hopes up was the fact that no one, no
one at all, had come forward with the "secret of the dragon-skin." And that
argued for the idea that someone or something else had got her
And from all the evidence, itmight well have been dragons from
another Lair.
He wasn't getting anything done here, he decided abruptly, tearing
the paper to bits. It was time to get out of here, before he was challenged
and discovered. Maybe he'd have more luck once he got out of the city.
There was nothing he needed to take with him except what he was
already carrying. All he had to do was walk out. And all he needed was a
destination.
Lord Dyran's estate, he decided, taking his cloak and closing the
door of the guest room behind him. That's where she was supposed to be going.
Maybe he'd find something out along the way.
She couldn't have been swallowed up by the ground, after all.
V'kass Valyn el-Lord Hernalth, heir to the vast estates of his
father, Lord Dyran, sat in his chair as quietly and motionlessly as a marble
statue. His father's scarlet-draped office was as utterly silent as the inside
of a crypt. Blood-scarlet draperies and upholstery, white walls, black
furniture, the frames carved of onyx, as cold and implacable as Dyran's anger.
Yesterday the room had been entirely green; jade green, an exact
match for Dyran's eyes.
My lord father is in a mood, I see. It isn't just me. Something was
not going well for Lord Dyran but it was Valyn who was going to have the brunt
of his displeasure. Valyn compressed his lips to hold in his temper, and
waited.
"I am not pleased with you, V'kass Valyn," Lord Dyran said, after a
long silence that was supposed to cow his errant offspring, and did nothing of
the sort. Valyn had played this game before. "I am not pleased with you at
all."
"I am sorry, my lord," Valyn murmured, bowing his head in what he
hoped was a convincing imitation of repentance.I'm sorry that I couldn't get
Shadow away before you started in on him. I'm even sorrier that I'm not old
enough to challenge you . One day he would challenge his father, and when Lord
Dyran least expected it. Dyran didn't know it yet, but Valyn's magic was
stronger than his. What Dyran had that Valyn didn't was experience, and a long
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