‘Do not speak so, Grandfather,’ Master Yasul said to him. The Master Remembrancer was an old man with skin as dark as mahogany and tight little curls of white hair capping his bald head. He might have hailed from Karabuk or Uskudar, but seemed so at home in this quiet room as to have been born here. ‘We still have hope.’
Abrasax picked up his cup to take a long sip of tea. Then he looked around the tables. ‘We must at least act as if there is hope. But I have said that this is a night for openness, and we cannot turn away from the truth. The Red Dragon needs only to gain a little more mastery of the Lightstone to open the great chakra. When its fires break free …’
His voice choked off as he looked at Master Yasul and Master Juwain. Then he said, ‘The first faint flames have already broken free. It cannot be long before he unleashes the Baaloch upon the world.’
At the mention of Morjin’s master, Angra Mainyu, the Great Beast, we all fell into a deep silence as we sipped our tea. Then Master Juwain said to Abrasax: ‘But what of the Maitreya, Grandfather? Isn’t it clear that he must be found and aided so that he can keep the Red Dragon from using the Lightstone?’
Abrasax pulled at his long beard. ‘No, that is not so clear as you might wish. With your help, Valashu Elahad gained the Lightstone only to lose it to the Red Dragon. If we lost the Maitreya as well, then there truly would be no hope.’
At this, I drew in a quick breath and said, ‘If fate leads us to find the Shining One, we will not lose him.’
I stared at Abrasax as he and the other six masters stared back at me.
Abrasax motioned toward Master Matai. He had the soft curls and golden complexion of many Galdans, and his sharp brown eyes seemed to perceive a great deal. And Abrasax said, ‘Our Master Diviner believes that these are the last days of the age, and that the Valkariad is surely near.’
With reverence and longing he spoke the name of that great moment at the end of history when all men and women would ascend to becoming greater beings: Ardun into Star People, and Star People into Elijin, who would take their rightful places as newly crowned Galadin. And the Galadin themselves would become as gods in the glory of a new creation.
‘The Age of Light must be at hand,’ Abrasax said. ‘Either that or the Skardarak, when all the stars shall be put out and it will grow cold and dark forever.’
He drew in a deep breath, held it and then let it out slowly in a whoof of wind. Then he said, ‘And even as we see two possibilities, and only two, for the world, so we have only two choices open to us now: to entrust Master Juwain and his companions with the quest to find the Maitreya, or not. Let us now speak truthfully with one another so that we might make this choice. Master Yasul?’
The Master Remembrancer pulled at the dark folds of skin beneath his narrow jaw as he regarded me. He said, ‘Valashu Elahad speaks of his desire, and that of his friends, to make a quest to find the Maitreya, but is this their true calling? They are a strange company, and we must be sure of whom Master Juwain has brought to us.’
‘And who is it, then, whom Master Juwain has brought to us?’ Master Storr asked. His blue eyes sparkled in the strong candlelight. I wondered what land had given him birth: Nedu? Thalu? Eanna? The Master Galastei ran his blunt hand through his wispy white hair and coughed out, ‘A claimant to the throne of Delu, an heir to Kiritan’s branch of the House Narmada, and the sole surviving son of the Valari’s greatest king. Beware the pride of princes, I say. Beware their true purpose. And this lordless knight, Kane. All of them, of the sword.’
I rested my hand on the hilt of my sword, which I had set by my side. I looked at Kane who had taught me to wield this terrible weapon with a single-minded will to destroy any and all who stood against me.
‘And then there is Liljana Ashvaran,’ Master Storr said. His cool blue eyes fixed on the woman who was as my mother. ‘Master Juwain has told us little more than that she is a noble of Alonia who joined Valashu and the others on the great Quest. An unusual calling, isn’t it, for one of her age, rank and gender?’
In truth, I knew of no other matron, noble or not, who had set out into the wilds of Ea in pursuit of the Lightstone.
Liljana’s pretty round face grew as intense and reflective as a full moon. To Master Storr, she said, ‘Why should you think that noble impulses are so unusual? Your order, I’ve been told, exists to quicken that which is noblest in everyone.’
Master Storr blinked at Liljana’s riposte. He exchanged pained looks with Master Yasul and the others. I gathered that he wasn’t used to being addressed by women – or anyone – so sharply.
Then he pointed his teaspoon at Liljana. ‘Surely what is noblest is not the keeping of secrets from those who would help you.’
‘And what secrets do you think I keep?’
Master Storr did not respond. His eyes grew even colder, like glacier ice, as he gazed at her with a greater and greater vehemence. Liljana thrust her hand inside the pocket of her tunic, and her jaw tightened in defiance. Finally, she removed her fist from her tunic and shook it at him. ‘You will not,’ she told him. ‘You will not.’
‘Will I not?’ Master Storr said to her.
In answer, her soft brown eyes summoned up such an intense heat that he finally blinked and looked away.
Liljana turned toward Abrasax and said, ‘Your Master Galastei tries to use this to read my mind!’
So saying, she opened her hand to reveal her blue crystal.
‘He tries to seize control of it – and me!’ she said. ‘Like the Red Dragon himself!’
‘No – I only wanted to know what you conceal from us,’ Master Storr called out. ‘As Master Matai has said, we must be sure of you.’
‘Not this way! You have no right.’
‘I am the Master of the Gelstei.’
‘Not my gelstei. Would you steal my journal as well, and force the lock to read its pages?’
‘I will make no apologies,’ Master Storr said. ‘Too much is at stake, and we must do what we must do.’
‘Is that the way of the Masters of the Brotherhood, then? Is that noble?’
They might have contended thus all night if Abrasax hadn’t finally held up his hand and said to Liljana, ‘Master Storr has fought too many battles with the Red Dragon, and is sometimes overzealous in protecting the Brotherhood. You are right, forcing another’s mind is not our way. I do apologize, for all of us. But Master Storr also is right that too much is at stake, and so there can be no secrets within this room.’
Liljana sat facing Abrasax. She must have perceived that of all the Seven, he studied her the most intently. She gazed back at him with all the force of her will, as if commanding him to fix his attention elsewhere. But not even Liljana, it seemed, could stare down the Grandmaster.
‘Your Sisters,’ he said to her, ‘have always kept too much hidden.’
‘My … Sisters?’ Liljana coughed out. It was one of the few times I had ever seen her at a loss for words.
‘Do you deny,’ Abrasax asked her, ‘that you are of the Sisterhood?’
‘But why would you think that?’
‘I am a Master Reader, am I not? Your chakras, each of them, give off flames – how should I not be able to read their colors? And to perceive that your aura shimmers like that of one who has been trained in the ways of the Maitriche Telu?’
Liljana looked at Kane and Master Juwain briefly before glancing