the deaths had been seen as by natural causes - all of those priests had been much older than Cadderly - but Cadderly's insight told him differently.
They had tried to hear the song of Deneir, the song of universal mysteries, but they had not been strong enough to control the effects of that strange and beautiful music. They had been consumed.
Cadderly frowned at the black cover of the closed tome as though it were a demonic thing. It was not, he reminded himself, and, before his fears could argue back, he opened the book once more, from the beginning, and began his frantic scan.
Melancholy assaulted him; the doors blocking revelations swung wide, their contents finding a place in the receptacle of young Cadderly's mind.
Gradually the young scholar's eyes drooped from sheer exhaustion, but still the song played on, the music of the heavenly spheres, of sunrise and sunset and all the details that played eternally in between.
It played on and on, a song without end, and Cadderly felt himself foiling toward it, becoming no more than a passing note among an infinite number of passing notes.
On and on...
"Cadderly?" The call came from far away, as if from another world perhaps. Cadderly felt a hand grasp his shoulder, tangible and chill, and felt himself turned gently about. He opened a sleepy eye and saw young Brennan's curly black mop and beaming face.
"Are you all right?"
Cadderly managed a weak nod and rubbed his bleary eyes. He sat up in his chair, felt a dozen aches in various parts of his stiff body. How long had he been asleep?
It was not sleep, the young scholar realized then, to his mounting horror. The weariness that had taken him from consciousness was too profound to be cured by simple sleep. What, then?
It was a journey, he sensed. He felt as though he had been on a journey. But to where?
"What were you reading?" Brennan asked, leaning past him to regard the open book. The words shook Cadderfy from his reflections. Suddenly terrified, he shoved Brennan aside and slammed the book.
"Do not look at it!" he answered harshly.
Brennan seemed at a loss. "I... I am sorry," he apologized, obviously confused, his green eyes downcast. "I did not mean - "
"No " Cadderiy interrupted, forcing a disarming smile to his face. He hadn't intended to wound the young lad who had been so kind to him over the last few weeks. "You did nothing wrong. But promise me that you wiD never look into this book - not unless I am here to guide you."
Brennan took a step away from the desk, eyeing the dosed tome with sincere fear.
"It is magical," Cadderiy acknowledged, "and it could cause harm to one who does not know how to read it properly. I am not angry with you - truly. You just startled me."
Brennan nodded weakly, seeming unconvinced.
"I brought your food," he explained, pointing to a tray he had placed on the night table beside Cadderiy's small bed.
Cadderiy smiled at the sight. Dependable Brennan. When he had come to the Dragon's Codpiece, Cadderiy had desired solitude and had arranged with Fredegar Harri-man, the innkeeper, to have his meals delivered outside his door. That arrangement had quickly changed, though, as Cadderiy had come to know and like Brennan. Now the young man felt free to enter Cadderiy's room and deliver the plates of food - always more than the price had called for - personally. Cadderiy, for all his stubbornness and the icy demeanor he had developed after the horrors of Shilmista's war, had soon found that he could not resist the unthreatening companionship.
Cadderiy eyed the plate of supper for a long while. He noticed a few specks of crumbs on the floor, some from a biscuit and some darker - the crust of the midday bread, he realized. The curtains over his small window had been drawn and his lamp had been turned down, and then turned backup.
"You could not wake me the last three times you came in here?" he asked.
Brennan stuttered, surprised that Cadderiy had deduced that he had been in the room three times previously. 'Three times?" he replied.
"To deliver breakfast and then lunch," Cadderiy reasoned, and then he paused, realizing that he should not know what he knew. "Then once more to check on me, when you turned the lamp back up and drew the curtains."
Cadderiy looked back to Brennan arid was surprised again. He almost called out in alarm, but quickly realized that the images