The Fate of the Dwarves - By Markus Heitz Page 0,139

treasure. And to pay our respects to a lady sorceress, I understand?”

Tungdil laughed. “Off to bed.”

Girdlegard,

Former Queendom of Weyurn,

Lakepride,

Late Winter, 6491st/6492nd Solar Cycles

By the large round window in her mother’s study Coïra sat staring out at the lake. The white mourning veil on her hair and the black of her high-necked dress made her look older, Rodario thought.

He was sitting next to her, fidgeting with a quill pen. Mallenia was pacing up and down with her hands clasped behind her back. The carpet muffled the sound of her steps but the regular click-clack of her boot heels could still be heard.

The actor laid the feather quill aside and attempted to look the young maga in the eyes, but noted her fresh tears. He had a thin bandage round his neck, chiefly for decoration and as a souvenir of the wound Sisaroth had inflicted on him. The blade had slipped on the antique pendant he wore and this had taken the force of the blow. “Princess, it was not your fault. The älfar set a trap for you,” said Rodario gently. “If you had been a swordswoman something similar could have happened with your weapon. The älfar know how to deceive and trick. You could not have prevented it.”

“That,” she said, with a sob in her voice, “is your fifth attempt to convince me that my mother did not die as a result of my incompetence. But again you fail to get me to change my opinion of events.” She stared at her hands. “These are what I killed her with. These hands and the wretched magic she taught me herself.”

“You were trying to kill the älf…” he began, but she whirled round.

“But who is it lying in the crypt next to my father? The älf?” she cried in despair. “I must never use magic again.”

“But you saved Mallenia’s life with your magic spell,” he protested, trying a different tack. “And who will protect your subjects against the Dragon if he turns up here? Don’t abandon your skills, Princess!”

“Yes, I must,” she whispered, her anger fading now. She looked out at the lake again. “To be doubly sure, I should destroy the source. Before Lot-Ionan or the älfar can use it.”

“You want to demolish the shaft?” Mallenia had stopped pacing and her eyes were flashing. “I know you are grieving. I, too, have lost many relatives but I’m not using that as an excuse to crawl away and hide and bewail my fate.”

Coïra did not even look at her. “Go back to Idoslane, Mallenia,” she advised her in a flat voice. “It was when you arrived here that everything started to go wrong in Lakepride. If only I had not listened to this third-rate actor, the älfar would have caught and killed you. Then everything would have been different.”

“It’s a waste of time going over it again and again,” Rodario said, throwing Mallenia a warning glance to discourage her from making a sharp retort. “You are Weyurn’s new queen…”

“It’s Lohasbrand who is the ruler, in case you had forgotten,” she interrupted coldly. “All I am is an incompetent maga sitting on a rock in the middle of a shrinking lake, having extinguished the life of my own mother.”

Rodario sighed. “It was the älf who decapitated her.”

“But it was me who injured her so badly that she could not defend herself. Can’t you understand?”

“Where did the älfar go? Is there any trace?” Mallenia asked. “I’ve missed a lot. It’s taken me a long time to recover.”

“Sisaroth has left the island. At least he won’t be coming back to try to kill us. And where his sister is, only the waters know.” Rodario sounded impatient. He was keen to be raising Coïra’s spirits, not making reports for Mallenia. Coïra was Girdlegard’s last maga and must not be permitted to cast her powers aside in this way. But she was so grief-ridden that no one could expect her to listen to reason. Since the death of her mother she had not bathed in the magic source and her inner reservoir must be practically exhausted by now after the combat with the älfar and the effort of saving Mallenia.

He dared to come closer to her. “Princess, how do you think I feel?”

“Did you bring about your mother’s death through your own stupidity?”

“No…”

“Then you have no idea what I’m going through,” she said, her voice wavering. “I can hear her screams when it’s quiet. And when I look in the mirror I can see her face