day and see what changes the wind across the lake brought.
They walked quietly along the beach for some time, Cadderly leading Danica to one of his favorite places. The shoreline jutted sharply out into the water in a small, tree-covered peninsula with banks only a foot above the water level. A single path, barely a foot wide, led the way into the thick tangle, ending at a small clearing right in the center of the peninsula. Although they were barely a half-mile from the bustle of Carradoon, and barely a half-mile from the island section as well, it seemed to Cadderly and Danica that the world had disappeared beyond the shelter of those trees.
Danica looked slyly at Cadderly, suddenly suspecting the reason he had brought her out here.
But Cadderly had other ideas. He led Danica down another narrow path, to the very tip of the peninsula, beside a small pool formed by the waves whenever a large boat passed by. Cadderly indicated a mossy stone and bade Danica to sit.
Cadderly walked the perimeter of the pool, muttering something under his breath that Danica could not make out. She soon came to understand that the young priest was chanting, a magical spell, most likely.
Cadderly halted the walk. His body swayed gently, a willow on the wind, he seemed, and his arms moved about in graceful circles. Danica's eyes settled on Cadderly's holy symbol, the single eye-and-candle design set in the center of his wide-brimmed hat. She felt a pulse of power from that emblem; it seemed to glow with some inner strength.
Cadderly's arms waved again as he reached low in front of him and swung them slowly out wide to either side.
The water reacted to his call. The center of the pool bubbled with sudden energy, then rolled outward, great ripples moving to every edge. Danica moved her feet in close to her, thinking that she was going to get splashed, but the water did not break the edges of the pool. As the waves crested, there came a great hissing sound and the water vaporized, rolling up into the air to form a grayish cloud.
More water rolled out to be consumed, and when it was done, just a few small puddles remained where the pool had been. The cloud hovered for a few moments, until the pull of the wind broke it apart to nothingness.
Danica blinked in amazement and looked to Cadderly, who stood very still, staring at the mud-and-puddle pit.
"You have become powerful," she remarked after some time had passed. "For a nonbeliever."
Cadderly glared at her but could not sustain any anger in the face of her disarming smile. Through his smile, though, Danica recognized the young man's torment.
"Perhaps it is just a variation of a wizard's magic, as you fear," she offered, "but perhaps the strength does come from Deneir. You seem too quick to deny what others of your order - "
"My order?" Cadderly was quick to interrupt, his tone both sarcastic and incredulous.
"Your holy symbol vibrated with power," Danica replied. "I witnessed it myself."
"A conduit to the energy, much like the tome on my desk," Cadderly said more sharply than Danica deserved. He seemed to understand that, and his tone softened considerably as he continued. "Whenever I call on the magic, I merely recall some of the words in that book."
"And it is a book of Deneir," Danica reasoned.
Cadderly shook his head. "Do you know of Belisarius?" he asked.
"The wizard in the tower to the south?" Danica said.
Cadderly nodded. "Belisarius has a similar book - a spell book. If he attached a god's name to it, would it then become a holy book?"
"It is not the same," Danica muttered, frustrated.
"I do not know," Cadderly said finally.
Danica looked to the lake behind her, to the gently lapping waves against the many small rocks at the peninsula's tip, determined to change the subject. Then she looked at the muddy hole, somewhat disconcertingly. "How long will it take to refill?" she asked, clearly not happy with the results of Cadderly's display. "Or must it wait for the next rain?"
Cadderly smiled and bent low, scooping a few drops of the remaining water into his cupped palms. He pulled his hand in close to his chest, again muttered some words under his breath.
"As the graceful rain must fall!" he ended, then he threw his hands out before him, threw the water to the air above the muddy pit. A tiny cloud appeared, hovering and churning in the air, and a moment