Brecon shrugged. “I can warn him, but I can’t make him listen. Growing older hasn’t made him any less stubborn.”
“You are his son! You have to make him understand.”
“Dar, you and I are friends, but you haven’t been here in well over a year. You don’t understand how things are. So let me explain it to you. I told you my father doesn’t consult with me on matters of court. He didn’t invite me to this morning’s Council—or invite my brothers, for that matter. He wanted to handle this by himself.” He paused. “I met Ajin d’Amphere. She is very beautiful, and I know my father thinks so, too. It’s never too late to have a brief fling, you know, and he’s been looking; I can tell. I keep it from my mother, but she’s probably noticed, anyway.”
“He’d better keep a blade under his pillow if he plans to sleep with her,” Dar muttered.
“So what do you want to do?”
Dar was uncertain. Charge over to the Elven assembly and question whatever it was Ajin was telling the High Council, demand that she be sent away at once? Somehow he didn’t think that was a good idea. He was not an Elf and had no standing in Arborlon. Besides, Ajin was too clever to be brushed aside so easily. She would find a way to turn the tables on him, and he would have lost any chance he had of putting a stop to her plans.
Besides, it was more important just now that he find Tarsha Kaynin.
“What did you come here for, anyway?” Brecon asked suddenly.
Dar leaned back in his seat with a sigh. “Well, not for Ajin d’Amphere. I need to find someone, a young girl Drisker has been mentoring over the past few weeks. She is exceptionally skilled in the use of magic. Drisker has been training her.”
Brecon stared. “But he never trains anyone.”
“He’s made an exception for Tarsha Kaynin. She’s an Ohmsford descendant. She’s inherited the wishsong.”
His friend drew a sharp intake of breath. “Well, no wonder you want to find her. I didn’t think there was an Ohmsford descendant left in the entire Four Lands. She must be the last of that line.”
Dar shook his head. “Not quite. She has a brother who can use the magic, too. But he is deeply troubled, and she is worried about him. She went to find him about a week ago.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“A village called Backing Fell, in the deep Westland. I don’t know where it is or even where she is at this point. But there’s a reason we have to find her and find her quickly. I haven’t told you this, but the Keep was betrayed by one of the Druids—an elder of the inner circle, a woman who has been with the order for years. Her name is Clizia Porse. She helped the Skaar get inside the Keep, making it possible for the Druids to be destroyed. She was one of only two Druids who survived.”
“One of two?” Brecon looked confused.
“Drisker Arc was the other.”
“But he left Paranor months ago. He was exiled. What was he doing there?”
“He found out what was going to happen and tried to stop it. I went with him. But he trusted Clizia, and she betrayed him. She was the one who used her magic to send Paranor from the Four Lands and into limbo. When she did so, Drisker was inside. So now he’s trapped there.”
Brecon shook his head. “But you escaped, and now you want to find a way to get him back.”
Dar nodded. “I’m hoping Tarsha Kaynin is the answer. The wishsong is a powerful magic. If anyone can help Drisker escape his imprisonment, it would be her. I don’t know whom else to turn to. I have to find her.”
“I know of Backing Fell,” Brecon said. “I can get us that far. But if she’s left and gone elsewhere…”
“We have to assume she has. I can’t track her at this point. I need another way of finding her.”
Brecon stared at him for a long moment. Then realization set in. “No,” he said emphatically.
“There isn’t any other way.” Dar held his gaze.
“Then find one.”
Dar brushed back strands of his long red hair where they fell across his face. “You have to remove them from wherever your father has them stored and come with me to find her.”
“My father would have me thrown out of the city and banished for life!”
“Only if he finds out what you’ve done. You can return them before he even knows they’re missing.”
Brecon made a rude noise. “You make it sound so simple. But it isn’t. He’s got them locked away. In his chambers. In a steel box sealed inside the flooring! Even I can’t get at them.”
“What do mean?” Dar interrupted. “Since when did you ever let a lock stop you? If you know where they are, you can figure out a way to open it! You probably already have, if I know you.”
The Elven prince gave him a long-suffering look. “The Blue Elfstones. The Seeking Stones. Magic that can find anything hidden or lost. You want me to steal them from my father, and then use them to find this Tarsha person. But you don’t seem to realize what you’re asking of me. You don’t seem to appreciate the risk you are asking me to take.”
“I understand perfectly.” Dar sighed. “And I am not suggesting you should steal them. I’m only asking you to borrow them. I wouldn’t ask it if there were any other way, but there isn’t.”
“Borrow, not steal. There’s a distinction without a difference.” Brecon was drinking the rest of his ale, one large swallow at a time. “The Stones have been locked away for decades.” He looked back at Dar. “I knew you were here for a reason.” He set his glass on the table with a thump. “I hoped it might have something to do with wanting to see me.”
“It does. You know that.” Dar leaned forward, his face intense, his mouth tight. “But it’s more than wanting to see an old friend. My entire life has been destroyed. The Druids are all dead. Paranor is gone. I have nowhere else to turn. I cannot abandon Drisker; I will not. He is the best hope for the Four Lands. The best hope for all of us. He can find a way to stop what’s happening.”
“You need to find someone else to help you.”
“Brecon, listen to yourself! Let someone else handle this? Who else is there? I am here because I think that, together, we can find a way to make all this right—the loss of the Druids and Paranor, the imprisonment of Drisker, your father’s possible infatuation with an enemy who will likely cut his throat if he pursues her, and a foreign Race that clearly has ambitions that go far beyond finding a new homeland.”
He paused and shook his head. “Please, don’t refuse me this. Help me. I need you!”