He trailed off. Dar nodded. “She was probably right, even though the Druids didn’t prove to be any better at keeping their magic safe. They couldn’t even keep themselves safe in the end.” He gestured. “Let’s have a look.”
Brecon glanced down at the box, his narrow features tightening as he worked his fingers around its surface, searching. His concentration was visible on his face and in his eyes, and eventually he found the places on the smooth sides he was looking for and pressed hard. The box shimmered and the top slowly lifted away.
Inside was a leather pouch, closed tightly by drawstrings.
“How did you discover the secret of opening this puzzle box?” Dar asked his friend. “You were what? Midteens?”
Brecon nodded. “The secret is in the nature of the material that makes up the container—an organic substance with which I am familiar. It serves to ward sections of the Carolan, and the exploration of its properties taught me how it functioned. It took me awhile, but I knew what to look for. I just kept experimenting until the secret revealed itself. It wasn’t words or gestures or anything so mundane. It was a bonding of flesh to metal.”
“Another kind of magic,” Dar observed.
“Another kind. An Elven kind.”
“Earlier, you hinted you couldn’t even get inside the lockbox.” Dar gave him a look. “Testing me, were you?”
Brecon pulled a face. “Just wanted to see how determined you were to do this—how serious you were about using them. It doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s any less risky or dangerous to take them out.”
He reached into the container and removed the pouch. Setting aside the container, he loosened the drawstrings and dumped their contents into his palm. The three brilliant blue gems glimmered as if alive, their hue reminiscent of a twilight summer sky. Dar stepped close and peered at them in awed silence.
“So when do we leave?” he asked.
They quickly decided that sooner was better than later, but Dar thought Brecon should first inform his mother of their plans. She would be more understanding and more willing to help cover for them, should their absence be discovered too quickly.
Not to mention that she would be more cautious about revealing what she knew to Ajin d’Amphere, should the princess or her Skaar come sniffing around.
So Brecon closed the box and resealed it—the Elfstones removed and tucked away in his pocket—and then lowered it back into its hiding place and returned the floor to its previous condition. Dar pulled the rug back in place, and they retraced their steps down the hallway to the reception room Brecon had taken Dar into earlier. Leaving the highlander to himself, the Elven prince went off to speak with his mother. Dar was prepared for a long wait, but it took Brecon less time than he had expected; he was back within the half hour, his mission completed.
“Mother sends her love, and says you are responsible for me.”
Dar smiled. “She would say that.”
“She also said you can justify her faith in you by bringing me back safe and sound.”
By now Ajin and her Skaar companions would have made their departure from Arborlon. Assured there would not be another unexpected encounter, Dar and Brecon set out for the Elessedil private airfield to prepare for their own impending journey. As an Elven prince, Brecon had an airship designated for his personal use, which was kept housed and serviced year-round. Since the vessel was always fully provisioned, there were no further preparations necessary once they reached it, and the friends boarded and were quickly away.
* * *
—
They flew out of Arborlon heading southwest in the general direction of Backing Fell. Their craft was an expanded single-mast sloop that could easily hold six but still be flown by a single pilot. Even though his help wasn’t needed, Dar worked the radian draws and light sheaths while Brecon manned the helm. Once they had crossed the Rill Song and come in sight of the eastern borders of the Sarandanon, Dar tapped Brecon on the shoulder. “Find a place to land so you can use the Elfstones. We need to be sure of our direction.”
Brecon immediately took the airship down to a clearing at the edge of the forests bordering the Sarandanon. Dar secured the radian draws and then lowered the mooring lines that would hold the airship in place. Once they were hovering just a few feet off the ground, he threw out a rope ladder, went over the railing, and anchored the lines to tree trunks and exposed roots so the vessel was stable.
Brecon followed him down and together they moved to a rise overlooking miles of farms and cultivated fields that made up the bulk of the soil-rich valley.
Dar shielded his eyes. “Pretty country. I could live here.”
His friend nodded, a crooked smile spreading across his lean face. “I’ve actually considered it. I’d leave Arborlon and move here in a second flat, if I could. I’d even leave the Carolan. There are others who could do my work.”
“But?”
“I don’t want to leave my mother alone. She’s not close to my father these days—hasn’t been for a while. My brothers don’t seem to see it, but they have their own lives and families. So she turns to me. I don’t want to abandon her.”
Dar nodded. “We all make such choices. I had thought to go back to my family when I saw what had been done to Paranor. But I don’t think I can abandon the Druid’s Keep, either. Or Drisker.”
“Neither one is your responsibility.”
“You could argue that. But it’s more in how you see it than how it is.” He gave Brecon a nudge. “Might as well use the Stones, Brec. See if you can find Tarsha.”
The Elven prince pulled a face. “This isn’t going to be as easy as you seem to think. First of all, I have no idea what this Tarsha person looks like, and I have to picture her to find her. Or at least provide the Elfstones with some identifying characteristics. Second, I’ve never used this magic, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing.”
Dar stared in disbelief. “What do you mean you’ve never used the magic? Not even once? Just to see what it can do? How could you resist? You had access to it anytime you chose.”
“You haven’t been paying attention. I told you I hadn’t taken them out of their hiding place again since I found them. There’s a reason for that. Using magic triggers a response. It…calls attention to itself. I didn’t want to risk Father finding out what I’d done. So I looked at them that one time and then left them alone.”
“You are a true disappointment,” Dar declared in frustration. “I’d assumed you must have used them at least once! How could you stand not knowing what it felt like?”