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the care of his two friends, and sat down to rest his psyche and his body alike.
There was no question in his mind about one thing: He had been simply unable to deal any longer
with the pressure of carrying two Swords. If he hadn't lost Shieldbreaker, he might have been
forced to abandon it-to hide it on the slim chance he, or someone, could retrieve it before the
Dark King's magic succeeded in discovering the now-ownerless Sword.
Dusk was deepening, and the three were busy comparing notes on recent events, when there came
another movement at the garden gate, a cautious opening. The young Prince grabbed up Sightblinder
again, then relaxed when the massive figure of Ben of Purkinje came into view. Stephen realized
that Coinspinner was still at work for him, bringing him further reinforcement.
Ben, cautiously entering the garden of his own ruined house and coming in sight of the occupants,
stopped in his tracks as if he had sustained some heavy blow. He saw Stephen's image transformed
into that of a red-haired young woman, tall and strong, and for a soul-shaking moment it was
possible for the huge man to believe that his long-lost Ariane was not dead after all.
It was not the first time that the Sword of Stealth had played him such a cruel trick, and in
another moment or two he was able to greet his friends in a normal voice.
Karel had obeyed to the letter the command of his Master (as he thought) to put himself to sleep
for a full day; but his need to protect and serve that Master actively soon brought the old man to
his feet, sleepwalking. Unnoticed by his three friends, now deep in conversation at a little
distance, the elder wizard, obviously in the grip of some purpose which transcended sleep, walked
out of the garden by another exit, and away.
* * *
Meanwhile, the young Prince was congratulating himself and entertaining his new gathering of
friends with the story of how he had swindled Baron Amintor out of the Sword Coin-spinner, and had
effectively gotten rid of Amintor and his search party-at least for the time being.
Coinspinner had not failed to provide the little band with food. A root cellar under Ben's house,
and a small icehouse in his garden, had both been spared demonic vandalism.
But hours were passing and there was only limited time for self-congratulation. Stephen and his
friends, finding themselves fortuitously armed with two Swords, now had to determine the best way
to put Coinspinner and Sightblinder to work.
Zoltan opened the serious conference by suggesting that they carry the pair of god-forged weapons
to Stephen's royal parents as quickly and by as direct a route as possible-Ben ought to know where
Mark and Kristin were most likely to be found.
But Ben was already shaking his head. He had ominous and urgent news to relate, eyewitness reports
of Vilkata's hostage-taking.
This seemed important enough to compel a change of plan.
Stephen and his friends, still benefitting from Coinspinner's untiring influence, had not got much
further with their talk when a messenger reached them from the Prince and Princess-a night-flying
scout, a great owl dispatched from village headquarters, discovered their whereabouts in the city.
While the bird rested and ate, Ben took the opportunity to indite a short message laden with good
news, written in code and addressed to Stephen's parents. The note informed Kristin and Mark that
their son had been located, that Sightblinder and Coinspinner were available, and that the
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destruction of the Mindsword had now been definitely confirmed.
Soon the messenger, somewhat rested, was urged on its way. Still, there could be no thought of
merely waiting now for orders from Mark and Kristin. The need was urgent to do something about the
hostage situation, and orders sent from headquarters might never get through.
But everyone in the garden needed a rest before undertaking any substantial tasks. Stephen in
particular was grimy and bleary-eyed from digging in the ruins of his grandparents' house and had
suffered burned fingers on both hands in the effort to save their lives; his legs and ankles were
scratched from climbing through the rubble, his right shoulder had been wrenched by last night's
Swordplay, and then Coinspinner, before coming into Stephen's possession, had twisted his ankle,
enough to keep him from walking easily or far.
The lad had put in rather more than a full day's hard work in the armory even before the attack
fell on the palace, and had enjoyed only brief periods of real rest since then.
Now and then pangs of guilt still assailed Stephen over the fact that he had lost one of the
Swords, perhaps the most important, to the enemy. But each time he forced himself to try to think
the matter through clearly and logically, telling himself that he had done the best he could
manage at the time.
In the hours before dawn-the messenger had been perilously delayed en route-Prince Mark and
Princess Kristin received the happy news of Stephen's safety and confirmation of the Mindsword's
destruction.
Prince and Princess happened to be awake when the good news arrived because people from an [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]