Page 75 of Sword & Shadow
Slowly and almost hysterically, Ilain began to laugh. She leaped out of the hawthorn and pointed at Auden. “Itoldyou!” She cheered. “I told you back in Loclight, and you didn’t believe me!”
Auden looked as though he’d been handed a sack full of potatoes and been told they were made of gold. He scratched his copper beard and mumbled, “Seems you were right.”
Wishing that someone would show a shred of sanity, Deckard rose from his seat. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” he said, brandishing the Relic at the two of them. “Why would this be glowing?”
“I think it’s rather obvious, Jonn,” Ilain said wryly.
Though he knew—he understood the truth andknewthe answer—Deckard shook his head. His eyes found Evylin’s once more across the camp. He couldn’t read her expression, restrained and thoughtful as it was. The tight set of her mouth and narrowed slant of her eyes could convey a multitude of emotions. However, he wasn’t sure that any of them were positive.
He turned back to Ilain. “No,” he said decisively. “It’s not possible. There’s been some mistake.”
“Relics don’t make mistakes,” Auden said.
Deckard shook his head even more furiously, holding the Relic out to Rafferty. The weasel just stared at him with a knowing smile. “Take it back,” he ordered.
Rafferty shrugged. “Won’t change the facts, Colonel.”
Deckard stepped forward, thrusting the Relic at him. “Take—it—back,” he commanded. He wasn’t sure why he was so desperate to be free of the thing. But his mind couldn’t reconcilethe beaming stone in his hand. He couldn’t accept the truth it offered. He wanted it as far from him as possible.
When it was clear Rafferty wouldn’t do as requested, Deckard scanned the rest of his companions. They all stared at him: Auden and Ethenn with awe, Ilain and Rafferty with smug satisfaction, and Evylin and Thom with disbelief. And all of it made his skin crawl with panic.
“No,” Deckard said again, now emitting a nervous chuckle. He thrust the Relic into Rafferty’s lap, the purple gem falling instantly lifeless. Then he turned to Ilain, sure to show his determination in his expression. “No.”
Ilain practically bounced with her uncontainable joy. “You can’t run from it, Jonn. No matter what, you know now. And the magic will work its way out, however it must.”
“I am not magical!” he exclaimed.
“You are!”
“Lain,” Auden said cautiously. “Be careful. If you get him too riled, he may lose control.”
Deckard glared at him. “Control of what? I don’t have magic.”
The Mages gave him a look that said he was behaving like a petulant child.Which,Deckard’s most mature self told him,you are.
“I don’t understand,” Evylin said, her voice thin. “How is this possible? Is Jonn a...a Warrior?”
Though Ilain began to speak, Auden shot her a fierce glare. The woman pressed her lips together and sat down. Then the highlord turned to Rafferty. “Would you give the Relic back to Jonn, please?”
Rafferty held it aloft.
Begrudgingly and only to prove them wrong, Deckard took it. The amethyst light beamed accusingly once more.
“Try to turn it into a weapon,” Auden instructed.
“How?” Deckard asked.
“Think about what you want it to become,” Evylin said. “Any weapon. It’ll listen.”
Deckard sighed and thought about the short sword she’d summoned earlier. He flicked his wrist as he’d seen her do. Nothing happened.
Auden nodded. “As I suspected,” he said.
“What?” Evylin asked.
“Jonn is a Mage.”
The statement struck Deckard like the Day Guardian’s talons, slicing open his gut. He looked down at the Relic. The impossibility of it all sapped the rest of his strength to argue anymore.
