‘No,’ said Tomas. ‘But they are now a part of it.’
‘How can that be?’ said Miranda, hardly able to take her eyes from the beauty of the crystal beings. Each of them rose ten or twelve feet into the air, with their lower extremes floating a foot or so above the soil. They were tapered at both the top and bottom, and they had a large bulge in the middle. There was a considerable variation among them, some being taller, others rounder. But all of them had a ruff of crystal or light which extended completely around them. Lights circled around their heads in complex patterns, in different colours for each of them. Some had green and gold, others silver and blue, red and white, or other combinations. In all it was quite dazzling.
Tomas said, ‘No one knows.’ He took a deep breath, as if drinking in the intoxicating quality of the surroundings. ‘If there is good in this world, Miranda, it is here. These beings are something unique, and I do not know how I know, but I can feel it in my bones that should anything evil befall them, the injury done to this world might be irreparable.’
‘Can they understand me?’
Castdanur said, ‘The Quor understand them, but they choose not to, or cannot, use human speech.’ He pointed to the Sven-ga’ri. ‘The Quor speak for them, and to them.’
Miranda nodded. To Tomas she said, ‘So this is why you were so adamant about our meeting with the priests and other magicians, and so alarmed by the appearance of the Dread.’
‘Yes,’ Tomas said. ‘That the children of the Dread appear anywhere on this world is cause for the gravest concern, but so close to here, that is alarming.’
‘What would happen—?’ Miranda began.
‘They would consume everything here,’ said Tomas. ‘And the world as we know it would change… or worse.’
‘Worse?’
‘Castdanur, tell her.’
‘We believe, as did the Valheru, that these beings are tied to the living heart of Midkemia, and should any harm befall them, the heart of the world would be injured, or even die.’
Suddenly Miranda felt a flood of feelings so profound that tears welled up in her eyes. ‘What?’
Castdanur looked at her and said, ‘The Sven-ga’ri are speaking to you.’
Tomas said, ‘Ashen-Shugar and the other Valheru were not given to introspection but these were the only beings besides themselves they respected, perhaps even cared for; at least they never attempted to subjugate them or in any way harm them, which for the Valheru was unique. The Valheru might not have understood these beings, but that did not make them immune from wonder. It was, perhaps, the only time in their existence they knew wonder.’ Tomas paused for a moment considering something, then said, ‘I think the Sven-ga’ri speak with feelings, Miranda.’
‘Yes,’ she said, her eyes wide, brimming with tears, and her voice choked with emotion. ‘Already, I would lay down my life for them.’
Castdanur said, ‘So it is with all who meet them.’
Tomas said, ‘We must go.’
Miranda could barely tear herself away from the warm glow of standing near these amazing beings, but at last she turned and slowly walked away. When they were a short distance off, the feelings of overwhelming love she had encountered began to fade, and when they reached the edge of what she had come to think of as the Glade of the Quor and stepped back into the forest, and the world returned to normal, she took a breath and shook her head, as if to clear it.
‘Do you think this is how they protect themselves?’ she asked.
Castdanur said, ‘If it were so, then why would they need the Quor, or the Quor need us? The Valheru,’ he added, looking at Tomas, ‘made us guardians for a reason.’
Tomas shrugged. ‘My memories of the Dragon Lords are incomplete. But there is some wisdom in what you say. I for one am unwilling to place the fate of this world in the Sven-ga’ri’s hands or take the chance that the Dasati or the Dread would react as we do to their wondrous songs.’
‘I agree,’ said Miranda. Before leaving Sorcerer’s Isle she had been almost overwhelmed by despair, but now she felt renewed and vowed that no harm would befall these strange and wonderful beings, nor any other creature on this world.
She walked down the trail as the sun set over the western peaks across the bay, feeling reinvigorated with a new sense of purpose. Terrible things were coming, but she would not be cowering in some dark corner waiting for those horrors to seek her out after having destroyed all she loved in this world. She would meet those horrors head on, defiant and willing to give everything she had to the last moment, to preserve all she loved in this world.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Prelude