White Road

and heal.”
    “Tayan’gil do not kill, or sing, for that matter. They have no voice at all. Except for this one of yours. I think it must be because of the tainted blood it was made with.”
    Seregil let the insult pass, thinking back to what Tyrus and his dragon had told them; somehow, Alec’s blood had made a stronger rhekaro, the only one of its kind—unless another alchemist got hold of Alec and the book. “But it also heals people, and very well, too. I imagine that makes some people rather greedy to own one. We’ve been trying to protect him, too. Alec—the ya’shel—considers him his child. He had a prophecy about a ‘child of no woman’ and Sebrahn appears to be just that.”
    “It is no child,” warned Rieser. “The witch says that this one of yours can raise the dead. Is this true?”
    “Why would he think that?” Seregil didn’t like where this was heading.
    “He sees what he sees, more deeply than you or I. He told me that your ya’shel has two lives.”
    “Really?” Seregil returned dryly, sidestepping the question of Alec’s death. “So, here we are. You can’t attack us, and we can’t get away. What shall we do?”
    Rieser considered this for a moment, then lowered his sword slightly. “I will make you a bargain.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “I will let you all live if you will give me the book, the tayan’gil, and the ya’shel.”
    “We don’t have the book, Alec will have something to say about you taking Sebrahn away, and you can’t have Alec.”
    “As long as the ya’shel walks in this world, he is a danger.”
    “As I said, the dark witch—who is actually called an alchemist, by the way—who made Sebrahn is dead. He won’t be making any more tayan’gil out of anyone, and if I can get those books, neither will anyone else. You’re welcome to them. Take them off to your valley and guard them all you like. But Alec stays with me. That’s not on the table. And if you kill him, then you’d better make certain I’m dead, too. Otherwise I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth and leave your meat for the crows. Then again, Sebrahn will probably do the job for me. You may have survived wounding Alec, but if you kill him, the results will be dire.”
    Rieser considered this for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s madness to take the ya’shel into Plenimar, and unthinkable to take the tayan’gil. Your ‘alchemist’ may be dead, but there could be others who know what Sebrahn is, and seek to own him.”
    “Well, we can’t really leave him just anywhere. He won’t be parted from—” Seregil paused, struck by a sudden realization. Sebrahn hadn’t been with them when they’d awakened in that ruined hut. And he’d tried to get free and find the other rhekaro—or tayan’gil—every time they got close to the masked bastards. Which meant—
    “As you see, you can leave Sebrahn with Hâzadriën,” Rieser said with a knowing look.
    “Really?” A guilty hope sprang up in Seregil’s heart, one he quickly quashed. “Even if that’s so, why would we leave Sebrahn here? What’s to stop you from taking him away the minute we’re out of sight?”
    “Because I will go with you to Plenimar. My people will not go home without me.”
    Seregil stared at him in surprise. “And how is that any less insane than taking a half-breed? You’re the pure article.”
    “I can take care of myself, Bôkthersa. I will leave you and your talímenios alive if—”
    “And Micum.”
    “And the Tírfaie, if you will give me the books once you have them.”
    “Just like that?”
    “Yes. If what you say is true, then without the book, theycannot be made. That is the mission of the Ebrados, to keep that from happening.”
    “Ebrados?” He’d never heard that word before, but the parts were as archaic as
tayan
. “‘White road riders’?”
    “Yes.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means a number of things, none of which are any concern of yours. Now, do you accept my bargain or not?”
    “I’ll have to speak to the others. And assuming that we do get the book and make it back, what about Sebrahn?”
    Rieser regarded him impassively.
    “Right.” Seregil stole a look back at Alec, who stood with Micum, watching them intently. “Alec will never agree.”
    “We will see, when the time comes. But I stand by my pledge for your safety if you keep your part of the bargain. You have my word.”
    “And what is that worth, when you give it to a stranger?”
    The older