Chapter 12: Ten Years Under

The spears did not touch me.

Kyros had put himself in front of them before the nearest guard finished his step.

He had no ring and no storm, and a bandage on one hand.

"Lower them," he said.

"My lord," said the guard, uneasy. "The regent holds the seal."

"The regent holds a piece of stone."

"The seal is law."

"Then hear the law from someone who sat the Table that night."

The eldest elder had risen from the high bench.

She was very old, and very grey, and she was shaking with anger.

"There was no vote," she said.

Every head in the cavern turned.

"I held the Table on the dark moon ten years ago.

I sat in that chair until dawn.

Not one traitor's vote was taken. The regent's book is a lie."

"Elder," said Ligeia, "you are confused."

"I have never been less confused in my life."

Ligeia's hand tightened on the seal.

I could see her thinking.

She was quick, I will say that for her.

She looked at the guards, at the elder, at the court, and her whole face hardened.

"Then take her by force," she said.

The guards hesitated.

One of them stepped forward and put a hand on my arm.

I did not pull away.

I did something I had never done in my life.

I asked.

I turned my face to the dark Basin, and I said, in the tongue I had never learned, "Help me."

The water rose.

It came up out of the stone rim in a long, smooth wave and washed the six spears out of six hands.

They clattered on the floor and rolled away.

The guards stumbled back.

The wave curled once around my ankles, warm and glad, and sank back into the pool.

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