Chapter Seventy Two

“Too much death obscures what we seek to find. The Kings is alive and he will remain so as well as this particular earth child. He is months old at best and can be molded to fit our purposes. My job is to find him, and I will. He’s near by. I sense a mother’s concern and a secret that must be kept.” She prowled the dais like a hungry cat. “Tell me, is there no one special? Anyone or anything out of the ordinary?”

“No.”

A split second of hesitation yet it was enough. Elymas tried, but failed, to keep the image of the redheaded youth from his mind.

“No?”

“There is one who beat me at rulla. A red-headed youth from a crop of village boys come for Winnowing. But he is certainly not a babe and has no limp.”

Even so, she stopped pacing.

“He beat you at rulla? But your dice are weighted.”

Elymas badly wanted another drink. “It’s true that no one has ever outrolled me. It should not have happened.”

“What did he roll.”

An eleven, a four and a . . . twenty eight.”

“What were yours?”

“Eight, two, and sixteen. But rulla itself means nothing. It’s a game of chance as you well know.”

“Let me tell you what those rolls mean,” Rizla could barely contain her fury, and Elymas cowered as if he might be struck. “With each cast of the die, you projected into the Deep. This acolyte crested you from the start, covered you in the depths, and you can’t reach him in the highest realm.”

“He is a nobody from Larnes!”

“Clearly, he is somebody. Somebody who must be dealt with. I will test him myself, then message the Tu’el to see if he can be useful. You will bring him to me tomorrow when I call.”

“Yes.”

“When we walk from this room, you walk as my servant. I will be in different guises but you will always recognize me.” Grimacing, she touched him on the right shoulder. A jolt of electricity went through him as though he’d been touched by a striker eel. “You must always obey my commands and promise to tell the truth, no matter what it costs you.”

Elymas nodded.

“Again, the Hunter. Is he alive?”

“Yes. My Sacred Servants may have been rough, but they were told not to kill.”