The Nomad - By Simon Hawke Page 0,3
was told it is made of elven steel, though I have never heard of such a thing, and of an unusual configuration. The blade, as it was described to me, is something of a cross between a falchion and a cutlass, broad and leaf-shaped at the tip, with an ornate hilt wrapped in silver wire.”
“And is there a legend inscribed upon the blade?” Nibenay asked anxiously. “I do not know, my lord.” For a few moments, the dragon king remained silent, his tail twitching back and forth. Veela wondered at this sudden interest in this elfling known as the Nomad. He appeared in the city out of nowhere, caused rioting and havoc, and then just as quickly disappeared. No one knew what had become of him. “It could be,” said Nibenay at last. “It could be the sword called Galdra. If so, its reappearance after all these years is a bad omen. Alone, that would be significant enough, but in the hands of one whose like has never before been seen… a preserver who can summon to his aid both the Alliance and the elves, a master of the Way despite his youthful age… and then there is his name. The Nomad. The one who always walks alone, and yet is not alone. Everything about him has the air of portent, curse him.”
In spite of herself, Veela could not resist a question. “Portent, my lord?” she said.
“I sensed his presence from the moment he came into the city,” said the Shadow King. “Yet, I did not know what it was. I only knew that something… someone… had impinged on my awareness in a way that had not happened since…” His voice trailed off.
Veela was anxious for him to continue, but she had already overstepped her bounds. Nibenay seemed not to notice. She had never seen him like this before.
“What does a nomad do, Veela?” Nibenay asked finally.
“Why…” She was not sure how to respond. Should she take the question literally? “I suppose he… wanders, my lord.”
“Yes,” said the Shadow King, drawing the word out into a sibilant hiss. “He wanders. Yes, indeed.”
Veela was at a loss to understand what he meant. Who was this Nomad that Nibenay, who had long since ceased to have any concerns about what went on in his city, was so preoccupied with? What was his significance that he should so trouble a sorcerer-king, before whose power every living creature quaked?
“Have you learned nothing else?” asked Nibenay.
“No, my lord. I have told you all I have been able to discover. And as I have said before, I cannot vouch for the veracity of some of the things I have been told.”
Nibenay nodded. “You have done well,” he said, giving her an unprecedented compliment. “There is more I need to know, however.”
“I shall make further inquiries at once, my lord,” said Veela.
“No,” he said. “He has left the city. I can no longer sense his presence. I doubt there is much more you can discover now.”
“As you wish, my lord,” she said, bowing her head.
She waited to be dismissed, but the order was not immediately forthcoming. Instead, the Shadow King issued another command.
“Bring me Valsavis.”
Veela’s eyes grew wide at the mention of the name. It was a name she had not heard spoken in years, a name that those few who still knew it rarely dared to speak aloud.
“It has been many years, my lord,” she said, uneasily. “He may no longer be alive.”
“Valsavis lives,” said Nibenay, stating it as a fact not to be disputed. “Bring him to me.”
“As you command, my lord,” said Veela, bowing as she backed out of the chamber. The heavy, carved wooden door closed behind her of its own accord.
* * *
The light carriage lurched up the rutted trail leading through the foothills of the Barrier Mountains. Seated in the shade of its canopy, Veela watched the trail carefully as the driver urged the kank forward up the slope. It had been many years since she had been here last, many years since she had even left the city, and she was concerned that she might not remember the way. Yet, even after all this time, here and there, details of the trail looked familiar. She had recalled the wide, sweeping bend in the trail as it circled around a large rock outcropping and ran parallel to the slope for a short distance before it circled around again and continued on an incline through the canyon.
About midway through the canyon, she