Stonefather полностью

“Ebb will be glad of the help in carrying the master’s touchstones.” It was the first Runnel had heard of “touchstones,” so he was all the more eager for morning. He would learn something about what stonemages actually do—he had only realized his own magery just in time to realize that he could profit from the learning.

As always, Runnel “went to bed” by climbing up to his attic room and sitting in the middle of the floor, practicing controlling his dread of being so far from stone. Tonight he managed it easily, for now he understood why he needed the stone so much and why he feared being in structures that to other people felt safe and solid. Here he would wait until the house was fully quiet, then creep down to the cellar to sleep. It never mattered to him that he got less sleep than anyone. As long as he could sleep with his hand touching the stone of the hearthroot, then he could get his full rest in only a few hours and awaken refreshed long before light. But if he slept away from stone, then his rest was fitful, waking often, and in the morning he felt as though he hadn’t slept at all.

Because I’m a stonemage!

He wondered how Lord Brickel managed to sleep. There was no channel of stone from his bedroom down to the earth. The master slept on a wooden bed, which rested on a wooden floor, which rested on wooden beams and joists.

Runnel lay down on the attic floor and closed his eyes as he listened for the sounds of the house to quiet down.

He awoke in darkness and silence.

The floor trembled under him. He sprang to his feet. How had he slept?

That had never been possible before on this high wooden floor. But maybe he could do it, now that he knew why he feared being away from stone.

The things he had learned tonight flooded back into his mind. He felt ridiculous.

I was even more blind than Lark, he thought. She knew she might be a mage, and refused to believe it. It never even crossed my mind about myself.

He was hungry to get down to the cellar and feel what Stokhos had felt in the hearthstones. Lord Brickel must have bonded the stones into a living whole during the day yesterday, or surely Runnel would have felt the change the night before. It must have been a great undertaking.

But Lord Brickel had been out at the dock of Hetterferry most of the day, keeping company with his visitors and greeting Stokhos, who only arrived that afternoon. How could he have done it in the few hours he spent at home?

Because he was so excited, Runnel found himself being careless and making a bit of noise on the stairs. That was no problem on the way down to the main floor — he could always say he was going out to pee. But then he really would have to do it, and put off going down to the cellar till later. Better not to waken anyone. So he was extra careful going down the rest of the stairs.

There were still a couple of candles guttering on their sconces on the main floor, but they were nearly gone. To his surprise, going down the cellar steps, there was a light ahead of him. Someone was down there, but by now his feet were visible. He had been seen. So there was nothing for it but to continue, and decide what lie to tell based on who was down there. If it was Demwor, he could tell him that he was looking for him to report to him now, since they’d be busy in the morning.

It was Lord Brickel himself, holding a candle and pressing the other hand on the hearthroot stones. As soon as he recognized Runnel in the dim light, he set down the candle and beckoned.

When Runnel was close enough that they could talk in whispers, Brickel took him by the shoulder and brought his lips close to Runnel’s ears.

“What are you doing to me?” he asked.

Runnel thought he was asking about the things he told to Demwor. “I never tell him anything that you didn’t used to say in front of him.”

The hand squeezed harder. “Where did you study?”

Now Runnel was confused. “I never studied anything, sir.”

“To do this — I tried to dislodge a stone down here, any of them, an easy thing. Dislodge it, pull it out, push it back in — it’s what I do. Only I can’t. The stones are all of a piece. They’re alive, as Stokhos said. And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know you understand us. I trusted you.”

No point in pretending now. “It wasn’t alive when I first came down here,” said Runnel.

“So you can tell which stones are living and which are dead?”

“I didn’t know that it was magery,” said Runnel. “Nobody told me.”

“You can’t be that stupid.”

Runnel grew angry. “I grew up in a village that’s faithful to Yeggut. Who would teach me anything about stone?”

“It’s not just the hearthstones, it’s the flagstones, too. They underlie the floor with wood, but you bound all the stones together into a continuous sheet of living stone. Do you think they won’t be able to tell? All he has to do is walk down here and feel how they don’t spring back up under his feet.”

“He” had to mean Demwor. “He sends me down here,” said Runnel.