Teri McLaren
not hear him. "And you have kept my kingdom well. But I am still king, and this creature has not come to my kingdom of his own accord. His blood is on our hands. And it is true, his kind would not help us in the same situation. I have spent the last ten years in my enemy's prison; now that I am free, I will share none of his ways. The life song must be sung."
He closed his gentle eyes and began to hum. The water sapphire twinkled and glittered in response, its colors changing slowly from deepest purple to pale blue and back again. Wiggulf s strength seemed to wax and wane along with the colors.
"Is there nothing we can do to help him?" said Claria softly.
"Not that 1 know of. The stones are Og's. I know nothing of their powers," Cheyne said helplessly. Og began to pace and mutter behind them.
"Wiggulf will die that way. Too much random power. It'll stop his heart. He can't make the tone true enough, can't direct it outside himself without-" Og stopped, noticing suddenly that Cheyne was staring at him.
"Without what, Og?"
Og creased his forehead with a grimace and held up the cloth-covered staff. "Without the ajada. But I haven't sung the life song in a long, long time. If I tried it, using both stones, and I missed the notes, it could kill me, too, and Yob would still die. And Wiggulf could never manage both stones. That's a very powerful song," he said miserably. "Far more powerful than the one I sang for Yob and his company at the oasis. You do remember what happened there when I couldn't release a note."
Cheyne nodded and turned back around to see Wiggulf shake violently as he lost his breath. Yob lay stretched on the forest floor, his face blanched and slack, his eyes closed and still. But Wiggulf raised his silvery head and continued the song, spending himself without thought.