"Did you see someone blinded that way?" Dhugal asked softly.

As Morgan glanced at him in surprise, the shields tightened down immediately, but Morgan thought he saw a new note of acceptance in the tawny eyes which continued to meet his bravely - perhaps an echo of Dhugal's own interest in healing, if only from the limited sphere of his training as a battle surgeon. Suddenly Morgan wondered whether Dhugal was Deryni, and perhaps a potential healer, at that.

"No, I never saw it done," he said hesitantly, "and thank G.o.d for that - but it's been a common enough practice through the centuries. I have a - an acquaintance who lost his sight that way." He blinked. "But this is not the time to digress. I've pointed out some of the things that fire does. Does that make the fire good or evil?"

"It isn't either," Dhugal replied carefully. "It's how the fire's used. The same hot iron that cost your friend his sight also could have been used to cauterize a wound."

Morgan nodded, pleased. "So it could. And what does that tell you about power in general?"

"That it isn't the power - it's how the power's used that makes it constructive or destructive." Dhugal paused for just an instant. "Are you saying that magic is the same?"

"Precisely the same."

"But the priests say - "

"The priests say what they have been told to say for the last two hundred years," Morgan returned briskly. "Deryni have not always been persecuted, and not all 'magic' has been anathema until fairly recently. Black magic - extraordinary power applied to destructive or selfish ends - has always been condemned by the righteous. But those who could harness extraordinary power for the aid of man - for healing and for defending against the abuse of power - traditionally have been called miracle workers and saints. They were also once called Deryni."

"But there were evil Deryni!" Dhugal objected. "And there still are. What about Charissa and Wencit?"

"They were Deryni who used their gifts for evil. The gifts themselves..."

Morgan sighed. "Do you think I'm an evil person?"

Dhugal's face went very still. "No. But they say - "

"They say what, Dhugal? Morgan whispered. "And who are they? And do they ever give an accounting of what I've done, or is it all because of what I am?"

"I... never thought about it that way before."

"No, I don't suppose you did." Morgan glanced at the Haldane signet on his right hand, balanced by the Corwyn Siphon on his left. "I'll make you a bargain, Dhugal. I can't speak for Duncan or Kelson, but if you can name one specific instance in which you think that I've misused my powers, I'll submit to whatever justice you think is appropriate. Should I not have helped Kelson defeat the woman who killed his father and would have killed him to seize his throne?

Should I have let the former archbishops continue the lie and bring down Gwynedd by undermining her rightful king? Should I not have healed you?"

Dhugal shook his head, unwilling to meet Morgan's eyes.

"Dhugal, I may have access to more and other kinds of power than most men," Morgan continued softly, "but I must answer for the use of that power to the same G.o.d and king that you do - or that any of the priests and bishops do - and to my own conscience as well, which can be a far sterner taskmaster. Because I've been given far greater abilities, I've had to contend with far greater responsibilities. I didn't ask for either - but I have them. All I can do is serve the best way I know how. "Kelson's father taught me honor and chivalry, and I've tried never to betray the trust he put in me. I hope I've not been too unsuccessful - despite the fact that I'm Deryni."

But he was to be given no chance to hear Dhugal's judgment, for at that moment a fumbling at the door latch announced visitors. As Morgan came to his feet, already aware of their ident.i.ties, the door opened and Duncan peered around the edge and entered, standing aside to admit Kelson and Bishop Arilan.

Dhugal got to his feet more slowly as Kelson came to give him a hand up and search his face questioningly. Arilan came straight to Morgan, his lean face set in tight-checked disapproval.

"Why wasn't I told you'd found another Deryni?" he said through his teeth, drawing Morgan aside. "And what the devil was he trying to do out there?"

Morgan sighed and picked up his cloak, far more concerned for Dhugal, deep in whispered conversation with Kelson and Duncan, than with an opinion of Arilan.

"First of all. Bishop, we don't know that he's necessarily Deryni - only that he has shields that we can't breach and he can't control," Morgan murmured, slinging his cloak around his shoulders and fastening the clasp. "As for what he was trying to do, I can only guess that he was trying to shut out the psychic overflow from Duncan's consecration. Surely you're aware that such a ritual generates a great deal of energy, especially if the central partic.i.p.ant is Deryni."

"Don't be impertinent," Arilan muttered. "And what do you mean, you don't know that he's Deryni?"

"Just that, Bishop. There's nothing in his family to account for any of this - unless you can count that rather undefinable talent the border folk refer to as the Second Sight. Dhugal does have shields, though, and he doesn't have the first clue what to do with them. As Duncan's consecration gathered momentum, it must have seemed like an enormous pressure beating against those shields he only recently learned he had, and which he doesn't know how to lower."

"You say 'recently,' How recently?"

Morgan tried to curb his impatience. "Three weeks ago, while we were in Culdi for the convocation. It happened the night you asked me to try to contact Kelson and let him know about the attack on Duncan. Kelson put him in the link to augment his power, but Dhugal felt something that frightened him enough to kick both of them right out of the link. Then he nearly went into convulsions when Kelson tried to read him."

"Has anyone tried since, or anyone besides Kelson?" Arilan asked, a little subdued after listening to Morgan's account.

"I tried," Duncan said as he joined them. "He didn't seem to mind my probe as much as Kelson's, but nor was I any more successful at getting through.

It was like going up against an obsidian wall. The harder I pushed, the stronger it got. And when Kelson joined in, thinking he might be of help, Dhugal had another violent reaction."

"I see." Arilan sighed resignedly. "And you, Alaric?"

"I wasn't able to bring him through the Portal without roughing him up physically," Morgan replied. "My touch seems to fall somewhere between Kelson's and Duncan's on a comfort scale. I was able to get around his shields enough to heal his injuries, but only while he was unconscious. I wouldn't have wanted to try it otherwise."

Arilan glanced at Dhugal, letting Kelson help him to a seat at the table set back from the fireplace, then shepherded Morgan and Duncan with him as he moved purposefully to join them. Dhugal started to rise, courteous even in his confusion and apprehension, but Arilan stayed him with a gesture and pulled out a chair for Kelson to sit, only then taking a seat himself. At Duncan's sign, Morgan took the remaining chair to Dhugal's right, across from the king.

"With your permission. Sire," Arilan said, nodding to Kelson, "I should like to get right to the heart of this matter. Dhugal," he conjured handfire in a softly glowing blue-white sphere which he set in the center of the table, "I think this should answer any question about what I am and why I presume to take charge in this matter. Will you trust me?"

Dhugal had jerked back as the fire materialized, new apprehension flaring around the still pulsing shields, but a glance at Kelson lent him sufficient courage to push his anxiety to a lower level. Morgan was amazed. As Dhugal drew a deep, steadying breath, he folded his shaking hands in deliberate mimicry of Kelson's, setting them but a hand-span from the handfire glowing in the center of the table, and made himself look squarely into the eyes of the Deryni bishop.

"I'd be lying if I said I'm not afraid. Excellency, but my - friend Duke Alaric has taught me a great deal in the last little while. And Kelson told me of you before. I'll try to do as you ask."

Arilan's mouth quirked upward in grudging response-even he could not deny the boy had pluck - but Morgan caught his disapproval of Kelson's indiscretion quite clearly. He was glad it was directed at the king instead of himself.

"Very well. We shall see just how much you have learned," Arilan said. "I a.s.sume I shan't have to go into long, involved explanations of what I should like to do."

"N-no, sir."

With a sigh and a glance at the rest of them which bespoke impatience only barely held in check, Arilan flexed his fingers and lifted one hand toward Dhugal's forehead. The startled Dhugal started to draw back in reflex avoidance; but then he took another deep breath and leaned closer so that Arilan could touch him. He flinched at the contact, but he did not draw away even when Arilan began to probe, though the process obviously caused him some discomfort. After a moment, Arilan dropped his hand and sat back, sighing again.

"Well, there's no question of the shields. Given time and the right support, I could probably breach them, but it might do permanent damage. I see no need to risk that. Duncan, you said he didn't seem to mind your touch as much. Are you willing to give it another try?"

Duncan, standing between Arilan and Morgan, looked at Dhugal in question. "That depends. Are you willing, Dhugal? I'll stop whenever you want, if it gets too bad."

Licking his lips nervously, Dhugal swallowed and gave a nod. Without further ado, Duncan came around to stand behind his chair, resting his hands lightly on Dhugal's shoulders.

"Has Kelson taught you how to relax by using deep breathing?" he asked, easing Dhugal's shoulders back against his chest and sliding his thumbs up to rest on the pulse points in his throat.

"A little."

"Good. That will make things much easier for both of us. Take a deep breath, then, and let it out, and try to concentrate on your heartbeat. You should be able to feel it against my thumbs. Do you?"

"Aye."

"Excellent. Take another breath, then - that's good - and now close your eyes and let all your muscles go limp. And another deep breath. Good..."

Morgan dared not follow Duncan's probe for fear of spilling over into the precarious balance he was building, but he could see physical signs of Dhugal ceasing his resistance. The boy did not tense or even seem to notice as Duncan shifted his fingertips up to overlap temples and forehead. He relaxed even more as Duncan bowed his head to rest his lips against the reddish hair. They stayed that way for most of a minute, still and balanced, until finally Duncan slowly raised his head and opened his eyes, coming back to normal consciousness with a blink. Dhugal, too, looked up and blinked as Duncan slipped his hands back to Dhugal's shoulders.

"Well?" Arilan asked.

Duncan shook his head. "No clash-and no pain, I don't think, was there Dhugal?"

Dhugal shook his head, twisting around to stare up at Duncan in awe.

"What did you do?"

"Well, I didn't get through," Duncan replied. "I just went round and round.

Any suggestions, anyone?"

With a perplexed sigh, Arilan sat back and folded his arms across his chest. "Fascinating. He's either one of us or another d.a.m.ned Warin de Grey. I don't suppose one of you has a shiral at hand?"

As Duncan nodded and went across the room to rummage in a desk drawer, Dhugal whispered, "What-what's a shiral?

"It won't hurt you," Kelson said quickly. "It's a clear amber stone. One finds them in streambeds-and sometimes along the seash.o.r.e."

"Well, wh-what does it do?"

Morgan smiled. "It's sensitive to the kind of power that Deryni can draw upon. That's all. Remember how we talked earlier about power not being good or evil of itself, but only the use being good or evil?"

Dhugal's nod was still very apprehensive.

"Well, all a shiral crystal does is serve as a focus," Morgan continued. "If you have the ability, or even the potential ability, to wield the kind of power we do, the crystal will gtow."

"But,. I'm not D-"

"Dhugal, you don't know what you are right now," Kelson muttered under his breath. "All we know for sure is that you've got those b.l.o.o.d.y shields!"

Duncan returned to the table, undoing the strings of a small leather bag, and withdrew a wad of age-yellowed silk As he carefully unwrapped it and Dhugal craned his neck to see what was inside, loops of a fine leather thong sprang free, strung through the center of a honey-colored lump the size of an almond.

"I've had this since I was younger than Dhugal," Duncan said, holding it to the light by its thongs as he tossed bag and silk on the table. "It isn't the clearest of crystals, but it's always been sufficient for my purposes."

As Dhugal stared, half afraid and half intrigued, Arilan caught the dangling stone against his sleeve and peered at it more closely, quenching his handfire with a gesture, then released it and sat back, giving Duncan a nod.

"I'd hoped for better, but it will do. Go ahead and test him. You know what's involved."

"But I don't know what's involved," Dhugal protested, as Duncan moved back behind his chair and extended the crystal over his shoulder.

"I a.s.sure you, there's even less chance of discomfort from this than there was from what we just did," Duncan murmured. "Just hold the stone in your hand-either hand. Physically, it won't feel different from any other stone."

Hesitantly, Dhugal reached up, flinching when the stone first touched his skin. But then he closed it resolutely in his palm and dared another questioning glance at Duncan.

"What next?"

"Close your eyes and try to ignore what's in your hand," Duncan said with a smile, slipping his hands to Dhugal's shoulders and bearing him back in the chair again. "I'm not going to do anything different from what I did before, so there isn't a thing to be anxious about. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

This won't take long."

With a nervous nod, Dhugal obeyed, gradually calming again as Duncan droned on, soothing and rea.s.suring. When Arilan at length reached across the table to touch the boy's closed fist lightly, the hand relaxed enough for all present to see golden light streaming from the crystal clutched inside. Arilan pursed his lips as he glanced at Morgan and Kelson, then nodded for Duncan to bring the test to an ^d. The light in Dhugal's hand flickered and died, but not before Dhugal's eyes fluttered open and he caught just a glimpse.

"It was glowing! I saw it!"

As his hand jerked open in reflex, Duncan leaned down to s.n.a.t.c.h the crystal before it could be spilled onto the table. Kelson nodded, a grin creasing his face.

"We saw it, too. You're not going mad. Guess what it means."

"It means that he's probably another rogue Deryni like the rest of you,"

Arilan muttered, pushing back his chair with a jarring sc.r.a.pe of wood on stone floor before Dhugal could reply. "And where does his power come from?"

As he stood and turned to face the fire. Kelson laid a protective hand on the awed Dhugal's shoulder.

"I can't answer that, Arilan, but I don't think I really care right now," the king said pointedly. "Nor do I think we should pursue this more right now. He's been through enough for one day."

"I agree, my prince," Morgan said, following Kelson's lead. "Not only that, I seem to recall we're supposed to be celebrating the creation of a new bishop this evening."

"The feast, I think, does not begin until well after sunset," Arilan answered curtly. "We still have time to - "

"We still have time for Dhugal to have some rest before the feast, if he wishes," Kelson said as he rose. "Right now, that takes precedence."

"But the Council will want - "

"What the Council wants is not at issue here," Kelson replied sharply, eliciting a near-gasp from Arilan and an exchange of stunned glances between Morgan and Duncan. "Nor do I think this is the time or the place to discuss it further, do you?"

Arilan could have no answer to that, with the others in the room. As the king drew Dhugal to his feet and they started toward the door, Arilan made a spa.r.s.e bow.

"I apologize if I seemed to press the issue. Sire."

Kelson paused with Dhugal in the open doorway to look back at all three of them.

"Apology accepted. And Father Duncan, I suspect you could also use some rest. This has been a long day for you as well."

Duncan shrugged. "I have no complaints. Sire."

"I see. Nonetheless, we'll all plan to meet again at the feast. Morgan, Arilan, are you coming?"

Morgan would have stayed, for his curiosity about the afternoon's varied events was far stronger than any real need for rest; but if he had, Arilan also might have wanted to - and if Arilan stayed, conversation was sure to come round eventually to the old disagreements about half-Deryni and the Camberian Council. Besides, the king's tone put the question almost in the form of a command. Both Morgan and Arilan went, the Deryni bishop all but muttering under his breath.

When they had gone, Duncan sat back in the chair Dhugal had just vacated and closed the shiral crystal in his hand, letting his mind wander back to boyhood and the giver of the stone. The memories were sweet, and he sat dreaming into the firelight until the shadows lengthened and the golden light died from behind the amber gla.s.s at his back.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.