Masha asked why Kemren had come here. Smhee chewed on his lower lip for a whilebefore answering. ••
'You may as well know it all. Kemren was a priest of the goddess Weda Krizhtawnof the island of Sharranpip. That is far east and south of here, though you mayhave heard of it. We are a people of the water, of lakes, rivers, and the sea.Weda Krizhtawn is the chief goddess of water, and she has a mighty temple withmany treasures near the sea.
'Kemren was one of the higher priests, and he served her well for years. Inreturn, he was admitted into the inner circle of mages and taught both black andwhite magic. Though, actually, there is little difference between the twobranches, the main distinction being whether the magician uses his powers forgood or evil.
'And it isn't always easy to tell what is good and what is evil. If a mage makesa mistake, and his use turns out to be for evil, even if he sincerely thought itwas for good, then there is a ... backlash. And the mage's character becomeschanged for the worse in proportion to the amount of magical energy used.'
He stopped walking.
'We're opposite the isle now.'
It wasn't visible from the road. The plain sloped upwards from the road,becoming a high ridge near the river. The tall spreading blackish hukharran bushgrew on top of it. They walked the horses up the ridge, where they hobbled themnear a pool of rainwater. The beasts began cropping the long brownish grass thatgrew among the bushes.
The isle was in the centre of the lake and seemed to be composed mostly of apurplish rock. It sloped gently from the shore until near the middle, where aseries of peculiar formations formed a spine. The highest prominence was amonolith perforated near its top as if a tunnel had been carved through it.