From inside her cloak, Lily drew forth the Summoning Stone. Anest already held his staff at the ready. Her eyes clear and purposeful, despite the beginning of dark circles beneath them, Lily sat cross-legged on the ground before the murky pond, and held the stone with both hands before her.

"You must touch the heel of your staff to the Stone," she said to Anest. "Lend me your strength, only. Let me do the rest, or disaster could result."

And then, for the first time since she had first appeared in Belloc's garden, she began to sing, in a quiet, penetrating, wordless, altogether eldritch voice. In answer, the stone began to glow from within, barely perceptibly at first, but gradually it became bright and lovely, like the first fresh green leaves and grassy smells of spring. By degrees, the green glow spread until it enveloped her. Anest's staff began to glow as well, becoming first as clear as glass, then resonating the same

healthy green light. He too became enveloped, feeling the warm green light on his face like a spring sun.

To an observer, Lily's song would sound strange . . . utterly alien to human ears. Her song was slow-moving and beautiful, like the turning of the seasons, the rising sap of a great tree, the deep crystal waters of a pristine, underground lake, so smooth and still and pure that it lay like some colourless, transparent, precious jewel within the bosom of the earth.




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