Lord of Lies by David Zindell

hesitated as he turned toward me, and his face was all golden in the Lightstone's overpowering radiance. We regarded each other in wonder, and something more.
    'The Sword of Light!' a woman called out pointing toward me.
    I looked down to see that the silustria of my sword was flaring brightly - almost as brightly as the sword of valarda inside me. But soon, even as the wildly gleaming Lightstone began to fade, so did both swords, in my hand and heart.
    'The Sword of Love!'
    I lowered my sword called Alkaladur and sheathed it at the same moment that Baltasar put away his. His smile fell upon me like the rising of the sun.
    'Oh, Val!' he whispered.
    Everyone in the hall was staring at me. From Lord Harsha's table, Maram and Behira regarded me proudly, and even old Lord Tanu seemed to have forgotten his mistrust of all things. Master Juwain quietly bowed his head to me, and so did Asaru, Karshur and my father. My mother's gaze held only adoration for me, while Count Dario looked at me in fear. The faces of too many knights and nobles were full of awe - as was Salmelu's. For a moment his whole being seemed wiped clean of the spite that poised him. He stared at me as if he couldn't quite believe what had happened. But then as the Lightstone faded back to its appearance as a small, golden cup, Salmelu returned to his hateful self. His ugly face took on its familiar lines of envy, arrogance and malice.
    'You,' he said to me with a shame that burned his face, 'have drawn on one who no longer bears a sword of his own. But perhaps some day I will again, and then we'll see whose sword is quicker.'
    He marched through the hall straight up to my table. From another pocket in his yellow robes, he removed a sealed letter and slammed it down on the table before me. 'This is for you! From Lord Morjin!'
    And with that, he gathered together his fellow priests and stormed out of the hall.
    In that great room, with its many great personages, there was a silence that lasted many long moments. And then Lansar Raasharu, the foremost lord in Mesh, stood up.
    'You have saved my son from a terrible dishonor,' he said as he bowed his head to me. Then he glanced at my father's stern face and added, 'And death.'
    He went on to say that what he had witnessed, and felt, that night was nothing less than a miracle.
    'Baltasar has always been too wild, too quick with his sword - and you have stayed his hand.' Lord Raasharu now turned away from me so that his words might carry out into the hall. 'Has it not been told in the ancient prophecies that the Maitreya will be known by just such miracles? What could be greater than the healing of the hatred in a man's heart?'
    Not hating at all, I thought as I recalled the sword that I had put into Baltasar's hand.
    Lord Raasharu's strong voice called out to the hundreds in the hail who listened raptly: 'Only a short while ago, we have had another prophecy, from the Galdan scryer: that Valashu would find the Maitreya in the darkest of places. What could be darker than finding this Lord of Light inside the dark cavern of one's own heart?'
    He turned back to me, and bowed his head again, this time more deeply. 'Lord Valashu - Lord of Light. You are he. You must be. The way the Lightstone flared when you called to it, so bright, almost impossible.'
    He looked up at the Lightstone shimmering on its stand and I heard him whisper, 'I never knew, I never knew.'
    Awe colored the faces of many men and women turned toward me . I heard Lord Tanu's wife, Dashira, call out, 'Lord of Light!' while three of the Guardians standing near the Lightstone on the dais above me spoke as one, saying, 'Maitreya!' Others took up this call, too, and through the hall rang shouts of, 'Maitreya! Maitreya! Maitreya!''
    This single name, repeated again and again, was sweeter than honey and more intoxicating than whole barrels of brandy.
    'Lord Valashu, claim the Lightstone!' Lord Raasharu said to me. Many loud voices, and Lord Raasharu's the loudest