Eathnor laughed. “That it does.”
With Eathnor beside him, Dorann led his dark gray wingabeast, Sharten, through the archway into the outer bailey, where the stables lay.
“Welcome back.”
At Craelin’s greeting, Kai smiled for the first time since entering Torindan. But he also felt like weeping. “Thank you. I’m glad to see you.”
The bright blue eyes nested more deeply in Craelin’s face. “And I, you.”
Kai cleared his throat. “We should hurry, although I dread facing Elcon again.” With slumped shoulders, he led Fletch after the others into the outer bailey, where smoke hung heavy and the stench of charred meat fouled the air. Dogs snarled and yipped, fighting over a bit of offal thrown to them. A scarred wooden door hung open in a doorway, through which emitted the clash and clang of cooking.
With Craelin keeping pace beside him, Kai took the side path to the stables, which squatted across the sward from the kitchens. Waiting for a groomsman at the stable door, he breathed in the heavy scent of hay. Thudding hooves, soft whickerings, and calming voices drifted to him. A lump formed in his throat. He’d forgotten what it meant to come home.
Craelin touched his arm. “Give it time, Kai. None but a fool would think you gave less than your all for Elcon or Shae.”
Kai wanted to shout that his all hadn’t been enough. He’d failed Shae, and he had failed Elcon.
2
Reunion
“You’re weary, Lof Shraen. Come and rest by the fire.” The steward of Rivenn, in a blue-cushioned chair which contrasted with his russet surcoat, waited in Elcon’s outer chamber.
Elcon frowned. He’d not summoned Benisch.
The steward arose, the chair creaking beneath his girth, and executed a bow.
Elcon inclined his head to acknowledge the belated gesture and then took a stance before the flames in the hearth. He would deal with Benisch later. Other matters occupied his mind at present. As dried pitch ignited, the burning logs snapped and sizzled. Heat radiated to him. He held out his hands as if he might wrest life itself from the fire. His focus shifted inward and, instead of the flames before him, he saw the rounded eyes of the Elder youth, looking as if they saw all Elcon was and would ever be.
Standing turned to pacing. Elcon started when he came across Benisch, still waiting where he’d made his bow. In truth, he’d forgotten the steward’s presence. “Did you need something?” he rapped out.
“I?” Benisch gave a small smile and coughed. “Not I, but perhaps
you
might do with something to eat or drink?”
“I want nothing.” He paced to the fire and clasped his hands behind him as he watched its flames claw the air. “But if I do Anders can tend me.”
“Perhaps—” Benisch hesitated with delicacy. “Perhaps a listening ear?”
“What?” He looked away from the flames. “No. Benisch, I thank you, but really I don’t see—”
“I received word of a strange Elder brought to Torindan by Kai.”
Benisch’s quick knowledge of the affairs within Torindan had served Elcon on more than one occasion, but now it irritated. He raised his brows. “Do you intend to gossip, then?”
Benisch sniffed. “I overheard another speak of it.”
Elcon repressed a smile. “I’ve a mind to leave you wondering as penance for eavesdropping, but it won’t hurt for you to know. Yes, Kai brings an Elder upon his return from…an errand.” Benisch opened his mouth to speak again, but Elcon forestalled him with a raised hand. “I know little more than you do at present.”
“This comes at an awkward time.” As Benisch moved closer, he clicked and jingled.
Diverted, Elcon angled a look at Benisch’s feet. The toes of his slippers curled upward, each ending in a tiny golden bell.
Benisch cleared his throat. “Your youth does not benefit you, Lof Shraen. You should be more circumspect. You have yet to secure Faeraven, and allowing an Elder within Torindan’s gates will bring ill favor in some quarters.”
“I’ll not let the thoughts of others guide me.” His words, meant to ring with boldness, sounded plaintive even in Elcon’s own ears.
“Better their thoughts than their armies.” Having delivered himself of this verdict, Benisch said no more, but stood with hands clasped docilely before him. The jewels in his many rings flashed in the light of the chamber’s torches, already lit against the growing darkness. “Shall I have a footbath brought to ease you?”
Elcon would have laughed at Benisch’s puppyish expression if his eagerness to please hadn’t been such an irritant. “Thank you, no.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “Really, Benisch, I need nothing but privacy now. Pray, consider your duties for the day at an end.”
Benisch looked as though he would argue but instead nodded and swept from the room.
Alone save for his servant Anders, who would remain discreetly closeted unless summoned, Elcon sat in the chair Benisch had vacated and let his fingers curl against the smooth wood of the armrests. Leaning his head back, he released a long sigh.
An image flashed behind his closed lids.
He opened his eyes to stare at the vaulted and gilded ceiling. Why did the face of the Elder youth haunt him?
He pushed aside an uneasy emotion he refused to name and set his thoughts instead on Shae. Why had she not returned? Surely Kai would have kept her from harm. After all, Kai had known and loved Shae long before Elcon had even learned his sister lived. He pushed off the arms of the chair to rise. Odd that resting his body only meant he exhausted himself in thought, whereas movement wearied his body but eased his mind. He strode to the side door connecting to the servant chambers, summoned Anders, and ordered food and drink for those who would soon arrive in his meeting chamber.
Kai came first, and as he entered, Elcon noted the sadness that mantled him. Whatever had happened on the journey did not sit well. Kai met his glance, but his own slid away. He seemed distracted, little able to give attention to even simple matters.
Elcon indicated the benches before the fire. “Make yourself comfortable. The others have not yet arrived.”
Kai obeyed, seating himself on one of the benches, but his posture remained stiff.
Elcon’s conscience smote him at the harsh words he’d spoken earlier. He took a steadying breath, raked a hand through his hair, and then joined Kai on the bench. “Tell me about Shae.”
Kai spread his hands. “She’s gone. She went through Gilead Riann to allow the DawnKing to enter Elderland.”
Elcon shifted forward on the bench. “You said as much earlier, but I don’t understand. Where is this DawnKing?”
“You’ve already spoken with him.”
Elcon’s brows shot up, and his eyes widened. “
Not…
surely not—”
Kai nodded. “I speak of Emmerich, the Elder who rode with us. He is Shraen Brael, the DawnKing we seek.”
Elcon found his feet. “It’s not possible! Must the Kindren look to a youth—and one of the Elder nation, at that, for deliverance?”
“I know it’s hard to acknowledge. I can barely credit it myself, yet I saw Emmerich waiting within the gateway of Gilead Riann with my own eyes.”
“I’m not sure I believe this, but I’ll agree to listen to all you say this night.” Elcon seated himself again and crossed his arms. “But first, has harm come to Shae?”
“I don’t believe she suffers, although we all did in reaching the Caverns of Caerric Daeft
.
Misfortune reduced our number until only two of us, Dorann and myself, remained to guard Shae. Welkes attacked us in Laesh Ebain
,
and we became separated.
“I found and helped her, at least for a time. Dorann followed also, at great sacrifice, and came upon me lost in the cavern without a lamp. Shae went on alone, for time grew short, and she could see by an inner light.
“Dorann and I found Shae standing on the natural bridge that spans Lohen Keil, the Well of Light below Gilead Riann. Freaer tried to lure her away, but Emmerich called from within the gateway. Shae wavered, but in the end, sang the death song as she crossed into Lohen Keil and changed places with Emmerich. He stepped out as she went in.”
“She sang the Mael Lido? Why?”
Kai’s long eyes gleamed. “To ensure her own safe passage to Shaenn Raven. When she passed through Gilead Riann, Shae gave her life with all her heart. The gateway closed after she entered. Emmerich tells me she wants for nothing in the land beyond, and I—I somehow know she’s well. I grieve for her, but I’m certain that, if she had it to do again, Shae would make the same choice.”
“I hope she has no cause for regret.”
“Her song carried far and wide and brought healing to many.”
A tap came at the door. Aerlic and Emmerich entered together, followed by Craelin, Eathnor, and Dorann.
Craelin made his bow, echoed at once by his companions. “Guaron remains behind with the wingabeasts but will join us after they settle in.”
Elcon inclined his head. “Let’s go through to my meeting chamber. Sit you down at my table. I’ve ordered food and drink.” He spoke to Craelin but could not prevent his gaze from straying to Emmerich. Freshly washed, the Elder youth looked even younger than he had upon first acquaintance. He must be no more than fourteen summers.
They ranged around the massive slab of strongwood set on sturdy trestles that dominated the center of his meeting chamber. Elcon took his place in the elaborate carven chair at the table’s head. Silence reigned for a time as they examined one another.
Anders appeared at the door and admitted servants bearing steaming platters piled high with meats and tubers, fruit pastries, and chilled tankards of cider. Elcon plucked an apple from a passing tray, biting into its crisp, cool flesh and letting its sweetness soothe his tongue. “Tell me everything that happened after I left you.”
Kai carried the weight of the narrative, with others chiming in various details although Dorann spoke little. The story unfolded for Elcon in bits and pieces. The small band had navigated the canyons of Doreinn Ravein to spend a harrowing night at Paiad Burein. They’d resisted the terrible beauty of the Smallwood of Syllid Mueric only to meet peril in the ruins of Braeth.
Kai frowned as he described the rush to carry Guaron, near death from the bite of a waeven, to Graelinn Hold. “He lived, but Praectal Caedric gave no hope for a full recovery.”
A tap came at the door, and Guaron slipped into the room. He straightened from his bow and looked from one to the other, his brows lifted. Elcon sat forward. “I thought no cure existed for a waeven’s bite, and yet you seem well.”
“I am well.”
Elcon leaned forward to catch the murmured reply.
“Speak up.” Craelin commanded. “None can hear you.”
Guaron hesitated, but then stood taller. His voice rang with conviction. “I am well because the DawnSinger’s song healed me.”
Elcon cradled his forehead between steepled fingers. “Tales come to me, tales of sightless eyes opened and of hearing restored.” He dropped his hands and looked to Craelin, who nodded. Elcon turned to Emmerich, seated between Dorann and Aerlic. “What do you know of this?”
“Shae, like Kunrat before her, sang a song of sacrifice to fulfill prophecy.”
“How do you, an Elder, know Kindren prophecy?”
Emmerich gave no response.
“Why do you keep silence?” Elcon heard the rising note in his own voice and cautioned himself, for he did not care to show this Elder his consternation.
“What can I speak that you will hear?”
The words struck Elcon like a blow. His head came up. “Do you presume to know my heart?”
The Elder looked at him with piercing eyes.
Elcon stirred himself. “Don’t deceive yourself that I’ll accept a youth, and an Elder, as Savior. Speak the truth. How came you to Gilead Riann in the place of Shraen Brael?”
Emmerich bowed his head.
Elcon jumped to his feet. “Your silence condemns you! Craelin, place him under guard in one of the suites above the gatehouse.”
“
Lof Shraen—”
“
Take him away!
”
Craelin hesitated, but at Elcon’s look, moved to comply.
With a look of nobility, Emmerich rose, and Craelin stopped short. He motioned with his head to Eathnor, and the scrape of the tracker’s chair came loud. Silence mantled them all as Emmerich was escorted from the chamber.
Elcon waited for them to go before seating himself again. He clasped his fingers together and heaved a breath. “Now, then. Continue.” Blank faces stared back at him, but he prompted them again. “What happened when you left Graelinn Hold?”
****
Kai entered the allerstaed through its central archway, his footsteps ringing across gleaming strongwood floors. Stained glass windows set in high arches glowed like jewels in a setting of gold. He reached the golden railing at the foot of the altar and there knelt. It seemed a lifetime ago since he’d bent his knee here with Shae and Elcon. He touched his forehead to the cool metal of the railing as his vision blurred.
If another gateway into Elderland could open to release Shae, it would be here in the allerstaed. If love could call her forth, she would come to him. Although tears fell to bathe his hands, he could only summon the memory of the girl he’d found weeping here, so long ago, at the foot of the altar.
He spoke aloud. “Lof Yuel, help me bear this pain, for an arrow lodged within my chest to bleed away my strength could not wound more.”
Kai raised a hand to dash the tears away, for they did not ease him. He could not afford to linger in sorrow, regardless. He had slipped away from his regular duties for a time only. He waited in prayer and silence, understanding all at once why Shae loved the place of prayer. A gentle touch, Lof Yuel’s caress, felt but not seen, soothed him. He lifted his head and let the breeze that found him dry his tears.
Footfalls carried in the silence, following the invisible current into the chamber. Elcon stepped through the main archway and into the allerstaed. Kai rose and gave his bow.
Elcon inclined his head in greeting. “I didn’t think to find you here, but I’m glad of it now. Will you stay beside me while I pray?”