Crown of Crystal Flame (37 page)

The arrow slammed into her breast with enough force to propel her backward. She lay on the ground, staring up, breathless and dazed, as the top of a nearby tree crashed down upon her.

The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

“Why did Kieran and Kiel have to leave again? I’m worried, Lorelle. I’ve got a bad feeling. Like maybe we’ll never see them again.”

Lillis frowned as she rolled the small jingle ball across the beautifully woven carpet in the center of the even-more-beautiful bedroom she and Lorelle had been assigned in the Fey palace. The twin golden bells tied to the pretty white stone at the center of the mesh ball chimed merrily as the ball rolled. The same man who had given Lillis and Lorelle their kittens had also given them the jingle balls. Though most had been crushed by their fall on the mountain, this one had miraculously survived.

Snowfoot, her kitten, pounced on the ball and batted it between his small paws with pure, kittenish delight, and while normally that would make Lillis laugh and want to cuddle her adorable pet, at the moment she barely even noticed the kitten’s antics. Her mind was somewhere else. Somewhere troubling.

Lorelle scowled. “Honestly, Lillis, what’s wrong with you? We’re here in a beautiful, Fey-tale palace, in a beautiful, Fey-tale room. Papa’s here, and happier than I’ve seen him in ages—did you see that workshop Lord Dax had set up for him? When this war is over, Ellie and Rain and Kieran and Kiel and Bel and everybody are going to come home, and we’ll all be happier than ever.”

“I’m just worried, that’s all.”

Lorelle jumped up. “Well, don’t be! Kiel and Kieran are going to be fine. They are!” She stamped a foot for emphasis. She stalked over to the arched doorway leading to the balcony outside their room and stood beside the sheer drape billowing gently in the breeze. Her arms crossed over her thin chest. “We’re all going to be fine,” she insisted again, as if to convince herself as much as Lillis.

A knock on the door made them both turn.

“Come in,” Lillis called.

The crystal doorknob turned, and the door pushed inward. A beautiful Fey lady—was there any other kind?—stood on the threshold. She had lovely long, black hair hanging in ringlets down her back, and the prettiest eyes Lillis had ever seen, deep blue-green and as bright as gems. She looked like she’d stepped from the pages of a Fey tale, clad in a gown of flowing green fabric embroidered with tiny golden leaves, flowers, and birds.

“Hello,” Lillis greeted. “Who are you?”

“My name is Tealah. I was—am—a friend of your sister, the Feyreisa.”

With a spurt of sudden eagerness, Lillis clambered to her feet. “You know Ellie?”

“Ellie.” For a moment Tealah looked confused. “Ah, you mean Ellysetta Feyreisa.
Aiyah.
We spent many bells together when she was here. I am the Keeper of the Hall of Scrolls, and she liked to read very much.” Slender black brows arched in inquiry. “Do you girls like to read, too?”

“I do.” Lillis cast a despairing glance over her shoulder at her twin. “Lorelle prefers to play Pirates and Damsels.”

“That’s not true.” Lorelle uncrossed her arms to put her hands on her hips. “I like to read. I just don’t like to read all those mushy lovey-lovey stories you like.”

“She likes reading about sword fights,” Lillis said with a sigh. “And about all the battles in the Mage Wars. As long as there’s blood and violence, and someone dies, she’s happy.”

“I see.” With a smile that suddenly looked a little nervous, Tealah said, “Well, I thought perhaps you might like to spend some time with me today at the Hall of Scrolls. I’m sure we can find something to… ah… entertain both of you.”

Lillis snatched up Snowfoot, and a flailing paw sent the jingle-ball rolling. “Can we bring our kittens?”

Tealah looked from Lillis to Lorelle, who had bent to pick up Pounce. The twins both smiled as sweet and innocent as young Lightmaidens and made their eyes very large and pleading.

“I… I suppose so.” Tealah nodded.
“Aiyah,
why not?”

Twin smiles beamed bright as the Great Sun. Clutching their kittens to their chests, the girls skipped out of their bedroom, out of the palace, and down the hillside as Tealah led the way to the Hall of Scrolls.

In their bedroom, the small jingle ball with its white stone came to rest out of sight beneath a large chest of drawers.

Celieria ~ Verlaine Forest

“We’re surrounded.” Farel delivered the news without a hint of emotion. They’d been on the run all night and into the morning. Several more Walls of Steel had stood—and perished—but the Mages and Mharog kept coming.

Rain’s arms tightened around Ellysetta. She’d sensed the opening of the Well half a bell ago, and Farel’s scouts had traced the sickly sweet odor of Azrahn back to four portals ringing their current position. “So we make our stand here,” Rain said.

“Nei.
We’re only thirty miles from the forest’s edge. The reinforcements I sent for are attempting to flank the Eld blocking our path. Our best hope is to push forward.” His fingers closed around the hilts of his
meicha
in a tight grip.
“Sieks’ta.
I thought traveling through the Verlaine was the safest route, but it seems I’ve only endangered your lives by slowing our escape.”

“You owe us no apology,” Ellysetta said. “If not for you, we’d already either be dead or prisoners of the High Mage.”

“I spoke with the reinforcements I sent to the village. The Eld beat them there by half a bell, but the Brotherhood was able to rout them. The Mharog and a dozen Mages escaped—I expect they’ll join the others here shortly—but the rest perished. The
dahl’reisen
have already Fired the village and gone to escort the women and children safely to the Garreval.”

Something about Farel’s expression made her stomach clench with dread. “But everyone got out safely before the Eld arrived… didn’t they?”

“Almost everyone. A woman and her newborn son perished, along with ten of the
dahl’reisen
who stayed behind to protect her while she gave birth. Sheyl was wounded.”

“Is she going to be all right?”

“Aiyah.
The warriors found her unconscious and trapped beneath a fallen tree, but once they were able to free her and revive her, she was able to heal herself. She’s running with them now to catch the others up.”

Ellysetta watched him closely. “You don’t look happy at the news.”

“I’m happy she’s alive—especially as that gives me the chance to wring her neck when I see her again.” His lips compressed in a thin line, and a hint of anger lit his eyes. “She admitted to me she’d seen her death. The night you came to our village, she told me she’d had a vision of me escorting you both out of the Verlaine, but that was a lie. The only vision she saw was of her own death, and she sent me away with you because she didn’t want me to die trying to protect her from a death she knew couldn’t be stopped.”

“But she’s alive,” Ellysetta pointed out. “So clearly her vision was wrong.”

“Her visions are never wrong. She was supposed to die, just as she saw.” Farel straightened and met her gaze full on. “But you changed that. You gave her a gift—a
sorreisu’kiyr
pendant. It stopped the arrow meant for her heart. You changed her fate, Feyreisa. You saved her life, in a way no one but the gods could have done, and for that I owe you a debt I can never repay.”

“I will not hear any more talk of debts owed,” Ellysetta said. “You saved our lives. Any possible debt has already been paid in kind.”

“Nei,
we rescued you from Eld for Gaelen, for all the times he sacrificed for us. My debt to you still stands.” He shifted his gaze to Rain. “I have spoken with the
dahl’reisen
and told them how your mate saved Sheyl. Many of them have been thinking about Varian and the others. About how like Fey they looked when they left. They died with joy—and with more honor than a
dahl’reisen
has a right to expect.”

“They died with the honor of a
lu’tan,”
Rain corrected. “No matter what Dark choices they may have made in the past, today they chose
sheisan’dahlein.”

Farel’s fingers plucked one of his Fey’cha from its sheath, and he bent his head to polish a nonexistent spot on the gleaming steel. “We are also prepared to die for the Feyreisa today, but we want…” He broke off, cleared his throat, and rephrased. “That is to say, my brothers and I would humbly ask…”

Rain cut him off. “You wish to bloodswear yourselves to Ellysetta.”

The
dahl’reisen
leader looked up, making a visible effort to meet and hold Rain’s gaze. “I know that you have no reason to offer us a salvation we do not deserve… and in all honesty, I must tell you we intend to weave Azrahn in her defense.”

“Aiyah.”

Farel continued in a rush. “Six-fold weaves are much more effective than five, and we could do more to defend her with them if we were free to weave Azrahn without fear of Mage Marks.”

“Aiyah.”

“Bloodsworn to a
shei’dalin
as bright as the Feyreisa, we might even—” Farel broke off, blinking in shock at Rain’s swift, unequivocal assent.
“Aiyah?
You mean… you agree?”

“Aiyah.”
Rain covered Ellysetta’s hand with his and threaded his fingers through hers. “I agree it is the best solution.”

“I—” Farel’s mouth opened and closed. “Just like that?”

Rain gave a weary smile. “Just like that.”

The last few bells, with the torment of the
dahl’reisen
and the foul presence of the Mharog beating at Ellysetta, forcing her to divert more of her energy to shield herself, he’d begun to feel the effects of the bond madness more strongly. His thoughts were becoming cloudy and confused. Rage simmered just below the paper-thin surface of his control, and he knew that open battle with Mages and Mharog would quickly shred what semblance of sanity he still retained. When that happened, Ellysetta would need as many protectors as she could get—including ones willing and able to slay him.

Even if he did survive this battle, he had no illusions about surviving the war. Without him, all hope of erasing Ellysetta’s Mage Marks through
shei’tanitsa
would be lost, and the Massan would never let her return to the Fading Lands. These
dahl’reisen,
so unafraid of spinning Azrahn, were no strangers to protecting those Marked by the Mages. Perhaps, after his death, they would be able to find a way to free her of her Marks as he had not.

It was a risk. A scorching triple tairen-sized risk. If Ellysetta did fall to the Dark, a bloodsworn army of
dahl’reisen
would make her even more dangerous. But, then, Hawks-heart had already said if Ellysetta fell to the Dark, all Light in the world would fall with her. Whether she went with the
dahl’reisen
at her side or without them, the end result would be the same.

“Gather your men. She will not bless them—I don’t think either of us could survive her blessing four hundred
dahl’reisen
—but they can swear their bonds, and I will stand witness.”

“I—” Farel closed his gaping mouth and snapped into a deep bow.
“Beylah vo, Feyreisen.
For my men and I, I thank you.” Farel started to leave, then turned back. “I almost forgot. Sheyl gave me a message for you, Feyreisa. She had another vision while she lay trapped beneath that tree. A vision about you. She said to tell you that when all seems lost, let love, not fear, be your guide.”

Ellysetta looked surprised. “Hawksheart said almost the exact same thing to me when we were leaving Navahele.”

“I would say it was coincidence,” Rain answered, frowning, “but when it comes to Elves and their portents, there’s no such thing.”

“At least the message sounds more hopeful than ominous,” Farel said. “I hope it serves you well.” And with that, he gave a final bow and strode away to gather his men.

The bloodswearing went quickly. With the enemy approaching, there was no time for pomp or ceremony. The
dahl’reisen
knelt in groups, and in unison each group of warriors swore on their life’s blood and black Fey’cha steel to protect and defend Ellysetta Feyreisa in this life and the death that followed. Farel was among the last to pledge his bond.

When they were done, the pile of steel at Ellysetta’s feet was too large to even contemplate weaving into her leathers. Instead,
dahl’reisen
Earth masters gathered and spun her leathers and bloodsworn blades into a gleaming, more feminine steel replica of Rain’s golden armor, complete with its own full complement of blades and a scarlet-plumed helm.

The
dahl’reisen
formed a circular Wall of Steel twelve
dahl’reisen
deep around Rain and Ellysetta. Earth magic pulsed with sudden energy, and black leathers flashed to vivid scarlet, emblazoned with a golden tairen rampant with green eyes. The shout rang up from hundreds of
dahl’reisen
throats, a joyful, defiant cry:
“Miora felah ti’Feyreisa!
“

And they began to sing.

Two bells and twenty hard-won miles later, the
dahl’reisen
were no longer singing. The grim battle for survival left little breath for anything beyond shallow gasps to fill straining lungs as magic and blades filled the air, and the forest Verlaine ripped apart at its roots.