Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (13 page)

‘I can help you there,’ Aelwen said bitterly, unable to keep silent. Then she got hold of herself. ‘But I beg pardon for interrupting again, Kaldath. Please finish your tale
before I begin mine.’

Kaldath tilted an eyebrow, looking at her curiously. ‘I am most interested in what you have to tell me, for I have often wondered about Hellorin’s special horses. But as to my own
tale: as I said, an opportunity finally presented itself, and it was all because of those very animals. The Forest Lord felt that he was too far from his horses, for they were quartered on the
outskirts of the city, and so he ordered that the Dwelven should be brought down to Eliorand to construct a tunnel that would lead right through the hill itself beneath the city, linking the palace
with the stables.’

Aelwen forgot her good intentions not to interrupt again. ‘Why, I often wondered who constructed that tunnel,’ she gasped. ‘It’s a work of incredible skill. I always
believed that it must have been formed by some exceptionally clever magic, and I couldn’t understand why its creator had not been honoured.’

‘Hellorin honour the Dwelven?’ Kaldath replied bitterly. ‘That’s the last thing he would have done, even if the situation had turned out differently, and his slaves had
simply done their work and returned to the mines . . . But of course, they did not. Under cover of their legitimate work the Oredai dug a secret passage from the original excavation site, right up
into the palace itself. It came out in the cellars. One night our forces flooded through the passage and the fight began.’

He paused, and rubbed a hand across his face. ‘I blame myself. I should have known better than to let them go up against the Forest Lord – to even encourage them in such a mad
notion. At first, however, all went well and we dared to hope. Though the Dwelven are small, they are formidable fighters. You had an example of that tonight. Through their skills and through sheer
strength of numbers we overwhelmed the kitchen staff, then the guards and the courtiers without too much trouble – but we had failed to reckon with Hellorin’s magic. If the Forest Lord
had the might to defy the Moldai and bring his entire race through from the Elsewhere to this world, why would he find the Dwelven a threat? I knew that he had let part of his powers pass into the
Fialan, and had calculated that, without it, he would be weakened, so that we might stand a chance – but oh, how wrong I was!’

A tear ran down his seamed old face and he wiped it away with a shaking hand.

‘I should have known. I should have seen, but I did not, and after all this time I still can hardly bear to remember the consequences. With one spell – a single spell –
Hellorin slaughtered the entire Dwelven race. And the legends are true. He deposited the bodies in this river on the edge of his borders and transformed them into an island. The other surviving
rebels, human and Hemifae, were all captured and executed – all but me. I had helped the Dwelven and I was their Overseer, so he laid the ultimate blame at my door and decided that my
punishment should be linked to their fate. Before all the Phaerie, he cast a spell that bound me here for ever with the ghosts of the race I had led to their deaths, and twisted my own magic so
that I could age but never die. Here I have remained ever since, living through the centuries in sorrow and remorse, surrounded by the unquiet spirits that are a testament to my failure to free the
Dwelven or to keep them safe. And down through all those long and bitter years, no one has ever set foot here – until tonight. Until you came, apparently by accident, knowing of the Elsewhere
and the Fialan. No wonder the ghosts are uneasy tonight. They know that you are the harbingers of change, and that one way or another, you will bring an ending.’

Kaldath looked from one to the other, his dark eyes searching their faces. ‘The ghosts are not the only ones who are uneasy, however. You suddenly appear out of nowhere, talking of the
Elsewhere, and I look at you with a mixture of hope and fear. I can see that you are weary, but please tell me your tale now. As I said before, I am certain that your coming here is more than mere
accident, or coincidence.’

Ignoring a ferocious dig in the ribs from Taine, and overriding his protests in mindspeech, Aelwen took a deep breath and began to relate her tale to Kaldath. Her trust in the old man had
remained steadfast throughout his tale, and all her instincts were telling her that he was, or would be, a friend. She began with a brief account of the ambush on the Phaerie, and saw his shock
when she told of the fall of Hellorin, and how the Forest Lord had been taken out of time to preserve his life, and been trapped in the Elsewhere.

‘And you say that Hellorin has a daughter now?’ Kaldath gasped. ‘And
she
is ruling the Phaerie?’

‘Not any more,’ Aelwen told him, ‘but let me tell you the rest of it.’ She tried to block out Taine’s growing agitation as she recounted the tale, finally bringing
events up to the present.

Kaldath, who had been hanging on to her every word, shook his head. ‘I can only hope that the fates are kinder to you in your rash undertaking than they were to me, for if Hellorin should
escape the Elsewhere, you may rue the day you decided to bring the Fialan to this mundane realm. The thought of its power let loose in this world chills me, and I hardly know whether to hope your
friends will succeed or fail. I only wish that I could leave this place and help you, for something tells me that you’ll need all the help you can get. But now you must rest. Tomorrow, with
its burdens, will come soon enough.’

Much as they wanted to prolong the discussion with Kaldath, they could stay awake no longer. Curled in Taine’s arms, Aelwen fell into the profound slumber of the utterly exhausted, but as
time went by, she began to dream. Mounted on her black stallion Taryn, she was flying with the Wild Hunt. Their weapons, hands and shining raiment were all stained with blood, and the great, silver
fellhounds, the hounds of terror, streamed ahead of them through the sky. As she rode, she felt the fierce exhilaration of their bloodlust and the savage joy of the kill – yet somewhere in
the dark depths of her mind, a small, lone voice, like the frantic wingbeats of a trapped bird, kept repeating:

‘This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong . . .’

The Hunt flew into a bank of cloud that was tinged with the smoky blood-hues of a sullen sunset, and burst out of the other side into a scene of blood-freezing horror. The Forest Lord, vast,
mighty, towering thousands of feet tall, bestrode the land like a colossus, with one giant, booted foot planted in Eliorand and the other in the Wizard city of Tyrineld. Below him, the forest was
crushed and mangled, its trees strewn like splintered matchwood across the earth. The moors and farmland were a desert, a wasteland piled high with mangled corpses and gleaming shards of bone. In
one huge hand, he held Aelwen’s companions, Iriana and Corisand, Dael, Kelon and Taine, oh, Taine . . .

Hellorin turned his head and looked directly at her. Their eyes met and locked across the crimson skies. Then slowly, with a feral grin, he closed his hand, and the screams of her friends tore
into her heart with bloody claws.

The fist clenched tight.

The screaming ceased.

Blood dripped from the Forest Lord’s hand, between his knotted fingers.

‘No, no, no!’ Aelwen woke up screaming, with Taine’s arms clasped tightly around her, his face pale and taut with worry. ‘Aelwen, wake up! Wake up, my love, it’s
only a dream. Just a dream. You’re safe. I’ve got you.’ His voice cut through the panic, bathing her in a calming flow of words, until her breathing eased, her frantic heartbeat
slowed and the shaking had ebbed from her taut muscles. Forgetting all pride and dignity Aelwen clung to him, taking comfort in his warmth and nearness, until she felt steady and calm again, and
only the bitter dregs of the dream remained, like a shadow on her heart. For the first time, then, she noticed that Kaldath was also kneeling beside her, his face grooved deeply with disquiet and
concern.

‘Do you want to tell me about it?’ Taine said softly. ‘Can you tell me?’

Aelwen looked from his worried face to that of Kaldath. ‘I think I should,’ she said.

It cost her a great amount of effort to recount her nightmare; to relive the horror and the fear. By the time she had finished, she was shaking again, and Taine held her close to him, stroking
her hair. ‘By the Light,’ he said, his voice subdued, ‘now I understand why you were screaming.’

Aelwen took a deep breath, determined to pull herself together, and eased herself out of Taine’s comforting embrace. Rummaging around until she found her flask of water, she took a long
swig, feeling it flood, cool and soothing, down her raw throat as she swallowed. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so feeble. I’m an idiot, getting all upset over nothing more
than a bad dream.’

Kaldath looked graver than ever. ‘Nothing more than a bad dream, you say? I view this as the gravest of portents. What if it is a warning? What if it foreshadows the Forest Lord’s
return?’

‘But – but according to Corisand, Hellorin’s trapped in the Elsewhere,’ Aelwen protested, not wanting to think about the alternatives.

‘Supposing he escapes?’ Taine said. ‘Supposing the Windeye and the Wizard have failed, and he has regained the Stone? We have no idea what’s happening in the Elsewhere,
and unless the Wizard and the Windeye return, we’ll never know.’

‘Unless Hellorin suddenly puts in an appearance.’ Aelwen shuddered. ‘Oh, we were fools not to wait at the tower until out friends came back.’

‘We couldn’t. Athina had no time left – she was forced to return to her own realm.’

‘That would only have affected us,’ Aelwen pointed out. ‘Corisand and Iriana needed her help to send them where they were going, but we used Tiolani’s flying spell. We
could have done that any time.’

‘So long as we had Tiolani’s cooperation. But you know how emotional and uncertain she was. We had to strike while the iron was hot, Aelwen – if she’d been forced to
wait, she might have had time to reconsider. Then the entire scheme would have failed.’

‘And now, because I saved you and left her behind, she may well have changed her mind in any case. I wish we
knew
: about Tiolani, about Corisand and Iriana. How are we supposed to
make a plan when we’re floundering around in ignorance like this?’

‘It was never like this in the legends we were told as children,’ Taine said wryly. ‘Real life is a lot more bloody complicated.’

Aelwen got to her feet. ‘Then let’s simplify it.’ She began ticking points off on her fingers. ‘One: we have to do something. We can’t just sit around here for
ever. Two: my dream might just have been a nightmare, plain and simple, with no other significance at all. After the things Kaldath told us, I wouldn’t be surprised. Corisand and Iriana might
have succeeded, and if that’s the case, they’ll be headed for Eliorand.’

‘And they must be warned that we’ve failed,’ Taine finished for her. ‘We must go straight to our meeting place in the cave. Maybe we can hide nearby and watch the
approaches, just in case Tiolani decides to ambush us. And as for the matter of Hellorin’s return . . . Well, I have an idea about that.’

He turned to Kaldath, who had been watching their debate in silence. ‘You want to free the spirits of the Dwelven, and be revenged on the Forest Lord, don’t you?’

For an instant, the eyes of the Ancient One kindled. ‘It is my greatest wish, and were it accomplished, I could finally lay down the burden of these weary years, and rest. But it is
impossible. Hellorin holds us here on the island with his curse.’

‘Ah, but if the Lord of the Phaerie is no longer in this world?’ Taine asked slyly. ‘Does his curse have power then? I suspect you can leave here, all of you, right
now.’

Kaldath turned pale. ‘Leave? Now? After all these centuries, could it really be so easy?’

‘But surely, if that is the case, shouldn’t Hellorin’s spell be gone too?’ Aelwen asked. ‘Kaldath said that there was a curse and a spell, the curse to keep them on
the island, and the spell to bind them in this ghostly form and stop them going to their rest.’

Taine shook his head. ‘They can try, but I don’t think it’ll work. Those great Royal spells of the Forest Lord are like no other, to preserve the safety and continuity of the
Phaerie realm. I suspect that this spell, like the flying magic, will have passed to Hellorin’s heir while he is no longer in this world, but Tiolani never cursed the Dwelven. I may be wrong,
but I suspect that Hellorin’s power to maintain his curse passed from this world when he did.’

Kaldath straightened, suddenly looking old and fragile no longer, but fierce and strong. ‘We will make some trials, Taine and Aelwen, while you complete your rest. If what you say is true,
we will come with you to Eliorand, and wreak our long-overdue revenge upon the Phaerie. Then we will force Tiolani, last scion of Hellorin’s house, to remove his accursed spell, and set us
free at last.’

‘That’s fine,’ Taine said, ‘but before we do that we have to find our own missing companions, Iriana, Corisand and Dael. Once we’ve done that we’ll all go to
Eliorand together and pay Tiolani a little visit. Agreed?’

Kaldath nodded. ‘Agreed.’

~

I
t felt like a new start. Though a thin veil of grey covered the sky, occasional glimpses of the sun could be seen beyond the clouds. The air was
cool, with a sneaky breeze that tugged on hair, tweaked at clothing and slipped chilly fingers down the neck of Iriana’s sheepskin coat as she sat by the shore of the lake with Melik, using
the cat’s vision to look back at the island and its tower. Since the previous evening, when Iriana and her friend Corisand had returned from the Elsewhere to the Tower in the Forest, it felt
as though her world, her life had been remade.

Everything seemed different now. In a scant handful of days, Iriana had grown up.