Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (56 page)

‘I understand.’ The Wizard smiled at him through her tears. ‘I’ll miss you, dear Dael – but I’m so happy for you.’

There were tears in Dael’s eyes too. ‘You and Corisand always treated me like a true companion, and you showed me that I can be someone special, mortal though I am, and that I can
make a difference. Thanks to you, I did, and I can never thank you enough for that. Say goodbye to Corisand for me – and little Melik.’ He held out a phantom hand to her.
‘Farewell, Iriana, my friend.’

‘Now,’ Athina said. ‘You’ll find a small crystal phial in Dael’s pocket. Unstopper it and trickle the liquid between his lips.’

It seemed strange, after just speaking to Dael, to be rummaging round in the clothing on his battered body, but Iriana quickly found the phial, and did what the Cailleach had said.

‘Now.’ Athina nudged Avithan forward, and his shadowy figure knelt beside Dael, then lay down exactly where the body was lying, so that their forms seemed superimposed on one
another. The Cailleach raised her hand and a beam of blinding blue-white light came shining out of her palm to highlight the two figures. Taine blinked – and when he and Iriana could see
again there, in Dael’s place, was Avithan, alive and well once more, though looking a little dazed. Dael’s body had vanished, but his figure, looking even more substantial now, remained
with Athina, holding tightly to her free hand, his face glowing with happiness.

‘One last thing, Iriana,’ the Cailleach said. ‘I have foreseen many things in my lake since I was forced to leave you. Every one of the artefacts of power that the Magefolk are
creating will require at least one life to be sacrificed, sometimes more. That phial in Dael’s pocket contained water from the Well of Souls. You must tell the Leviathan that the only way to
make the cauldron of rebirth that they are creating is to use the water from that Well, in the Place Between the Worlds. They must send a representative to Death’s realm – and the only
way to get there is the obvious one, I’m afraid. That person must be prepared to give their life for the cause, for a bargain must be struck, and Death will demand this sacrifice.’

‘But we can’t reach them in time,’ Iriana protested. ‘Please, Athina, couldn’t you get the message to them? Surely there must be a way.’

Athina sighed. ‘The things you ask of me. Very well, I will do my best, but I can guarantee nothing. I will summon them back to Tyrineld, for in their northern migration they are the
closest of the other Magefolk races. You have much information to share with them that they can pass on to the Dragons and Skyfolk, but if they are not there when you get home you would be advised
to send a messenger of your own, in case I fail.’ Her face, which had been so sombre as she gave her advice and warning, broke into a smile. ‘Farewell, my friends. Thank you for taking
care of Dael for me – and may fortune favour you in the terrible days to come.’

‘What terrible days?’ Taine said urgently.
‘What terrible days?’

Athina made no reply. She looked at Dael and nodded, then the two of them began to fade and shimmer.

And suddenly were gone.

~

A
vithan sat up and frowned at Iriana, who still had Taine’s arm around her shoulders. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come back after
all,’ he said. ‘You don’t look overjoyed to see me.’

For a moment the Wizard was lost for a reply. She was utterly stunned by everything that had happened in such a short space of time, and her emotions were all in a tangle: joy at Avithan’s
return, a mixture of happiness and sorrow at the loss of Dael. She was elated and astonished that with the help of the Fialan she had defeated Hellorin and exiled his entire race from the world,
yet filled with lingering grief and pain at Cyran’s death. There was also a good deal of concern and doubt over whether Avithan would have altered much – and would he be able to deal
with the ways in which
she
had changed? Then the happiness at seeing him won out, and she slipped away from Taine to embrace this dearest of old friends, miraculously restored to her.

‘Of course I’m glad to see you,’ she said. ‘It was just a lot to take in for a moment – I thought you’d gone for good.’

He hugged her back, his face lit with a smile at last. ‘And I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you again. There were times when I despaired of ever getting home again.’

Iriana gestured to her other companions. ‘Avithan, this is Taine, and this is Aelwen. They—’

‘I know about them,’ Avithan replied. ‘Athina and I have been watching your progress from her world.’ He looked across at his father’s body, which had not vanished
with the Phaerie city, but was lying, as if asleep, at the foot of a tree, and his eyes filled with tears. ‘I saw all of it,’ he said in a choked, unsteady voice. ‘I saw my father
fight, and saw him fall. A Mortal slave is permitted to escape Death’s clutches,’ he added bitterly, ‘but there will be no second chances for an Archwizard who gave his life in
the service of his people.’ He left the others and knelt beside his father’s body, murmuring his own private words of farewell.

Iriana and her companions left him alone for a few moments, respecting his grief, though the Wizard was longing to catch up with Corisand. Now that it was no longer needed, the power of the
Fialan had died away to bearable measures, and the glow around her was the faintest of shimmers. She felt absolutely drained; light-headed with exhaustion and desperate for sleep, but there would
be no chance of that. Instead, beckoning to Taine and Aelwen to come with her, she stepped forward when Avithan got to his feet and performed the spell that would take Cyran out of time, so that
his body might remain safely where it lay until arrangements could be made to bring him home.

Avithan took her hand. ‘What am I going to say to my mother?’

‘She’ll already know of his passing,’ Iriana reminded him. ‘You won’t have to tell her that, but she’ll want to know what happened. Sharalind is a brave
woman. With help from all of us she’ll come to terms with this. Tell her of his bravery, and his sacrifice. Tell her he never stopped looking for you.’

Avithan sighed. ‘I wish he could have known about my return,’ he said. ‘I wish I could have talked with him, and embraced him one last time.’

‘I wish you could have, too.’ Iriana squeezed his hand. ‘I’m sorry, Avithan, but it’s time to leave him now. He’ll be safe here, until we can return for
him.’

‘I hate to leave him all alone.’ There was a catch in Avithan’s voice.

‘Avithan, he isn’t really here any more. You know this better than anyone, now that you have actually met Death and lived to tell the tale. Dael told us of the Well of Souls, after
the first time he was there, when he held the Fialan for Corisand in the cave, and was overcome by its power. Cyran will have already passed through, to be reborn into a new life. A part of him
will always remain, but not in this empty shell. He’ll still be alive in your heart, and in your memory.’

At that moment, Taine and Aelwen approached. ‘I am truly sorry for your loss, my friend,’ Taine said. ‘We can share your grief, for we all have lost people who are dear to us
today,’ he added. ‘If you’ve been watching, as you say, you’ll know what Dael and Kaldath meant to us. With the death of Tiolani and the departure of the Phaerie, Aelwen
lost close family members, and I mourn Cyran too, for he gave me a home and a purpose when I was a rootless exile. But we must put off our grieving till later, harsh as that may seem. I have a
feeling in my bones that this business isn’t over yet.’

‘And since Iriana has the Fialan, we don’t have much time until Corisand’s flying spell wears off,’ Aelwen reminded them. ‘If we don’t get back to her before
it does, we’ll have a long and dangerous walk in front of us.’

Her words galvanised them all into action, even Avithan. So much had happened in the last hour that Taine and Iriana had forgotten about the risks of being too far away from the Windeye with the
Fialan.

‘Come on, little sister,’ Taine said to Iriana. ‘You don’t have Melik, so you can share my vision if you want, until we get back to safety.’

‘She doesn’t need you.’ Avithan pushed forward belligerently. ‘She can share
my
vision.’

Iriana sighed. Avithan had only been back a little while, and her fight for independence was starting all over again. She also hadn’t missed the cold look in Aelwen’s eyes when Taine
was so friendly to her. ‘Thanks to both of you, but I can manage,’ she said firmly. ‘I’ll take Rosina, the roan mare that Dael ri— used to ride,’ she corrected
herself. ‘She’s gentle enough to take direction from me and let me use her vision.’

Taine nodded. ‘Good idea.’

‘But—’ Avithan began.

Iriana turned on him. ‘Don’t,’ she said fiercely. ‘Just don’t start that nonsense again, Avithan. I mean it.’

He opened his mouth, closed it again, then turned on his heel and stalked away, grim-faced. After a moment, Aelwen spoke. ‘You’ll need a mount, Avithan,’ she said. ‘You
can take the one that Iriana was riding. Corisand won’t like it if we leave any of her people behind.’

They wasted no time, and in a matter of minutes they were ready to go. Looking at the horses, Iriana noticed that the bright shimmer of the flying spell seemed to be dimming a little, and
frowned. Would they get back to Corisand in time, before the flying spell wore off?

‘Remember to hang on tight,’ Aelwen was telling Avithan. ‘Flying a horse for the first time is quite an alarming experience, and if you fall off, it’s a long way to the
ground.’

‘I’ll manage,’ Avithan replied gruffly, but the Wizard noticed that he looked a little pale.

Rosina was a gentle beast, and to Iriana’s relief was quite happy to accommodate the presence of a strange intruder in her mind. As they took off, she used the mare’s vision to sneak
a look at Avithan, and smiled to herself as he suppressed a yelp of terror as his mount took off. She noticed that he was clinging, white-knuckled, to the pommel of the saddle, but most people did
the same on their initial flight. She hoped that soon he would relax and begin to enjoy it.

With tensions seething in the air between them, the quartet made their way back towards Tyrineld. As they headed away from the hill where the Phaerie city had once stood, the Wizard thought
sadly about the way in which Kaldath’s death, Dael’s departure and Avithan’s arrival had completely changed the atmosphere in their little group. Ever since Athina had taken
Avithan to her own realm to heal him, Iriana had longed for his return, yet now that he was back there was an element of friction and discord in their circle that had not been there before.
Suddenly she remembered what she had conveniently forgotten during his absence: that for all her life, she had constantly had to cope with his overwhelming solicitousness, and fight him for every
scrap of self-reliance.

The Wizard clenched her jaw. She wasn’t about to go through
that
again! There had been a lot of changes in her life since his departure, and she had changed with them. Avithan
would just have to get used to that, or . . . Iriana didn’t want to think about the alternatives. With the horse’s peripheral vision she glanced beyond him to Taine.
He
had
never, from the first time they’d met, treated her as though she were helpless – and therefore when he did offer to give her a hand with anything, it was just the same as him offering
to help anyone else.

As for Aelwen . . . She looked at the Horsemistress, sitting easily in her saddle, so much a part of her mount that the Wizard envied her. Then she noticed that Aelwen was also eyeing her, and
not in a very friendly fashion. Iriana could feel herself growing tense with anxiety. What was happening to everyone? The tightly knit band of companions that had worked so well together since the
day Athina left seemed to be disintegrating before her eyes. She sighed, desperately wishing that Corisand could be there. At least their friendship would surely stand the test of time. As for the
others; well, at least they had done what they set out to do. What would become of them now, only time would tell.

Where in Creation
are
they?

Corisand led the Xandim in the direction that Iriana had given her, towards the settlement of Nexis, but her thoughts were far behind her, with the friends who must even now be fighting for
their lives. There was nothing she could do to help them, however. As Iriana had said, her first responsibility must be to her tribe. Determined to get them far away from Eliorand as quickly as
possible, she led them as fast as the slowest ones, the old and the very young, could fly. They had already passed the border, and were heading towards the lake with its isle that had been the site
of Athina’s tower. Corisand kept looking back over her shoulder, desperately seeking a glimpse of the cluster of specks against the dark sky that would show that the others were
following.

But what if Hellorin won? Then those specks could be him coming after us
.

Corisand shuddered. She would have to put that notion right out of her head before the other Xandim sensed her unease. ‘Iriana will be all right,’ she told herself firmly.
‘Armed with the Fialan, she can handle Hellorin.’ Yet the more time passed with no one in sight, the harder it was to shake off her fears.

They had passed Athina’s lake before Corisand discovered that she had something far more pressing to worry about. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up the pace she had set.
She was slowing down; finding it harder and harder to keep moving through the air. Her body felt heavy and sluggish, and when she looked down she saw with a flash of alarm that the treetops were
growing appreciably closer.

She was sinking. The flying spell was wearing off.

Then suddenly, Hellorin was gone. Iriana had won. Corisand felt it; felt the chains of his spell that had enslaved her people fall away at last. Since Tiolani was dead too, there was no one left
to enforce the magic. The Xandim tribe behind her faltered as the Forest Lord’s iron grip was loosed from them, sensing that something profound had taken place but not knowing what, or
why.