King of Sword and Sky (41 page)

Each kitling had felt the cold. Each had heard the whispering dark voices calling its name.

"What is it, Ellysetta?" Rain stood beside her. The tairen, growling in agitation, had gathered around as well.

She looked at them all in a daze. "I know why I sensed the High Mage. I know why the kitlings are dying." She moistened trembling lips, stunned by the enormity of the puzzle she'd finally pieced together. "You were right, Rain. It is the High Mage. It's been him all along. He's behind everything."

The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

"The High Mage is using the Well of Souls to steal the souls of unborn tairen." Rain announced the news without preamble to the carefully selected group of Fey he'd gathered in the King's Courtyard behind the Hall of Tairen.

Dax sat on a stone bench, his arm wrapped protectively around Marissya. Ellysetta's quintet stood near the small fountain, and Steli, who had flown back with them from Fey'Bahren, squeezed into the corner, crouched on the flattened remains of a small flower garden, her blue eyes whirling with scarcely contained menace. A privacy weave glowed around the courtyard.

"Stealing their souls?" Tajik repeated. "For what reason?"

"To tie them to the souls of unborn children," Ellysetta said in a low voice, "so he can create his own Tairen Souls."

The gathered Fey exchanged shocked glances.

"But…that's not possible," Gil protested. "Even if he could tie the two souls together, he'd need Fey children who are masters of all five Fey magics—and for that he'd need Fey matepairs. No half-breed child has ever been born a master of one magic, let alone five."

"He has matepairs," Ellysetta said. "At least, he must have when I was born."

"When you were—" Tajik's voice broke off and his face went blank. "You're one of them. One of the Tairen Souls he bred."

"Yes." It was just as well Rain was standing several paces away. If he were within reach, she'd be squeezing his hand so tight she'd break all his fingers. "Rain took me to the Bay of Flame. We swam in the waters at sunset and we dreamed…" She drew a quick breath, near tears as she remembered the shadowy Fey mates clutching each other in desperation. "I dreamed of my birth…and of my parents. My Fey parents as well as the tairen whose kitling's soul was stolen and tied to mine." Cahlah and Merdrahl had been the kit's parents. Forrahl had been its—
her
—brother. "Here, see for yourself." She summoned Spirit and spun the entirety of her dream.

When she finished, Marissya was weeping, Steli was growling pride-warnings, and the warriors stood in frozen silence.

"They must have been captured during the Wars," Bel said. "How else would the High Mage get his hands on a Fey woman?"

Marissya covered her mouth. "Dear gods, and they've been prisoners all this time?" The horror stamped on her face made each of the warriors' expressions turn to stone.

Ellysetta turned to Rain. "Do you recognize them?"

Rain shook his head. "
Nei
. There were several Tairen Souls who had green eyes, but I don't recall any of them disappearing with his mate."

"Perhaps the male wasn't a Tairen Soul when he was captured," Gaelen suggested: "If the Feyreisa is right, and the High Mage is stealing the souls of unborn tairen in order to create his own Tairen Soul, perhaps she wasn't the first."

Steli growled low in her throat and ripped at the flower bed with her front claws. «
Many kitlings have died,»
she sang to Rain and Ellysetta. «
Many times many.»

"Does it matter who they are?" Marissya cried. "We've got to save them."

Rain's expression went grim. "Marissya, how can we do that when we're barely staving off our own extinction as it is?"

"We can't just leave them there!"

"What choice do we have?" His eyes were bleak. "We don't have any idea where they are—or even if they're still alive—and we certainly don't have the strength to invade Eld to find them."

"Shei'tani,
Rain is right." Dax took his truemate's hand.

"We can't even stop the Mage from killing the kitlings." Rain spat. He ran a hand through his hair and began to pace. "If Ellysetta is right, we have to figure out how to stop that first, or anything else we may do is meaningless. The only power the Eld truly fear is the might of the tairen. Can you imagine what they'd do if they could control that power for themselves?"

Ellysetta knew. She'd seen it in vivid, horrifying, blood-filled color in her nightmares. "The world would fall."

The warriors met one anothers' gazes with grim understanding. No mortal army would be able to stand against Eld armies led by Mage-claimed tairen. And if the Mages destroyed the Fey, no magical race would have the strength to defeat them either.

"It may already be too late," Tajik said. "If he's been stealing the souls of tairen since the Mage Wars, there's no telling how many Tairen Souls he's already created."

Gaelen gave a skeptical grunt. "If he had many, we'd have seen them already, vel Sibboreh."

"Would we?" Gil challenged. "Could be he's just biding his time and building his army."

"Or waiting for his Tairen Souls to find their wings," Rain suggested. "Ellysetta was a mere babe when she was smuggled out of Eld, and her power has yet to fully manifest itself."

"So how do we stop him?" Ellysetta interjected. "We can't do anything about the Tairen Souls he may have already created, but we have to find a way to keep him from making more."

"If he's stealing souls from the Well, then we must cut off his access to it—or find a way to separate the kitlings from the Well of Souls," Gaelen said. "Azrahn is the only way."

"Nei!"
Gil, Tajik, Rain, and Dax roared as one.

"Azrahn is the enemy's tool, not ours," Tajik said.

"What we're talking about here is the manipulation and theft of souls," Gaelen snapped back. "What tool should we use to combat
soul
theft if not the
soul
magic?" He threw up his hands and stalked a short distance away. "Bright Lord save me from pompous fools."

"Pompous!" Tajik snarled. "Is it pompous to live with honor?"

"What honor is there in the destruction of everything we hold dear? I'd rather live as a reviled outcast and keep my people safe than die a noble corpse along with everyone I love."

"And that's precisely the thinking that led you down the Shadowed Path to begin with! Honor is the anchor that holds us to the Light."

"Oh,
aiyah,
an anchor indeed," Gaelen snapped. "But what happens when you're thrown overboard, still chained to that great scorching anchor? You flaming drown, that's what— along with every other brother chained to it with you."

"Dahl'reisen rultshart!"
Tajik's red hair all but caught fire. He lunged for Gaelen, whose eyes flashed to blue ice just before he lunged too.

"Enough!" Rain stepped between the two of them, his arms outstretched, palms flat against the chests of the two snarling warriors. "Scorch you both! Save your fury for the Eld." He glared at Gaelen. "Azrahn is the forbidden magic. You accepted that when you returned to the Fading Lands. You will either live by our laws or be banished once more. Is that clear?"

Gaelen's eyes narrowed. "It's clear."

"Kabei."
Rain shoved him away and turned to Tajik. "Dull the edge of that blade, vel Sibboreh. The Mage Wars would have happened with or without Gaelen, and your sister would still be dead. Do not forget: His own sister was the first to die."

A muscle jumped in Tajik's jaw. With a sullen nod, he turned away and stalked to a corner of the courtyard.

After a brief silence to let tempers settle, Marissya said, "Separating the kitlings from the Well wouldn't work in any case. If you sever that connection before they're born, you'd sever their souls from their bodies. They'd die."

Ellysetta's brows drew together. "Then isn't birth the obvious answer?" She glanced at Rain. "The Mage hasn't ever attacked tairen once they've hatched, has he?"

"Not in this manner," he acknowledged, "but this clutch was laid only three months past. It's far too soon for hatching. Tairen spend twelve months in the womb and eight months on the sands. No kitling with less than six months in the egg has ever survived."

"Can't a
shei'dalins
healing weave speed things up?" She turned to Marissya. "It's only a matter of a few months. Surely, if the most powerful healers can regrow severed limbs or hold a dying person to life, they ought to be able to accelerate the gestation of an unborn child."

Marissya shook her head. "It's not that easy, Ellysetta. Not even the most powerful
shei'dalin
can pull an infant's soul from the Well before its time, no matter how mature the child's body may be. As long as a soul lives more in the Well than the world, we can do nothing."

Ellysetta rubbed her tired eyes. "We should consult the scrolls again. Now that we know what we're looking for, perhaps we can find clues we've overlooked before. Marissya, can you call the
shei'dalins
to help us? We need as much assistance as we can get to search."

"Of course. I'll ask Venarra to summon them first thing in the morning."

Ellysetta glanced up. The eastern sky was already light. "That should be about now," she said with a wan smile.

"You and Marissya need to sleep first," Rain said. "We've waited for centuries to find the answer to this problem; we can wait a few more bells." He turned to the fierce white tairen.
"
Steli
-chakai
should lair in the Hall of Tairen."

«Agreed. Steli will sing to Shei'Kess,»
the tairen growled. «
Perhaps the Eye will reveal what secrets it still keeps.»

"I won't hold my breath," Rain muttered. In a louder voice, he said,
"Beylah vo,
Steli
-chakai."
Rain tore down the privacy weaves, and Steli leapt into the air, leaving the Fey to head for their own chambers.

Rain escorted Ellysetta back to their palace suite and spun shades against the brightening dawn so she could sleep for a few bells. As he slid beneath the cool silk of the bedsheets next to the warmth of her slender body, she turned and snuggled against him.

"Rain?"

"Mmm?" He nuzzled the soft spirals of her hair and breathed in her sweet scent.

"Do you think the Fey who bore me could still be alive in Eld?"

His body went still. "For their sakes, I hope not,
shei'tani."

Her palm lay over his chest, the fingers stroking lightly across his skin. "Do you think they could have been captured during the Mage Wars?"

Her caught her hand and pressed a kiss in her palm. "I doubt it. Eld don't treat their prisoners kindly. A thousand years of torment would be too much for anyone to bear."

"You did," she whispered.

"Only because the tairen would not let me die." He drew a breath.
"Nei,
I'm sure the ones who bore you could not have been long in Mage hands."

He stroked her hair, half of him wishing now that he had not taken her to the Bay of Flames. "I'm sorry,
shei'tani.
I had hoped the Bay of Flames would bring you peace, not more worries. I wanted our last days before I left for Orest to be a joy." A time of memories that would last in the event war broke out before he could return. "I meant to take you to my
shellabah,
as I promised you in Celieria I would."

She tilted her head back, her eyes shining in the dim light filtering past his shade weaves. "But our bond isn't complete yet. You said you would take me to your
shellabah
on the first night of our union. Let's wait until then. So I'll have something to look forward to when you come back to me."

His lips found the soft skin of her neck, and he nuzzled the warm pulse point there, loving her scent, her taste, the feel of her satiny skin against his mouth.
"Bas'ka,"
he agreed. "We will wait until then. It shall be my last courtship gift to you."

"I will be very cross if you disappoint me." Her arms slid around his neck, and she pressed her body to his. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you." He dragged his mouth down her neck and across her shoulder. His hands spanned her slender waist and slid up her ribs to cup her small breasts. "More than I have words to express."

She caught his face and bent to take his lips with hers. "Then love me, Rain, for what time we have left."

The silky bed linens whispered against her skin as he bore her down among the soft cushions and coverlets. His skin gleamed lustrous silver and his eyes glowed with warmth and passion. "I will love you much longer than that,
kem'reisa."

Despite the
shei'dalins'
best efforts over the next few days, their searching turned up no clues to long-lost weaves that might speed a child's birth from the Well of Souls, and the day of Rain's departure for Orest dawned without any sign of victory in the battle to save the kitlings.

As the warriors leaving the Fading Lands prepared for their departure, Rain walked alone to the king's armory.

There, in the silence of the chamber broken only by the melodic splashing of
faerilas
pouring into a private bathing pool, Rain undressed and set aside his leathers and steel and even his gleaming rainbow-lit Soul Quest crystal and the carved Tairen's Eye signet ring he'd worn since becoming Defender of the Fey.

Naked, he walked to the edge of the bathing pool and went down on one knee, his arms extended, palms up, as he softly sang the words of the ancient prayer all warriors invoked before battle. When he rose, he plunged into the falling stream of
faerilas
and gasped. This fountain—like all those in the palace—was fed directly from Dharsa's Source. The water was icy cold and rich with potent magic. It froze and seared him and set his magic afire inside his flesh.