Queen of Song and Souls

Other Leisure books by C. L. Wilson:

KING OF SWORD AND SKY

LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS

LORD OF THE FADING LANDS

A LEISURE BOOK* November 2009 Published by

Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc. 200 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016

Copyright © 2009 by C. L. Wilson

"Fiercest of Fey" copyright © 2009 by Sigrid Robinson

"Shadow Magic and Fey Defender" copyright © 2009 by Janet Reeves

"A New Hope" copyright © 2009 by Ishshka Ruben

"To the Daughters of Celieria" copyright © 2009 by Suhad Saleh

"Dance of Knives" copyright © 2009 by Bridget Clark

"Shan" copyright © 2009 by Asia Bey

"Born, Live, Die" copyright © 2009 by Jessica Julian

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Cover art by Judy York

Cover handlettering by Patricia Barrow

Map by C. L. Wilson

Text design by Renee Yewdaev

ISBN 10: 0-8439-6060-4 ISBN 13: 978-0-8439-6060-0 E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0758-6

The name "Leisure Books" and the stylized "L" with design are trademarks of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.

Printed in the United States of America. 10 98765432 1

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
Visit us online at
www.dorchesterpub.com.

To Alicia Condon. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for everything: the late-night phone calls, the brainstorming, the long, tireless hours you spent helping me make this book the best it could be. Most of all, thank you just for being there. I couldn't have done it without you.
Ve sha beilissa te ecri.

Acknowledgments

As always, thanks to my friends and family who've helped me with this book: Karen Rose, Betina Krahn, my sister Lisette, Elissa Wilds, my mom Lynda Richter, and my daughter Ileah. If 1 have forgotten anyone, it's leaky memory, not lack of appreciation!

Thank you to all the wonderful readers who submitted poems in my poetry contest. I'm especially grateful to the authors of the poetry included in Queen of Song and Souls: Sigrid Robinson, Janet Reeves, Ishshka Rubert, Suhad Saleh, Bridget Clarke, Asia Bey, and Jessica Julian. It is an honor to include your beautiful verse in this book. Thank you so very much for enriching the world of Eloran with your talent.

Thanks to Judy York, the cover artist who brought Eloran to life with her artistic talents. Judy, this cover is the bomb!

Last but not least, thanks to my dad, Ray Richter, the computer programming genius who became an overnight Web site guru on my behalf.

For
My
Readers

Thank you so much for picking up this book! And thanks to everyone who sent me the wonderful letters of encouragement in what has truly been one of the most stressful and challenging years of my life. Your support means the world to me.

Thank you for your continuing interest in Rain and Ellie's journey. As you know, the Tairen Soul series is now a quintet, so look for the fifth and final book, Tairen Soul, coming soon from Leisure Books.

Be sure to visit my Web site, www.clwilson.com to sign up for my private book announcement list, enter my online contests, and scour the site for hidden treasures and magical surprises. 1 hope you linger a while to learn more about the Fey and the Fading Lands—as well as other Fey tales and C. L. Wilson novels coming soon.

I'd love to hear from you. Please, send me a Spirit weave. Or, if you prefer, you can take the non-magical route and just e-mail me at [email protected].

Prologue

Celieria
-
The
Garreval

She was only nine years old, and she was going to die.

Lillis Baristani clung to her beloved friend, Earth master Kieran vel Solande, and showered his throat with frightened tears.

Around them the world had gone mad. Magic, blades, and barbed
sel'dor
arrows filled the air. Blood ran red on the ground. Below, at the base of the Rhakis mountains, dozens of vile, snarling, monstrous wolf-beasts called
darrokken
were charging up the slope towards the small, fleeing party while the creatures' evil masters flung globe after globe of blue-white Mage Fire to cut off all chance of escape.

Whatever the Mage Fire touched disintegrated on contact... not dissolved... simply disappeared. Entire chunks of the mountain evaporated in an instant. The ground shifted and shook beneath Kieran's feet

"Kieran!" his friend Kiel shouted, pointing uphill. "The mountain!" Another frightful barrage of Mage Fire had dissolved half the peak above their heads. The remaining rock and stone gave a rumbling shriek and collapsed, sending a wall of dirt, stone, and wood rushing towards them.

"Hold tight, little one," Kieran whispered. Lillis tightened her arms around his neck, pressing so close that her kitten, Snowfoot, mewed a protest and squirmed in the sling tied round her neck. Kieran turned to raise both hands and she felt the electric tingle of his gathering magic. It danced across her skin like crackling sparks of green light. Inside her, Lillis's own magic rose in response.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face to his throat.
Bright
Lord, please help Kieran,
she prayed. /
don't want
him
to die. Or Papa, Lorelle, Kiel, or me either.

She felt the vibrations of Kieran's throat against her lips as he shouted defiantly and flung out his weaves. The magic left him—and her, too—in a great rush.
Please, gods, please gods, please gods.

Incredibly—or, perhaps, miraculously—the crumbling mountainside froze. Lillis risked a glance up to confirm that they were not about to be crushed flat as a griddle cake, then squeezed her eyes shut again.

"Five-fold weaves, my brothers!" Kieran shouted. "Keep that scorching Mage Fire off us!" Suddenly, he gave a grunt of pain, and Lillis felt him falter. Her head lifted, and though the battle raging all around terrified her, she forced her eyes open.

Kieran was arrow-shot. The sight of the ugly black, barbed metal arrow puncturing his thigh made her belly lurch.

«
Get down, Lillis, »
his voice murmured in her mind
.
«
Run
to your father. Kiel and I will
hold them off.
»

«
But what about you?
»
It was the first time she'd ever spoken to him mind-to-mind. «
You're
coming, too, aren't
you?
»

«
In a chime . . . once Kiel and I deal with these Eld
rult
sharts
.
»
From a face too handsome to be mortal, his normally laughing blue eyes regarded her with unsettling solemnity, and then she knew what he would not say. He turned his head to press a kiss to her face, then another to the thin arms wrapped so tight around his neck, and though he did not release his hands from his weave, she felt the tug of Spirit fingers prying her grip loose. She fought to cling, but her childish muscles were no match for his magic. Her hold on him lost, she slid to the ground. “Go, kittling.
Quickly.”
Another nudge from invisible hands shoved her towards Papa.

"Master Baristani," Kieran cried aloud to her father, "take the girls. Go with the
shei'dalins
into the Mists! Run!"

Clutching Snowfoot to her chest, Lillis stumbled across the uneven ground towards Papa's outstretched arms and the small knot of scarlet-gowned healers. Before she reached them, a darting flash of darkness caught her eye and a foul odor filled the air. She turned to find a
darrokken
rushing towards her, its red eyes glowing like the Dark Lord's flames, venomous saliva dripping from its yellowed fangs. All over the foul wolflike creature's scaly back, sores oozed green, odorous slime. She turned to run, but her foot caught between two rocks and she went down. Snowfoot still clutched to her chest, she hit the ground hard. Knees and elbows took a nasty crack, and she bit her lip so hard her mouth filled with the salty, metallic tang of blood. She jumped to her feet, but pain shot out from her ankle, radiating halfway up her shin. With a cry, she fell down again just as the
darrokken
lunged.

One of the Fey warriors made a sprinting leap towards her, and scarlet-hilted Fey'cha daggers flew from his hands. The razor-sharp blades cut through the monster's tough, leathery hide, and the
darrokken
dropped dead in its tracks.

"I've got you." The warrior who'd killed the
darrokken
reached for her arm, but before he could grab hold, another of the monstrous beasts was upon him. Its fangs sank into his leg, and the Fey toppled, rolling over as he fell and landing with unsheathed blades in his hands. "Run, child," he cried.

Those were the warrior's last words. He bared his teeth in a snarl and plunged his red Fey'cha into the vulnerable belly of the beast just as the monster snapped its sharp yellow fangs around the warrior's throat and ripped. Blood sprayed across Lillis's face in a hot, red rain. Fey and beast died together, fighting, tearing, and slashing until the last breath of life left their bodies.
"Lillis! Get
up! Run'"
Kiel cried. His blue eyes were filled with fear, his blond hair spattered with dirt and blood. Two black arrows stuck out of his shoulder like grotesque spines. "Run for the Mists. Lorelle, Master Baristani—go!"

One of the
shei'dalins
in their party rushed forward to grab Lillis. A rapid healing weave spun out in golden-tinted waves of color, and the pain in her ankle subsided. The woman helped Lillis to her feet while another took Lorelle's hand and began to run towards the shifting, sparkling clouds that guarded the Fading Lands. More
darrokken
rushed up the mountainside and dove into the middle of the small group. Lillis shrieked as the monstrous wolf-beasts slaughtered half a dozen more Fey and drove three of the
shei'dalins
back down the mountain towards the waiting Eld.

When she reached the edge of the Mists, Lillis turned back to watch the battle below. The remaining warriors guarding their escape were falling fast to the ferocious maws of the
darrokken
,
while the Mages continued bombarding the mountainside with their devastating magic. A tide of Fey warriors burst from the Mists-filled pass of the Garreval and raced across the ground at lightning speed, swords flashing silvery bright in the sunlight.

Black Eld arrows turned day to night, and hundreds of Fey went down. Kieran fell with them.

"Kieran!" Lillis shrieked as she watched him fell. "
Kieran
!” She started to rush towards him, but the
shei'dalin
grabbed her and held her fast.

"Nei,"
the veiled woman whispered. "You cannot go to him. He would not want it. He dies so you may live."

With unexpected strength, the
shei'dalin
shoved Lillis towards the shifting radiance of the Faering Mists. "Quickly, into the Mists, it's our only chance."

Lillis struggled against her hold, squirming and flailing as the tears poured down her face. She screamed Kieran's name again and again as the
shei'dalin
dragged her away. Before they'd gone more than a few steps, the mountain gave a groaning nimble that escalated to a deafening roar.

Kieran's Earth weave collapsed and the entire mountaintop caved in, sending shards of shattered rocks, splintered trees, and a wave of earth crashing towards the valley below. The ground beneath Lillis's feet fell away, and with a wail she toppled back into the shining white abyss of the Faering Mists.

Her last sight was of Kieran, screaming defiance as the avalanche enveloped him.

chapter one

Fading Lands, Faering
Mists.

Fey warrior,
champion of Light.

Fading Lands,
Faering Mists.

Leading a never-ending Fight.

Tairen Soul: Singing, soaring high

Tairen
Soul: Thundering, roaring cry.

Fading Lands, Faering
Mists.

Fey Warrior, fiercest of Fey

Fading Lands, Faering
Mists.

Alone, leading the way.

Fiercest of Fey, by Corvan Lief, Celierian Poet

Celieria ~ Orest

Two Weeks Later

Ellysetta Baristani plunged her hands into the gaping cavity of the dying boy's chest. Her fingers closed around his heart, pumping the still chambers with desperate force as a blaze of powerful, golden-white magic poured from her soul into his.

The fading brightness of his life force tasted warm and tart on her tongue, like a sun-ripened peach plucked too soon from the tree. So young. So innocent. He couldn't have been more than fourteen. Too young for this. Too young for war. Too young to die.