Queen of Song and Souls (12 page)

She dreamed of Lillis and Lorelle, huddled together in the dim
filth of a black
pit, sobbing her name, pleading for her to save them.

Above,
standing on a viewing platform two levels above, a
shrouded figure in purple robes watched their torment. At his side, Ellysetta saw herself, clad incongruously in a boatnecked gown of
rich forest
green velvet, her hair unbound and spilling across her
shoulders like a fall of flame. She looked more pampered guest
than prisoner, except for the chains fastened to the sel'dor bindings
locked tight around her neck and wrists. Two large guards stood
behind her, holding her chains in their meaty fists.

Hovering overhead, like a soul cast out of its body, she watched the scene unfold. She was an observer, distant and disconnected, yet some part of her remained intimately linked to the people in her dream. She felt each emotion, each terror, each gloating triumph, as if it were her own.

The robed
Mage raised an arm, and the sound of rattling
chains and cogs welled up from the darkness of the pit. Then
came
the howling and the rasping scrabble of claw on rock, as
slavering darrokken with eyes like red /lames rushed towards Lil
lis and Lorelle.

The
girls shrieked in terror and shrank back against the slimy wall of the pit, clutching each other and crying her name. "Ellie!
Ellie, help us! Help us!"

Ellysetta lunged against her bonds, crying, "Parei! Stop! I beg you, stop!"

The
Mage, his face hidden by the folds of his purple shroud, remained unmoved. "There is only one way to stop this. You
know what that is."

"Please." Weeping, she fell to her knees.
"I beg you. I'll do whatever you want, only stop this. Let them live. Please let them live."

Helplessly watching from above, Ellysetta cried a warning to herself: "
Nei
! Do not!" But the weeping Ellysetta did not hear her.

The Mage's hands shot out. A sharp blade sliced across the captive Ellysetta’s wrist, and the Mage pressed the wound to his pale, bloodless lips. A hand splayed across her left breast. She threw back her head on a silent wail of despair. Slowly, beneath
the
Mage's hand, a sixth black shadow appeared on the skin over her heart and her eyes turned from Fey green to pits of darkness
that flickered with red lights
.

Ellysetta wept in honor as freezing ice penetrated her soul, robbing her of hope, of Light, of all will to resist.

Darkness fell. She floated there, alone, cold, her senses void.

When light returned, it was a dim red-orange flame that slowly
drove back the
gloom to reveal a different shadowy cave. Lillis and Lorelle were gone. In the flickering light, she saw Rain, bloodied and broken, his body wrapped in heavy sel'dor chains and pinned to a rough-hewn wall. A man in executioner's garb
stood be/ore him, a sel'dor sword gripped in one gauntleted fist. The purple-shrouded Mage stood in the shadows off to one side. Of herself, there was no sign.

Rain
. She whispered his name, and though neither the executioner nor the Mage gave any indication of having heard her, Rain lifted his head. His gaze swept around the cell, eyes narrowed as if to pierce the impenetrable darkness in search of her.
I
am here! Rain, I am here!
For a moment, she thought he could hear her, but then his eyes closed and his head dropped to his chest in weary defeat. He did not look up again, no matter how she called to him.

The Mage lifted his hand in command, and with an abrupt
savagery that made her
gasp in horror, the executioner drove his
sword into Rain's heart. His beautiful eyes opened wide on a
breathless gasp and his body sagged against his chains, head lolling
forward
against his chest.

The Mage pushed back the robe's deep cowl, baring hair the color of tairen flame and monstrous black eyes that observed
Rain's death with pitiless detachment.

Nei
! Ellysetta screamed a denial. The face beneath that purple cowl was her own, but the heart that beat inside the slender chest was a cold, unfeeling thing, barren of remorse or grief, void of even the tiniest flicker of remembered love.

The executioner yanked his bloody blade from Rain's chest and raised it high, then glanced at the Mage who wore Ellysetta’s face.
At her nod, he brought the sword slashing down against the back of Rain's exposed neck. Flesh split. Bone severed. Blood sprayed in a scarlet fountain.

She felt the sword as if it fell upon her own neck, and she knew the instant Rain's soul fled his body, because her own was ripped asunder. Invisible, unheard, Ellysetta screamed and screamed until her voice shattered and the edges of her vision went dim.

The last thing she saw before the world went dark was two small figures darting from the shadows. Lillis and Lorelle, their
eyes turned black as death, danced in the shower of blood as if it
were a warm summer rain. They opened their mouths to catch
scarlet droplets and laughed with chilling childish glee. The air
filled with the baying howls of the darrokken and a chorus of
voices calling her name.

"Ellysetta! Ellysetta, wake up! Wake up,
shei'tani
."

Her eyes flew open, and for a moment she was still locked inside the nightmare, her ears filled with the baying of the Mage's monstrous hounds, her vision dark and blank. Then the blackness lightened to a starry night sky, and a familiar face, beautiful and beloved, hovered over her, his features drawn with worry.

Rain! Air-starved lungs expanded on a sudden, desperate gasp. With a sob, she sat up and flung trembling arms around him, clutching him tight. She cried his name, but the only sound that passed her lips was a harsh, painful whisper. Her throat felt so raw she couldn't talk. She babbled on a weave of Spirit, instead.
«Shei'tan, shei'tan! You're alive! It was just a dream.
Please, gods, let it just have been a dream.»
She pulled back and ran frantic hands across his beloved face, his neck, his chest, searching for wounds, but thankfully—blessedly—finding none. She flung herself back into his arms, clinging to his strength, dragging the warm, sweet, reassuring scent of him into her lungs. «
You're real. You're unharmed. Tell me you're real!
^»
She had felt him die, felt it so keenly her soul still ached like an open wound.

Strong arms closed around her. "I am real,
shei'tani
, alive and unharmed. Whatever you saw was just a dream. I’m with you." Again and again, he murmured reassurances, both aloud and across the threads of their bond, while his broad hands stroked her hair and down her back in a steady rhythm until she calmed.

When finally her shivering stopped and her heart slowed to its normal rhythm, he pulled back enough to look into her eyes. He smoothed the wild curls off her face and stroked her cheek tenderly with his thumb. "Talk to me, shei'tani," he said. "What happened? What did you dream of that frightened you so badly?"

"I—" She tried to speak, but her voice was ruined.
«Rain, my throat
...
I can't talk.»

Gentle, worried lavender eyes searched her face. "You screamed, shei'tani. A scream like I've never heard before. Your skin went cold as ice and I thought—" He broke off and closed his eyes against a sudden well of emotion.
«I thought I'd
lost you. You were here in my arms, but I couldn't feel you. It was as if your soul had fled, and all I held was an empty shell.»
Even his Spirit voice broke on that memory, and his arms clenched tight around her. «You
frightened me,"»
he rasped. «
You fright
ened
me as I never want to be frightened again
.»

There were tears in his eyes, and the sight nearly broke her heart. «
Oh, Rain, I'm sorry.»

"Shh," He put a finger to her lips, then replaced it quickly with a fierce, deep kiss,
«Las,
shei'tani
.
You've
nothing to be
sorry for. It is I who should be sorry. I see your
torment
,
and I don't know what to do. I'm failing you.»

Tears sprang to her eyes. «
Nei, Rain. Don't even think it.
You've done
everything any shei'tan possibly could—and more. I
am the one who cannot find a way to complete our bond. I'm the one who's failing you—failing us.»

«
Never
.» He tracked kisses from her lips to her ear. «
So
long
as we’re together, there is hope.»

The sound of a clearing throat made her glance up and around, and a blush rose to her cheeks. Her quintet and all the
lu’tan
were ringed around her and Rain, their eyes fixed upon her. Rain glanced up, too, and promptly spun a quick weave to dry her tears as they got to their feet.

"She's fine,'' he told them. "It was just a bad dream."

"Bad?" Gil repeated with patent disbelief. "That scream pierced our shields and probably woke every creature from here to Orest."

"Aiyah, well, she's had bad ones before," Rain assured him. Ellysetta almost told him then. Because he was wrong; this dream was nothing like the others. She'd dreamed of battles and death gruesome and violent enough to make a hardened warrior quail, but never had one of those nightmares disturbed her on such a visceral level. She hadn't just witnessed her submission to the Mage and Rain's death—she'd lived them. Every unspeakable moment had felt as real as this moment did now; as if she'd truly been there, as if she'd truly lost her soul, and Rain had truly died.

That was what had frightened her most. Because if the Mage had sent that dream, his hold on her had become dangerously strong. Ellysetta glanced up and found Gaelen watching her. For a moment, she thought he might betray the conversation they'd had back in Orest, but all he said was, "We should get moving. That scream lit our position like a beacon. If the Eld are following us, they know exactly where we are now."

The Fey continued south at a rapid pace. Rain ran at Ellysetta's side, and the quintet formed a tight circle around them.

Gaelen ran at Ellysetta's left, his long legs crossing the ground in an easy, tireless lope. He didn't say anything and he didn't look her way, but his silence was reproach enough.

When Rain ran ahead to confer with one of the scouts, she sent a private weave to Gaelen
. «I con sense your disapproval.
You think I should tell him.»

He didn't miss a stride. «
You said you would.»

«
We're not even halfway to Celieria City. You agreed to give me until then.»

«
That was before last night
.» Ice blue eyes met hers in a brief, piercing look. «
Ellysetta
,
you must tell him. Nothing should have
gotten through our shields, but that was no ordinary nightmare
and you know it. If it came from the Mage—and, unless you
have another
explanation, we must assume it did—then our time
has run out.»

She set her eves on the horizon. «
You’re right. I know you're
right
,» She should have told Rain the instant she and Gaelen had finished their conversation in Orest, but she'd kept silent for a variety of reasons. She hadn't wanted to add another burden to the staggering weight of troubles Rain already carried. She hadn't wanted anything to distract him from reaching Celieria City and warning King Dorian of the impending attacks. And, selfishly, she hadn't wanted to see the devotion in Rain's eyes turn to horror, as it surely would.

She'd been hoping she'd misread the signs, hoping Gaelen was wrong, but after her nightmare, she couldn't wait any longer. Rain had to know, as did all her
lu'tan.
The threat was too grave, too dangerous for them all.

She drew a deep breath and set her jaw. «
I’ll tell him today,
before we make camp for
the night.»

Shortly after daybreak, they reached the southern edge of the Verlaine Forest and stopped to rest and break their fast. They spread out in the tall, waving grass of an unfilled field, keeping low so that only a bird flying overhead would see them. Some merely sat or knelt to rest their legs; some lay down and closed their eyes to catch a few chimes of sleep. All took the time to eat and sip the rejuvenating waters of Orest's Source-fed lake from their water flasks.

Ellysetta was tired, but fear of sleep kept her eyes open. Gaelen's words had left such a churning in her belly, she had no desire to eat the Fey journeycake Rain offered her.

"You need to eat,
shei'tani,"
he insisted.

"I'm not very hungry."

"Eat anyway. At least a little. You aren't accustomed to so much running. And you didn't get enough sleep last night." Rain pressed the cake into her hands.

For his sake, she broke off a corner and put it in her mouth. Like all Fey food, it was delicious, tasting of sugared lemons and buttery cream, light yet surprisingly filling, but it could have been sawdust for all she cared.

She cast a brooding gaze westward towards the Rhakis mountains. From this distance, the Faering Mists looked like nothing more than a line of clouds hugging the jagged peaks. But somewhere in those Mists, her family was trapped. Papa. Lillis and Lorelle. At the thought of them, her mind filled with a horrible scene from her nightmare. The twins, black fire pits for eyes, their doll-smooth faces streaked with scarlet ribbons of Rain's blood.

The journeycake crumbled in her hands. She glanced down in dull dismay at the mess in her lap. Rain spun a quick weave of Earth that gathered up the crumbs and formed them back into a solid cake. He set the food aside and took her hands. "What is it, Ellysetta?” He searched her face in concern. "Talk to me."

"I'm just thinking of my family." The evasion slipped from her lips with shameful ease.

"You will see them again,
kem'san."
His expression softened with sympathy. "In fact, there's probably not a safer place in the world for them to be at the moment. Your father and sisters are innocents. The Mists might hold them for a while, but provided they're unharmed, they'll eventually find their way out
.
I wouldn't be surprised if that was the gods' intention all along."

"I hadn't thought of that."

The corner of his mouth lifted. "When our bond is complete and your Marks are gone, I promise I will take you into the Mists myself, and we will scour every fingerspan of what lies within until we find your father and sisters and return them to the world."

She looked up. "You would do that for me?”

Sadness darkened his lavender eyes to purple. "Of course I would. It pains me you would think otherwise."

She winced. "I didn't mean it like that, Rain." She pulled her hands from his and twisted them together, fixing her gaze on her tightly clenched fingers. "Forgive me. I'm very tired. I didn't sleep well last night even before that dream."

He put a hand under her chin and lifted her face with gentle insistence. "Ellysetta, you've been troubled since we left Orest. But I can't help you if you won't tell me what is wrong."

"I know. And I mean to tell you. I just need a little time." She glanced at Gaelen, who sat nearby, sharpening his blades.

Rain saw the look and his spine went stiff. He withdrew his hands from hers. "You need time before telling me, but you've already discussed your troubles with vel Serranis?" The rise of his tairen rumbled in his voice.

Ellysetta bit her lip. "It's not like that. I went to Gaelen in confidence, aiyah, but to ask him for information, not to share it.”

"What concerns do you have that you cannot share with me?"

Her shoulders slumped. It was no use. She had to tell him now, whether she was ready or not. "I went to Gaelen yesterday morning for information about my Marks."