The Keys to the Realms (The Dream Stewards) (32 page)

It had come from somewhere else in her subconscious. Glain laughed aloud as the realization came to her. The whisper was a message from the beyond. This was the first stirrings of the dream-speak. It was Madoc’s voice she had heard.

Glain heard a gentle rapping on the outer door. “Come.”

Pedr entered, carrying a meal tray. “You slept through the supper.”

“Thank you,” she said, setting her skirts to rights and hoping her hair wasn’t wildly out of place. “Someone should have come for me.”

“I’m sure at least one of your attendants meant to, but I
discouraged
it.” Pedr was not the least bit apologetic. “You never take enough rest.”

Glain couldn’t help but smile. “So you’ve come out of your way just to bring a tray any one of a dozen novices could have managed with less than half the effort?”

“Not exactly,” he admitted, setting the tray within her reach. “Aslak asked that I let you know that his inquiry has been concluded. Emrys has been banished.”

Glain acknowledged the judgment with a sorrowful nod. She had expected this. “I suppose he is still pressing for me to make some decision about Euday.”

“He didn’t mention it just now,” Pedr said, “but yes, he is. And he is concerned about your plans to visit Elder Keep.”

Glain gave a dismissive wave. “I need to understand what has become of Machreth and what danger he still poses to us. I also need to understand who the prioress is and what it is she has sacrificed so much to protect, and that means I must see Elder Keep for myself.”

“His concerns are well-founded,” Pedr insisted. “Your safety is uncertain outside the Fane.”

Glain understood the risks, but this was a journey she knew she was meant to undertake. After the Well of Tears had been freed of its hex, she had begun to experience powerful
dreaming
visions of a temple she knew could only be Elder Keep. The
temple
itself seemed to beckon her. Even Alwen had instructed that she go. In the last several days the compulsion had become more insistent and filled with such foreboding that she dared wait no longer.

“Tell Aslak to take whatever precautions he thinks are wise,” she ordered. “But we will make the pilgrimage as planned. I want no more discussion on this matter, Pedr.”

“As you wish.” Pedr let one sensitive matter drop, but only in favor of another. “And what about Euday? Shall I tell Aslak you’re still not ready to decide?”

“What if I
can’t
decide,” she mused, more to herself than to Pedr. Glain had been avoiding the issue for days. She did not want the first act of her Sovereignty to be an order of execution. “What if I don’t
want
to decide?”

“Wouldn’t that, in and of itself, be a decision?” Pedr asked. “Deciding not to decide?”

An odd truth
, she thought,
but truth nonetheless
. “I don’t like your point, Pedr, but I can’t disagree with it.”

Pedr fussed with the fire as if he felt the need to make himself useful. “Seems to me, either way Euday is left in the dungeon. No better, no worse.”

“Neither better nor worse is not good enough,” Glain said. “I have kept him alive this long only to interrogate him. There are still so many unanswered questions. But the membership deserves satisfaction, and Euday has earned his sentence. The decision is made; it is now just a matter of carrying it out.”

She sighed, frustrated with her own reluctance. “If a leader hasn’t the courage to carry out the laws she has sworn to uphold, what good is she?”

Pedr frowned and folded his arms over his chest, peering at her as though he were surprised she hadn’t figured out the answer for herself. “A thoughtful, well-considered ruler who does not rush to action is not necessarily lacking courage.”

Glain felt silly, but reassured. “How is it you always know just what to say and just when to say it?”

Pedr prepared to take his leave. He was ever careful not to overstay. “Sometimes it’s easier for others to see us more clearly than we see ourselves. You’ll do what must be done.” Pedr paused as he passed through the door. “You are stronger than you know.”

L
EXICON OF THE
S
TEWARDRY

Castell Banraven
(“Raven’s Peak”)

The home of the Ruagaire Brotherhood.

Cad Nawdd
(“Army of Protectors”)

The castle guard at Fane Gramarye.

Crwn Cawr
(“Circle of Champions”)

The protectorate created to accompany the Guardians of the Realms into hiding.

Circle of Sages

Also known as the Stewards’ Council, a circle of knowledge and power forged by the joining of the four Guardians of the Realms.

Coedwig Gwyn
(The White Woods)

The magical forest near the ancient Welsh village of Pwll that shelters Fane Gramarye.

Cymru

The lands known today as the Kingdom of Wales.

Cwm Brith
(“Gray Hollow”)

A fortified hunting lodge built by King Cadell of Seisyllwg.

Dream-Speak

The language of the dreamer, the timeless tongue with which the Ancients pass their wisdom to the Sovereign in the shroud of a dream. The power can only be gained by drinking the waters of the Well of Tears.

Elder Keep

Also known as the “wizard’s crypt” or “bastion of souls,” the Keep contains a portal to the Otherworld through which the Sovereigns pass at the end of their earthly days.

Fane Gramarye

The magic temple and last stronghold of the Stewards, hidden in the enchanted forest of Coedwig Gwyn near the village of Pwll, located in the province of Ystrad Tywi in the land of Cymru.

Guardians of the Realms

Each born only once a generation, the four Guardians of the Realms are descended of a magical bloodline that
carries
a unique affinity to one of the elemental dominions. The four realms and their lineages are the Spiritual Realm from the House of Eniad, the Celestial Realm from the House of
Caelestis
, the Physical Realm from the House of Morthwyl, and the Natural Realm from the House of Uir.

Hywel Dda
(“Hywel the Good”)

First son of Cadell of Seisyllwg, heralded as the only ruler to unite all of Cymru under one hand and credited with the codification of the first written, binding law of the land.

Keys to the Realms

Four talismans that channel and amplify the elemental forces of the universe:

• Lapis Lazuli—key to the Spiritual Realm
  
• Moss Agate—key to the Natural Realm
  
• Moonstone—key to the Celestial Realm
  
• Bloodstone—key to the Physical Realm
  

Mystical Realms

The four earthly dominions: Spiritual, Celestial, Natural, and Physical; their elemental forces: water, air, earth, and fire; and their corresponding magical arts: empathy, augury, metamorphosis, and regeneration.

Norvik

A tiny fishing village located on the Frisian islets near the
Danish
borderlands, south of the River Eider; homeland of Aslak, great captain of the Cad Nawdd and leader of the Crwn Cawr.

Obotrites

Nomadic Slavic tribes, also known as the Wend.

Ruagaire Brotherhood

A centuries-old peacekeeping force originally commissioned to enforce the laws of the mageborn societies. The Ruagaire are defenders of the old ways and mercenary hunters of rogue magic. They are born with a natural resistance to magic and live by a strict code governed by four virtues: veracity, loyalty, righteousness, and forbearance.

Stewardry

A sorcerer’s guild devoted to the stewardship and teaching of the old ways.

Well of Tears

The enchanted pool whose waters hold the ancient secrets of the Stewards. By drinking of the sacred waters, the knowledge and experience of all who have come before is passed from one generation to the next.

H
IERARCHY OF THE
S
TEWARDRY

The Principals of the Ninth Order

The Levels of Mastery

T
HE
L
EGACIES

The Mageborn Dynasties (The Ancients)

House Aslaksson

House of Dinefwyr

Clan MacDonagh

Tribe of the Wolf King