Queen of Song and Souls

by C. L. Wilson

  The king’s drummers began to play as one of the king’s guard stepped forward in between Colum and the king, holding one of Adrial’s Fey’cha harnesses draped across his two hands. A second guard withdrew one of the red Fey’cha, but before he could carry it across the short distance to Adrial, a roar rumbled through the sky like thunder.

  They all glanced up to see the Tairen Soul soaring in the skies to the south. From this distance, which must have been twenty or thirty miles at the very least, he looked more like a great bird than a tairen. He winged with purpose across the sky, heading straight for the encampment.

  “Adrial! The Tairen Soul is here!” Hope bloomed in Talisa’s breast. If anyone in Celieria could stop this travesty of justice, it was the Fey king and his mate.

  Colum must have had the same thought, because while all eyes were on the Tairen Soul, he lunged forward, snatching one of the remaining red Fey’cha from the harness held by the guard in front of him and pulling back his arm to throw it.

  Talisa didn’t think. She just leapt forward, calling a warning to her truemate. “Adrial! Watch out!” And she threw her body between Adrial and Colum.

  The dagger struck her between the shoulders. It didn’t hurt much. Just a tiny explosion of pain. A single searing stab, gone almost in an instant. But the blow robbed her of breath and strength, and she fell forward into Adrial’s arms.

  “Adrial.” She blinked in dazed surprise. “Adrial, I…” Her thoughts tangled. Her vision began to blur, and her words slurred. “Adri…al…”

  The last thing she saw was his beloved face, and the last thing she felt was his love, tinged by desperate horror as tairen venom raced through her veins and death dimmed her vision.

  Adrial clutched Talisa’s body to his chest, her chestnut hair spilling over his arms. “Talisa…shei’tani…nei…nei. Nei va. Don’t go! Ster eva ku. Stay with me. Teska. Teska.” His shoulders quaked with racking sobs and tears poured freely down his face as her eyes glazed over. Her limbs gave a final, weak twitch, then went limp. “Ah, nei, nei. Teska sallan. Ku’ruveli, shei’tani. Come back to me.” He knew the instant her soul slipped free of her slender body. Her passing ripped him apart from the inside out, leaving a gaping hole where her brightness had taken root.

  He flung back his head and howled as the agony of her death shredded his soul.

  In the skies over Celieria, Adrial’s pain seared Ellysetta’s empathic senses like a bolt of lightning. Her fingers clenched around the pommel of the saddle and her body shuddered with the force of his devastation. Then another emotion chased after the first, every bit as jolting, and infinitely more alarming.

  «Rain!» She leaned forward, grasping thick handfuls of the fur at his neck in her urgency. «Hurry. Hurry!»

  Without a word, Rain put on a burst of magic-powered speed, and his tairen form raced across the sky, leaving the lu’tan far behind.

  Adrial’s head snapped down. His eyes flashed open, glaring from beneath dark brows, pinning Colum diSebourne with the deadly force of the Rage in his blazing gaze. Setting Talisa’s body on the ground, he rose to his feet. White sparks of Air whirled around him, flashing with red sparks of Fire. Green Earth flowed out from his body like wild, ravenous tendrils of some carnivorous plant. They dove into the soil, and the ground began to tremble and shake. The wind began to howl and spin, gathering force and speed.

  Adrial vel Arquinas was a master of Air and Earth, and in his Rage, not even the sel’dor shackles that bound him could suppress his great magic.

  “Adrial!” Rowan called his brother in desperation. He tried to summon his own command of Fire and Earth, hoping to counteract Adrial’s weaves, but without the Rage to feed his power, the sel’dor shackles blunted his efforts.

  Fearful for the king’s life, archers fired arrows at Adrial, but the cyclones whirling about him snatched the arrows in midflight and tossed them to the ground like matchsticks. His shining Fey skin grew brighter and brighter as he drew deep from the source of his power, gathering the magic, absorbing the energy into his own flesh, and holding it there until he glowed star-bright and looked more like an avenging Light Warrior of Adelis than a Fey.

  The ground trembled, and everyone but Adrial stumbled and nearly fell. Weaves of green Earth erupted like vines from the grass at Colum’s feet, twining up his legs, imprisoning him in curling shackles of solid stone. The vortexes spinning around Adrial expanded and joined together, forming a single, large cyclone of air that encompassed Adrial and diSebourne, isolating them in the center of a whirlwind.

  “She was returning to you.” Magic vibrated in Adrial’s voice, each word filled with palpable energy that reverberated like the deep tolling of a giant bell. “We had agreed I would go back to the Fading Lands and she would live out her life with you. But you would not even give us that. You would rather shatter her heart and destroy her hope than live knowing that any part of her belonged to another.”

  Adrial raised his shackled hands. His palms, like his eyes, now radiated blinding light. Colum began to choke and gasp for air. His eyes bulged. The skin at his temples rippled and his head tossed from side to side. His mouth opened in a wordless, gurgling scream, and his body swelled like a grotesque balloon.

  “For your crimes against my shei’tani, mortal, I sentence you to death. May your soul rot forever in the Seven Hells.”

  Adrial brought his hands together in a thunderous clap. Magic shot from his fingertips like a geyser of fiery light, shooting not up into the sky but horizontally across the distance and into Colum’s chest. DiSebourne’s body lit up like a candleshade.

  For one instant, Talisa’s husband stood there, bulging eyes rolling back in his head, body convulsing in violent seizures. But then Adrial’s magic ignited the flammable gases he’d expanded inside Colum’s body, and diSebourne exploded in a fiery blast of light and magic.

  When the blast faded, diSebourne was gone, the vortex around them had died, and Adrial fell heavily to his knees. The captain of the king’s guard cried out a command, and a volley of arrows darkened the sky. Adrial’s body jerked as dozens of the missiles pierced his chest and back, but the arrows only finished the job Talisa’s death had already begun.

  “Shei’tani,” he breathed on the last gasp of air in his lungs. His body toppled across hers and he gave himself willingly to the waiting darkness of the Well.

  With his shei’tani’s body in his arms and her name emblazoned on his soul forever, Adrial vel Arquinas passed through the Veil and was no more.

  The Fey sang bittersweet songs of lost love and second chances and the promise of future joy as they prepared to send the bodies of their brother Adrial and his shei’tani back to the elements.

  Once Rain had shared Hawksheart’s warning that the battle would begin on the morrow, the king and his army had broken camp and continued their northward trek. A bitter Lord Sebourne had gathered his men and ridden off towards Moreland. Only Cannevar Barrial and his sons remained with the Fey to tend the bodies of Adrial and Talisa.

  They garbed the pair in snowy white as a symbol of their ascent into the Light and laid the couple side by side on a crystal bier fashioned by the Earth masters. When all the songs were sung, and Cannevar and his sons had said their last good-byes, the Fey gathered around the truemates’ bier and summoned a dense weave of magic that settled over the bodies like a blanket of light. The weave flared bright and when it faded, nothing remained of Adrial and Talisa except a single, sparkling cabochon crystal. Adrial’s sorreisu kiyr.

  “Three lives needlessly lost.” Anger mixed with the terrible grief in Ellysetta’s heart. Her hands clenched in fists at her sides. “I failed them. I should have been able to save them.”

  Standing beside her, Rain shook his head. “It was too late, shei’tani. There was nothing you could have done. Nothing anyone could have done. They had already passed beyond the Veil.”

  “But—”

  “Nei. No buts.” He brushed silencing fingers across her lips. “Not all
battles can be won. Not all lives can be saved. And no matter how we wish it, not all songs end in joy.”

  She frowned and tilted her head back to look up at him. “Will ours?”

  “I pray so.” Somber acceptance darkened his eyes, and he stroked her cheek in a light caress. “But even if we do not find joy in this lifetime, we will be born again to love once more. That much, I believe without question. In this lifetime, or the next, or even the lifetime after that, our souls will be one…as will Adrial’s and Talisa’s.”

  She nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder, letting the tumultuous roil of anger and grief drain from her. In its wake bloomed a small bud of infant hope that no matter what happened in this life, joy would ultimately be theirs, as it would for Adrial and Talisa.

  “Come, my friends,” Rain said a few chimes later. “When the battle begins, King Dorian will need us.” Together, the Barrials and the Fey left the scene of their tragic loss and travelled the remaining distance to Kreppes.

  By the time they reached the fortified stone keep perched on a mountain overlooking the Heras River, night had fallen. As the quiet whoosh of Rain’s wings carried them forward, Ellysetta swept her gaze across the darkened horizon. A small light, noticeable for its surprising brightness, sparkled low on the horizon. The sight made her heart skip a beat.

  Erimea—or as the Celierians called her, Selena, Shadow’s Light—was shining in the sky over Eld.

  Celierian Language / Terms

  bell—hour

  chime—minute

  dorn—a furry, round somnolent rodent. Eaten in stews. A “soggy dorn” is an idiom for someone who is spoiling someone else’s fun. A party pooper.

  Lord Adelis—god of light. While Celierians worship a pantheon of gods and goddesses (thirteen in all), The Church of Light worships Adelis, Lord of Light, above all others. He is considered the supreme god, with dominion over the other twelve.

  Lord Seledorn—god of darkness, Lord of Shadows.

  rultshart—a vile, smelly, boarlike animal. The term is often used as an insult.

  Elden Language / Terms

  Primage—master mage

  Sulimage—journeyman mage

  umagi—a mage-claimed individual, subordinate to the will of his/her master.

  Fey Language / Terms

  In Feyan, apostrophes are used in the following ways:

  • Meaning “of.” Kem’falla…my lady, literally “lady of mine.” E’tani, literally “mate of the heart.” Shei’tani, literally “mate of the truth/soul.”

  • In lieu of hyphen, and to indicate emphasis for words combined of multiple root words.

  • Sometimes used to replace missing letters/vowels. Ni v’al’ta! (literally Ni ve al’ta.)

  aiyah—yes

  ajiana—sweet one

  Azrahn—common name of Azreisenahn, the soul magic

  bas’ka—all right

  beylah vo—thank you (literally “thanks to you”)

  bote cha!—blades ready! (weapons at the ready!)

  Cha Baruk—Dance of Knives

  cha’kor—literal translation is five knives. Fey word for “quintet.”

  chadin—little knife; literally “small fang” a student in the Dance of Knives. Each student is paired with a mentor who guides their progress through four hundred years of training in the school. It is an apprenticeship of sorts, though many teachers will contribute to the actual education.

  chakai—First Knife or First Blade. Champion.

  chatok—Big Knife (mentor, leader, also teacher in the dance of knives.)

  chatokkai—First General (leader of all Fey armies, 2nd in command to the Tairen Soul). Belliard vel Jelani is the chatokkai of the Fading Lands

  chervil—a Fey expletive. Bastard, as in, “You smug chervil.”

  dahl’reisen—Literally “lost soul.” Name given to unmated Fey warriors who are banished from the Fading Lands. They either seek sheisan’dahlein or serve as mercenaries/assassins to mortal races.

  deskor—bad

  doreh shabeila de—so be it (so shall it be)

  e’tan—beloved / husband / mate (of the heart, not the truemate of the soul)

  e’tani—beloved / wife / mate (of the heart, not the truemate of the soul)

  e’tanitsa—a chosen bond of the heart, not a truemate bond

  faer—magic

  falla—lady

  Felah Baruk—Dance of Joy

  Fey’cha—a Fey throwing dagger. Fey’cha have either black handles or red handles. Red Fey’cha are deadly poison. Fey warriors carry dozens of each kind of Fey’cha in leather straps crisscrossed across their chests.

  Feyreisa—Tairen Soul’s mate; Queen

  Feyreisen—Tairen Soul; King

  jaffed—a Fey expletive. Used as in, “We’d be jaffed if that happened.”

  jita’nos—sister’s son

  kabei—good

  ke vo san—I love you

  kem’falla—my lady

  kem’san—my love/my heart

  krekk—a Fey expletive

  ku’shalah aiyah to nei—bid me yes or no

  las—peace, hush, calm

  liss—light

  lute—red (also blood)

  Massan—the council of five powerful Fey statesmen who oversee the domestic governance of the Fading Lands. They do not convene without the Shei’dalin and the Feyreisen except in times of extreme need.

  Mei felani. Bei santi. Nehtah, bas desrali—Live well, love deep. Tomorrow, we (will) die.

  meicha—a curving, scimitarlike blade. Each fey warrior carries two meicha, one at each hip.

  miora felah ti’Feyreisan—joy to the Feyreisa (literally “Joyful life to the Feyreisa”)

  nei—no

  parei—stop

  sel’dor—literally “black pain.” A rare black metal that painfully disrupts Fey magic.

  selkahr—black crystals used by Mages. Made from Azrahn-corrupted Tairen’s Eye crystal.

  setah!—enough!

  seyani—a Fey warrior’s longsword. Each Fey warrior carries two seyani swords strapped to his back.

  sha vel’mei—you’re welcome

  shei’dalin—Fey healer and Truthspeaker; capped when referring to their leader.

  sheisan’dahlein—Fey honor death. Ceremonial suicide for the good of the Fey.

  shei’tan—beloved / husband / truemate

  shei’tani—beloved / wife / truemate

  shei’tanitsa—the truemate bond

  sieks’ta—I have shame (I’m sorry; I beg your pardon)

  sorreisu kiyr—Soul Quest crystal

  Spirit—lavender color, the mystic magic of consciousness, thought, and illusion

  Tairen—flying catlike creatures that live in the Fading Lands. The Fey are the Tairenfolk, magical because of their close kinship with the Tairen.

  Tairen Soul—also known as Feyreisen; they are rare Fey who can transform into tairen. Masters of all five Fey magics, they are feared and revered for their power. The oldest Tairen Soul becomes the Feyreisen, the Fey King.

  teska—please

  Ver reisa ku’chae. Kem surah, shei’tani—Your soul calls out. Mine answers, beloved

  Naming Syntax

  Truemated men go from vel to v’En. Mated men go from vel to vel’En.

  Truemated women go from vol to v’En. Mated women go from vol to vol’En.

  For examples:

  • Marissya and Dax v’En Solande are truemates.

  • Rain vel’En Daris and Sariel vol’En Daris were mates (e’tanitsa mates).

  “A fantastic debut. I couldn’t put it down.”

  —C. L. Wilson, New York Times Bestselling Author

  THE BATTLE SYLPH

  Welcome to his world.

  “Lovers of Stardust and The Princess Bride rejoice! A must for every fantasy library.”

  —Barbara Vey, blogger, Publishers Weekly

  “Refreshingly different, with an almost classic fantasy flavor…an exceptional lit
erary debut.”

  —John Charles, reviewer, The Chicago Tribune and Booklist

  “Wonderful, innovative and fresh. Don’t miss this fantastic story.”

  —Christine Feehan, New York Times Bestselling Author

  “A remarkable new voice and a stunningly original world…An amazing start to what promises to be a truly engaging series!”

  —Jill M. Smith, RT Book Reviews

  (CHECK OUT A SAMPLE: www.ljmcdonald.ca/Battle_preview.html.com)

  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 I 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.

  RAVES FOR C. L. WILSON’S EPIC TAIREN SOUL SERIES!

  KING OF SWORD AND SKY

  “The richly imagined third volume of Wilson’s bestselling fantasy romance series draws the reader into a complex web of ancient magics and looming war…. Wilson peels back layers of secrets surrounding the evil mages of Eld and their schemes to destroy the Tairen and the Fey, but the revelations never overwhelm the emotional intensity of Ellysetta and Rain’s developing relationship or diminish the textured beauty of the writing. An exciting climax will leave fans hungry for more.”