by Maggie Furey
‘So you must decide, and decide now,’ Siris said. ‘And once made, your choice can never be unmade. Also, this is the last time I will be able to return you. There will be no third chances, and should you return to the mundane realm, when you finally quit your life there you must go through the Well and be reborn. This is your last chance to be united with Athina. So think well – but think quickly. These possibilities will only exist within a narrow window of time.’
‘Hold on,’ Avithan interrupted, pushing forward. ‘What’s all this about decisions and choices? I thought everything was quite straightforward: Athina keeps the mortal, I go back home, and since she still has someone with her in her realm, the other Creators won’t notice the difference. Scrying in Athina’s lake I just watched my father die.’ For a moment the pain and anguish were naked on his face. ‘I need to be with my mother and my people now, and they need me. Why are you suddenly asking him to decide all our fates? He’s only a mortal. Who cares what he thinks, or wants?’
Athina’s eyes flashed. ‘Dael was never only a mortal, and he is the son of my heart. His opinions and desires are every bit as relevant as yours – if not more so.’
‘Have you not been listening, Wizard?’ Siris added. ‘Through the Stone of Fate, Dael is no longer a mortal – yet even if he were, he would have the same rights as you in this place. In my realm, all are equal. Whether you like it or not, the decision is his to make.’
While they had been talking, Dael’s mind had been racing. All the dear, familiar faces flashed before his eyes: Iriana, Corisand, Taine and Aelwen, and the trusting blue-eyed gaze of little Melik. They had all become his friends. It wrenched his heart to think of leaving them – yet when he looked back at the Cailleach, he suddenly knew he would never miss them half as much as he would regret the loss of this all-powerful being who, astonishingly, had become the only mother he had ever known. In that instant his decision was crystal clear. Unhesitatingly, he reached out and took hold of her hand. ‘I thought I had lost you for ever, Athina. I never want to be parted from you again.’
‘So be it,’ Siris pronounced. ‘Then you must return to the mundane realm very briefly, for it is only in your world that the exchange can be made.’
Dael nodded. ‘Let’s get on with it, then.’ He shot a cool look at Avithan. ‘I’m very sorry about your father. I was there when he fell, and he died bravely and well, but that’s no consolation to you. Before we part, I want to give you some advice. Iriana told me how you always used to overprotect her. I wouldn’t advise that now; it won’t be welcomed, believe me. You’ll find that she’s changed a great deal in your absence, and accomplished things you couldn’t even dream of. She defeated the Lord of the Phaerie not once, but twice and—’
‘I’ve known Iriana since we were children,’ Avithan snapped. ‘I don’t need advice from an ex-slave who has known her for no time at all.’
Dael shrugged. ‘You can’t say I didn’t warn you.’ He turned his back on Avithan and spoke to Siris. ‘I’m ready.’
The Wizard’s horse didn’t like her using its sight, and fought her all the way, but Iriana simply overrode its will and took it down to the ground. She dismounted by Dael’s body and tied the reins to a low bough, but the animal tossed its head, fighting both its tether and her control, and Iriana couldn’t see Dael except for brief, frustrating glimpses as she knelt by his side. Frantically she groped to feel a pulse, but he lay limp and still, with no evidence of a heartbeat. ‘Dael,’ she sobbed. ‘Oh, Dael, I’m sorry.’ She ran her fingers over his face, smoothing back his hair, her heart breaking. He had been so brave and loyal. She could never have defeated Hellorin without him – it was so unfair that death should be his only reward.
Suddenly Taine was beside her and took her into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder and wept. ‘Iriana, use my eyes,’ he said softly.
She pulled back from him, giving his hand a grateful squeeze, released the mind of the struggling horse with relief and found herself welcomed into the mind of Taine. His sight was blurred by his own tears, but he wiped his eyes and her vision cleared to see Aelwen kneeling beside her, also weeping. Iriana tried to straighten Dael’s twisted, broken limbs. ‘Oh, Dael,’ she murmured brokenly, brushing her fingers across his face. ‘I’m so sorry. You were so brave and loyal – you didn’t deserve this.’
Then Aelwen suddenly cried out. ‘Look! Look, Taine and Iriana.’ Taine swung his head upwards and through his eyes, Iriana saw a hazy vision of Athina, with Dael at her side, unscathed, unwounded, and looking much more solid, standing at her side. And with them – Iriana gasped. ‘Avithan?’
‘We cannot linger,’ the Cailleach said urgently. ‘My fellow Creators must not find out about this day’s work, but as long as I have one person with me in my realm, they won’t be concerned with the identity, so Dael and Avithan are changing places.’
‘Goodbye, Iriana,’ Dael said. ‘I’m sorry to have to leave you like this – but it’s my only chance to be with Athina.’
‘I understand.’ The Wizard smiled at him through her tears. ‘I’ll miss you, dear Dael – but I’m so happy for you.’
There were tears in Dael’s eyes too. ‘You and Corisand always treated me like a true companion, and you showed me that I can be someone special, mortal though I am, and that I can make a difference. Thanks to you, I did, and I can never thank you enough for that. Say goodbye to Corisand for me – and little Melik.’ He held out a phantom hand to her. ‘Farewell, Iriana, my friend.’
‘Now,’ Athina said. ‘You’ll find a small crystal phial in Dael’s pocket. Unstopper it and trickle the liquid between his lips.’
It seemed strange, after just speaking to Dael, to be rummaging round in the clothing on his battered body, but Iriana quickly found the phial, and did what the Cailleach had said.
‘Now.’ Athina nudged Avithan forward, and his shadowy figure knelt beside Dael, then lay down exactly where the body was lying, so that their forms seemed superimposed on one another. The Cailleach raised her hand and a beam of blinding blue-white light came shining out of her palm to highlight the two figures. Taine blinked – and when he and Iriana could see again there, in Dael’s place, was Avithan, alive and well once more, though looking a little dazed. Dael’s body had vanished, but his figure, looking even more substantial now, remained with Athina, holding tightly to her free hand, his face glowing with happiness.
‘One last thing, Iriana,’ the Cailleach said. ‘I have foreseen many things in my lake since I was forced to leave you. Every one of the artefacts of power that the Magefolk are creating will require at least one life to be sacrificed, sometimes more. That phial in Dael’s pocket contained water from the Well of Souls. You must tell the Leviathan that the only way to make the cauldron of rebirth that they are creating is to use the water from that Well, in the Place Between the Worlds. They must send a representative to Death’s realm – and the only way to get there is the obvious one, I’m afraid. That person must be prepared to give their life for the cause, for a bargain must be struck, and Death will demand this sacrifice.’
‘But we can’t reach them in time,’ Iriana protested. ‘Please, Athina, couldn’t you get the message to them? Surely there must be a way.’
Athina sighed. ‘The things you ask of me. Very well, I will do my best, but I can guarantee nothing. I will summon them back to Tyrineld, for in their northern migration they are the closest of the other Magefolk races. You have much information to share with them that they can pass on to the Dragons and Skyfolk, but if they are not there when you get home you would be advised to send a messenger of your own, in case I fail.’ Her face, which had been so sombre as she gave her advice and warning, broke into a smile. ‘Farewell, my friends. Thank you for taking care of Dael for me – and may fortune favour you in the terrible days to come.’
‘What terrible days?’ Taine said urgently. ‘What terrible days?’
Athina made no reply. She looked at Dael and nodded, then the two
of them began to fade and shimmer.
And suddenly were gone.
31
~
A DIFFICULT TRANSITION
Avithan sat up and frowned at Iriana, who still had Taine’s arm around her shoulders. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come back after all,’ he said. ‘You don’t look overjoyed to see me.’
For a moment the Wizard was lost for a reply. She was utterly stunned by everything that had happened in such a short space of time, and her emotions were all in a tangle: joy at Avithan’s return, a mixture of happiness and sorrow at the loss of Dael. She was elated and astonished that with the help of the Fialan she had defeated Hellorin and exiled his entire race from the world, yet filled with lingering grief and pain at Cyran’s death. There was also a good deal of concern and doubt over whether Avithan would have altered much – and would he be able to deal with the ways in which she had changed? Then the happiness at seeing him won out, and she slipped away from Taine to embrace this dearest of old friends, miraculously restored to her.
‘Of course I’m glad to see you,’ she said. ‘It was just a lot to take in for a moment – I thought you’d gone for good.’
He hugged her back, his face lit with a smile at last. ‘And I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you again. There were times when I despaired of ever getting home again.’
Iriana gestured to her other companions. ‘Avithan, this is Taine, and this is Aelwen. They—’
‘I know about them,’ Avithan replied. ‘Athina and I have been watching your progress from her world.’ He looked across at his father’s body, which had not vanished with the Phaerie city, but was lying, as if asleep, at the foot of a tree, and his eyes filled with tears. ‘I saw all of it,’ he said in a choked, unsteady voice. ‘I saw my father fight, and saw him fall. A Mortal slave is permitted to escape Death’s clutches,’ he added bitterly, ‘but there will be no second chances for an Archwizard who gave his life in the service of his people.’ He left the others and knelt beside his father’s body, murmuring his own private words of farewell.
Iriana and her companions left him alone for a few moments, respecting his grief, though the Wizard was longing to catch up with Corisand. Now that it was no longer needed, the power of the Fialan had died away to bearable measures, and the glow around her was the faintest of shimmers. She felt absolutely drained; light-headed with exhaustion and desperate for sleep, but there would be no chance of that. Instead, beckoning to Taine and Aelwen to come with her, she stepped forward when Avithan got to his feet and performed the spell that would take Cyran out of time, so that his body might remain safely where it lay until arrangements could be made to bring him home.
Avithan took her hand. ‘What am I going to say to my mother?’
‘She’ll already know of his passing,’ Iriana reminded him. ‘You won’t have to tell her that, but she’ll want to know what happened. Sharalind is a brave woman. With help from all of us she’ll come to terms with this. Tell her of his bravery, and his sacrifice. Tell her he never stopped looking for you.’
Avithan sighed. ‘I wish he could have known about my return,’ he said. ‘I wish I could have talked with him, and embraced him one last time.’
‘I wish you could have, too.’ Iriana squeezed his hand. ‘I’m sorry, Avithan, but it’s time to leave him now. He’ll be safe here, until we can return for him.’
‘I hate to leave him all alone.’ There was a catch in Avithan’s voice.
‘Avithan, he isn’t really here any more. You know this better than anyone, now that you have actually met Death and lived to tell the tale. Dael told us of the Well of Souls, after the first time he was there, when he held the Fialan for Corisand in the cave, and was overcome by its power. Cyran will have already passed through, to be reborn into a new life. A part of him will always remain, but not in this empty shell. He’ll still be alive in your heart, and in your memory.’
At that moment, Taine and Aelwen approached. ‘I am truly sorry for your loss, my friend,’ Taine said. ‘We can share your grief, for we all have lost people who are dear to us today,’ he added. ‘If you’ve been watching, as you say, you’ll know what Dael and Kaldath meant to us. With the death of Tiolani and the departure of the Phaerie, Aelwen lost close family members, and I mourn Cyran too, for he gave me a home and a purpose when I was a rootless exile. But we must put off our grieving till later, harsh as that may seem. I have a feeling in my bones that this business isn’t over yet.’
‘And since Iriana has the Fialan, we don’t have much time until Corisand’s flying spell wears off,’ Aelwen reminded them. ‘If we don’t get back to her before it does, we’ll have a long and dangerous walk in front of us.’
Her words galvanised them all into action, even Avithan. So much had happened in the last hour that Taine and Iriana had forgotten about the risks of being too far away from the Windeye with the Fialan.
‘Come on, little sister,’ Taine said to Iriana. ‘You don’t have Melik, so you can share my vision if you want, until we get back to safety.’
‘She doesn’t need you.’ Avithan pushed forward belligerently. ‘She can share my vision.’
Iriana sighed. Avithan had only been back a little while, and her fight for independence was starting all over again. She also hadn’t missed the cold look in Aelwen’s eyes when Taine was so friendly to her. ‘Thanks to both of you, but I can manage,’ she said firmly. ‘I’ll take Rosina, the roan mare that Dael ri— used to ride,’ she corrected herself. ‘She’s gentle enough to take direction from me and let me use her vision.’
Taine nodded. ‘Good idea.’
‘But—’ Avithan began.
Iriana turned on him. ‘Don’t,’ she said fiercely. ‘Just don’t start that nonsense again, Avithan. I mean it.’
He opened his mouth, closed it again, then turned on his heel and stalked away, grim-faced. After a moment, Aelwen spoke. ‘You’ll need a mount, Avithan,’ she said. ‘You can take the one that Iriana was riding. Corisand won’t like it if we leave any of her people behind.’
They wasted no time, and in a matter of minutes they were ready to go. Looking at the horses, Iriana noticed that the bright shimmer of the flying spell seemed to be dimming a little, and frowned. Would they get back to Corisand in time, before the flying spell wore off?
‘Remember to hang on tight,’ Aelwen was telling Avithan. ‘Flying a horse for the first time is quite an alarming experience, and if you fall off, it’s a long way to the ground.’
‘I’ll manage,’ Avithan replied gruffly, but the Wizard noticed that he looked a little pale.
Rosina was a gentle beast, and to Iriana’s relief was quite happy to accommodate the presence of a strange intruder in her mind. As they took off, she used the mare’s vision to sneak a look at Avithan, and smiled to herself as he suppressed a yelp of terror as his mount took off. She noticed that he was clinging, white-knuckled, to the pommel of the saddle, but most people did the same on their initial flight. She hoped that soon he would relax and begin to enjoy it.
With tensions seething in the air between them, the quartet made their way back towards Tyrineld. As they headed away from the hill where the Phaerie city had once stood, the Wizard thought sadly about the way in which Kaldath’s death, Dael’s departure and Avithan’s arrival had completely changed the atmosphere in their little group. Ever since Athina had taken Avithan to her own realm to heal him, Iriana had longed for his return, yet now that he was back there was an element of friction and discord in their circle that had not been there before. Suddenly she remembered what she had conveniently forgotten during his absence: that for all her life, she had constantly had to cope with his overwhelming solicitousness, and fight him for every scrap of self-reliance.
The Wizard clenched her jaw. She wasn’t about to go through that again! There had been a lot of changes in her life since his departure, and she had changed with them. Avithan would just have to get used to that, or . . . Iriana didn’t want to think about the alt
ernatives. With the horse’s peripheral vision she glanced beyond him to Taine. He had never, from the first time they’d met, treated her as though she were helpless – and therefore when he did offer to give her a hand with anything, it was just the same as him offering to help anyone else.
As for Aelwen . . . She looked at the Horsemistress, sitting easily in her saddle, so much a part of her mount that the Wizard envied her. Then she noticed that Aelwen was also eyeing her, and not in a very friendly fashion. Iriana could feel herself growing tense with anxiety. What was happening to everyone? The tightly knit band of companions that had worked so well together since the day Athina left seemed to be disintegrating before her eyes. She sighed, desperately wishing that Corisand could be there. At least their friendship would surely stand the test of time. As for the others; well, at least they had done what they set out to do. What would become of them now, only time would tell.
Where in Creation are they?
Corisand led the Xandim in the direction that Iriana had given her, towards the settlement of Nexis, but her thoughts were far behind her, with the friends who must even now be fighting for their lives. There was nothing she could do to help them, however. As Iriana had said, her first responsibility must be to her tribe. Determined to get them far away from Eliorand as quickly as possible, she led them as fast as the slowest ones, the old and the very young, could fly. They had already passed the border, and were heading towards the lake with its isle that had been the site of Athina’s tower. Corisand kept looking back over her shoulder, desperately seeking a glimpse of the cluster of specks against the dark sky that would show that the others were following.
But what if Hellorin won? Then those specks could be him coming after us.
Corisand shuddered. She would have to put that notion right out of her head before the other Xandim sensed her unease. ‘Iriana will be all right,’ she told herself firmly. ‘Armed with the Fialan, she can handle Hellorin.’ Yet the more time passed with no one in sight, the harder it was to shake off her fears.
