by Barb Hendee
She glanced up at the sun caught on the edge of drifting dark clouds. Within moments, the morning light faded. The forest darkened around her.An omen.
She dropped to her knees beneath a tall elm's branches and pressed the smooth word-wood to its bark. Her reluctance to report such disturbing events fell before her need for Most Aged Father's guidance.
"Father…"
I am here, daughter.
His voice in her thoughts brought some relief. "I do not know where to begin… I have failed-"
I know all. I was there as you faced this horror. Destroy it! Tell Brot'an'duive my wishes, and dispatch the smaller human woman as well. You and Sgailsheil-leache first restrain Leshil. Disable him if need be, but he is not to be permanently harmed.
Perhaps Most Aged Father had not seen everything.
"Brot'an'duive protects this undead woman," Frethfare answered, "and allowed Leshil to speak with Cuirin'nen'a. Even with En’nish’s assistance and those with her, I do not think we could overcome the Greimasg'ah if he refuses. And Leshil and this woman would side with Brot'an'duive."
The tree was silent for a long moment, and then…
Give Brot'an'duive my instructions. He will obey.
For the first time, Frethfare doubted Most Aged Father's wisdom. Perhaps he had not seen Brot'an'duive's face as the elder Anmaglahk stopped Sgail-sheilleache from going after the wild woman.
"Father, the situation is untenable. Osha is untried and in service to Sgail-sheilleache's guardianship. I do not believe they would submit even to Brot'an'duive in conflict with that purpose. And the Greimasg'ah is…"
She faltered at casting aspersions upon one of hercaste's eldest.
"Brot'an'duive is a stranger among us. Forgive my doubts, but would it not be better to lead this undead back to Crijheaiche? With those of our caste waiting, we could take her easily, especially if Leshil is to remain unharmed."
Again the tree went silent.
Yes… your wise counsel gives me great pride. Bring them to Crijheaiche.
Freth breathed easily again."In silence and in shadows."
The morning sun slipped behind thick clouds, and the promise of a fine day vanished. The sky turned gray, and the air grew chill.
Brot'an'duive knew what Frethfare would tell Most Aged Father-what she had seen and what he had done-but it could not be helped. He needed Leshil, or all the frail plans of Cuirin'nen'a andthe long lost Eillean would lead to nothing.
In the crypt of Darmouth, it was clear how much this tainted woman, Magiere, meant to Leshil. Perhaps dangerously more than the half-blood understood. Brot'an'duive could not allow her to be harmed, or Leshil would suffer and be lost from the purpose that awaited him. Brot'an'duive stayed close to Leshil and Magiere and made certain that En’nish and her companions remained far off.
It had been eight years since Brot'an'duive had seen Cuirin'nen'a, not since the night she had been banished into permanent isolation by Most Aged Father. There was too much risk in meeting with Cuirin'nen'a-for her, for himself, and for the few who supported all that Eillean had begun long ago. But the sight of Cuirin'nen'a's face with its hints of Eillean had put him off balance.
Though he had never spoken of it, perhaps the daughter suspected how much he had loved the mother. He had sacrificed so much to keep his promise to Eillean. He had sacrificed Eillean herself. Soon he would sacrifice yet more.
Leshil had good reason to hate him. But Brot'an'duive had no choice in bringing Cuirin'nen'a back for judgment. One of them had to remain free of Most Aged Father's confirmed suspicions, and Cuirin'nen'a hadalready fallen from their leader's goodwill. It remained imperative that Brot'an'duive not fall with her. She understood this.
He had manipulated Leshil into finishing his own mission and assassinating Darmouth. Again, he had seen no other option. What he did, he did for his people rather than the goals of Most Aged Father.
Sgailsheilleache and Osha returned with walnuts and berries. Sgailsheil-leache looked ill and would not raise his eyes to anyone. Brot'an'duive pitied him. Sworn guardianship or not, Sgailsheilleache would not rest easy in Magiere's presence-nor would Frethfare.
Neither would Brot'an'duive.
He reached out and took walnuts and berries with both hands. "Both of you stay with En’nish and the others. Frethfare will return soon."
Sgailsheilleache finally looked up. Before he objected, Brot'an'duive gave his assurance.
"I will serve your guardianship as if it were my own. Take your ease for a time. When we return to Crijheaiche, Most Aged Father will advise us wisely."
These last words stuck in his throat, but the pretense was necessary.
Sgailsheilleache glanced toward Magiere, and a hint of revulsion resurfaced. He nodded and turned away with young Osha following.
Brot'an'duive stepped off through the trees toward the separate gathering of Sgailsheilleache's charges. He had not met the small one called Wynn, who now sat against a large cedar, bare of branches at its base. She had torn a strip of cloth from some garment to make a bandage for the shallow slash on Leshil's forearm. Beside her was the majay-hi, Chap, who Sgailsheilleache and Leshil had both spoken to in the clearing-a strange moment.
majay-hiand human stared off through the forest, and Brot'an'duive caught a glimpse of the pack among the trees. Now and then, a white female ranged closer.
The fact that the pack and a clhuassas had aided a human in finding
Cuirin'nen'a was perplexing. Against their long-standing protection of this land from outsiders, they found nothing to fear from this little one called Wynn.
Brot'an'duive did not believe in portents, yet it was a strange sign. The doubts he had harbored over the years for Eillean's plan lessened a little more. The touched creatures of his people's land appeared to find Most Aged Father's ways unacceptable.
Magiere lay upon the ground away from the cedar's far side, looking weary and spent from her sudden fury. Leshil now crouched beside her.
Brot'an'duive knelt at Magiere's feet and began splitting the walnut shells with a stiletto.
"Do not strain Sgailsheilleache further," he said plainly to Leshil. "Your actions thus far have placed him in a difficult position. Frethfare will now seek any reason to execute Magiere."
Leshil stared at him. Wynn shifted around the cedar's side, followed by Chap, to listen in.
Magiere did not move. "Wynn, what were you thinking? Running off like that?"
The little human frowned. "How else would we get around Most Aged Father's coercion? Or should we just let him dangle Nein'a in front of Leesil?"
Chap nosed Wynn with a growl, and she put a hand on his head.
"I am sorry, Magiere," Wynn continued but without a hint of regret. "Chap was leaving with the majay-hi, and I… knew where he was going. There was no time to tell you."
Brot'an'duive remained silently attentive.
Most Aged Father tried to bend Leshil to his will-but for what? Aside from the custom to never spill the blood of their own, the only reason the patriarch had for keepingCuirin'nen'a alive was to learn of any others who aided her. The purpose for Leshil's safe passage became quite clear.
Brot'an'duive turned to Leshil. "You cannot free your mother… not without Most Aged Father's consent. He holds sway over the place of her confinement. If you still wish to free her, then you must return to Crijheaiche and bargain for it."
Magiere rolled up onto one elbow with a frown.
"What do you care?" Leshil spit out. "She's here because you dragged her back!"
"If I had not," Brot'an'duive replied, "then another of my caste would have done so… or worse."
"I thought elves didn't kill their own," Magiere said.
"Their own… are not always a matter of blood or even race," Brot'an'duive returned. "I was Eillean's confidant and friend. Yes, true. So who better to assure Cuirin'nen'a wasreturned unharmed?"
He turned back to Leshil. "You know our word… tru?"
"It means 'trai
tor'," Leshil answered coldly.
"Simplistically, yes.It also means outcast, outlawed, beyond the protection of a society. Our law against spilling the blood of our own is based in custom and tradition, not words or decrees as written down by humans."
"How convenient," Magiere said."So much easier to twist."
Brot'an'duive ignored her and kept his attention on Leshil. "There are those who consider a traitor beyond the shield of custom and society-and not one of their own. As did Groyt'ashia when he tried to take your life for interfering with my mission in Venjetz."
It was only half of the truth, but it served his purpose.
"And what about Leshil…Leesil?" Wynn asked. "What happens to him for killing one of yours? It was self-defense."
The young one eyed Brot'an'duive with a studied interest that left him wary.
"I will bear witness in Leshil's favor," he answered. "I know the truth of it, should it come to that."
"Truth?" Leesil spit."In your mouth? Have any more sick jokes?"
"That, and the safe passage of humans in our land, is why the elders gather in Crijheaiche.Now Frethfare will give them something of greater concern to my people."
Brot'an'duive turned his eyes upon Magiere.
Magiere hurt for Leesil, despite her own pain. For all the trouble Wynn had caused, finding Nein'a had done little good.
She had lost control in front of their enemies, revealing her nature. They didn't truly understand what she was-but an explanation wouldn't gain her much. The child of a vampire would be viewed as little better than an un-dead.
Even worse, after all of Leesil's efforts, the loss and bloodshed, Nein'a wouldn't even speak to him.
Magiere avoided looking at the trees. Every time she did, they conjured images of the blotched dead marks her own touch had left on the birch. The ones no one else seemed to have noticed. Her vision of undead slaughtering an encampment still plagued her.
Elves, short and stoutdwarves, and humans had fought side by side as allies, though it didn't seem possible.Certainly not in any part of her world. Wynn spoke at times of elves near her homelandwho were far different from those here.
If it were real-if it had happened-then where and when? And how and why had she seen it upon touching the birch?
Wynn shivered in the cooling air and clutched at Chap for warmth. Even Leesil huddled up as if chilled.
"We should start a fire," Magiere said. "Brot'an… help me find firewood."
"I'll go," Leesil demanded, though he kept his eyes down, unwilling to look at Brot'an. "You need rest."
Brot'an seemed about to object to either option. Magiere shook her head slightly at him, and then tilted it toward Leesil. Brot'an remained silent in puzzlement.
"Stay here," she told Leesil. "Have Wynn tell you about trying to walk Nein'a out of the clearing. Maybe there's something we've missed."
She got up and started off, and Brot'an followed. When they were far enough away not to be heard, he spoke up first.
"What is on your mind?"
"You saw me change when we fought in the crypt, but you didn't tell your… kind about me?"
After a pause, he replied, "It was not their concern."
"Does anyone else know that Leesil killed Darmouth?"
He stopped walking, forcing her to face him. "I reported my purpose as complete. No questions were asked, so I did not elaborate."
"Yet you did tell them he killed Groyt?"
"A body does require explanation," Brot'an replied passively. "I returned Groyt'ashia to his family and kin. He was Anmaglahk, and his throat had been slashed open. Only the truth… only another trained in our way, was a believable explanation."
Magiere hated it when any of these butchers referred to Leesil as one of them.
"Whatever you want from Leesil, forget it," she warned. "We're leaving, and-one way or another-we're taking Leesil's mother. Your people have put him through enough. He'll live as he chooses, and I'll see to that. Understand?"
A strange weariness, or maybe sadness, washed over Brot'an's scarred face. "You have mated with Leshil."
Magiere was so taken aback that she lost her voice for an instant. "Don't try meddling in my life. What's between Leesil and me is none of your con-cern.
"It is his concern, more than he may know," Brot'an answered. "I understand your intention, but you do not understand all that is involved… because of Leshil's heritage."
Magiere flinched at this, though she didn't understand all that Brot'an implied. Except perhaps that her connection to Leesil might be one more weight upon him in the coming days. She changed tactics.
"Then do me one favor," she said.
"If I am able."
"I need to speak with Nein'a alone… just for a few moments."
The wary Brot'an reappeared, and he shook his head.
"The others won't see or know," she went on. "I have questions for her before I decide what to do next.And I… I will owe you in return."
Being indebted to this man was almost more than Magiere could stomach, but she had to know what Leesil risked his future for. If she could go back in time and save her own mother, she would at any price. Magelia was worth the cost-but was Nein'a?
"Do not think for a moment," Brot'an warned, "that Frethfire will forget what she saw this day."
Brot'an's steady gaze made Magiere's persistent quiver all the more unsettling. He headed for the barrier woods, and she followed. When he stopped before the passage through those tangled trees, he held her off a moment longer.
"Remember your debt the next time I must have Leshil's cooperation for his own sake."
Magiere nodded, though it made her flush with resentment. She hoped Leesil would remain distracted by Wynn for a little while longer.
The passage through the woods had grown as dark as dusk beneath the clouded sky. As Magiere pushed aside the tall ferns and stepped into the open clearing, she wasn't certain how she would handle this meeting. She ended up waiting, lost in thought, until Nein'a appeared from around the domicile tree.
Nein'a carried the saffron cushion left beside the brook and headed toward her home. She stopped at the sight of Magiere, dropped the cushion beside the tree, and stood waiting.
As Magiere approached, Nein'a studiedthe two majay-hi still present. One lapped at the brook's water while the other curled upon the moss to wash. The sight seemed to bring the tall elven woman satisfaction.
"You risk the moment of peace Brot'an'duive created, but Sgailsheilleache will be the one to pay if your absence is discovered."
Magiere had bargained blindly for this meeting, and now her tongue was tied as she looked upon this apparition of Leesils past.Lovely, deadly Nein'a. Brot'an's hint at Magiere's intimacy with Leesil suddenly left her uncertain in facing Leesil's mother. Magiere wondered-out of all others, why had Leesil chosen her?
Magiere wore her emotions on her face. She had no wiles and no ways with feminine mystery.
"Don't you miss him?" she asked quietly. "Aren't you glad to see him?"
It wasn't what she'd planned to say.But if anyone had taken Leesil from her, had parted them for eight years, the sight of him again wouldVe broken her into tears.
"You are… his?" Nein'a asked, though it wasn't really a question.
Neither insulting nor as bitterly sad as Brot'an's statement, and yet it intimidated Magiere.
"Yes. We own a tavern… in the town ofMiiska on the Belaskian coast. But he has wanted to find you ever since Sgaile came at him in Bela and hinted that you might still be alive." Magiere found a touch of her own bitterness. "Even after everything you've done to him."
Nein'a stared directly into her eyes. "And what have I done to him?"
Magiere's hesitant bitterness became anger again. "You trained him-used him-forced him to murder in your footsteps. He drank himself to sleep every night just to forget the things you taught him to do."
"And would he have survived in your company without his training?" Nein'a asked.
"Survival, of course," Magiere hissed. "That is why you trained him.How unselfish!"
It was cruel, rather than just her usual bluntness. But did Nein'a bear any real love for her son?
"I know nothing of you," Nein'a returned. "Less even than you know of Leshil, who may yet serve a necessary purpose, and not just to my people alone. Only time will see if that comes to pass, and in part, I hope it does not. He must leave this land and get beyond Most Aged Father's reach. If you care for him, take him from this place."
She turned away and vanished inside the elm, not even stopping to retrieve the cushion she had dropped.
Magiere couldn't tell if it was rage or the forest's influence that made her tremble. The pieces of this game were still unclear to her.
Nein'a had trained Leesil without love-without a conscience. She had birthed him for a "purpose," as the Anmaglahk called all their missions and dark tasks.
Chap had suggested that Nein'a and others among the Anmaglahk wanted to thwart Most Aged Father. Or at least choose their own way to deal with some forgotten adversary their leader feared would return. For their own reasons, they wanted a half-blood for this. Perhaps they needed someone outside of their people as well as their caste. Leesil's mother had secretly trained him against the rules of her order.
Nein'a didn't love Leesil as a son, though he loved her as his mother.
Sorrow welled in Magiere as she swatted the ferns aside and strode out through the woods' passage. She would love Leesil enough to make up the difference.
Leesil glanced up as Brot'an returned with an armload of firewood and small dead branches for kindling.
"I cannot see what else to try," Wynn was saying.
"Where's Magiere?" Leesil asked Brot'an.
"Gathering more wood.She will return shortly."
Leesil rose to his feet and looked toward the elves' camp. He counted them and made certain all were present. They were, and relief from fear unleashed his anger. About to bark at Brot'an for stupidity, he held his words a moment longer. It didn't make sense that Brot'an would leave Magiere unattended.
