Avalyne Series 02: The Easterling

by Linda Thackeray

  ‘Let that be a lesson to you to not do that again,’ Tamsyn warned through the amber glow of flame around her.

  It was then that Melia remembered Tamsyn had come to their rescue and it was he whom she found herself facing across the fire. Lifting the blanket resting over her, she observed that her leg was bandaged and realised she owed her treatment to this Mage who had appeared out of nowhere to save both her and Aeron from the goblins.

  ‘You will have no argument from me,’ she said to him with a sigh as she studied her surroundings. ‘Thank you,’ she added, gesturing to the dressing on her leg.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ Tamsyn replied smoothly.

  They were obviously in a cavern of some sort, she decided as she ran her gaze over its span. Judging by its size, it was not a very large and from where she lay, she could see the opening into it. Beyond them, the stars twinkled in the night sky and Melia wondered just how long she had been asleep. It was night when she passed out and it did not feel like only a few hours had passed by how rested she felt.

  ‘How long have I been asleep?’ She asked wondering where the Prince was.

  ‘Almost a day,’ the older man replied. ‘The pain was too much for you after I removed the arrow. You fainted.’

  Melia balked at the suggestion. Fainting was the work of genteel females accustomed to soft living, not a watch guard of the King.

  ‘I do not faint,’ she said stubbornly.

  ‘Considering the agony you endured when I pulled that arrow out of your leg, there is no shame in it,’ he pointed out.

  ‘I do not faint,’ she repeated herself, immovable on this point.

  Tamsyn let out a heavy sigh that indicated he was not going to continue arguing on this issue. ‘In that case, you selected an opportune moment to fall asleep.’

  Melia frowned and said nothing, deciding to choose the safer option of studying her immediate surroundings instead of fencing with him on her state of unconsciousness. The cave was small but was littered with enough belongings and evidence of past fires to show that it had been occupied for some time.

  ‘Where is Aeron?’ She asked quickly. While Aeron trusted the Mage completely, Melia did not know Tamsyn. When he had appeared to save them, as fortuitous as it was, Melia could not help being suspicious that a mage was in Gahara at the same time she was conducting her own search for one of his Order.

  ‘Still yourself,’ Tamsyn responded calmly but there was just enough authority in it to demand obedience. Still, he could understand her concern at waking up in a strange place and her lover nowhere in sight. ‘He is merely ensuring that my spell of protection is doing its work. The goblins cannot reach us in here.’

  Melia nodded in understanding, recalling a similar instance during Arianne’s quest when they had taken refuge in the cave where Antion’s sword had been kept. Imbued with the same magic that kept elven cities behind the Veil, they were tucked away safely from any threats for the rest of the night.

  ‘That is good to know,’ Melia remarked, easing into her sleeping place once more, glad to hear Aeron was well although she wished he were here.

  According to Tamsyn, she had been unconscious (not fainted) for almost a day and yet it felt as if she had been away from her love for much longer. While the desire to see him was intense, Melia could not help feeling a little embarrassed that she was longing for the Prince like a lovesick maiden.

  ‘He scarcely left your side,’ Tamsyn revealed, guessing what was in her head. ‘Not even to sleep even though I assured him you would be safe.’

  ‘He can be stubborn,’ Melia said with an affectionate smile before remembering that it was Aeron who had Tamsyn’s friendship not her. Despite the fact that Tamsyn had saved her life and seemed trustworthy, her private emotions were her own and she had no desire to discuss them. ‘He forgets that I am a watch guard and am quite capable of fending for myself even if at this moment I find myself at somewhat of a disadvantage.’

  ‘He loves you beyond measure,’ Tamsyn reminded. ‘It is hard to be impartial when one's heart is as lost as his.’

  Melia swallowed thickly and allowed herself a small confession at that remark. ‘His feelings are not unique though I think he does not fully appreciate what it is to love a mortal.’

  ‘He is a thousand years old,’ the wizard responded with an edge to his voice that could possibly be reproach. ‘I think he is perfectly aware of what he risks by giving you his heart. The question remains —do you know what it is to love an elf?’

  Melia stared at him hard. ‘My hesitation is for his sake.’

  ‘Is it really?’ He asked her softly.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Suspicion crept into her voice as she made that demand. Of course it was for his sake, what other could there be?

  ‘Perhaps a little of it is for yourself,’ he replied as he continued to smoke his pipe. ‘After all, it cannot be easy to love someone who will never age, who will remain as beautiful as the first time you beheld him while you yourself, grow old and withered. There is no shame in admitting that you fear your feelings for him might deteriorate into envy, that the love you were willing to endure for his sake might twist into hatred and jealousy because he does not decay as you do.’

  Melia opened her mouth to protest but she could not. She could not because a small kernel of truth had surfaced in his words. Amongst all her reservations about Aeron, was that ugly possibility though she liked to think she was better than that. Still, she could not deny that she had not thought of that herself, even if he made her heart soar each time she saw him. It was one of so many things that made her fear a future with Aeron. She loved him deeply. There was no denying it. However, she did not know if she was strong enough to be his wife but neither did she know if she was strong enough to give him up either.

  ‘You do not answer,’ Tamsyn replied, understanding her silence all too well. ‘It is none of my concern however.’

  Melia wanted to respond. Hearing her fears put so starkly made her realize how petty it was, how paltry the doubts seemed in the face of how she felt. For the first time, she felt the uneasiness drain from her because hearing a stranger's unbiased opinion was liberating and having it presented to her so bluntly, made her understand that love was not meant to be easy, not between a human and elf or between a human and human. Whatever the combination, there would always be some difficulties attached.

  ‘For someone whose business none of this is, you have much to say on the matter,’ Melia remarked with affection.

  ‘Thank you,’ Tamsyn remarked as he stirred the meal that had been simmering on the fire and had filled the cave with a pleasant aroma. ‘It is difficult being so astute in one's indifference when one is dealing with a friend.’

  His eyes met hers playfully and Melia could not help but agree. ‘Yes it is.’

  ‘Now then,’ he stared at her as he filled the small bowl in his hand with some warm broth. ‘Tell me about your dreams?’

  ‘My dreams?’ Melia exclaimed startled by the sudden shift in subject matter. She cursed herself at being unable to remain silent in her slumber. He had probably overheard her cries while she was tormented by the usual demons in her sleep. ‘Why?’

  ‘They seemed to be plaguing you while you slept,’ he confirmed out. ‘Your Prince did not tell me a great deal but I sensed they were connected to what brings you to Gahara and what you saw at Tor Iolan.’

  Melia’s eyes widened in surprise that he knew of that visit and debated whether or not she ought to trust him. Aeron did without question. He was apart of Dare’s Circle and that alone should have been reason enough for her. ‘If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?’ She countered.

  Tamsyn nodded with a faint smile, ‘I will.’

  ‘How do you know that we were at Tor Iolan?’ Melia question immediately

  ‘I asked first,’ the wizard replied, reminding her of the question that had begun this exchange in the first place.

  Melia drew a deep breath before she spok
e. It was difficult enough taking Aeron into her confidence without her having to reveal something so personal to a stranger she had met only once before. However, who this stranger was, made it easier to trust him with her innermost secrets. Furthermore, she was certain his presence here was no coincidence that that he might have some part to play in the search for her mother and the Mage who had Ninuie in his power.

  ‘Ever since I was a child, I have dreamt about my mother,’ Melia began reluctantly capturing Tamsyn's undivided attention as she explained her unique heritage and its effect upon her nightly slumbers. Melia spared him nothing, explaining her visions at Tor Iolan and the terrible images that had brought her to the edge of the world with Aeron at her side. Tamsyn listened without comment. The only movement he made during her narrative was to present her with the bowl of broth he had poured earlier.

  ‘Now it is your turn,’ Melia declared once she had finished speaking, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her chest by her revelations. ‘It is time for you to keep your promise.’

  ‘Then it appears that I have returned just in time,’ Aeron announced himself as he appeared at the mouth of the cave.

  ‘As always Prince, your timing is impeccable,’ Melia retorted playfully, unable to hide her happiness at seeing him.

  ‘I am glad to see you are well,’ he replied warmly as he dropped to his knees at her side and greeted her with a gentle kiss. ‘How do you feel?’

  ‘Like I have been set upon by a goblin's arrow,’ she said wryly but upon seeing the concern in his eyes added further, ‘but I am better then I was.’

  ‘You must be,’ he said sitting down next to her and facing Tamsyn, ‘if you were able to make Tamsyn reveal his secrets.’ He said grinning at his friend.

  ‘She is a shrewd woman,’ Tamsyn chuckled. ‘She gave me no choice but to comply if I wished to hear her tale.’

  ‘And now that you have,’ Aeron raised a brow in his direction. ‘Will you tell us what brought you here other than chasing news of another mage? I know you well enough now that there is more to it than that. You do not chase rumours lightly.’

  ‘A promise is a promise,’ Tamsyn agreed, displaying some reluctance to reveal his own secrets but a bargain was a bargain. ‘You are right Aeron. I do know something of this Mage that you are seeking. He was apart of my order during the Primordial Wars. I thought he was killed by Balfure.’

  ‘You actually knew him?’ Aeron asked,

  ‘Yes though I was not certain of it until Melia gave me a description of him. He was one of the wisest of our order, a Mage named Edwyn.’ Tamsyn said sadly. ‘When Arianne made inquiries on your behalf I too wanted to know what had become of the River Daughters and so I carried out my own search.’

  ‘I have searched for years,’ Melia declared unable to believe that the wizard was able to accomplish in months what it had taken years for her to learn. ‘I found nothing.’

  ‘Don’t feel too terribly my dear,’ Tamsyn said sympathetically. ‘My sources of information included Berserkers. Now that they are no longer in Balfure’s service, some of them are willing to talk if given enough incentive.’

  Melia and Aeron exchanged glances at that, wondering what possible enticement could Tamsyn have used to gain a Berserker’s cooperation. However, neither interrupted his narrative.

  ‘They spoke of a mage at Tor Iolan who had vanished at the beginning of the Shadow War and he headed east. After that, it was not difficult to find my way to Gahara and learn that the goblins also feared a mage that lived in those mountains. I had only been here a few days when I heard your cry of help.’ He concluded.

  ‘So you came here to do what?’ Aeron asked. ‘You surely cannot believe that he can be saved after what he’s done to Melia’s mother and others like her.’

  Tamsyn sighed sadly. ‘I hope that he can be saved. I mean to at least try if I can. He always felt things too deeply, became too passionate about things to the exclusion of all others. I believe there may be something left in him that can be reasoned with.’

  It was difficult for Melia to feel compassionately towards the Mage who might have turned her mother into a monster but she tried to keep her words tempered when she answered, though it was not easy to do. ‘I do not think it is possible Mage. He has done something unthinkable. He has twisted the River Daughters into some aberration of life, an aberration he cannot control and fears unleashing upon the world. I do not think he can be saved.’

  Tamsyn’s voice became sombre understanding her scepticism even if he did not share it. ‘He was always something of a dreamer and he wanted to create a form of life that Avalyne deserve. Something beautiful and perfect, something that cannot be lured by temptation or greed as Balfure was.’

  ‘But the war we fight within ourselves to maintain the balance is what gives us our soul,’ Aeron returned. ‘If we lose the ability to choose between right or wrong, we no longer have free will. It is the choices that give our soul substance.’

  ‘I do not argue with you on that point,’ Tamsyn replied. ‘But to him, it was a dream he was determined to fulfil. He believed that perfection came from an amalgamation of the best of both men and elf, to create a form of life that was beyond corruption.’

  ‘I cannot believe that one who would be party to the kidnap and despoilment of the Water Wife’s sprites could be anything but evil. It takes a great deal of free will to twist a thing of beauty into a creature of absolute darkness,’ Aeron said staring at him.

  ‘You may think so but sometimes absolute darkness comes about because one has set out with good intentions and is forced to make compromises along the way. It is easy to keep making them until you are so far from where you wanted to be there is no way back,’ his voice became sad and distant as he spoke about someone who obviously meant a great deal to him.

  ‘Tamsyn,’ Aeron said kindly, ‘I know this Mage is your friend but you must recognise the danger he poses. If we find him, he may not be happy to see you. He has spent a great deal of time in hiding and may not wish to be found.’

  ‘Did you know we would be coming?’ Melia suddenly cut in abruptly because the appearances of this cave seemed to indicate that Tamsyn had been here for some time. Had he been awaiting their arrival? If so, how did he know they would be coming?

  ‘That is a question I would like answered as well,’ Aeron retorted. ‘Tamsyn, you know that I trust you with my life but I do not think it was merely coincidence that allowed you to come to our rescue. Tell me my friend, what is this really about?’

  ‘I did not know that it would be you two that would arrive specifically but I had a sense that I should wait, that an important part of my quest would appear soon enough if I held my ground. Sometimes wizards are forced to rely upon our instincts as elves do and mine told me that I could not complete my journey because I was not to walk the path alone.’

  ‘Do you know where he is?’ Melia looked at him.

  ‘Yes, I do.’ Tamsyn nodded. ‘However, I will not lead you there without having your word that you will not move to strike him until I have a chance to plead my case.’

  Both Melia and Aeron stiffened simultaneously at the suggestion but it was the Prince who voiced his displeasure at the request first, ‘that is an exceedingly difficult promise to make. You said yourself, the Mage has been led to commit some heinous acts Are you certain that he is capable of being reasoned with?’

  ‘I have to try,’ the wizard said earnestly.

  Aeron did not answer for a moment and Melia wondered what was running through his mind. For herself, she thought it would be extremely dangerous to grant the wizard his request for the fortunes of battle, especially with a powerful mage may not allow them the opportunity to hold back when the time came. However, she knew her Prince and within him ran rivers of compassion far longer and more powerful than the great Yantra River itself. It was in his nature to see the good in everyone. She loved him for this but it was uniquely elven luxury to be so yielding in matters such as thi
s.

  ‘We will do as you ask,’ Aeron finally answered and gave Melia a sharp look, demanding her adherence to his wishes to this matter. ‘But I will risk none of our lives if the situation calls for us to fight. I would do the same if it was your life as well or Melia's. Your Mage is no longer the person he once was. Good intentions aside, he may seek to kill us all to conceal the magnitude of what he has done.’

  Tamsyn nodded slowly, deciding that he could not expect any more than what was offered. Despite his reluctance to believe that Edwyn was beyond redemption, wisdom demanded that he faced the possibility. The Prince had agreed to Tamsyn’s request but his Aeron’s demands were not unreasonable. Considering what awaited them when they finally reached Gahara, the elf was being prudent so that none of them lost their lives if Edwyn was truly beyond all help.

  Tamsyn met Aeron's eyes and answered softly; ‘if it comes to that then I will stand by you and draw a sword to him myself.’

  ******

  Melia's injury saw to it that the company could not leave their cavernous sanctuary for at least two days despite her protestations otherwise.

  When it became clear that her claims that she was fit to travel was falling on deaf ears, Melia surrendered to her situation even though she burned with frustration. Aeron remained at her side, ensuring that she wanted for nothing while showing infinite patience in the face of her stormy disposition. While he understood her exasperation at being held back now that she was so close to her goal, he knew rushing in prematurely would get them all killed.

  Besides it was not simply the Mage they had to worry bout, they had to think about what monsters the wizard had created using the River Daughters.

  Finally, after two days of rest, the companions set out once again for the Gahara Plateau whose presence was no longer on the horizon but achingly close. The journey there would no take more than a day on foot and they set off at the break of dawn, hoping to take shelter in the foothills of the mountain by the time the sun had set that evening.