“ I won’t leave my cousin,” the human stated flatly.
Ashinji nodded. “I did not think that you would. When my troops are finished, we will move upstream to the fords and camp for the night.” He stood up again and turned to go.
“ Lord Ashinji,” the human called out. Ashinji turned. “Thank you.”
Ashinji nodded wordlessly and went to find Gendan.
Chapter 13
The Beautiful Ones
"Are we your prisoners?” Magnes asked bluntly.
The elf named Ashinji Sakehera smiled slightly and shook his head. “Quite the contrary. You are my guests, and under my protection. When we arrive at Kerala, you will be my father’s guests. Perhaps you were expecting us to be… not so hospitable.”
“ I really don’t know what to expect of you, Lord Ashinji. So much of what I have been taught about your people, I’m ashamed to say, is very negative.”
“ Do you believe what you have been taught…about my people?”
Magnes answered without hesitation. “No,” he said.
“ How is your head?”
“ It aches a bit, but that salve you gave me took away the worst of the pain.”
“ Good. I have tried to make your cousin as comfortable as is possible under the circumstances.”
“ I’m grateful,” Magnes replied.
After the elven soldiers had finished their gruesome task of burning the corpses of the slain bandits, the entire party moved upstream and made camp by the fords. Lord Ashinji ordered one of his troopers to see to Jelena’s injuries. Magnes was impressed by the man’s gentle handling of his cousin, and some of his apprehension began to dissipate. Now heavily sedated, her arm splinted and her torso tightly bound in order to stabilize a suspected rib fracture, Jelena lay close by the campfire, cocooned in several blankets with another folded beneath her head as a pillow.
Ashinji Sakehera sat down opposite Magnes and held out a wooden bowl and cup. “Cold rations, I am afraid. No one in my company likes to cook,” he explained, smiling ruefully. Magnes took the proffered food with a word of thanks. The bowl contained a round cake of some kind and a hunk of pale yellow cheese. He sipped cautiously at the brimming liquid in the cup and discovered it to be beer, and quite good. He took a bite of the cake and smiled in pleasant surprise. It was delicious, and he eagerly crammed another large bite into his mouth. He looked up to see the young elf lord laughing.
“ What is this? It’s wonderful,” he said, chewing enthusiastically.
“ It is journeycake. There are many ways to make it, but this particular batch is made of oats, dried venison, elderberries, and sweetened with a little honey. My mother’s recipe. I am glad you like it. We have more, if you want.”
Magnes washed down the cake with a swig of the excellent beer. As he ate, he surreptitiously studied the face of his host. These were the first full-blooded elves he had ever seen, and he found himself completely fascinated by them. He had always heard that they were extraordinarily beautiful, and now he saw with his own eyes that that particular rumor, at least, was true. Being no astute judge of male attractiveness, nevertheless, even Magnes could see that the elves’ young leader stood out, even among so comely a group.
Magnes estimated Ashinji’s age to be somewhere between twenty and twenty-five years although he couldn’t be sure; he knew that elves had a much longer life span than did humans. The elf lord moved with the fluid grace of a forest cat and his hair, worn in a long queue down his back, shone like gold in the firelight. Magnes couldn’t help but admire the graceful lines of the other man’s ears-like Jelena’s, except sharper at their tips. A strange, uncomfortable rush of emotion caused Magnes to lower his eyes, worried that the elf would witness his confusion. He took a deep breath to slow his racing heart and drained his cup in one gulp.
Through sheer force of will, he made himself look at Lord Ashinji’s face again. The other man seemed unaware of Magnes’s inner turmoil. He, too, sipped at a mug of beer and chewed a mouthful journeycake, but his eyes were on Jelena, and Magnes was startled at the intensity of his gaze.
Magnes cleared his throat, and the other man looked up inquiringly. “Your knowledge of Soldaran is excellent, Lord Ashinji,” he commented, and silently gave thanks to the gods for keeping his voice steady.
“ Does that surprise you?” the elf asked, one eyebrow arching upwards in amusement.
“ There will be many things about your people that are going to surprise me, I think,” Magnes answered.
“ Most people here in the borderlands know a little Soldaran, but I am a bit of an amateur scholar in my free time,” Ashinji explained. “I am fluent in your language so that I may study your great mathematicians.”
Magnes nodded, impressed.
Just then, the much older man, whom Magnes surmised to be Lord Ashinji’s second-in-command, walked up and spoke to his lord. He carried a helmet in his hands.
Ashinji, smiling, reached up and took the helmet from the other man. He spoke a few words and waved his hand in dismissal. “Gendan found my helmet, finally. I was afraid I would have to go searching for it first thing tomorrow morning,” he said, switching back into Soldaran. He laid the helmet down beside him and fixed his brilliant green eyes upon Magnes. “Now, Magnes Preseren. Tell me who you really are, and what you and your cousin are doing out here so far from Amsara Castle.” The look on his face told Magnes that he would brook no more evasion.
“ I didn’t lie to you, Lord Ashinji. I just… failed to tell you the entire truth, but I felt justified in holding back until I could figure out what your intentions were. You must admit that our meeting was not exactly under ideal circumstances. Your people attacked my cousin and me. How was I to know that you weren’t going to kill us later on?”
“ Point taken. Go on.”
“ My name really is Magnes Preseren, but I’m not one of the duke’s retainers. I’m his son… his Heir, in fact. My cousin Jelena is the daughter of my father’s dead sister.”
Ashinji’s eyes widened slightly at this revelation, and he glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping form of Jelena. “Why would two noble-born humans disguise themselves as servants and flee their home? Why did you come here, rather than go somewhere else in the Empire? Did you lose your way and wander this close to the border by accident?” The elf lord seemed genuinely puzzled, yet, there was a probing quality to his questions, as if he were seeking information of the utmost importance.
“ It’s a long and complex story,” Magnes sighed. “It could hardly have escaped your notice that my cousin is a half-elf. Her mother had a liaison with one of your people and suffered mightily for it. The family disowned her, and she died giving birth to Jelena. My father refused to accept his sister’s bastard as a member of his house and so allowed my cousin to be raised in the servants’ hall. She’s lived her whole life as an outsider, despised and abused by most everyone at Amsara.”
“ Everyone, except you,” Ashinji interjected.
“ Yes, and Claudia, the woman who raised her. The two of us have always been Jelena’s protectors.”
“ Are all bastard children treated with such contempt among humans?” Ashinji asked.
“ No, they are not. Jelena was singled out because of her sire.” Magnes paused briefly before continuing. “It shames me to tell you this, but from early childhood, when we Soldarans learn about our religion from the priests and our parents, we are taught that your people-the elves-are the spawn of demons. Elves have no souls and are therefore accursed, doomed never to know the love and light of the gods. Any human who would willingly consort with a demon is despoiled, and the offspring of that union is itself a soulless, accursed creature.” He chuckled humorlessly. “This, Lord Ashinji, is the world my beautiful, kind, loving cousin has lived in.”
“ Please, you may call me Ashinji, for we are both of the same rank, it seems,” the elf insisted. “Why is it that you believe differently, Magnes Preseren? You, who are the son and Heir of a duke?”<
br />
Magnes shrugged. “I’ve always been different. I could never accept that the girl I grew up with, played with, loved as a sister, was anything less than a complete being, with a warm, loving soul. It was all just ignorance and superstition, and it always infuriated me.”
“ We elves are not without prejudice,” Ashinji admitted. “Take my captain, Gendan Miri, as an example. He is typical in his attitude toward humans. Oh, he acknowledges that you humans are intelligent and good at many things, but he believes that elves are more evolved… superior, in fact. In Alasiri, we have people of mixed blood- hikui we call them-who live among us… not many, but a significant number. I am sorry to say that they suffer legal discrimination, in many aspects of life, but they are not generally despised or abused. If Jelena had been born in my country, she would have had a much better life.” He poked at the fire with a long stick, sending a cloud of bright sparks whirling up into the night sky. “Out here on the frontier, things are looser, more tolerant,” he continued. “There are a lot of people living out here with a human or two in their family trees.”
“ How do you feel about humans and… hikui? ” Magnes asked slowly.
Ashinji regarded him thoughtfully for several moments, as if trying to decide just exactly how to frame his response. Magnes found himself growing uncomfortably warm under that brilliant, green gaze. “I have never spoken to a human before I met you. I, too, grew up with certain ideas about your people that I have never really questioned until now. I am revising my opinion even as we speak. As for how I feel about those of mixed race, I have always felt that they should have the same rights under the law as any okui , our word for pureblood.”
“ So, my cousin is going to be an outsider here as well, made to feel as if she doesn’t quite belong…Gods!” Magnes muttered angrily. “She doesn’t deserve this. All she wants is to find a real family!”
“ Does your cousin know her father’s name?” Ashinji asked, leaning forward slightly to look into Jelena’s sleeping face.
“ He called himself Zin,” Magnes replied.
“ Hmm. Zin is really just a bukuza … a nickname. That is all she knows about him? It would be far more useful if she knew his family name, at least. That way, we would know if he was noble or common.”
“ Gods! I almost forgot. She carries a ring that belonged to him. It hangs on chain around her neck. I’ll get it for you.”
“ No, no, do not disturb her. Just describe the ring to me.”
“ It’s made of white gold, with a black stone set flush in the band. There’s a griffin, also white, inlaid into the center of the stone.” Ashinji reacted as if he’d just heard something completely unexpected and altogether startling. “What? What is it? Do you recognize the signet?” Magnes eagerly asked.
“ I…I am not sure,” Ashinji replied. He frowned, and pulled on the gold rings in his left ear, staring at Jelena intently all the while. Then he shook his head as if answering a question in his own mind. “I do not recognize it exactly, but it could fit the devices of several noble families, or it could be someone’s personal device. My father should be able to figure it out.” He rose to his feet and stretched. “I have something in my saddlebag I want you to try,” he said, then strode away into the dark.
Magnes leaned over to check on Jelena. She remained deep in a drug-induced slumber. He adjusted the blankets around her then allowed his eyes to slowly scan the campsite.
The man named Gendan Miri sat a few paces away, a very young, strawberry blonde woman at his side. They were deep in conversation, and Magnes focused in on the musical cadences of their speech, allowing the alien words to flow into his ears like warm rain. The elves’ language, the sound of their voices, was as beautiful as they were. Most of the others had retired for the night, little more than dark lumps on the riverbank. Two troopers stood guard.
Ashinji returned shortly, carrying something in his hand. It was a small metal flask, which he offered to Magnes. “Have a taste of this,” he said, an enigmatic smile on his face. Magnes took the flask and pulled the stopper. He raised it to his lips and took a sip.
Magnes had never been to the southern islands to behold the great volcanoes there. It was said that when they awoke, the mighty mountains belched clouds of burning smoke, and rivers of molten rock poured forth from their steaming maws. The liquid that ran down his throat must surely be a distillation of the essence of those rivers of fire. He gasped and choked, then began coughing helplessly. Tears streamed down his face as he fought to catch his breath. Ashinji deftly snatched the flask from his hands before it could drop to the ground.
When he could finally talk again, he looked up accusingly at the young elf lord. To his chagrin, Ashinji was laughing. “You…you knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?” he spluttered.
Ashinji looked a little sheepish, but made no attempt to hide his amusement. “I am sorry, but you should see yourself. I did not know a human could get so red in the face. I hoped that you would be able to take the muato a little bit better than you did, but believe me, one does acquire a taste for it. The first time is always the hardest, but you will get used to it,” he promised cheerfully.
“ I hardly think…hey, that is good.” The potent liquor had settled in Magnes’s stomach like a red-hot coal, but it was cooling rapidly, and like steam, rose straight to his head. He nodded in pleasure, beginning to feel its full effects. “Tha…tha’ has got t’be the strongest stuff ever made, much stronger than anythin’ we have back home.”
“ I knew you would like it. It is a drink shared only between close friends and allies.” Ashinji tilted his head back and took a sip. He re-corked the flask and sat down beside Magnes.
“ How do you know I’m your friend…or your ally?” Magnes asked, speaking slowly and carefully, so that his words would not slur. His tongue had turned into an unwieldy turnip in his mouth.
Ashinji tapped his forehead with one elegant finger. “I know because I have an instinct about people, and because you have brought something that is meant for me.”
Magnes puzzled over Ashinji’s words. What, in the names of all of the gods, did the other man mean? Magnes had no more possessions, for everything he had brought out of Amsara had been lost. He could not possibly have anything that was meant for this young elven lord, unless Ashinji had been speaking metaphorically.
Before Magnes could reply, Ashinji slapped his knees and stood up. “Well, it is time that I go to bed. I have left the vial of poppy juice for you, in case your cousin awakes and has need of it. If you need me during the night, I will be close by, just over there.” He pointed toward a spot nearer the water’s edge. Magnes nodded. “Good night, then.”
“ G’night.” Magnes lay down and snuggled close against Jelena. Exhaustion and the muato were pulling him down inexorably toward sleep. He hoped that if Jelena needed him, he would be able to respond. His last thoughts just before sleep claimed him were of Ashinji’s odd statement.
Tomorrow, he would ask for an explanation.
Chapter 14
Jelena’s Angel
Jelena stood alone on a gray, featureless plain. Above her head hung a blank sky and below her feet, gray dust, stretching out until the two met at the horizon. She turned around slowly, looking in all directions, but one direction seemed much like another.
How did I come to be in this place?
She began walking. Her footfalls sent little puffs of dust spurting into the still air. Oddly, she could not tell if she was actually moving forward, even though she watched herself place one foot before the other. She had no way of knowing how long she walked; time did not exist in this strange, gray world.
The sensation started as a dull ache in her chest that rapidly grew into something far more intense. She stopped walking and looked down to see that, beneath her skin, where her living heart should be, a bright light now burned. Its color was bluish white, and so intense that it hurt her to look upon it. Instinctively, she knew that this was the source of the
magic that she carried within her-powerful, wonderful, and dangerous. As she stared at the light, it began to pulsate in a steady rhythm, just as her own heart would have, had it still been a part of her.
She covered the light with her hands, but its rays bled through her fingers.
I mustn’t let it out… can’t let it be seen-but why?
Then, she knew.
Someone, or some thing , was searching for the magic-searching for her!
I must not let it find me!
She took a step forward and in the space of an eye blink, found herself standing at the edge of an impossibly high cliff. A wine-dark, restless sea heaved and sighed below. In the strange logic of dreams, only one course of action made sense. She spread out her arms like the wings of a gull and jumped, hurtling down toward the hungry waves. She pierced the surface of the water like an arrow and was immediately seized by a powerful current that tugged her relentlessly downward. Fiercely, she fought against it, stroking hard towards the surface, exploding upward at last with a cry…and awakened to find herself being rocked along on the back of a horse.
“ Shhhh… I’m here,” Magnes whispered into her ear. His arms encircled and held her steady before him. Her arm and chest ached with dull intensity, but she found herself slipping back towards unconsciousness, and she hadn’t the strength to fight it. She let go…
… and awakened again, this time on her back, lying in a nest of blankets. She felt uncomfortably warm, and her body hurt with incredible ferocity. She struggled, but was too weak to free herself. Just as she decided to give up, exhausted, the angel appeared.
It was the same one who had come to her the first time, when she lay dying on the riverbank. She stared up helplessly into the whirling green depths of its eyes, unable to look away. It was breathtakingly beautiful-all gold, emerald, and alabaster. It reached down and laid a hand on her burning forehead, and she sighed at the blessed coolness of its touch. She closed her eyes and waited for it to carry her up to the gods on its mighty wings.
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