The Seventh Daughter

by Frewin Jones

  Lios Foltaigg swarmed around the sleeping king, crying out in their high, shrill voices.

  “The Sun is dead,” said Clorimel, weeping. “Our land shall fall in fire and ice, Lios Foltaigg will wither and burn, and the long ages shall devour even the memory of us.”

  “He isn’t dead,” Tania said. “He’s just exhausted. We have to get him away from here.”

  “We must take him to his Queen,” Cordelia said. “And pray that she has the power to wake him and to make him whole again.”

  “Will he not ride upon the horse of air?” Clorimel asked, kneeling at the King’s head. “Will he not call up the four winds to bear him hence?”

  “He has not the strength for that,” Cordelia said. “Have you no carriages or wagons to carry him?”

  “We are Lios Foltaigg,” Clorimel replied. “We need no carriages—the air is our chariot, the breeze our gallant steed.”

  “That doesn’t help us!” Tania burst out. “For goodness’ sake, if we can’t take him back to where the Queen is waiting for him, he will die, and the Sorcerer King will win, and everything will be destroyed.”

  Clorimel darted away from her in alarm, her long slender neck arching as she stared at Tania. “Thy anger is as the sea, thy need as the earth parched for rain,” she said. “Thou alone art Alios Foltaigg—we shall aid thee.” She sprang into the air, calling out strange words. Moments later the air was full of winged people, rising and swarming away inland.

  “What can they do to help?” Edric asked as they watched the Lios Foltaigg leave. “The Queen is two hundred leagues away. How can we get the King to her?”

  “We shall bear him upon our backs if needs must,” said Cordelia.

  The three of them sat beside the King, waiting in silence while the waves beat endlessly at the forlorn shore and the clouds scraped slowly across the sky.

  The first Tania knew of the return of the Lios Foltaigg was the soft whirr of wings. She looked up; a group of the flying folk were descending toward them from the sky, some of them carrying something large and oblong in shape. As they swooped closer Tania realized it was a kind of hammock made of woven grasses. Loops of twisted grass had been woven into the fabric along both sides to form handles.

  “We cannot pass beyond the borders of our own land,” Clorimel told them. “But we shall bear the Sun as far as we may. Then thou must speak with the Fid Foltaigg of the southlands and seek their aid on thy journey.”

  “Thank you,” Tania said. “Thank you so much.”

  It took ten Lios Foltaigg to lift the King once Tania and Edric and Cordelia had laid him on the hammock of woven grass. They slung the grass loops over their shoulders and rose into the air, carrying him along close to the ground so that Tania and the others could walk beside him as they made their way up the long valley that led from the coastline. Clorimel gave food to the travelers: dried fish and hard flat bread and the rubbery leaves of a dark, salty vegetable. It didn’t taste of much and it all smelled of the sea, but they were grateful of it as the day wore on and they plodded along the deep valleys of Fidach Ren. Many of the flying folk traveled with them, the stretcher-bearers changing as the hours passed.

  They rested at midday. Tania and Edric sat together on a rock. Tania nibbled at the edges of a piece of the hard bread, trying not to think about how slow their progress had been through the morning, nor of how many mountainous miles still lay ahead of them. Cordelia stood on a high tooth of rock, staring into the south.

  She jumped down after a while and came to sit next to Tania and Edric. “’Tis most curious,” she said. “The wind has shifted to the south. It is faint and far, but I can sense something.” She smiled, putting her hand inside her tunic and taking out the pipes that Bryn had given her. “Something is coming, I believe.”

  “What kind of something?” Tania asked.

  Cordelia put the pipes to her mouth and blew. A single high, floating note hung in the air. “You will see,” she said. “Good fortune may favor us yet.”

  It seemed to Tania that the landscape hardly changed as they plodded on through the afternoon. Even when they came to a high hill, all that she could see ahead were more mountains stretching away forever into a blue-gray mist. Edric and Cordelia were walking on either side of the King’s stretcher. Tania was a little behind, Clorimel flying at her shoulder. Other Lios Foltaigg filled the air, talking softly together in their high, clear voices.

  “Do you come this far inland very often?” Tania asked Clorimel.

  “Not often do we leave the seashore,” Clorimel replied. “We are the Karken En Ynis Maw. We have our duty to perform in the Great Song.”

  “It’s so bleak here.” Tania sighed.

  “This is our land,” Clorimel said. “Our home. In the spring, when the air comes in fresh and sweet from Ynis Boreal, life is good indeed.”

  “And in the winter? Isn’t it very cold?”

  “Cold? Aye, it is cold, but the Fimbulstorm brings us deep blankets of snow to keep the chill winds away, and we shelter in our caves in the cliffs and tell the old tales by firelight.” Her eyes grew dark. “Once all were winged,” she said. “Once on a time all were Lios Foltaigg.”

  “What happened?” Tania asked, fascinated. “How did that change?”

  Before she could reply, a cry from high in the air made Clorimel look upward. One Lios Foltaigg was hovering above them, pointing into the south.

  “Something comes,” Clorimel said. She rose swiftly into the air; all around her more of the winged folk were also spiraling upward.

  Cordelia turned to Tania, and her face was wreathed in smiles. “He comes!” she said. “I knew it was so, but I knew not how swift he might reach us.”

  “Who’s coming?” Tania asked.

  “The unicorn-friend,” Cordelia said, her eyes shining. “Bryn is coming!”

  It was a while before Tania heard the first faint murmur of thundering hooves, and yet more time passed before she saw the unicorns galloping toward them through the hills. There were twenty or more of the noble stone gray animals in the herd, and Bryn was riding on the leading one. Cordelia ran forward to meet them as they came nearer. Edric and Tania followed her, but the Lios Foltaigg held back, laying down the King and rising uneasily into the air.

  The unicorns came to a turbulent halt and Bryn jumped down. “Well met!” he called, and Tania saw that his eyes turned first to Cordelia. “We were still a league away when I heard in my mind the call of the pipes, my lady. Then I knew you were close by and we came at the gallop.”

  “I felt that you were near, Master Lightfoot,” Cordelia said. “The pipes have mystical powers, I think.”

  “They are of wych-willow,” Bryn said. “’Tis said that the wood is bound about with charms.” He looked up dubiously at the flying people. “Are all safe?”

  “We are,” Cordelia replied. “And as you see, we have met friends in the north, despite your fears. They are the Lios Foltaigg and they are neither savage nor murderous.”

  Bryn bowed low. “Then I hope they will forgive me for my foolish words,” he said. “I spoke out of ignorance and would gladly learn better.”

  The Lios Foltaigg began to descend warily to the ground, but only Clorimel dared to come close to the unicorns. “Friends of Alios Foltaigg are welcome in Fidach Ren,” she said. “But do not fear to tell tales of our savagery—such stories are a bulwark between us and the inconstant world.”

  “Then the secret of your courtesy will be safe with me,” Bryn promised, bowing again.

  “But what are you doing here?” Edric asked him. “What made you follow us?”

  “On the night that you departed, I was visited by ominous dreams and visions of peril,” Bryn replied. “With the dawn I gathered my friends and tracked you as swiftly as I might.” He suddenly seemed to become aware of Oberon lying on the Lios Foltaigg’s stretcher. “Spirits of mercy!” he cried. “I pray that the King is not dead!”

  “He lives yet,” said Cordelia. “But we mus
t take him to the Queen. Can you help us?”

  Bryn frowned. “Unicorns cannot bear him down all the long leagues of Faerie,” he said. “But the fiefdom of Shard lies not five leagues southeast of this place. The crofters there are solitary folk and wary of strangers, but they are good and trustworthy, and loyal to the House of Aurealis. We will be able to beg a wagon from them to take us to Caer Circinn. And from there the south roads are wide and straight through the Earldoms of Llyr and Anvis.”

  “That sounds like a long journey,” Tania said. “Perhaps someone should ride on ahead to let everyone know what’s happening.” She turned to Bryn. “Would a unicorn take me that far?”

  Before Bryn was able to answer, one of the unicorns detached itself from the herd and trotted up to Tania, bowing its sculpted head and fixing her with an intelligent, knowing eye.

  “Tanzen!” she cried as the animal nudged his long head against her shoulder. “It is you, isn’t it?” She patted his neck. “I’m so glad to see you again.”

  “I met with Drazin and Zephyr and Tanzen in the southern wilds,” Bryn said. “They said you had been attacked by flying things.”

  “That was a misunderstanding,” Edric said. “The Lios Foltaigg helped us to get to Ynis Maw.”

  “But we cannot travel beyond the southern borders of Fidach Ren,” Clorimel said. “From there others must take on the burden of the sleeping Sun.”

  “I will do that willingly,” said Bryn.

  Cordelia stepped forward, whistling between her teeth. Zephyr trotted up to her. She stroked his neck, looking over her shoulder at Tania. “Two may travel more safely than one alone,” she said, and then she turned to Edric. “Will you journey to Shard with Bryn and see to the King’s comfort and safety?”

  “Of course, my lady,” he said.

  “Then Tania and I shall go on ahead to bring the news to the Queen,” Cordelia said. “And you shall bring the King south as quickly as you may.”

  “It might not be safe to go into Esgarth Forest,” Edric said. “The Gray Knights will probably still be there.”

  “That is wise counsel, Master Chanticleer,” said Cordelia. “We shall make for Caer Ravensare instead. It is the traditional meeting place of the lords and ladies of Faerie in times of trouble. The Earl Marshal Cornelius should be in attendance, and it is to be hoped that many knights and warriors will have gathered there also.” She looked at Bryn. “I have no parting gift for you, Master Lightfoot,” she said. “Save the hope that we shall meet again in better times.”

  “I could wish for nothing more,” said Bryn. Cordelia looked into his eyes for a moment and Tania saw a faint blush color her sister’s cheeks.

  Then Cordelia turned away. “Come, sister,” she said. “Mount up and ride with me.”

  “Just a moment,” Tania said. She ran to where the King lay. She knelt by his side and gently kissed his forehead. “I’ll see you again very soon,” she whispered. She stood up, looking at Edric. “Keep him safe,” she said.

  “I will.”

  She touched his chest with her fingertips. “And keep yourself safe, too.”

  He smiled. “I will if you will.” They slipped quickly into each other’s arms and held each other for a few moments.

  Tania broke away from him and she and Cordelia mounted their unicorns. Tania took one final look at Edric before touching her heels to Tanzen’s flanks. The powerful beast turned and sprang away along the valley, galloping hard with the south wind in its flying mane.

  XXII

  Tania and Cordelia halted their unicorns on the brow of a low, round hill. A white road lay beneath the unicorns’ hooves; above them the sky was clear and bright. A warm wind ruffled their hair and lifted the long fine manes of their steeds. They were six days out from Fidach Ren.

  “Behold Caer Ravensare and Passion Meadows,” Cordelia declared. “Did I not tell you it was something to marvel at?”

  The meadows seemed to stretch out forever, flooded by an ocean of tall waving poppies that danced and rippled in the breeze. The colors left Tania speechless. At one moment the huge blossoms flowed in streams of magenta and fuchsia and orange, then all would change with a breath of air to an undulating carpet of lilac and purple and mauve. Another gust of wind, and the flowers shimmered into hues of green and turquoise and aquamarine that flooded in turbulent eddies before clashing against currents of saffron and topaz and ocher.

  The white road led down the hill and through the ever-changing blossoms to a tall castle of shining crystal, as blue as moonstone. Even from a distance, Tania could see that the castle had been built for beauty rather than warfare. The ornately decorated walls and battlements were festooned with swaths of greenery and overgrown with leafy vines, speckled and clouded with cataracts of many-colored flowers. In the meadows around the castle, clusters of tents had been set up sporting fluttering pennants of white and yellow and sky blue. Tania saw horsemen and knights moving purposefully among them, as well as laden wagons and many carts and carriages.

  “The armies of Faerie are mustering,” Cordelia said. “That is good!” She made a clicking noise with her tongue. Zephyr reared up beneath her and went galloping down the hill.

  For a few moments Tania was too bewitched by the shifting rainbow patterns of the flowers and too thrilled by the sight of the floral castle to react, but then she gave Tanzen a gentle nudge with her heels and followed Cordelia down the white roadway to Caer Ravensare.

  Sentries must have given word that they were approaching, because as Tania and Cordelia passed under the gateway of the castle and came into a courtyard that was like a blooming garden, they found many people had gathered to greet them.

  A tall, broad-shouldered man with ruddy hair and a red beard stood on the steps of a great keep. He was flanked on either side by tall young men with raven hair and handsome dark-eyed faces. With them Tania saw Hopie and Lord Brython, as well as Zara and an old gray-haired man leaning on a stick: Eden’s husband, Earl Valentyne, Tania assumed. She stood gazing at the elderly man in surprise; she had known that Eden’s husband was much older than her, but the stooped earl looked ancient. But there were others who took her attention, many highborn lords and ladies of Faerie who had come here with their knights to help defend the Realm against the Sorcerer King.

  Tania and Cordelia dismounted. Grooms stood nearby, eyeing the unicorns nervously and unwilling to come too close to the fearsome horns.

  “They will do you no harm,” Cordelia told them. “Lead them to the finest stalls in Ravensare and give them food and water.” She patted Zephyr’s neck. “Take your rest, great-heart; you have earned it, you and your brother. I will come as soon as I may to speak with you and to make sure you are being well-treated.” She linked arms with Tania and walked with her to where the others were waiting.

  “Cordelia and Tania, you are most welcome,” boomed the red-haired man, striding down the steps toward them. He took Tania’s hand and bowed to kiss it. “We have not met since you returned to us after your long wanderings in the Mortal World,” he said. “I am your father’s brother, your uncle Cornelius.”

  “Hello,” Tania said. “I’m really happy to meet you.” She looked into his fierce blue eyes, realizing now that she was closer just how much he resembled the King. He turned after a moment, gesturing toward the dark-haired young men. “These are my stepsons, Titus and Corin, and this is my wife, the Marchioness Lucina.”

  The marchioness was a graceful woman with flowing ash blonde hair and eyes that reflected the blue of the crystal walls of the castle. “Many greetings,” she said. “Our halls are made merrier by your presence.”

  “Thank you,” Tania said, but before any more introductions could be made, a whirlwind of blue satin came flying down the steps and Zara caught hold of Tania and Cordelia and danced in a jubilant circle with them. “I am so glad to see you both!” she cried, her eyes glittering with happy tears. “I feared for your lives, truly I did!”

  “Hush, Zara,” Hopie said, coming up
behind. “Remember that you are a princess.”

  “I am a sister first!” Zara exclaimed. “And a daughter.” She looked into Tania and Cordelia’s faces. “How fares our father? Does he yet live?”

  “Indeed he does, although he is weak and will not wake,” Cordelia said. “The last news we had of him was two days ago. Bryn Lightfoot sent a goshawk to us to say that they had reached Caer Circinn and that Earl Ryence of Minnith Bannwg was to provide them with wagons and an escort south.”

  Hopie frowned. “Then they are still many days away,” she said. “I had hoped for better news. We dare not move against the Sorcerer without Oberon, and yet we have heard only this morning that an advance guard of Serpent ships has arrived at Fortrenn Quay and that two thousand Gray Knights have disem-barked to swell the army of Lyonesse.”

  “Is the Queen still safe?” Tania asked in alarm.

  “We have spoken with her through a water-mirror,” said the Marchioness. “She and the refugees are secure in the Hunting Lodge under Eden’s glamour. But the Gray Knights still swarm the forest, and they dare not leave their sanctuary.”

  “And now more Gray Knights come to join the chase,” Cordelia said. “I like this not. How are we to unite our father with the Queen if all the spears and swords of Lyonesse lie between them?”

  “This is but one of the many issues we must debate before we can act against the Sorcerer,” said Cornelius. He looked at Cordelia and Tania. “You must be weary and hungry from your long journey. I would have you rested and refreshed before we speak more.” He turned to the others. “We shall meet in the Rose Garden when the sun is at its zenith,” he declared. “And may good fortune look down upon our deliberations, for the fate of Faerie lies in our hands.”

  The Rose Garden lay under the tall many-windowed walls of the castle keep. Slender paths wound through beds of red and white roses, leading to a grassy central area where carved wooden chairs formed an oval around a raised pond of still, clear water. More roses climbed trellises, and yet more hung from the sills of the windows, so that the whole of the garden was bright with their heavy blossom and the air was sweet with their scent.