Why am I so tired? It’s not as if I haven’t spent hours in the saddle before…I hope I’m not coming down with a fever.
Not even Sadaiyo’s close proximity could keep sleep at bay. She drifted off to the soft murmur of conversation between Sen and his two sons.
Later, she awoke to find Ashinji settled beside her, sound asleep. She lay still and listened to the sounds of the night: Lord Sen snoring softly from the bed, crickets chirping outside the open window, and from the opposite corner, a lot of rustling.
At first, she didn’t recognize what her ears heard until a sigh and a soft moan made it all too clear. The last thing Jelena wanted to be privy to was Sadaiyo and Misune’s lovemaking.
Gods…must I listen to this?
Misune let out a little gasp and Jelena buried her head beneath the covers. Sen snored on, oblivious. Ashinji stirred but did not wake. The sound of the lovers’ bodies moving together grew more frenzied.
Hurry up and finish, for the gods’ sake!
The thought of Sadaiyo so close to her while in the throes of sexual passion filled her with disgust. She wondered how Misune would feel knowing that her husband had attempted to rape the woman his brother loved, purely out of spite.
She’d be really angry, but only because her husband would consider dirtying himself by having me, Jelena thought bitterly.
At last, the thrashing stopped. Jelena breathed a sigh of relief and emerged from her refuge. She tried to relax and clear her mind, but the peace of her night had been shattered, and now she feared that sleep would elude her.
She lay staring at the ceiling, wide awake and a little queasy. The light from the night lamp cast faint, dancing shadows on the wood beams above her head. As she watched, the shadows seemed to grow darker and then coalesce into the vague shape of a face.
At first, she thought her eyes were deceiving her. She blinked a few times, but the face remained; in fact, it seemed even more distinct. She could now identify a dark smudge of a mouth, the suggestion of a long, straight nose, and two black holes where the eyes would be.
I should be afraid, she thought, but for some reason, she felt more curious than fearful, perhaps because Ashinji lay beside her.
Or maybe because what I’m seeing is not really there.
The face began to fade almost as quickly as it had formed until nothing remained but the flickering shadows created by the night lamp. Jelena blinked again, already convinced she had imagined the whole thing. She closed her eyes and willed herself to relax, and soon, Ashinji’s rhythmic breathing lulled her back to sleep.
~~~
Sen rousted them all just before sunrise. After everyone had a quick turn in Nadaka’s bath house, they sat down to a light breakfast in the main room with the Kerala staff. Three of Nadaka’s serving women circulated among the tables, pouring tea.
Ashinji indicated that Jelena should sit and he would bring them their food. While she waited, her mind recalled the strange vision of the night before. Had the face she’d seen been real, or merely a disturbing hallucination, fabricated out of night shadows and dreamstuff?
And if it was real, who or what is behind it, and more importantly, what did it want? Could this…this whatever it is… have been drawn to me by the blue fire?
Am I in danger?
Ashinji returned with two bowls of porridge and a plate loaded with thick slices of fresh-baked bread. A servant came by and filled their mugs with hot black tea. They ate quickly, for Sen wanted to get as early a start as possible. As she ate, Jelena considered whether she should tell Ashinji about the face or keep it to herself. She decided to say nothing for now; since she didn’t know for sure if the whole thing were real or imagined, she didn’t wish to unduly upset him. If it happened again, she would tell him.
After breakfast, Sen instructed Jelena to ride ahead again this day, and herald their arrival to their next host, Lady Shona. Shona was Amara’s first cousin and childhood playmate, and it had been several years since they’d last seen each other.
“I’ll pack my saddlebags and leave right away,” Jelena declared.
“I’ll come see you off,” Ashinji said. The two of them excused themselves and headed for the stairs leading up to the second-level sleeping quarters. It took only a few moments to collect her things. Before donning a light coat against the early morning chill, she tugged on the chain holding her father’s signet and drew the ring from beneath her tunic. Sliding the warm metal onto her thumb, she held her hand up before her eyes to stare at the stylized griffin inlaid into the onyx surface. Perhaps, if she stared hard enough, the ring would reveal some of what dwelled within the soul of the man for whom it had been made. Perhaps it would tell her if acceptance or rejection lay ahead.
If only it were that simple.
“You’re worried about meeting the king, aren’t you?” Ashinji asked.
Jelena slipped the ring off her thumb and dropped it back inside of her tunic where it came to rest between her breasts. She laid her head against Ashinji’s shoulder. “Yes, I’m worried,” she replied. “Maybe it would be best if he never knows about me.”
“If Silverlock is your father, he has a right to know,” Ashinji said, stroking her curls.
“Silverlock?” Jelena looked at Ashinji questioningly.
“The king’s hair is silver, hence the nickname.”
“Of course,” Jelena whispered. “My birth mother told Claudia that my father called himself… Zin .” She reverted to Soldaran, and said, “‘Zin’ means silver in Siri-dar!”
“Yes. Your cousin Magnes told me about Zin when we first met and I questioned him about you. I didn’t make the connection at the time.” He bent down and hoisted her saddlebag to his shoulder. “C’mon. It’s getting late. You’d better get going.”
He escorted her to the stables and waited with her while one of Nadaka’s stable boys saddled Willow and brought her out. Jelena swung into the saddle with practiced ease and adjusted her stirrup leathers while Ashinji secured her bag. He grasped her hand and placed a kiss-light as a feather-on her palm. His eyes sparkled with desire. “I’ll see you tonight,” he murmured, “and by the Goddess, I’ll not lie next to you all night again as if we were brother and sister!” Jelena drew in a deep breath of the cool morning air, trying to slow her racing heart. The merest thought of Ashinji’s touch sent shivers of delight coursing down her spine, sparking that peculiarly sweet ache between her thighs that only he could soothe.
Ashinji turned and retreated toward the house. As he approached the open doorway, Sadaiyo stepped through. The two brothers paused and exchanged words. Jelena-too far away to hear-frowned with worry as Ashinji pushed past Sadaiyo and disappeared inside. Sadaiyo lingered on the front porch, and as his gaze swept the yard, he caught sight of her. An unpleasant smile twisted his handsome mouth. Jelena’s chest tightened in disgust. Quickly, she gathered up her reins and turned Willow’s head toward the path leading out to the main road.
Sadaiyo’s sharp, sardonic laughter followed after her, stinging her ears as she rode away.
~~~
High above, in a sky aglow with the crimson and orange of sunrise, a raven traced lazy circles in the still air. Its bead-like eyes fixed on the road below, watching.
At last, a horse and rider appeared, cantering easily on the smooth, well-tended road. The raven spun on its wingtip and plunged downward, an inky streak against the brightening sky. It landed on the branch of a chestnut tree growing along the grassy verge some distance ahead. There, it waited.
A short time elapsed before the horse passed beneath the tree in a jingling, creaking rush. The bird’s keen eyesight caught a glimpse of the rider’s face-sun-bronzed skin, a melding of human and elven features-topped by a wild mane of dark, coiled hair.
The raven cawed-a harsh, brazen sound-and launched itself skyward. A compulsion to follow spurred it on, and it could not resist. Like a black arrow, it shot after the rider, maintaining a discreet distance so that it would not be noticed. The b
ird had no instinct left for self-preservation; for many days, it had gone without food, water, or rest. Relentlessly, inevitably, the force that drove it also drained its life energy in the process.
When at last it fell from the sky, another bird sprang aloft and took up the chase.
Chapter 4
Sendai
"There it is, my love. Sendai Castle.” Ashinji pointed toward the west.
Jelena held her hand up to shade her eyes, but could see only what appeared to be a large, forested hill against the glare of the horizon.
“I can’t see the castle…only trees.” She squinted in a vain attempt to discern the outlines of the fortress.
“It sits at the top of the hill. You can just see the highest roofs from here. They’re covered in blue tiles.”
Jelena shook her head, frustrated that she seemed to lack her elven sire’s sharper-than-human eyesight. “Where is the city?” she asked, abandoning the search for the castle.
“You’ll see,” Ashinji replied. He flashed a wicked grin, as if keeping some particularly astounding secret. “Sendai will amaze you, I promise.”
They had been on the road for ten days and had another half-day of travel yet before them. The party had paused to rest at a crossroads. Some of the Kerala guards stood at relaxed, yet watchful, attention, while others took their ease on the soft grass. Amara and her daughters had abandoned their carriage and now rested in the shade of a horse chestnut tree. Just beyond the intersection, the road mounted a small hill. Ashinji and Jelena stood at the summit, gazing ahead toward their destination.
Ashinji slipped his arm around Jelena’s waist, drawing her close in a companionable embrace. His eyes sparkled with anticipation, but she sensed that it had nothing to do with her.
“What are you thinking about, Ashi?” she asked.
“How good it will be to see the Peregrines again. I’ve never been away from my company for so long.” Ashinji had spoken many times of his fondness and respect for the men and women of Peregrine Company. He derived strength from their camaraderie and professionalism, and they made his life as a captain in the king’s army more bearable.
“Will your people be shocked when you return with a wife?” she asked, playfully tweaking his nose.
He grinned and tweaked hers in kind. “Perhaps, but they will be pleased for me as well.”
“Yes, but how do you think they will react to me?” She couldn’t stop the note of worry that crept, unbidden, into her voice.
Ashinji turned her by the shoulders to face him. “I know you are afraid of how you will be treated, and I can’t promise that there won’t be any problems, but Sendai does have a sizable hikui community. After we get settled, I’ll take you to Jokimichi, the district where most of the hikui live. You can finally meet other people who look like you.”
With a small shock, Jelena realized that Ashinji had pointed out to her a startling fact; in all her months of residing among the elves of Kerala, she had not once seen another hikui. Aneko hardly counted; the First Sergeant of the Kerala Guard lived as okui, despite her own admission. Jelena’s heart beat a little faster with excitement. What would the hikui of Sendai be like? Her mind buzzed with questions that would have to wait until she reached the city.
“Ho there, children! Come to admire the view, eh?”
Ashinji and Jelena turned as one to the sound of Lord Sen’s greeting.
“Father, have you got your spyglass with you?” Ashinji inquired. “I’m sure Jelena would like to get a closer look at Sendai Castle.”
“I do, I do,” Sen replied. He unhooked a small rectangular leather case from his belt and removed the spyglass. “This came all the way from Great Arrisae Island. The Islanders make the finest navigational tools in the known world. Your mother-in-law gave it to me.” He extended the exquisite, brass and wood instrument and handed it to Jelena.
“I hear you, Father,” she assured him. “You are asking me, in a roundabout way, to please be careful with it!”
Sen’s whole body shook with laughter. “Clever and beautiful! ‘Course I knew that already. Now, hold the narrow end up to your eye, that’s it! D’you see the castle now?”
“Yes, yes, I can see it!” Jelena exclaimed.
Looking through the spyglass, it seemed as if she had traversed much of the distance to Sendai in the wink of an eye. “This is amazing,” she sighed, fascinated by the power of the spyglass to draw such a distant object closer. She could make out some of the larger details of the structure, such as its overall architecture and relative size to the hill upon which it stood, but they were still too far away to see much more than that. She lowered the glass and reluctantly gave it back to Sen, who carefully returned it to its case.
“Thank you, Father,” she said, smiling.
“We should be at the city gates by sundown,” Ashinji said, glancing into the sky to check the position of the sun, which hung just past zenith.
“We’ll ride straight in and go directly to the castle,” Sen instructed. “I’ll send someone ahead to announce us, but it won’t be you, Jelena. As of this moment, you are no longer employed as my messenger.” He looked Jelena over with narrowed eyes. “Hmmm, I’ve not said anything because we’ve been traveling, but…my dear, it’s time you put away those old clothes.”
“Oh, Father. I…I’m sorry!” Jelena felt her cheeks burn as she realized how shabby she must look compared to the rest of the family. “I’m so used to dressing this way…All my new things are packed away in the baggage. I’m not sure if I can get to them.”
Ashinji took her hand and squeezed. “Father, what Jelena’s wearing right now doesn’t really matter. We’ve been on the road for the last ten days. We can worry about it later.”
“Yes…yes of course you’re right,” Sen agreed. “Come now, you two. It’s time we were on our way.”
~~~
The remainder of the day passed easily. The party rode alongside fields of ripe grain and orchards nearing the harvest. The farmland surrounding Sendai was second in productivity only to the disputed Tono Valley. The farmhouses they passed were of varying sizes, but every one, from the smallest cottage to the grandest manor exuded an air of peace and prosperity.
A war could destroy all of this, Jelena thought.
Late afternoon found them passing through the more heavily populated suburbs. The farmland had gradually given way to an open forest of oak and beech, within which the people had chosen to integrate their settlements, rather than clear the land. Here, the houses stood much closer together, each one set in its own garden. Small workshops, storefronts, and inns were interspersed among the dwellings. Signs now marked the lanes and byways branching off from the main road.
Along the way, many folk paused to watch as the large party clattered past. As Ashinji predicted, they reached the main gates of the city proper just as the sun came to rest on the horizon.
Jelena could only stare, speechless with astonishment.
“I told you Sendai would amaze you,” Ashinji said. “Welcome to the City of Trees.”
Never in her wildest imaginings had Jelena considered that an entire city could be built within the confines of a forest. A wide swath had been cleared outside the city’s walls, but not within; from the base of the inner wall, trees marched in unbroken ranks into the city proper.
The walls themselves, though built of massive stone blocks, looked like a natural feature of the land; a dense overgrowth of flowering vines crept up to just below the parapets. A formidable, double-towered stone gatehouse guarded the main entrance, and the shadow cast by the artificial cliff face spread premature nightfall over a large section of the town below. As they drew closer, Jelena got a better look at the walls’ luxuriant drapery of vegetation.
Each vine sported fragrant clusters of white flowers amid rows of brutal thorns, easily as long as her index finger. She shuddered at the thought of what that punishing curtain would do to anyone who tried to scale it.
They passed beneath th
e gatehouse and rode into the city itself, entering via a broad, gravel-bedded avenue lined with a bewildering assortment of shops, inns, and taverns. Many of the buildings were constructed around the boles of the trees, incorporating them into the design of the structure. Ladder-like staircases snaked up the trunks of many of the larger trees, leading to structures set on platforms among the spreading branches.
The street teemed with people, all intent on the business of life. In shop windows, above doorways, and along the streets, lanterns flared to life, banishing the dusk. Other lights, twinkling like stars overhead, hung from boughs, balconies, and the upcurved ends of roof gutters.
As in the rural district and suburbs, the city exuded an aura of prosperity, but despite the appearance of normalcy, Jelena could sense a subtle undercurrent of tension floating in the air, like the smell of far-off corruption. She studied individual faces among the throng and found on every one the unmistakable marks of worry.
The elves of Sendai were afraid.
She pointed out her observation to Ashinji.
“The people know that war with the Soldarans is coming,” he replied, tight-lipped. “The population of the Empire is easily ten times that of Alasiri, with an Imperial Army at least triple in number to our fighting forces. The odds are very much against us. The people know it, the king and his council know it, yet we have no choice but to try to defend ourselves. If we don’t stop the invasion, the humans will overrun all of Alasiri and take our land for their own in order to relieve the great pressure of their growing population. It would surely mean death or slavery for most of us.”
Jelena shivered with dread. She knew from firsthand experience how humans, or more specifically, how Soldarans felt about elves, and she had no doubt of the truth of Ashinji’s words. A conquered Alasiri would be dealt with harshly, its lands depopulated with brutal efficiency and quickly resettled by landless Soldarans eager for homesteads of their own.
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