197
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Stretching like a cat, Gwynn slowly opened her eyes, blinking at the light finding its way past the heavy draperies.
That’s odd, she thought; it only looks like mid-day. How can I feel so rested? A dream-like memory of Lesia and Shae insisting she have some soup floated through her mind. She didn’t remember seeing any light coming through the drapes then. “Goddess bless,” she murmured aloud, “I slept the whole day around.”
“Yes, you did,” Shae said softly. Gwynn looked over her shoulder to see him seated in the chair beside the bed, pulling on his boots. “I wasn’t much better myself; I finally woke up enough to make it to Pilgar’s late in the afternoon.
I helped him and his assistants cut the wood and leather for my scabbards and baldric. It took some convincing for him to make them the way I preferred; he thought they were too plain. By dark, I was falling asleep on my feet, so I came back here, and Lesia forced some soup on me. Then it took both of us to wake you up for dinner. I kept you talking while Lesia kept handing you a full spoon. You were so sleepy; I was afraid you would drown otherwise. I haven’t slept this late in years. I must be getting soft.”
“We had a bit of rest to catch up on,” Gwynn pointed out with a sleepy smile.
“That’s true. Elisan came to the forge last evening and 198
FAE SONG
was very impressed with the rirani we created. He also said that your few days off from instruction just became a seven-night.”
“Good, since I worked and then slept most of my previous holiday away.”
“I was thinking we should take a ride. We may be learning and exercising, but our horses are not. Talon hasn’t been this fat in years. What if I ask Lesia to prepare us a hunter’s lunch and we go explore the surroundings of Heralith a little?”
“What a wonderful idea!” Gwynn exclaimed, throwing back the covers. She knew that what she was learning under Elisan was necessary but doing the same thing day after day was beginning to tell on her.
When they left their rooms, she noticed Shae had left his sword behind in favor of carrying his new rirani, the hilts rising over each shoulder, just like the Pathani carried them.
The crossed baldric that held them and the scabbards were black, like the rest of his gear, but the leather itself was carved with knot work. The heavily engraved silver buckles, throat plaques, and scabbard tips stood in sharp contrast to the unadorned belt at his waist. Gwynn smiled saying, “No Pathani could stand to leave something unornamented.”
“No,” Shae sighed, “but I am so grateful, I agreed to let him show off his journeymen’s talents a little. They are going to cause a stir when we get back, so leather carving and fancy metalwork really doesn’t matter at this point.”
“It is possible that most people will simply mistake it for something made in Inishmore,” she teased.
“It is, and I might just let everyone think that, since no-one would believe the truth anyway.”
When they reached the stables, Gwynn had to agree with him; both of their horses were in generous weight. “I think you’re getting a new nickname,” she told her gelding 199
FAE SONG
while she rubbed his glossy neck and scratched his ears,
“how does Rogue the Rotund sound?” It made no obvious impression; Rogue just closed his eyes and leaned into Gwynn’s touch.
They left town and followed the white stone road toward the head of the valley, deciding they wanted to get a closer look at the waterfal . It was the perfect day for a ride; the sun was shining, the breeze fresh and cool—suddenly, something struck Gwynn.
“Shae, has it rained since we came here?”
He thought for a moment and then shook his head.
“No, not that I recall.”
“This place is starting to give me pause. Look around us. Everything is perfect and lush, but we don’t remember any rain at all. And,” she bit her lower lip, something that Shae had come to realize meant Gwynn was thinking hard,
“we have been here over a month!”
“What? That long?” he exclaimed. Shae did some hard thinking of his own. “You’re right. How is that possible? It doesn’t seem like that much time has passed.
No place I have ever been would look like this without having any rain for a month.”
“Who knows, maybe it rains at night, so no one is bothered by ruined plans.” She was trying to keep her tone light, but she was disturbed. “I wonder if the autumn leaves blow away by themselves too, so things don’t seem untidy?”
“Are you sure they have autumn here? I don’t think the weather has altered at all since we arrived. It seems right for early spring, but if we have been here more than a month, it should be changing,” Shae said.
“Don’t make me think about those things. Let’s just enjoy it,” Gwynn told him firmly. “I will accept that it is because we are in a mountain region where it’s often cooler.”
“Agreed. That way, I won’t have to keep trying to 200
FAE SONG
reason these things out, like the practical Southron I am,”
Shae said with relief.
“You should try being the impractical bard; you won’t have to reason things out at all.”
While they rode up the valley toward the waterfall, the land surrounding them became densely wooded. She stared in wonder at the great trees on either side of the road. Their moss-covered trunks were massive; four or five grown men holding hands would barely reach around some of them. The air grew cooler and a bit damp as they rode through the shade of the trees. Enchanted by a woodland mere they came across, she suggested they water the horses and have lunch there.
The horses drank their fill while Gwynn trailed her fingers in the water. The pool was crystal clear; she could see all the way to the bottom. Since no water source entered it, she assumed it must have a spring beneath it. A movement in the depths caught her attention and Gwynn leaned closer, wondering if there were fish in it.
Shae’s new rirani flashed from their sheath when she yelped and threw herself backward from the edge of the mere. Shae was at her side in a moment, looking into the water while Gwynn gasped, “There is something in there and it isn’t a fish.”
Shae peered into the pool intently. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She edged slowly back to the pool, keeping Shae between her and the edge. “I saw something move, and when I looked more closely at it, I saw a woman’s face looking back. And before you ask, I was not seeing my reflection; it was down in the depths of the water.” Shae was beginning to believe the sooner they left Heralith the better; the place must be taking a huge mental toll on Gwynn. Then he saw what seemed to be a woman’s face, but silvery in hue 201
FAE SONG
like the scales of a fish. Her hair floated around her, waving with shades of green and brown like water plants. Her whole body was strangely transparent; they could see her and see through her at the same time. She was looking up at them while they looked down at her. Gwynn’s fingers dug into Shae’s upper arm. “Mother Ariadwen, this pool is the home of a lorelye,” she whispered.
“A what?”
“A lorelye, a water sprite, I thought they were only legends.” Gwynn pulled Shae away from the edge of the water.
“That’s what I thought about the Pathani and all this proved me wrong. Is she dangerous?”
“I don’t think so. According to the stories, there are malevolent ones, who will lure people to a watery death through glamour, and kind ones, who reside in a beautiful body of water as its caretakers.” She drew a shaking breath.
“If she was one of the wicked lorelye and the legends are right, we would be dead already.”
“Surely, the Pathani wouldn’t let a malicious one stay in Heralith.” Shae had not yet sheathed his rirani; the idea that the two of them could have been lured to their deaths without realizing it appalled him.
“The Patha
ni hold themselves to a different set of moral standards than we do, and they are very accepting of natural order. If this lorelye was wicked, they would avoid her, but they would not destroy her unless she tried to harm them. They would not question her right to reside here.”
Gwynn turned abruptly from the mere and whistled for Rogue. “Let’s ride further on; I don’t think I want to have lunch here.”
“Me either.” Shae had sheathed his rirani and boosted her onto her horse almost before he got out the words. They cantered from the glade, leaving the lorelye’s pool behind 202
FAE SONG
them. After a bit, the pair slowed their pace, dropping back to a walk. Shae glanced at Gwynn; her eyes shadowed while she stared off into the distance. He reached for Rogue’s rein, bringing her to face him. “Tell me, little one.”
“I have been horribly unfair to you. I asked you to accept the existence of the Pathani with no qualms, but when a lorelye stared at me from a pond, I squealed and ran away. I knew how you felt about magic then took us somewhere it runs rampant and expected you sit idly by while I learn how to use it. I have been both thoughtless and blind. I am sorry.”
Gwynn’s remorseful words were echoed her expression.
Shae dropped Rogue’s rein and lifted her chin, making her meet his eyes. “You didn’t squeal and run away the night a war horse brought a dying man to your camp, which is when it meant the most. No, I was not happy with your decision to come here, but I understood and agreed with the need for it. My feelings about magic were ingrained by my upbringing, but I have since come to realize that magic takes more forms than I can understand. What I have seen you do is astonishing, but it has never once seemed unnatural, something I always believed magic must be. You are not only a charge I am contracted to protect; you are my friend, one of the best I have ever made. That’s not an easy feat; Southrons don’t give their friendship carelessly. You don’t always think things through. That is your nature, but you have the most generous heart of anyone I have ever known.
There are not enough people like you in our world. My friendship and respect for you binds me to keep you safe in it.”
The light had returned to Gwynn’s eyes. “I don’t know where fitan will lead me, but I will never cease to be thankful that I have not been alone on this part of the journey.”
“You won’t, not now, not ever,” Shae swore. He drew 203
FAE SONG
a long breath, suddenly needing to tell her everything about Hasdran and being a Lifeguard. “I should—” His words were drowned out by the loud notes of a horn sounded behind them on the road, accompanied by the baying of hounds. The hounds drew closer and Shae used Talon to edge Rogue off the road.
“Sounds like a hunt,” Gwynn said, looking in the direction of the horn calls. “I wish we had been invited. I love hunting.” Suddenly, her face went white. “Ariadwen protect us.” She threw her hand up, spoke a word, and there was a strange ripple in their view of the road. It was like gazing through a rain-streaked window.
“What frightens you?”
“Don’t make any noise,” Gwynn whispered. “The shield will only hide us if we are silent.”
A moment later, a pack of white hounds with red ears and fiery eyes bounded out of the forest. A group followed them on horseback; at least, they appeared to be on horseback. Their mounts resembled horses in shape, but the manes and tails flickered like dark flames over their white forms. The hooves made no sound where they struck the ground and looked insubstantial, more like mist than hoof.
The lead rider was a woman with smoky black hair and smoldering dark eyes. She did not look Pathani and she did not look human. The rest of the riders were all male and they all appeared mortal. What horrified Shae was the emptiness in their eyes; they looked exactly like he had always pictured someone who had lost their soul.
“No!” The word was more an anguished howl than speech. “Da? Herrakith afalin! ” Shae identified the words from Gwynn’s native language, but he didn’t understand them. “Afalin! Mei Gwynn! Da! ” Gwynn kicked Rogue so hard he let out a startled whinny before he leaped into a gallop. The strange watery shield vanished when they 204
FAE SONG
charged through it, leaving Shae behind.
He spurred Talon after his charge, wondering if the apparitions had somehow captured her. For a short while, the destrier gained on Gwynn and Rogue, but then, the hunting party wheeled off the road and into the forest. Talon had speed, but he was a heavy war horse, unaccustomed to charging over the uneven ground and tight turns through the trees. It took every bit of his riding skill to keep Gwynn in sight through the thick trees. Even so, Talon was tiring and Shae began to fear he would lose her in the shadowy forest.
Then, huge outcrops of granite began to appear and the trees thinned. They galloped from under the trees into the sunlight of an upland meadow to find Gwynn and Rogue halfway across the clearing, still in pursuit of the host. The hounds approached the foot of the mountains, heading toward an opening in the wall on the far side of the meadow. He heard Gwynn cry out again, urging Rogue to still greater speed. The gelding shot forward as if he had been loosed from a bow.
What power had been in Gwynn’s cry Shae did not know, but when the sound reached his ears, he felt a matching burst of speed from Talon, some hidden reserve of strength and stamina having been summoned from within.
Gwynn had closed the distance to less than twenty strides behind the last of the riders entering the mountainside when the opening disappeared in a split second. Rogue reared to keep from crashing head on into solid rock, but the change in speed and the uneven ground threw him off balance, and he began to fall sideways with Gwynn still in the saddle. Shae flung himself from Talon’s back and sprinted towards them, heartsick at the thought of the injuries they might suffer. Incredibly, Gwynn managed to free herself from the stirrups, roll clear of the scrambling gelding, stumble to her feet, and run toward the rock. She hurled herself against it, pounding on the granite and 205
FAE SONG
shrieking like a madwoman.
He attempted to pull her away from the rock, but Gwynn threw him off with fae strength. Shae tried a second time, captured her flailing arms, and spun her to face him, grasping her shoulders with an iron grip. Gwynn’s face had angry red scratches from tree branches, and her hands were torn from striking at the rock.
“Let me go!” she screamed, hammering on his chest.
“I have to help him. No one can escape the Aeldive alone!”
Shae wrapped his arms around her, unwilling to let her go until she calmed down. “What are you talking about?
Who are you talking about?” Gwynn thrashed wildly in his arms for a moment, before clutching the front of his jerkin with trembling fingers. Reason began to return to her eyes, and she drew a shuddering breath, so Shae tried again. “Who is the Aeldive? And who does the Aeldive have that you must help?” After drawing another shaking breath, she began to whisper, “Aeldive means ‘the fallen’. Her right name is Aere, and she is one of Ariadwen’s daughters. She caused so much discord and mischief among the gods that the Lady and the Lord drove her from them. She took refuge on the earth, where she continues to do much the same thing. Those who have the sight to see say that she can be found near battlefields or instances of strife. Farmers and sailors blame fierce storms on her too. S-she-” Her voice broke and she buried her head against the Shae’s chest, struggling to regain control of her speech. Finally, she managed to continue in a barely audible murmur. “Aere has an awful custom; she collects mortal men to entertain her. When she tires of them, she casts them out somewhere back into Balahar; only, it is a world that no longer resembles the Balahar they knew.
Usually, so many years have gone by that everything and everyone the man knew is gone. Then they go mad.” Gwynn 206
FAE SONG
raised her eyes to his and the haunted devastation in them was the most terrible thing he had ever seen. “I saw him, Shae. The Aeldive ha
s my father. I heard his life song.”
“Let’s check on Rogue, and then we’ll see what sense we can make of this.” He drew her away from the cliff face, moving back to where the horses stood. Apart from a few scrapes, the gelding seemed none the worse for his fall. Shae watched the scrapes fade at Gwynn’s touch before he spoke again. “I prefer to believe that the gods take little notice of us, but this says otherwise. How do we help him?”
“I want to think there is a way. I can only hope he doesn’t know what has happened to him. Nothing would be worse to a bard than to be enslaved.” The anguish in Gwynn’s voice tore at him.
Shae’s brow furrowed, he would not accept defeat without a fight, even if it involved a banished goddess.
“What do we know for certain? Will the Pathani help us?”
“I doubt so. As I said earlier, they don’t always see things our way. They will also not interfere with something that is only between the gods and humanity; they would not feel that was their place.”
He pointed at the rock where the tunnel opening had been. “Can we find a way to get in there? And once in, find your father?”
Gwynn gazed up at the rock, some of the pain in her eyes receding. “I might be able to reopen it; I think it’s similar to the Pathani gates.” She brought her Harp out of its case. “If I do get it open, I don’t know what will be on the other side. I also don’t know, if I get in, whether I will ever come out. I cannot ask you to come with me.”
“My people believe that the bonds of kinship are the strongest of all. I could not leave my father in the same situation without helping him, no matter what the cost. You are my charge and my friend; those bonds do not permit me 207
FAE SONG
to let you do this alone. Whatever the consequences, we go together.”
Fae Song EPUB Page 20
