“I sort of had to, I guess,” she said. “With Mother and Father dead and you off with your studies, someone had to make sure that we had food and clothing. Mae was…well, she was nearly useless when it came to keeping a house. I may have been as smart as any male, but she was as strong as several.”
Kamendar nodded as a sad smile crossed his lips. “She was as strong as any lion roaming the plains of the Grasslands,” he said. “Mother and Father had much to be proud of in their daughters, not the least of which being the fact that you two were both born alive!” It happened, on occasion, that the natural animosity toward every other living thing that plagued the Ikedrian race made an appearance before they were even born. Multiples would fight with each other in the mother’s womb, and occasionally there would only be one fetus that would survive until birth. Twins were hailed as a mark of a powerful bloodline. The strength of the Turlach line made the death of her parents even more surprising.
“Anyway, what would you like for your dinner tonight, Kam? Shall I run to D’abth for some food?” The House of D’abth ran one of Kamendar’s favorite taverns. “You might go with me; I’m sure there would be loads of young ones there looking for some company,” she said, winking at him.
“You are kind, my sister, but I have no taste for that anymore,” Kamendar said sadly. “You know what I like to eat; if you got me something from D’abth, I would be grateful.” He left her room, and she heard his door slam. She sighed. Her brother needed to get out more, and if there was a young female that could turn his head – so much the better. He was well known in Ikedria, and there were loads of females just waiting for the chance to join a noble house, but he showed no interest. Elspethe wondered if he might have left the wood elf pregnant before she died, but she dared not ask. That sort of thing would have gotten both of them exiled at best and killed at worst. The baby would have been killed without question as an abomination by both races.
She gathered up her things, stuffing a few platinum pieces into a small bag tied around her waist, and headed for the door to her bedroom. She stopped in front of a long mirror attached to one of the walls and studied herself. Elspethe and Maelfie had been almost identical. The only difference between them had been the color of their hair. The blood-red X at the center of her eyes was a Turlach family trait that Elspethe took great pride in possessing…most of the time.
The door to their dwelling swung shut with a bang as Elspethe hurried over to D’abth. The sooner she got her brother fed, the sooner she could leave for another night’s exploring and—more importantly—searching for Taeben. The tavern was bustling when she pushed open the heavy stone door and peered inside. Elspethe scowled. The owner happened to be at the bar and waved her over.
Lsynda D’abth was Kamendar’s age, and it was well known that she considered herself a perfect mate for him. She smiled an oily, malevolent smile at Elspethe. “Shall I fix up your brother’s favorites tonight?” she asked, her breath reeking of the honey mead that she sold to patrons at the bar. Elspethe nodded, afraid to respond because she was holding her breath against the smell. None of her family consumed any alcoholic beverages; therefore, the smell alone would make her sick. “Be right back, sister Ellie,” she said as she grinned. Elspethe shook her head. Lsynda returned directly with a hamper full of food and drink, and the mead smell had been replaced by an awful lot of perfume. Elspethe wrinkled her nose to keep from gagging.
“How much do I owe you, Lys?” Elspethe said, each word she spoke hard work as she fought to keep the perfume smell from going down her throat.
“On the house,” Lsynda replied. “Tell your brother that if he likes it, he knows where to find me to thank me.” She grinned again at Elspethe, who slid off the stool at the bar and hurried to the exit. Only after the stone door swung shut with a bang did the wizard take a deep breath.
Elspethe did not tarry on her way back home. “Kam?” she called as she pushed open the front door and deposited the food on the table by the fire. “Kam? Your food is here!” She took off her cloak and then stood still to listen, both with her ears and magic. It was far, far too quiet on both fronts. Every hair on her body stood on end suddenly, and she knew that something was terribly wrong.
With trembling hands, she pushed open the door to her brother’s room. “Kam?” Somewhere deep down in her soul, she knew there would not be an answer. A twitch of her finger sent a spark to the candles on the desk by his bed; the light they produced confirmed her fears. Kamendar was slumped onto his desk. His face was pressed into the wood as his unseeing eyes stared past her and into the hallway. His dagger was on the desk, still in his fist, which rested in a pool of his blood. Pressing one fist to her mouth, Elspethe crossed the room and gently shut her brother’s eyes, then choking back a sob as she noticed how warm his skin still was. He had barely waited for her to leave. She bent and kissed his forehead after smoothing back his spiky black hair. “Kam…” she whispered and then backed slowly out of his room.
There would be inquiries into his death, with Elspethe the most likely suspect. Even if she was not found guilty of murder, there was the matter of the Turlach estate to settle—the estate of her family that would never pass to her without litigation because she was female and without a mate. The Ikedrians were nothing if not traditional. Elspethe stood in the hallway of the dwelling she had called home since birth and saw it with new eyes. There was nothing here that she needed anymore. She had long since outgrown material things. With Kamendar’s death, her ties to her home and to her race were effectively broken. Would Taeben take her in as an apprentice? No, probably not, as the penalties of that action would be grave for him.
Cursik had family, but Elspethe knew nothing of them. The thought of appearing as her sister to beg their forgiveness and sympathy had crossed her mind after Cursik’s murder, but she had long since abandoned that notion. Even if Mae had been a treasured member of their family, they couldn’t take her into their home in the tree city. It just was not done – and in truth, Elspethe was not sure she had wholly forgiven Cursik for the loss of her twin.
“Looks like I’m on my own,” she muttered as she closed the door on her brother’s corpse. Things would be so much easier if she were born into one of the merchant class families! She could just live out her days there in the dwelling, and no one would bother her or come sniffing around after a tapestry or other artifact. No one would care. But as it was, an abandoned noble house would be the first stop for any with thoughts of nefarious purpose. An idea suddenly dawned on Elspethe, and she grinned as she dashed out the door, barely grabbing her cloak as she ran. She could navigate her home city with her eyes closed, and before she knew it, she was standing at the door to the central bank of Ikedria, her chest heaving as she drew in sharp breaths. She straightened her hair and entered the bank.
“Mistress Turlach,” the banker behind the counter said brusquely. “Has your brother sent you on business related to your account?” Everyone knew of Kamendar the hermit, and even though she had been the public face of House Turlach for a long time, it was still expected that he was the one in charge of the family.
“Yes, in fact,” she said, pulling herself up to her full height and looking the banker in the eye. He looked away quickly, clearly uncomfortable. Her eyes did that to some. “He has sent me to withdraw most of our family’s savings from this bank. He no longer deems it to be a safe place for our money but wishes to leave a small amount intact in the event your security improves.”
“But, Mistress, I fear I cannot.…”
“Do not end that sentence with ‘give you your money,’ sir, or it will be the last sentence you utter,” she responded. Her eyes blazed as sparks shot from her fingers to form an electric aura around each of her hands.
“But Mistress, it is just that.…”
“Right. I warned you,” Elspethe said, holding out her right hand with the palm open toward the floor. Her staff, suspended by magic on her back, swung into her palm as though a part of her han
d. She leveled the business end of it in between the banker’s eyes, grinning wickedly as a memory of Taeben teaching her how to do that flashed through her mind. “Would you like to try again? Or shall I just…” She tried not to show the surprise at how easy that had been – both the move with the staff and the apparent terror in the banker’s eyes. Taeben would be so proud…
“One moment!” The banker spun on his heels and ran like a scared animal. Soon he returned with two overstuffed bags of gold and platinum pieces. It was all Elspethe could do to keep her jaw from dropping. She knew that her family was wealthy, but not that wealthy!
“Have you left enough to hold the account in good standing?” she asked. The banker nodded as he slid the bags toward her across the counter. “Good. My brother and I will be away for a time and would appreciate it if any and all transactions on our account are held until we return. Is that understood?” Again the banker nodded, and Elspethe took the two bags from the counter, turned on her heel, and left the bank.
Elspethe returned to her dwelling just as fast as she had left it and began packing a few things – with that much money, she could buy what she did not already have. She had not planned to take her oversized rucksack but decided to check it at the last moment before she left. Inside was a worn brown leather bridle – a gift from Taeben that would summon a magical pony for her to ride—and she added it into the small pack.
Once she had everything together, Elspethe laid out her belongings in the corridor outside her dwelling. It was not an impressive pile of things, to say the least, but there was nothing else that meant anything to her or that she couldn’t live without. She opened the door one last time and looked around. Memories of her siblings flooded her mind, and a single tear ran down her cheek. “Our time is past,” she whispered. “My time is beginning.” Elspethe lifted her hand as electricity began to sparkle and crack in the air around it, then sent a single bolt of pure energy toward the back of the dwelling. She shut the door before she had to see the tapestries alight, or the paintings depicting so many generations of her family begin to melt. Speaking ancient words in the language of the Ikedrians, she gathered her things and winked out of existence just as the fire caught inside the house. Kamendar’s cabinet of poisons ignited with a loud explosion, drawing people out of their dwellings nearby and a platoon of guards soon after.
But the last of House Turlach, Elspethe, was gone, and in truth, she was Elspethe Turlach no more. Ellie, the name her brother had given her, would suit her just fine. She knew that her mentor and teacher Taeben would understand and would do what he could to provide her with sanctuary once he saw the amount of platinum she offered in exchange. As the lush green grass of the Great Forest formed under her feet, Ellie drew a spell of camouflage around her and headed for the gates of Alynatalos. She could only hope that her mentor would be there when she arrived.
Two
Outside The High Elf Citadel of Alynatalos
Ellie had only made it halfway across the distance to the entrance to Alynatalos when she had to duck to avoid being seen by a couple of wood elves walking toward the wizard spires. The towers provided a gateway through the Void for those without magic. She was still under her magical camouflage—but sometimes the druids that lived in the trees could see through it and Ellie didn’t want to risk detection. She was close enough to hear them as they passed and for once was thankful that her brother had made her and her sister learn the language of the tree-dwellers.
She answered the call of her mentor and spent weeks in the Great Library at the Outpost, researching and making notes for him on a variety of spells and incantations. Unfortunately, she had not had enough time with him to become fluent in Eldyr and a lot of the tomes on his list were written in that ancient language of the dragons. This morning’s study was interrupted suddenly by a horrible pain—she felt as though she was being pulled inside out. Something had happened to him—something awful—and she was on her way to the high elf citadel to find him. Horrible ideas danced through her mind even now as she hid and she focused her attention on understanding the elves from Aynamaede to push those images away.
“Can you believe that was all the doing of that wizard from Alynatalos?” one of the females said, shaking her head.
“No, who would have thought that a cousin of our kind would have had such a grudge against us,” the other one replied. “Although I’m sure it’s not a grudge, really, he was just lovesick.”
“That goes beyond lovesick,” the first elf said, her forehead wrinkling. “He took on the Bane of the Forest and one of the finest druids of our race!” She balled up her fist. “I just can’t believe any of us fell for his treachery—least of all Gin, the true Nature Walker!”
“Iseabel,” the other elf said, putting a hand on her companion’s arm, “we can’t blame anyone but Taeben. He wanted your cousin, Gin, and he was ready to go to any lengths necessary for her.” Ellie put her fist in her mouth to keep from crying out in shock and anger. Taeben? Her Taeben? Her A’chrya? “I hear that he has made amends for what he did, so to speak.” The pieces began to fall into place, but her soul fought against it.
“Aye,” the elf apparently called Iseabel replied. “I hear that the Rajah of Qatuanari himself ended Taeben’s miserable life.”
Ellie felt faint. This must be the reason for the pain she felt in the library—for the darkness whenever she reached through their shared bond to find Taeben. There was nothing there—he had gone to the Void, and she couldn’t reach him there. She sank into the lush green of the forest floor. She had no one left without Taeben. Her world seemed to rotate and then collapse as she felt grass come up under her face.
Ellie lay there in the grass for a long time, not caring that the magic that kept her invisible had worn off. Luckily, she had concealed herself well behind some trees, so she was not noticed by passersby on their way to Alynatalos. Where to go now? She had nothing, no one…but herself. How many times had Taeben told her that the only person he truly trusted was himself? That last lesson would not go unheeded. Her mind wandered sadly to the last time she had seen him.
Ellie looked up into familiar, silvery eyes and tried to get to her feet but found that her legs did not want to cooperate. Taeben reached down and pulled her up onto her feet, holding her by her forearms until he was sure she was steady enough to stand on her own. “Elspethe, my student, my dark flower… You are a marvel. I have never told you that…but you are.” She blushed, unable to make a sound, let alone speak. “You have taken all that I have taught you and never complained once. I think, had I had more time, I could have created in you an amazing sorceress.” His eyes flashed with anger and then returned to a look of profound sadness. “However, I do not…we do not have that sort of time, and I need you to do two things for me. I need you to swear to me that you will.” He took her chin in his hand and keeping her gaze locked on his.
“Anything A'chrya, you know that. You have only to ask,” she said, fear beginning to creep in around the edges of her consciousness. “Why do I think…this sounds like a goodbye…?”
“It may be, dark flower, it may be,” Taeben said. “Something I have been working on for a very long time is about to come to a most unpleasant end, and I would not be who I am if I didn’t try to fix that situation.” He ran a hand through his white hair and pulled it up into his usual ponytail just at the nape of his neck and then rubbed his chin absently. “I have to go away again, and I cannot guarantee that I will return to you this time.” Ellie stared at him in disbelief. “I need you to collect my journals from my home in Alynatalos, and then burn them, forgetting all about me. Will you do that for me?”
“NO!” she shouted, not caring that his face hardened into an angry mask. “No, A'chrya, I will not do that. You are without question the most brilliant wizard of any age, and I will not destroy all that you have committed to paper. It is sacrilege! It is the destruction of priceless work!” She took a step back from him, her eyes blazing with anger. “I will do an
ything else for you, A'chrya, but I cannot do that.”
“Elspethe.” Taeben’s face darkened as he spoke. “You will do this for me. I cannot risk my work falling into the hands of those simpering idiots in the Wizard’s Guild in Alynatalos, nor can I risk my enemies undoing my life’s work!” His voice was still only a whisper, but the intensity of his gaze set a wildfire alight behind his words. “When I took you on, did you not take a blood oath to serve me in exchange for my teaching?”
“Yes, A'chrya, but…”
“And throughout the time we have spent together, did I ever do anything untoward that was not a direct requirement of your training?”
“No, A'chrya, of course not…”
“Then why, when I am at the eleventh hour of my time on this world, would you think it appropriate to deny me a request?” Taeben stared at her, his eyes demanding an answer. Ellie swallowed the lump forming in her throat and met his gaze. “I could have had you as little more than a servant, Elspethe Turlach, but I treated you as an equal. I never entered your mind, though you knew I could, didn’t you?” She nodded, biting her lip to hold back a sob. It would not do for her to break down like a querulous child in front of him now. It was not in her as a dark elf female to appear weak before any male, and she certainly wasn’t going to start now.
“Of course not, A'chrya,” she said. “I would not have allowed it.”
Taeben roared in frustration. “You would not have had a choice!” he bellowed before turning his back to her to regain his composure.
“Of course I would not, A'chrya, but please, try to see this from my perspective. Can you not understand my agony at the thought of a world without you in it? Can you not see how I am loathed to rid the world of your brilliance?” She sniffled a bit, and Taeben turned around at the sound, his expression one of surprise. She took a deep breath before she continued speaking. “Can you not, for a moment, remember that you have been teacher, mentor, master, and father to me and that the thought of not having your guidance in my life leaves me a bit undone, to say the least?” It was Ellie who turned away this time to maintain her self-control.
Darkness: A Guardians of Orana Novel Page 2
