"We, too, have met, Collandoth," she said. "But I think the last time your shin suffered for it!"
"Oh, no!" Ashlord cried. "It cannot be!"
"Oh, yes," said Thurdun.
"Not the same little rascal that climbed my back, pulled out my hair, stole my walking stick, packed my shoes with honey, and, when caught, dented my shinbones with her kicks?"
"One and the same," she laughed, not a bit ashamed.
"Pray, stay distant from me," Ashlord said with mock seriousness, holding out his hand to push her away. "You are worse than any pixie, and twice as mischievous as an imp!"
"Such is her charm," sighed Chanter. "But, as she is my sister, I warn you not to go too far, or else she'll have me defend her honor. And one of us will have to get cut or bruised or dead, or all three, before she's satisfied. Ah, me! What a burden little sisters can be!"
"I do not envy your fate," Ashlord laughed as Thurdun guided them toward the middle of the camp. "But how does she come to be here?"
"She would not part from Serith Ellyn's side," Thurdun said. "They have been fast for ten years, and will likely be so all their lives."
"Are you a Watcher, like Collandoth?" Gaiyelneth asked, falling in beside Robby.
"Oh, no," he said. "I'm just a shopkeeper."
"I think you keep more than a shop," she said, grinning and looking at him askance. "I think you keep secrets."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I only mean that Collandoth is not known for having shopkeepers in his company."
"He could do worse," retorted Robby.
"Oh, no doubt! And he has done, I'm sure. I only meant that you must be an unusual shopkeeper, or else it is an unusual shop that you keep."
"Hrumph!"
"Now you even sound like Collandoth," she giggled, taking Robby's arm. "Come! Listen to the musicians! They have arrived to see us off and to take our wagons when we depart. Besides, it is always our tradition to celebrate this day, the Autumn Equinox."
Some few yards from the large fire in the middle of the camp stood a half-dozen minstrels, piping and stringing. They were two men and four women, two obviously wives and two obviously daughters, and they were dressed in the colorful attire of wandering entertainers. It was a spirited tune they first played, setting many listeners clapping or stomping with the beat.
"Are they not wonderful!" Gaiyelneth exclaimed, grasping her skirt and whirling around. "They are from the village of Marren, somewhere north of here, I believe. Oh, I have not heard such since we left our homeland! Aren't they the best?"
"Pretty near, I guess," Robby said, a little overcome by her exuberance.
"Let's dance!"
Before Robby could protest, she dragged him by the hand into the open space before the players.
"But, but I don't know how!"
Robby did not know whether he was supposed to lead or follow, and he did a bit of both, quite awkwardly, yet not without some natural ability. He had not danced since last year and had never danced much, though his mother taught him a little when he was a child. Still, he could not help laughing, and there was something mysteriously giddy about the music, or maybe it was the vivacious lass who moved around him. She seemed as light as a feather on her feet, and when she twirled about on one foot as she held his hand, he could have sworn she did not even touch the ground. Suddenly the tune was over and everyone was clapping. Robby, still laughing and clapping, too, felt a little embarrassed when he saw Ashlord among the onlookers, a plate of food in one hand and a tankard in the other.
"Another hidden talent, I see!" Ashlord laughed.
"I am forgetting my manners," Gaiyelneth said. "I am sure you are hungry and thirsty. Come along!"
She led Robby to tables set with all manner of food from baked pies and pots of steaming broth stew, to hams and apples and tomatoes and melons.
"Oh no! Not so much!" Robby cried when he saw that the plate Gaiyelneth filled was intended for him. "Truly, I'm not very hungry."
But he took the plate, and when offered, he chose wine instead of beer. Glancing around for Ashlord, he saw him sitting at a small table between the two wagons, talking with Thurdun. Ashlord was gesturing over his shoulder, and Thurdun looked Robby's way with an expression of amazement. Robby turned away as if he had not noticed, and he looked for a different spot to eat. He went to a bench at a table, put his plate and tankard down, and was about to sit when he heard a lady's voice behind him.
"They are talking about you."
Robby turned and saw Thurdun's sister, Queen Serith Ellyn, standing before him. She was tall and slender with golden hair parted just the way he had seen it the night before. Her gown was black, bound by green and embroidered with gold, and on her head was a circlet of gold. Even in this light, he could see that her eyes were silver-gray, as an unsettled sea in the sunlight, glittering with the same beauty and with deep, ageless ferocity. In her hands, she held the case of pens that Ashlord had purchased earlier. Gaiyelneth stood close behind her. Robby tried to bow, feeling more awkward at that than he had at dancing.
"Queen of Vanara," he managed to utter. "I am honored."
"I dreamed I would meet the Hidden One here by the waters of Halgaeth," she said with an enigmatic smile. She seemed immensely at peace and yet worn. Although she appeared to be only about Robby's age, he sensed that she was far older than anyone he had ever met. "Could that be you, Bellringer?"
"I do not know what you mean, my lady."
"You are the one who rang the Great Bell of Tulith Attis," she said. "And it was you who turned our enemy's attention away from us, though you could not know that. Did you know that you were foretold to me? And not only to me, but to others as well."
Robby shook his head. "I have little understanding of such things," he said. "Why do you call me the Hidden One?"
"I did not call you that. I only asked you if you were the Hidden One."
"Who is it that you mean?"
"He who is sought, but is not found, even by those who most seek him out. He who knows the name of one who is without a name."
Shocked, Robby glanced over his shoulder at Ashlord then at Gaiyelneth for some clue.
"Only the next King can name the name," Robby said bluntly. "I am no king."
"Oh," Serith Ellyn said, smiling. Robby could not tell from her tone and expression if she was mocking him or was sincere.
"Do you seek the Hidden One?"
"No," she answered. "Like Collandoth, I watch. I see the ending of ages and carry their memories, and I see the beginning of ages and carry their hopes. I watch for signs and for tracks in the events of the world. But you cannot watch for the wind, Robby Ribbon, Bellringer. You can only feel it and see its touch upon other things. And hear its coming and its passing. Such is the Hidden One before he is revealed."
Robby felt heavy, as if a weight pressed down from the Queen's eyes. His stomach fluttered and a quiver shot through his knees. A strange nervousness gripped him, as if his body prepared to flee.
"You need not be fearful," she said with a comforting smile. "You are no longer at Tulith Attis. We here are at peace, and greet you in friendship and thankfulness."
"I only did what I had to do to save myself," Robby said. "It was rather an accident. Until Lord Thurdun spoke to me of it last night, I had no knowledge of your danger."
"Such is the way of things," she said. "In the enemy's eagerness to ensnare one prey, his grip loosens on another, so that neither are caught. For though he is contemplative and scrutinizes the happenings of the world, he is sometimes rash and cannot always rightfully interpret things. We now know that on the night the Great Bell of Tulith Attis tolled, the foul legions along our borders were recalled. And those of his agents that lay in wait for us were turned to other directions, and great fear swept the enemy's realm. For such is the power of the Great Bell, so that those who most fear its meaning hear it as loudly as those it was meant to beckon."
"Forgive me, my lady. I do not know about such
things," Robby repeated. "But if I have in any way aided you, then I am well rewarded by the honor of it and would that I could do more of the same."
She smiled, and behind her Gaiyelneth grinned.
"You speak well, Bellringer," Serith Ellyn said. "Indeed you are a friend to my heart, though I know you not at all!"
Robby bowed again, saying, "Then I am doubly honored."
"Not everyone would think that such a wonderful thing."
"I cannot help what others may think."
"True," she said. "Now eat and enjoy yourself. We may speak again later."
"Thank you."
Robby watched her glide away toward a tent near the shore, everyone bowing as she passed. She made a mild gesture at Thurdun, who excused himself from Ashlord and went to her.
"I wish to use the Seeing Stone," she said to him.
Thurdun nodded, and glanced around, then turned to the ever-nearby Chanter.
"Post six additional guards around the Queen's tent."
"Yes, Lord Thurdun."
• • •
Gaiyelneth remained behind, eyeing Robby with a mischievous smile. Robby looked at her blankly, realizing that she probably always smiled that way.
"I am mixed up in things well beyond me," he said to her.
"Don't worry," she said sitting at the bench and patting it for him to sit next to her. "At least not now. Enjoy your meal, and let us listen to the music together."
Indeed, Robby was hungrier than he had admitted. He quickly cleaned his plate and had his cup replenished by a passing soldier who served this night as waiter. All while he ate, the minstrels played, Gaiyelneth swaying to the music. As he picked up his fresh cup of wine, one of the young girls began to sing a ballad. It was in a foreign dialect, but Robby sensed that it was a love song, sweet and lonesome. Above them, the stars were out, and the lake was beginning to reflect the light of the low crescent moon. An easy breeze blew down from the hills toward the water and Robby looked at Gaiyelneth. There was some wildness about her, something like the way Sheila once was, and Robby was attracted to her. As he watched her, an expression of weariness crossed her face for a moment.
"Do you miss your home?"
She looked at him, smiling so that he realized what a silly question it was. But her expression softened, and she nodded.
"It is the most beautiful country ever to be seen, I think," she said. "And there is a man there whom I love. But he could not come with us, for he would not forsake his duty, just as I could not forsake my lady."
"Life is not just."
"No, sometimes it is not," she said. "It is my hope to see him again, and in that hope I am not sad."
"Is he in great danger?"
"No more than any of those who stayed behind."
Robby glanced toward Ashlord, who was speaking once again with Thurdun.
"How did Serith Ellyn know they were talking about me?"
Gaiyelneth looked at the two men and back at Robby
"Well, whom else would we all be talking about?"
"Why? What are they, and everyone else, saying?"
"Some are saying you are not truly a Sylphaen, but maybe some other creature with powers unimaginable. You rang the Bell. It has always been said that only a Firstborn could do that. And by doing it when you did, you distracted those who had been chasing us. You probably even saved our lives."
Robby shook his head.
"No one is supposed to know about me and the Bell."
"Few do. Among those here, apart from Ashlord, only Thurdun, the Queen, and I know about you. If that is your secret, then it is probably fairly safe in this region, for the Bell rang louder in the ears of Elifaen, whom it was meant to summon, than in the ears of Men. It was made in such a way."
"Thurdun told me he heard it, yet your party was far away from here," Robby said. "It is hard to believe it carried that far, though it was deafening from where I was."
"It was not just the sound that carried," Gaiyelneth explained. "It was the warning that it was made to carry which traveled so far."
"And who was chasing you?"
"We think they were agents of the King of Ruin."
"I thought he was just a myth."
"He is the Lord of Shades and Shadows."
"You mean Secundur."
"That is his name, though we do not care to speak it."
"But why does he chase you?"
"His agents wish harm to our Queen and ruin to come of our journey. So long as our Queen is alive, no one else may lay rightful claim upon Vanara. She has the ability to divine the answers to things, which makes her a powerful ruler, even when at a far distance from her realm."
"Thurdun told me your lands were no longer safe."
"We go to Glareth by the Sea, our ancient sister city," Gaiyelneth said. "We have kin there and faithful allies to guard the Queen. But we do not flee. Our Queen is fearless. We go to renew bonds with our allies in the east. Also to better understand the plight of those forced by Duinnor to come east from their lands in Vanara. What we have seen and been subjected to has deeply angered us, though we have held our ire in check. The Queen is angry, too. And very much saddened by it all."
"The Queen," Robby repeated, looking at the tent into which Serith Ellyn had gone. He saw Chanter close the flaps and stand between two other guards with his arms crossed, looking back at him.
• • •
Inside her tent, Serith Ellyn opened an iron chest and with both hands removed from it a smaller, heavy box. She carefully placed it on a small table and unlatched it and lifted away the top and sides. There, cradled by large silver prongs, was the Seeing Stone. It looked nothing like how myths and legends describe those fanciful things. Instead, it was merely a large rock, coarse and uneven, appearing in every aspect as never having been carved or shaped since being unearthed ages ago in the distant deserts. Anyone who knows about rocks and stones and such things would immediately recognize it as ordinary amber. It appeared remarkable only in its size and clarity, for it was twice the size of a large apple and of a light, honey-yellow color. The Queen placed a flat sheet of parchment before it and took up one of her new pens. Carefully twisting the top of the amber mass, a hole was revealed into which she dipped her pen.
• • •
"Are you refreshed for another dance?"
Robby shook his head, but could not refuse the lively girl, and he soon found himself being slung this way and that by a crowd of merrymakers. The night wore on, more wine and ale passed around, Gaiyelneth became positively giddy with drink, and Robby, no stranger to the cup, began to stagger.
"I must find my head!" he cried at last, stumbling out of the crowd and onto the ground beside a wagon. No sooner had he propped himself up against one of the wheels, than Gaiyelneth came along and fell down beside him, and, delirious with laughter, she collapsed over onto him. Though Robby did not know what was so funny, her state of joy was so contagious that he laughed, too, until tears ran down his face.
"There there, my child," he kept saying as he laughed, patting her on the back while she buried her head in his shoulder. "It will be all right soon."
After a while, they managed to stop laughing, but the music went on. She kept her head on his shoulder, and he kept his arm around her waist, and they listened. Lady Moon, tiring of the frivolity, was already strolling away below the treetops as the music became soft and sweet, and Robby realized that Gaiyelneth was asleep. As he, too, drifted into sleep, he was contented, almost happy, and oddly protective of her, though he barely knew her. Some while later, he was awakened by the sound of Gaiyelneth quietly crying into the same shoulder where, but a short time before, she had laughed. He put his other arm around her and embraced her tenderly. He became sad, sensing what it must be like to leave home, perhaps never to see it again, and to miss so terribly someone you loved. He thought of Sheila. With her in his thoughts, he soon sank back into slumber.
• • •
The music softened and eventua
lly stopped. The revelers filtered to their tents and wagons, the food was put away, and guards were posted to stand watch at the road and around the encampment. Ashlord and Thurdun still talked, smoking their pipes long into the night. Someone came along and put a blanket over Robby and Gaiyelneth, but they did not stir. Robby dreamt of waterfalls and forest sprites dancing and splashing in the pools. His father was there, asking him to box away the Faere-dust because no one wanted it any more. He saw his mother talking to Queen Serith Ellyn over tea at their kitchen table. Billy danced with Sheila upon the Green while he laughed with Gaiyelneth, and yet he could not take his eyes from Sheila and felt jealous and hurt. When he looked away from the lake and up to where forested hills should have been, he saw instead towering dunes of sand. Distracted by Gaiyelneth's laughter, he looked back at Sheila and Billy. For a moment, he hoped that Sheila would leave Billy and come over to interrupt Gaiyelneth's chatter. However, Sheila seemed not to notice him. He turned his head to look back at the weird dunes and saw a lone figure standing there, black against the bright sky. As he shielded his eyes to look more carefully, the scene dimmed, and he found himself standing in the middle of the camp, an odd light reflecting off the lake and flowing like waves across the wagons and tables. No one was around, and he grew worried as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. But there were odd, silvery bubbles sitting all around, on the ground and in the wagons. They were large, much wider than a person was tall, and sometimes two or three of them clumped together. He approached one, still trying to see clearly, and reached out to touch its watery surface. Suddenly an arm shot out of the bubble, and a black, leather-gloved hand grabbed his wrist. Robby woke with a start, tossing off his blanket and struggling onto his knees, his heart pounding.
All was quiet, Gaiyelneth was gone, the fires were smoking embers, and only the braziers at the end of the quay atop the oddly bent columns were lit. Far away, a frog croaked a duet with a distant whippoorwill. Robby stood up, feeling dizzy from the combined effects of sleep, dance, and drink. Hearing voices, he stepped around the wagon and followed the sound until he could hear Ashlord's voice clearly. Stooping down, and looking underneath the wagon, he could see Ashlord's legs, still sitting as before. Another pair, Thurdun's, paced back and forth.
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