“Forgive this intrusion, I beg.” The captain of the guard entered, followed by four guardians of Pilaer escorting a prisoner. “I thought you should know that we’ve captured a prisoner—a warrior from Torindan.” The guards stepped back, their swords pointing toward a Kindren garbed in the green and gold of Rivenn. He stood tall, walked with quiet dignity, and scanned the room with piercing light eyes.
“Bow before the Lof Shraen!” Olaeg barked out.
“I will not honor this pretender but only to the true Lof Shraen of Faeraven.” The prisoner’s nostrils flared as he made his declaration.
Olaeg and the guard behind the prisoner exchanged glances. The guard reared back. Flesh pounded flesh. The prisoner fell to his knees, groaning and clasping his side.
Olaeg grinned. “That’s better. Rise and I’ll slit your throat.”
The prisoner lifted his head in a defiant gesture that sent light spinning through his streaked brown hair. He made no attempt to rise, however. Rand could understand. A prisoner had to choose his battles.
Rand’s father gestured the guards back and inspected the prisoner. “I remember you from Torindan. You were once a humble tracker, as I recall. You are…Eathnor. Don’t bother to deny your identity. Your face gives you away. Now state your mission.”
His father’s cunning showed plainly to Rand, for as far as he could tell, the prisoner had not given any reaction.
“I will not.” The prisoner spoke the words without flinching.
Olaeg looked again to the guard who had struck him.
Rand’s father slashed his hand in a cutting gesture, and moved closer to the prisoner while the guard eased backward. “You have courage, I’ll grant you that. You defy me while I control your life…or decide your death. Beating you would not bring so much as a whisper of your errand. How disappointing for you that I already guess it. You have been sent to rally the shraens foolish enough to pledge their loyalty to Elcon. Oleg, confine him in the tower, but don’t mistreat him.”
The guards closed around the prisoner and herded him away.
“He won’t tell you anything.” Draeg pointed out in a bored voice.
“From what I recall of him, he would die first and leave me none the wiser. No. Another use for him suggests itself, one that will help us lay claim to Torindan.”
Elcon paced before the hearth in his meeting chamber. Never before had he disliked Dorann’s penchant for silence, but the tracker seemed slow to divulge his news. To be fair, he had only just arrived. “Tell me, did you find Emmerich?”
Dorann gave a swift nod. “That I did.”
“Where did you find him? No, tell me first what he said.”
“About Torindan or regarding Kai’s question?”
Elcon restrained his impatience. “I want both answers, but start with Torindan.”
“You are to ask King Euryon for aid.”
“Euryon? What do I want with Euryon when Emmerich has only to whisper and armies flee?”
Dorann shrugged. “He did not explain himself.”
“That sounds like Emmerich. But I’ll ask him myself. Where is he?”
“In the Vale of Shadows.”
“The Vale of Shadows!” Elcon made an effort to lower his voice. “You went to that fearsome place?”
“It was there I found him.”
“Did he not return with you?”
“He’ll not come.”
“What?” Elcon could hardly credit his hearing. “Does he understand the urgency?”
“I explained it to him, but he told me he fights a different battle.”
Elcon halted his pacing before Dorann. “What does he mean by that?”
Dorann met his glare with a calm expression. “I don’t know.”
“What good is a savior who will not come when bid?”
“Lof Shraen, might it…” Dorann ducked his head, and a red lock tumbled onto his forehead. “Never mind.”
“Speak your thought.”
“I only wondered if he might come if you ask rather than, well‒”
Understanding dawned. “Are you trying to tell me to stop ordering Emmerich around?”
Dorann’s face turned red. “Well—”
“You are right, I fear. I didn’t realize. But come, tell me how he answered Kai’s question.”
“Emmerich would only say that he has come to put the worlds right.”
“And what of Shae?”
Dorann’s forehead creased. “Believe me when I say that I beseeched him on her behalf, but he told me nothing about her.”
“Nothing?”
“Only that she gave herself willingly and remains by choice.”
Elcon frowned. “I wanted a better answer.”
“Emmerich instructs us to entrust her to Lof Yuel’s keeping.” Dorann’s tawny eyes darkened to amber. “That’s difficult to do, sight unseen.”
Elcon paced to the hearth and gripped the mantle. “Faith often clothes the unseen.” He turned back to Dorann. “Meanwhile, we must ensure a home awaits her. I mislike sending you back into the Vale of Shadows, but it seems I neglected to ask Emmerich to come to Torindan.”
“I will return. Would you have me also carry a message to Euryon, King of Westerland?”
“I’m not convinced he will help us. He never has before.”
“Begging your pardon, Lof Shraen, but it seems wrong to reject Emmerich’s advice because you don’t like it.”
A rap on the outer door spared Elcon from making a reply. Recognizing the voice in his outer chamber, Elcon flung open his meeting room door. “Craelin, we’re in here.”
The first guardian entered the meeting room and made a hasty bow. “Lof Shraen, I bear the sad news that Eathnor—”At sight of Dorann, he broke off and sent an uncertain glance to Elcon.
Dorann rose to his feet. “What’s happened to my brother?”
“Go on, Craelin. You can’t leave Dorann wondering.”
“He’s been taken by Freaer’s guards.”
“How did this happen?” Elcon snapped out the words as Dorann protested.
“Four of them surrounded him while he slept in the smallwood of Muer Syldra at the edge of Graelinn’s grasslands.” Lines of strain settled around Craelin’s eyes. “If Weilton hadn’t woken early and gone to water the wingabeasts among the weilo trees, he might have been taken, too. He tracked them, looking for a chance to free Eathnor, but with such an urgent message to deliver, he could spare little time.”
“What will they do with him?” Dorann asked.
Craelin shook his head. “I wish I knew.”
“Lof Shraen, I need to leave.” Dorann sketched a hurried bow.
“Wait.” Elcon halted the tracker with his voice. “Where are you going?”
Dorann looked back with his hand on the door latch. “To find my brother.”
“No.”
Even with Dorann’s back turned, Elcon could see his flinch. “I remind you that you’ve just given your word to carry my request to Emmerich.”
The tracker spun to face him. “Can’t someone else go in my stead?” His glance flicked to Kai.
“No one else knows the wild lands as you do.” Never before had Elcon so vehemently hated the demands of rulership, but Torindan’s needs had to come before ties of blood.
Pilaer rose above the drowned lands like some fierce beast of prey, ready to spring on an unsuspecting victim. Rand blinked and the image dispelled, leaving in its place a ruin haunted by shadows of nothing.
The guard, Lutz, rode ahead of him, leading the prisoner’s horse. Bound to the saddle, Eathnor stared straight ahead, displaying little emotion. They had left him strong enough to carry the false information he and Draeg would feed him.
Draeg rode ahead without turning his head, keeping his own company. Rand agreed with his half-brother on this point. He’d rather Draeg kept to himself.
Their horse’s hooves clattered across a rotting bridge just above the pla
ce where Weithen Faen met Maer Syldra. The southern sea was little more than a huge bay that separated lands in the north of Elderland from the wilder south. Rand squinted past the shifting waters to the curve of distant shore marking the edge of Triboan, stronghold of Elderland’s garns. The foul creatures were contained in the north by the sea, faen, and canyons and in the west by the efforts of the Kindren.
The early sun warmed Rand’s face as they followed the beaten road, little more than a path, cutting toward the canyonlands through the salt grass at the edge of the faen. Although narrow, the road’s holes had been patched, the loose stones removed, and the collapsed portions rebuilt. Even the worst of the undergrowth that had once clawed at those reckless enough to attempt passage had been cut back. The restoration had taken time and labor, but now the garrison and elite forces could cross the faen in swiftness.
They stopped for the night in a meadow where the waters of Weild Aenor tumbled from the mouth of the canyonlands and frothed into the sea. Rand rode to the bank and let Taelant lip water as he gazed at the mesmerizing flow, thankful Draeg had called a halt to their journey for the day. Tomorrow would be soon enough to cross deep water without a bridge.
“Stop lolling about and water my horse.” Draeg’s snarl roused Rand. “And after you finish, gather firewood. Mind you are quick or I’ll thrash you.”
Rand pulled on the reins but met resistance. With his own horse still thirsting, he could not comply with Draeg’s demand at once. He turned with a sinking feeling to say as much.
With bound hands, Eathnor led Draeg’s dark brown horse to the bank of the weild. Lutz trailed him much as he had Rand during his captivity at Pilaer. Eathnor looked up, and their gazes touched.
Draeg had found another scapegoat, at least for now. Rand had no doubt that his half-brother would turn on him with little provocation, though. His bonds didn’t show like Eathnor’s, but he was as much a prisoner.
23
TREASON AND LOYALTY
Wind snagged in the tree tops above Kai, setting the leaves sighing. Light and shadow shifted on the path, giving the illusion that he walked underwater. Spending time in the inner garden comforted him. How strange to think war would soon destroy it’s peace.
He reached the pool, startling a flock of wingens into flight. The birds bunched and separated, forming patterns in the air. Kai sat on the pool wall and carressed the strings of his lute. Music brought him joy but also sorrow. He played anyway, his fingers wandering the strings in a spontaneous melody that captured the mystery of a garden at shadowfall. As Maeven’s quaint term for twilight sprang to mind, he smiled. He pictured Maeven as she’d looked when arriving at Torindan to marry Timraen. She’d been a beautiful maiden with red-gold hair glinting in the sun. Pledging himself to her service when he became a guardian of Rivenn had been no hardship. After her death, he could have shaken off the yoke of servitude and stand in for his older brother as heir to Whellein. That would have pleased his parents. Despite the proof his father had shown him, he still could not think of Daeven as dead. He’d wanted to investigate his brother’s disappearance for himself. Bowing his knee to Elcon after Maiven’s death had cost him the chance, but he would not take back the choice.
His fingers stilled on the strings as his thoughts returned to Shae. If she ever returned, he would look for the freedom to devote his days to her happiness.
The sound of footsteps snapped his mind to attention.
Garbed in the jerken, leggings, and boots of a tracker, Dorann strode along the path from the keep. “Elcon remains firm in his decision to keep me from my brother, even in the face of my mother’s pleas.” Anger throbbed in his voice.
Kai frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“Yes, well. Everyone is sorry but no one does anything. Elcon forbids me to try, and for what? I’ll tell you what. To salve his conscience.”
Kai had never heard the tracker string together so many words at once. “Careful what you say about Elcon.”
“Of course.” Dorann’s gaze drilled into him. “I should have remembered you are his guardian.”
“I meant that you will regret hasty words spoken in temper. Come, now. Do you think I know nothing of what you feel?”
“What can you know of it? Your brother isn’t suffering or dead.”
“That’s where you are wrong.”
Dorann stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“My older brother probably suffered.”
“What happened to him?”
“Daeven yearned to see something of the world before settling down to the responsibilities of Whellein’s heir. The ship he boarded wrecked along Muer Maeread. His body was never recovered.”
Dorann’s brow creased. “The Coast of Bones earned its name, I’ve heard, from the wreckers, those savage souls who lure ships with false lights onto the rocks nearest shore in order to loot them.”
“That was the sad fate of the Kestrel, my brother’s ship.”
After a silence, Dorann cleared his throat. “Sorry for what I said.”
“Forgiven.” Kai gave a nod. “I didn’t mean to shame you, only to let you know I understand something of what you feel.”
“What am I to do?” Dorann seated himself beside Kai. “The Lof Shraen holds me to my promise to carry another message to Emmerich.”
“I thought Emmerich might return with you.”
“He does not come or go on demand.”
“I…see.” Elcon could exhibit his father’s impatience. “Well, you must carry out the Lof Shraen’s wishes, even when they counter your own.”
The cords in Dorann’s neck stood out. “Abandoning my brother goes against the grain. And for what? Emmerich may still refuse to come.”
“Still, you must try. If Torindan falls, your mother and father could suffer, and many others might die.”
“I need no reminder of that.” Dorann glanced away, but not before Kai glimpsed the sheen of tears in his eyes. The tracker gusted a sigh. “I will go to Emmerich.”
Kai hesitated to intrude into Dorann’s grief, but he had questions of his own. “What did Emmerich say about Shae?”
“Only that we must leave her fate to Lof Yuel.”
“I had hoped he knew of some way to help her.”
“As did I.” Dorann’s clipped words served as a reminder that he, too, loved Shae.
With an effort, Kai pushed away his disappointment. “We must trust Lof Yuel and obey duty. That’s all that remains to us.” If only it didn’t hurt so much.
Rand started awake, blinded by darkness, mute from shock. A fell creature probed the edges of his mind, wheedling, coaxing.Lof Yuel, save me.
Turning his mind to the quiet place within had always blocked Draeg’s soul touch. It hid him now from his father’s.
The cold dread that had weighted him slid away and his sight returned. He could make out patches of moonlight and the effervescent surface of the weild, The moonlight glinted in a nearby pair of eyes.
Rand’s heart thudded against his chest.
The eyes blinked and chains clanked. The dark shape of Eathnor turned away.
Rand let out his breath on a sigh. That he’d woken a tracker should come as no surprise. He settled down again, but the weild churned loud in the night, preventing a return to slumber. Starlight burned into his eyes, and the moon lit the clouds it rode like a ship in troubled seas.
Morning arrived none too soon, and he dragged out of his bedroll to rummage in his pack for food.
Draeg rolled from his bedding and went down to the weild. Lutz trailed a few steps in the same direction but did not follow.
Rand chewed a strip of jerked elk, noticing that the tracker watched him with hungry eyes. Had anyone fed the prisoner last night? On impulse, he held out a strip to the tracker.
Eathnor needed no other encouragement but clutched the jerky between his bound hands and sank his teeth into it at once.
Lutz started back, but after giving Rand the perplexed look
he’d adopted ever since their confrontation in the tower chamber, he made no comment about his act of mercy.
“Thank you.” Eathnor spoke with his mouth crammed full. His voice sounded rusty, as if he’d not used it in a long while.
Rand nodded in reply. He uncorked his elkskin water bag and offered it as well. Eathnor gulped the water down with such greed Rand wondered how long it had been since he’d had anything to drink. He hadn’t paid attention while they traveled. Knowing firsthand what a prisoner of Pilaer suffered, from now on he would look after this one. He searched for a scrap of comfort to offer the tracker. “You will be home soon.”
“Only if Elcon agrees to trade Benisch for me.” Eathnor’s light eyes gazed into the distance then snapped back to Rand. “If he refuses, what will become of me?”
“For what it’s worth, I doubt Elcon will refuse a chance for your return.” He and Draeg had persuaded Eathnor he would be exchanged for a distant cousin rotting in Torindan’s dungeon. The wretch had remained imprisoned throughout the span of Rand’s life, a thought that made him shudder after his experience in Pilaer’s dungeon. “A sad fate, to die in such a place with no one caring.”
“Ah, but Benisch put himself there by trying to murder Lof Raelein Aewen while she was with child.”
“He tried to kill Mara in her mother’s womb?”
“Freaer urged him to it, as Benisch told us. We got that much sense from him. He fancied a share in the rulership of Faeraven.”
Rand could scarcely fathom Benisch’s naivety to believe his father would have allowed him a share of power.
Eathnor’s eyes pierced his. “You speak of Mara as someone you know.”
The time had arrived for truth. He leaned toward the tracker. “Listen well. Lutz is out of earshot but only for so long, and there’s little time before Draeg returns. Trading you for Benisch is a ruse. The battle plans Draeg and I will let you overhear are false. Don’t believe them.Forces allied to Freaer will not approach solely from the north. We will allow you to escape and carry the lies we feed you to Elcon. ”
Eathnor’s eyes narrowed. “Why tell me this?”
“Stop staring at me like that or you’ll give us away.” Rand twisted the toe of his boot into the dirt at his feet, trying to look as if engaged in idle chatter. “Pilaer’s forces will skirt the desert to reach Torindan, with a flank attack striking from the south and west.”
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