Crown of Crystal Flame

by C. L. Wilson

  “Of course.” Sheyl signaled, and two of the village women collected the children and carried them across the room to Ellysetta.

  “Bannon! Cerlissa! Oh, I’m so happy to see you both!” The baby Cerlissa chewed her fingers and laughed in delight. Bannon, however, regarded Ellysetta with no hint of recognition in his solemn blue eyes. But of course, she looked like a stranger to him. He’d only known Ellie, the woodcarver’s daughter, never Ellysetta, the Fey shei’dalin.

  She spun a quick Spirit weave, transforming in an instant to the plain mortal Ellie Baristani she’d been when they’d known her. “It’s me, dearling,” she told him. “It’s Auntie Ellie.” She knelt before him and held out her arms. “Auntie Ellie, Bannon. Don’t you remember?”

  When he still looked confused, she reached into the pocket of her apron where she’d always kept a little treat for him when she went to see Selianne. She pretended to gasp in surprise, “Oh! What do I have here in my pocket?” Another quick weave spun from her fingertips, and she pulled her hand out to brandish a tiny, painted wooden horse just like the ones she used to coax her father into carving for Bannon.

  The little horse and the once-familiar custom of Auntie Ellie’s magical pocket of treasures sparked a memory. A tiny smile curved the boy’s lips, revealing a mouthful of pearly baby teeth. He reached for the horse and fell into her arms to give her a kiss, and say, “Thank you, Auntie Ellie,” as he had so many times before.

  Her arms closed around him, holding him tight, and she squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that welled up at the sound of his sweet voice. “Oh, Bannon.” She cupped the back of his head in one palm and stroked her fingers through his baby-fine hair. Holding him again was almost like having Selianne back. She didn’t want to let him go, and even when she set him down so she could take Cerlissa in her arms, she kept stroking Bannon’s back and hair.

  She wanted to keep them with her. She wanted to take them with her now. But they’d been taken in by a couple who’d lost their own child… and she and Rain were headed back to war—with no guarantee that either of them would survive it.

  No matter how much she ached to keep Selianne’s children with her forever, this was where they belonged. So she held them and smiled her brightest, despite the threat of burning tears, trying to squeeze months of love into a handful of chimes.

  Watching her, Rain’s heart swelled with a mix of love and sorrow. She would be an exceptional mother. Even in the guise of her mortal self, the joyous warmth of his shei’tani’s deep capacity for love shone bright as a star. She deserved children—far more of them than even shei’tanitsa matepairs ever had. And once she forged the last thread of their bond to complete their shei’tanitsa union, he would do everything in his power to see that Amarynth bloomed eternally in her footsteps.

  “Sheyl,” he murmured, as his shei’tani cuddled her friend’s children. “You said you had a favor to ask of us.”

  “I’m sure you’ve already guessed, Tairen Soul.” Sheyl clasped her hand at her waist. “The world grows more dangerous every day. War has begun, and it will only get worse. The dahl’reisen will fight to defend the Fading Lands as they have these many past centuries, and our village will be left vulnerable. Will you grant safe harbor to our women and children while our men fight the Eld?”

  “Aiyah.” There was no hesitation, no other possible response. “You cannot weave Azrahn within our borders, of course. And the Mists will not permit the dahl’reisen to enter, but your women and children—even your men who are not dahl’reisen—will be welcomed with joy.”

  “And will you give me your Fey oath on that—and vow that we will all be free to leave again—even the children?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then I have one last secret to show you.”

  Sheyl led the way to the back of the nursery and opened a door to a smaller adjoining room. Several young children were gathered round a short table, squishing lumps of clay into shapes with their small fingers.

  “Muri,” Sheyl called. “Come here, kitling. There are some people I want you to meet.”

  “Sheyl! Sheyl!” One of the children, a chubby toddler with bright blue eyes and masses of dark ringlets ran forward, her little arms extended.

  A smile softened Sheyl’s face, and she knelt to scoop up the child. “Hello, dearling.”

  “Look what Muri made.” The girl held up a piece of dough shaped in a lumpy, four-legged mass. “Horsie!”

  “That’s lovely, kitling. Your mother will be so proud of you.” Still holding the child, Sheyl turned to Ellysetta and Rain. “This is Murialisa.”

  “Oooh.” The child stared at Ellysetta. “Bright, pretty lady.”

  “Yes, she is very bright, isn’t she, kitling.”

  Rain stared at the little girl in shock. There was no mistaking the Fey glow in the child’s eyes and the slender Fey delicacy just revealing itself in her childish features. “The father… cannot be dahl’reisen?” Girl children were not born outside the bonds of shei’tanitsa. And yet he was staring at a child, a girl, in whose veins ran not some mild form of magic but the shining light of strong Fey blood.

  “No,” Sheyl confirmed. “Muri’s father was born in this village, but his father before him was dahl’reisen.” She kissed Murialisa’s round cheek and set her down. “Go back to your play, kitling.” When the child was once again industriously molding clay dough into animal shapes, Sheyl murmured quietly, “Murialisa’s grandfather was killed by the Mages seventy years ago. Her father truemated eight years ago with a village woman from the borders of Lord Barrial’s lands.”

  Rain grasped Ellysetta’s hand. “Truemated? The son of a dahl’reisen truemated with a Celierian?”

  “She is not Celierian. Or rather, not as you mean it. She is not simply a hearth witch, infected by the magic of these lands. Powerful immortal blood runs in her veins. Fey, definitely, probably Elvish as well. She is very gifted, just like her shei’tan. Murialisa is their second child. They also have a seven-year-old son.”

  “A truemate lives in this village? Amongst the dahl’reisen?”

  “She is a strong empath, but she has a natural ability to shield herself, just as the Feyreisa seems to have. She and her mate live at the edge of the village, where she feels the pain of the dahl’reisen the least. Murialisa has an even stronger shielding ability. The dahl’reisen are careful never to touch her, but she can be around them without any apparent difficulty.”

  “No wonder you protect your secret so vigilantly,” Rain murmured, unable to tear his eyes from the small, luminescent girl who had returned to her play. “This child is a gift beyond price.” He swallowed thickly and met Sheyl’s eyes. “I will tell the warriors at the Garreval to expect you.”

  Celieria ~ Dahl’reisen Village

  Mortals, half-bloods, and dahl’reisen stood silent as Sheyl guided Rain Tairen Soul and his blindfolded mate down the last of the hanging steps to the tended walkways and gardens on the forest floor. Farel and a small army of dahl’reisen clad in full war steel had gathered beneath the trees.

  As Rain looked around the village in the soft gleam of morning’s light, he saw what he’d been too weary and dazed by pain to notice last night—Amarynth, blooming in profusion along the walkways of the dahl’reisen village. Even knowing about the little Fey girl Murialisa born to truemated parents, the sight of the undying flower still struck a deep and profound chord in his soul.

  Life bloomed with defiant joy here in the shadow of lost souls.

  Farel broke away from his companions to approach the Fey, halting half a tairen length from Ellysetta. A visible glow of Spirit and Azrahn surrounded him and the other dahl’reisen.

  “We have shielded ourselves to protect the Feyreisa from our pain,” he told Rain. “I apologize that we cannot make the shields stronger, but too much Azrahn will reveal our location to the Eld.”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” Ellysetta said. «Oh, Rain, they’ve shielded themselves and still there is so mu
ch pain. How can they bear it without going mad?»

  «Most do not, shei’tani. It is one of the reasons they must be banished from the Fading Lands. No matter what we’ve seen here today, do not think these men are like the rasa. They walk the Shadowed Path, and there is very little that keeps them from plunging into the abyss. As your mate, I should have sworn honor vengeance against them just for standing in your presence, but I accepted their help instead. If I were not already cast out, the Massan would be within their rights to banish me just for that.»

  «But they aren’t evil yet,» Ellysetta protested. «You know they aren’t. And we owe them our lives.»

  «I know.» His gaze strayed again to the starry white blooms. Nothing about these dahl’reisen fit what he’d been raised to believe about them. And nothing made sense.

  The warriors of the Fading Lands had clung to their honor with fierce devotion, yet their bonded mates were barren. These dahl’reisen wore the marks of their dishonor on their faces and spun the forbidden magic without apology… yet their unbonded mates bore Fey children capable of truemating, and Amarynth bloomed in their village in abundance.

  Everything about this village defied the most ancient and deeply held Fey beliefs and turned the most unshakable pillars of their civilization completely on their heads. He didn’t know what to think. It was as if the whole Fey world was going just as mad as he was.

  “Sheyl assures me you and your mate are healed and rested well enough to travel. My men and I will escort you out of the forest.”

  The sound of Farel’s voice snapped Rain back to attention. “I appreciate your offer,” he answered, “but I am healed enough to Change.”

  “That would not be wise. Nothing flies over the Verlaine. The top of every tree is set with poison darts and a motionsensing spell that targets anything above it. The allies set up the defense during the Wars to keep the Eld from spying, and we improved upon it. You wouldn’t get a half man length above the canopy before you’d be filled with enough lyrant venom to bring down the entire Fey’Bahren pride.” Farel’s stony expression softened just slightly. “You were headed for Orest. Gaelen told me to bring you to him at the northwest corner of the Verlaine, and so I shall.”

  Rain glanced back at Ellysetta. «lt shames me to ask it of you, shei’tani, but can you bear their presence for another day?»

  She didn’t hesitate. «Of course.»

  «I’m not sure how well they can hold their shields all that time,» he warned.

  She lifted her chin. «I’ll survive whatever I must.»

  He turned back to Farel. “Agreed. But your men must keep their distance. I mean no insult, but I don’t want them within two tairen lengths of the Feyreisa.”

  Farel nodded. “Kabei. Sheyl will bring your steel.” He started to turn away, then stopped to add in a low voice, “And thank you, Rainier vel’En Daris, for allowing us to serve the Fading Lands with honor once again.” He held Rain’s gaze steadily. “I know accepting our aid goes against everything you were ever taught. Truthfully, were I you, I’m not sure I could have done it. But I give you my oath, sworn on the soul of the mother I loved, that we will see you and your mate safely out of the Verlaine and that we will do you no harm.” He did not wait for acknowledgment, but pivoted on his heel and strode away, straight and proud as any Fey.

  Rain thought of Gaelen, who had come to Celieria fully expecting to be slain for approaching his sister but nonetheless determined to warn the Fey of the Eld army massing near the Fading Lands and protect his sister from the growing threat of Eld. Dahl’reisen, the soul lost, were supposed to be beyond Fey honor, men well on the path to evil, but he was having trouble reconciling that image with what he had seen of these dahl’reisen who called themselves the Brotherhood of Shadows.

  Sheyl and another woman brought Rain’s and Ellysetta’s weapons, and as Rain donned his steel, the women helped Ellysetta into hers.

  Still blindfolded, Ellysetta put a hand over one of the Tairen’s Eye crystals set in her hip belt and summoned a weave of Earth to detach the crystal and reset it in a pendant hanging from a gold chain. “It is an ancient custom of the Fey to leave behind a gift in thanks for kindness rendered. I would like you to have this, Sheyl, as a token of my thanks.”

  “Nei,” Sheyl demurred. “I know a Soul Quest crystal when I see one, and I know how precious they are. I cannot accept such a gift. It is too much.”

  “I want you to have it. The crystal belonged to a warrior named Dajan vel Rhiadi, who sacrificed his life trying to save me from a demon sent by the Eld. Please, take it. May Dajan’s sorreisu’kiyr offer you the same protection its owner once offered me.”

  Sheyl looked to Rain for help. “I am the unbonded mate of a dahl’reisen. Such a gift is not proper.”

  “You are the woman who healed us after your mate saved our lives,” Rain corrected. “Dajan died in Ellysetta’s service. His sorreisu’kiyr is hers to bestow. It is a fitting gift for the service you and the Brotherhood of Shadows have done us.”

  Sheyl glanced uncertainly at Farel, who looked equally as perplexed. Finally, she took the pendant from Ellysetta’s outstretched hands and placed it around her neck. The crystal settled between her breasts, close to her heart. “Thank you. You do me a great honor.”

  Ellysetta held out her hands to embrace the other woman. “Blessings and peace upon you, Sheyl. May the Light always shine upon your path and keep you from harm. Tell Bess I look forward to seeing her again soon, and would you please give this to Bannon and Cerlissa’s adoptive parents for me?” She spun Earth to form a small glass globe into which she wove her fondest memories of Selianne. “When they feel the time is right, I’d like Bannon and Cerlissa to have this… so they won’t forget their mother or how much she loved them.”

  “Of course.” Sheyl took the globe.

  “We should go,” Farel interrupted. “We have a hard day’s travel ahead of us, and no time to tarry if we’re to meet Gaelen at the rendezvous point on schedule.”

  Rain waved an arm. “Lead the way.”

  Farel’s gaze flicked to the gathered dahl’reisen. A dozen squads of six warriors each immediately broke into a run and jogged through the thicket tunnel. “Our spotters,” he said. “They will travel ahead of us to make sure the way is clear. Come. Your mate can lose her blindfold once we’re a few miles away from the village.” He turned and jogged towards the tunnel himself, leaving Rain and Ellysetta to follow.

  Rain took Ellysetta’s hand and wove Spirit to guide her steps. The remaining dahl’reisen followed after them. Stoic women stood beside their children, eyes dry and faces pale as they watched their dahl’reisen loved ones depart.

  When the warriors were gone, Sheyl turned to the remaining villagers. “The Tairen Soul has offered us shelter in the Fading Lands until this war is over. We leave in three bells. Hurry! And pack only what you can carry without hardship. It’s a long walk to the Garreval.”

  The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

  “Why do you have to go, Kieran? We just got here.” Lillis pouted at Kieran, who had joined her for a late breakfast on the most beautiful terrace she’d ever seen to tell her that he and Kiel were leaving and that she and Lorelle should be very good and stay out of trouble while they were gone. Her excitement over being in the magical city of the Fey was completely gone now. All she could think was that Kieran was going away again—and she’d only just got him back!

  “Ellysetta and Rain need all the help they can get, so Kiel and I are going to go help them. You want us to help them, right?”

  She scowled at the breakfast plate filled with delicious fruits and delicate pastries that almost tasted better than comfits. Her shoe scuffed on the terrace stone beneath her chair. “Yes,” she admitted.

  “That’s why we have to go, ajiana. I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted. But I am a warrior of the Fey, and Rain is my king, and we have to stop the bad people from hurting others the way they hurt the people of Teleon.”

  Sh
e picked up a small, slender-tined fork and pushed a pile of chilled berries around on her plate. “But I’ll be afraid when you’re gone.” She jabbed her fork into a plump strawberry.

  The admission pierced Kieran’s heart as surely as the sharp tines of her fork skewered the berry. He leaned over to press a kiss on the top of her head and closed his eyes against a sting of tears. She’d told him about her time in the Mists, how he hadn’t been there in the “village” and how worried she’d been that something had happened to him. And then she’d woken, broken and in pain, and terrified. And he hadn’t been there again.

  And now he was leaving her.

  He pulled up a chair and sat beside her, leaning over to take her hand. “Lillis… ajiana… this is the safest place in the world for you to be right now. If it weren’t, I promise I wouldn’t leave you for any reason.”

  Lillis stuck the berry in her mouth and chewed, refusing to look at him.

  He sighed and glanced over towards the far corner of the terrace, where Kiel was receiving an equally chilly response from Lorelle. «Time to go, kem’jeto,» he spun on a private weave.

  Pushing away from the table, Kieran stood and walked over to the open archway that led out to the terrace. Sol Baristani was standing by the marble column, smoking his pipe and talking to Kieran’s parents while the children ate breakfast.

  “They’re not happy with us,” Kieran admitted. “I wish we could stay—at least until they got settled in—but Orest is under siege, and the allies are outnumbered.”

  “They’ll be all right once their mad wears off,” Sol assured him. “You two go do what you must. And take care of yourselves.”

  Kieran nodded. “Be well, Master Baristani. Mela. Gepa” He hugged his parents. His mother was no more pleased than Lillis to be losing her son again so soon, but she understood.

  He was a warrior of the Fey. His place was with his king, defending the Fading Lands from harm.

  At least he and Kiel wouldn’t be going alone. After Kieran’s altercation with the Massan, Loris v’En Mahr, the Water master, had followed Eimar’s example and resigned his seat, declaring his intention to travel with Kieran and Kiel to Orest in support of Rain and the allies. He’d put out the word announcing his decision and inviting all who shared his concerns to join them. Three thousand more Fey and more than forty shei’dalins had done so.