Crown of Crystal Flame

by C. L. Wilson

  “I do know,” Illona corrected in a sharp voice. “I am Elfkind, and I have watched, just as my brother has done. I know exactly what she has suffered and for how long. But the Dark cannot claim what Light does not surrender.”

  “She has surrendered nothing. She has fought more bravely than most, suffered torments few can even imagine, and still her heart is kind, her soul bright and shining.” Rain bent his head and pressed his lips against Ellysetta’s hair. “We are together, Ellysetta. We are unharmed. No matter what happened today, we are still together. We still hold to the Light, and we always will.”

  “Will we?” Ellysetta’s hand curled around his wrist. “I Marked the High Mage.”

  His mouth went dry. “You what?”

  “After he Marked me, I Marked him back. It’s a bit like forging a truemate bond, except with none of the love.” She looked up at him, and there was such weary acceptance in her eyes, such increasing despair, it made him want to weep.

  “Apparently, I’m not just a shei’dalin and a Tairen Soul, I’m also a Mage.”

  Rain moistened his lips and looked up at the Elf queen. “Is she? A Mage?” He couldn’t believe he was practically begging an Elf for answers, but when it came to helping and protecting Ellysetta, he was discovering there wasn’t a whole lot he wouldn’t do.

  “If she chooses to be, anio. She has the power to become one. But just because you can wield magic like a Mage, Ellysetta, that doesn’t mean you must.” The Elf queen sat back on her heels. “That is the other reason I came to you—to give you a truth my brother was unwilling to share. He has tried for many years to deny it, but the fact is that no one—not even Galad, with all his skill and power—can See with certainty the outcome of your Song. He cannot because you are a force rarely born to a world, something we Elves call leinah thaniel, the Song that sings all Songs, the Mirror that shows all Mirrors, the Change that changes everything.”

  “What does that mean?” Rain was so tired of Elvish mysticism. He just wanted answers, plain and simple.

  “It means your mate holds within herself a divine spark, the power to do the unexpected, to change her Song and the Songs of others, just as she has already done many times.” The Elf turned her gaze upon Ellysetta. “It means there is no ‘meant to be’ for you. There is only ‘choose to be.’ So choose wisely, Ellysetta Erimea. Much depends on it.”

  Illona Brighthand stood. “You know, in your heart, what is right. You proved that to me earlier today when you would not force the spirits of your lu’tan to your service. Trust in yourself—and know that the right path is rarely the easiest.” She looked west and her eyes took on a deep, mysterious shimmer. “You both should go. The Fey need you in Dharsa.”

  “What about Orest?” Rain asked.

  “The Eld are retreating. Your mate killed most of the revenants and my brother’s Elves have arrived with the Danae. We will help your friends here to end this battle. Dharsa is where you are now needed most.”

  The Fading Lands ~ Dharsa

  11th day of Seledos

  Spurred by Illona, Rain and Ellysetta flew as fast as wings and magic could carry them. With the Mists down, they soared, unimpeded, over the Rhakis mountains, flying over the pass of Revan Oreth and giving the remaining revenants there a good scorching before continuing onward across the eastern desert and the Plains of Corunn.

  They arrived with the dawn at the Shining City of the Fey. But instead of the raging battle they were expecting, they found the aftermath of one.

  The jewel of the Fading Lands lay in ruins. Dharsa’s buildings were shattered and smoking, their pristine white stones charred black. Scorched, leafless orchards dotted burned hillsides. Instead of jasmine and honeyblossom, the city smelled of smoke and death.

  As they flew towards the palace, they could see Fey dragging the bodies of the dead invaders into a pile while six tairen took turns flaming the corpses to harmless ash. Elsewhere, other Fey carried their fallen brothers and sisters to the gardens, where quintets had gathered to send the bodies back to the elements.

  “I don’t understand,” Ellysetta said as she and Rain landed in the tairen’s courtyard near the Hall of Tairen and he Changed back into Fey form. “I thought the Elf queen said we were needed here.”

  “You are needed here.” Marissya and Dax stepped into the courtyard. Sol Baristani and, to Ellysetta’s surprise, the Elf Fanor Farsight followed close on their heels. “The Fading Lands will always need its Tairen Souls. And with the Mists down, we need you now more than ever.”

  “Papa.” Bypassing the others, Ellysetta headed straight for her father and melted in his arms. She breathed the beloved aroma of his pipe smoke and was instantly transported back to the days of her childhood, when she lived surrounded by her family and secure in the warmth of her parents’ love. Tears gathered and she let them fall. “We will get them back, Papa. I promise you. Rain and I will find a way.”

  “I know you will.” His hands patted her back. “For now, I’m just glad to see you safe, Ellie-girl.” He pulled back and smiled through his own teary eyes.

  With an arm around her father’s waist, Ellysetta turned to watch Rain greet Fanor Farsight, the Deep Woods Elf.

  “Farsight. I did not expect to see you here after Hawks-heart said he could not help us.”

  One of Fanor’s brows arched slightly. “Lord Galad said he could not join your battle against the High Mage. He never said he would not aid the Fey in Dharsa.”

  “They arrived in time to help the tairen rout the Mages,” Dax said. “Unfortunately, the city had already been breached. Dahl’reisen, Black Guard, and a host of Mages got through. We lost hundreds, but it would have been thousands without the warriors who stayed behind as Tenn commanded. They kept the Eld at bay until the tairen and Elves arrived. Nurian and Yulan were killed in the fighting, and their mates passed into the Veil with them. Tenn nearly perished as well, but Marissya and Venarra managed to keep him alive. He’s in the Hall of Truth and Healing now, helping his mate look after the wounded.”

  “He knew we were coming?” Rain asked.

  “Aiyah.”

  “And he did not call for armed Fey to defend the Fading Lands against its dahl’reisen king?”

  “You are dahl’reisen no longer. Sybharukai spoke to him herself. She told him the Fey’Bahren pride had chosen the next leader of the Fading Lands and that it was not him. She also told him that his brother, Johr Feyreisen, had already singled you out to be trained for leadership so that you might one day ascend the throne.”

  “I never knew that.” Rain shook his head in wonder. “So that convinced him? Learning that his brother had been considering me for the throne?”

  Dax snorted. “I think the kicker was when Sybharukai told him that the tairen would drive from the Fading Lands any people who reviled or threatened you or Ellysetta.”

  His brows shot up. “She said that?”

  “Ai-yah,” Dax confirmed with grinning emphasis. “You should have seen Tenn’s face when she bared her fangs and growled, ‘Tairen defend the pride.’ I swear, he near wet himself.”

  “Dax,” Marissya chided, “you should not take such delight in that. Tenn has served this kingdom well for centuries.”

  “I agree that he did—right up until he decided to banish its king and queen, at which time, in my opinion, he earned himself a hard beating with a dull blade. Sybharukai let him off easy.”

  “I must thank her for coming to our defense,” Rain said. “But it is time to repair the damage this war has wrought—both on the city and among ourselves. There is much to be mended, on all sides.”

  They spent all day doing just that, mending buildings and mending bridges with the Fey. Their first stop was the Hall of Truth and Healing, where Rain and Ellysetta met with Tenn and Venarra. The meeting was stiff and formal, but it passed without bloodshed or name calling. For a first step, that was enough.

  They worked throughout the day, but with every wall they reconstructed, every weeping F
ey they consoled, every stiff, cold-eyed warrior whose suspicions they allayed, Ellysetta realized that simply rescuing her sisters and parents from Eld wasn’t going to be enough. This Mage had to be stopped, and according to the Elves, she was the only one who could. Even if it cost her life.

  Perhaps that was the real reason Illona Brighthand had sent them here. Not because Dharsa needed them, but because she needed Dharsa and the reminder that even though the war was over, her own battle was not yet done. Because Ellysetta needed a day without war to remember why it was necessary… and what she was fighting for.

  “You said that when we defeated the Army of Darkness, we would go to Eld to save my parents,” Ellysetta reminded Rain as the afternoon drew to a close and the sun began to set. “That time has come. I don’t want my sisters, or my parents, to spend one more night than necessary in Eld hands. And I’m going with you.”

  “Shei’tani.… You know I would give you the stars from the heavens if you asked it of me, but this…” Shadows turned lavender eyes to brooding violet. “Our bond is not complete. You bear five Mage Marks.”

  “If we don’t find a way to defeat him, I may someday bear six.” She framed his face in her hands. “I have to do this, Rain. It’s what I was born for.” The chime she said the words aloud, she knew they were true. “We are Tairen Souls, shei’tan, you and I both. We are Defenders not just of the Fey but of the Light, including the Light that shines in good people everywhere—in my sisters and my parents, in Celierians… in the poor people of Eld who never had a choice for any life but servitude and Darkness. This High Mage must be stopped. Not just defeated and left in peace to grow strong again, but vanquished. That is our purpose. That is why we were born.”

  “We should consult Shei’Kess. Perhaps it will—“

  “Nei.” She shook her head and gave a sad smile. “The Eye can show us nothing we don’t already know. It’s what we feel here—” she tapped first her chest, then his, “—that matters. You heard the Elf queen. I am leinah thaniel. There are no fates I cannot change, but this fate is one I cannot change without you. You are my strength, Rain. You are the courage I’ve always lacked.”

  He gave a choked laugh, and tears glittered in his eyes. “If I am your courage, then why does this idea of yours leave me so frightened?”

  Her heart contracted, and she smiled at him, softly, through brimming eyes. “Because it is frightening, kem’san. Because it’s dangerous, risky, the odds so stacked against us it’s unlikely anyone could do this thing and live. And that’s why a Tairen Soul was born to do it—why we were born to do this.” She pressed her lips to his. “When a feyreisen finds his wings, he knows he was born to die protecting others. That is why we must go.”

  He drew her closer, nestling her in his arms and leaning his head against hers. “When did you get so wise, Ellysetta kem’reisa?”

  Celieria ~ Orest

  12th day of Seledos

  Rain and Ellysetta spent half the night in Dharsa, the other half in Fey’Bahren with the pride and the kitlings, who had grown a great deal in the last two months. In the morning, they flew back to Orest to meet with the lu’tan and devise a plan to rescue Ellysetta’s family and kill the High Mage of Eld.

  Farel’s men had captured a wounded Mage and a handful of Eld soldiers, all of whom they held in a bubble of thirty-six fold weaves. A little Truthspeaking and the threat of being eaten alive by a tairen had encouraged the soldiers to talk. They told their captors about Vadim Maur’s main fortress where all magic-gifted prisoners were taken after their capture, and about how each Boura—each underground fortress of the Eld—contained a gateway to the Well of Souls that was kept open all the time.

  The plan was to have one of the dahl’reisen open a portal and bring one of the Eld soldiers along to lead the Fey through the Well to wherever Ellysetta’s parents and sisters were being held. They would invade the Boura using the dahl’reisen invisibility weaves, free all the prisoners, and use Ellysetta’s connection to the High Mage to locate and kill him while they were there.

  The “plan” had holes large enough to fly a tairen through—nei, an entire pride of tairen—but Rain couldn’t come up with anything better. So with a bit of instruction from the captured Mage, Farel successfully opened the portal to the Well of Souls. And into the Well, they went: Rain, Ellysetta, her quintet, a hundred lu’tan, and the Elden soldier as their guide.

  The inside of the Well was an unpleasant place, dark and cold, full of whispers and distant shrieks and swirling pools of shadowy mist that the Eld advised them to avoid if they valued their lives. How he knew where to go, Ellysetta didn’t know, but later, it would occur to her that was a question she should have asked and gotten answered.

  Because when they reached the gateway into Boura Fell, which appeared as a glowing red circle within the Well, their arrival did not come as the surprise they had intended. No sooner had they donned their invisibility weaves and slipped through the gateway into a large room, than the gateway closed behind them. A barrage of tiny darts and a burst of pale blue gas filled the air.

  Ellysetta’s vision blurred, and the world tilted crazily. She and all the Fey fell, unconscious, to the stone floor.

  Eld ~ Boura Fell

  Ellysetta woke to the sickly sweet smell of rotting fruit and the taste of misery in her mouth. Her bones ached. Her flesh throbbed.

  She could hear the moans of tortured creatures, feel the despair sapping her soul. This was a place without hope, without Light, and she knew she’d fallen into one of the Seven Hells.

  Her muscles clenched, shuddering as the sting of a thousand icy knives stabbed into her soul. She swallowed, then coughed.

  Sel’dor cloaked her in bitter, burning pain. A collar of enslavement about her neck, manacles about her wrists and ankles.

  Her lashes fluttered as she forced her eyes open. Expecting darkness, she was surprised to find herself in the center of a well-appointed room. Beautifully furnished—deceptively so, because beneath the silken surface, she could feel the acid burn of sel’dor.

  She turned her head, her gaze moving instinctively towards the corner of the room where a shrouded figure stood in the shadows. As the figure approached her, the formless shroud became rich purple Mage robes draped around a tall frame.

  The Mage threw back his cowl, and Ellysetta frowned in confusion at the stranger standing by her bedside. She had expected the High Mage, the architect of her nightmares, with his cloud of white hair framing a face that seemed both ancient and ageless. But this Mage was young and fit and… handsome. That seemed so wrong. Evil shouldn’t wear a pleasing face.

  Only the cold, silver eyes seemed familiar. That and the cruelty curled at the corner of his mouth.

  Then he spoke, and though the sound of the voice was as unfamiliar as his face, the smug, conscienceless evil that resonated in every word was all too familiar. Whatever face he wore, whatever voice he used, this was the High Mage of Eld, the dark evil presence that had pursued and tormented her all her life.

  “Welcome, my dear, to Boura Fell.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “You’ve led me quite a chase for many years, but all that is at an end. You shall not escape me again.” The Mage’s expression was cool, his tone almost pleasant, but there was no mistaking the Darkness that shadowed his every word.

  Ellysetta sat up with effort. The weight of her sel’dor bindings was so heavy she could barely move. She lifted her hands to the collar and brushed the backs of her fingers against the dozens of burning rings that pierced the lobes of her ears. Another half dozen armbands, lined with hundreds of sharp teeth, circled both arms with ropes of pain, and around her ankles, heavy manacles clamped tight, their sharp spikes driving into her bones.

  The Mage watched her with cold eyes. “I don’t usually take such precautions with my female guests, but experience has taught me not to underestimate you.”

  She licked her dry lips. “I know what you want. You will not have it. I’ll die
before I surrender my soul to you.”

  The edge of his mouth lifted in a sneer. “Such brave words. The Fey are always brave at first. But even the greatest among them has a weakness, and you, my dear, have many.” He snapped his fingers, and two burly guards stepped forward. They hauled her unceremoniously up, releasing her manacles from the chains that had bound her to the bed and setting her on her feet.

  «Rain!» She tried to call him on their private path, but her body suddenly convulsed in agony. A scream ripped from her throat, and she dropped to the ground. She lay there, shuddering and gasping for breath as she waited for the pain to recede.

  “They all try that, too,” the Mage informed her. “I don’t advise it. I’ve bound you in more sel’dor than any other guest of mine has ever borne.”

  When the worst of the pain had passed, and she could move again, Ellysetta lifted her head and glared at him. “What have you done with Rain?” He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead. She’d know if he were—wouldn’t she?

  “Oh, he’s here, never fear. And you shall see him, I promise. In fact, I’m rather looking forward to it. But first things first.” He glanced at the guards and all pretense of civility—gloating or otherwise—dropped away. Silver eyes glittered with cold command. “Bring her.”

  The guards hauled Ellysetta to her feet by her chains and shoved her after the High Mage of Eld.

  When the news first reached the umagi dens about the Fey captured trying to invade Boura Fell, a communal groan went up. The skrants knew what new prisoners meant: more mouths to feed, more bodies to dispose of, more torture chambers to scrub clean of blood, vomit, and the various other by-products of the Mage’s favorite pastime.

  Only recently released from the punishment detail she’d earned for missing two whole work shifts while stealing Lord Death’s weapons and crystal, Melliandra had a different reaction: a gut-churning mix of excitement and terror.

  Her time had come.