Autumn Moon

by Jan Delima

  “Home,” she confirmed. “Something has grown during your sleep, and I need answers that only my brethren can provide.”

  “Why does that sound ominous?” And why did Elen suspect she had something to do with it?

  Ms. Hafwen’s hesitation didn’t calm her apprehension. “Pendaran’s weapon was encased with relics of a once-mighty oak tree,” she explained. “It was known in this world as the Druids’ Great Oak. For the Fae, it was a Tree of Hope, and our most trusted gateway, before Ceridwen destroyed it.”

  “I know the history of Cadarn,” Elen said. “And Nerth, its twin.” The latter weapon was now buried with its dead owner, or should be, if Math’s burial had followed the tradition of their kind.

  The pixie remained silent for a moment, as if contemplating how much to disclose. “I felt its rebirth when you fought Pendaran. The Great Oak grows again. Soon it may be strong enough for travel.”

  “I grew a second gateway?” Elen felt a sudden urge to sit down. “Is that bad?” What if Ceridwen had wanted it to stay destroyed? Or worse, what if it grew into something vile? “It’s in Pendaran’s territory.” That couldn’t be good.

  A breath of impatience fell from her tutor’s mouth. “Your humility is a rare thing indeed, especially among your kind, but there is a place for confidence as well. You have given us a gift. All of Faery will be pleased. But this will turn Pendaran’s interest into an obsession. The gateways offer power in its purest form, and untainted immortality; it will drive his madness to control you. While he’s still weakened, I’m returning home to discuss plans for your safety.”

  Honored but justly alarmed, Elen forced her emotions aside for the purpose she’d been called for. “Will you at least stay while I see to Mae?”

  “I have full faith that you will do what needs to be done without my assistance. But do not listen to any of that woman’s teachings while I’m away. We have made great strides in your learning, and I would hate to have our hard work foiled.”

  The pixie shifted into her animal form after that final warning, flitting over the river as a winter wren. A farewell song pierced the air as she disappeared into the forest beyond, and Elen couldn’t help but feel melancholy over her departure.

  Gareth, Avon’s porter, waited for them at the entrance of the bridge. A stoic man with dark hair. The patch he once wore no longer necessary now that he was allowed to shift. Like many of Avon’s residents, he’d suffered tortures under his former Guardian’s leadership and had been forced to bare his scars like a badge of dishonor. Thanks to Rosa and Luc, those times were in the past.

  “Cormack,” Gareth greeted with a hearty pat on the back, still stern but not entirely humorless as he once was. Not just the island was healing, although hearts took longer than earth. “Good to see you, but I wish it was under better circumstances. Porter,” he said next, “I have a list of questions for you when there’s time.” Then he held out his arm to Elen, a courteous gesture to escort her over the bridge. “And you, Elen, are always welcome.”

  Gareth had told her once that the people in Avon had lived too long under Guardian rule to fear her. Now that they knew her power, she’d wondered if they would, but his offered arm was a welcomed sign.

  Cormack brushed the man away with a scowl, taking her hand in his, and received a chuckle from Gareth in return.

  “I’m going to be losing money soon, I think,” Gareth said as they crossed the bridge. “Your former rooms have been prepared, but I will show you to Mae first.”

  “How bad is she?” Elen asked, ignoring his reference to the wager.

  Turning serious, he shared, “The worst I’ve seen.”

  The walk wasn’t long, but Elen increased her strides. Castell Avon soon came into view, with its medieval turrets and outer grounds now covered in lawn instead of dust. Guards nodded as they passed through the bailey, greeting Cormack mostly. He’d made friends during his stay here, and they were happy to see him return.

  Luc and Rosa waited inside the entry hall. With ink-black hair and silver eyes, her brother resembled their father. He looked well, Elen noted as he scooped her into his usual gregarious hug.

  “Are you okay?” Luc asked, no doubt having been fully informed of both Merin and Pendaran’s visit.

  “I am,” she assured him, turning to Rosa next. Luc’s new wife wore a large sweater over loose pants, her makeshift garb while under Guardian control. Her features were strained, as to be expected, but she offered a welcoming smile and opened her arms.

  Elen accepted the second hug, and then sucked in her breath as the reason for the loose clothing became apparent, at least to her senses. The power of two shifters rose to greet her. She leaned back. “Rosa . . . ?”

  Only Luc and Mae know, she mouthed with a secret smile. “And my cousin,” Rosa said openly. “We will talk after you see Mae. I have questions.”

  Luc’s beaming expression made Elen suspect that more than just those four knew that Rosa was carrying his child. But children of their kind were so rare and often lost before term, not to mention hunted by the Guardians, so she understood their secrecy. Nonetheless, Elen gave her brother another quick hug before they brought her to Mae’s temporary room.

  The smell greeted her first, charred hair and flesh that hadn’t been washed due to its fragile condition. Blessedly, Mae was unconscious. Elen had brought herbs to make a poultice, and other medications to alleviate some of the pain, but the damage was too great for such minor remedies. She already bore the scars of her years under Guardian rule; this final damage removed any remnants of her former features.

  “The fire started from a gas lantern.” Luc spoke low from behind her. “It fell and broke by her feet, and the accelerant spread up her clothes. It was instant. We contained the fire to her room . . .” But it was too late for the woman trapped within. His lips pressed in a thin line as the result of the accident lay unconscious before them. “We’re bringing electricity onto the island.” His determined tone suggested there had been a debate on the matter, but his decision was made. “I intend to make use of Porter’s contacts while he’s here. The construction will begin soon.”

  Rosa approached the bed to stand beside Elen. “Can you help her?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, but leaving her like this wasn’t an option. And Elen’s powers weren’t viable within the thick mortar and stone of Castell Avon. Understandably, there was no fire burning in the grate or windows open to air. Battery-operated lamps illuminated the room instead of the gas lanterns. Her feet stood on cold tiles, and the river ran a good distance away. There was nothing for her to call because nature was beyond these walls. “Find me a gurney or something that will suffice. I want her carried outside.”

  “I know where there’s one,” Gareth supplied without hesitation. “I’ll be right back.”

  A carrier was found; it was old and stained and probably used for unsavory purposes before Luc’s time, but it was sufficient. “Do you have a stream close by, or a pool of water?” Elen asked around the room. “The river is too forceful for what I want to try.”

  “Follow me,” Rosa said. Ignoring the residents of Avon who lined the hallways with curiosity and concern, she led the way out of the castle. They traveled on a meandering path lined with moss and leaves shadowed by night. Cormack and Luc carried Mae’s unconscious form as reflective eyes of woodland creatures watched their progression through the trees.

  The trail curved along a gently flowing stream that dipped to form a pool. On the outskirts grew a tree, a sapling no taller than Cormack, but it shimmered as if golden fireflies danced among its leaves. Its potency was like nothing she’d experienced to date, not even from Ms. Hafwen or Pendaran. It lured her like an enchanted song, offering promises of power and temptation from another world.

  It was the Tree of Hope, she understood without question, and the gateway to Faery. Ms. Hafwen had scolded her for her l
ack of confidence, but it seemed unbelievable that she had grown a second gateway such as this. Elen wasn’t sure if the others recognized what it was, so she forced her gaze away. “Set her down on that bank.” She pointed to a flat surface close to the water’s edge. Acting on instinct, Elen waded into the pool fully clothed. The water came chest-high, a sufficient depth, as she gestured to Cormack to roll Mae into her arms. When the water covered her body, Mae awakened and thrashed in disorientation—and then screamed.

  The sound wrenched the night air with her agony. Leaves rustled as creatures scurried, and the Tree of Hope shuddered as if moved by an unseen wind or responding to a cry too anguished to ignore.

  Luc stepped to the edge, ready to jump in, but Rosa held him back with a gentle hand.

  “It’s only me,” Elen soothed in a calm voice removed from what she felt, grasping Mae under her arms in a lock hold around her chest and keeping her head above water. She called to the forest, her element of Earth, and then the Water that surrounded them. Their energies rose, quicker than expected, and stronger too. That alone made her wary, but she had committed to this course and would see it through.

  As always, she was merely a conduit, but the force of the power that greeted her almost sucked her under the water. Her feet sunk into the gravel bottom of the pool. As currents traveled over and through nerves, she held her ground and poured everything she received into her patient. Water cleansed and Earth fed broken flesh. Soon screams became disjointed wails, and then panted moans.

  Ms. Hafwen had told her she’d know what to do, but this was an enchanted pool, by an otherworldly tree—and far beyond Elen’s experience. Or her control. As charred skin knotted into scars, she tried to unravel the joining. She pictured a braid, as her tutor had instructed many times, with her as one of the stands, along with the other two elements, and then attempted to disentangle them in her mind’s eye. But the elements would not leave until the healing was good and truly done.

  Within minutes, the energy dispersed as quickly as it had come, but not by Elen’s doing, and not before Mae was fully healed; even old injuries had been replaced by new skin.

  “Elen child.” Her former teacher’s voice came as a hoarse murmur ragged with exhaustion. “I knew you would come.” Her hands lifted from the water to her face, now absent of all scars and baring a mature yet unmarred vestige of her former youth. She frowned. “What have you done?”

  Elen shook her head, unwilling to accept credit. “It wasn’t me.” She had the knowledge to heal some injuries with enchantments, and to heal using human procedures—but not to remove scars, and some of Mae’s could very well be more than a thousand years old. “It’s this pool.”

  A magical pool by a blessed tree.

  A shiver racked her spine, and not from awe or from the chilled waters that surrounded her. Pendaran would stop at nothing to gain access to such power.

  And Elen was that access.

  Twenty-one

  Mae’s room had been stripped and cleaned by the time they returned. The residents of Avon crowded out of concern and curiosity, their obvious relief making the latter less offensive. Elen sensed her friend’s embarrassment, and wasn’t surprised when she told everyone to leave. If anything, Mae had no problem speaking her mind.

  “You have seen your fill,” she scolded, shooing them away. “I have a face, just like all of you, and it is nothing worth gawking at.” The understatement made Elen smile. Maelorwen was a handsome woman by any standard in history but obviously uncomfortable with their praise. “I am tired, so let me rest.”

  “I will check on you in the morning.” Elen squeezed her hand, waving everyone out before her.

  “They can leave, but you can stay.” Mae sat up and fluffed her pillows. “I will hear how your days have been, and how your garden grows. Will you have a good harvest?”

  Mae had taught her all the medicinal uses of plants, her first mentor when she was but a child. Elen had followed her about the old forests of Cymru like a lost pup. At the time, Merin had been called to serve the Council, and Dylan had yet to return for her, but Mae had offered a welcoming hearth and comforting arms to a child who’d needed both.

  “I wish you could visit my garden, Mae.”

  “Perhaps someday,” she said with a wistful tone. “We are healers, and we mustn’t stray far from the people who need us.”

  “It is our burden and our blessing.” Elen earned a dimpled smile for remembering her mentor’s words. “Rest now and we’ll visit tomorrow.”

  “I will make you a spiced potage,” Mae informed her. “Like I did for you in Cymru, and we will share recipes.”

  “Sleep well.” Elen smiled, because Mae had always put her to bed with similar words. She repeated them in melancholy affection. “And may you dream of first kisses until the sun chases away the moon.”

  Mae became quiet, her gaze a thousand years away. “I used to say that to the daughter of my heart.”

  “You used to say that to me.”

  “You are one and the same, Elen child.”

  Leaving her to rest, Elen closed the door and made her way to the Great Hall. Cormack sat at a long table with a bunch of Avon guards, sharing ale and laughing over something Teyrnon had said. Elen knew Teyrnon well from Rhuddin Village before he became Luc’s second-in-command. The Norseman was a surly sort but had always treated her with respect.

  “Teyrnon,” she greeted, extending similar acknowledgments around the gathering. She hadn’t seen them since summer, and received welcoming smiles in return. Mae was beloved in Avon, and many gave words of gratitude. Unused to such genuine sentiments, Elen felt her cheeks warm. As always, it felt good to use her gift for the purpose for which it was given.

  A woman at the end of the table ignored the exchange, preoccupied with her own pursuits. One of four former Walkers, and the only female, Aeron lounged between two male guards, offering flirtations with a silky laugh and soft brushes of her hand. Having served Ceridwen, she was unnervingly beautiful, and spirited, an enchantress with dark hair that hung in waves to her waist. The thought came without jealousy, just appreciation.

  Though perhaps her admiration wasn’t as strong as the men by her sides, Elen admitted with a grin. She had met Aeron once before, and chose not to form opinions based on a single encounter during a stressful time. The woman was powerful, and ancient, born shortly after the Guardians had been given the ability to shift. No doubt she had witnessed many sordid acts done by their kind. Aeron’s experiences didn’t seem to bother her, or more likely, frivolity and earthly pleasures were her ways of coping with them.

  The Walkers, or Beddestyr in their mother tongue, had once been messengers to Ceridwen in the Otherworld. All four had been relieved of their powers to walk between worlds, fired by a goddess for not controlling her son. Having been trapped in a dreamlike world created by Ceridwen for more than two hundred years, Luc and Rosa now had all four living in Avon until they adjusted to this modern age.

  However, a new Walker had been assigned, a dangerous fact they kept secret to all but family. Audrey, a precocious child, now bore the daunting role of Ceridwen’s messenger. Luc and Rosa had adopted the girl as their own. Audrey was, as far as Elen knew, the only Walker with power and therefore the only communication Taliesin had with his mother.

  Reminded of the others, she looked about the room for Aeron’s former comrades, finding none. When Rosa joined her, she asked, “How are the other Walkers faring?”

  Rosa pursed her lips. “Well enough, I suppose.” There was a hesitation in her voice, or maybe concern. As their keeper, she was responsible for their welfare. “Aeron is bored with our island, I’m afraid. They’re now messengers without a purpose, and it has been an adjustment for them, more so than the century they’ve awakened in. Gawain, Morwyn and Nesien tend to keep to their rooms, or the library, exploring the Internet behind the safety of these walls. I suspect
they’ll venture away from Avon soon to experience it in person.”

  Or so she hoped, according to her wistful tone.

  “Join us for a drink,” Teyrnon interrupted. Ale sloshed over the rim of his tankard as he gestured toward an empty seat.

  “Thank you,” Elen said, “but I’m tired.” She looked to Cormack, sending him a pointed glare, ensuring he didn’t believe her lie. Her gaze fell to his mouth as she imagined all the things she planned to teach him this night. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll head off to find my bed.”

  Ignoring Teyrnon’s chuckle, Cormack stood. “I’ll get the bags from the car,” he announced in a neutral tone as he brushed by—too impersonal for her liking. Had he not understood her intent?

  “You can bring Elen’s to the green-and-blue room on the family wing,” Rosa called after him, pulling Elen away to the center of the hall for more privacy. “I know you must be tired, but can you spare a moment to talk?”

  “From what I can sense, the babe’s healthy,” Elen assured her, frowning at Cormack’s retreating back. “We can do a thorough exam tomorrow, if you like.”

  “Thank you,” Rosa said. “I would like that very much.”

  Nodding an escape, Elen caught up to Cormack just as he descended outside, weaving her fingers through his hand to stop him. “You know I was—”

  “I hurt, Elen.” He spun her about so quickly that she found herself pressed up against a stone wall, surprised speechless. “You can’t look at me as you just did.” His mouth descended on her neck, trailing kisses up to the tender spot just under her ear. Did he do that by instinct? Because the sensation had her gasping for breath. “You must know what it does to me,” he accused, rocking into her so she could feel the hard evidence of his words.

  “Bring me somewhere private,” she pleaded, clawing at the waist of his shirt and diving her hands underneath. “I can’t wait any longer.”

  “Our room will be private.” Removing her hands, he stepped back, but his stiffened stance proved his restraint had worn past thin. “Your clothes are still damp from that pool, and I need a shower—”