Firesong stepped back then, having Kelvren’s full attention. “So, when all that you can perceive has a potential for disaster, an Adept must live by how do I turn what I encounter into an advantage? That is why I think you can save your own life, because it is how you already think, Kelvren. Believe me, I know. I was in your head. What you did in Valdemar was Adept-style thinking.”
Kel considered this and decided he was flattered. “Ssso. Let us look at this. How can my being a pariah become an advantage?”
“Ah. Because your admiration for Treyvan and Hydona and Skandranon can make you like them, if what I have in mind can be done,” Firesong answered with a sly look.
“How?”
“Because not being needed as Wingleader here means you can leave here as you choose. Being claimed by Breon’s statement means you do not have to be tried for justice in Valdemar,” Firesong answered. “In short, because of what has happened you are uniquely—free.”
If these words came from anyone else but Firesong, I’d drop them in a lake. But—yes, he is right. Being Wingleader meant I was bound here to lead others. Now I am not only replaced, I am redundant. Dangerous, even, to have around. And that is their loss, too. And I can’t go deep into Valdemar again because I’m the best known, brightest target, so . . .
Firesong stood up, whirling in an obviously practiced theatrical turn so his robes billowed out before draping, and concentrated for twenty heartbeats. He gestured in two circles and then a rectangle with his slender, tightly gloved hands and called up an image in midair of a very well-known map. It distorted at first, pulled at by Kelvren’s affliction, but Firesong used his palm to pull the map image back into proportion.
“The Storms were caused by disruptive waves of harmfully structured magic power peaking and trenching in ripples between the Over and Under realms. With the help of several wise and lucky people, we determined that these were the results of the ‘antispell’ blast from the detonation of Urtho’s Tower and Ma’ar’s Stronghold, traveling all the way around our world and returning to their places of origin all these years later.”
Kel nodded. He had heard this before. “As you have explained, a cascading disjuncture.”
“Yes.” Firesong nodded. “As they got closer, the waves became more concentrated and frequent. All indications were that we could expect a new Cataclysm unless we did something about it.” The map showed these waves in motion like ripples from a stone, only flowing in toward the stone instead of away. “During the Storms, we stopped one of the returning Cataclysm loci from expanding back outward from the remains of Urtho’s Tower by giving it a place to go, channeled away from our world. But the question remains: What happened to the other locus, from the point of Ma’ar’s ancient stronghold?”
Kelvren listened intently. This was a good question, and it sounded as if Firesong had been considering it for some time now. And if Firesong was concentrating on something for a good long while, it was probably worth thinking about. The fact that Firesong was talking about it now meant it somehow involved him.
“The waves should have concentrated, violently exploded outward, and while it would technically have caused less devastation than the original Cataclysm, it should still have leveled hills and forests and killed untold numbers. Exhausted as we were—we who were left alive, anyway—we braced for it.” The glitter in Firesong’s eyes reminded Kel that the Adept had very much put his own life at risk back then.
Firesong’s map image increased in size until the shape of a well-known body of water with the sketches of a few very faint, craggy islands near its shores filled Kelvren’s vision. “The waves, with all their power, poured in to the second location, as expected. And then they vanished. No mountain-powdering explosion, no disintegrating, rock-melting firestorms. Because of the haze caused by the Storms, no one has ever found out why. No one can Farsee or scry there, nor can any creature’s vision penetrate the haze. Prayers and spirit realm queries go unanswered. The waters and weather are too treacherous for a ship exploration.”
What is Firesong getting at? Kelvren wondered. If no one can See there, and no one can go there, how is anyone supposed to find out what was there that had absorbed all that power? And what does all that have to do with me, for that matter?
“If you can learn what I can teach you, if we can create this new Heartstone, if you can control your ruin, and if a few dozen other factors fall into place as I have in mind,” Firesong teased, “I ask you this, Kelvren the Bright.” He let the map image stay in place and faced the gryphon.
“Would you dare to explore what is at the center of Lake Evendim?”
About the Authors
Nancy Asire is the author of four novels: Twilight’s Kingdoms, Tears of Time, To Fall Like Stars and Wizard Spawn. Wizard Spawn was edited by C. J. Cherryh and became part of the Sword of Knowledge series. She also has written short stories for the series anthologies Heroes in Hell, edited by Janet Morris, and Merovingen Nights, edited by C. J. Cherryh. Other short stories of hers have appeared in Mercedes Lackey’s anthology Flights of Fantasy, as well as in the Valdemar anthologies. She has lived in Africa and traveled the world but now resides in Missouri with her cats and two vintage Corvairs.
Dylan Birtolo resides in the Pacific Northwest, where he spends his time as a writer, a gamer, and a professional sword-swinger. His thoughts are filled with shapeshifters, mythological demons, and epic battles. He’s published a few fantasy novels and several short stories. He trains in Systema and with the Seattle Knights, an acting troop that focuses on stage combat. He jousts, and, yes, the armor is real—it weighs over 100 pounds. You can read more about him and his works at www.dylanbirtolo.com or follow him on Twitter at @DylanBirtolo.
Jennifer Brozek is a Hugo Award-nominated editor and a Bram Stoker-nominated author. Winner of the Scribe, Origins, and ENnie awards, she has been writing role-playing games and professionally publishing fiction since 2004. With the number of edited anthologies, fiction sales, RPG books, and nonfiction books under her belt, Jennifer is often considered a Renaissance woman, but she prefers to be known as a wordslinger and optimist. Read more about her at www.jenniferbrozek.com or follow her on Twitter at @JenniferBrozek.
Brigid Collins is a fantasy and science fiction writer living in Michigan. Her short stories have appeared in Fiction River, The Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, and The MCB Quarterly. Books 1 through 3 of her fantasy series, Songbird River Chronicles, are available in print and electronic versions on Amazon and Kobo. You can sign up for her newsletter at tinyletter.com/HarmonicStories or follow her on Twitter @purellian.
Ron Collins is an Amazon best-selling dark fantasy author who writes across the spectrum of speculative fiction. He has contributed a hundred or so short stories to professional publications such as Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and several other magazines and anthologies. His fantasy series Saga of the God-Touched Mage reached #1 on Amazon’s Dark Fantasy list in the UK (#2 in the US). His short fiction has received a Writers of the Future prize and a CompuServe HOMer Award, and his short story “The White Game” was nominated for the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2016 Derringer Award.
Brenda Cooper writes science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Her most recent novel is Spear of Light, and her most recent story collection is Cracking the Sky. Brenda has been nominated for the Phillip K. Dick and Canopus awards and won an Endeavor Award. Her nonfiction has appeared at Slate and Crosscut, and her short fiction has appeared in Nature Magazine, among other venues. She lives in the Pacific Northwest where she gardens, bikes, writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and she loves sunrises.
Dayle A. Dermatis has been called “one of the best writers working today” by USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith. Under various pseudonyms (and sometimes with coauthors), she’s sold several novels and more than a hundred short stories in multiple genres. She is also a foundin
g member of the Uncollected Anthology project. A recent transplant to the wild greenscapes of the Pacific Northwest, in her spare time she follows Styx around the country and travels the world, all of which inspires her writing. She loves music, cats, Wales, old houses, magic, laughter, and defying expectations. For more information and to sign up for her newsletter (and get free fiction!), go to dayledermatis.com.
Larry Dixon is the husband of Mercedes Lackey, and a successful artist as well as science fiction writer. He and Mercedes live in Oklahoma.
Rosemary Edghill can truthfully state that she once killed vampires for a living. She has worked as an editor, a book designer, an illustrator, and a professional book reviewer. She is also an established ghostwriter. Her hobbies include dogs, bad television shows, and the Oxford comma. Her next project under her own name is an urban fantasy for Baen Books.
Rebecca Fox always wanted to be John Carter of Mars when she grew up, because of the giant birds. Since it didn’t look as though that career path was going to pan out anytime soon, she got her Ph.D. in Animal Behavior instead. She makes her home in Lexington, Kentucky, where she shares her life with three parrots, a Jack Russell terrier named Izzy, and the world’s most opinionated chestnut mare. When she isn’t writing, Rebecca teaches college biology and spends a lot of time outdoors doing research on bird behavior.
Michele Lang writes fantasy, science fiction, crime, and romance, as well as nonfiction. Her Lady Lazarus WWII historical fantasy series was published by Tor Books, and a new urban fantasy series is releasing soon. Michele is a recovering lawyer who has practiced the unholy craft of litigation in both New York and Connecticut. She lives in a small town outside of New York City with her husband, her sons, and a rotating menagerie of cats, hermit crabs, and butterflies.
Fiona Patton lives in rural Ontario where she can practice bagpipes without bothering the neighbors. Her partner, Tanya Huff, and their two dogs and many cats have taken some time to get used to them but no longer run when she gets the pipes out. She has written seven fantasy novels for DAW books as well as over forty short stories. “Haver Hearthstone” is her ninth Valdemar story, the seventh involving the Dann family.
Angela Penrose lives in Seattle with her husband, five computers, and some unknown number of books, which occupy most of the house. She writes in several genres, but SF/F is her first love. She majored in history at college but racked up hundreds of units taking whatever classes sounded interesting. This delayed graduation to a ridiculous degree but (along with obsessive reading) gave her a broad store of weirdly diverse information that comes in wonderfully handy to a writer.
Stephanie Shaver lives in Southern California with her family, a couple of cranky cats, and a garden in various states of disarray depending on what’s due next. When she isn’t working, cooking, camping, or writing, she’s probably assisting a toddler snail hunt. She can be found online at www.sdshaver.com.
Jessica Schlenker is a professional geek and biologist with a master’s degree in IT security and a background in trumpet. Michael Z. Williamson is an immigrant, veteran, bladesmith, and SF and fantasy author best known for the “Freehold” universe. He plays several instruments, but prefers not to inflict them on people. Instead, he shares his writing.
Kristin Schwengel lives near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband, the obligatory writer’s cat (named Gandalf, of course), a Darwinian garden in which only the strong survive, and a growing collection of knitting and spinning supplies. Her writing has appeared in several previous Valdemar anthologies, and she has wanted to write a story involving gryphons for a while. This is the first piece she has ever written in which the writing actually started with the very first line.
D. Shull is pleased to have the time again to write after completing both a BA and an MA in Communication, and is still looking for a cool job that makes use of both those degrees— after having been a proofreader, editor, and a teacher of public speaking. Though they enjoy reading for fun, they can’t shake the habit of reading academic work either. They were born, raised, and still live in California, with very good reasons for staying there, thank you very much.
Born on an Indian reservation in northern California, Louisa Swann spent too much time in a papoose carrier. Determined not to remain a basket case forever, she escaped the splintered confines, finally settling down on a ranch where she spins tales to humor herself. Her writerly eccentricities have resulted in numerous short story publications in various anthologies, including Mercedes Lackey’s Elementary Magic and Valdemar anthologies (which she’s thrilled to participate in!); Esther Friesner’s Chicks and Balances (Chicks in Chainmail); the Fiction River anthologies, including Alchemy & Steam, Valor, and the upcoming Visions of the Apocalypse. Find out more at www.louisaswann.com.
Growing up on fairy tales and computer games, USA Today-bestselling author of urban fantasy Anthea Sharp melded the two in her award-winning Feyland series. She now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes, hangs out in virtual worlds, plays the fiddle with her Celtic band Fiddlehead, and spends time with her small-but-good family. Anthea also writes award-winning Victorian historical romances as Anthea Lawson Visit her website at antheasharp.com and join her mailing list, tinyletter.com/AntheaSharp, for a free story, reader perks, and news of upcoming releases!
Elizabeth A. Vaughan is a USA Today-bestselling author who writes fantasy romance. Her first novel, Warprize, was rereleased in April 2011. You can learn more about her books at www.writeandrepeat.com.
Elisabeth Waters sold her first short story in 1980 to Marion Zimmer Bradley for The Keeper’s Price, the first of the Darkover anthologies. She then went on to sell stories to a variety of anthologies. Her first novel, a fantasy called Changing Fate, was awarded the 1989 Gryphon Award. Its sequel, Mending Fate, was published in 2016. She also writes short stories and edits anthologies. She would like to thank the Sisters of St. Mary and their award-winning cashmere goats (St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Cashmere) for their help with this story. She also worked as a supernumerary with the San Francisco Opera, where she appeared in La Gioconda, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Khovanschina, Das Rheingold, Werther, and Idomeneo.
Phaedra Weldon grew up in the thick, atmospheric land of South Georgia. Most nights, especially those in October, were spent on the back of pickup trucks in the center of cornfields, telling ghost stories, or in friends’ homes playing RPG. She got her start writing in Shared Worlds (Eureka!, Star Trek, Battletech, Shadowrun), selling original stories to DAW anthologies, and sold her first urban fantasy series to traditional publishing. Currently she writes three series (The Eldritch Files, the Grimoire Chronicles, and the Zoe Martinique novels) as well as busting out the occasional Shadowrun novel (her most recent one is Identity Crisis) as well.
Through her combined career as a professional author and her background as a cover artist, Janny Wurts has immersed herself in a lifelong ambition: to explore imaginative realms beyond the world we know. She has written eighteen novels, a collection of short stories, and thirty contributions to fantasy and science fiction anthologies. Novels and stories have been translated into fifteen languages worldwide. Best known for the War of Light and Shadow series, her other titles include stand-alones To Ride Hell’s Chasm, Master of Whitestorm, and Sorcerer’s Legacy; the Cycle of Fire trilogy; and the Empire trilogy, written in collaboration with Raymond E. Feist. Her paintings and cover art have appeared in exhibitions of imaginative artwork, including, NASA’s 25th Anniversary exhibit, Delaware Art Museum, Canton Art Museum, Hayden Planetarium in New York, and have been recognized by two Chesley Awards and three Best of Show awards at the World Fantasy Convention.
About the Editor
Mercedes Lackey is a full-time writer and has published numerous novels and works of short fiction, including the bestselling Heralds of Valdemar series. She is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and collabor
ator, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots.
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