Companion of Darkness_An Epic Fantasy Series

by CJ Rutherford

  Lyssa remained motionless, and I felt the tall figure bristle with annoyance before she nodded, barely perceptibly.

  “Thank you, Lord Alwyn.” Her eyes passed over the welcome party…if you could call it that. I was sure we were anything but welcome in this wonderful place. “I’m sorry my father couldn’t make it. Important matters of court and all that. I’m sure you understand.”

  Alwyn inclined his head. “Of course, and it is a pleasure to have you here. I have had rooms prepared for you all. I’m sure you are tired after your long journey.”

  His voice was warm and polite, and if I hadn’t possessed my ability, I’d have believed he meant it. As it was, I felt the hatred bubbling, barely below the surface. But why? Something was very wrong here. First the shield protecting this haven, and now this enmity.

  ‘There is no love lost between the eldar of the Citadel and the inhabitants of the Star Isles,’ Glyran’s voice whispered.

  The Star Isles. There was no more fitting a name for them, but I clamped down on my thoughts. Glyran’s message had forced a wariness I’d never felt toward him before to grow, and I hated myself for it.

  A sense of grief but also understanding entered my mind. ‘We can talk freely now, child. I was bound by Lyssa’s order only for the journey here. As we have now arrived, I see no point in continuing the arrangement…though I’m sure the princess would protest…if she knew, that is.’

  Somehow I managed to not smile, although it was hard. Then I had an idea. ‘Glyran, may I make a request?’

  ‘Anything within my power to grant you is yours, imp.’ Love poured from his mind, love I didn’t deserve after all I was keeping from him.

  ‘If the princess does this again, if she orders you to spy on me, I need to know. We should have some sort of signal.’

  Amusement trickled across the link. ‘Like some sort of special handshake?’

  I almost burst out laughing but disguised it as a small cough. I didn’t think anyone noticed. ‘I was thinking more of the ten-second pause approach. But if you want to work out some sort of elaborate salute…’

  It was Glyran’s turn to laugh, and he did, loudly, even though only I heard it. ‘No, child. The ten-second delay to a question will be a fine signal. Now, you should go.’

  Lyssa had taken Alwyn’s arm, and he was leading her up the beach, toward the villa. The other courtiers followed, so I fell into step at the back of the group. I didn’t think Lyssa would notice. She seemed to be preoccupied in gloating over, ‘How quaint everything was here,’ to Alwyn.

  ‘Do not let appearances deceive you, Jesaela. Alwyn and his people are wise and good. I have been a friend to them for centuries…ever since—’ PAIN! The order not to tell me anything about the relationship between these people and the Citadel prevented him from continuing. He recovered. ‘Ask questions during your stay, child. I shall see you soon.’ With a final surge of affection, he leapt into the air and, followed by the other dragons, swept skyward. I put my hand to my mouth to suppress a gasp as Glyran approached the chasm holding the gate in the shield, but instead of entering, he flew over it…through the gleaming shield.

  The low voice washed over me like the waves breaking on the beach behind me. “The barrier is not against dragon kind.”

  I jumped. Maker! My heart thundered in my chest, and I almost tripped as my sandaled feet slipped through the fine white powder I stood upon. I rounded to face a boy. I backed away, my pulse racing so fast I was sure I was seeing things. He was glowing!

  Then I saw the sun cresting over his head, causing a halo to form behind him. I released the breath I’d been holding. It was just a boy, not some sort of celestial being sent to judge me for betraying Glyran’s trust. Thank the Maker!

  Just as my pulse threatened to return to normal, it sped up again. He was…stunning, but so unlike any eldar I’d met so far. He wasn’t perfect. When he smiled, creases appeared at the corners of his eyes. One of his ears was adorned with turquoise jewels, while the other was bare. The breeze of the ocean swept over him, carrying its own scent, but failing to mask another, subtle essence. It was alien to this place: pine mixed with oak, the scent of the forest. How? He was not of the forest. He…

  His words came like whispers to my ears, interrupting my thoughts as he looked up to the sky. “It keeps out a much greater threat to the peace and freedom of this place.”

  I had no idea what he meant. All I knew was I hadn’t seen him with the others, but as he was standing bare-chested and dripping seawater, he must have been swimming in the sea when we arrived. He had a tanned, muscular torso, which was glistening in the bright sunlight. He was tall and slim and…and his face had fine features, framed by a tangle of sodden blond hair hanging down below the nape of his neck that I had a sudden urge to touch. My breath caught as a pair of emerald eyes, flecked with stars of light reflecting off the ocean, flickered in amusement.

  “Talyn,” he said, and I looked down to see his outstretched arm.

  What?

  “What?” My head spun and my heart fluttered. What was wrong with me?

  “That’s my name…Talyn.” He grinned, showing straight white teeth. Again, the imperfections struck me. One of his teeth had a tiny chip, and his grin was slightly crooked. All these insignificant flaws combined to accentuate his beauty. I shook my head and smiled back. I really needed to regain some semblance of self-control.

  “I’m Jesaela.” Maker! My voice was shaking. How embarrassing.

  He bowed slightly, the smile never leaving his face. “Welcome to the Star Isles, Jesaela.” He straightened up, his grin widening as I took his offered hand in mine. Urgh…it was wet!

  He laughed. “Sorry. I forgot—”

  “It’s fine.” His laughter awakened a nest of butterflies that started doing aerobatics in my stomach and chest. I looked behind me at the retreating figures. They were nearly at the villa. “I…I have to go.” I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay right there.

  What was I doing? I’d known this boy for under a minute. What I felt was… impossible…stupid.

  I shrugged, dropping his hand. “I’ll maybe see you around?” I felt like kicking myself. I sounded so pathetic I wanted the ground to swallow me up, but his face darkened. What had I said?

  “I’m sure we shall meet again.” His voice was calm, somber even, but his thoughts revealed an undertone of bitterness. He nodded at the crowd as they entered the wide doorway. “What is the princess like? Are the stories about her true?”

  What? Why did this boy want to know about her royal bitchiness?

  Then it hit me. His strong jaw. The wide cheekbones and emerald eyes were so like his father’s. Talyn was Alwyn’s son. This was Lyssa’s ‘mate.’

  I’m dead, I thought. Anyone who wanted to be ‘bonded’ to her must be as bad as she was. Glyran was wrong. Not all people in these islands were good.

  “Oh.” I turned to walk up the beach. The butterflies were currently trying to lasso my lungs to my heart, at the same time as the blood was freezing in my veins.

  He ran after me, grabbing my arm, but I wrenched it out of his grasp, hard enough that I almost fell over. As I toppled, Talyn caught me with surprising speed. Before I knew it, there was barely an inch between us. His salt-crusted chest was right, right there. I wanted to kiss it.

  “You really are a little imp, aren’t you?” His eyes were unreadable, but then his lips stretched into a wide smile that faltered when he saw my expression. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just that Glyran calls you that sometimes.”

  I shrugged his touch away, less violently this time. “You didn’t upset me. It’s just…just…I didn’t know who you were.” I turned away again. “I need to go. Now.”

  I didn’t turn back around. I couldn’t, and I managed to reach the doors and feel the sunlight vanish from my back as they closed, without another word from him.

  My heart hammered. For one, I had to worry whether the princess had noticed my absence. As I looked ahead
, all I saw was her court, walking up a stairway of light, glowing wood. Within ten steps I was there, trailing along as I usually did, until Lyssa fancied a little faerie torture.

  I almost welcomed it, because the second reason my chest threatened to explode was the sudden inexplicable feelings I had for a boy I’d never met before, a boy who was about to become bonded to the one person I hated more than anything in the world.

  After being shown to my rooms, I was left to my own devices. My accommodation consisted of a bedroom overlooking the bay, a sitting room, and a bathing room. A veranda stretched out toward the beach, the smell of the ocean filling the air as cool salty breezes ruffled the intricately woven lace curtains. The cries of sea birds entered from outside, and I smiled, taking a long, deep breath. Brine mixed with the scents of the exotic flowers in the jungle behind the villa.

  I looked around. The sitting room had a few plain but comfortable-looking chairs. I flumped down into one of them, sinking into the soft, thick surface. It was strange, I thought, there was none of the stunning beauty and grace of the Citadel, but this place was…homelier.

  I soon grew bored, however. I spent over an hour staring at the door, wondering if it was locked…if I was allowed to leave. More than a dozen times I paced from the wide windows overlooking the spectacular vista of the azure bay to the door. I finally worked up the nerve to try the handle, had just raised my hand to grasp it, when the door burst open.

  MAKER! The woman screamed when she almost collided with me. “By all that’s holy, girl…what were you thinking, hiding behind the door like that?”

  I tried to say I wasn’t, that I’d been about to open the door, not hiding behind it, but I didn’t get the opportunity.

  “Well? What are you doing, just standing there when we have so much to do?” She hustled past me and crossed to the large wardrobe, flinging the doors open. A riot of colors and textures flew through the air as the woman tutted and hmm’d, occasionally glancing at me, as if appraising me.

  “Umm…who are you?” I asked, “and what exactly do I have to do? And what are all these clothes for?”

  The woman turned to me, her expression a mixture of confusion and sternness. I had the briefest impression of one of my old tutors when I’d failed to grasp something they clearly knew was simplicity itself. I bit back a chuckle as I realized she had some sort of feather boa, a bright pink one, draped over her shoulder. She put her hands on her waist. It was too much, and I couldn’t contain my snort of amusement.

  Her face turned to exasperation, and she flung her hands in the air. “Faeries!” Her eyes narrowed, but I saw the barely perceptible twitch at the corners of her lips. “Always finding the humor, even in the gravest circumstances.”

  Her expression softened, and I took the brief pause between her outbursts to actually look at her. She had the same lined, but still lovely, face that Alwyn and a few of his court had, and her eyes were a bright, piercing blue. Her dark hair flowed down her back in waves, like the sea at night. She was portly. It struck me that this was the first time I’d ever seen an eldar who was anything less than physically perfect, but she—indeed, when I thought about it, all of these people—seemed to wear their imperfections like badges of honor.

  “I’m Vaeolet. I’m Alwyn’s…I’m the king’s cousin. He asked me to look after you.” She raised an eyebrow and fixed me with a stern stare, taking in my plain homespun dress. “And it appears you definitely need looking after.” She sat on the edge of the bed, patting the sheets. “Sit with me, girl.”

  I actually took a step back. There was so much going on here. Alwyn was a king? I thought Lyssa’s father was the king of the eldar. Everyone knew that, didn’t they? But then if Alwyn was a king, he’d sent his cousin to serve me?

  I sat on the bed, my head reeling as I turned to face her. “I don’t understand. What is all this?” She knew I didn’t mean the dresses strewn across the bed.

  Vaeolet exhaled, long and slow. “What did Glyran tell you?”

  Glyran? What did he have to do with it?

  My confused expression caused another burst of exasperation. “Didn’t he explain it on the flight here? That was the arrangement, after all.” She stood up, throwing her hands in the air and groaning. “I told Alwyn it was a bad idea to ask Glyran. I mean, they’ve been friends for centuries, but he’s a dragon, and without the binding spell they are free to do as they wish. And everyone knows how willful dragons can be.”

  This was all going too fast. My head swam with all the unanswered questions, but I had to tell her.

  “He couldn’t tell me anything.” I said firmly. I crossed and shut the door. Vaeolet simply stood watching me, waiting for an explanation, but could I offer one? I didn’t know her at all. Could I trust her?

  As if sensing my conflict, she raised her hand in a chopping motion, silencing me. “Girl, I don’t know you and you don’t know me, so I think the first thing we should do is learn a little about each other. Then we can go over the finer details.”

  I smiled. She was anything if not abrupt, but I was warming to the older woman already. “I’d like that.”

  Her eyes shone with approval. “Good. Now, I suspect—and correct me if I’m wrong—that our darling princess ordered Glyran not to tell you anything about our…relationship with the eldar of the Citadel.”

  I nodded, and a weight seemed to lift from my shoulders. She wouldn’t be talking like this if she were an ally of Lyssa’s.

  “It was more than that,” I began. “She ordered him to spy on me. He was to report on anything I’d found in the Citadel, so no. He couldn’t tell me anything.” I looked around, out through the window. “But what is all this? What is this place and how can there be another king and what did Glyran have to explain?”

  “Finished?” Vaeolet stood, arms crossed and tapping her foot.

  My face reddened. “Sorry, but it’s all so, so…overwhelming.”

  She crossed, putting a hand on my upper arm and squeezing gently. “I know, little one. It would be so for anyone, but for someone so young…I’m sorry for snapping. I know I can be a little…jarring.”

  I smiled. “How about we take a seat and you can explain it?”

  I sat on the edge of the bed, but Vaeolet remained standing. Then she started pacing across the room. “Hmm, where to begin. Well, let’s start by giving you a little history lesson, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “Tell me what you know about the Chaos War.” She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  I felt like a child back in the classroom, but I recited what I’d been taught. “The war happened thousands of years ago. The eldar tried to enslave the faeries and the brownies, but then the dwelves rose up to fight on our side.

  “The war lasted over a century, with thousands dying on all sides. The alliance had almost defeated the eldar, when the eldar king somehow managed to cast a spell to bind the dragons’ will to his own. The dragons had stayed out of it, unwilling to become involved on any side, until the eldar forced them to attack us. Have I got it right so far?”

  Vaeolet nodded. “Mostly. Did anyone ever explain why the eldar moved against the faer and brownies in the first place?” Her voice was tinged with sadness. I shook my head. I couldn’t believe I’d never thought of that before, and now that I did think about it, it seemed odd that this point hadn’t been discussed in any of the history lessons I’d attended as a child.

  “Since the dawn of time, the peoples had lived in harmony and peace. Races intermingled, fae and eldar even married, though no children resulted from those unions. Births among the eldar are so rare, you see. When children are born, they are incredibly precious…a blessing to us all. Then something happened.”

  I felt the sadness and anger within her. I wanted to ask what it was but stayed silent. She continued. “An eldar lord, Kaleyn, the king’s cousin, fell in love with the faer queen. Oh, it was quite the scandal at the time, I can tell you. Lords and ladies of both courts were up in arms over it.
This was the first time two beings of such high standing had fallen for each other, but, eventually, the king allowed it, and gave the union his reluctant blessing.”

  Vaeolet grew still and was silent for a long moment as she seemed to gaze into the past.

  I felt it coming. I didn’t need Vaeolet to say it. “They had a child, didn’t they?”

  Vaeolet turned away from me, trying to hide her face, but I glimpsed the bright shine of moisture in her eyes. “Yes, a boy.”

  I was confused. “But surely this was something to celebrate…a child to bind the two races.”

  Vaeolet smiled, but there was a hardness in her features I couldn’t understand. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? And it was so, for a short time anyway. He was such a lovely child and was loved by eldar and faeries alike. It seemed he might be the bridge our people needed to finally break down the barriers between us.” She sighed deeply. “The boy grew to puberty, around the same age as you are now, before his father was killed in a hunting accident.”

  The grief in her voice forced a quiver of breath to escape me.

  “The queen was broken by grief, for Kaleyn had been her soul mate, and she knew she’d never love another again, but even before the year of mourning was past, the eldar king demanded the boy be brought to live in the Citadel and be raised as an eldar. But he’d grown up in the forest. His father had lived there the boy’s whole life, with only short visits to the Citadel. Kaleyn had told his wife of a darkness he felt growing within the eldar in the Citadel, an arrogance and disdain toward the other races. The queen refused the king’s order.”

  “So, he tried to take the boy by force?” My voice shook. I hadn’t realized, but my fists were clenched at my sides.

  Vaeolet nodded, keeping her head drooped. “You know the rest of it. I won’t go into great detail, but it was terrible. Families were torn apart. Some eldar who’d married fae crossed over and fought with them. The king butchered the families they left behind. That, people say, is the reason the dwelves rose up against him. We were on our last legs, barely holding the line around the forest.”