Winds Of Fate v(mw-1

by Mercedes Lackey

  "Yet," Treyvan rumbled. He had taken Nyara's news much worse than Hydona. His mate tended to ignore the past as beyond change, and was interested only in what she could do to fix what had been done to her younglings. Treyvan felt doubly guilty; because he had failed to protect Hydona, and because he had failed to protect his offspring.

  Darkwind knew exactly how he felt.

  Nyara tried to melt into the rock behind her, her eyes now wide and focused on Treyvan.

  Darkwind recaptured her attention. "I want to know everything that you know about us, and what he knows that you're sure of. I mean not only what you've told your f-Falconsbane, but what he knew before this." Nyara shivered but looked as if she didn't quite understand his question.

  He stood up, walked over to her, and towered over her. "What does he know about the Vale?" he asked, speaking every word carefully.

  "Begin from the very first thing you knew." Nyara began, stuttering, to tell them fairly simple bits of intelligence that anyone could have figured out for himself. That the only nodes Falconsbane could possibly access were in Tayledras hands. That he had made several attempts to get at one or the other of the nodes. She identified each attempt that she knew of, going back to long before the arrival of the gryphons. Most of these trials had been low-key, tentative feints.

  And as she spoke, she gained confidence, until she was no longer stuttering with fear, and no longer speaking in short, choppy sentences.

  Most of the feints she described, Darkwind had already been aware of. But then she took him by surprise.

  "Then F-father decided to take the Vale from within, I think," she said, her hands crooking into claws, as her eyes glazed a little. "This was when he was angry with me, and he was-he was-he was angry with me." Her expressive face was as still as stone, and Darkwind sensed that this had been one of those periods when Falconsbane had "trained" her, using methods it made him ill even to contemplate.

  But this was important. She had said that Falconsbane meant to "take the Vale from within." He had to know what that meant, and what had happened.

  "What did he mean by that?" he prompted. She gave him a frightened, startled look, as if she had forgotten he was there.

  "He set a trap," she replied tightly. "He set a very clever trap. He sent many of his servants to create diversions-emptying the Vale of all but one of the Adepts." This was beginning to sound chillingly familiar-but she was continuing.

  When that one was alone-he knew that there was but one Adept still present by the level of power within the Vale-he created a disturbance that required an Adept." She licked her lips nervously and gave him a pleading glance. "I truly do not know what that was," she said,

  "I was not in favor. He did not grant me information."

  "I understand that," he said quickly. "Go on."

  "When the Adept came to deal with the disturbance, Mornelithe sprung the trap and closed him off from the Vale. He was hurt-and that was when Mornelithe cast illusions to make him appear to be of the Birdkin, so that the Adept would accept him as rescuer. The bird, Father slew. It was not deceived, and attacked him. But by then the Adept's hurts were such that he was unconscious, and did not know. Father took him to the stronghold and imprisoned him to break him to Father's will.

  "And you know who this Adept is?" Darkwind felt himself trembling on the brink of a chasm. If it was his father-it would explain so much.

  And yet he dreaded the truth-She looked directly up at Darkwind, and said, clearly and forcefully," I did not know until Father called me on the night of moondark who that man was. It was your father, Darkwind. It was he that is called Starblade." She licked her lips, and raised one hand in a pleading gesture. "He wanted you, as well, the son as well as the father-he wanted me to-entice you. I told him 'yes," but I told myself 'no," and I kept myself from working his will, as he worked it upon your father." There it was, the blow had fallen. He surprised himself with his steady, cold calm. "So Falconsbane succeeded?" She nodded, dropping her eyes, her voice full of quiet misery. "When he sets out to break one to his will, he does not fail. I was-present-for much of it. It was part of my t-t-training. That this could be happening to me. Both the pleasuring, and the punishment. I can tell you some of what he did, what he ordered Starblade to do when he returned to the Vale. You do not want to know... what was done to control him." Darkwind tried to speak and could not. Treyvan spoke for him, in a booming, angry rumble. "Continue! All that you know."

  "He was, firstly, to forget what had happened to him. Mornelithe gave him false memories to replace what had truly occurred-until Mornelithe chose otherwise. Then he was to creep in secret to the heart of the Vale." She gave Darkwind a look of entreaty. "I have not the words-"

  "The Heartstone," Darkwind supplied, at her prompting, feeling sick.

  "The Heartstone," she said. "Yes. He was to go to it in secret, and change it-he was one who created it, so he would know best its secrets.

  Father did not know that his trap would ensnare someone of that quality, but he was so pleased that he had, he forgot, often, to mete out punishment to me."

  "Return to the subject, Changechild," Treyvan growled. She wilted, losing some of the confidence she had regained.

  "What was it Starblade was supposed to do to the Heartstone?" Darkwind prompted her, with a bit more gentleness. She turned gratefully to him.

  "He was to make a flaw in it, a weakness, one that would not appear until the Birdkin prepared to move. then he called back all his creatures, to make it appear that all was made safe here. He even sent his creatures to guard beyond your borders, so that you would be prepared to shift your power elsewhere." Darkwind held up his hand. "How much does he know-how can he continue to control Starblade, and does he know our strength?" She shrugged. "I do not know what he knows, but he has long patience and is willing to move slowly, so that each move he makes is sure.

  But as to how he controls Starblade, it is with a crow."

  "His bondbird." Somehow that was simply the crowning obscenity.

  To take the closest tie possible to a Tayledras other than a lifebond, and pervert it into an instrument of manipulation" He cannot speak, move, or let his thoughts be known. All that is under Father's control, from compulsions planted when he was broken, and held in place by the crow." She hesitated a moment. "There is little, I think, that he can learn unless Starblade goes to him, and that, he has not done. The barriers still in place about the Vale prevent that.

  But there is much that he can do with the compulsions already in place."

  "Not for long," Darkwind said, with grim certainty, heading for the door of the lair. "Hydona, forgive me-I can't do anything about the younglings yet. But I can do something about this.

  "Go," she replied. "Frrree thisss placsse of the viperrr, then perrrhapsss we can frrree the little onesss asss well."

  "I will guard the Changechild," Treyvan said, before Darkwind eve

  thought of it.

  And before Darkwind could think to ask "how?" the gryphon turned to face Nyara, his eyes flashing. She looked surprised-And then she slumped over, unconscious.

  Darkwind returned to Nyara's side. She was asleep, deeply asleep, but otherwise unharmed.

  Treyvan sighed. "I have not hurrrt herrr, Darrrkwind. But it isss better to have the enemy underrr yourrr eye."

  "She isn't exactly the enemy," Darkwind said, uncertainly.

  "She isss not exactly a frrriend," Treyvan replied. "Ssshe isss at bessst, a weaknesss. I will watch herrr, for my magic isss ssstronger than hersss. Go." Darkwind did not have to be told twice. He was out the door of the lair and running for the Vale before the last sibilant "s" had left Treyvans beak. Dawn's first light flushed the eastern horizon, and Vree shot into the sky from his perch on a stone beside the lair crying greeting to his bondmate, projecting an inquiry. While running, Darkwind tried, as best he could, to give Vree an idea of what he had learned, in simple terms the bird could understand.

  He conveyed enough of it that Vree
screamed defiance as he swooped among the forest branches, preceding Darkwind and making sure the way ahead was clear of hazard. The bird was angered, but he had not lost his head or his sense of responsibility.

  "where?" Vree demanded, his thoughts hot with rage.

  "The Vale," Darkwind replied, as he leapt a bush, and took to the game trail that led most directly to the k'sheyna stronghold.

  "I go," the bird said. "I go in, with you." Once again, Darkwind was surprised, but this time pleasantly. "I go," Vree repeated firmly.

  That took one worry off his mind. It would be a great deal easier to handle that thrice-damned crow with Vree around.

  Now he concentrated on running; as hard and as fast as he could, keeping his attention fixed on the ground ahead and leaving his safety in Vree's capable talons.

  Where would Starblade be at this moment? He was an early riser, as a rule. By the time the sun was but a sliver above the horizon, he was generally in conference with one or more of the Adepts. There was a kind of informal ceremony there, as the memorial fire at the foot of the Heartstone was fed with fragrant hardwoods and resinous cedar. Those Adepts remaining-even the most reclusive-generally attended at least one of of these meetings; they remembered those who had been lost, and monitored the Heartstone very carefully, looking for changes in it morning and night.

  With Father carefully making sure they accomplish nothing, he thought with nausea. Now I know why he never misses a meeting.

  Now he was on safer ground; he passed his own ekele, and that of his brother; passed night-scouts coming in and day-scouts going out, both of whom stared at him in equal surprise. He ignored the ache of his lungs and his legs; dredged up extra reserves of energy and ran on, long hair streaming out behind him. He caught sight of other bondbirds flying beside him, peering down at him curiously, and guessed that their bondmates were somewhere behind. He ignored them; he would take no chances that a carelessly shielded thought would warn Starblade-or more importantly, the thing that controlled him in the guise of a blackbird.

  Up hills, and down again; he took the easiest way, not the scouts' way-using game trails when he could find them. Finally he came out onto a real path, one that led to the border with the Dhorisha Plains, and had, in better days, been used by visitors from both peoples. It terminated at the entrance to the Vale, and Darkwind took deeper breaths, forcing air into his sobbing lungs. It would not be long now ...The shimmer marking the shields that guarded the entrance flickered between the hills. This was where Vree usually left him.

  A cry from above alerted him, and Vree swept in from behind in a stoop that ended with the forestgyre hitting him hard enough to stagger him, and sinking his talons into the padded shoulder of Darkwind's jerkin. A fraction of a heartbeat later, he was through the shields, a tingle of pure power passing through him as the shields recognized him and let him by.

  He was inside the Vale, but this was no time to slow down. He flung himself down a side path, bursting through the overgrown vegetation, and leaving broken branches and a flurry of torn leaves in his wake.

  He was nearing the Heartstone; he heard voices ahead, and he felt its broken rhythms and discordant song shrilling nauseatingly along his nerves. Vree tightened his talons in protest but voiced no other complaint.

  He staggered, winded, into the clearing holding the Heartstone, taking the occupants by complete surprise.

  Vree did not wait for orders; he had an agenda of his own. Before Darkwind could say a word, the forestgyre launched himself from Darkwind's shoulder, straight at the crow that sat like an evil black shadow on his father's shoulder, as if it was whispering into Starblade's ear.

  The crow squawked in panic and surprise, and leapt into the air-heading for the shelter of the undergrowth, no doubt counting on the fact that falcons never followed their prey into cover. But the evil creature did not know Vree; his speed, or his spirit. The gyre hit the crow just as he penetrated the cover of the lower branches; hit him with an impact audible all over the clearing. Rather than taking a chance that his stunned victim might escape instead of letting it fall, Vree bound on with both sets of talons, and screamed his victory as he brought his prey to the ground. And Starblade collapsed.

  The action of Darkwind's bird stunned the Adepts, all but Stormcloud, who shouted something unintelligible, and flung out his hand in Darkwind's direction. The scout found himself unable to move or speak, and fell hard on his side-Vree bent and bit through the thrashing crow's spine, ending its struggles.

  Darkwind fought against his invisible bonds as the outraged Adepts converged on him-but as they started to move, an entirely unexpected sound made them freeze where they stood.

  "Free-" Starblade moaned, the relief so plain in his voice that it cut to the heart. "oh, gods, at last, at last-" The Adepts turned to stare at their leader, and Darkwind took the momentary distraction to snap his invisible bonds.

  He stumbled to his father's side and reached for his hands. Starblade took them; his mouth trembled, but he was unable to say anything. It seemed as if he was struggling himself, fighting against a horrible control that even now held him in thrall.

  "He's been under compulsion! Put a damn shield on him!" Darkwind shouted, throwing his own around his father, and startling the others so much they followed suit. And just in time; Darkwind felt a furious blow shuddering against his protections as the others added their strength to his. Another followed-then another. A half dozen, in all, before the enemy outside gave up, at least for the time being.

  And now I know your name and face, Darkwind thought with grim satisfaction. I know who you are. Now it's just a matter of hunting you down.

  Starblade groaned, still fighting the binding that kept him silent. "I know, Father," Darkwind said, urgently, as the other Adepts gathered around them. "I know at least some of it. That's why Vree killed that damn crow. We'll help you, Father. I swear it, we'll help you." Starblade nodded slightly, and closed his eyes, silent, painful tears forming slowly at the corner of his eyes and trickling down his ghost-pale cheeks as Darkwind explained what he had learned from Nyara as succinctly as possible. The others wasted no time in argument; Starblade's own reactions told the truth of Darkwind's words.

  "Let me tend to him," Iceshadow said, when Darkwind had finished.

  The scout moved over enough for the older Adept to take a place cradling Starblade's head in both his hands. Iceshadow stared intently into Starblade's eyes, but spoke to the son, not the father. "Tell me in detail everything you know." Darkwind obeyed, detailing Nyara's explanations of how Falconsbane had caught Starblade, and how he had broken the Adept and set the compulsions. Iceshadow nodded through all of it.

  "I think I have enough," he said, then looked down into Starblade's eyes. "But first, old friend, I must bring down your shields. He has trained you to respond only to pleasure, or pain. And since I do not have time for pleasure-forgive me, but it must be pain." As Starblade nodded understanding, Iceshadow caught Darkwind's attention. "Take his left hand," the Adept said. "Spread it flat upon the ground." As Darkwind obeyed, mystified, Starblade closed his eyes and visibly braced himself.

  "Take your dagger and pierce his hand," Iceshadow ordered. And when Darkwind stared at him, aghast, the older Tayledras frowned fiercely. "Do it now, young one," he snarled. "That evil beast has tied his obedience to pain, and I cannot break his shields to free his mind without driving him insane. Now do what I tell you if you wish to help him!" Darkwind did not even allow himself to think; he simply obeyed.

  Starblade's scream of agony sent him lurching to his feet and away, tears of his own burning his eyes and blurring his sight.

  When he could see again, he found Vree standing an angry and silent guardian over his victim, the crow that Mornelithe Falconsbane had used to control Starblade and shatter the lives of everyone in k'sheyna. Showing a sophistication that Darkwind had not ex pected of him, Vree had neither eaten his victim, nor abandoned it.

  The first might have left him open to F
alconsbane's contamination-the second might have given Falconsbane a chance to recover his servant, perhaps even to revive it. Almost anything was possible to an Adept of Falconsbane's power. It only depended on whether or not he was willing to expend that power.

  Even if they buried the crow, it was possible that Falconsbane could work through it, to a limited extent. There was only one way to end such a linkage.

  Destroy it completely.

  There was always a fire burning beside the Heartstone; that memorial flame to the lives of those who had died in its explosion. Darkwind picked up the bird carefully by one wing, and took it to the stone basin containing the fire of cedar and other fragrant woods long considered sacred by both the Shin'a'in and the Tayledras.

  He raised his eyes to the shattered Heartstone, truly facing it for the first time since the disaster.

  The surface of the great pillar of stone was cracked and crazed, reflecting the damage beneath. The invisible damage was much, much worse.