Dawnsinger

by Janalyn Voigt

Elcon stirred. “Yes. I must have my mother and her maid tended.” He turned to Daelic. “Remain with Shae until you are certain she’s out of danger.”

  Kai remembered the young tracker’s advice. “Dorann suggests the use of kaba bark to ease attarnine poisoning.”

  Daelic frowned, but then his face cleared. “I’ve heard of this home remedy. It’s worth a try, for I don’t know how else she’ll recover.”

  “She must recover.” Kai heard the panic edging his voice and willed himself to calm.

  Elcon touched his shoulder. “Go to her. She’ll want you if she wakes. I will return”—He squared his shoulders—“I’ll return after I see my mother’s body laid upon its bier.”

  “Lof Frael!” Craelin’s voice halted Elcon on his way to the door. “Let me accompany you. You must not venture forth alone.”

  Elcon stared at Craelin. “Change has indeed come to Torindan.”

  ****

  The stone stair climbed into darkness. Flailing at cobwebs in her hair, Shae swayed and fought to keep her balance. At the edge of hearing, someone screamed. A pair of flaemlings escaped a gilded cage to fly past her. She wept, although she didn’t know why she found sorrow in their freedom. Darkness searched her soul, seeking entry.

  As she climbed, a strange keening grew in pitch and volume. On a landing partway up, Eufemia, an expression of infinite sadness on her face, waited with lanthorn in hand. Shae started toward her.

  “No!” Kai’s cry echoed through the cavern. “Live!”

  As Shae looked for him her steps slowed, and then halted. She turned from Eufemia, only to trip and fall into blackness. She fell for a long time, faster and faster, until she landed in a feather tick, and sank into its suffocating softness. She fought to free herself, to breathe, to see.

  Arms caught her. She woke, clammy and shivering. Cool air bathed her lungs. A blurred face hovered above hers. “Who are you?”

  “Rest, Shae.”

  “Kai?”

  “Daelic and I will keep you in safety.”

  Safety. The word settled over her. As hands lowered her into a feather tick, she yielded to sleep.

  She opened her eyes to daylight falling through tall arched windows in paths of light across a floor covered in lush mats. She did not know this room or how she came to wake here. This seemed her whole difficulty until memory intruded with images of Maeven, Chaeldra, and Eufemia. She closed her eyes, but could not shut out the pain of the memories. Did Maeven now lie dead? Would Eufemia never take up her embroidery again?

  “She wakes.”

  Shae turned her head toward Elcon’s voice. He sat nearby, beside Kai. Both wore expressions of weariness and concern.

  Kai leaned forward. “How do you feel?”

  She considered his question. “Weak and strange—and my stomach pains me.” She didn’t speak of the other sort of pain that throbbed within her soul. “Chaeldra—”

  “Yes,” Elcon said, “we know. Daelic saw her leave Mother’s chambers. Craelin searches for her now. Eufemia—did not live.”

  An image of Chaeldra’s hands on Eufemia’s throat rose before Shae. “And Maeven?”

  The tears sliding down Elcon’s face gave answer enough. “Our mother will lie beside Timraen by morning.”

  Shae’s own tears welled. “And so I have lost her again.”

  Elcon sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand. “We have lost our mother, but let us hold fast to one another.” She turned into his arms and wept with him.

  When Shae withdrew at last from Elcon’s embrace, she noticed the glint of tears in Kai’s eyes. She longed to comfort him, but held back, for she didn’t know her welcome. She touched Elcon’s arm. “Where does our mother lie? Let me go to her.”

  Kai and Elcon exchanged glances, and Elcon shook his head. “You are not well enough to walk.”

  “Whether or not I can walk, I must go to her.” Determination gave her voice a hardened edge despite her weakness. “I have promised to sing her death song, and I shall do so.”

  “Well spoken,” Elcon approved. “You shall sing for her tomorrow as she wished. I’ll allow you to see her before then, but you must take care, my sister. You almost joined her in death.” He stood and looked down at her. “Praectal Daelic watched over you most of the night. I’ll have my servant wake him. He’ll want to check you. Let Daelic tend you, and spend this day gathering your strength.” Without waiting for her response, Elcon left the room.

  Kai touched her forehead. “I am sorry for what you have endured. If I could, I would take your grief on myself instead.”

  His words brought a fresh onslaught of tears. “I know your heart, Kai. But we must each bear our own burdens. You have shouldered mine too long.”

  He sat in the place Elcon had vacated on the edge of the bed and took her hand. “Things have changed, I know, but I still love you, Shae. That remains true.”

  She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I love you too, Kai.”

  He cradled her hand. “Can you remember—did Chaeldra say anything? It could be important.”

  Shae cast back in memory, frowning when she recalled things she would rather not remember. “Yes. She said something about becoming Lof Raelein. Kai, could the Contender be female? What do the legends tell?”

  “I don’t think it’s likely.”

  Elcon spoke from the doorway. “It makes no sense! How can Chaeldra, a mere servant, make such a claim—”

  Kai spread his hands. “Perhaps madness afflicts her.”

  Chaeldra had laughed after Eufemia accused her of succumbing to just this malady. A suspicion crept over Shae. “What if she doesn’t act alone? Could someone have promised to make her Lof Raelein?” Had the Contender, whoever he might be, orchestrated Chaeldra’s actions?

  Kai went to the window. “That does make sense. We can hope Craelin finds her and that she’ll provide answers.”

  A servant with faded red hair appeared in the doorway. “Lof Frael, I pray you will forgive the intrusion, but Steward Benisch waits to conclude last night’s business.”

  “Send him away again, Anders. I can’t think of such things now. Tell him I will summon him when I can. Meanwhile, I’ll trust his judgment on household matters.”

  Daelic entered as Anders withdrew. The Praectal looked fresh, despite the fact that he had spent a foreshortened night in a strange bed. “Greetings, Shae.” He laid a hand on her forehead and peered at her.

  Shae murmured a reply and submitted to Daelic’s examination. At length, he straightened. “You will improve little by little, with rest and a gentle diet. Already you’ve made gains.” He glanced at Kai. “I must thank Dorann for his suggestion to use kaba bark as an anecdote. I might not have come upon a remedy otherwise.”

  At the sympathy in the faces around her, Shae blinked away tears. “Dorann? Who is Dorann?”

  “A tracker present when I brought you to Elcon’s chambers. His advice may have saved your life.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Then I must thank him.”

  Shae looked about the lavish room and guessed that she rested in the shraen’s inner chamber. It could be no other, for no other bedchamber would match this opulence. Marble gleamed at mantle and hearth, and gilt-painted carvings adorned all wooden surfaces save the strongwood floor. Tapestries wrought in jewel tones and depicting feats from history hung on the walls. The white and blue ceiling arched overhead with a carved and gilded rose of Rivenn at its center.

  She returned her attention to Daelic. “You have my thanks as well.”

  Daelic’s cheeks went pink.

  Elcon joined them beside the bed and gave Shae a gentle smile. “You will meet Dorann and his brother Eathnor soon. Meanwhile, you must take Daelic’s advice and rest.”

  But she resisted the tug of sleepiness. “What of Eufemia’s wake? May I not attend it? Without her intervention, I might not now live.”

  Elcon glanced at Kai, who shook his head. “She lies already beneath the sod. They put her to rest early this
morning. What little family she claimed dwells far to the south in Morgorad. The messenger we dispatched will not soon reach them. We could not delay.”

  The idea of the quiet, willowy maiden lying in a grave brought tears to choke Shae. Her mind crowded—not with scenes of death but with images of life. She saw again Eufemia’s youthful grace and the beauty of Maeven’s smile. Her tears spilled over, flooding her with a new resolve. She would fulfill Prophecy and defeat the Contender, or die in the attempt.

  Part Two: Journey

  14

  Decision

  Maeven of Braeth lay upon a draetenn bier in a bed of early flowers, bathed in the light of many candles. She looked as beautiful in death as she had in life. Arrayed in white-and-gold splendor, her burnished hair woven with flowers, she might have been a bride awaiting her bridegroom’s kiss. Shae smiled through tears at the notion. Maeven journeyed to Shaenn Raven, the Land Beyond, to join Timraen, the bridegroom she’d lost in youth.

  Shae stood beside Kai in the Allerstaed. In times past, she would have leaned into his support without thought. Now she held back, for much remained unspoken, and she no longer knew the timbre of their love.

  She climbed the steps to stand beside her mother’s bier on the dais before the altar. As she approached, a trick of light made Maeven’s eyelids seem to quiver, but the pale cheek felt cold against Shae’s lips. One last kiss, Mother, to release you in forgiveness.

  Kai waited in the shadows, affording her privacy, but she knew he wouldn’t leave her alone for safety’s sake. Chaeldra had eluded capture and might still mean Shae harm, or others could attack.

  Shae knelt and rested her forehead on the edge of the bier as the cloying scent of early flowers closed about her. Their scent would ever bring her to her dead mother’s side. Sketchy prayers came to her lips and spilled over in soft murmurings. Lof Yuel, let her pass to You with ease… Bring justice to lend peace… Thank You that I could know her love… Help me live as a true daughter...

  Standing on legs that wobbled, Shae steadied herself against the bier and gazed at her mother’s face to commit it to memory. As she stumbled away with tears blinding her, Kai caught her elbow, and she let herself lean on him at last.

  ****

  Kai gave Shae over to Craelin and Daelic, who waited just inside the side door at the rear of the Allerstaed. The two guardians bent toward Shae as they progressed along the short, vaulted corridor that connected to the great hall.

  Formality required that the Lof Raelein’s body remain under guard, so Kai ignored his sudden urgent desire to follow and comfort Shae. Steeling himself for a long vigil, he returned to his post to perform this last, bittersweet service for Maeven.

  Gazing at her still features, he searched for signs of the vibrant soul that had enlivened what was now a silent corpse. He couldn’t find them in the face before him, sunken into lines it would not have known in life. Maeven no longer inhabited this shell.

  Where did she abide now? Had she already gone to Shaenn Raven, the land beyond the veil, or did some tenuous connection to her lifeless body remain? Perhaps her spirit kept its own vigil beside him. A tingle laddered up his spine, but he pushed the odd fancy aside. He could not let imaginings unnerve him. Wherever Maeven dwelt now, he wished her the peace life had denied her.

  Images drifted to him, disjointed by the passage of time. Maeven rode, as when he’d first seen her, sidesaddle on a white charger, her long burnished hair flying about her. His young heart had roused at the sight. He smiled now, to think of the futility of his childish passion. Even if their difference in age had not separated them, Maeven’s glances were only for Timraen. They made a striking couple. Timraen’s large frame dwarfed Maeven, his fair hair bright against the muted copper of her tresses. They contrasted in other, less obvious ways, too. Timraen’s calm nature sparked at Maeven’s zest for life. In turn, his measured introspection settled her tempestuousness. Kai outgrew his childish infatuation, but never the admiration Maeven inspired.

  The memory of Timraen lying wounded after taking a poisoned arrow from an unknown bow made Kai frown. Despite her grief and rage, Maeven had accepted the Sword and Scepter of Faeraven from Timraen’s hand. The rousing speech she’d given at her coronation had stilled the tongues of those who objected to a Lof Raelein ruling the alliance of Faeraven alone.

  Without reserve, Kai had bent both knee and heart to Maeven’s service. Now she needed him no longer.

  None can command the allegiance of a guardian of Rivenn. It must be surrendered of free will. But I do ask that you give yourself to Elcon’s service.

  Kai’s mind recoiled. He had wanted to grant Maeven’s request, but caution held him back, just as it had when his father asked him to serve Whellein. In truth, Kai would rather keep his freedom and search for answers in Daeven’s disappearance. Unlike his father, he could not let go of the hope his brother might yet live. It rankled to embrace Daeven’s death with no more proof than the board from the side of a ship and the assumptions of a grizzled sea captain. He sighed now in the knowledge that, no matter how pressing, his quest for the truth of Daeven’s disappearance must wait. He knew his course now.

  ****

  The Allerstaed could not hold all who came to honor Maeven in death. They crowded into the nave, jammed the side corridors behind the pillars, and spilled into the rear archway. Maeven, veiled now in a pall of silk gauze, her bier engulfed in great drifts of flowers offered by many hands, waited before the altar.

  Kai and Craelin, in gold and green ceremonial garb, stood at opposite ends of the bier. Elcon, near the black-robed priest on the dais behind the bier, watched a procession of Kindren file by to anoint, with flowers and tears and prayers, their beloved Lof Raelein.

  Shae, seated in the quire with the musicians, knew that Dithmar and Weilton watched over her from nearby. But for the secrets that bound her, she could take her place on the dais beside Elcon. Freaer, who played a dirge among his fellows, glanced her way, but his gaze held no pull for her today. She felt little save the sharp pain of loss.

  A priest entered from an archway behind the chancel, waited until the last of the mourners passed the bier, and then took his place before the altar. His very bearing commanded quiet. “We gather this day to honor Maeven of Braeth, Raelein of Rivenn and Lof Raelein of Faeraven. She lived well and honorably.”

  The priest spoke at length to describe Maeven’s early life and capture by garns, her rescue by Timraen, and her rulership of Rivenn and Faeraven. Shae tried to listen but, as weariness clouded her mind, she struggled to pull her attention from the vague pathways it wandered.

  The priest called for others to acknowledge Maeven, and Elcon stepped forward. “She never faltered in her duty.”

  Others spoke also, but Shae heard little of what they said. Elcon’s words preoccupied her wholly, for they seemed the sum of Maeven’s existence. Whether it had been right or wrong for her to send Shae away at birth no longer mattered. Maeven had, at great cost, done what she thought was right.

  In a sudden silence, the priest signaled Shae, and she went forward to join her mother’s body before the altar. But the small exertion made her head swim, and she swallowed against a dry throat as she waited for the chamber to stop tilting.

  You will sing my death song. Promise me this.

  She couldn’t remember the words.

  Why had she thought she could do this? She should have asked Maeven to release her from her promise.

  But then, as her heart pounded, a soft touch soothed her mind.

  She met Elcon’s sea-green gaze across their mother’s bier—and understood. Here, then, was the other soul that had touched hers with peace in the night.

  She drew breath and sang, trembling with the effort. The ancient song, the mael lido, said to provide a soul’s safe passage to Lof Yuel, eddied through the Allerstaed. The melody climbed in pitch, and then fell to conclude on a sustained low note. Shae bowed her head.

  I have longed to call you daughter.
>
  ****

  “Come in and bolt the door. We have dark matters to discuss,”

  Kai obeyed Elcon’s instructions and leaned against the strongwood door as he glanced about. He wasn’t surprised to see most of the faces grouped around Elcon’s meeting table.

  “Would that we could take time to mourn my mother before addressing matters of state. We don’t have that luxury. The blame for the wingabeast riders attacking Norwood and Westerland has been laid by the Elder at my door. All trade with them has ceased.” Elcon sighed. “And now I hear rumors of discord within Faeraven itself.”

  In the silence that followed Elcon’s announcement, a strain from DawnSinger’s Lament sang in Kai’s memory: The Contender fell ’til the wane of Rivenn, for then released, he will bring division. He will gather armies and bring forth war to devour Elderland forevermore…

  “The time for heroism has come.”

  As Kai looked into Elcon’s face and saw Timraen’s son, Elcon paused to look at each of them in turn.

  “I have chosen all of you to guard and guide Shae of Whellein on a journey of great urgency and peril. I count upon you to lay down your lives, if needed, in her aid. Make preparations now, but in secret. Tell no one, except to provide an excuse to cover your absence. Shae’s life, and your own, depends on secrecy and stealth. You will depart in a matter of days for Maeg Waer, the forsaken mountain where Caerric Daeft lies.”

  Aerlic tilted his head. “What business can a maid have in the Cave of Death?”

  Eathnor gave a low whistle. “Is there no other way?”

  Dorann, if possible, became even more still.

  Guaron’s chair thudded as he sat forward, his hair lifting in a straw-colored halo. “No one has ever returned from Caerric Daeft!”

  Besides Kai, only Craelin did not react. Kai guessed Elcon would have already told him the secret of Shae’s identity. His stomach knotted at the thought. He knew he could trust Craelin with Shae’s life, but a secret told can never be untold.