Dawnsinger

by Janalyn Voigt

  “I ask that you freely give your service.” Elcon’s voice rang out as the protests died down. “I would have you set both hand and heart to this task. It will not succeed unless you do. The very fabric of life for all Elderland rests upon this journey.”

  Silence followed, so thick it pressed the ears, as those about the table exchanged glances.

  Elcon waited in silence.

  Craelin stood. “You have my service.”

  Aerlic pushed back his chair and stood. “Tomorrow I pledge fealty to my new Lof Shraen. I will follow your wishes with all my heart.”

  “I don’t know your purposes, Lof Frael.” Eathnor rose with lithe grace. “But I trust you.”

  Dorann stood beside his brother.

  Guaron pressed a finger to the cleft in his chin, slanted a look at Elcon, and then stood. “You’ll need me to tend the wingabeasts.”

  Kai, standing with the others, stated the truth. “I will protect Shae with my life.”

  ****

  Whispers hissed, on the edge of hearing.

  “Who’s there?” Shae peered into the shadows behind her, the lamp she carried faint in the cavernous darkness. Something scuttled away just out of range, but when she turned her head, nothing showed itself. A shriek rent the air, then fell into echoes.… Her lamp flickered. Something caught in her hair but freed itself with a piercing whistle. Small creatures ran across her slippered feet.

  She raised the lamp high and peered into the dimness.

  Eyes gleamed back at her, accompanied by the sound of laughter.

  “Stop!” She rushed down the stairs, but her foot found no purchase, and she lurched forward. She tried to cry out, but only croaked. Tears slid down her cheeks. Flames shot upward from a great chasm, bending toward her.

  A whisper breathed through the air. “Walk in the light, Shae. Trust…”

  She came to herself with a jerk and lay still as her heartbeats slowed. Only a dream. Such dreams troubled her often of late.

  She’d earlier dismissed Laela, the servant Elcon had provided her, and had fallen asleep without drawing the bed curtains or window hangings. Light now penetrated the window at the edges of its shutters and glinted in bars across the wooden floorboards.

  Something in the quality of that light called her to the window. She threw open the shutters and gasped.

  Low in the dawn sky over Torindan hung an orb of surpassing brightness. Shae shielded her eyes and stepped back.

  This could only be Brael Shadd, the DayStar of Prophecy.

  15

  Coronation

  “Elcon, son of Timraen, son of Shaelcon, son of Talan, son of Kunrat, son of Aelfric, son of Rivenn, receive the Circlet of Rivenn.” The priest lowered the ancient circlet of bejeweled gold to Elcon’s head.

  Kai shifted to see better from within the ranks of the guardians of Rivenn waiting beneath the great clerestory window arches.

  Elcon, arrayed in blue and gold ceremonial dress, rose from his knees and faced his people.

  “A new shraen rises over Rivenn.” Kai barely caught the priest’s announcement in the crowd’s uproar.

  When the tumult ebbed, the priest laid a scabbard in Elcon’s hands. “Elcon, Shraen of Rivenn, receive the Sword of Rivenn.”

  Elcon unsheathed the famed weapon, forged for Rivenn in the Viadrel, the Flames of Virtue at Lohen Keil. He raised the sword, and as it gleamed along its length, Kai almost fancied the blade lit with fire at Elcon’s touch.

  As the applause faded, Elcon kissed and sheathed the great sword.

  “Elcon, Shraen of Rivenn, receive the Scepter of Faeraven.” Rubies, diamonds, and emeralds glittered against the glint of gold as the staff passed into Elcon’s hands. When he turned back to his people, gasps came at its beauty. Elcon raised the scepter, and its jewels winked in many colors beneath a rampant gryphon clutching a star-sapphire orb.

  “Worthy Kindren, receive Shraen Elcon of Rivenn, Lof Shraen of Faeraven,” the priest pronounced. Another wave of applause and cheering, more fervent than the first, broke over the crowd and deafened Kai.

  The guardians, clad in surcoats of green and gold, their banners ablaze with the unfurling rose of Rivenn and the rampant gryphon of Faeraven, advanced by regiment and bent their knees in a unified pledge of fealty to Elcon.

  Kai waited his turn, putting from his mind the unhappiness his choice would cause. Like Craelin and Weilton, he would face Elcon alone. When at last Elcon called his name, he walked across the shape of a gryphon laid into the floor and climbed the steps to the platform. Kai bowed before Elcon, who stood at its center on an inlaid unfurling rose.

  “Do you, Kai of Whellein, give your fealty to Elcon of Rivenn, Lof Shraen of Faeraven?” The priest intoned the inquiry.

  “I give it and will keep it with all my heart.” Kai gave the ceremonial answer and knelt before his new Lof Shraen. He’d not anticipated the relief that now eased his burden of sorrow. He hoped his parents would come to understand the choice he’d made. The new Lof Shraen, as an untried youth, already faced opposition in certain quarters. He needed the benefit of Kai’s experience. Besides, Kai couldn’t bring himself to abandon Shae with the fate of Elderland resting in her hands. He would remain at Torindan in the hope of helping her.

  “Rise.”

  Kai obeyed and squared his shoulders.

  Elcon extended a sword by its hilt. “This sword can defend both flesh and spirit, and it can guide the lost to safety by its light. Shaelcon wielded Whyst in many conquests of garns, for it was forged to glow at their approach. Timraen recovered this, his father’s sword, at the rout of Pilaer, but it has rested until now. Take it and carry it in my service.”

  Kai’s throat tightened as his hand closed over cold steel. He hoisted the sword, enjoying its balanced weight, and a cheer went up. Kai faced the crowd, but his smile faltered.

  He couldn’t name the thing that alerted him, but something was terribly wrong.

  ****

  Shae smiled through a haze of tears. Kai had never seemed nobler than when he bent his knee to Elcon. Murmurs of approval came from the crowd around her, but also murmurings of another sort. She exchanged uneasy glances with Eathnor, who stood beside her, and Dorann, on her other side.

  The presence chamber overflowed with Kindren, but as whispers hissed and faces tensed the crowd seemed on edge.

  How she longed for the ceremony to end. The pageantry dazzled, but she wearied of standing, although she would not let on to Eathnor and Dorann—at least not yet. She’d only just convinced Elcon of her ability to attend his coronation. She didn’t want to admit to weakness so soon.

  Two carved and canopied seats reposed on the throne platform, framed by three arches in the wall behind them. Above the throne arches, scenes from the ballads Kai had taught Shae unfolded. Here dwelt Shaelcon in full battle array, as yet undefeated, Timraen brandished Sword Rivenn in the ruins of Pilaer, and Talan subdued a bucking wingabeast. Above these paintings sprawled a depiction of the Kindren entering Elderland at Gilead Riann.

  Light fell in beams through tall clerestory windows above pillars that marched down the chamber on either side. Beyond them, leaves swayed in treetops, but no cooling breeze reached Shae here in the press of bodies. Her scalp prickled, sweat beaded her brow, and she sagged against Dorann.

  His head turned in solicitude. “Are you well?”

  She pulled away to stand alone, but clung to his arm. “It’s warm in here.”

  Eathnor and Dorann exchanged glances and, without a word, turned toward the rear arches. She went with them without complaint, for she must lie down or fall down. Her attendance of the coronation so soon after the funeral had proven unwise after all. She should marshal her strength for the journey she would soon make now that the DayStar had appeared.

  The two trackers fought through the crowd, shielding her, but a sudden murmuring halted them. Shae looked back. Freaer stood at the foot of the throne platform, commanding the eye not only for his beauty but also for t
he strong emotion that highlighted him. Without thought, she reached across time and space to touch his soul.

  The darkness of bitterness, pride and exhileration flowed into her like rising bile. How had she missed the arrogance that defined Freaer? Her heart pounded. She had to break free from the tide of emotion or drown.

  She found Kai among the other guardians and tried to catch his eye. He didn’t notice but, with his body held as if coiled to spring, he seemed to need no warning.

  Freaer stepped forward without a summons. “Lof Shraen Elcon!” Freaer’s voice ripped through the crowd. “I have come to collect my reward!”

  Elcon’s eyes narrowed. “Reward?”

  “Yes. Lof Raelein Maeven allowed me a reward for forgoing my right to sing her death song.”

  The crowd roared, and Elcon held up a hand for quiet. “I know nothing of such a promise, Freaer, but we can discuss this in private.”

  “I will take my reward now, as Lof Raelein Maeven wished.” Freaer spoke in a casual voice that belied the excitement Shae felt drumming within him.

  Three cloaked and hooded figures stepped from the front of the crowd to surround him.

  “I choose Shae of Whellein as my reward.”

  The blood rushed in Shae’s ears. Instinct warned her to flee, but her feet wouldn’t budge. The crowd around her turned, and bone crunched on bone. Dorann slid to the floor. Eathnor, knife in hand, faced off against three assailants. The mob closed about her. Rough hands grabbed her, pulling in different directions. Shae moaned.

  “Hold off. You’ll kill her.” A voice with a burr from the south of Elderland spoke above her head. Hands caught and hoisted her into restraining arms. The odors of sweat and foul breath overpowered her, but at least she could see what was happening.

  Several guardians with drawn swords already moved to help Eathnor, who was holding his own. Others rushed toward her captors.

  Elcon still faced Freaer. “Leave this madness! My mother would never give you authority to make such a claim, and you shall not do so by force!”

  “I have a letter by her hand and stamped with her seal stating I may name my compensation.”

  “By forgery or trickery, I’ll warrant!”

  “You have no proof of that. By doubting your mother’s authority, you call into question your own. Indeed, a prior claim to the thrones of Rivenn and Faeraven exists.”

  Freaer motioned, and those standing with him threw back their hoods. The names of three shraens from ravens to the south—Veraedel of Glindenn, Taelerat of Selfred, and Lenhardt of Morgorad—rang through the crowd.

  Elcon signaled the guardians, and the scrape of swords unsheathing carried throughout the chamber.

  Kai held Whyst at the ready and his shield before him as he surged to the platform and positioned himself between Elcon and Freaer.

  Freaer drew no weapon, but Shae felt the raw whipcord of power that lashed Kai, making his sword arm waiver. One of the three shraens lunged toward Kai with sword drawn. Although Kai parried and shifted, he lurched back. Blood marred the beauty of his green and gold surcoat. Whyst clattered away as he fell.

  “Kai!” Shae’s cry came out a whisper.

  Kai lay motionless.

  The three shraens rushed from behind Freaer to cut Elcon off from the guardians’ protection. Amid the cries and clangor of fighting, the crowd pressed forward.

  With Sword Rivenn glinting in his hand, Elcon faced the three shraens. The priests sank to their knees behind him.

  Aerlic, Guaron, and several other guardians Shae didn’t know joined Eathnor to challenge those who held her. As a maelstrom raged around her, Shae’s captor carried her toward the entrance but, in the crush of bodies, made little progress.

  Freaer unleashed a thunderbolt of power that left her gasping. Elcon went to his knees before the invisible blow, and Freaer’s rush of triumph slammed into her with savage force. She drank unwillingly of Freaer’s lust for Elcon’s blood and understood what she should have guessed before. A soul laden with such darkness could only belong to the son of Meriwen of Old, the Contender of Prophecy. He claimed her in order to destroy her, to bring her into his depravity, to darken her soul. She saw with a shudder what he meant her to become.

  She had to free herself.

  The hands on Shae lifted her across her captor’s shoulder, and as her face rammed against his rough woolen jerkin, the stench of smoke and sweat assaulted her. Gripped by despair, she struggled without heart. If only she’d spoken of her misgivings about Freaer to Kai. Why had she allowed his web of fascination to bind her? The image of a bloodstained whispan tree rose before her. She had seen but not understood its warning.

  Rousing herself, she looked inward to the place only Lof Yuel could touch. The clamor of fighting faded, and she no longer saw outwardly or felt arms binding her. White light flared to life within her and grew to a blazing fire. With the ease of thought, she sent it forth.

  Freaer cried out, and his inner eye swung toward Shae. The backlash, when it came, did not touch her. Instead, her captor screamed and fell. The floor rose up to smite Shae, and she slid into enfolding darkness.

  ****

  Kai forced himself to lie still and listen. He’d fallen as much out of confusion as from his injury, which could not be deep. His chainmail had saved him, but his side throbbed and blood-loss leached his strength. Why had he lowered his guard? He remembered now…a sweetish stench of death…the image of a new tomb opening…. He almost had not defended himself. The hair on the back of his neck still lifted in warning.

  An uproar told him the guardians advanced, and he opened his eyes. The three shraens approached the throne platform—and Elcon.

  He settled his breathing. He could not let this happen. Neither could he move before time. He shifted his head by measures. Could he find Whyst? The cool luster of metal caught his attention. He marshaled his strength and rehearsed the move he would make.

  A sudden bellow from Freaer chilled his blood. Now! He rolled, caught Whyst, and staggered to his feet. He’d planned to strike the nearest of the three shraens, but he hadn’t realized the room would spin or calculated for his sword arm wavering.

  Shraen Taelerat turned and smiled, almost as if they exchanged pleasantries.

  The chamber righted itself, and relief shot through Kai. He rallied his strength.

  Taelerat shifted, gathering himself for a blow.

  Kai feinted left. As Taelerat followed, Kai shifted right in time to nick his opponent’s sword arm.

  Taelerat roared and thrusted, but Kai parried and pulled back. Pain made him pant. He followed with a lunge, but his balance betrayed him.

  Taelerat’s expression grew smug, but Kai kept his own face blank, for he saw his opponent’s next move. Taelerat did not disappoint him. With a battle cry, he jabbed toward Kai’s injured side.

  Kai spun to the left and, before Taelerat could recover, Whyst cut toward his side.

  Taelerat’s eyes widened as blood oozed from a new wound. He reeled away.

  But the maneuver had cost Kai his remaining strength. He fought to pull Whyst upright with arms that shook. The great blade lowered, and Kai fell to his knees.

  With a smile, Taelerat gathered himself for another attack.

  Although he faced certain death, Kai didn’t bow his head. The clang of steel from the throne platform told him that Elcon still fought. But how long could he hold out? Bile burned Kai’s throat. If he gave up, he would fail Elcon and leave Shae when she needed him most.

  He groaned, straining. Sweat poured from him. In his hands, Whyst lifted and steadied. With no strength to do more, Kai waited.

  Taelerat charged with a roar, too fast for proper balance.

  Kai saw his chance and took it. He parried, but Whyst left his hands, wrenching his wrists. He dropped and rolled.

  Taelerat fell over Kai and landed with a grunt, a victim of his own eagerness. With enough strength, Kai could leap on his opponent and disarm him, but such an option lay beyond
him now. Instead, he drew his dagger and waited.

  16

  Flight from Torindan

  “She lives.” As voices and touches recalled Shae, she fought to lift heavy eyelids, aware of two kinds of pain.

  “Kai.” The name came on a breath.

  “Open your eyes, dear one.”

  She managed the feat with a gasp. “You died!”

  Kai smiled. “Ah, but I live.”

  She squinted to see him in faint light. “Do I dream? I saw you die!”

  He put a finger to his lips. “Keep your voice down! I’m a little worse for wear, but still with you.”

  She sat up and, needing to reassure herself, reached out to cup his cheek.

  He caught and kissed her hand.

  Shae sobbed and leaned into his arms. Kai swayed as he took her weight but cradled her against his heart, which pulsed steadily. She gave way to tears, but then hiccupped on a laugh. “Don’t scare me like that again!”

  “My apologies.” His voice throbbed beneath her ear.

  At the memory of blood flowing from his side, she arched away to look at him. “Are you well? And Elcon?”

  “You must lower your voice, Shae. Elcon fared better than I, for he received no injury. If Taelerat hadn’t thrown himself on my dagger I would not now live. Pain and blood loss weaken me, but Daelic tells me I’ll recover. And you? How do you fare?” His arms tightened. “When I saw that mob take you…”

  “My head hurts.” She pulled away, afraid that by leaning against him she was causing him pain. She strained to see in the dimness. Guaron and Aerlic, their faces limned by the moonlight beneath clerestory windows, kept watch near the rear archway. She knew this place. “Why are we in the Allerstaed?”

  “It’s a precaution, after all that’s happened.” Kai answered her in a quiet voice. “Guardians hide outside, watching the entrances.”

  “Dorann… Eathnor…”

  “They fought well but sustained injuries. They sleep, there.” He waved toward two dark shapes lying motionless in the nave below the chancel.