by Thomas Locke
The anger still surged, granting Dally the courage to say, “That doesn’t make any sense. You’ve believed everything else I’ve said before now.”
But Edlyn simply stepped closer and said, “What’s the matter, lass?”
“I don’t . . .” She shook her head. That would have to wait. “You need a bond to the earth’s energy to recharge your wands. There’s a small one under Shona’s camp. But a much stronger river of power runs beneath these headlands.” Dally pointed to the rocky outcrop behind them. It flanked the forest and blocked the Ashanta settlement from being visible beyond the boundary stones. “You need to bring your wands here and prepare for the attack.”
Up ahead, Shona must have realized the last of their party had stopped. She returned and said, “You are making the army wait.”
Dally turned to the young ruler and demanded, “Why did you come to me that first time?”
Edlyn shifted over Dally’s manner of address. But Shona lifted one hand to the Mistress and asked, “Is this a vital issue that must be raised now?”
“I’m not . . . Perhaps.”
“The answer is, I don’t know. I have never done anything like that, before or since.” Shona unclasped her black robe and took it off. As she spoke, she folded it and held it in front of her. “My council and Oberon’s had been debating where to make our first foray into the realm. Then Elven scouts brought word of the enemy’s buildup around Three Valleys. We were already coming here to intern Joelle. It seemed a logical step. And we hoped that Hyam . . .”
“He will not be coming.” Dally disliked the harsh, grating tone she heard in her own voice. Hated even more the pain it caused Shona. But there was nothing she could do about it. “Hyam is not exhausted. He is afflicted.”
“Just as I suspected,” Edlyn said.
Shona demanded, “What ails him?”
“I was not shown.” Dally pointed back to the Ashanta settlement. “I only know that I am to return here. And beg them for their help. Either they give it, or . . .” She did not finish. She could not.
Ainya asked, “Is there anything else?”
Dally tried to shove the terrible image of the coming battle aside. She said to the Elven queen, “You have a special means of granting outsiders access to your realm. A crystal pipe or tube or something.”
Edlyn and Shona gasped together. But Ainya merely nodded and said, “You will have it.”
Dally knew she should thank the queen. But just then the internal tumult rose once more. The image of her returning and asking the Ashanta for help had carried two end results. If they agreed, there was a chance the battle might be won. Not a certainty, but at least there was reason for hope.
The second outcome had Dally pressing her fists to her middle and struggling to remain upright. Smoke and cinders enveloped her, as all the world she had ever known was reduced to death and ashes.
19
The rest of the somber company departed. But Edlyn stayed with Dally there by the Elven portal. The Elven queen remained as well, along with one elderly attendant. The sun was hot and the day silent, as though the Ashanta’s preference for quiet reached beyond the distant boundary stones and dominated this borderland.
Dally could not hide her fear over everything the emerald tunnel represented—the surging power of further images, the tornado of confusion to follow, and most of all the loss of control. Not even her mind or heart were hers then. Not even the secret recesses where she had dwelled and yearned and hidden away all the sorrow of being left alone in the world . . .
Edlyn’s voice broke in. “My dear, there is little in your recent history that gives you reason to trust anyone. Much less strangers like us. But I ask that you do just that.” She gave Dally a chance to respond, then went on, “There is clearly something else to your message that troubles you deeply. Something—”
“It’s not the message,” Dally said.
Edlyn folded her hands inside her robes. Her back was impossibly straight, her eyes clear as the sky overhead. “Will you explain that, please?”
Dally struggled over the words. She hated talking about herself like this. Especially to people as powerful and potent as these two women. But their presence indicated an opportunity. And she needed help. Desperately.
The words came in fragments, and finally she stopped mid-sentence. The impossibility of it all stifled her ability to fashion another thought.
Edlyn said, “There are two issues that we must address.”
“Three,” Ainya said quietly. “Or four.”
“Two that must be faced immediately.”
“Either the Ashanta join with us,” Ainya said, “or we face utter ruin at the hands of our dark foe.”
Edlyn tsk-tsked. “We knew that already. Dally’s final vision was merely a punctuation to our fears.”
“Then what . . .”
“Dally has a gift,” Edlyn said. “We must gain a clearer understanding. Else it could well take control and destroy her.”
Dally reached up and gripped her throat, directly over where the gorge rose to choke off her air. The confusion had a name now, the fear a reason to coalesce.
In response, Edlyn reached over and took hold of Dally’s free hand. “Calm, lass. We will solve this together.”
“In case you’ve forgotten,” Ainya exclaimed, “we are on the verge of another battle. Which means time is not our friend.”
Edlyn actually found that a reason to smile. “Forgive me, Majesty. But I have more experience with living in time’s realm. We have hours yet. The army is being positioned. Your husband and his senior officer are discussing tactics with Meda and Shona. This could well be our only time to resolve these issues. And resolve them we must, else this young lady and her gifts might well be lost to us.”
Ainya nodded. “Very well. Direct us.”
“Dally, may I please see the wand Bryna gave you?”
Dally drew it from her belt and handed it over. The stick at its base was thick as her wrist. The gemstone at its peak was almost completely covered with petrified roots.
Edlyn studied it a moment, then passed it to Ainya and said, “Would it be possible to replace the Milantian’s staff with one that represents our aims?”
At a gesture from Ainya, her elderly attendant took hold of the wand and spoke a soft word, and the ancient wood became dust in his hand. When the wand was destroyed, he held the clear glass up to the light and spoke.
Ainya said, “He detects no red force in the jewel.”
“A thousand years in the Ashanta cellars,” Edlyn said. “The taint has been cleansed.”
When Ainya translated, the elder’s only response was to draw the jewel closer to his eye. He spoke softly, causing Ainya to jerk upright.
Edlyn demanded, “What is it?”
“He is certain this is a heartstone.” Ainya took the stone from him and held it to the sun. The elder pointed and spoke, which Ainya translated as, “The jewel has all three signs. The oval shape. Its size is twice as large as most. And there at its heart, see the spark?”
“Remarkable indeed,” Edlyn said.
Ainya handed the jewel back to the elder and spoke softly. He bowed in response and walked back toward the Elven tunnel. She told Edlyn, “I have asked him to craft for us a new wand in the ancient Elven tradition.”
Edlyn watched the elder depart. “What does the heartstone signify?”
“So little is known about heartstones, and almost all of it is legend. Each orb has but one. Before today, only three were known to exist. Two form the center of the Elven crowns. The third is in Hyam’s own wand. What they might do, what extra powers they might hold, we have no idea.”
Dally said, “So that wand . . .”
“Belonged to a senior mage,” Ainya replied. “That much is certain.”
“Everything else must wait,” Edlyn said. “My dear, here is what we know. Your gift of far-seeing is something normally known only to Ashanta.”
“And Hyam,” Ainya adde
d.
“Hyam’s bloodline is a mystery. You are the astonishment, Dally. You are human. Yet you possess an Ashanta power. What is more, your talent takes strongest control when you come in contact with the Elven realm. And an ally within the Ashanta has been called to offer you a treasure they did not even know they possessed.”
The wind strengthened, causing the forest behind them to murmur its agreement. Far overhead, an eagle cried. Otherwise the valley was silent. Listening.
Ainya asked, “What does it mean?”
“Dally represents a hidden link,” Edlyn replied, directing her words at the Elven queen. “We must assume that this is all intended as a message. What this might be, and what her presence represents in our current struggle, and why we have made this contact now, are the questions she must answer.”
Dally jerked back. Not so much from Edlyn’s words as from the spark that surged through her. A resonant force that shook her entire frame. “Why me?”
“That is part of the same question, one which you must commit yourself to understanding.” Edlyn’s gaze penetrated deep. “This defines your quest, my dear. We can offer you aid. We can help you develop your powers. But the quest is yours and yours alone. Refuse it at the peril of all mankind. Fail, and we shall no doubt perish with you.”
20
The elder returned then. He was slender and scarcely reached to Dally’s shoulder, which made the new wand look overlong in his small hands. He bowed as he handed it back to Ainya, who offered it to Dally as she might a royal gift. Ainya said, “My lady.”
Dally disliked that title more each time she heard it. She did not know who she was, but a lady of the court most certainly did not figure into her character. But she merely took the wand and said softly, “It’s beautiful.”
The wood was so golden it glowed in the afternoon light. The gem was cradled within tiny strands carved like the staff, slender letters that flowed like the river down below where they stood.
Ainya said, “This is fashioned from the heart of our queen’s tree. The tree was planted at the start of our reign and will form the pyre upon which I end my time in the Elven realm. It is intended to signify the impermanence of all things.”
Dally resisted the urge to weep. “You are very kind to me, Majesty.”
“May it serve you well,” Ainya replied. “And us.”
“Come with me, Dally.” Edlyn led her up to a broad, flat rock at the center of the headland. “This is where the image showed you that the power flowed?”
“Right beneath us,” Dally confirmed.
“All right. I want you to try to follow my lead.” Edlyn unfastened the cover to her pouch and withdrew her own wand. “This is a spell that not even all senior wizards can accomplish, so you mustn’t worry if it’s beyond you. Now take your wand in your right hand and close your eyes. Reach down with your senses. Beneath the rocks and earth where you stand is a river. You may not actually discern this. Very few can. It does not matter. What is important is that you forge a link within yourself, then bond with the heartstone. After that, try to draw the river up through yourself, into the stone. When you have done this, repeat this spell.”
Even before Edlyn spoke the words, Dally felt herself filled with the sense of having already learned the words. As though the spell had formed a half-hidden portion of one of her impressions. The surging river of power was precisely where she had envisioned. The connection between herself and the force was immediate. Drawing it up was as natural as taking a breath, which she did. Through her feet, up her legs and her body, out her arm, down the length of the staff. When it touched the jewel at the wand’s end, she shouted the words. It was not possible to simply speak them as Edlyn had instructed. The power did not permit her to be quiet or soft-spoken. She cried them with a force that shook the rocks beneath her feet, or so it felt to her.
Then it was over. Only this time, Dally felt no crushing sense of confusion or mental disorder. Instead, the bond with her wand was such that the power seemed to reflect back into her being. Her bones vibrated, almost like they sang a song she had yearned to hear since childhood.
She opened her eyes to find that Edlyn and Ainya and the elder had been joined by Myron and Shona’s mages and a contingent of Elves. And all of them, each and every one, gaped at her.
Dally understood why, but not how. The gemstone at the wand’s tip burned with a light that flowed from one color to the next, green then gold then blue then clearest white. And with each shift, Dally’s vision underwent a change as well, for the light surrounded her. It seemed as though she saw the world through constantly shifting veils.
Myron asked, “Have you ever seen anything such as this?”
“Not once, not ever,” Edlyn replied. “Majesty?”
Ainya shook her head. “What do you suppose it means?”
21
By the time Edlyn had instructed those mages who were up to the task of charging wands, the sun almost rested upon the western tree line. Shona arrived and charged her own wand. She spent a few moments in conversation with her senior mage and the Elven queen. All the while, her gaze drifted toward Dally, then away. Dally had no idea how to react, but as the young queen did not motion for her to join them, she remained apart. Shona started to walk her way, then seemed to change her mind and retreated to the Elven tunnel, accompanied by Alembord. Dally watched her departure and wondered if perhaps she had done something wrong.
Soon after, Edlyn led the remaining company back toward the forest boundary, where Elven guards waited with their queen. There was no portal to be seen from that distance, of course. But Dally knew it was there. She could taste the portal’s magic like a spice in the air. The magic drew her forward and repelled her at the same time. She started to ask Edlyn if all mages could detect such a presence, when she was struck by another image.
This one came and went in a blistering assault, a blow to her senses and mind both. One quick flash was enough for her to stumble and almost fall. But the nearest mage caught her and kept her upright. Dally mumbled her thanks and tried to manage under her own steam, but as Ainya hastened them along the emerald tunnel, the only thing Dally saw clearly was an image that was no longer there.
When they arrived at the tunnel’s far end, Ainya spoke to the Elven warriors in a tongue Dally loved without understanding what was said.
Ainya then told Edlyn and her contingent, “I asked if everything was prepared. My captain replies that all we need is an enemy. For they have seen nothing.”
“The fiends are there,” Edlyn said. “Of that I have no doubt whatsoever. The lass has been right on every score thus far.”
When Ainya translated, the Elven officer frowned but said nothing more.
Dally started to speak, but her natural shyness blocked the words.
Edlyn’s tone became sharp. “Young lady, you are forbidden from such hesitations, do you hear me? Forbidden! Lives depend upon your words.”
Dally nodded and said to Ainya, “I reached out when I was in the forest. Before the first attack.”
Ainya spaced the words well apart. “You . . . reached . . . out.”
Edlyn said impatiently, “As she does with her dogs. Go on, Dally.”
“They have the capacity to mask themselves. You see only shadows. But they are there.”
Ainya had features carved from a rare stone, palest green, like a meadow seen through a dawn mist. Even her frown was majestic. “Can you reach now?”
“Do not ask that of her,” Edlyn snapped. “If the enemy is there with his fiends, what then?”
“We need to know,” Ainya insisted.
“We already know,” Edlyn said. She motioned to Dally and the others. “Come. The army awaits us.”
22
As they exited the portal, Dally was once again captured by the moment’s sheer potential.
She slowed and allowed most of the company to move ahead. Before her rose a village she had never seen before, but one she knew from conversations and books. T
hree Valleys was a misshapen fork laid out from east to west. The two northern tines had streams, the southwestern finger held the river. Cliffs rose in the distance, tightening around the river and forcing it through rapids. Dally heard the rush of water, a constant murmur that never ceased, not even in the dry season.
But there was no time for that.
Dally reached out a hand without actually seeing whose arm she gripped. She could only say it was a man. She had not really seen any of the wizards and acolytes who had joined them on the escarpment. Now she regretted the lapse.
She whispered, “Say nothing and guide me.”
An unfamiliar voice murmured, “As you say, my lady.”
“Slow down,” she said.
Even after he did so, she stumbled and might have fallen had his free hand not gripped her other arm. “I have you, my lady.”
She had only a moment to notice how he did not ask if she was all right, or inquire after this or that. Instead, his hand and strength and sheer presence offered a sense of something more powerful than just supporting her body. He was there for her. Without questioning. Which was very good indeed. For she was about to do what Edlyn would no doubt have forbidden.
Instead of being impacted by another invasion of images, Dally allowed her awareness to extend. Though perhaps “allow” was not the proper term. She had no idea whether she could have fought against the moment’s sheer intent. The one thing she was absolutely sure of was, this needed doing.
The forest was a dark hulking presence behind them. There was no hint of peace or calm to the woodlands, as she had known throughout her childhood. Of course there had been dangers then as well. But the threats had been well defined. So long as they were careful, she and her brothers had been free to skip along its boundary, gathering berries and filling hours with their pretend adventures. All that was gone now. Lost to the shadows that hid the beasts.
They were there. So many she could not count them, a great heaving mass awaiting the signal to strike.