by Thomas Locke
Ainya said, “When you are ready, you must come and reside with my clan and learn our tongue.”
Dally quailed at the prospect of being surrounded by Elven magic and all that portended. But all she said was, “Thank you, Majesty.”
Bryna said, “First she will come as a guest of our people. We have much to discuss, this far-seeing human and I.”
Hyam said, “It is time for you to take the next step of bonding with your orb. Move away from us and speak a spell, and utter it using the orb as your focal point.”
“Here, first give me your wand,” Connell said. As she moved in close he murmured, “Do us all the great favor of aiming your force away from us, yes?”
As Dally crossed the field, alone this time, she felt as though the orb spoke with her.
Someone called out, “Is everything all right?”
She did not reply. She could not even say who had spoken. But she did not mind the interruption. In fact, their concern carried a welcome reassurance.
She was not exactly certain what was to happen or what she was to do, and then she was. It was that simple. She simply directed her unspoken question to the orb, which was far more than a vessel of power, she realized. It carried the ability to assist, to clarify, to instruct. The bonding was a process that reached in two directions. Dally now moved in keeping with her quest. She had never felt so vividly the link between her direction and who she was, this woman who had remained hidden inside the garden shed for years of lonely yearnings. Now she was alone once more, and yet it was by her own free will. Part of this chrysalis process. Growing her wings. Finding the power to lift free from the earth.
Dally shut her eyes and lifted the staff. The orb gleamed so strongly it blazed through her eyelids, illuminating the reaches where she sought to travel.
She would never again need to find an Elven portal to touch the power required to far-see. Nor would she ever again fear the action. Of that she was utterly certain.
Everything was changed now. She knew that as she accepted the orb’s gift of Elven forces and Ashanta far-seeing. Dally allowed herself to be swept away.
She had no idea how long she stood there. Only that when she returned, the forest shadows stretched across the oval field. She walked back to where the company waited, her way illuminated by the orb’s glow. She stood there, studying the myriad faces who had come to mean so much to her.
Finally she said to Edlyn, “I know the answer to the question you continue to ponder.”
Edlyn smiled so tightly her eyes filmed over. “Speak then, my dear.”
“You want to know why the enemy came to Three Valleys.”
“It could not be for this orb,” Edlyn said. “Otherwise he would already have it in his possession.”
“And yet he hunted such an orb,” Dally said. “Whose force was so strong he remained blinded by it. Unable to realize that yet another was here. Within his grasp.”
Connell said, “There is another orb in the Three Valleys?”
“No,” Dally replied.
Hyam smiled at her then. It was more than mere approval. He looked at her as . . .
An ally.
Dally said, “There are three. One in the valley’s heart. And two more together. Forged into one mightier than all the others. Where the five currents of power flow . . .”
Bryna exclaimed, “By our settlement?”
“Just outside your boundary stones, beneath the headlands.” Dally turned to Shona. “Where you will build your palace.”
Thomas Locke is a pseudonym for Davis Bunn, an award-winning novelist with worldwide sales of seven million copies in twenty languages. Davis divides his time between Oxford and Florida and holds a lifelong passion for speculative stories. He is the author of Emissary and Merchant of Alyss in the Legends of the Realm series, as well as Fault Lines, Trial Run, and Flash Point in the Fault Lines series. Learn more at www.tlocke.com.
Books by Thomas Locke
LEGENDS OF THE REALM
Emissary
Merchant of Alyss
The Golden Vial
FAULT LINES
Fault Lines
Trial Run
Flash Point
RECRUITS
Recruits
Renegades
tlocke.com
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