“We traveled in three groups under Wae Ilsit, Drae Ghern, and a young warrior named Fehgri, who took the largest part of the Eifen on a route to the north. I was with Drae Ghern, a half-day’s march behind Wae Ilsit. When the Qorghal attacked, the noise came from still forests, as if the screeching of a thousand owls began at once, followed quickly by startled screams and then the sounds of battle.”
Grettune put a hand on Relin’s back, between his shoulder blades, and Lydria watched as a warm yellow glow encompassed the Eifen’s head, and he relaxed. His ears, which had moved forward and backward on the small joint that distinguished the Eifen from the other races of Eigrae, slowed, and held their position, pointing toward Lydria along with Relin’s eyes.
“Drae Ghern broke our group in two, sending the larger part back, to follow the northern route of Fehgri, and a smaller group went with him to a place where they might be safe. How he knew this, or where this place was, only he knows. Whether they are safe, only he knows.
“I stayed with a very small force and we waited for hours, hearing nothing. With as much stealth and caution as was in us, we moved forward and found the place where Wae Ilsit had been set upon. There were bodies in the woods and on the trail, and they were sadly used. The Qorghal have no fine weapons, what they have are heavy, and crude, relying on brute force to drive through, and toothed edges to peel back flesh. Sending my troops to follow the path of Fehgri, I made haste here and so I ran almost without rest and food to the shore of the lake where I engaged the fastest boat I could find.”
Even with Grettune’s help, Lydria could see Relin was weak and exhausted and so she reached up to touch his face and told him to sleep. The Eifen’s head was caught by Grettune as he slumped backward, asleep before his head was placed upon a blanket.
Below them, the fires of Brookfield were twinkling in the distance. It would take several days using the path to Brookfield, Lydria knew. Perhaps two if they used magic to help them as they had today. As the birds fly, it could be done in a day if the path were smooth and straight.
Lydria looked to her friend who had finished arranging Relin and was preparing their own campsite and dinner. “It looks as though we will be traveling for longer than I thought. Would you and Perryn consider traveling with me?”
“I have never been to the west,” Grettune replied. “Though I suppose, few have. It’s been a fair week or more since Wae Ilsit was taken – do you think they live, or do we go to join them in their fate?”
Lydria considered the question that came from both an overabundance of caution and from Grettune not wanting to leave her people. The red-headed wielder was an excellent leader; her people genuinely loved her. When Lydria had first seen the governess, she thought the people were under some enchantment brought on by Wynter. The people of Brookfield were hard working and sincere and when they raised a glass to their governess, they did so out of respect and admiration.
When Grettune took the collar of a wielder, many cried in the streets, overjoyed that someone they so loved would have the power of magic. But they were cautious as well, knowing that many had once felt the same about Wynter. But Grettune did not show off her power in the same ways Wynter had. She did not use magic lightly, but rarely and in small ways. As she had learned to use magic, Grettune was watched over by an unending stream of citizens who took it in turn to care for her and encourage her.
Lydria smiled as she looked at her friend and broke the long silence. “We will go to Brookfield and take counsel with Perryn. Perhaps by then we will learn more.”
It was deep into the afternoon of the second day that Relin and the two wielders entered Brookfield, the women exhausted from propelling their movement and leaning on Relin’s shoulders for support. When they walked into the Ice Pillar, the place went quiet for a heartbeat until the townspeople, who had cared for Grettune and Perryn as they learned magic, jumped up to relieve the Eifen of his burden and set the women down carefully, calling for food and wine.
While several patrons took care of the wielders, another went to find the barman, and Perryn came quickly from the back, calling out orders to have the wielders taken to a room at the top of the stairs. As tables were pushed aside and a half dozen people moved to follow Perryn’s instructions, the barman called for a messenger.
“Well met, Perryn. They are fine,” Relin said, answering the look the barman gave him as he rushed into the small room several moments later. Grettune and Lydria were sitting up on feather mattresses eating from a large plate of cold meat, cheese, bread, and fruit. Relin stood with Perryn as the women ate. “I told you when I started up the mountain I was in haste, and the wielders have hastened us down. I am sure they will be fine by morning. Until then, did you receive a response from Krieger or Keldon? Will they join me to rescue the Eifen?”
“Krieger will meet us in Bayside,” Perryn said, a stern look crossing his face as he prepared to finish his response. “Keldon cannot come.”
“If Keldon plans to search for his missing prisoner, he will not find him in Solwyn or any land of the north. He has fled and not even the dragons of the Frostspine know where.” Lydria pushed herself off the feather bed and accepted a quick hug of greeting from Perryn, who immediately moved past her to kneel by his wife. Lydria and Relin were silent as the two renewed their acquaintance.
“How do they not have children?”
Lydria spit some of her wine back into her mug and wiped the sleeve of her tunic across her mouth. “Kimi!”
Relin moved at once to open the door just as a bobcat’s claws were making marks below the latch. The bobcat was enormous, more than twice as large as one of his kind should be and his back easily reached Lydria’s knees. He could easily rest his front paws on Lydria’s shoulders if he stood on his back legs, which he did, licking his friend’s face and allowing Lydria to scratch his tufted ears and hug him.
After everyone had settled, Lydria told the group of Burvig and Dragaven and some of what they had learned at the top of the mountain. Relin caught up Perryn and Kimi on what had happened to the west and told the wielders of what he had asked of the barkeep before he sought them out. “Perryn has dispatched a rider to the south to let Krieger know we will soon be on our way.” Relin looked with grateful eyes at Perryn who held his wife by the shoulder and hand, each of their collars glowing dully in the well-lit room. “On my way through, Perryn sent word to those who may help us. But, wielder, you say Keldon’s quest is in vain?”
Lydria told the group of the dragons’ request - their agreement to watch over Brookfield in return for peace; and of the greens who looked to Wynter to restore their humanity before it was lost forever.
“If the dragons of Frostspine will watch over our town, there is no reason we should not help our friends,” Perryn said. Since gaining his collar, Lydria had seen a change in the sunken-chested barman she had met before the battle of Solwyn. He stood straighter, looked stronger, and spoke with the ease of someone who was confident in himself. But Perryn’s magical abilities, to Lydria, did not seem entirely remarkable. Whereas Grettune learned quickly and seemed to suffer little for what she accomplished, Perryn had difficulty with even the most rudimentary of tasks, yet he seemed not to notice his own limitations.
Relin looked to those around him and smiled. His friends were with him and he would march south with three wielders and Kimi. “I will attend to horses and provisions. You should all sleep.”
Soon after Relin left, Perryn and Grettune said their farewells and left the room to return to their own home. Kimi jumped on the bed beside Lydria and began a low, thrumming purr that she was sure could be heard in the common area below.
“Will your mate and children miss you while we’re away?” Lydria teased.
“I’m not entirely sure where any of them are, so I suppose they will not.” With no further comment, the bobcat put his head on Lydria’s hand and fell asleep.
Codex of the Prime Wielder
Our Knowledge of Our World
&nb
sp; The Stones of Power, and magic, have offered the people of Wesolk, and indeed Eigrae, an enormous opportunity. Some say it has provided us with an enormous problem. In either direction, one thing is certain -- our knowledge of all things beyond our small kingdom is limited and we will need to move beyond our borders, in a peaceful manner, to more fully understand our world.
We could remain in Wesolk with the stones that do not belong to the dragons and focus our attention on how to help the people here. It is unlikely, in my view, however, that we will be able to keep the stones within our borders. Dragons can fly, and we are powerless to stop them from doing so. As they leave and age and die, their stones will lie amongst their bones, to be found by someone in the future.
Cargile used to tell me that kingdom politics may appear local but that everything King Ahlric did, had an impact on our neighbors, just as decisions made within the borders of other kingdoms were closely watched in Bayside.
Magic must be considered in a similar manner and it must be a mission for all Wielders to move beyond their own borders and learn as much about the rest of Eigrae as is possible. That is part of the reason for the Codex – not only to pass on information of a magical nature, but to ensure that those entrusted with a Stone of Power, know and understand as much as possible about the people of all kingdoms.
We need a library.
Lydria
4 - The Emissary of Wesolk
The trip south from Brookfield began the next morning and the company made swift time down hard roads and well-traveled tracks. On horseback they rode quickly, hastened by Lydria and Grettune, and while it pained Relin that they went south instead of west, he was reassured by a message from Krieger that reached them two days into their journey.
“We will go to my home and then to Bayside,” Lydria explained after reading the message. “Krieger has arranged the use of a king’s vessel and we will head south on the Great Lake.” Travel by ship would save many days on horseback if they went to the southern banks of the lake.
Soon, not far from the main road, they saw rising from the treetops a gleaming tower of sea green and blue that could be mistaken for the Cobalt Tower of Solwyn, except that it wasn’t as tall and was more decoratively built with several smaller towers jutting out from the curved walls. These smaller towers each had large windows that curved to meet the main tower wall on either side providing wide vistas overlooking the forest and lake.
From the track they followed, the road to the tower was narrow and hardly more than a forest path but with well-tended flower gardens and open areas where trees once stood. A gleaming green door stood opposite a small bridge over a moat some twenty-feet wide that encircled the tower with clean, clear water and a variety of large, colorful fish and plant life unknown to this part of Wesolk.
“Welcome to the Tower Cargile,” Lydria said, her face beaming as she looked at her friends.
The group followed Lydria as she led them around the tower, following a cobbled path past several outbuildings and a small livestock pen. Workers waved as they passed and called out their assurance that all was well. On the eastern side of the tower, there was a wide paved avenue lined on either side with young maple trees. The road was as straight as an arrow, continuing to the edge of their sight, pointed at a meadow far beyond.
“This is where the forest was destroyed, and a young kingdom woman was given the gift she wears now around her neck.” Even Lydria turned quickly, startled by the voice. Walking from the shadows near the tower, Haustis smiled and looked at her friends, her onyx skin radiant in the sun and her tall, toned body betraying no effort as she walked toward them.
“Well met, sister. Krieger sent word you would come this way and has told me of our task.” Haustis looked to Relin and greeted him as she would an Eifen Wae. “Well met cousin – we will find our people and we will see them free.”
The Tower Cargile, as Relin soon learned, was made on the crater where Lydria and Wynter had found the Stones of Power. The enormous avenue that stretched out to the east rested upon the scar left on Eigrae when the forest was destroyed. At the end of the avenue was a road that led north toward the ruins of Eifynar and south toward Bayside. This new road had largely replaced the shabby road they had been traveling that followed the coast of the lake.
Just north of the tower stood a green crystal obelisk that was taller than a large man and marked the final resting place of Lydria’s father, Cargile. Lydria dismounted and went to the tower, leaving Grettune to tell their guests how they had spent months erecting the tower and creating the avenues.
By the time Grettune had finished her story, Lydria had returned in a change of clothing, an inky black dagger at her right hip, a short sword at her left side, and a small bow like that of Haustis across her back with four dark green feathered shafts peeking above her shoulders.
Two men who had been working in a barn on the other side of the tower approached Lydria and her friends and handed out provisions as the travelers mounted their horses.
The mood as they left the tower was bright and in the sunshine of the day, the prospect of what lay ahead seemed deceptively simple – travel west and free their friends. By the time they reached Bayside, the outlook seemed decidedly less cheery.
The weather broke within site of the city and it came hard and fast, allowing no time for the riders to take cloaks from their bags or prepare for the deluge. Dark clouds rolled over the sky and the rain cascaded in sheets soaking them to the skin. By the time they reached the city’s northern gate, the wind had picked up and battered their faces, forcing the horse’s heads down and away from the onslaught, but they plodded on eager to reach the relative quiet of a tavern before continuing to the quay.
At the gate they stopped, prepared to tell the gatekeeper where they headed, but it was Krieger who stepped out from the small stone hut, urging them to dismount and hand their horses to several boys who appeared from inside a nearby shelter.
“The horses won’t travel on the boats, and the woods beyond the lake are no place for a horse. Take what you need, we have more provisions on the boat.” Krieger turned and started to walk while the rest unloaded what they needed from their horses and followed him, maintaining their distance.
“He is nervous,” Kimi told Lydria. “His scent is a jumble of contradictions; nervous, worried, excited…concerned.”
Lydria walked next to Kimi, happy to be able to do so freely in the capital city. Since the events at Solwyn, King Edgar had made it known that bobcats were not to be hunted, and Lydria had spent a good deal of time in Bayside so that people would be comfortable both with Kimi and with her. Blue jeweled collars were very much in evidence among the city’s fashionable, even though Edgar himself thought little of the practice.
“Krieger is a complicated man, Kimi, you know this, and I am not surprised that he is worried, or excited, or concerned. That he is nervous, however, that is something else entirely.”
The group marked time in silence as they strode through the side streets along the city walls, and more than once Lydria saw members of the group look longingly inside tavern windows where it was dry and warm. The noise of the rain, however, drown out any noise from the full taverns. Their path took them out the western gate and along an avenue toward the docks where a single ship bobbed at the quay, the lights at the stern of the ship pitching in rhythm with the waves. That the vessel had been turned suggested their departure would come quickly.
Two guards stood by a wooden plank connecting the ship’s deck to the dock and they were waved aside by Krieger as he approached ahead of the rest of the group, and they snapped to attention as Lydria and the rest passed to cross the makeshift bridge. Once onboard Lydria stopped for a moment to adjust to the rolling of the wooden deck beneath her feet before following the rest through a cabin door.
Inside the cabin it was dark. The lanterns they had seen from the shore were blocked by screens inside, but Lydria could feel the space was large and in the relative quiet inside no on
e spoke, as if waiting for an explanation.
“Edgar is here.”
“That explains some of this. Anyone else?”
“There’s food.”
“Of course, there is.” Lydria smiled broadly in the darkness, reaching out feel for Kimi’s ears and barely grabbing the scruff of his neck before he moved off to investigate dinner.
“Hello, Edgar,” Lydria said at last. When she spoke, new lanterns were lit and behind the captain’s desk at the back of the room, King Edgar I, ruler of Wesolk and wielder-friend sat smiling.
“I’m sorry for the subterfuge, but it’s not often even a king can leave his castle amidst the pouring rain in the dark. People like Krieger here see assassins around every corner. Please sit down and eat – I’m assuming it was Kimi who found me out and I also assume he’s hungry.”
For the next several minutes no one sat, as they took off their wet traveling clothes and moved their packs to rest against the walls of what must, Lydria thought, be the captain’s cabin. It was large enough to accommodate everyone, but it was cramped. Low ceilings and inconvenient beams forced the taller members to walk in a constant crouch and even the smaller members such as Lydria and Grettune lowered their heads, though they had little reason for concern. As they situated themselves, Edgar moved to the side of Haustis and spoke quietly with her, holding her hands in his own and sharing a gentle kiss with her before moving away and returning to her with a glass of wine.
Lydria and Grettune asked everyone to stand still and moments later their clothes were dry, and they were warm. Lydria looked closely at Perryn who did not add his magic to their task, but gratefully acknowledged the comfort of dry clothes. After sitting and eating their meal with only small conversation, Edgar begged everyone’s attention.
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