The mass of bodies, each with their own purple cover, each carried by warriors, was a potent reminder to everyone present about the cost paid. The price exacted by conspirators wanting more power and influence. The cost of protecting the heartland.
There was so much death. The sweet scent of it choked Arrow’s lungs, her throat raw with pain, a constant stream of tears down her face. She could barely speak the words for Serran’s ritual, eyes hot as the vicandula rose. She put the soul stone into the box the Palace attendants had provided, a beautifully carved box provided for every one of the fallen. The box would go with her back to House Liathius where it would be placed in the House’s remembrance room. It would be the first time she had seen one of those rooms.
It was only when she was walking out of the graveyard, trying to blot the flow of tears with another handkerchief, that she realised everyone else was doing the same. There was no idle chatter, no odd burst of laughter, simply the shared silence of grief. It was the first time she felt she had something in common with the Erith. They did not take death lightly.
The King had left no one time to recover, though. The human Premiere was there. With a personal escort. She had also brought Dorian and Juniper, the new Master of the Collegia and his deputy dressed in plain, sober, dark clothes. Not a bandoleer or pre-prepared spell in sight.
A handful of ‘kin had joined the Prime as well. Arrow was sure that Tamara would be annoyed at missing the chance to visit the heartland, but she and Matthias were staying, sensibly, at their home.
Humans and ‘kin walking in the Palace, sharing drinks with Erith, making small talk with the aid of translation spells. And not one word of objection from any of the Taellan or Palace courtiers. Arrow had the evidence of her own eyes and ears, and still found it hard to believe.
There would be talks between the peoples. A renewal of the Treaty and the agreements made. Discussions about how to uncover the rest of the conspirators and make sure no one else in the human world was dabbling with blood magic. With another King, Arrow might have wondered how long it would be before she was asked to help. With this King, she knew he would honour his word. Zachary was another matter. And the Prime was more than clever enough to wait a bit before making the request.
Before then, the Palace staff, their own eyes bright with tears, were providing drinks, food, and a discreet supply of fresh handkerchiefs.
Arrow stood at the side of the room, watching the reception unfold. The human clothes she still wore, with the messenger bag and cloak, marked her out as different. For once she did not care. She was mentally counting down how long she needed to stay to be polite. When she could leave without insulting the King. She did not really care about the courtiers, but she liked Iserat.
It seemed the Erith were overlooking her differences today. There was a slow trickle of Erith wanting to talk with her, to congratulate her, some with very stiff lips, on her appointment as Head of her own House. Even Juinis, frosty and formal, managed a courteous word or two, and a tip of his head to Kester before he moved on.
“When can we leave?” she asked Kester, as soon as she thought that Juinis was out of hearing range. He was dressed as a warrior, not a hair out of place, his own eyes reddened from the funeral rites.
“Very soon. Kallish has everything ready. But Neith is here. We should speak with him first.”
Arrow shot a glance at him but he did not respond.
Neith vo Sena found them a short while later and led them out of the reception room to a window overlooking the Palace gardens before he spoke.
“It is tradition to give gifts to a new Head of House,” he told her, directness refreshing after the stifling formality of the reception. “And that is my gift to you.” He nodded outside the window, beyond the garden, to the field beyond where a dozen horses were grazing happily.
Arrow was sure her mouth opened. Horses. A dozen, at least, of Neith’s highly-prized horses.
“Their lineage?” Kester asked, recovering more quickly than she did. Arrow bit her lip, amused that the Erith’s obsession with lineage extended to their horses.
“They trace back to your House,” Neith nodded, smile pulling his lips as though he were delighted by Kester’s question. Kester’s mouth curved into an answering smile. Interesting. Arrow had not known how much he liked horses.
“This is generous,” Arrow began, not sure what the proper protocol was.
“I have found grooms for you,” Neith told her, brushing aside her thanks. “They will go with you. And you may have a temporary loan of enough horses to get you to the House.”
Despite Kester’s assurances that Kallish had the matter in hand, Arrow had been wondering how she, and her growing party, were going to get to the House. And here was Neith making a very generous offer. Her eyes narrowed. The Erith rarely did anything so generous without expecting something in return.
“Thank you for the gift, my lord.”
“We share a border,” he said as though that explained everything. “Good hunting, mage. Svegraen.”
“Now, can we leave?” she asked, when Neith was out of earshot.
Leave-taking from the Palace was not so easily done, of course. It seemed, to Arrow, to take most of the rest of the day for them to be gone. And some of the goodbyes were hard. Much harder than she had expected.
Miach and Elias were staying at the Palace for the time being, Iserat wanting their experience.
Evellan and Seivella were going back to the Academy as soon as it could be arranged. Fully healed from his wounds, the Preceptor was looking forward to his forthcoming marriage to Vailla. Despite Eimille’s protests that these things should not be rushed, Arrow was quite sure the Evellan and Vailla would be wed before the season turned.
Zachary was going back to Farraway Mountain very soon, travelling at least to Lix with the human party. He was about to be a grandfather, something which he was clearly delighted by. In defiance of all known conventions, Arrow extended an open invitation to him and his family to visit. His eyes gleamed, speculating that having an entry route through the outlawed lands would be far easier than travelling all the way via the Taellaneth and mirrors. From the light that she could see in Kallish’s eyes, she thought that the warriors were looking forward to that challenge. The ‘kin and the White Guard had a long history of teasing each other along their borders. Arrow was quite sure that it would not be long before Matthias and Tamara were introducing their young to the game.
The six were, of course, staying at the Palace. More than a hundred years together in the surjusi realm and little would take them apart now.
Revan had, tentatively, asked to travel with them for a while. He did not want to go back to the Garden yet. It would take time for the Gardeners to consider whether the temple should be rebuilt.
The greatest surprise was Ferdith, who had approached her before the funeral rites, looking as if he had not slept since the near-destruction of the heartland’s tree. There was a spot on his uniform that did not look quite right, where the heartland’s symbol had been removed. The White Guard were still deciding what to do with them, Arrow knew. All options were being considered, from expulsion from the ranks to demotion, and to doing nothing. She had looked into Ferdith’s eyes and thought that nothing the White Guard did could come close to the punishment he was inflicting on himself.
He had asked, with no apparent hope of success, if he and his warriors might assist with patrolling the borders. They did not expect to be within the House, he assured her, but they needed to work. There were ten of them left. Four had died at the Gardener’s hands, to provide the blood that had controlled the rest, and one had been killed at the heartland’s tree. No warriors wanted to join the cadre. Not now. So he offered his two thirds.
Arrow had said yes at once. Kallish had simply lifted a brow when Arrow had told her, but there was a gleam of approval in her eye. The warriors looked after their own.
Orlis and Gilean just came with her as she left, Kallish’s cadre g
athering around. Her heart hurt again at the new faces in the cadre, all of them wearing purple armbands. She missed Xeveran.
“Miach will send an additional cadre when he can manage,” Kallish told her as they walked through the Palace gardens, heading for the group of horses that Neith had arranged for them.
“Is the territory dangerous?” Arrow asked, surprised. Nothing she had heard about House Liathius suggested that was the case.
“No.” Kallish’s mouth turned up in an unexpected smile. “But the territory is big, and the border is extensive. A lot of ground to cover.”
Arrow turned to look at the warrior, almost missing her step. “You are looking forward to this.”
“There is work to do,” Kallish answered, as though that explained everything. And perhaps it did.
~
It took three days’ riding at a fast pace, the Erith horses covering great stretches of land and seeming to never tire, before they reached the actual residence in House Liathius territory. The territory’s wards had shivered when they rode across, the texture of the wards familiar and strange at the same time.
Arrow was blind for a moment, the extent of the land and the wards overwhelming her. The land itself seemed to open up before her and she had a fleeting impressions of the territory. Broad-leafed forests. Wide, placid rivers. A thunderous waterfall. Gentle slopes of green grass. The barest hint of the residence itself, settled into its surroundings. And every part of the land sang in her senses, responding to her presence. Her House.
Her shoulders loosened and she smiled when Kester and Kallish asked if she was alright. She had not put her feet on the ground yet, but already she knew this was where she should be.
They rode through forest for most of that day, the last full day’s travel. Giant trees rose impossibly high overhead, their leaves providing shade from the brilliant summer sun and whispering news of their arrival.
The House itself was a large, rambling residence of unassuming plain, grey stone that sat within a tree-lined valley, a wide river meandering through. The roof was sagging in places, a few windows missing. The outbuildings and fields were all in need of repair, fences down, whatever livestock there had been long since scattered to the wild.
Arrow had a moment of panic, looking down at the valley ahead. A residence as big as the Taellaneth main building. Fields. Livestock. Outbuildings. And it was all hers.
Then her horse shifted under her, moving from one foot to the next, and she could breathe again.
“Work to do,” Kallish observed, with the same smile she had in the Palace.
“And time to do it,” Kester added, a similar smile on his own face. He laughed at Arrow’s expression. “We are warriors,” he reminded her, much as Kallish had done, as though that should explain everything.
They rode down into the valley and something caught Arrow’s attention higher up the hill.
“Go on ahead,” she suggested to Kallish. The warrior did not argue, riding on with the others, Ferdith and his warriors at the back of the group as they had been the entire journey. Less haunted than they had been, Arrow saw. Looking ahead with similar eagerness as Kallish’s cadre. Warriors. With work ahead of them.
Kester stayed with her as she turned her horse to follow the gently sloping side of the valley, finding a narrow, little-used path that wound among mature trees and led, at length, to a flatter area that looked like it might have been a garden once. There was a small residence there, a simple one-storey building that sat comfortably against the valley’s side, trees mostly screening it from view.
Arrow slid off her horse, and left his reins loose. After three days she knew he would not stray far.
She moved forward to the building, seeing the disrepair and ignoring it, going inside, the roof overhead letting in light in places. There was a front room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and, to her delight, a bathing room whose pipes still had their preservation spells.
She stood in the front room and looked around, at the wooden floor whose craftsmanship had stood the test of time. At the walls that needed a bit of paint to be good as new. At the roof which needed some repair. The windows mostly intact. The furniture which had been built with love and needed a few housekeeping spells. Her eyes travelled out the front door across the garden, past the large bench set in just the right place to catch the morning sun and watch the world, down the valley to the House and, beyond that, just at the end of the valley, the tiniest glimpse of ocean.
Somehow she knew that the ocean would be met by a wide beach of fine, pale sand. And the beach would lead not to an impenetrable cliff but to gently sloping grass-covered dunes that blended into the rolling fields at the end of the valley.
Kester was beside her. She linked her hand in his, fingers intertwined.
“Will-”
“Yes.” He answered, eyes bright.
“You did not wait to hear the question,” she said, feeling slightly breathless.
“It does not matter. It will always be yes.” His mouth curved into a smile that sent warmth curling through her. “What was the question?”
For a moment she could not think. Had no idea what he was talking about. Question? Oh. Yes.
She looked around the ruined building, at the beautifully proportioned rooms, at view she could see.
“Will you live here?” she asked. “With me?”
“It would be my honour,” he answered, formality at odds with the blazing amber in his eyes.
She felt the warmth of his hand around hers, the space around her that welcomed her, the magic that coursed through the land, heard the sigh of wind through the trees outside, the faintest trace of laughter that carried from the valley below, and imagined she could smell the faintest salt from the ocean, the scent of the flowers outside.
When she opened her eyes, Kester was there, faintest smile on his face. Cardamom. Citrus. Weapons oil.
Home.
CHARACTER LIST, GLOSSARY, AND END NOTES
Character List
Note: this is a complete list collated across all five books - to try and avoid spoilers, some names have been omitted, and some details have been left out.
The Erith
Bea vel Nostren - member of the Taellan; head of her House
Diannea vel Sovernis - member of the Taellan; head of her House
Eimille vel Falsen - member of the Taellan; head of her House
Elias - White Guard; cadre leader; cadre is second cadre of the Queen’s guard
Eshan nuin Regersfel - Chief Scribe to Taellan; adopted member of House Regersfel
Etan nuin Sovernis - White Guard; adopted member of House Sovernis
Evellan - Preceptor, head of Academy
Freyella - Queen; vetrai to Noverian
(the) Gardener - head of the temple
Geran vo Sovernis - White Guard; member of House Sovernis
Gesser vo Regresan - assistant Teaching Master; son of Gret
Gilean vo Presien - war mage
Gret vo Regresan - member of the Taellan; head of his House
Hustrai - Teaching Master at Academy
Iserat vo Sovernis – White Guard, cadre leader, leader of the six
Juinis vo Halsfeld - member of the Taellan; head of his House
Kallish nuin Falsen - White Guard; cadre leader; adopted member of House Falsen
Kester vo Halsfeld - member of the Taellan; brother-by-marriage to Juinis
Messian - Steward at Taellaneth
Miach - White Guard; cadre leader; first guard to the Queen and in charge of Palace security
Neith vo Sena - member of the Taellan; head of his House
Noverian - Consort; vetral to Freyella
Onalla - White Guard, one of the six
Orlis - journeyman mage
Pateris - White Guard, one of the six
Priath - courtier at Palace
Queris vo Lianen - courtier, resident at Palace; Queen’s cousin
Ronath - White Guard, one of the six
; Seivella - Teaching Mistress at Academy; deputy to Preceptor
Seggerat vo Regersfel - elder of the Taellan; head of his House
Serran vo Liathius - powerful mage; founder of the Academy
Smaillis - Teaching Master at Academy
Undurat - White Guard, member of Kallish’s third
Vailla vel Falsen - member of House Falsen
Whintnath - Commander of the White Guard
Willan - War mage, one of the six
Xeveran - White Guard, leader of third in Kallish’s cadre
Yvan - White Guard, one of the six
The shifkin
Andrew Farraway - member of Farraway muster, Matthias’ twin and Zachary’s son
Con - member of Farraway muster
Jace - member of Farraway muster
Marianne Stillwater - mate of Zachary Farraway
Matthias Farraway - shifkin enforcer; mate of Tamara, Andrew’s twin and Zachary’s son
Paul - member of Lix muster; mate of Rose
Rose - member of Lix muster; mate of Paul
Tamara - member of Farraway muster, mate of Matthias
Tony - shifkin nation’s lawyer
Will - member of Farraway muster
Zachary Farraway - Prime of shifkin nation; mate of Marianne Stillwater, father to Andrew and Mathias
Others
An Wong - Premiere, head of human government
Arrow - mixed-blood, Erith-trained magician
Charon - human, leader of Two Snakes gang from Hallveran
Dorian Sage - First Mage of the Collegia; combat magician
Edward - Member of Sanctuary, friend of Zachary
Fleur Maillot - deputy manager of Crossings Abbey hotel
George Creasey - manager of Crossings Abbey hotel
Hugh Danes - human
Juniper Sage - combat magician at Collegia; Dorian’s deputy (not related)
Taellaneth Complete Series Box Set Page 142