His words calmed Gwynn in a way nothing else could have. If they failed, it would not be for a lack of an attempt.
What mattered was that they were trying. Resolve flooded through her when she set her hands to her Harp. “Goddess bless!” she gasped, pulling her fingers back and looking at the instrument. “It’s as angry as I am. The Harp agreed to be bound to me, because I am of Talaysen’s bloodline. It seems to understand someone else of his blood is in danger.”
“Good, then it will work harder for you.”
Before Gwynn began to play, she met Shae’s eyes.
The bond of trust and friendship between them seemed tangible, like the mountain before them, eternal and unshakeable.
Gwynn and her Harp listened together for a few moments, considering their first obstacle. There must be a weakness, an opening, and a key…Eventually, with the same abruptness of its disappearance, the rock face opened again.
Gwynn didn’t miss a note when she spoke softly to Shae. “I don’t know if it will stay open when I stop, so I’m going to keep playing until we are inside.” He led the way in, a rirani ready in each hand.
It seemed like a hand-hewn tunnel; the rock walls were not smooth. There was no apparent light source, and it grew darker, leading into the heart of the mountain. Shae looked at her. “We are not well prepared for this. Do you have any idea what we are going to do for light once we get away from the entrance?”
Gwynn nodded and let her melody come to an end.
Moments later, the entrance disappeared behind them and all went black. Her hands whispered across the strings, and the eyes of the dragon on its pillar began to glow through the darkness. Shortly, the light emanating from the stones 208
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was enough to guide their feet and enable them to see a short way in front of them. “I prefer this to a mage light, although I can call one.”
“What your Harp gives us is enough; I think the less light we announce our passing with the better. We should also move quietly,” Shae advised, “sound will carry through the passage.”
It seemed that they walked a very long way. It grew colder, and Gwynn began to hear water trickling down the walls around them. Then they came to a fork in the tunnel.
Shae looked both ways, searching the ground for a sign that anything had traveled in either direction, but there was nothing on the stone that gave him any indication.
“Should I just pick one?”
Something seemed to murmur deep inside her. “My Harp thinks we should go this way.” She pointed to the left fork.
“Your Harp?” Shae peered dubiously through the darkness. His gut instinct wanted them to go right, into the tunnel that appeared to climb. The left fork, on the other hand, went downwards. “It told you that?”
“Not in words, but it’s pulling me that direction, and with what I have learned of it, I believe we should trust it.”
“If you think so,” Shae said, his tone making it obvious that he wasn’t sure he should agree.
They picked their way carefully down the passage because the trickling water had made the rocks slick and treacherous. The companions came to a curve and a new sound reached their ears.
“Birds?” Shae whispered incredulously. “How could that be?”
“Anything could be; Aere is a child of the Mother.”
They inched forward, gradually becoming aware that the tunnel was growing light. A few moments later, she 209
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whispered to her Harp, and the glowing eyes grew dim. The passage curved once more, and Shae motioned for Gwynn to stay back while he peered around the bend. From his vantage point, he could see the tunnel ended at what appeared to be the opening to a larger cavern. There were no sentinels guarding it that he could see, and the light flowing from it was golden, just like sunlight.
“I think this is what we’re looking for. So far, it doesn’t seem that we will have to fight our way in.” That did not ease his mind, but it made the next step of their journey easier. They walked slowly forward until they stood in the rocky doorway; the sight before them was stunning.
It was a garden, but the kind of garden found only in dreams. Lush, deep, green grass spread out in front of them, dotted with tiny pink and purple star shaped flowers. It seemed like sunlight overhead, but when Gwynn looked up, there was only a misty haze that prevented her from seeing either a rock ceiling or the sky. Birdsong filled the air, vying with the sound of tinkling water from fountains. Huge trees of every kind spread their branches, some wearing the colors of autumn, some the new buds of spring, and some the blossoms and leaves of high summer. No human forms were visible, but rabbits, squirrels, and birds hopped and played on the grass and in the trees.
When the pair stepped from the tunnel, Shae felt his skin crawl when a wave of magic flowed over them like a waterfall. The Harp hummed in Gwynn’s hands, and its eyes flashed fire when the myriad melodies that crashed into her mind staggered her. She half-fell against Shae’s side with a muffled cry.
He sheathed his rirani and grabbed her. “Are you hurt?” She shook her head, concentrating on breathing deeply and shutting out the extra songs like Elisan had taught 210
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her. “No, there are such powerful things at work here, I have to sort them out and put away the ones that distract me. I had no way to expect this.” After a moment, the clamor in Gwynn’s head was muted and she stared around them for a moment. “Now where do we go?”
“I was hoping you or your Harp would know,” he said wryly, once more drawing his blades. “Encounters with a banished goddess are beyond my training.”
Gwynn reached out and felt a completely unfamiliar presence. It had a siren song about it, calling to her like the road. “This way.” She pointed deeper into the garden. “The Aeldive is there.”
They passed under the trees, nothing and no one appearing to challenge them. “I would never let an enemy stroll into my home.”
Gwynn gave her friend a halfhearted smile. “Neither of us are the child of a goddess. I doubt we cause her any fear by our presence.”
“That is not the kind of thing you tell a Southron. We like to think we can inspire terror in anything that crosses our paths,” he growled. Elaborate statues and fountains began to appear. “This fallen goddess is a collector of many things.”
“Under better circumstances, I would be happy to wander around just looking at it all. Something tells me I will never enjoy a real garden as much because the memory of this one will always haunt me.”
“I am flattered you think so.” Gwynn and Shae stopped still when the owner of the voice materialized before them. She was dressed in a shimmering gold gown with hair of living shadow and dark eyes that glowed in the center like embers. Her voice resonated through her, and Gwynn realized she was not only hearing the Aeldive with her 211
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ears, but with her soul. She was terrifying and fascinating at the same time. “It is rare that I have visitors.”
“Really?” Shae’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. “I imagine your expulsion from your original home has something to do with that.” Gwynn glanced at him. His expression was unreadable, but his body language said much with his jaw set like iron and his knuckles white on the hilts of his rirani.
The Aeldive’s laughter reflected her physical beauty, and Gwynn began to understand how someone could fall prey to her spells. “You Southrons, always ready to show your courage. Put those useless pieces of metal away.” Shae slowly complied, distrust coloring his features. “Let us be comfortable while we speak.” Aere waved a hand and the ground shifted while the world spun around them. They found themselves standing in a stone gazebo overlooking the garden.
“That was not necessary,” Shae grated.
“Oh, but it was,” the Aeldive laughed again. “I wanted to show you that even Southrons are affected by the actions of the gods. Now, tell me why you were trespassing in my garden.”
“Surely, the Ae
ldive knows our purpose?” Gwynn was amazed.
“Do not call me that!” Aere’s eyes flashed and a blast of pure magical power struck Gwynn’s shoulders, forcing her to her knees and bowing her head in a mockery of a worshipping attitude. “How dare you?”
The moment Gwynn went down, Shae’s rirani slid free of their scabbards and he bounded toward Aere. In the blink of an eye, the Aeldive was on the other side of the gazebo, and two men in the short tunics of the old Khymerian Imperial Guard stood in her place. They drew their swords and charged toward Shae. He found their empty 212
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eyes disconcerting, but that didn’t slow his attack. He disarmed the one who reached him first, sending his blade spinning over the gazebo railing. Throwing his forearm into the man’s chest, Shae hurled him back into his companion, and both men crashed heavily to the ground. Trapping the other’s sword beneath his boot, his rirani came whistling down toward both men’s throats. This time, their blank eyes froze him; none of the things he expected to see in the expression of someone waiting for a deathblow were apparent; no fear, pleading, or resignation showed within them.
“What are you waiting for? Dispatch them!” Aere urged. Shae raised eyes black with disgust to the Aeldive.
“No.” The word rang defiantly across the garden.
“Why not?”
“I will not slay your pawns while they are unaware they are fighting for their lives.” His blades slammed home in their scabbards, firmly emphasizing his retort.
“But where is the fun in that?” Aere’s question was more petulant than angry. “I had hoped for more amusement from you.”
“I do not kill for sport, mine or anyone else’s.” Shae’s answer had a finality that stopped even a goddess. He stepped away from his opponents and pulled Gwynn to her feet before turning his attention back to the Aeldive.
She reappeared in her previous position in front them, at the same moment, the two defeated men disappeared.
“Those men were the bodyguards of Emperor Alexis II.
They are very accomplished and have provided me with a great deal of amusement. I’m very impressed Shae. I have watched over the development of the fighting arts for longer than you could conceive. Your attack was nearly perfect. In fact,” the Aeldive’s eyes narrowed, “it was perfect. Now how 213
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could that be, especially in a mortal, a creature known for their many failings? I wonder…”
She observed Shae for a moment; shook her head and turned her smoky gaze on Gwynn. She felt Aere sorting through her thoughts and memories at an inhuman speed.
The Harp grew hot in her hands under the Aeldive’s assault.
“Get out of my head! You have no right!”
“I do as I please in my own home.” Aere’s smile was feral. “My compliments, little bard, well done indeed, you are quite the composer. Does your dear friend Shae have any idea what you did to him? Ask her why things that once might have challenged you come so easily to you now.”
“You’re mad; I don’t know what you are talking about.” Shae’s voice was cold.
The Aeldive sighed and sat down in an ornately carved chair that blinked into existence behind her. “You have completely mastered a new fighting style with a weapon that was previously unfamiliar to you. How long did that take?
How long should it have taken?”
Shae’s brow furrowed. While fighting with any sword would come easily to someone from his Clan, he knew he should not have mastered the use of the rirani to the point he was already besting his teacher Azrith. That could be the influence of Heralith. Who was to say how much magic was helping him learn? However, there were other things to consider. Shae had never felt more balanced in his life than he had in the time since meeting Gwynn. His reflexes were quicker, and his weapons skills improved beyond what he would have believed possible. When he fought, his ability to reason the fight through never seemed to be clouded by emotion. The full implication of Aere’s words struck home.
Gwynn took an involuntary step backward when Shae turned on her. “What did you do to me?” The words were soft, but the deadly pitch resonated. “What did you do?” he 214
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repeated, the tightly contained rage in his eyes terrified her to the bottom of her soul.
“I don’t know what Aere is talking about,” she protested over her pounding heart, “truly, I don’t! You were hurt, I healed you—that’s all I did.”
The fervent insistence in her voice further convinced him that she had not set out to cause him harm, but he knew that something within him had been forever changed. Shae drew back a step so he could look at both Gwynn and the Aeldive. “I want some answers, and I will have them from one or the other of you.”
“I gave Gwynn a clue to the answer; it is for her to solve this riddle! Now neither of you is amusing me. Fine,”
Aere groaned. “I will repeat my clue: Gwynn, you are an excellent composer.”
“A composer? Well, of course, I can compose; I am a Master Bard! I won the Harp of Talaysen! I—” Gwynn stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Shae with dawning horror in her eyes. “Oh Shae, I didn’t mean to do it.”
“Do what?” The two words were all he could grate out. Holding on to his rage and not turning it on the woman he believed to be his best friend was taking every bit of strength Shae possessed.
When Gwynn began to speak, she spoke slowly, fitting the pieces together while they became clear to her.
“Aere is right. I am an excellent composer. When Talon brought you to me, some of the notes of your life song had already faded, so I filled in the ones that I thought should be there from the notes still left. But—but I have perfect pitch; I always sing or play a note exactly where it is supposed to be. When I played your life song back to its original form, I made it perfectly in tune; I made you perfectly in tune. I swear by all I hold sacred that I did not realize what I was doing or 215
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what effect it would have on you. I only sought to save your life.” “So, what have I become? Am I some sort of magical construction?”
“No! It’s not like that. You are not magical any more than your rirani are magical. Like them, every note of your life song is in tune, but you are not magic. You are just perfect.”
“Just perfect?” Shae choked out. His mind raced while he tried to sort through the recent changes in himself and what it possibly meant for his future. Abruptly, Shae’s thoughts ground to a halt when he realized how neatly Aere had sidetracked them and was setting them against each other for her amusement. He looked at Gwynn, the rage in his eyes cooling. “My supposed perfection and how it came to be, we will resolve to my satisfaction later. We came here with another purpose.” He smiled coldly at the Aeldive. “Nice try, you almost succeeded in turning us against each other. If you were all-knowing, you would have known better.”
“I was hoping for more diversion from you two; I’m very disappointed so far, especially with you, Shae. Precisely the reason I never chose to collect Southrons. Discipline is so lacking in diversion. You obviously trespassed here because Gwynn glimpsed her father among my collection.”
“Your collection? These are humans you stole their lives from, you stole them from those that love them. I want my father back.” Gwynn’s voice shook; Aere’s careless admission had made her sick to her stomach.
“You want him back? Never, he is very entertaining!
I suppose the law of hospitality does at least bid me to let you see him. Here he is; look upon Gryffyn of Inishmore.”
The Aeldive waved her hand and a man appeared next to her chair. He was of medium height with broad shoulders, a regal face, and shoulder length black hair. His empty eyes 216
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of bright gray perfectly mirrored those features on Gwynn’s face; anyone not blind would be able to see their relation. In his hands was a finely wrought harp of golden fëanulia wood, the case slung across his back. The soundboard
and pillar were ornately carved, the pillar terminating in a horse’s head with emeralds for eyes. The instrument was nearly as beautiful as the Harp Gwynn carried.
“Oh, Great Mother,” she whispered, her hand clutching Shae’s arm, “what has she done to you?” The man she knew always had a twinkle of mischief and spirit in his eyes, but this man had no reason behind his unseeing gaze.
The realization that Gryffyn would prefer death to his present condition cut through Gwynn like someone had driven a knife deep into her heart.
“Entertain me, Gryffyn,” the Aeldive commanded.
“What would my lady hear?” His eyes never changed when he spoke, but a rich enticing tenor rang out.
“Something to distract me, as my present company is not entertaining me at all,” Aere said with an arch sidelong glance at the two intruders in her garden.
Gryffyn raised his harp, but before he could begin, Gwynn lunged forward. “Stop! There will be no heart and soul in his song. It would be a mockery of everything a Bard of Inishmore stands for! I will not see my father so humiliated!” Despite being under the Aeldive’s control, something must have reached him, because Gryffyn slowly lowered his harp.
“Then you will have to entertain me with a song. For that is why I keep a bard,” Aere said, her burning eyes turning on Gwynn once more.
“What if I could entertain you enough to convince you to let my father go?”
“I very much doubt it,” the Aeldive laughed, “but I would be willing to let you try. I’m sure I will find your 217
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inevitable failure and disappointment very diverting.”
“In what way would it be impossible to move you?”
Gwynn asked, an idea beginning to form in her mind. “I have seen only laughter and anger from you. What other emotions could a bard’s song inspire?”
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