Crown of Crystal Flame
Page 124
“Master Maur! Master Maur, look!”
He lifted his head, gasping weakly for breath, and muttered a curse at the sight that greeted him. Sailing up the Heras, with nyatheri leaping through the black waters like silver-blue mermaids, came an Elvian armada, dozens of ships, silver sails filled with the air of a self-propelling wind, carrying thousands more Elves to join the battle. The trees on both shores bowed and danced in the ships’ wakes as the dryatheri, the Danae tree spirits, aboard the Elvish vessels awakened the forests to their call.
Screams rose from the Elden shores as tree branches wound around Eld like serpents, crushing bones to powder, and large tree trunks opened up to swallow men whole. Soldiers drowned where they stood as seductive sirens rose from river’s edge, enveloped them in an entrancing embrace, and took their lips in a kiss that filled their lungs with water. Others mindlessly followed the beckoning calls of beautiful mermaids and plunged into the Heras where nyatheri wrapped them in water vines and dragged them to the bottom of the river.
Vadim wanted to scream with rage. How could the day of his long-planned triumph have gone so horribly wrong? Two-thirds of his magnificent army was destroyed. The dragons were dead. Orest was an active volcano. The Elves and Danae had arrived in force. And Vadim’s Mage-Marked future vessel had just made him soil himself.
But even as he gnashed his teeth in fury, cool reason was already taking over.
No Eld became High Mage without the courage to take a risk. But neither did he stay High Mage without learning to differentiate between risk and foolishness. And this High Mage knew the value of a strategic retreat.
All was not lost. Ellysetta Baristani still bore his Marks, he now had her sisters as well as her parents. When she came for them, he would be waiting. She only needed one more Mark. Just one, and then she and all her magnificent, unprecedented power would be his. And the world would tremble before his immortal greatness.
“Kron, sound the alarm. Evacuate Boura Dor. Everyone into the Well. We’re retreating to Boura Fell.”
Behind the Fey lines, protected by warriors who could call their magic once more, Rain knelt on the ground, holding Ellysetta in his arms.
The Elvian Commander who had called herself Silver-leaf knelt beside him. The palm of her right hand no longer blazed sun-bright with the magic she had poured into Ellysetta, but Rain now knew who she was. A Seer of Elvia, just as she’d claimed. Elves truly didn’t lie, after all. But she was also Elvia’s queen, Illona Brighthand, the Lady of Silvermist, sister to Galad Hawksheart.
“Why would you hide who you were?” he asked.
Illona glanced up. “Does it matter?”
He grimaced. Why did Elves do half the things they did? “I suppose not. But will you at least tell me what happened back there, with Ellysetta?”
The Elf made a soft, regretful sound. “Your mate just faced a truth many of us are lucky never to know. She found out just what she was capable of.”
His hackles rose immediately. “You will not tell me she is evil,” he interrupted. Even though she had seized his body and controlled him like a puppet on strings, he would not—could not—think the worst. “She is not. She is bright and shining.”
“Very bright,” the Elf agreed. “But as capable as she is of good, if she falls to Darkness, she will be equally capable of evil. You do her no favor by refusing to acknowledge that. Especially after today, when she had a glimpse of what she could become.”
Ellysetta stirred in Rain’s arms. Her eyes were still closed as she murmured, “I told you there was evil in me. I told you it was winning.”
“Bayas, it is not unless you will it so.” Illona laid her namesake hand on Ellysetta’s hair. “Look at me, Ellysetta Erimea.” When Ellysetta opened her eyes, the Elf continued, her voice brisk and stern, “I came here—I brought my Elves to your aid—because I did not want to see you fall. Was my faith in you misplaced? Will you give in so easily?”
“Easily?” Rain jumped to her defense. “You don’t know what she’s been through.”
“I do know,” Illona corrected in a sharp voice. “I am Elfkind, and I have watched, just as my brother has done. I know exactly what she has suffered and for how long. But the Dark cannot claim what Light does not surrender.”
“She has surrendered nothing. She has fought more bravely than most, suffered torments few can even imagine, and still her heart is kind, her soul bright and shining.” Rain bent his head and pressed his lips against Ellysetta’s hair. “We are together, Ellysetta. We are unharmed. No matter what happened today, we are still together. We still hold to the Light, and we always will.”
“Will we?” Ellysetta’s hand curled around his wrist. “I Marked the High Mage.”
His mouth went dry. “You what?”
“After he Marked me, I Marked him back. It’s a bit like forging a truemate bond, except with none of the love.” She looked up at him, and there was such weary acceptance in her eyes, such increasing despair, it made him want to weep.
“Apparently, I’m not just a shei’dalin and a Tairen Soul, I’m also a Mage.”
Rain moistened his lips and looked up at the Elf queen. “Is she? A Mage?” He couldn’t believe he was practically begging an Elf for answers, but when it came to helping and protecting Ellysetta, he was discovering there wasn’t a whole lot he wouldn’t do.
“If she chooses to be, anio. She has the power to become one. But just because you can wield magic like a Mage, Ellysetta, that doesn’t mean you must.” The Elf queen sat back on her heels. “That is the other reason I came to you—to give you a truth my brother was unwilling to share. He has tried for many years to deny it, but the fact is that no one—not even Galad, with all his skill and power—can See with certainty the outcome of your Song. He cannot because you are a force rarely born to a world, something we Elves call leinah thaniel, the Song that sings all Songs, the Mirror that shows all Mirrors, the Change that changes everything.”
He lifted his head, gasping weakly for breath, and muttered a curse at the sight that greeted him. Sailing up the Heras, with nyatheri leaping through the black waters like silver-blue mermaids, came an Elvian armada, dozens of ships, silver sails filled with the air of a self-propelling wind, carrying thousands more Elves to join the battle. The trees on both shores bowed and danced in the ships’ wakes as the dryatheri, the Danae tree spirits, aboard the Elvish vessels awakened the forests to their call.
Screams rose from the Elden shores as tree branches wound around Eld like serpents, crushing bones to powder, and large tree trunks opened up to swallow men whole. Soldiers drowned where they stood as seductive sirens rose from river’s edge, enveloped them in an entrancing embrace, and took their lips in a kiss that filled their lungs with water. Others mindlessly followed the beckoning calls of beautiful mermaids and plunged into the Heras where nyatheri wrapped them in water vines and dragged them to the bottom of the river.
Vadim wanted to scream with rage. How could the day of his long-planned triumph have gone so horribly wrong? Two-thirds of his magnificent army was destroyed. The dragons were dead. Orest was an active volcano. The Elves and Danae had arrived in force. And Vadim’s Mage-Marked future vessel had just made him soil himself.
But even as he gnashed his teeth in fury, cool reason was already taking over.
No Eld became High Mage without the courage to take a risk. But neither did he stay High Mage without learning to differentiate between risk and foolishness. And this High Mage knew the value of a strategic retreat.
All was not lost. Ellysetta Baristani still bore his Marks, he now had her sisters as well as her parents. When she came for them, he would be waiting. She only needed one more Mark. Just one, and then she and all her magnificent, unprecedented power would be his. And the world would tremble before his immortal greatness.
“Kron, sound the alarm. Evacuate Boura Dor. Everyone into the Well. We’re retreating to Boura Fell.”
Behind the Fey lines, protected by warriors who could call their magic once more, Rain knelt on the ground, holding Ellysetta in his arms.
The Elvian Commander who had called herself Silver-leaf knelt beside him. The palm of her right hand no longer blazed sun-bright with the magic she had poured into Ellysetta, but Rain now knew who she was. A Seer of Elvia, just as she’d claimed. Elves truly didn’t lie, after all. But she was also Elvia’s queen, Illona Brighthand, the Lady of Silvermist, sister to Galad Hawksheart.
“Why would you hide who you were?” he asked.
Illona glanced up. “Does it matter?”
He grimaced. Why did Elves do half the things they did? “I suppose not. But will you at least tell me what happened back there, with Ellysetta?”
The Elf made a soft, regretful sound. “Your mate just faced a truth many of us are lucky never to know. She found out just what she was capable of.”
His hackles rose immediately. “You will not tell me she is evil,” he interrupted. Even though she had seized his body and controlled him like a puppet on strings, he would not—could not—think the worst. “She is not. She is bright and shining.”
“Very bright,” the Elf agreed. “But as capable as she is of good, if she falls to Darkness, she will be equally capable of evil. You do her no favor by refusing to acknowledge that. Especially after today, when she had a glimpse of what she could become.”
Ellysetta stirred in Rain’s arms. Her eyes were still closed as she murmured, “I told you there was evil in me. I told you it was winning.”
“Bayas, it is not unless you will it so.” Illona laid her namesake hand on Ellysetta’s hair. “Look at me, Ellysetta Erimea.” When Ellysetta opened her eyes, the Elf continued, her voice brisk and stern, “I came here—I brought my Elves to your aid—because I did not want to see you fall. Was my faith in you misplaced? Will you give in so easily?”
“Easily?” Rain jumped to her defense. “You don’t know what she’s been through.”
“I do know,” Illona corrected in a sharp voice. “I am Elfkind, and I have watched, just as my brother has done. I know exactly what she has suffered and for how long. But the Dark cannot claim what Light does not surrender.”
“She has surrendered nothing. She has fought more bravely than most, suffered torments few can even imagine, and still her heart is kind, her soul bright and shining.” Rain bent his head and pressed his lips against Ellysetta’s hair. “We are together, Ellysetta. We are unharmed. No matter what happened today, we are still together. We still hold to the Light, and we always will.”
“Will we?” Ellysetta’s hand curled around his wrist. “I Marked the High Mage.”
His mouth went dry. “You what?”
“After he Marked me, I Marked him back. It’s a bit like forging a truemate bond, except with none of the love.” She looked up at him, and there was such weary acceptance in her eyes, such increasing despair, it made him want to weep.
“Apparently, I’m not just a shei’dalin and a Tairen Soul, I’m also a Mage.”
Rain moistened his lips and looked up at the Elf queen. “Is she? A Mage?” He couldn’t believe he was practically begging an Elf for answers, but when it came to helping and protecting Ellysetta, he was discovering there wasn’t a whole lot he wouldn’t do.
“If she chooses to be, anio. She has the power to become one. But just because you can wield magic like a Mage, Ellysetta, that doesn’t mean you must.” The Elf queen sat back on her heels. “That is the other reason I came to you—to give you a truth my brother was unwilling to share. He has tried for many years to deny it, but the fact is that no one—not even Galad, with all his skill and power—can See with certainty the outcome of your Song. He cannot because you are a force rarely born to a world, something we Elves call leinah thaniel, the Song that sings all Songs, the Mirror that shows all Mirrors, the Change that changes everything.”
