‘But this child is heading for self-destruction,’ Athina protested. ‘I foresaw it in the Timeless Lake! Why was I vouchsafed such a vision if not to render our creation all the help I could?’
‘I do not dispute that, my dear sister,’ Uriel said, ‘but any assistance you give must come from within your own realm in the Elsewhere. The Guardians dare not venture into this mundane reality; not because of the risk to its inhabitants, but due to the danger to ourselves. Already this place has changed you, infecting you with emotions and attachments that are unnatural to our kind. And ultimately your interference here will avail you nothing, Athina. This world must grow and develop as it will, and its inhabitants must pursue their own fate. However much you try to interfere at this time, their destiny will ultimately be shaped by them alone.’
Though Athina knew he spoke the truth, she still could not bring herself to let go. Though Uriel, of all her siblings, was the closest to her heart, in that moment she almost hated him for making her face the truth. ‘But Uriel,’ she protested, ‘what if they destroy this beautiful world that we created with such labour and love?’
‘Even if they do, it is their world to destroy,’ Uriel reminded her gently. ‘I am more concerned for you, Beloved. If you try to stay here, you will change and diminish, losing your powers one by one until you are trapped in this place for all eternity. Already the changes are beginning - I have arrived here just in time. Your first mistake lay in loving this world so much that you took the physical form of one of its inhabitants, instead of the pure energy that is our natural state. You must not compound your error any further or you will coarsen and dwindle to the same level as your mundane creations. You know as well as I do that there is no climbing back from such a fall. You will cease to be a Guardian, and be lost to us for ever.’
Uriel was right. In her heart she knew it - just as she knew that he had not come to condemn her or punish her, but because he knew she was in deadly peril, and was desperate to save her. ‘Do the others know what I have done?’ she asked him softly.
‘Not yet. I came as soon as I found out, in the hopes of persuading you to return before the others discover your error.’
Athina sighed. ‘Uriel, I am grateful for your discretion in this matter, and for your timely reminder that I do not belong here. I know I must leave now - but what of this poor world?’ She turned her face away from him, too overwhelmed by grief to say any more.
As if he sensed the depth of her sorrow and distress, Uriel relented a little. ‘Leave such instructions and clues as you may for the human you have adopted,’ he told her kindly. ‘Then he will have a purpose, and you can at least leave with the knowledge that you have done all you can. The fate of the world will be back in the hands of its own children, but you will have armed them for the battle ahead.’
‘And how can I explain where I’m going to my poor Dael? He loves and depends on me, and knows nothing of my true identity, but I am the only person who has ever cared for him. It would break his heart to think I was deserting him.’
But Uriel had an answer even for this. ‘Athina, you have no choice. Let him believe that you are dead,’ he advised. ‘It will be much kinder than letting him live with the knowledge that you have deserted him, and the vain hope that one day he will find you again.’
‘And you’ll also be removing any temptation on my part to come back and visit him from time to time,’ Athina pointed out drily.
‘That is also important,’ her fellow Guardian confessed. ‘We can use our powers to leave the facsimile of a body behind, and you can leave him a message of some sort to warn him of the dangers faced by the world, and advising him to help the ones from your vision.’
Though her heart was breaking, Athina spread her hands in surrender. ‘Very well,’ she said, fighting to keep her voice strong and steady. ‘It shall be as you say. Help me make my preparations swiftly, Uriel, for this world has such a hold on me that I dare not linger here.’
The colours of the energy-shell that was Uriel flickered and grew brighter. ‘Come, then. Let us leave as soon as we may.’
Yet Athina hung back, hating to think of causing Dael such unhappiness; unable to contemplate the idea of leaving him. ‘I wish I could say goodbye,’ she whispered. But she had no choice. Tomorrow, when he awoke, he must, of necessity, grieve for her death, and she must return to her lonely eternity by the Timeless Lake. Could she do that to him? Could she leave now, just when she’d finally discovered those she sought?
Athina had her doubts.
‘No, wait. I must have a little more time, Uriel. Only a few days longer, to leave the instructions and clues of which we have spoken, so that these children may be armed for the battle that lies ahead.’
Uriel’s energy darkened. ‘Beware, my sister, lest you go too far. Already your peril is growing.’
‘Just a little while,’ Athina argued. ‘It will not take long for me to set my plans into motion, then you have my word that I will leave immediately.’
‘You must,’ Uriel said. He sighed. ‘Very well. Soon the sun will be rising. I will give you this dawn and the next to make your arrangements. But be warned. If you have not returned by the third sunrise, I will come back - and this time I will bring the others. You know what that means. The penalties for you will be severe. Farewell, Beloved. Think carefully, and act wisely. Your time here is running out.’
Then he was gone, and the room seemed very dark without him. Athina shuddered. Full well she understood what a narrow escape she’d had. She would have to act swiftly indeed if she wanted to save this world, of all her creations the dearest to her heart.
The Cailleach turned back to the fireplace and once again began to summon her visions in the flames. Now that she had found the others, it was important that she relocate the captive Tiolani. Already the game was afoot. All the important pieces had been brought together in the storm-torn forest, but currently everyone was lost and scattered, beset by dangers on every side. So her first task must be to gather them all together, for only then could she position them to her satisfaction. And there was no time to waste.
With the ghost of a smile overshadowing her sadness, Athina summoned her powers, and sent her magic forth into the woods.
30
TRUST AND TREACHERY
Athina already had the early stages of a plan worked out. Once she had brought together all the major protagonists of her vision, plus the handful of others that her instincts told her were important - and had told them all the salient facts - they would have a chance to formulate a common vision and work towards it. She might have to leave this place, but at least she would put its future into the best hands possible. It was all she could do. It was vital she accomplish as much as she could in the hours she had left - no matter what the cost to herself.
Resolutely she searched, scanning the shadowy spaces beneath the crowding trees, sending forth her mind while her body stayed safely in the tower. To her relief, she discovered that fate had lent a helping hand. The Xandim of her vision had already found Iriana, so that was one less thing to worry about. The others she sought, however, those strange half-Phaerie who had been grounded in the storm with their Xandim mounts and must be somewhere in the forest - they would need to be gathered too.
It did not take her long to find them, sad, soaked and separated, trying to shelter from the wild elements as best they could. With relief, Athina sent her magic to each of them in the form of a glowing red globe: a guide to bring them together and unite them with Iriana and her companions. After she sent the spells forth, she noticed for the first time a drag of weariness in her mind and in her bones, and felt fear twist its icy coils inside her guts. Uriel’s prediction was already coming true. Her powers were beginning to weaken in this place. If she persisted in using them here, where they could not be renewed, she stood a good chance of losing them altogether.
Athina gritted her teeth. ‘I’d better hurry, then,’ she muttered.
All at once the
fatigue fell away, dispelled by a jolt of excitement. She had found Tiolani at last, and the fate of Hellorin’s daughter was hanging by a thread.
A pounding headache.
Cramped and aching limbs.
The clammy, dank chill of wet clothing.
The sickening, sinking sensations of horror and fear.
All these feelings avalanched down on Tiolani with returning consciousness. Making things worse was the disorientating knowledge that, although she couldn’t seem to move a muscle, somehow her body was in motion. Between pain and confusion, it took a little while to pick through her memories and establish what, exactly, was happening to her. From the pattern of meshes digging into her skin, she realised that she was thoroughly cocooned in the net that had saved her life, and was being carried along between two or more of the accursed ferals who had captured her. She was wrapped so tightly that she couldn’t move, and there were too many layers around her to let her see out properly.
Her original hope - that this was all some horrible nightmare - was soon quashed. Not even the worst dream could produce such an abominable smell. Ever since the first ambush, all those months ago, human odour had been unbearable to her, but this stench of feral, unwashed humans - only the fact that her stomach was empty from her earlier vomiting saved her from throwing up again.
She remembered falling from that thrice-cursed Corisand; being rescued, then the grim rain of arrows, the death-screams of her friends and their mounts. She remembered the terror and the helplessness, waiting for the ferals to get to her. And, seared like a brand into her mind, the recollection of hearing them say that Ferimon, her beloved, had betrayed her father and herself, and been responsible for her brother’s death.
No! It’s not true. It’s NOT!
Desperately she pulled her thoughts away to other matters, telling herself that the ferals lied, that their stupid wild tales were of no importance now, when her life was at stake. Pretending that the knowledge was not now lodged, like a poisoned dart, in the bitter depths of her soul.
What else did she remember? Only discovery, and seeing her own death in the flash of a knife in the darkness. Well, she had been spared for the present, though she knew her reprieve would not last long - and that her death, when finally it came, would be a drawn-out agony that would make her wish for the clean, swift, merciful ending of the blade.
In order to distract herself from thoughts of the hideous, and probably brief, future that lay before her, Tiolani began to listen to the soft conversations of her captors, hoping against hope to hear something - anything - that might help her escape.
‘Damn it, Danel, she weighs a ton.’
‘Aye, and carrying her like this, it’s a bugger to get through the bushes,’ another voice complained. ‘Why we had to bring her along, I don’t know. She’s a cursed nuisance, and a danger to us all.’
‘Evnas is right,’ a third voice added. ‘Let’s just stick a knife in her right now. A few inches of dirt over her, and the bloody Phaerie will never know what happened to her.’
‘I think they’d guess, don’t you?’ Danel asked, with a deceptive mildness. Tiolani, with her own will of iron, was quick to recognise the same trait in another.
‘So what?’ It was Evnas again. ‘I’d rather the labour of digging than have to carry the bitch any further. In fact, if they’ll guess anyway, why dig at all? Just kill her and be done, and leave her for carrion. The wolverines and bears and worms will take care of the rest.’
‘No.’ The leader’s voice was like steel. ‘If you’re tired, Evnas, change places with Thu. He hasn’t had a turn at carrying her yet.’
As Tiolani was lowered to the ground then lifted again, Danel carried on speaking. ‘We need to take some time to think about this. There might be some way we can use her as a hostage, or a bargaining counter. They’re bound to want her back.’
‘They’ll want her all right,’ Evnas said. ‘Enough to return with their hounds and bows and stinking magic, and slaughter the lot of us. The bloodshed we’ve already suffered will be as nothing compared to the massacre that will happen if they think we’re holding her. They’ll wipe us out, down to the last man, woman and babe in arms.’
‘No they won’t,’ Danel said decisively. ‘Don’t you see, we have a chance to make them stop hunting us now? We’ll tell them that if any more of us are harmed, we’ll kill their ruler.’
‘And then what? We can’t keep the bitch for ever, clothing her and feeding her and tying up men who can ill be spared from hunting to guard her every hour of every day. And what about her accursed magic? Sooner or later she’ll escape, or be rescued, or we’ll be forced to kill her. Then the Wild Hunt will be back for us with a vengeance.’
Danel swore imaginatively. ‘You have a point,’ she said at last. ‘But maybe there’s another way. She might buy us a little time, at least, to get our people out of the Phaerie realm. We could go south, away from the Hunt—’
‘And right into the hands of the bloody Wizards. Have you lost your mind, Danel? Do you want to be a slave again?’
There was the sudden, meaty sound of a fist striking flesh, and a grunt of pain. ‘I lead here, Evnas.’ Danel’s voice was as cold and inexorable as stone. ‘Before my father died he nominated me to stand in his place. I may be young, but our losses have diminished since I took over and so far, I’ve led you well. If you think otherwise, you can call for a vote in council - and much good may it do you. Now, I’m telling you for the last time, we don’t want to be hasty in killing Hellorin’s daughter. Because you’re right about one thing - if they find out we’ve murdered another of their leaders, the bloody Phaerie won’t rest until they’ve hunted every one of us down.’
She sighed. ‘I almost wish she hadn’t landed in our territory tonight. Those stupid Phaerie would have to come crashing down practically into our laps - we didn’t have much choice but to defend ourselves. But since we have her, let’s wait and see if there’s any good we can wrest from the situation. Remember, as long as she’s alive we still have options, but once we’ve stuck a knife in her - much as I’d like to do it myself - well, we can’t bring her back again.’
For a moment, there were mutterings among the band, until another voice, female this time, spoke up. ‘Well, maybe you’re right, Danel. I truly hope you are. Though I think—’
But what she thought was never to be revealed.
Suddenly the ferals froze, startled as wild hares, then dropped down into the undergrowth, dragging Tiolani with them. What had alarmed them? She had heard nothing. The storm was finally blowing itself out now; the rain had ceased, the thunder and lightning had rolled on towards the mountains, and even the ravaging wind had dropped significantly.
The ferals, signalling to one another in some code of their own devising, left her in the bushes and crept forward, silent as drifting smoke. Then from somewhere up ahead, Tiolani heard what had panicked them, and her heart leapt with hope. Horses, she heard horses, and two raised voices. She caught her breath at the sound of familiar, beloved tones. Ferimon! He had survived. He was here. He would save her.
Before she could act, a hand gripped her shoulder through the meshes of the net, and she felt the sting of a knife point in the hollow of her throat. ‘Make a sound, you die,’ a voice hissed. ‘Use your mindspeech or your filthy magic, warn them in any way, and I’ll dismember you piece by piece.’
Tiolani froze; helpless, terrified, scarcely breathing. Even as she cursed herself for her cowardice, even as she steeled herself to risk all in a mind-cry to her love, she heard Ferimon speaking.
His words turned her heart to gall and ashes.
Kelon had spent a cold, wet, wretched night beneath the minimal shelter of the wind-blown trees. But while his body was wracked by the storm, his thoughts were tortured with concern over Aelwen. When last he had heard from her, she had still been airborne, battling the tempest. Had she landed safely? The fact that he could no longer contact her by mindspeech did not bode well. And even if
she had reached the ground in safety, she might have been captured. Tiolani would execute her out of hand for trying to make away with Phaerie steeds.
If, by some miracle, she was safe, but too far away to communicate with him, he was still far better off than the Horsemistress. Because he had kept his hold on the packhorse, Aelwen’s precious Rosina, he could huddle between the two animals and share their body heat. The roan mare also carried food, but at first Kelon tried to ignore the gnawing in his stomach. It didn’t seem right, somehow, to touch the food in the saddlebags of the packhorse while Aelwen was somewhere out in the woods alone, with nothing to eat. Occasionally he would call out to her in mindspeech, hoping for the comfort of hearing her voice and knowing that she was all right, but there was never any answer. It took a great deal of energy and effort to project mindspeech over any distance, and she was obviously far away from him. The other alternative - that she might not have survived the storm - he simply refused to countenance.