Analindë (The Chronicles of Lóresse) (13 page)

She rose before dawn and made good time through the forest the next morning. She popped raspberries into her mouth as she ran, and although she was not the fastest or strongest of the elves, she kept up a steady pace. She had just grabbed another handful of berries from her pack when a prickle of unease ran through her and the hair on her neck stood on end. She looked up the trail and sensed an awareness sweeping down the path toward her.

She flung up her flat shield and stuffed her energies into it moments before it swooped past her.
That was close.
With her magesight, she turned and watched the awareness fade away into the distance behind her.

Analindë hesitated a moment before releasing her energies and tucking the shield away. She looked dejectedly down at the crushed berries she’d ruined and let fall to the ground; juice dripped slowly from her fingers. She ate the remaining pulp and reluctantly poured a small amount of water over her hand to rinse the stickiness away. Taking care not to add to the waste, she crouched down, then slowly sorted through the raspberries that she’d dropped. She salvaged a few, ate them, then stood to look back down the trail after the awareness, frowning.

They didn’t know how far she’d come and yet still searched for her? She cast her mind into the void to look for the Humans which were now just the faintest of flickers. They still traveled away from her, but were much closer to the Mountain City. She needed to hurry! She turned around and ran.

Late into the evening she stopped to make camp in a grove of pine trees. The wind whistled through the pine needles overhead. As she refilled her reservoir and centered, she marveled at the difference of centering outside the flat shield. Everything sparkled around her and pulsed with life, the trees and the trickles of water, even the dirt she sat upon contained eddies of Energy. Each had its own pulse, its own rhythm and melody; it was beautiful to behold. With her reservoir filled, she lay down, watched, and listened, letting the forest soothe her to sleep.

It snowed that night.

The Tenth Chapter

T
wo days had passed since
the awareness had started stalking her again. There was no rhyme nor reason behind the searches. It seemed that the Human wizard was determined to not let her reach Mirëdell, which made her equally determined to reach it. She became adept at activating the flat shield in moments, whipping it out whenever she sensed an awareness approaching. She wasn’t sure who else would be searching for her, traitors or friends, so she also maintained her shield of invisibility. Better to avoid everyone until she’d reached the school. Eventually she resorted to keeping both shields up and active at all times.

If her guesswork was correct, when she reached the peak of the mountain she was currently climbing, she would be able to see Mirëdell in the distance, and it was not a moment too soon. Her body and mind had reverted back into numbness. Feelings, sensation, and clarity had been pushed to the side, leaving only a fierce desire to reach the school, pervasive numbness, and despair.

Last night she’d heard troubling sounds in the woods. The sounds of being stalked. She knew the Humans were a few weeks travel away from her, but the sounds came again and again as if they still hunted her. Uneasy, she’d gotten up early and walked through the dark while wondering what creatures the humans had sent to track her.

Not wanting to spend one more night in the forest, she’d pushed herself hard and had eaten while running, stopping only to replenish her reservoir. If all went well, she’d reach Mirëdell by sundown.

Ahhh, the summit at last. Now where was it?
Analindë scanned the horizon.
There!
A faint flutter of excitement rose and fell within her.

Across the valley and halfway up the mountain opposite her lay Mirëdell. Perched on the top of a foothill, Mirëdell’s tower windows caught the mid-morning sun with a golden glow. Its strong walls and sweeping design were typical of any Elven stronghold built during the Elven Wars. Practically a small city, it blended with the surrounding mountain and presented a polished view. An awareness sped along the summit toward her. It passed by her and continued along the trail. Analindë paid it no heed.

The base of Mirëdell was well fortified and had been built with defensive purposes in mind. The walls were as thick as a tree was tall and four times as high. The school was massive. Each successive generation had built upon the last. Inside, away from prying eyes, decorative stonework had been added and deep caves and passages within the mountain had been dug. Many towers rose above Mirëdell, belonging to the families who had built them. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Her ancestor Analindëssë had built one of the towers, but no one had been able to access it in three generations. The towers were like that, picking and choosing themselves who they let inside.

The closer she got to Mirëdell, the harder it would be to see it. Not only because of its wards, but because of its placement. Natural rock formations and trees would hide it from her view. Analindë moved forward, the promise of journey’s end luring her on.

She slipped by many of Mirëdell’s sentries. Oddly, none of them challenged her as she passed. Several awarenesses ranged the forest floor; they came randomly from all directions, sweeping up and down the trail she traveled, the side paths and beyond. By now she had become numb to their existence. Others sat still in one place. Those she avoided.

By mid-afternoon, Analindë began her final climb to Mirëdell. She followed a winding road set into the mountainside. It had been formed with an everlast spell and looked as new as it probably had the day the spell was set. A mix of pines and leafed trees cast shadows across the road. Spent leaves and needles littered the grooved surface and occasionally rustled underfoot.

Weary to the bone, she dragged one foot in front of the other, urging herself onward with mumbles of “I’m almost there” and “Master Therin will take care of everything.”

Just as the sun began to set, Analindë approached the school’s main gate; sentries stood at attention beside sealed doors. She was surprised to see the doors shut, for she couldn’t remember them ever being closed before. Then she remembered the message she’d sent. They were worried. Everything seemed like it had happened so very long ago.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She swallowed and tried again. A raspy voice that she barely recognized as her own said, “Excuse me, may I pass?”

The sentries startled her when they shifted to a more threatening pose and barked a word with power. She did not understand what they said, but she clearly understood the intent behind what they’d spoken. An unyielding defensive shield had just sprung up between her and the entry doors. The pull of the shield was so intense that it took all of her focus to keep from
slipping into magesight to study it. The sentries still did not answer her.

“Please, I need to speak with Master Therin.” Her voice sounded closer to normal.

“Show yourself,” one of the sentries barked.

“I stand plainly before you; I am right here.” The sentry turned in her direction as his sharp gaze cut right through her. His hands snapped to his side, his armor began to buzz, and then she noticed the weapons he now held in his hands. They sparked. He did not speak or open the gate. In a rush, she remembered her shields; Analindë dissolved the one making her invisible and looked back at the sentry. Satisfaction swirled in his eyes.

“State your purpose.”

“I’m Analindë of Lindënolwë, a student here. I seek counsel from Master Therin of the Council of High Mages.”

The sentry nodded slowly, stepping back to open the door to let her pass. The defensive shield between them dimmed as he did so, but yet it still hummed with power. It stung ever so slightly as she walked through the shield. A curious corner of her mind wondered if the sting would have been sharper had she not been using her flat shield or if it had stung because she was using the flat shield. Moments later her thoughts fled.

On the other side of the massive stone doors, a small crowd of guards had gathered. The clamor they made hurt her ears. “–the sentries gave no warning–”

“How did she make it past them?”

“–invisibility shield–”

“I cannot sense her.”

“–do we dare let her pass?”

“Can she prove who she says she is?”

“Where’s the captain?”

Questions flew amongst the guards blocking her path. Exhausted, Analindë simply pushed her way through the crowd. They hastily parted, forming a path across the courtyard toward the school’s main entrance. She shivered when she saw a few Sword Sworn slip away from the crowd and was glad she didn’t need to brush past them.

The eerie silence and the stillness in the way the Sword Sworn moved had always given her the chills. In the past, even seeing the Realm’s spies had given her macabre thoughts. Perhaps her reactions stemmed from the way her mother had always stiffened slightly, ushering her quickly away when they had happened to encounter those that were Sword Sworn. Analindë’s heart panged deep inside her and she gave herself a mental shake, trying to refocus.

“Where is Master Therin?” Analindë asked a guard standing nearby.

“In the Grand Council Chamber.”

Great, more climbing,
she thought to herself.

As she neared the grand doors of the entrance, a senior officer eyed her warily. He held a trident, one of the ones tipped with sel’dor which had been kept locked away ever since the end of the Elven Wars. Without warning, he flipped the trident over and jammed it into the ground near her. Surprise stopped her, then a ripple of pain shot through her. She looked down with magesight and saw that he’d pinned her flat shield to the ground. A burning sensation crawled up her leg; she couldn’t move away. The glittery facets of the shield sizzled where the trident pinned it. Smoke rose as a faint wisp of charred earth wafted.

Anger, no, rage welled within her. She’d escaped certain death, Humans, and an entire mountain range to get here, just to give them a warning that no one else could. And now this! What could they be thinking? Her fury shifted, ignited something inside her. They aren’t going to help! With a flick of a hand she threw a burst of Energy to pulse through the flat shield. The trident prongs that pinned it to the ground exploded as molten metal scattered. The shocked officer now held a wooden staff, a pool of hot metal lay between them.

“Excuse me,” she said, turning ever so slightly to circle past the stunned officer and the pool of metal between them. She glided past the others and into the building, chin lifted, back straight, as if she were wearing a fine gown and this was
the
ball of the season.

The senior officer and the sentry she had spoken to at the main gate trailed behind her. Since they weren’t trying to stop her anymore, she didn’t mind. She covertly took deep breaths as she walked, trying to rally her strength. Her short burst of pique had cost her; she quieted the tremors ricocheting through her body and kept walking. Three flights of steps and two long corridors were all that remained between her and the Grand Council Chamber. She hoped she could make it.

Master Therin scanned the Grand Council Chamber. He didn’t see the tall graceful columns or the delicate stonework encircling them, the tapestries detailing great moments in Elven history, or his fellow High Mages. His thoughts were firmly on his prospective student, Analindë. Her parents had spoken with him years ago, and an apprenticeship was assured.
Where was she? Did she yet live?

Guilt rode him for he had found her, and lost her. It was all his fault. How would he ever face her? He quickly squashed the insecurity. If he let the doubt fester, it would only work to further erode his authority.

All the High Mages had taken turns searching for her during the past several days; their apprentices now searched, but none of them had found any trace of her. He gazed out the windows framing the longest wall, ignoring the torturous discussion in the room. They simply debated the same thing over and over again, and it boiled down to one simple thing. People were worried. He’d long since become tired of the bureaucratic conjecture, so he ignored them, focusing instead on the valley below and the sweeping vista he could not enjoy.

A door opened, disrupting the conversation in the chamber, but Therin didn’t turn to see who had entered. “Any sign of her?” High Lord Mallhawion asked.

“Yes, my Lord.” Surprise snapped through the room. Therin spun around to find the elven guard rising gracefully from a bow before the Master of the Council of High Mages.

The gesture had an immediate effect and Council members jumped to their feet, surging forward to crowd the High Lord. “Where is she?” commanded Master Sírewen, the Sea City Mage.

“A young elven maiden has appeared claiming the name Analindë of Lindënolwë, but we cannot be sure.” The man was trying not to pant; he’d obviously sprinted the distance from the front gates to the council chamber the moment news had been passed. “She is on her way up, but pardon, you must know.” Momentum toward the door ceased as even the wizened old mages stopped to listen. “All is not as it seems; she lies hidden from us. We cannot be sure it is she.”