DemonWars Saga Volume 2: Mortalis - Ascendance - Transcendence - Immortalis (The DemonWars Saga) (254 page)

Juraviel had been stressing that to Dasslerond throughout that entire first week after his return to Andur’Blough Inninness. At first, the Lady had been incensed to learn that he had stepped so boldly as to bring anyone to the secret valley, even though the news of who Juraviel had brought in had surely stunned her, as it had stunned all of the Touel’alfar. Few among Juraviel’s people even suspected that the Doc’alfar still survived.

Gradually through that week, though, Dasslerond had come to agree with Juraviel’s decision to bring Cazzira and the Doc’alfar king, and that understanding alone had told Juraviel just how dire the protective Lady considered the situation with Aydrian to be.

“If Aydrian is all that I suspect, then you will find our need to be a mutual thing,” Lady Dasslerond countered anyway.

Juraviel caught the grimace of Cazzira, who understood his native language as well as he understood hers. He nodded her way, a reassurance that his Lady’s response was not meant to incite any hard feelings, then correctly translated to King Eltiraaz, adding his own comment that it was good that they had come together at this time.

King Eltiraaz studied the Lady of Caer’alfar for a long while. “How do we proceed?” he asked. “If this young Aydrian is as powerful and vengeful as you believe, and he commands the tens of thousands of human warriors, then what are we to do?”

Lady Dasslerond had no direct answer, but she reasoned, “We must stay as far from Aydrian as possible. And we must learn all that we can about him and his intentions. We may have allies in our fight, his mother among them.”

“And what of Brynn?” Juraviel asked. “She should be informed.”

Lady Dasslerond considered the prospect for some time, wondering if the rise of Brynn Dharielle would offer some hope, a retreat for all the elves, perhaps, or an ally in the potential war against Aydrian.

“Are the Doc’alfar familiar with the
brista’qu’veni
?” she asked Juraviel, referring to the Touel’alfar magical way of throwing their voices to the evening breeze, a whisper on the wind that could carry across great expanses of ground to others of their kind who knew how to interpret the message.

Juraviel started to translate the question, but Eltiraaz stopped him with an upraised hand, obviously understanding, and nodded.

“There is a way to strengthen such an idea,” the King of Tymwyvenne added, and he reached into his pouch and brought forth a shining purple sapphire, a gemstone as spectacular as that which Lady Dasslerond kept. The Doc’alfar lifted the stone toward Dasslerond.
“A’bu’kin Dinoniel,”
Eltiraaz intoned. “The gem of the air and the mists.”

“Tel’ne’kin Dinoniel,”
Lady Dasslerond responded, and she brought forth her shining emerald and moved it up beside the sapphire. “The gem of the precious land.”

“Sundered on the day of tou and doc,” Eltiraaz went on, turning to those surprised onlookers about him. “The emerald a gift to the Tou, that they could hold their valley precious and safe. The sapphire a gift to the Doc, that veiling mists would follow their retreat. There is a familiarity within these sister stones that once joined their owners, the Lord and Lady of Andur’Blough Inninness, in harmony.”

“Then let us find again that bond, cousin King,” Dasslerond suggested. “And let us organize a line, north to south, from Andur’Blough Inninness to Tymwyvenne.”

“And farther south, through the mountains and the lair of Agradeleous to the steppes of To-gai and the ears of Brynn Dharielle,” King Eltiraaz added.

“The dragon will allow it?” Dasslerond asked.

“He is a friendly beast, though he might require a fine tale or twelve to allow passage,” Juraviel explained. “And of course, none should disturb Agradeleous’ treasure. He would not look kindly upon such an act, though if he holds anything of value to our cause, he might be persuaded to share.”

“A dragon who shares with alfar,” Dasslerond mused. “It seems such an improbable thing.”

Across the way, Eltiraaz understood and chuckled. “Tylwyn Doc and Tylwyn Tou reunited in a common cause,” he replied, and he echoed Dasslerond’s phrase perfectly. “It seems such an improbable thing.”

Lady Dasslerond accepted that with a generous shrug.

A
ll of the Touel’alfar gathered in a circle on the wide field outside of Caer’alfar, the same field where Brynn had been named as ranger, and Elbryan before her. In the center of the circle, which also included Cazzira and the other visiting Doc’alfar commoners, face-to-face, stood Lady Dasslerond and King Eltiraaz. All gathered sang a common song, one known to Touel’alfar and Doc’alfar alike, of a time far, far removed, when the race of Tou were one.

“As we were sundered, so let us be joined,” Lady Dasslerond intoned.

“Not two peoples, but one,” replied Eltiraaz.

“Of differing bodies but like hearts,” said Dasslerond.

“Of common purpose and common goal.”

Lady Dasslerond began lifting her hand first, palm up, the emerald showing clearly. Eltiraaz did likewise, until their hands were above them, side by side. In the
dark night, the gemstones began to shine—an inner glow, Juraviel realized, and not a reflection of the rising moon.

Lady Dasslerond brought the emerald straight over her head, and said,
“A’bu’kin Dinoniel!”
That was the name of Eltiraaz’s gem, of course, but when the wielder of the sister gem spoke the words, the emerald pulsed suddenly, sending a ring of green light out from its sides. The light drifted down, encircling Lady Dasslerond until it settled on the ground about her feet.

“Tel’ne’kin Dinoniel!”
Eltiraaz cried, lifting the sapphire above his head, and a purple ring pulsed out from the gemstone, similarly drifting down to the Doc’alfar king’s feet.

Both began to repeat the phrases over and over, and more rings came forth, cascading down across their blurring forms. And then the two leaders began to turn circles, stepping out as they did so that the pattern of the ring elongated and crossed through each other now and again.

King Eltiraaz reached out to Lady Dasslerond, and she took his hand and allowed him to pull her in close, both still spinning and reciting the name of the other’s enchanted gemstone, and rings of purple and green cascaded down about both of them.

“A’bu’eh’tel’kin Dinoniel,”
both said together, which referred to both at once as the gem of earth and air and mist, and the rings shifted, blending together, and instead of just falling to the ground, they seemed to come alive with the dance, rolling up and down the spinning pair.

Despite all the danger in the world, Belli’mar Juraviel could not feel anything but joy at that triumphant moment.

At his side, his pregnant Doc’alfar wife squeezed his hand.

Chapter 12
 

B
RYNN RAN HER HAND ALONG THE DEEP TRIO OF SCRATCHES TORN INTO THE WALL
. She had asked Agradeleous to clearly mark the way back to his lair using a series of codes she and the dragon had devised, and so he had, with great claw marks showing at every fork and intersection. Some showed the correct path, others revealed the incorrect path, and Brynn knew the subtle differences in the dragon-claw signposts.

When she and the dragon had worked out the coding, it had been with hopes that she would never have to use them. The mere thought of Agradeleous elicited mixed feelings in the woman. On the one hand, the dragon had undeniably aided her in freeing To-gai; without him, she never would have been able to so frustrate the Behrenese in their own lands. In addition to his obvious battle prowess, Agradeleous had actually provided Brynn with a method of quickly moving her warriors up and down the cliff divide that separated To-gai from Behren. Also, the dragon’s great speed and tremendous strength had allowed Brynn to keep her force supplied while they were out in the hostile open desert.

Without Agradeleous, Brynn could never have won against the Behrenese, could never have forced a truce that brought freedom back to the To-gai-ru tribes and transformed the city of Dharyan into Dharyan-Dharielle, a place where the cultures could exchange goods and understanding. This city, Brynn believed, would serve as the bridge between the peoples and would shine as the hope that Behren and To-gai would live in peace as separate and complementary lands.

But the gains of the dragon had come with a price—a terrible price for Brynn Dharielle. To defeat the Behrenese, she had been forced to turn loose the power of the dragon, and that awful, indiscriminate might had shaken her to the fabric of her conscience. She had watched Agradeleous level settlements and turn avenues into walls of flame. She had heard the screams of the dying—she heard them still, echoing in her dreams. Brynn’s greatest fear was not that the Behrenese would conquer her people once more; it was that she would be forced to use Agradeleous again, to loose that terrible weapon once more.

All the way back here in the northern stretches of To-gai, with Pagonel by her side, Brynn had told herself and the mystic that she would rouse Agradeleous for scouting purposes, and perhaps to hold as a threat to keep Yatol Tohen Bardoh in check.

She truly wanted to believe that.

Every claw mark in the long tunnel had reminded her of the sheer strength of the dragon. Every claw mark had brought a shudder.

But she persevered, forcing away her own guilt and pointedly telling herself of
the gain Agradeleous had brought. Her people were free; they were not only finding again the old ways of the To-gai-ru, but because of Dharyan-Dharielle, they were reaching further, examining the more modern world and allowing it to slip quietly into their rich culture. To-gai-ru children in Dharyan-Dharielle were even learning to read in the great new library Brynn had assembled from the remains of the formerly glorious Library of Pruda.

Coming to retrieve Agradeleous, however, brought her always back to the notion that those gains had not been realized without cost.

“You cannot raise an army sufficient to keep Yatol Bardoh from conquering Jacintha, should he move against that city,” Pagonel reminded her, as if sensing her doubts. “You would have to rouse all of To-gai. Would they heed such a call to go to the defense of Behren? And should you ask that of them?”

Brynn looked at him, standing quietly in the flickering torchlight. They had gone over this before, of course, when Pagonel and Pechter Dan Turk had arrived in Dharyan-Dharielle with the news of Bardoh’s mounting power. Setting the defenses of Dharyan-Dharielle in place, Brynn and the mystic had quickly raced off to the west and north, to the entrance of the Path of Starless Nights. She had left Tanalk Grenk, her trusted advisor, to see to the defense of the city and the rousing of the To-gai-ru riders, though she wasn’t sure yet what she might do with that army.

“I am confident that we can hold our city against Bardoh,” she replied, though that wasn’t really answering the mystic’s question, because she really had no answer to the mystic’s question.

“Your people have found freedom again, and nothing short of a complete and united Behrenese invasion will truly threaten that,” Pagonel agreed. “And I do not think that Yatol Bardoh will go against Dharyan-Dharielle at this time. And should he make that error, yes, all of To-gai will rise against him. He knows that. He has too much to lose, since his real prize lies in the east, along the coast.

“If you wish to go to the aid of Yatol Mado Wadon, as we implied in the truce, and as would obviously be to the longer-term benefit of your own people, you will need Agradeleous,” the mystic finished bluntly.

“Longer-term benefit?”

“You cannot deny that if Tohen Bardoh wins in Jacintha, he will soon enough turn his sights upon Dharyan-Dharielle.”

Brynn started to respond, to argue, but she bit back the retort. Pagonel was right. Of course he was right, and as much as she hated to admit it, the suffering that Agradeleous might soon bring to the land would pale beside the tragedy of allowing the wicked Tohen Bardoh to take control of Behren and unite the kingdom under his imperialistic designs.

The woman pressed on, telling herself determinedly that time was running short. For all she knew, the fight for Jacintha might already be on in full.

Later that same day, the pair heard the rhythmic rumbling sound of a sleeping dragon.

Soon after, they came out of the narrowing tunnel into a wider chamber stacked with coins and assorted items that glittered in the torchlight. It wasn’t the main chamber of the dragon, Brynn knew, for that one, where she had first encountered Agradeleous beside Juraviel and Cazzira, was much larger and much more treasure-filled. This area was barely large enough to admit the dragon. No other exits were apparent, though the chamber’s sheer walls climbed high and straight, and there seemed to be a ledge far overhead.

Brynn looked to her companion, to see him studying the piles of glittering objects intently. Following his lead, she quickly figured out what had so caught his interest. There was little of real value here—even the coins were of silver or copper, mostly.

“Aha!” came a sudden roar above them, and then a sliding sound from the tunnel they had just exited, a portcullis or stone block, perhaps, told them that they had walked into a trap.