Green Rider (16 page)

It would not have been enough
. And he flew ahead over the trees.

After another fall, Karigan remembered her moonstone. When she removed it from her pocket, it lit the woods around her like brilliant daylight. Her pains diminished as she held it, and travel through the woods became easier.

The promised stream appeared, a glimmering ribbon in the light of the moonstone. She set the stone on a fallen tree trunk and dropped to her knees in the soft mud of the stream. She plunged her wrists, sleeves and all, into the cold, soothing water. Her whole body felt hot, as if she had bathed in the creature's burning blood. She splashed her face with stream water.

I hope for your sake we were not too late.

Karigan looked at the eagle. His feathers showed a veritable rainbow of colors in the light of the moonstone. "What do you mean?"

The blood
—
its poisonous effects
.

It was like listening to someone else's conversation from far away. She cupped water in her hands to slake her sudden thirst.

Creatures such as we fought tonight haven't been seen since the Long War
. The eagle preened a little, then watched her impassively as she dunked her whole head into the water.

Her thirst quenched, at least for the moment, she stood up, wobbling with dizziness.

What are you doing
? the eagle asked.

"The Horse… he needs me. And the wolf."

Karigan limped back through the woods, stumbling and falling despite the assistance of the moonstone. It seemed to take years to reach the clearing where the carnage of the battle lay. The creature's carapace had darkened in its pall of death. She felt numb all over. Only the eagle's loud protests prevented her from stepping in a puddle of black blood.

The Horse watched her approach. He lay on his side with his legs tucked up against his belly, and though his neck was grotesquely swollen where he had been stung, his eyes were bright. The wolf, on the other hand, did not move. Karigan cried in rage and pulled at the claw that still clenched him, rocking it back and forth. His eyes were empty of defiance and life.

"I won't have this!"

She dropped the claw and found her saber on the ground. The blade was still black with the creature's blood. She carried it over to the creature. The Horse whinnied in alarm, but she ignored him. She swung her sword again and again at the creature, but it bounced off its shell.

The eagle flew at her face, pushing her away.
Foolish human. It's dead
.

"Leave me alone!" She swung the sword erratically, nearly catching the eagle in midair, but gentle hands took it from her. She wasn't sure if she could see the hands or not, but they were cool to the touch. They led her from the clearing and helped her lay down.

She closed her eyes and fell into dreams of thousands of silvery creatures stinging her, making her drink black blood, of fire and burning. When she opened her eyes again, F'ryan Coblebay stood next to the eagle, flickering like a candle in a breeze. She could not hear their words as they conversed, only whispers that may have been the branches of trees rattling together like dry bones. They glanced down at her, talking about her, she was sure, as if she wasn't there.

"Talk to
me
…" She had meant to yell, but her lips and mouth were so dry the words were no more than a raspy breath.

She saw the wolf. Like F'ryan Coblebay, there was a luminous quality about him, an otherworldliness. He looked right into her face, his amber eyes challenging her once again. Challenging her to what? She could not maintain that gaze, and she closed her eyes. She fell into a dark slumber with tiny silver-shelled creatures feeding on her mind.

SOMIAL OF THE ELT WOOD

The nature of her dreams changed abruptly. She heard fair voices in song and talk around her. The voices weren't intrusive, but soothing, though she could not understand the words. She awakened once, and a myriad of stars brightened the sky like beacons, and silhouetted the tops of evergreens. She lay in a great round clearing softened by deer moss that looked like clumps of snow in the starlight. Stars flickered among the trees… no, not stars, but
moonstones
… dozens of them. She was not alone.

Light followed in the wake of folk tall and slender, who glided across the clearing and disappeared among the trees. She sat up with a start that set her head ringing.

"Easy, youngling," a quiet voice said. A gentle but firm hand on her shoulder eased her back down. "There is nothing to harm you here. You've the good fortune of being found by friends in your time of need. You need not fear the Tree Kindred of the Elt Wood."

As Karigan drifted back into sleep, she heard the eagle say,
My Lord Drannonair of the Mountains calls me. I confess I've no wish to get mixed up in the affairs of earth-bound creatures, and it was time I left
.

The quiet-voiced one laughed, and it was a sound of joy. "But, Softfeather, you are always betraying yourself!"

Someone put a cool hand on Karigan's burning forehead, and she fell into deep slumber. She dreamed of feasting, of fair folk amidst the moonstones singing and laughing, and dancing to music that could not be heard. The women, clad in long and simple dresses, spun and danced with fluid grace as if their movements were some flowing language. If so, what were they saying? The swaying, dipping, leaping figures were strong in her vision, but after a time, they faded into the moonstone light.

The singing continued for a time, and though Karigan didn't know the language, it seemed she understood the words nonetheless:

By bright of light in Laurelyn's step,

By the brilliant light of Moonman's beam,

We leave the shadows of the night,

In the realm of poison dreams.

Our hearts will lift at the hour,

When the light conquers the dark,

And when poison from the heart is driven,

We dance in a glade in Laurelyn's step.

The song faded, and the men entered the clearing and picked up on the rhythm of the unheard music where the women had left off. They danced for a short time, but could have as easily surpassed the Ages.

Karigan dimly perceived a change of light from dusk to dawn. Stars still dangled above as the sky transformed into the blue blush of day. The dance went on and the strains of a song she could not hear carried through her dreams. When the dance stopped and the women reentered the clearing, Karigan moved to join them, but the cool hand on her forehead cast her into a deeper sleep where dreams would not disturb her.

When she awakened again, stars still dotted the sky and moonstones shimmered in the woods as before, and the clearing was not-so far removed from her dreams, except now it was empty of dancers. It was all she could do to open her eyes, so overcome with weakness was she.

"So you are with us again, youngling."

Karigan recognized the voice, but the speaker wasn't within her vision. When she struggled to her elbows, the clearing and stars spun.

"None of that," the voice said. "You are too weak yet."

Hands pressed her shoulders down. When the spinning ceased, a young man such as she had never seen before knelt beside her. At least, he was young in appearance, though the weight of years could be felt through his mild manner. Long hair shimmered silver in the starlight, though she could not be sure that silver was its true color. Wide bright eyes of pale gray set into a fine-boned face gazed down at her merrily. He was slender like a reed, but not bereft of heft and muscle.

"Who—" she croaked. Her mouth and throat were parched.

He lifted a skin of water to her lips and helped her drink. It was cold and clear as if it had been drawn from the root of all waters, from a mountain spring that flowed into a sunny glade where the trees around it grew taller than any she had ever seen.

"I am Somial," the man said. "I am Somial of Eletia, or the Elt Wood as your folk would call it."

Karigan choked on the water. Eletia! "Eletians are legend," she whispered.

"If that is so," he said with a smile, "I must then be a legend."

"Estral always claimed there were still Eletians around, but I never believed her."

"Your Estral, then, is most wise."

"The Horse—" She tried to sit up again, but Somial pressed her firmly to the ground.

"He fares well," he assured her. "We have been caring for him most diligently."

Karigan struggled no more. She hadn't the strength to. "A long night," she murmured.

Somial arched his right brow. "Yes. This night and the last two."

"I've been—?"

"Yes, messenger. Your fight only just began when you slew the creature of
Kanmorhon Vane
. Softfeather told us of your courage. Such courage is not often found among your folk, nor such resilience. The poison of the beast raged hot and thick through your veins."

Karigan couldn't get over the feeling he was secretly laughing at her, but his gaze and tone were sincere enough. "Softfeather? Who—?"

"The gray eagle. He, too, is a messenger of sorts among his folk."

Karigan closed her eyes. The lights around her had begun to dim and flare, and dim again. How was it the Eletians had come to be here at this time? Were they just another fever dream?

"How did you find me?"

Somial said, "We are
tiendan
, hunters, or watchers for the king. We walk the lands, even outside our beloved Eletia. Long it has been since last we traveled Sacoridia's fine northern forest. Our king and his son have sensed a great unease in the world, and the creature of
Kanmorhan Vane
only confirms some unrest of the dark powers. We would that we could have come to your aid sooner, but we only knew of you when we saw the light of the
muna'riel
. Curious that a mortal should possess one. We don't know what to make of it."

"You mean my moonstone?"

"Yes, your moonstone. You have been touched by the light of Laurelyn. It makes you a friend of the Elt Wood, though our king cares little for your kind."