Lady of Light and Shadows (28 page)

Kieran bared his teeth and snarled. Bel cursed quietly and straightened. "How did you manage it?" he asked, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm. "We passed you outside on the palace steps.”

"Did you?" Gaelen rose with a single fluid motion. "Are you sure?”

"That was Spirit?”

Vel Serranis shrugged. "I
am
a master of it.”

"As am I. If it was Spirit, I would have known.”

"Mmm. But then, I do have at least a thousand years on you, Belliard vel Jelani. And countless lifetimes more experience”

With a casual arrogance that set Rain's teeth on edge, Gaelen promptly commandeered the small stone-topped bar in the corner and began handing out glasses of ice water and taunting evaluations of the quintet's shortcomings with equal measure. Judging from the fulminating looks in the warriors' eyes, they were none too happy to have the former
dahl'reisen
appoint himself their
chatok,
their mentor in the Dance of Knives.

"So the Eld are on the move, planning an attack, and you came to warn your sister," Rain said. "And how did you come by this information?”

Gaelen shrugged and left off taunting the others for the moment. He selected a crystal goblet and pulled the stopper from a flagon of pinalle. "My men reported Eld troop movements along the western border not long after I stumbled across an Eld raiding party in Norban.”

"Your men?”

"The Brotherhood of Shadows.
Dahl'reisen
who still protect the Fading Lands." He poured a stream of pale blue liquid into his goblet, filling it generously. "We guard the borders against Eld attack.”

"The rumors are true, then.”

"Some are. I don't eat small Celierian children for breakfast." He lifted the goblet to his lips, met Kieran's angry stare over the rim, and smiled wickedly. "Infant Fey playing at being warriors are much more satisfying.”

Rain's eyes narrowed. "Kieran is your sister's son, and a fine warrior. Young, but stronger in Earth than any other Fey in the Fading Lands. He holds a master's strength in Air and Fire as well, plus a fourth-level talent in Spirit and Water. If you prick him one too many times, vel Serranis, you will regret it.”

"I doubt that. He may be my sister's son, but he has his father's reflexes.”

"I'm so glad you've returned to us, Gaelen," Dax announced dryly from the doorway. "I'd forgotten what a pleasure it was to have you around." He, Marissya, and her quintet entered the suite.

Gaelen raised his glass to Dax. "You never were and never will be good enough for her, but at least you're Fey and possess some minor ability to ensure her protection and happiness. Not like that worthless mortal Marikah chose." He downed the rest of the pinalle in one swallow and set the goblet aside. "But enough of that.” He raised a hand. The suite doors closed with a bang and bolted. Shining nets of Air and Spirit shot out from his fingertips to seal the room. It happened so quickly that even Rain was left blinking in surprise.

Galen arched a dark brow "I am a master of Earth, Air, Spirit, and Fire, and a fifth-level talent in Water, mentored in the Dance of Knives by the great Shannisorran v'En Celay himself." He looked at Kieran, and his face hardened. "I was the sharpest blade in the Fading Lands, and still the Mages murdered my sister while she was in my presence and under my protection. One brief hesitation, one split second cost her life." He met Kieran's gaze steadily. "If I demand perfection, young Fey, it is because nothing but perfection will do. Not when protecting the Fading Lands, and certainly not when protecting a
shei'dalin
who has truemated a Tairen Soul and can bring the Dark Lord back from living death.”

"You said you stumbled across an Eld raiding party," Rain interrupted. "Tell us what you know. Marissya, verify every word he speaks.”

When his sister's hands closed around his arm, Gaelen lifted his chin. "Three days ago I found the remains of a Celierian woodsman just outside Norban. He'd been tortured and slain by an Eld raiding party led by an apprentice Mage. The Eld were seeking information about a red-haired child found there some twenty-four years ago." His gaze flickered to Ellysetta, touching on her flame-red hair. "I tracked the Eld, and found them in the final moments of a battle with two Fey”

"Truth," Marissya said. "That must have been Sian and Torel.”

Rain frowned. "The Fey-Sian and Torel-they were slain?”

"Aiyah.
One was already dead. The other took his last breath before I could reach him. They died with honor, as warriors should." Gaelen reached into his tunic and tugged two pendants free. "I have their
sorreisu kiyr
to verify my claim.”

Marissya touched the stones and closed her eyes. "These are the crystals of Sian and Torel. And their death happened as Gaelen has said.”

"Do you have any idea what the woodsman might have known about the Feyreisa that was so important a Mage would come to interrogate and kill him for it?" Rain asked.

"The woodsman's memories were gone," Gaelen answered. "Someone-your Fey warriors, by the look of it-erased them before the Mage got to him.”

"If the woodsman was already dead, and Sian and Torel died before you reached them," Bel said quietly, "how is it you know they erased his memories?”

Gaelen hesitated. "You are observant, Belliard vel Jelani." He tilted his head in acknowledgment. "As I said, I'm a master of Air, Earth, Fire, and Spirit, and a fifth-level talent in Water. From what I can tell"-he met Rain's gaze without flinching-"I am also a fourth-level talent in Azrahn." Marissya gasped. Both her quintet and Ellysetta's suddenly looked alert and deadly. Gaelen bestowed a gentle smile on his sister and freely condemned himself. "I summoned the man's soul back from the dead to learn what I could before Firing his body”

"Oh, Gaelen.”

"Use of Azrahn is a banishing offense," Kieran said.

Gaelen gave a bark of laughter. "That's not much of a deterrent when one is already banished for far worse, now is it, puppy? Besides, Fey law also forbids tampering with Celierian memories, so I am not the only one to break Fey laws when the situation warrants." He eyed Rain coolly. "I never expected to walk again in the Fading Lands. If you choose to deny me entrance because I called Azrahn as a
dahl'reisen,
so be it.”

"I will not deny you entrance. But you will not call Azrahn again. It is forbidden.”

Gaelen's jaw hardened. "I will do as I have always done. Whatever is necessary to protect the Fey.”

"As you protected us when you threw us into the Mage Wars for vengeance's sake?”

"No less than you, when you scorched the world."

"Stop it, both of you," Marissya snapped.

"If the Fey stole the woodsman's memories, what kept you from calling
their
souls back from the dead to learn what they knew?" Kieran sneered.

The temperature in the room plummeted. The chill was cold anger, coming from Gaelen, followed a moment later by mocking acceptance. "Well, puppy, I did try, but by then I was
sel'dor-pierced
and my magic wasn't quite as manageable as it usually is.”

"Untruth." Marissya smiled at her brother's quick scowl. "At least about trying to summon Fey souls. You
were sel’dor-
pierced.”

"I caught a few barbed arrows while dispatching the last of the Elden raiders and the apprentice Mage who led them. I couldn't send Spirit; that's why I came to Celieria in person.”

"There's no trace of
sel'dor
in you now.”

"The Feyreisa must have removed the barbs when she healed me.”

"She didn't," Bel said. "She touched you and lit you up like a candle, but she didn't remove any
sel'dor
so far as I could see.”

"And yet the
sel'dor
has vanished from my flesh.”

Everyone turned to Ellysetta. "If I did it, I don't remember it, and don't have any idea how to do it again.”

"So ... she truemates a Tairen Soul, restores a
dahl'reisen's
lost soul, and disintegrates
sel'dor
with a touch. Yet she is still here in this city rather than safe behind the Faering Mists? And Marissya as well?”

Rain bristled at the reproach. "Not because I wish it so, believe me," he retorted. "I am bound by honor and Celierian law Her father and Dorian set aside her Celierian betrothal only on the condition that I wed her by Celierian custom, and the formalities of it take time. Were that not so, I would have taken her and returned to the Fading Lands days ago. Just as I would have commanded your sister to return the moment I learned that the Celierians have been negotiating a trade agreement with the Eld, and that she and Dax knew of it.”

Gaelen speared his sister with a penetrating look that actually made the imperturbable Marissya flush, but whatever scathing remark was on the tip of his tongue went unsaid. He turned back to Rain. "The Eld are on the move. Whatever attack they have planned will come soon. You should leave now, in the night. Take your
shei’tani
and go.”

"I've told you, I cannot. She does not complete the required prenuptial ceremonies until tomorrow. We wed and depart after that.”

"Do not place honor above your
shei’tani's
life.”

"That's the sort of thinking that led you down the shadowed path so long ago, vel Serranis. I will honor my vow. To do less makes me unworthy of her.”

A knock sounded on the doors. Kiel opened them upon Rain's command. Marissya pulled her hand from her brother's arm, a small, instinctive courtesy to spare his pride, as Rowan stepped into the room.

"So it is true." Rowan pinned Gaelen with a hard glare. "How is it that you still live,
dahl'reisen?"
He held his hands close to his blades, tension and aggression vibrating from him with almost visible force.

"Peace, Rowan," Kiel murmured. "Gaelen is
dahl'reisen
no longer. The Feyreisa has restored his soul.”

"So we heard, but I didn't believe it until now. It still doesn't excuse him from bringing his taint into this city and tormenting my brother's truemate.”

"Your
brother's
truemate?" Gaelen glanced from Rowan to Ellysetta.

"Not Ellysetta," Marissya clarified. "Talisa diSebourne, Lord Barrial's daughter." Gaelen's face went blank with surprise. "You didn't know she could truemate?”

"Nei.
How could we know? Lord Barrial's marriage bond was a purely mortal one. We knew the girl was slightly empathetic but we never suspected anything more. If we had, we certainly would never have allowed her to waste herself on Sebourne's heir.”

"Then why do you have twenty-five
dahl'reisen
stationed on Lord Barrial's lands?" Rain asked. "You knew Lord Barrial was a descendant of your cousin Dural, that Fey blood-vel Serranis blood-ran in the Barrial family line.”

"Aiyah,
I did know that. Dural's disappearance was what brought me back to Celieria seven hundred years ago. He was gone without a trace, his mortal mate slain, his son orphaned. And they weren't the only ones. All along the borders there were tales of midnight raids and folk gone missing. It was then I formed the Brotherhood of Shadows. We began patrolling the borders, stopping the raids when we could. As for the twenty-five
dahl'reisen ...
they are there to protect Lord Barrial. Too many of the raids over the years have targeted Dural's descendants.”

"Why?”

"We don't know. Over the years, I've sent more than a hundred
dahl'reisen
into Eld to find out. None of them ever returned.”

"So, back to my earlier question," Kieran interrupted with an open sneer. "Why didn't you summon the souls of the Eld you killed and ask them?”

Gaelen gave a small, tight smile. "The Mages soul-bind their followers to them, boy. If you summon a soul owned by the Mages, you might as well send a thread of Spirit straight to the High Mage himself and set up a flare to light his way back to you. Using Azrahn opens your soul for ... things ... to get in. I'd personally rather not have one of those things be a Mage.”

"Azrahn?" Rowan interrupted. He speared Rain with an incredulous look. "Gaelen is a
dahl'reisen
who freely admits to wielding Azrahn, and you let him draw breath within the same room as the Feyreisa? Have you gone mad?”

"He has," Kieran muttered.

"Gaelen is
dahl'reisen
no longer," Marissya answered, flashing a dark look at her son. "The Feyreisa restored his soul. What would you have Rain do, slaughter him now that he is whole once more? Or banish him for something he did while living outside our laws?”

"The Dark Lord has bloodsworn himself to the Feyreisa." That dry remark came from Teris, the new holder of Fire in Ellysetta's primary.

Rowan's jaw dropped, and he turned a shocked look on Rain. "You
have
gone mad.”

"Rowan." Marissya gave him a warning look. "Is everything all right with Talisa?”

Shaking his head with astonished incredulity, the warrior was slow to answer. "The husband came, demanding her return. Lord Barrial nearly drew steel on him before he would leave." He flicked a quick shuttered glance at Gaelen, then directed his attention to Rain. "It was all I could do to keep Adrial from slitting diSebourne's throat.”

"Adrial is still with his
shei’tani?"
Rain asked.