The Shards (34 page)

“You were hurt, Robyn?” he asked.

“Yes, very hurt. You cannot imagine the intensity of the bond between a Lalas and its Chosen. This rejection was more difficult to bear than if he had been my own father,” Robyn explained. “The hurt is so strong that it feels almost physical and I cannot dwell upon it. It would consume too much of my energy.”

“I am sorry,” Davmiran said sincerely. “Though I am not a Chosen and I am not bonded, I carry the shards, remember? Maybe I can help you deal with this, Robyn.”

“Thank you. I will certainly consider your offer more fully later,” he replied gratefully. “Perhaps you are right. Until now, I have tried not to remember how it felt when last we conversed, and that in itself has not been healthy for me. Fortunately, my mind has been on other matters most of the time, and…”

“Robyn, I need to speak with my brother,” Davmiran said again, interrupting Robyn in mid-sentence with an urgent tone in his voice. “I must not wait any longer.”

“Let us go then,” he replied recognizing the exigency, as he pulled the heavy door open for his friend.

Tomas was sitting in his room staring out of the window across the rooftops of Avalain. It was early morning and the sun was rising still. It cast a welcoming light in all directions, and it dissolved the darkness and turned the night into day. He and his companions had settled in quickly after arriving to the shock of having virtually the entire population of Talamar camped outside the gates. Queen Esta was a marvel at statesmanship, which was not a surprise. Her grace and demeanor suited itself to leadership, along with her other qualities, particularly her strength of character. The people of the city truly loved her and were comforted by her return, and they looked to her for political leadership as well as moral guidance.

In a short span of time, the camps were fully organized. Her army assisted those Talamaran’s who chose to remain, in constructing temporary housing and facilities that would be more than adequate to last them until the spring thaw. They could then decide better where they wished to take up a more permanent residence. Being displaced so abruptly afforded them all few immediate choices.

The mere presence of the Knights of Avalain was more than enough of an incentive to keep their guests behaving properly. Talamar had never been a city of fighters. The people adhered to the rules imposed by the guards, and though many of them were reluctant to work as hard as their circumstances required, for the most part they complied adequately.

Tomas, Stephanie, Preston and Elion were left to their own devices for the first few days. Queen Esta had a lot to do upon her return and they did not wish to interfere, nor did they wish to impose upon her when she was being pulled in so many directions at once. They settled in to their rooms without much difficulty, and they each enjoyed the luxury of good food and a good bed for the first time in a long while. They also took this opportunity to wander the broad streets of Avalain and marvel at its beauty. In addition, there was so much for them to discuss and to plan that the days went by very quickly.

The ring that Tomas wore around his neck had been bothering him of late. It seemed always to be trying to talk to him, to communicate with him, but whenever he grasped it and attempted to focus upon it, the feelings disappeared. Nevertheless, its presence against his skin was constantly one that he was completely aware of. Now though, he felt compelled more often to lift the ring in his hands and examine it, though he was unsure of just why. It beckoned to him, but it did not reveal anything. He thought perhaps that one of the council was trying to reach him, but when he tried to determine who if any it was, without unnecessarily generating a link, he realized that it was not a Chosen who was the source of this feeling. The ring itself was stirring.

From the moment he retrieved it from the sapling’s heart until this day, he felt its latent potency. He wondered if there were things his uncle Trevor would have wanted to tell him if he’d had the opportunity. Surely he must have known it was there all along. Maybe he even planted it there all those tiels ago when the tree was still tiny, knowing that it would be safe until the day Tomas retrieved it. The myriad of questions would never all be answered, and Tomas felt the emptiness in his heart that this longing to know generated. But it was not simply a longing for knowledge that weighed so heavily upon his soul. He felt the sundering of his links to the past; the seemingly systematic disruption of his history and his heritage, and he pined for the memories that he would never be able to have.

Despite the fact that he wore the ring always and that it surely and certainly evoked feelings and memories of his legacy however ephemeral and nondescript, he never looked upon it as a weapon or an independent source of power. Rather, it seemed to be an extension of his own self in a way. The heat that it generated was comforting, not disturbing, and he was forever aware of its presence. Today though, it burned with an uncommon intensity.

Tomas was concentrating so thoroughly upon this that he barely was aware of the soft knocking upon his door.

“Tomas? Are you awake?” he finally heard Elion’s muffled voice sound through the heavy wood.

He turned from the window and hastily made his way across the thickly carpeted floor.

“Come in,” he said, while opening the door for his friend. “I was lost in thought and I did not hear you. Have you been standing here for long?” he asked.

“No. Not really. I thought perhaps you were resting, and if so, I did not want to disturb you,” Elion said. “I was just about to turn and walk away. Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?” Tomas replied.

“No particular reason. You just look preoccupied, that’s all.”

“Well, to be honest, I am. You knew that, didn’t you?”

“I suppose,” Elion replied. “Though I did not realize it until now. Is there anything you want to talk about?” he asked.

Tomas walked back to the leaded glass window and sighed. With his back to Elion, he started to speak.

“I have worn this ring around my neck since the moment I left Pardeau. Until I used it to link with the Chosen before we got here, it has been nothing more than a comfort to me. I felt its warmth and I felt its power, but it never impinged upon me in any way.”

He then turned around and faced the elf.

“It is beckoning to me now, Elion,” he said seriously. “I do not know what it wants because it does not speak in words to me, but images flood my thoughts. Sometimes I feel as if they are my own memories that I should somehow recall,” he explained.

“Can you describe one to me?” Elion asked. “Maybe I can help.”

“You know that I never met my parents? I was removed from their home as a newborn and I did not know of them until recently. Yet, I have been seeing faces and locations, rooms and buildings, that I believe have something to do with my family. My aunt and uncle told me what they felt was safe to divulge, but these images could not be stemming from anything they said,” Tomas said.

“How do you know that it is the ring that is provoking these experiences? Maybe you are just longing for your family, and you are therefore imagining what they and their surroundings might have looked like,” Elion replied.

“I have seen my brother’s face, Elion,” he said soberly, and he looked the elf directly in the eyes. “His blue eyes were staring straight into mine.”

“Now Tomas, I do not mean to cast doubt upon what you believe you have seen, but how hard would it be for you to picture your brother? After all, you are twins!” Elion said.

“He has a need to contact me, Elion. I just know it!” Tomas said. “It is not my imagination. And I do not know how to use the ring to facilitate this.”

“You had no problem communicating with the other Chosen. What is the difference here? Can you not just use the same method as you did then? That is, if you are certain that it is Davmiran who is beckoning you.”

“I am sure, Elion. I am quite sure. And I have tried to respond. Something is interfering with my efforts. I wish I could be more specific, but it just feels as if each time I reach out to and then through the ring, the link that I know is there is severed before it is even completed.”

“Then you must try a different way,” Elion said. “Or maybe from a different place. How long have you been attempting to communicate with him?”

“For the past hour or so,” Tomas replied.

“Was tonight the first night that you tried?”

“Yes, it was. I never thought it was safe to attempt it before. And besides, I did not initiate it either this time. The ring did. “

“I think we should go find Esta and ask her if there is a place in the castle or elsewhere in Avalain that she thinks would be more secure than here. Maybe someone is trying to prevent you from reaching him,” Elion said. “You know that there are others who want very badly to stop you from ever talking to your brother, let alone meeting him. Caeltin’s reach is quite extensive. It would not surprise me if he was behind your problems.”

“It would not surprise me either. In fact, I would have expected it of him if we were still out on the road. I just did not think that he could do anything to us here in Avalain,” Tomas said dejectedly.

“Neither did I, but things are changing every day. We have to be careful wherever we might be. You and your brother are so important to all of us.”

“I will not endanger him. If the Evil One thinks that he can reach my brother through me, he is mistaken,” Tomas insisted.

“I think he is probably more concerned that you will reach him yourself, Tomas,” Elion surmised. “He has two of you to contend with now, when before he thought there was only one. He must have been quite surprised when he found that out!”

“Davmiran and I cannot be together. That would be foolish of us,” Tomas said.

“I agree. But if you two could confer with one another, perhaps there is no harm in that.”

“I suppose,” Tomas replied.

“What is troubling you?” Elion asked earnestly.

“My brother and I are like two lost souls. He has no memory of his past, and I never knew of mine. We are all that is left of our family and of our history, and yet it is too dangerous for us to even meet,” Tomas confessed.

“It is best that you do not spend time in the same location. There is no question that Caeltin would be overjoyed if he could dispatch the two of you at once. But if you are able to talk to Dav in some way, that may ease your concerns, and maybe in time you will also be able to be together.”

“The time will come,” Tomas replied. “But it is not now.”

“Ironic, is it not? I found Davmiran and brought him to my home away from the city that he was supposed to be awakened in. And Cairn found you and brought you to the city your brother was supposed to be in. Does anything ever proceed as planned?” Elion asked.

“According to someone’s plan perhaps.”

“As long as it is not Caeltin’s,” Elion remarked. “In the meanwhile, I think we should find another location within the city where we can try to use the ring and find out once and for all if the two of you can actually communicate through them.”

“Should we really consult with Esta about this? I imagine that if anyone knows where it would be safe for us to go in this city she does,” Tomas said.

“On second thought, I think she has enough to contend with right now. Besides, I do know where we can go,” Elion replied.

“You do?”

“Yes, I am sure of it! When Filaree arrived at Pardatha she was accompanied by a loyal and devoted knight, Cameron, for whom she had more than a common affection,” he recalled cheerlessly. “I told you the story of his courage and of his sad demise.”

“Yes, I remember, though she herself had never spoken to me about him. The Queen told me that they were friends since they were children,” Tomas recalled. “There were many tragedies that occurred that fateful day. And many courageous warriors,” Tomas said to Elion, and he emphasized the elf’s own role in the victory before the gates of Pardatha.

“Perhaps, Tomas. But I never felt courageous. I did what I had to do under the circumstances, and I was very scared,” he said candidly.

“Who ever said that heroes were not allowed to be scared? And, is not the definition of a courageous person exactly what you just described? A person doing what he or she has to do under the circumstances regardless of concern for oneself?”

“I suppose,” Elion said modestly. “But in any case, my point in bringing this event up was that Cameron and Filaree had a strange and meaningful encounter in the woods just outside of Avalain before they got anywhere near Pardatha. There is a place called the Winding Woods that I believe is still protected.”

“By the Lalas?” Tomas asked.

“No, but by less sentient trees than Lalas, though safe nonetheless. At least, safe from the Dark Lord’s eavesdropping.”

“How can you be sure?” the boy asked.

“Filaree told me a story when we were together in Pardatha about her father and another from Avalain named Pembar. Her father had known him well many tiels ago, and she and Cameron had to pass through the Winding Woods on their way to meet Baladar.”

“I remember hearing it too, now that you mention it,” Tomas recalled.

“This forest, though dangerous in its own right, was a haven as well. I am sure that it would be a safe place to communicate with your brother from. Filaree said that the thousands of trees that make up the woods live and act as one, and that once you step foot within the borders of the Winding Woods, you are in its world and no others can influence you.”

“Nor can they assist you!” Tomas added as a warning.

“Why would we require assistance? We intend only to enter for a brief moment and then to leave the way we came. We are not trying to cross through them, as she and Cameron did,” Elion said.

“Did Filaree not have a token which she wore around her neck to identify her?” Tomas asked.

“The black tree?” Elion acknowledged.

“Yes. The item that her father had given her.”

“Do you think that we need something like that just to go in there and come right back out?” Elion asked.