DemonWars Saga Volume 1 (204 page)

Roger stared at Juraviel as she spoke, taken aback by her detached, even callous, tone. Juraviel's expression offered little information. The elf understood Roger's surprise: up until then, the only elf Roger had met was Juraviel. But Lady Dasslerond spoke with the responsibility for the fate of the Touel'alfar upon her. Juraviel knew her attitude toward the humans was not unusual.

"However," Lady Dasslerond continued, looking at each of the six men, "should we happen upon enemies of your own making —King's soldiers, perhaps, or men of your Church—then any battle is your own to wage. The Touel'alfar shall not concern themselves with the affairs of humans."

Juraviel felt that last statement keenly, knew that Lady Dasslerond had put it that way to aim it directly at him.

"I only meant —" poor Braumin Herde tried to explain.

"I know what you meant," Lady Dasslerond assured him. "And I know what you assumed."

"I did not mean to anger you."

Lady Dasslerond laughed at the thought, and there was no mistaking her condescension. "I am merely showing you the truth of the matter," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "For to misunderstand our relationship could prove fatal." She motioned to the trees about them, and branches rustled as the other elves skittered away into the dark forest night. "You should set watch this night and all others," Lady Dasslerond explained to the men. "We will be about to call an alert should a monster wander near you, but if the intruder is human, your vigilance alone will protect you."

With that, she turned, Juraviel in tow, and walked slowly away, not fading into the shadows quickly, as the elves often did, but letting the men watch her for as long as possible, letting them take her measure.

Juraviel, too, marked well his lady's attitude, a fitting reminder to him of the relationship between the two races. Juraviel had made great friends of several humans, but that was not the norm, he was pointedly reminded.

Back in the forest, Lady Dasslerond bade Tallareyish to set the other elves in sentry positions, a perimeter that would include a watch over the human encampment. Juraviel moved to volunteer for one position, but Lady Dasslerond excluded him from the duties.

"You believe that we will have little trouble in finding Nightbird?" Lady Dasslerond asked him when Tallareyish and the others had moved away.

"He will not be hiding," Juraviel replied. "And even if he was, his favored place to hide is the forest."

"The ranger is important to us now," Lady Dasslerond said. "I have had kin, Tallareyish among them, in Palmaris since you went on your journey to the east. We have been watching the Church mostly, and I am not encouraged by all that we have seen."

Juraviel nodded.

"Nightbird may play an important role in all this," Lady Dasslerond explained, "to secure the outcome that we most desire."

"As may Jilseponie," Juraviel remarked.

"Yes, the woman," said Lady Dasslerond. "Tell me about her. She is not with Nightbird —that much was obvious from your reaction to Roger Lockless' claims."

"She is in Palmaris," Juraviel explained, "or should be."

"You fear for her?"

"The Church seeks her desperately," Juraviel replied. "But Jilseponie is an experienced warrior, and her power with the gemstones is considerable indeed."

"But she is not our concern," Lady Dasslerond prompted.

"Nightbird taught her
bi'nelle dasada,"
Juraviel admitted. "And she is wonderful."

Lady Dasslerond's jaw tightened and she stood very straight. In the trees about them several elves gasped and whispered, obviously affronted. Juraviel was not surprised by the reaction, for he, too, had been angry when he had first learned that Nightbird had shared such a gift —a gift that was the Touel'alfar's alone to give. But then he had witnessed Pony's weaving a pattern of beauty with Nightbird as they fought side by side against many goblins, and he could not deny that she was worthy of the gift, nor that Nightbird had taught her well.

"I ask, my lady, that you withhold judgment until you can watch Jilseponie at the dance," he begged. "Or better still, watch her at the dance beside Nightbird. The harmony of their steps is —"

"Enough, Belli'mar Juraviel," Lady Dasslerond interrupted coldly. "This is a concern for another day. Our focus must be the ranger now, that he uses the gifts we gave to him to the best advantage for the Touel'alfar."

"Our concern must also be with Jilseponie," Juraviel dared to disagree.

"Because of the gemstones?" asked the lady. "Because she has learned
bi'nelle dasada?
That alone does not qualify her as friend of the Touel —"

"Because she is with child," Juraviel cut in. "Nightbird's child."

Lady Dasslerond was intrigued. The child of a ranger! This was not without precedent, but it was rare.

"The bloodline of Mather will continue, then," came Tallareyish's voice from the canopy. "That is good."

"Good if Jilseponie proves worthy," Lady Dasslerond replied. She looked hard at Juraviel.

"She will exceed your every hope," the elf told her. "Rarely have two so worthy humans brought forth a child." He couldn't tell if the lady of Andur'Blough Inninness was pleased.

"Were you going to Palmaris to watch over her? " she asked.

"I had thought to take that course," Juraviel admitted. "But, no, I was coming home to Caer'alfar, for I longed for the company of kin and kind."

"You have found that company," said Lady Dasslerond. "Are you satisfied? "

Juraviel understood the honor Lady Dasslerond had just conferred by offering him a choice. "I am satisfied," he said. "And so, with your permission, I choose to remain with you, on the road back to the north to find Nightbird."

"No," Lady Dasslerond replied, surprising him. "Two will continue to the north to escort the humans, but my course, and yours now, is south."

"To Jilseponie? " Juraviel asked.

"I wish to take a measure of this woman who will bear the child of Nightbird," Lady Dasslerond explained, "of this woman who has learned
bi'nelle dasada,
though it was not the Touel'alfar who taught her."

Juraviel smiled, for he was confident that the lady would be pleased.

Only a pair of elves continued shadowing the movements of Roger and the monks in the morning, all of the others running and dancing quickly south.

"We build it, they tear it down. So we build it again, and they tear it down again," Tomas Gingerwart lamented, staring at the burned-out ruins of Dundalis. The place had been completely flattened, not a single board left unburned or unbroken. "And now here we are, stubborn fools, ready to build the place again." Tomas started to chuckle, but looked at Elbryan, seeing the profound pain there.

"I was a boy when the first Dundalis was sacked," the ranger explained. He pointed to the charred remains of one building near the center. "That was Belster O'Comely's tavern," he explained, "the Howling Sheila. But before that, long before Belster and the others you met even came to the northland, it was my home."

"Ah, and a fine town it was in those first days," remarked Bradwarden, surprising Tomas and Elbryan by stepping out of the brush, showing himself to the people. Tomas had told them of the centaur, and many had caught fleeting glimpses of him, but, the gasp from the group was fairly general.

"I preferred that first town to the second," Bradwarden said. "More filled with the songs o' children. Like yer own, Nightbird, and those of Pony."

"Pony, too, was from that first Dundalis?" Tomas asked. "I do not know the tale."

"And we've not the time for it now," Elbryan replied. "Tonight, perhaps, when our work is done and we have gathered about a fire."

"But why was the first town full of children, and not the second?" one man pressed.

"The second group, Belster's companions, came north to a town that had been destroyed," Elbryan explained. "As with our caravan, they knew the recent history of Dundalis, and brought no children with them. They were a hardier folk than those who lived in the first town."

"And yet, they, too, would've been killed to the man if they'd not had a ranger lookin' over them," the centaur remarked.

Elbryan took the compliment in stride, but, in truth, it was his greatest pride that he had helped to save the majority of the folk of Dundalis before Bestesbulzibar's army had arrived. He had found people in the exact situation that had taken the lives of his own family and friends, and, using the gifts of the Touel'alfar, he had made a substantial difference.

"And here we are, thinking of building the place again," Tomas remarked.

"Ah, but ye'll be gettin' yer ranger," said the centaur.

Tomas looked long and hard at Elbryan, and saw that the cloud of pain had not gone from his olive-green eyes. "We came to rebuild," he offered, laying his hand on the ranger's shoulder. "But it does not have to be here. There are other fitting locations."

Elbryan looked at the man, sincerely touched by his concern and his offer. "Here," he replied. "Dundalis will rise again, in defiance of the goblins and the demon and any others who would try to stop us. Right here, a town again as it was before; and when the region is secure, we shall bring others —folk with children—to fill the air with song."

Murmurs of assent came from every member of the group. "But where to start?" one woman asked.

"Up that hill," Elbryan answered without hesitation, pointing up the north slope. "A tower up there will command a view of all the northern trails. And down here, we will start with a strong meetinghouse, a place of drink and song in times of peace, a shelter should winter at last descend, and a fortress should war find its way here again."

"You sound as if you've planned it all," Tomas remarked.

"A thousand times," Elbryan replied, "every day from the day I was forced to run and hide in the forest. Dundalis will rise from the ashes again —this time to stay."

That brought smiles, encouraging whispers, and even cheers.

"And the other towns?" Tomas asked.

"We have not the manpower to reclaim Weedy Meadow and End-o'-the-World at present," Elbryan explained. "Bradwarden and I will scout them out, but for now, let them lie. Once Dundalis is alive and thriving again, more settlers will come north, and we will aid them in the reclamation of the other two towns."

"Each with a meetinghouse fortress?" Tomas asked with a wide grin.

"And a tower," Elbryan replied.

"And a ranger," said Bradwarden with a laugh. "Ah, but ye'll be runnin' all about, Nightbird."

And so they began that very day, clearing debris and staking out lines for some of the new structures. The foundation of the central building was cleared, the walls outlined, and first poles —the bottom rigging of the tower Elbryan wanted placed overlooking the valley of caribou moss—were placed later that same afternoon.

Up there, on the ridge of that northern slope, the ranger relived some of the most vivid and powerful memories of his youth: his father leading the hunters back with the dead goblin, the first sign of trouble; his many days spent up here with Pony, looking down at the beautiful white brush blanketing the ground about the rows of fir trees; the night he and Pony started up here, only to be stopped by the spectacular sight of Corona's many-colored Halo glowing across the southern sky like a heavenly rainbow.

And, perhaps the most vivid memory of all and the most painful, he remembered his first kiss with Pony, the delicious and warm feeling that was shattered by the screams as the goblins sacked the town.

He told all that to Tomas and the others that night around the campfire. They all were weary from a hard day of work, and all knew that they would have another equally grueling schedule the next day. Yet not a person fell asleep, entranced by the tale the ranger wove for them. The moon had already set by the time he finished, and every one of them went to sleep with even more determination that Dundalis would rise again.