The Coming Storm (47 page)

Ondelak nodded, her expression growing more serious at his ominous words.

He brought out the silk-wrapped package and set it on the table, banishing Talesin’s wards with a wave of his hand.

There was an audible gasp from one of those at the end of the table but otherwise only a brooding silence. With obvious aversion, Ondelak stood and retrieved the thing. She untied the knots to expose it long enough for all to see it . Then she quickly retied it and set new wards upon it.

“Where?”

Elon glanced at Ailith.

“My mother. I think she managed to cast it off,” she said, quietly. “Too late.”

Another silence, brooding, grieving. “We felt your father’s loss and grieved for you.”

It took a moment. Of course they would have, like the Elves they knew when they lost one of their own, mixed blood notwithstanding.

Ailith took a breath, then another. It wrenched even to think of it. So long as they had been moving, doing, she hadn’t had to. Now she had to say it.

“He’s dead in soul but not in body. He wears one of those.”

She hadn’t meant to be so blunt but could find no softer way to say it.

A stillness fell over them, a sudden intake of breath in horror.

Ondelak. Seeking confirmation. “You have seen this. You know it to be true.”

Bowing her head, Ailith said, “Yes. To all who see him he is still Geric, King of Riverford. But he is not.”

“How was this done?” Ondelak demanded.

Elon answered. Ailith needed the respite, this had to pain her, to speak of it.

“By one called Tolan, by deception and guile. We believe him to be a dark wizard. One of those of old.”

“What has been done of this Tolan?”

“Sadly, nothing as yet, though we seek to thwart him and he us. He appears to be of the race of men, as such wizards do. We have no proof of his acts that will satisfy the Agreement, nothing that would stand by the Laws of Men, Elves or Dwarves. There is only that.”

He had to be careful here and skirt the truth without revealing Ailith’s status. Dreaming true was a gift of magic. She was not wizard, nor Lore Master. If they knew of it they would know what she was in truth. The Lore Masters would kill her the moment she was revealed.

“You say he’s acted against you?”

Another voice from the end of the table.

Elon nodded. “He has command of the creatures of the borderlands. He has sent them against us. Twice now. And men, ensorcelled men, as well. Trackers.”

Now they looked at each other, in silent communication among themselves. This disturbed them.

“He commands them you say?” Ondelak said. “We’ve heard tell of your integrity, Elon of Aerilann and wouldn’t doubt you but this…”

It was politely done, with no impingement on his honor. Nor could he blame them, in truth, if he hadn’t seen it for himself he would have doubted, too.

“Drows, many of them. We barely escaped with our lives. Boggarts and boggins and an ogre. Kobolds hunting in pairs.”

Those were all borderlands creatures the Dwarves would know. Drows, like kobolds, liked dark places and both sometimes found their way into Dwarven Caverns. Scavengers, boggarts and boggin also sometimes plagued the area around the entrances to the Caverns. Since many Dwarven Caverns were located in the high mountains ogres generally preferred, most Dwarves knew them as well.

Ailith drew back her sleeve, to reveal a long, narrow scar down her arm. The ragged look was evidence enough of what had caused it. A boggart’s serrated talon.

“A boggart, the first time.”

It surprised Elon.

He hadn’t realized she’d been hurt. She’d given no sign of it. He would have Healed it had he known, despite the prohibition. There hadn’t been time and so much else that had needed to be said and done that night.

It suddenly dawned on him that at the time she hadn’t yet passed her majority.

His blood chilled.

Among Elves, she would have been kept safe behind the Veil until that time had passed. Elven children gained the protection of their magic as adults. The same was true of Dwarves. Even then, caution was taken until the magic had taken hold. If her blood held true, Elven or Dwarven, the magic that would protect her from the ills that plagued men and the wounds that all races could sustain was only now taking hold.

Remembering the severity of the hell hound wounds, he realized why she’d become so ill. She had no defense at all. It sent a deep chill through him to realize how vulnerable she still was.

Elon pulled himself back to the question at hand, sending Colath a small shake of his head at his questioning look.

The Dwarves didn’t know she couldn’t lie but they would know she was telling the truth. Men would have questioned it, demanded proof the scar had come from that time. Dwarves wouldn’t, any more than Elves would have.

For them, it was enough.

Ondelak nodded. “We’ve felt the darkness rising, sensed something amiss at Riverford. The loss of Geric was felt among us but it puzzled us. His essence dimmed slowly, as if from a debilitating injury but there was no word from Riverford requesting aid. Then he was gone. We thought Ailith on the throne. This was why we thought you had come, Ailith, Geric’s daughter, but then you said  you were here on Councilor Elon’s behalf.”

Now Elon understood why they’d answered so quickly. They’d been confused by the events.

With a tilt of her chin at the package on the table, Ailith said, “They sought to put one of those on me. I escaped while I might and sought out Elon that I might aid him if I could. That which appears as my father still sits upon the throne at Riverford.”

“Why should we care what happens in the worlds of men and Elves?” one of the Dwarves asked, his voice harsh and angry.

Elon had been waiting for that. He’d seen the same attitude too often in Goras, Third of the Three, the Dwarven High Councilor.

It had long been the way of Dwarves, who stood apart from all the worlds. There were Elves, too, who would have felt much the same.

“In the war of wizards, did they not strike against the Dwarves as well? Did we and the men fight that war alone? No. I believe it is that darkness that rises again.”

“There are more of those than that one,” Ailith said to them, her eyes level. “If my father wears one, that was on my mother and they had one yet to place on me, how many more have they? Did no Dwarves know the power of soul-eaters?”

It was well-done, skirting what she knew yet making the point.

That shook them, badly.

Ondelak paled, as did one or two others.

As with Elves, Dwarves didn’t show their age. He didn’t know if any among them were old enough to remember but he suspected so.

“Yes,” Ondelak breathed, confirming his thought. There was an ancient and personal grief in her eyes. “Yes.”

As one, the Dwarves averted their eyes from her pain, to allow her privacy and respect her dignity. Such was their Way.

Raising her head, she looked at Elon. “The word will go out to all the Dwarven lands that a darkness rises again. To beware. We’ll aid you Elon of Aerilann. Ask what you will. Those that seek you stand at our borders. They shall not pass.”

So the trackers were that close.

It was more, much more than he’d dared to hope for. There were no qualifiers, no exceptions or conditions as he’d feared. Inclining his head deeply, he bowed to them.

“I thank you. We seek passage around Riverford, for we dare not challenge Tolan where he holds sway, not so few in number. Not yet. He plans to lay siege to Raven’s Nest, we go to warn them and those we can reach in the north. Is there a way?”

With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the others.

As they filed out she nodded. “Yes. I’ll guide you myself. Food and water have been added to your supplies against need. Come, we’ll see you on your path.”

She led them through the other door, to where their horses and a small, strong pony now waited.

With relief, she handed the small silk-wrapped package back to him.

“My sorrow to return this but I would not have it among us here. My apologies, as well, for the speed of your departure, Elon of Aerilann, but there are some among my people who have no love for yours, the race of men or wizards. None but Dwarves should pass through these corridors, this is a special grant. My warrant only, to take you through these ways.”

It was a maze, twists and turns down endless stone corridors, some narrow, some wide. In the distance they heard the sounds of Dwarven pickaxes and hammers as they rang against stone. The pony had no trouble setting a pace that had the Elven horses trotting at a good speed. Now and again, though, Elon had to duck, or keep his head low to keep it from hitting the ceiling.

As did all but Ailith, who he caught grinning once when he glanced back at her after avoiding an outcropping. He didn’t have to ask the source of her good humor, as for once her lack of stature was an obvious advantage. Shaking his head only made her laugh, the sound ringing through the tunnels.

For herself, Ailith glanced around in wonder. Although she had visited the Dwarven Cavern a time or two in the company of her father, even he hadn’t been allowed down in the tunnels. It was fascinating.

She’d expected them to be as damp as the escape tunnel below Riverford and half feared the memories it would invoke but it wasn’t. It was dry. She would have expected it to be dark as well but Dwarf lights were embedded in both the ceiling and the floor, providing plenty of illumination. The sides of the tunnel were rough with the markings of Dwarven tools, carved from the solid rock.

“Once,” Ondelak said, “these were filled with coal and iron. Waste nothing. These shafts then became the corridors through which we travel. You should know this, Ailith, Geric’s daughter. This is the work of your forefathers and those who came before them. You are Dwarven, through your father you know earth and iron.”

Ailith gave a significant glance to Elon, knowing Elves had no love for chafing, scorching iron, but he gave no sign of discomfort.

They traveled beneath the earth for what seemed to be hours.

It wasn’t a place where Elves would be comfortable. Jalila too easily felt the weight of all that mountain above their heads. The stone seemed to press down against her to hem her within it. She found it oppressing and longed for the open sky and the green trees. There was no place or room here to draw a bow and fire it to any effect. She felt confined, restricted.

Colath gave Jalila a glance. She seemed huddled within herself. He, too, felt the weight of the crushing mass above their heads but tried not to think about it. He caught her eye and nodded his understanding. Taking a breath, relieved, she made an effort to straighten her shoulders.

For Jareth, the whole journey was intriguing. He could almost feel the magic that permeated in this place. The power it took to hold the stone above their heads, to channel water away so  it didn’t weaken it. The dwarf-lights set in niches along the way to light their path. All of it was a marvel few men had been privileged to see.

A glimmer of light ahead, natural light, sunlight.

It was a relief to see it.

Even Elon had begun to feel the pressure of the massive weight above them.

There was a small chamber where Ondelak stopped.

“Beyond,” she said, “there are three paths to Riverford lands. Which you choose is for you to decide. Ailith will know where each ends.”

Ailith nodded.

“Good. To you then, Ailith, Geric’s daughter, I give this.” She held out her hand and dropped a small stone into Ailith’s hand.

A spark of light glimmered within it.

Ondelak nodded sharply, with satisfaction. “Your blood holds true then. It’s a Dwarf light. At need it will light your way where none other might. Go now.”

There was a small twinge of something in Elon at that, a sorrow that through a twist of fate it was only the blood of his people Ailith must conceal. Elon saw the look Ailith gave him and knew she understood and shared that sorrow. They didn’t speak of it, there was no need and too much danger.

With great relief among the Elves they rode out into the sunlight.