The Wandering Fire Part 24

"Father," Tabor had said before Ivor had even asked him anything, "I can't do anything about it."

Ivor's momentary pleasure had sluiced away. He'd turned to the boy. Fifteen, Tabor was. No more than that, and he was small-boned and so pale, now, he looked even younger. Ivor said nothing. He waited.

Tabor said, "She carries me with her. When we fly, and especially this last time, when we killed. It is different in the sky, Father. I don't know how many times I can come back."

"You must try not to ride her, then," Ivor had said painfully. He was remembering the night at the edge of Pendaran Wood, when he watched Tabor and the winged creature of his dreaming wheel between the stars and the Plain.

"I know," Tabor had said by the river. "But we are at war, Father. How can I not ride?"

Gruffly, Ivor had said, "We are at war and I am Aven of the Dalrei. You are one of the Riders I command. You must let me decide how best to use such strength as we have."

"Yes, Father," Tabor had said.

Double-edged, Ivor thought now, looping back south along the western bank of the Latham toward where Cullion's fourth tribe was quartered. Every gift the G.o.ddess gave was double-edged. He tried, not very successfully, not to feel bitter about it. The glorious winged creature with its s.h.i.+ning silver horn was as mighty a weapon of war as anything they had, and the price of using it, he now saw, was going to be losing his youngest child.

Cullion, sharp-faced and soft-eyed, came riding out to intercept him, and Ivor was forced to stop and wait. Cullion was young to be Chieftain of a tribe but he was steady and alert, and Ivor trusted him more than most of them.

"Aven," Cullion said now without preamble, "when do we leave? Should I order a hunt or not?"

"Hold off for today," the Aven said. "Cechtar did well yesterday. Come down to us if you need a few eltor."

"I will. And what about-"

"An auberei should reach you soon. There's a Council tonight in our camp. I've left it until late because I'm hoping Levon will be back with news from Paras Derval."

"Good. Aven, I've been pus.h.i.+ng my shaman since the snow started melting-"

"Don't push him," Ivor said automatically.

"-but he's offered nothing at all. What about Gereint?"

"Nothing," said Ivor and rode on.

He had not been young when they blinded him. He had been next in line, waiting at Celidon for years, before word had come with the auberei that Colynas, shaman to Banor and the third tribe, was dead.

He was old now, and the blinding had been a long time ago, but he remembered it with utter clarity. Nor was that surprising: the torches and the stars and the circling men of Banor's tribe were the last things Gereint had ever seen.

It had been a rich life, he thought; more full than he could have dreamed. If it had ended before Rangat had gone up in fire, he would have said he'd lived and died a happy man.

From the time he'd been marked by the Oldest at Celidon, where the first tribe always stayed, Gereint's destiny had been different from that of all the other young men just called to their fast.

For one thing, he'd left Celidon. Only the marked ones of the first tribe did that. He'd learned to be a hunter, for the shaman had to know of the hunt and the eltor. He had traveled from tribe to tribe, spending a season with each, for the shaman had to know of the ways of all the tribes, never knowing which tribe he was to join, which Chieftain to serve. He had lain with women, too, in all the nine tribes, to sprinkle his marked seed across the Plain. He had no idea how many children he'd fathered in those waiting years; he did remember certain nights very well. He'd had years of it, seasons of traveling and seasons at Celidon with the parchments of the Law, and the other fragments that were not Law but which the shamans had to know.

He'd thought he'd had enough time, more than most of the shamans had, and he had begun it all by seeing a keia for his totem which had marked him inwardly, even among the marked.

He'd thought he was ready when the blinding came. Ready for the change, though not the pain. You were never ready for the pain: you came to your power through that agony, and there was no preparing for it.

He'd recognized what followed, though, and had welcomed the inner sight as one greets a lover long sought. He'd served Banor well for more than twenty years, though there had always been a distance between them.

Never with Ivor. No distance at all, and friends.h.i.+p, founded on respect, at first, and then something beyond. To fail the Chieftain of the third tribe, who was now Aven of all the Dalrei, would tear Gereint apart.

It was doing so now.

But he had, now that it had come down to war between the powers, no real choice. Two days ago, in Gwen Ystrat, the girl had told him not to track her where she went. Look west, she'd said, and opened her mind, to show him both what she was journeying to and what she'd seen of Loren's quest. The first had caused him pain such as he had not known since they blinded him. The second had revealed to him where his own burden lay, and his utterly unexpected inadequacy.

Long years he'd had, before he lost his eyes, to find a truer sight. Long years to travel up and down the Plain, to look at the things of the visible world and learn their nature. He had thought he'd done it well, and nothing until now had led him to change his mind. Nothing, until now. But now he knew wherein he had failed.

He had never seen the sea.

How could a Dalrei, however wise, ever dream that this one thing might undermine the deepest challenge of his days? It was Cernan of the Beasts whom the Dalrei knew, and Green Ceinwen. The G.o.d who left his place in Pendaran to run with the eltor on the Plain, and the hunting G.o.ddess who was sister to him. What did the Riders know of seaborn Liranan?

There would be a s.h.i.+p sailing west, the girl had shown him that. And seeing the image in her mind, Gereint had understood another thing, something beyond what even the Seer of Brennin knew. He had never seen the sea, but he had to find that s.h.i.+p wherever it might be among the waves.

And so he closed himself. He left the Aven bereft of any guidance he might have to offer. A bad time, the worst, but he truly had no choice. He told Ivor what he was going to do, but not where or why. He let the living force that kept his aged body still alive dwindle to a single inner spark. Then, sitting down cross-legged on the mat in the shaman's house of the camp beside the Latham, he sent that spark voyaging far, far from its home.

When the turmoil and frenzy overtook the camps later that night, he never knew of them. They moved his body the next day in the midst of chaos-he'd told Ivor he could be moved-but he was oblivious to that. By then, he had pa.s.sed beyond Pendaran.

He had seen the Wood. He could place and focus himself by his memory of the forest and the contours of its emanations in his mind. He'd sensed the dark, unforgiving hostility of the Wood and then something else. He had been pa.s.sing over the Anor Lisen, of which he knew. There was a light on in the Tower, but that, of course, he didn't realize. He did apprehend a presence there, and he had an instant to wonder.

Only an instant, because then he was past the end of land and out over the waves and he knew a helpless, spinning panic. He had no shape to give to this, no memory, scarcely a name to compa.s.s it. Impossibly, there seemed to be stars both above and below. Old and frail, blind in the night, Gereint bade his spirit leave the land he'd always known, for the incalculable vastness of the unseen, unimaginable, the dark and roiling sea.

"You cannot," said Mabon of Rhoden, catching up to them, "drive five hundred men all day without rest."

His tone was mild. Aileron had made clear that Levon was leading this company, and Mabon hadn't demurred at all. Dave saw Levon grin sheepishly, though. "I know," he said to the Duke. "I've been meaning to stop. It's just that as we get closer..."

The Duke of Rhoden smiled. "I understand. I feel like that whenever I'm riding home." Mabon, Dave had decided, was all right. The Duke was past his best years and carried more weight than he needed to, but he hadn't had any trouble keeping up and had gone to sleep in his blanket on the gra.s.s the night before like an old campaigner.

Levon was shaking his head, upset with himself. When they reached an elevation in the rolling prairie he raised a hand for a halt. Dave heard heartfelt murmurs of relief running through the company behind him.

He was grateful for the rest himself. He hadn't been born to the saddle like Levon and Tore, or even these hors.e.m.e.n from the northern reaches of Brennin, and he'd been doing an awful lot of riding the past few days.

He swung down and stretched his legs. Did a few deep knee bends, touched his toes, swung his arms in circles. He caught a look from Tore and grinned. He didn't mind teasing from the dark Dalrei; Tore was a brother. He did a few pushups right beside the cloth that Tore was covering with food. He heard the other man snort with suppressed laughter.

Dave flopped over on his back, thought about sit-ups, and decided to eat instead. He took a dried strip of eltor meat and a roll of Brennin bread. He smeared them both with the mustardy sauce the Dalrei loved and lay back, chewing happily.

It was spring. Birds wheeled overhead and the breeze from the southeast was mild and cool. The gra.s.s tickled his nose and he sat up to grab a wedge of cheese. Tore was lying back as well, his eyes closed. He could fall asleep in twenty seconds. In fact, Dave realized, he just had.

It was almost impossible to believe that all of this had been covered with snow and exposed to an icy wind only five days ago. Thinking about that, Dave thought about Kevin and felt his restful mood slipping away like wind through his fingers. His mind began to turn from the open sky and the wide gra.s.slands to darker places. Especially that one dark place where Kevin Laine had gone: the cave in Gwen Ystrat with the snow beginning to melt outside. He remembered the red flowers, the grey dog, and he would die remembering the wailing of the priestesses.

He sat up again. Tore stirred but did not wake. Overhead the sun was bright and warming. It was a good day to be alive, and Dave forced his mind away from its recollections. He knew, from bitter experience with his family, how unstable he became when he went too far with emotions like those that were stirring now.

He couldn't afford it. Maybe, just maybe, if there could come a s.p.a.ce of time with leisure to work things through, he might sit down for a day or two and figure out why he had cried for Kevin Laine as he had not for anyone since he was a child.

Not now, though. That was perilous territory for him, Dave knew. He put Kevin, with some sorrow, in the same place he put his father-not forgotten, quite, but not to be addressed-and walked over to where Levon was sitting with the Duke of Rhoden.

"Restless?" Levon asked, looking up with a smile.

Dave hunkered down on his calves. "Tore isn't," he said with a backward jerk of his head.

Mabon chuckled. "I'm glad at least one of you is showing normal responses. I thought you were minded to ride straight through to the Latham."

Levon shook his head. "I would have needed a rest. Tore might have done it, though. He isn't tired, just smarter than we are."

"Do you know," said Mabon, "I think you are right." And he turned over on his back, spread a square of lace across his eyes, and was snoring within a minute.

Levon grinned and gestured with his head. He and Dave rose and walked a little away from the others.

"How much farther?" Dave asked. He turned through a full circle: in all directions he could see nothing but the Plain.

"We'll be there tonight," Levon replied. "We may see the outposts before dark. We lost a bit of time yesterday with Mabon's business in North Keep. I suppose that's why I was pus.h.i.+ng."

The Duke had been forced to delay them in order to convey a series of instructions to the North Keep garrison from Aileron. He'd also had orders of his own to be carried down the road to Rhoden. Dave had been impressed with Mabon's unflappable efficiency-it was a quality, he'd been told, upon which men of Rhoden prided themselves. Those from Seresh, he gathered, were rather more excitable.

He said, "I slowed us up there, too. I'm sorry."

"I'd been meaning to ask. What was that about?"

"A favor for Paul. Aileron ordered it. Do you remember the boy who came when we summoned Owein?"

Levon nodded. "I am not likely to forget."

"Paul wanted his father posted back to Paras Derval, and there was a letter. I said I'd find him. It took a while." Dave remembered standing awkwardly by as Shahar wept for what had happened to his son. He'd tried to think of something to say and failed, naturally. There were, he supposed, some things he'd never be able to handle properly.

"Did he remind you of Tabor?" Levon asked suddenly. "That boy?"

"A little," Dave said, after thinking about it.

Levon shook his head. "More than a little, for me. I think I'd like to get moving."

They turned back. Tore, Dave saw, was on his feet. Levon gestured, and the dark Dalrei put fingers to his mouth and whistled piercingly. The company began preparing to ride. Dave reached his horse, mounted up, and jogged to the front where Levon and Mabon waited.

The men of Brennin were in place and mounted very fast. Aileron had sent them men who knew what they were doing. Tore came up and nodded. Levon gave him a smile and raised his hand to wave them forward.

"Mornir!" the Duke of Rhoden exclaimed.

Dave saw a shadow. He smelled something rotting.

He heard an arrow sing. But by that time he was flying through the air, knocked cleanly from his horse by Mabon's leap. The Duke fell with him on the gra.s.s. This, thought Dave absurdly, is what Kevin did to Coll.

Then he saw what the black swan had done to his horse. Amid the stench of putrescence and the sickly sweet smell of blood, he fought to hold down his midday meal.

Avaia was already far above them, wheeling north. Dave's brown stallion had had its back broken with the shattering force of the swan's descent. Her claws had shredded it into strips of meat. The horse's head had been ripped almost completely off. Blood fountained from the neck.

Levon had been knocked from his mount as well by the buffeting of the giant wings. Amid the screams of terrified horses and the shouts of men, he hurried over. Tore was gazing after the swan, his bow held in white fingers. Dave saw that they were shaking: he'd never seen Tore like that before.

He found that his legs would work and he stood up. Mabon of Rhoden rose slowly, red-faced; he'd had the wind knocked out of his lungs.

No one said a word for a moment. Avaia was out of sight already. Flidais, Dave was thinking, as he tried to control his pulse. Beware the boar, beware the swan...

"You saved my life," he said.

"I know," said Mabon quietly. No affectation. "I was looking to check the sun and I saw her diving."

"Did you hit her?" Levon asked Tore.

Tore shook his head. "Her wing, maybe. Maybe."

It had been so sudden, so terrifyingly brutal an attack. The sky was empty again, the wind blew gentle as before over the waving gra.s.ses. There was a dead horse beside them, though, its intestines oozing out, and a lingering odor of corruption that did not come from the horse.

"Why?" Dave asked. "Why me?"

Levon's brown eyes were moving from shock to a grave knowledge. "One thing, only, I can think of," he said. "She risked a great deal diving like that. She would have had to sense something and to have decided that there was a great deal to gain." He gestured.

Dave put his hand to his side and touched the curving shape of Owein's Horn.

Often, in his own world, it had come to pa.s.s that opposing players in a basketball game would single out Dave Martyniuk as the most dangerous player on his team. He would be treated to special attention: double coverage, verbal needling, frequently some less than legal intimidation. As he got older, and better at the game, it happened with increasing regularity.

It never ever worked.

"Let's bury this horse," Dave said now, in a voice so grim it startled even the two Dalrei. "Give me a saddle for one of the others and let's get moving, Levon!" He stepped forward and retrieved his axe from the ruins of his saddle. There was blood all over it. Painstakingly, he wiped it clean until the head shone when he held it to the light.

They buried the horse; they gave him a saddle and another mount.

They rode.

Ivor was in the shaman's house at sunset when they brought him word.

He had come at the end of the day to look in on his friend and had remained, helpless and appalled by what he read in Gereint's face. The shaman's body was placid and unmoving on his mat, but his mouth was twisted with a soundless terror and even the dark sockets of his eyes offered testimony of a terrible voyaging. Aching and afraid for the aged shaman, Ivor stayed, as if by bearing witness he could ease Gereint's journey in some inchoate way. The old one was lost, Ivor realized, and with all his heart he longed to call him home.

Instead, he watched.

Then Cechtar came. "Levon is coming in," he said from the doorway. "He has brought the Duke of Rhoden and five hundred men. And there is something else, Aven."

Ivor turned.

The big Rider's face was working strangely. "Two others have come from the north. Aven... they are the lios alfar and-oh, come see what they ride!"

He had never seen the lios. Of all the Dalrei living, only Levon and Tore had done so. And Levon was back, too, with five hundred of the High King's men. With a quickening heart, Ivor rose. He cast one lingering glance at Gereint, then went out.

Levon was bringing his men in from the southwest; squinting, he could see them against the setting sun. In the open s.p.a.ce before him, though, waiting quietly, were two of the lios alfar mounted up on raithen, and Ivor had never in his days thought to see either.

The lios were silver-haired, both, slim, with the elongated fingers and wide-set, changeable eyes of which he'd heard. Nothing he'd ever heard could prepare him, though, for their elusive, humbling beauty and, even motionless, their grace.

For all that, it was the raithen that claimed Ivor's speechless gaze. The Dalrei were hors.e.m.e.n and lived to ride. The raithen of Daniloth were to horses as the G.o.ds were to men, and there were two of them before him now.

They were golden as the setting sun all through their bodies, but the head and tail and the four feet of each of them were silver, like the not-yet-risen moon. Their eyes were fiercely blue and s.h.i.+ning with intelligence, and Ivor loved them on the instant with all his soul. And knew that every Dalrei there did the same.

A wave of pure happiness went through him for a moment. And then was dashed to pieces when the lios spoke to tell of an army of the Dark sweeping even now across the northern Plain.