Ever since they had encountered the ice troll at the Splinter, a feeling of dread had begun to occupy the thoughts of the King, though he spoke of it to no one.
Whether or not his companions suspected the fear he was starting to feel he could not say. He only knew that it had taken root in his heart and was not letting go. With the passage of the Splinter now buried so completely that it was impossible to search it, he thought of the bones he had seen on the ground, the remains of travellers who did not have the benefit of a mage to see them through safely.
There was no telling how long the creature had been waylaying travellers with its deadly barrage of rock and stone. The snowfall concealed the true extent of its feasting, but the bones were obviously so many that it was hard to distinguish where one ended and another began. The urgency of the situation kept Dare from examining the bones closely and now that they were away from the place, he had to wonder that if Arianne, Keira and Celene passed through the same passage, had they survived?
Tamsyn had said nothing about them being dead but the mage did not always give him the truth he ought to hear, only what was needed. What if it was required that he kill the Enemy, even if Arianne was dead? No, she wasn’t. He told himself immediately. She wasn’t dead. He would feel it. Somehow, even without the power of Sight that Lylea possessed, he would know if Arianne was not in this world.
Because he would not know how to go on without her if she was.
Once they had crossed the Splinter they would ride towards the Eirian Hills, because Dare knew Celene would be too practical to add so many miles to their journey by going to Wyndfyre and sheltering with her folk. With the second moon approaching, their aim would be to make best speed towards the Frozen Mountains by taking the most direct route there. Assuming they had passed through the Splinter unhindered, and for now Dare forced himself to believe nothing else, they would be bound for River Safrie to the take Bedvyn Crossing into the Torn Lands.
As he entered Angarad, Dare could not help but think of the last time he had entered these lands and under what cloud he had made that journey. His arrival in Angarad had followed one of the worst periods of his life with both he and Aeron in mourning for the loss of a dear friend. Until then, their company had been a triumvirate. Celene and Kyou had yet to join their number. The third member of their set was a man of Sandrine, and Dare’s oldest friend after Aeron—Braedan.
Dare had met Braedan in his nineteenth year. He had left Eden Halas the year before, having decided at the age of eighteen that he had imposed long enough on the House of Halion. Although Syanne had not wished him to leave, Dare knew that it was time. Halion was never happy that his Queen defied him to raise a human baby, and although he never treated Dare badly, his dislike was obvious by his cold demeanour towards the boy. This indifference was mirrored in Halion’s two older sons, Hadras and Syannon. Only Aeron was a friend to him, but the young Prince spent most of Dare’s youth defending the woods of Halas against Balfure with his older brothers and so they saw each other infrequently.
Upon leaving Eden Halas, Dare travelled along the Yantra with the intention of eventually arriving at the city of his birth—Sandrine. For years Syanne had warned him against going there, fearful that Balfure’s agents might recognise him. However, those agents had been seeking an infant and Dare could not imagine how anyone would recognise him as the lost heir of Icara, eighteen years later.
As an experienced woodsman and hunter thanks to his elven upbringing, Dare was able to travel up river, plying his skills at trade without drawing attention to himself. In this way Dare lived for the first time in his life among his own race, and quickly discovered that there was little difference between men and elves. Each race wanted the same things, dreamed the same dreams and wished for the same freedom. The prejudice that kept them apart was wafer thin and he wondered what it would take to break it.
It was also the first time he was able to see what effect the occupation of Balfure had upon his country.
He learned that while Balfure ruled from Abraxes, his left his disciples in Carleon to work his will. When Eden Ardhen was breached and the elves of that realm were chased away, the Disciples built a tower in its woods in celebration of their victory and called it Tor Ardhen as a final insult to Queen Lylea. From there, they maintained the occupation of the Southern Province while Tor Iolan was built to guard the Northern Province and Tor Iridia stood watch over the dwarven homeland.
While Navarre had managed to maintain control Varaen to rule under the watchful eye of the Disciples, the supposed annihilation of House Icara left a void in the rule of Sandrine. With Balfure’s continued assaults on Angarad, his designs on pushing beyond the Baffin taking up time and resources, the Shadow Lord chose wisely not to provoke an uprising by installing one of his disciples in Sandrine Keep. Instead he charged the rule of Carleon’s former capital city to Braelan, oldest son of House Kelamon, who swore allegiance to Balfure when Carleon had fallen.
Braelan had ruled as best he could, even though he was considered a traitor for taking up a position in Sandrine Keep. Through Braelan, Balfure’s iron grip of Sandrine continued with Berserker troops enforcing terrible penalties on those who disobeyed or still resisted the rule of Abraxes. An ambitious man, Braelan knew pleasing the Shadow Lord would only strengthen his position, and while Selkirk and Navarre attempted to ease the oppression of their people during the occupation, Braelan had done the complete opposite.
Determined to build a dynasty under Balfure’s protection, Braelan eliminated all those in Sandrine that might lead others in rebellion. Midnight raids by the Berserkers resulted in large open graves being dug outside the city walls in the dead of night. Those same walls were used by Braelan to make examples of the particularly defiant.
Phylea, Braelan’s wife, whose family had been killed in the purges following the fall of House Icara, watched in horror as the husband she loved turned into a monster. Determined to save her son from this fate, Phylea took charge of Braedan’s education herself and she guided him as best she could to ensure he was free of the influence of his father’s cruelty. As a result, Braedan grew up painfully aware of how despised his father was.
They had met purely by chance.
Braedan had taken to leaving Sandrine Keep and frequenting taverns and inns in order to escape being in his father’s presence any longer than he had too. Showing his father that he was a useless wastrel that was good only for drink, Braelan’s disgust ensured that Braedan was left to his own devices. They had met at a tavern, two young men of the same age, drinking and talking about the world they’d lived in. During the entire time Braedan tried to place why this new friend seemed so familiar. Only when he chanced upon the few remaining portraits of House Icara that were not destroyed did he recognise Dare’s resemblance to his grandfather and realise who he had befriended.
What should have been a mistake of monumental consequences became instead one of the most fortuitous moments of Dare’s life.
Braedan did not give him up to Braelan. Instead he told Dare that Carleon needed its true King and pledged himself to Dare’s service. Dare, who at the time only had the makings of an idea in his head about how to defeat Balfure, refused initially. Explaining to Braedan that he was a journey to learn about the occupied land and meet the races that might be of help to them, Dare was touched when Braedan asked to accompany him.
They left Sandrine together and travelled the length and breadth of Carleon. For the next five years they created friendships amongst the many peoples of the kingdom and learned how many yearned to cast off Balfure’s rule. They learnt of the desperate plight of the dwarves, hunted across the occupied territories, finding refuge only in places far beyond the reach of Abraxes. Braedan would return with him to Eden Halas when Dare unveiled his idea of an alliance with all the races for the first time followed by outright rejection from Halion. Even Syanne was sceptical.
Only Aeron saw the vision of Dare’s proposal, and he advised that if Eden Halas would not listen then it was time to seek a higher authority who commanded all the elves. Leaving Eden Halas, Aeron took him and Braedan instead to meet with High Queen Lylea of Eden Taryn.
During this time, word had finally reached Balfure that the lost Prince of Carleon was still alive.
The Shadow Lord’s reaction was swift—Balfure wasted no time sending out his Disciples—and for the next two years they hunted the trio with ruthless determination. It was outside the woods of Barrenjuck that they were almost caught. and in an effort to save Dare’s life Braedan sacrificed himself by impersonating the exiled King and leading the Disciples away. The ruse was simple and succeeded long enough for Dare to reach the Green, but it came at a devastating cost.
Dare did not know when Braedan died or how much he had suffered before the end, he only knew that days after Tully had led him out of the old wood they were able to retrieve his broken body. They buried him in the Green, but after the war Dare returned Braedan to Sandrine where he was interred in the royal mausoleum.
Others would join his company, such as Celene, Kyou and Tamsyn, but it would never feel the same as when he was nineteen, travelling the world, feeling free and invincible with his two best friends.
*******
The company made camp at a ruined sentry post at the edge of the Eirian Hills when the sun started to set on the horizon.
‘Aeron,’ Dare called out to the archer who had taken position at the highest part of the still standing rock wall, maintaining a vigil on the surrounding area. ‘Kyou and I are going to scout the area, so keep your eyes sharp.’
‘Try not to wander too far,’ Aeron remarked with a little smile. ‘You know how easily you get lost.’
‘As easily as you can hold drink,’ Dare said sweetly before he headed off.
Even though Angarad was friendly territory, Dare was not so foolish as to think that the Enemy would not repeat the attempt on their lives with a new menace. The snow troll attack had come out of nowhere, and now that only Angarad lay between them and the Frozen Mountains, Dare expected some form of attack to ambush them on route.
Aeron nodded, and watched Dare and the dwarf leaving the campsite heading towards the Mountain Wood, a moderately sized forest of tall trees that deserved a quick survey before they settled in for the night. The forest began on the slopes of the Baffin that loomed over them and spilled onto the base near the Splinter. To the west, the Eirian Hills were less imposing than the Baffin, and even in the darkness Aeron imagined the beauty of the rolling hills that looked like waves of green across the landscape.
As he observed and kept watch, he imagined the numerous battles that must have taken place in this land as Angarad fought to keep Balfure out of their lands. The sentry tower had been destroyed only in the last twenty years, but enough moss and lichens had grown over the remaining stone walls to ensure it blended seamlessly into the landscape—so much so that it was difficult to tell where it ended and the hills began.
As he kept watch he felt the weight of something ominous pressing against his chest, but he did not voice it yet because the warning could be premature. If the Enemy was watching them then it was possible that Aeron was feeling that scrutiny, and there was nothing that screamed danger, just foreboding. There was so much darkness afoot in this quest that he tried not to confuse immediate with prevalent.
In any case, the elf’s keen vision kept all his companions within sight. Each of their group was engaged in their own undertakings as they settled down to rest from the day’s journeying. Aeron could still see Dare walking alongside of Kyou away from their camp, while on the far side of the tower Ronen was seeing to their horses. Like most knights his squiring days had taught him how to tend to horses, and a small stream near the tower had allowed Ronen to water them appropriately before feeding and tethering them for the night.
Tully appeared to be putting the finishing touches to their evening meal, hunched over the simmering pot while Tamsyn sat by and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. The mage’s dark eyes were staring into the horizon as he smoked his pipe, and as he observed the farmer who over the last few days had grown more and more distant.
Aeron knotted his brow in sympathy, realising that the farmer must surely be worried about his wife. The elf had never been married, so he could not fully appreciate the bond that Dare, Tully and Ronen shared with their wives. However, he knew each man suffered greatly by their absence and was equally worried about their fates. Aeron himself had never had an attachment to warrant the anguish he saw in these men, although he knew that Kyou often spoke of a dwarf maiden called Hanae who lived in the Jagged Teeth with the rest of his father’s clan. Even Tamsyn was rumoured to have some history with the High Queen. but Aeron thought that was merely gossip.
Aeron supposed his thoughts on the subject were influenced by his parents.
As the youngest child of House Halion he had never been terribly impressed by the union between his parents, which he thought to be a bad match. They loved each other, but he was uncertain if they liked each other. Once an elf decided on a soul mate, it was a bond that not even death could break, and elves were immortal. Perhaps his own reluctance for marriage had to do with the possibility that he could end up being with someone he might not be able to tolerate for all of eternity.
Certainly it was not the case with Dare, Ronen and Tully, who viewed every moment with their spouses as precious. In that respect Aeron could appreciate why Tully would be so distracted. After all this time, Keira still suffered the effects of the desert burrowers in her blood. Although Tully had not spoken of it in depth, Aeron suspected that even with the help of the elves, they had not fully been able to expel the venom of the desert burrowers from her body. It tainted her so completely that its vile magic could still be felt by every elf that encountered her.
Aeron had not spoken of it to Tully, for it would only upset him.
Like Aeron, Tamsyn also noticed the darkness in Keira and kept silent. Lylea had put it down to the desert burrower venom in her veins. The desert burrowers were vicious creatures when the Dreaded Mother had birthed them, but after Balfure had infused them with dark magic to create the Blinding Curse, it left a stain upon the soul that appeared to be permanent. For the elves it made Keira extremely difficult to read, and even Tamsyn could not be entirely sure of her reasons when she agreed to undertake the quest.
He did know that it had nothing to do with Arianne’s baby.
Still, Arianne needed a company of her own for this quest, and so he had not objected because Keira had proven herself to be a friend to Arianne and Dare since her ordeal at the hands of the Disciples, and the stain of the desert burrowers upon her soul was inflicted through no fault of her own.
‘Tully,’ Tamsyn called out to him when it appeared the man was done with his cooking when he covered the pot with a lid. ‘Come join me.’
Tully lifted the pot away from the fire and allowed it to cool for the eating before he took a seat next to Tamsyn on still intact set of steps. When the aromatic smoke from Tamsyn’s pipe reached his nose, it prompted Tully to retrieve his own pipe from his coat pocket and light it.
Both men lapsed into a quiet moment of reflection as they gazed at the horizon through a broken wall, and for a moment Tully thought that if he stared hard enough, he might be able to see the Green from here.
‘You’re thinking of home?’ Tamsyn ventured a guess.
Tully exhaled a lung full of smoke and watched it dissipate into air before he answered the mage.
‘Yes,’ he admitted readily, ‘I miss it. I miss the quiet. I used to think that I was different from the other folk in the Green, that I needed adventure and exploration, but now I think I was being frivolous and selfish. I’m not sorry I helped Dare, but I regret that Keira paid the price for my foolishness.’
‘There was nothing foolish in what you did,’ Tamsyn stated firmly. ‘You were exceedingly brave as your wife was exceedingly brave. What tragedy came about because of that courage is not your fault, but that of Balfure and the cruelty of his agents.’
Tully couldn’t accept the compliment as much as he wished to believe Tamsyn’s words. ‘Keira married a man of the Green. At least she thought she did. I feel sometimes that she’s angry with me for lying to her about the man I am. She expected an ordinary life, with a houseful of children. I promised to give her that when we married. I didn’t tell her that I wished to wander the world, to see things and go places. That for some reason in me, I had this desire. I should have told her that.’
‘Do you think it would have made a difference?’ Tamsyn asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Tully shook his head. ‘But there is something between us now that neither of us can get past. When I found her after the Disciples had gone, almost dead, I thought I’d lost her forever. But then Arianne took her to Eden Taryn and I thought if she lives, I’ll make it up to her for the rest of our lives, but it has never been the same. She has never been the same. I know that’s not her fault, but it’s true, and now she’s gone off to prove something to me or herself and I just don’t know what to do.’
Tamsyn’s squeezed Tully’s shoulder gently, empathising with the man’s guilt and sorrow. ‘Perhaps you and Keira should leave the Green for awhile. Remain in Sandrine and heal. If both of you have changed, perhaps trying to be the people you were in the lives you had is not making things better but worse. Your guilt is deep, but you are a victim of this as much as she. If you don’t mind the advice of an old bachelor, perhaps what you two need is to heal together, away from where it all happened.’
‘Leave?’ Tully stared at him in shock. The idea of leaving the Green and their farm was so overwhelming he had difficulty trying to imagine it.
Aware that this was a tremendously big change for the provincial life of a farmer from the Green, Tamsyn continued to make his case. ‘If not Sandrine, then perhaps even Eden Taryn. I am certain that Queen Lylea would have no difficulty playing hostess to the people who saved her son-in-law’s life. Even if they are somewhat reclusive, the elves can be excellent hosts when the mood takes them and it will you the chance to get to know each other again.’
‘But what about the farm…?’ Tully started to say in protest when suddenly it occurred to him that the farm wasn’t nearly as important to him as Keira. It could become overgrown and swallowed up by the Old Forest for all he cared if it meant rekindling his wife’s spirit once more. Right now, Tully wanted Keira back. He wanted the happy, hopeful woman she’d been before the Disciples destroyed her. So what if she had to find herself again in a different place than the farm? They could always go back when she was ready.
‘I must think on this,’ Tully answered. ‘I can’t make any decisions until we find them and I talk to Keira.’ Still, there was hope in his eyes, and he gave Tamsyn a look of appreciation for giving him a solution that he would never have dared to imagine.
To live a life outside of the Green.
*******
As they left the light of the campfire behind and scouted the slopes of the hills to ensure they were the only ones present in the immediate area, Kyou noticed that Dare was uncommonly silent. He was accustomed to stillness from the elf, but Dare was always more animated and they often had lively chats about things. Of course, Kyou understood that since leaving Sandrine Dare sombre mood had to do with his missing wife, but the worry across his brow seemed constant and ran deeper than his fears for Arianne.
‘We will find her,’ Kyou broke the silence of the descending night as they made their way across the open ground to the Mountain Wood ahead.
Dare glanced up at Kyou and smiled faintly, grateful for the dwarf’s attempt to make him feel better. In their company, it was usually Kyou who was the sombre one.
The dwarf had spent most of his adult life ensuring that his Clan stayed one step ahead of Abraxes. Chasing the dwarves out of Iridia was not enough, Balfure wanted their expertise and he needed them enslaved for that. In Carleon they could find no shelter and most were driven to the very edges of Avalyne to remain free. Kyou was but an adolescent when Balfure descended upon the Starfall Mountains and he had become the man of his Clan when his father Atrayo was killed, his childhood stolen away by one act of murder.
‘I know,’ Dare answered, but he didn’t sound convincing even to his own ears. Despite telling himself he would feel it if she were dead, Dare had no idea if Arianne had escaped the Splinter alive. Those bones scattered throughout the pass was burned into his memory. There had been so many and since they were forced to avoid the barraged lobbed by the ice troll, there was no time to conduct a search to satisfy his fear that hers was not there.
‘Do you really?’ Kyou countered knowingly. ‘Something has been preying on your mind since we left the Splinter. What is it? The elf’s too polite to ask, but I’m not.’
‘It’s nothing,’ Dare shrugged, not wishing to say because he had no reason to believe it to be possible and every reason to discount it.
‘Not so nothing that we’ve all been able to see it, well all except Ronen and Tully of course, but like you they’re worried about their wives. It’s something more with you. Out with it or do I have to beat it out of you?’
Dare paused and looked at Kyou with amusement. ‘I would like to see you try.’
‘Well, you don’t have your royal guards or your elven army here,’ the dwarf teased back. ‘I can hit you without losing my head.’
‘You couldn’t hit me with your head,’ Dare snorted. ‘In fact, I remember a number of tavern brawls where I had to rescue you.’
To be fair, most of the time it was Aeron and Celene who rescued them both. During the occupation, they had visited many taverns in many small towns on the way to build their alliances and drum up support for the campaign. While Aeron had little patience for drinking, mostly because he was rather lousy at it, and with Celene refusing to indulge in what she called ‘the stupidity that only men can indulge in’, Kyou and Dare often found themselves enjoying the local libations.
‘I don’t remember that at all,’ Kyou snorted haughtily, when suddenly he saw something appear among the trees ahead. A flash of white that disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
‘There’s something down there!’ he exclaimed and started running towards it.
‘What did you see?’ Dare hurried after him, scanning the tree line and seeing nothing in it that gave him caution.
‘I’m not sure,’ Kyou answered, tossing a sidelong glance at Dare as the King caught up with him. ‘It could be just a trick of light, but I want to be sure.’
‘Let us look then,’ Dare fell into stride with him, reaching for Narthaine, the ancient sword that Lylea had gifted to him. It had belonged to her son and had be a gift to show her blessing of his and Arianne’s love.
‘Thank you,’ Kyou said to Dare, grateful that the King was taking him on his word.
Dare’s best talent, Kyou thought silently as they approached the wood, was his belief in people.
While he was no fool to be manipulated, his faith in everyone’s ability to put aside their differences to work as one was what had held the campaign together. As part of his company, Kyou travelled with Dare as he spoke to kings, Queens, chieftains and village elders, convincing them to forget the old prejudices so that they could be strong, and that there was a great future to be built for all of them, no matter part they played in its making.
The woods they approached was made up of tall pine trees that stretched high into the sky. The ground was covered in brown, withered pine needles and cones. Disappearing into the forest, they remained within each other’s line of sight, but far enough away to get a good view of what was ahead. There was still enough light left for them to see that it would not be long before they were shrouded in darkness. Kyou would see far better than Dare because dwarves had highly developed nocturnal vision due to the years spend underground.
Dare was about to ask Kyou what exactly he thought he saw, when suddenly he too saw something shimmering through the darkness of the trees.
‘There it is!’ Kyou exclaimed as the shimmering form stopped and did not move.
It seemed almost like a wraith as the two men approached it and Dare unsheathed his sword Narthaine, holding it up in front of him as they closed in. Only when they neared it did they realise that their mysterious wraith was in fact a woman. For a moment Dare swore he was looking at Arianne, because she glowed with ethereal beauty. However, he blinked furiously to dispel the notion and realised that it was his own wishful thinking that made him think so.
‘Be careful Kyou,’ Dare warned. ‘This reeks of dark magic.’
‘I hear you,’ Kyou whispered, his two swords similarly brandished as they saw she had slipped into a small clearing and stood in the middle of a dirt mound, her white dress dragging across the ground, the hem covered with dirt. As Dare approached her, he realized why he had mistaken her for Arianne, because she too wore her dark hair long. Her skin was luminescent and flawless, and her lips full and red. She stared at them with the colour of sea and smiled at them. For a moment he felt a fog settle over his mind and he almost forgot he was on a quest to find his wife.
‘How do you come to be here lady?’ Kyou asked, closing his eyes when he breathed in the sweet scent of her perfume, which was intoxicating to say the least.
‘A friend beseeched us to find you,’ she whispered softly, and hearing her voice was like being in the presence of the Celestial Gods as they sang the song that awakened the world.
‘Us?’ Dare asked, fixating on that one word and trying to shake away the fugue that was trying to encroach upon his mine.
‘My sisters and I,’ she replied and gestured around them.
Dare and Kyou suddenly found themselves surrounded as others like her, and stepped out from behind the tall trees as if they had been there all along. There were at least a dozen of them, all beautiful and glowing like she was, filling the forest with that scent that made it hard to focus. Some had hair of gold while others carried manes of russet and mahogany. All were beautiful and they were smiling at the two men as they closed in.
‘Yes,’ she smiled. ‘An old friend. I thought we had been forgotten. We have been hiding here for so long. Since the world was young. In the trees, we have waited for the call and it came this night to find you.’
‘I feel honoured,’ Kyou grumbled, trying to stay focussed but the scent was everywhere now and he could not draw breath without it stealing into his lungs. Yet beneath the sweetness there was something old and musty, like decay.
‘You should feel honoured, Master Dwarf,’ she smiled. ‘We do not show ourselves for just anyone. You and your friend must be special indeed.’
‘Does your friend have a name?’ Dare asked, realising now that this time the attack would not come at the hands of the caracal but something more inviting and no less lethal.
‘None that would interest you,’ she smiled and held her ground as he took another step closer.
‘I beg to differ,’ he answered, aware that something was amiss but the power to stop her from approaching was elusive. ‘What is your name?’ he asked instead, hoping to keep her talking because he suspected when these creatures stopped, that would be when he and Kyou were really in trouble.
‘I would tell you my name but I do not remember,’ she explained, her brow knotting in confusion. ‘No one has spoken to us in so long. Not even to each other do we speak.’
‘That’s seems to be a very lonely way to be,’ Kyou remarked. ‘Dare, we need to get out of here,’ he hissed at the King.
The women were closing in on them now and Dare was fighting with everything ounce of strength he had to shake the shackles upon his mind that would not let him move his feet. In desperation, he forced his lips to work, plying her with questions.
‘Who are you, lady?’ he asked again.
She was standing very near to him now and the scent that was so intoxicating a brief moment ago had changed to something less pleasing. He thought of rotting leaves and drying mud. The scent of a burial ground.
MOVE! ARIANNE NEEDS YOU he screamed inside his mind.
And that shifted something in his brain, not tremendously but enough for him to take a step back from her, because if anything could penetrate the fugue it was his worries for Arianne. She needed him to help her with this quest, because if she failed she would kill herself before allowing their child to become Mael’s vessel, and that Dare could not let happen.
At his retreat, those beautiful sea blue eyes flashed red like a blood moon and she lowered her head, spreading her arms. A cloud cast a shadow over her form, and when it disappeared her body burst into a swarm of insects, spreading out around him before they surged into the sky, creating a cloud above his head. Dare raised his sword to fight, useless gesture that it was against an enemy so small, when he realized that it was not the swarm he had to worry about.
‘DARE! BEHIND YOU!’ he heard not Kyou but Aeron shouting at him.
Dare sw