Rebel Fay

Chapter Three

Descending the rocky mountainside took most of the day. As the sun passed to the west above the Broken Range, the forest surrounded Chap and his companions. He returned to the land of his birth.

Whenever a break appeared in the green canopy of needles and leaves, Wynn's gaze wandered to the mountain behind them. She insisted that the tashgalh might still follow them. Chap neither heard nor smelled it, but she was likely right. Those little bandits were persistent.

Chap nudged Wynn aside before she stumbled into a tangle of poison ivy clinging to an oak. She slowed, wavering on her feet, and Chap paused when he noticed that Leesil had halted as well.

Leesil glanced about as if searching for his bearings. With a shrug, he took a deep breath, prepared to move on, but Chap saw Wynn swallow hard with panic on her smudged face.

"You all right?" Magiere asked.

The question startled Wynn. "No… yes, I am fine, just… it is nothing."

Wynn shook her head and continued onward, but Chap watched her with concern. Now and then she stared through the forest, her wonder mixed with worry.

Chap stayed close as they moved deeper into the trees. He expected Wynn's normally incessant babbling to begin over all the subtle strange differences the forest held compared to those of the human lands. Her sage's curiosity was the main reason she had forced her own inclusion in this journey long moons ago back in Bela. But she remained silent and watchful, and more than once started at the sight of even the most mundane foliage or tree.

Chap had been just a pup when Eillean had carried him away from this place. Lush, oversized leaves and enormous red and yellow hyacinths hung from the vines in one grove. They all stopped briefly to replenish their water at a crystal-clear brook winding through scattered azalea bushes. A small flight of bees thrummed between the flowers until a hawk-wasp chased them off.

"It is almost warm here," Wynn said. "How is that possible?"

For once, Chap was relieved that the talking hide was lost. He did not wish for conversation now. He simply wanted to breathe the air and tofeel the forest's life. Just for one more moment to forget the danger that lay ahead.

It was still winter, even here, but far warmer than the Broken Range or its chill labyrinth of caves and tunnels they had traveled. Here, winter would feel like early autumn to outsiders. He did not know why. Perhaps the elves had lived here for so long that the region itself responded to their nurturing presence and returned it in kind.

He hopped another brook. Wynn scurried to catch up and dug her fingers into the fur between his shoulders. She gripped him too tightly until he complained with a whine. She need not worry about losing him.

A wandering line of elms, silver birch, and willows led to a small open slope. On its far side rose an old cedar, its trunk stout and wide as a grain wagon.

"It's enormous," Magiere said. "I've never seen its like, even in the depths of Droevinka."

Chap sniffed the scent of clean loam on the breeze.

"We're here," Leesil half-whispered." We actually found it."

They had all suffered for it. Now Leesil walked a vast foreign territory, with little notion what to do next or where to look for his mother. In truth, Chap was little better off.

He shrugged free of Wynn's grip, though she was reluctant to let go, and drifted back to lick Leesil's hand with a whine. Leesil was only half-elven, but could he feel the life that pulsed around them? If he let its current run through him, perhaps it would cleanse some of his burdens.

Leesil scratched lightly behind Chap's ear but did not look down.

Chap called up one of Leesil's distant memories of Nein'a leading a ten-year-old half-elf through the forest outside of Venjetz. The two moved in sync through the trees.

Leesil breathed deeply. "I know. We have to go deeper."

Magiere stepped close on Leesil's far side, brushing her shoulder to his.

"Almost a dream of sorts… wasn't it?As if we'd never really find it."

He did not respond at first, but finally hooked his tan fingers into her white ones.

"Yes… no matter how hard we looked."

"But we're here," Magiere added.

"Have you learned to read minds now?"

The jest held only a hint of Leesil's old mocking humor, but Magiere still smiled and pulled him forward.

"Let's find your mother," she said.

He followed but turned his head both ways, as if looking for something and then frowned.

Wynn looked back at Chap over and over, to make sure he was still there. He trotted ahead to catch up to her. Her eyes wandered, but even as she passed black-stemmed amethyst flowers sprouting from dank tree branches, her wonderment was brief. Tiny hummingbirds of brashly mixed colors darted in and out of the large blooms.

Chap led them deeper into the trees, and the world shifted completelyto rich hues pulsing in the somber light filtering down through the forest canopy. He pondered calling a rest while he hunted for food on his own; his companions were fatigued and hungry, but at the same time, he was wary of letting them out of his watchful sight.

"Did we pass those trees before?" Wynn asked, grasping his fur again.

Chap barked twice for "no" and took another step. He led them true with certainty. Within a day he hoped to reach the nearest river sighted from up the mountain.

Wynn's grip tightened and pulled him to a stop.

"I don't think so," Leesil answered, and glanced back at the cluster of elms.

Magiere released his hand, looking back along their path.

"We're lost!" Wynn whispered sharply.

"No, we're not." Magiere pointed to the old hulking cedar by the clearing slope, still within sight. "You can just see the line of trees back to the brook we crossed."

Her gesture pulled Chap's attention, and Leesil followed it as well, but his brow wrinkled with uncertainty.

"Yes… that's right," he finally agreed.

"No, it is not," Wynn said.

She turned a full circle, switching hands to keep hold of Chap. Twice she looked to where Magiere pointed, but her gaze flicked quickly about in confusion.

"It is not the same," Wynn whispered, and shook her head.

Chap was baffled. Even without scent he couldbacktrack their exact route by sight.

"Not the same?" Magiere asked. "Not like… the elven lands near your home?"

"No!" Wynn snapped. "I know those flowers-blhacraova-and the birds feeding upon them are vanranas, but… but they are not where I saw them last."

Chap stared at the purple tree-flowers and garish hummingbirds. They were exactly where he had passed them.

"It changes," Leesil said quietly. "Sometimes… I think. The forest changes."

Magiere grabbed his arm. "Nothing's changed."

"I see where we came through." Leesil's uncertain gaze drifted back the way they had come. "But if… it's like I'm not sure until I look hard. And even then…"

Chap studied all of them. In his youth, he had encountered no elf with memories of humans in this land. The mere thought raised fear, even among the Anmaglahk, who walked secretly within the human nations. He knew some of the forest's natural safeguards, such as the majay-hi, but was there something more? Perhaps there was a reason no outsider ever returned from searching for this place.

It seemed the impassible mountains were not the only barrier to entering the elvenTerritories.

Chap studied the forest's depths. Something here addled the minds of his companions. It rejected those foreign to it, and each of his charges had human blood.

"What about you?" Leesil asked.

Magiere shook her head. "It all looks as it was."

A question occurred toChap an instant before Leesil asked it.

"And why is that?"

Chap eyed Magiere, wondering at this strange inconsistency. Magiere looked to him, and he huffed twice, for he had no answer.

Leesil's lesser confusion, compared to Wynn's, could be attributed to his half-elven blood, but Magiere was as human as the sage. The only difference was her dhampir nature. But Chap could not see how that would make her immune. And if it did… such a twist lefthim deeply disturbed.

Dusk thickened among the trees and undergrowth.

"We must camp," Wynn said too quickly. "I do not want to walk this place at night."

Chap agreed. Before he barked approval, a flash of movement back near the massive cedar caught his eye. He growled.

"What?" Wynn asked too loudly.

Leesil jerked loose the holding straps of his punching blades as Magiere drew her falchion. Chap pulled free of Wynn's grip and inched back the way they had come.

From a distance, two of the cedar's branches seemed to move.

They separated from the others, drifting around the cedar's far side and into the clearing. Below them came a long equine head that turned toward the interlopers. Large crystalline eyes like Chap's own peered through the forest.

A deer would have been dainty next to this massive beast, though this was the closest comparison that came to Chap. Silver-gray inhue, its coat was long and shaggy. Two curved horns sprouted high from its head-smooth, without prongs, but as long as Chap's whole body.

He had never seen such a creature near the elven enclave where he was born.

Leesil pulled the crossbow off his back and quietly cocked its string, as Magiere handed him a quarrel from the quiver strapped to her pack.

The enormous silver animal stood motionless, staring at them through the forest. It slowly stepped an arc along the clearing's slope. Its crystal eyes neverblinked, never strayed from watching them. It had no fear. Perhaps it did not know it was in danger.

Chap turned cold inside.

In the wild elven lands, this creature did not know of being hunted. He barked twice, as loudly as he could.

"Quiet!" Leesil ordered in a whisper. "We need food."

The animal did not start at the sound of Chap's voice. Whatever this creature might be, it appeared that neither elf nor even majay-hi hunted its kind. If they had, it would have fled at the sight of Chap himself, if not the others.And its eyes… the hue of its fur… so similar to his own.

Chap whirled about and lunged at Leesil with snapping jaws. Again, he barked twice for "no."

"Leesil, stop!" Wynn hissed. "Chap says no!"

"I heard him," Leesil answered, but remained poised with the crossbow aimed through the trees.

"Leesil…" Magiere said.

He simply held the crossbow in place, fingers wrapped around the stock upon its firing lever.

Then the animal pawed the earth once, lifted its muzzle skyward, and a deafening bellow filled the air.

The sound rose up from its wide chest and out its open mouth and rolled through the forest.

Wynn sucked in a sharp breath, and even Magiere backed up a step.

Chap froze where he stood, not knowing what this meant. Then he bolted toward the creature, weaving through bushes and underbrush, until he slowed to stand beneath the cedar's branches.

The deer ceased its bellow, muzzle dropping from the air, and it studied him in stillness.

The scent of musk and something sweet like lilacs filled Chap's head.

It began wandering off the way it had come, but in a few steps it stopped. With long horns tilted to touch its own back, it lifted its muzzle high and bellowed again.

Chap ducked behind the cedar and raced back to his companions. A third bellow rang in his ears as he reached Leesil.

Leesil turned with the crossbow still raised, following the deer's passage. His eyes shifted once toward Magiere.

"That thing is making a lot of noise. And it would still make a decent supper."

Chap snarled at him.

Wynn stepped in front of the crossbow. "Put it away."

"He's joking," Magiere said, but cast Leesil a warning glance. "He's not going to shoot it."

The deer vanished into the forest's depths, but another bellow carried from farther off as Leesil lowered the crossbow.

"Let's put some distance between ourselves and that loudmouth."

Chap searched for any recollection of this strange being but found nothing among his memories. The deer's continued noise unnerved him, and he agreed it was best to get away from it. He started into a trot but immediately slowed so Wynn could take hold of him. He pushed the pace as fast as the little sage could manage.

Daylight was nearly gone. Somewhere behind them, the deer bellowed again-and again. No matter how far or fast Chapwent, the next tone was no farther behind them. The deer was following.

A flash of steel gray darted through a teal-leafed bush ahead.

Chap dug his forepaws into mossy earth, and Wynn stumbled as he jerked to a halt.

The movement vanished in the deepening dusk behind a cluster of pale pines.

Not the deer, for it was too quick andlow, and the ground did not tremble beneath large hooves. Chap heard claws cutting the earth as it flashed by.

He sidestepped, herding Wynn to the nearest tree. He settled himself, ready to charge anything that might rush from hiding.

Undergrowth rustled, and his head snapped to the left. Another movement flickered in the right corner of his vision, then another ahead. This time he caught a glimpse of fur, four legs, and glittering eyes. A scent drifted to his nose, but too thin as yet to recognize.A canine?

Chap slowly turned, watching darting forms circling around, out in the forest.

Across the way, Leesil half-crouched and blindly aimed the crossbow out into the trees. He jerked it quickly to the right. Magiere stood behind him with her falchion drawn.

"Light the damn crystal!" he snapped. "Now, Wynn!"

A head peeked out from behind a fir tree.

Chap growled before he could stop himself. He sniffed the air as Wynn's crystal lit up the narrow clearing. Something pushed its way through the teal-leafed bush into clear view.

Chap's tension melted in shock as he heard Magiere exhale.

"majay-hi!" Wynn whispered.

Crystalline irises like sky-tinted gems stared at Chap from a long face covered in silver-blue fur. Its ears rose up to match his own, and Chap's breath caught.

At least five more circled in the forest around the intruders, weaving in and out of the vegetation. Likehimself, they were long-legged, long-faced, and tall as hounds. Two were a darker shade of steel-gray, nearly as alike as twins. And one more was darker still.

His dark color, like ink brushed into his thick coat, made his eyes float in the dusk-shadowed space beneath a fir tree. He loped an arc to another overhang of branches, and the crystal's light caught the gray peppering in his muzzle.

The one peeking out from the teal-leafed bush dipped his nose, head cocked in puzzlement. He looked from Leesil to Wynn and wrinkled his jowls to expose teeth.

Chap answered with a low rumble and exposed his own fangs.

Leesil backed toward Magiere, crossbow still raised. "Chap?"

He had no answer, even if he could have given one. He had no idea whatthese majay-hi wanted or why they closed in. A glimmer of white darted from around the tree where the black-furred elder stood watching.

The female's coat was so pale it looked cream-white in the crystal's glow. A hint of yellow sparked in her irises. She was delicate and narrow-boned, and stepped so lightly that Chap wondered if her paws even left prints in the loam.

"Look," Wynn murmured, and the sight of the white majay-hi seemed to blot away her panic. "Like a water lily… I never thought others would vary so much from Chap."

"Don't get any ideas," Magiere warned. "They're not Chap… and I don't think they want us here."

Chap knew they were not like him, and not only in the way Magiere meant. They were only majay-hi-distant descendants of born-Fay from long ago and guardians of this wild land. They were like his mother and his siblings of childhood.

"Their faces…" Wynn said, the edge in her voice returning, "theway they move. I do not think any are inhabited by a Fay. But can they still understand us at all?"

Chap took two steps toward the silver-blue before him. It backed into the brush, sniffing the air. A growl pulled Chap's attention to the dark elder beneath the fir tree.

A steel-gray and the white female circled him. As they passed each other, they touched or rubbed heads, one to the next. Chap reached out, trying to snatch any surfacing memory passing through their thoughts.

Jumbled images assaulted him, one after the other. Some repeated and the order disjointed further. He fought to grasp and sort them, but there were so many coming so fast. He caught only pieces…

The strange massivedeer, and its urgent voice.

Racing toward its distant bellow.

A glimpse of an anmaglahk in forest-gray attire.

Himself…

In the last flash that Chap grasped before it was buried in another cascade of sights, sounds, and scents, he saw himself through their eyes.

And these pieces of memory echoed from one among the touching trio to another.

Chap watched the majay-hl brush heads as the white and gray circled about the black elder.

Memories passed each time they touched. Not the random, scant surfac-ings of humans, but images passed willfully, one to the other.

Chap withdrew his awareness, shutting out the kaleidoscope that filled him with vertigo. It was too much to take in. But one image lingered as the silver-gray in the bush stepped forward.

An anmaglahk in forest gray.

Chap backed away, looking again to the trio beneath the tree.

His eyes locked with the whitefemale's. There were indeed flecks of gold within her chill-blue irises.

Chap's inaction left Leesil dumbfounded. He didn't know how much threat these dogs posed, and he expected some kind of lead from Chap.

All the majay-hi froze under another thrumming bellow in the forest.

Far out in the trees Leesil spotted the dim shape of the large silver deer. It stood posed upon a deep green hillock.

The majay-hi circled away into the forest like smoke thinning into the dark.

Chap stood rigid, ears pricked forward.

"Why are they are leaving?" Wynn asked.

Leesil had no answer. "We need to get out of here… find a place to camp."

Magiere's gaze remained on the trees where the majay-hi had vanished.

"What about food?" Wynn added.

Leesil had no idea where or how to findfood, let alone what might be edible. This forest played with his wits, and even in daylight he had to concentrate just to see which way he had come.

"Camp first," Magiere said. "Then maybe Chap can come up with something."

Leesil sidestepped toward Chap, still watching the trees, and laid a hand on the dog's back. Chap was trembling.

"Can you find us another clearing?" Leesil asked.

Chap shook himself. He glanced about, circled around for Wynn to take hold, and padded off away from the sound of the deer.

A long arrow pierced the earth in front of Chap.

Leesil grabbed Wynn and jerked her back.

"Find cover!" he yelled.

With Wynn tucked behind him, he backed toward a moss-covered old log to his right. He heard a knock as something struck wood.

Wynn gasped."Leesil!"

Another long arrow shuddered where it stood, embedded in the log. The shining metal head was familiar enough, like the bright-bladed stilettos his mother had once given him.

"Smother the crystal," he whispered.

Wynn closed the crystal in her fist, stuffed it into her coat pocket, and its light vanished.

Leesil couldn't see anything up in the branches, but he didn't wish to give their attackers the advantage of light. He heard something strike the earth to his rear, and then Magiere's voice.

"Damn it!"

Leesil didn't need to look for the arrow that had cut her off. "Get up against that tree, and don't move until we see them. We're open targets down here."

Chap rumbled from somewhere out in the darkness.

Leesil knew the dog was trying to sniff out their assailants. None of the three shafts had struck them but rather blocked any attempt at escape. He reached under with his left hand and undid the catch-strap of the stiletto on his right wrist.

A dark form dropped through the branches of the fir tree ahead of him.

Leesil heard another to hisright, and then again to the rear.

One came forward out of the shadows.

Leesil aimed the crossbow at its center mass, ready to fire and then drop it to pull his blades or stilettos. Figures took shape as they approached with quiet footsteps.

"I've got two," Magiere whispered behind him.

A rustle of brush pulled his glance. A fourth figure rose from behind the old log. The one in front stepped into plain sight.

Each tall and slender figure wore a wrap across the lower half of its face. They'd tied the trailing corners of their cloaks across their waists. All of their attire was a dark blend of gray and forest green. Two carried short bows with metal grips as bright as the arrowhead in the log.

Anmaglahk.

Desperation filled Leesil. Four assassins had intercepted him and his companions before they'd finished one day's travel into this immense land. How could the Anmaglahk have known, let alone found him so quickly?

He slowly twisted the ball of his foot on the earth, rooting himself for an ugly fight, one that he and Magiere probably couldn't win against four of them.

"Wynn!" he whispered. "Run!"

Leesil swung the crossbow one-handed, over Wynn's head to his right, and fired. The gray-green figure behind the log twisted away to the earth as the quarrel hissed by.

He released the crossbow from his right hand and snapped it like a whip. The hilt of the unclasped stiletto slid sharply across his palm. He snatched the blade's tip as it passed, his arm cocked back to throw.

"Leshil, stop!" A deep and lyrical voice spoke in clear Belaskian. "No harm will come to you and yours!"

Leesil halted in midthrow. The lead anmaglahk raised empty gloved hands, palms out to him, and quickly spread them wide toward his companions.

"Bartva'na!"

The one to Leesil's left cautiously lowered his bow, but kept his arrow drawn and ready. As the leader lifted one hand to his cowl, Leesil spotted Chap behind the elf. The dog crept in low and silent beneath the very tree the man had dropped from.

Leesil shook his head slightly, and Chap halted.

"We mean no threat to you," the leader said as he pulled back his cowl and, with one finger, lowered the wrap across his face.

Leesil sucked air through gritted teeth.

The man's narrow, deeply tanned face was unmistakable. His dark amber eyes were so slanted that their outer corners reached his temples. His nose was straight and sharp, like his cheekbones. He wore his thick, white-blond hair tied back at the nape of his neck, exposing his pointed ears. Everything about his appearance seemed elongated… and foreign.

"Sgaile," Leesil whispered.

Just last autumn, this one had come to Bela with an order to kill him, and then changed his mind. Sgaile was the one who'd first hinted that Leesil's mother might still be alive.

Before anyone spoke, Sgaile motioned to his companions. All removed their cowls and face wraps. Chap rushed in snarling, and Sgaile spun away, startled.

Chap circled around, placing himself between Sgaile and Leesil. Sgaile's companions' eyes went wide.

"He remembers you," Leesil spit out.

Sgaile glanced once at Leesil, then kept his amber eyes steadily on Chap.

Among Sgaile's companions were two men and one young woman with glowing white hair. She didn't linger as long as the others in studyingChap and turned her attention upon Leesil. While the others were still shocked by the dog's action, this female's feather eyebrows cinched together and open hatred wrinkled her angular features.

Leesil had never seen an elven woman besides his mother.

In spite of this one's expression, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She didn't look anything like Nein'a. Her skin was darker and her features were almost gaunt in their narrow construction. He made out a prominent scar hiding beneath the feathering of her left eyebrow. Still, her white silky hair and peaked ears made his heart pound as he thought of his mother.

One of the men looked about middle-aged, perhaps even older than

Sgaile, though how many human years that meant was beyond Leesil to guess. Though taller than Leesil, he was the shortest of the males, with a rough complexion compared to the others.

The fourth was even taller than Sgaile and young. He looked no more than twenty by human standards and was the most stricken by Chap's savage entrance.

Light erupted behind Leesil.

Wynn stepped close beside him, her expression awash with fascination as she held up the crystal.

"What do you want?" Magiere demanded.

"Lower your weapons," Sgaile said, slow and soft. "Please, put them away."

The elven woman stepped closer to him but didn't sheathe her stilettos. They were longer of blade than any Leesil had seen, perhaps a third the length of a sword. She gestured with one toward Magiere and Wynn.

"Lhagshuilean… schi cher ayag," she hissed, and then pointed the blade toward Leesil. "Ag'us so tru, mish meas-"

"Tosajij!" Sgaile returned sharply.

She never looked at him but hissed and fell silent, her eyes still locked on Leesil.

Leesil didn't understand what either had said. Except for one word so close to what he'd heard from a young anmaglahk in Darmouth's crypt.

Tru… True… traitor. He'd never have trouble understanding that.

Sgaile's half hints were the reason he'd come here. The reason he'd dragged Magiere and Wynn and Chap halfway across the continent. He wanted answers, and he kept his stiletto at ready. His own anger sharpened, and he stepped closer.

"We're not putting anything away," he said right into Sgaile's face, "until you tell us why you've come… and where my mother is."

The younger male had circumvented Magiere, coming up near Sgaile. His expression changed to nearly visible surprise at either Leesil's words or his tone, possibly both. He wasn't carrying a bow, but a boning knife appeared in his hand.From behind Leesil. Wynn spoke out in a long string of Elvish.

All four anmaglahk turned full attention upon the sage with guarded surprise.

"You speak our language," Sgaile replied in Belaskian. "Yet strangely."

"Bitha," Wynn answered.

The young female hissed something in Sgaile's ear.

"Do not let your grief breach our ways," said the older male with the rough face.

He stood off to the left but clearly spoke to the woman. She turned on him, but fell silent.

Leesil wondered what grief the elder elf spoke of.

"Where did you learn our language?" Sgaile asked, refusing to speak to Wynn in his own tongue.

"On my own continent," she answered. "There are elves south of the Numan countries."

"Liar!" the female snapped. "Deceitful, like all humans."

These were the first non-Elvish words she'd spoken. Magiere had kept her eyes on the older Anmaglahk to the left, but her attention shifted to the woman, and her voice crackled low like Chap's growl.

"How rich… coming from the likes of you."

She swung her falchion slowly around toward the woman. Sgaile raised an arm in front of his comrade, but it wasn't clear exactly who he protected or restrained.

Leesil was getting tired of all this. "You aren't going to keep us out of this forest. Where is my mother? Is she still alive?"

Sgaile's expression remained guarded, but a flicker of discomfort crossed his narrow face. "Cuirin'nen'a lives, I assure you."

Leesil quivered in sudden weakness, and the chest's rope halter seemed to bite deeper into his shoulders.

"We would never kill one of our own," Sgaile continued. "But she is a great distance off, and the forest will not long tolerate your companions… or perhaps even you. We were sent to guide and protect you."

"And we're supposed to trust you?" Magiere asked.

"No," Sgaile answered politely. "I offer guardianship… and the safe passage of Aoishenis-Ahare himself." His gaze shifted back to Leesil. "Do you ac-cept?

Leesil's anger got the better of him. "Not by every dead deity that I can-

"We accept your guardianship," Wynn cut in, "and that of your… greatgrandfather?"

Leesil turned bewildered outrage on Wynn. She remained calm and composed, facing only Sgaile as he returned a gracious nod.

"Wynn!" Magiere hissed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What you brought me for," she answered flatly. "You do not understand what is happening, and there is no time to explain it all now."

"My caste is trusted by all of our clans," Sgaile added. "I will not allow harm upon you, so long as you are under my guardianship… and how else will you find Cuirin'nen'a but through us? She was once one of our caste."

Those last words taunted Leesil. Who else among the elves but the An-maglahk would know his mother's location? They had imprisoned her as a traitor, and it seemed this "great-grandfather" had authority over the whole caste.

"If she's still alive," Leesil asked bitterly, "did you leave her suffering in some cell all these years?"

The thought made him ill, for he blamed himself as much as the An-maglahk-as much as Sgaile. Nein'a had twisted Leesil's life to a hidden purpose, but he was the one who'd abandoned his parents eight years ago.

Sgaile's features twisted in revulsion, and his eyes flashed with anger.

"I did not leave Cuirin'nen'a anywhere! She is safe and well-and that is all I may tell you. I am a messenger and your assigned guardian. Aoishenis-Ahare"-he glanced at Wynn-"Most Aged Father will answer your questions."

Leesil turned to Magiere; her white skin glowed in the crystal's light.

"I don't think we have a choice," he said quietly.

Magiere let out a derisive snort. "They're only concerned for themselves and their own goals! Every one of them we've met… they're all butchers who use the truth like a lie. They'll twist you around, Leesil, until you wouldn't know your own choice from theirs… until it's too late!"

Leesil flinched at her thinly veiled reference. Brot'an had tricked him into murdering Darmouth to start a war among the Warlands' provinces. But he still saw no alternative.

"Then believe in guardianship," Wynn said. "They would put their lives at stake to fulfill it. If you cannot trust them, then trust what I tell you. The way of guardianship is an old tradition and a serious matter."

Chap had remained silent and still all this time. His eyes held uncertainty and the quiver of his jowls echoed Magiere's distrust. As he crept around next to Wynn, he huffed sharply once in agreement.

"All right then," Leesil said with restraint. "As Wynn said, we accept… for now."

Sgaile nodded. "We will set camp through those trees. I will bring food and fresh water."

Wynn appeared to sag at those words, letting out all her fatigue.

Leesil sheathed his stiletto but had to nudge Magiere. She glared at him before doing likewise with her falchion, and then took Wynn by the arm with a frown at Chap.

"You two better be right."

Chap huffed three times for "maybe."

Magiere stopped short and her jaw clenched. "Oh, that's comforting."

She moved on with Wynn after Sgaile.

Leesil fell silent. They'd just placed their lives in the hands of the An-maglahk. He hoisted the pack Wynn left behind, retrieved the crossbow, andfollowed, his eyes on Sgaile's exposed back.

In a short time and distance, Magiere sat upon a toppled tree stump before a small fire. She settled Wynn on the ground in front of her and covered the sage with a blanket. Wynn leaned back to rest against Magiere's legs.

The four anmaglahk didn't appear to carry anything besides their bows and stilettos. She watched two of them disassemble the bows, unstringing first and then pulling the wood arms out of the metal grips. They stored the parts behind their backs beneath their tied-up cloaks. While Magiere was distracted by this, one of them had struck a fire, though she wasn't certain how this was accomplished so quickly.

Chap settled beside Wynn, his eyes always upon the elves, who moved off to gather by a far oak and argue in low voices. Leesil piled their packs and saddlebags with the chest of skulls and paced about the fire before crouching on Wynn's other side.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" he whispered.

Wynn nodded. "Bits and pieces-enough to catch the essence of contention. Their dialect is strange… older, I think, than the one I know."

Although no food had been provided yet, the chance to rest in warmth had revived the young sage a bit.

"I cannot quite determine their hierarchy," Wynn said with a shake of her head. "Sgaile is the leader, but perhaps only based on the mission he was given. They do not seem to use rank titles that I can pick out. The rough-skinned man is clearly the eldest, though I would guess Sgaile is perhaps fifty to sixty years old."

"Sixty years?" Magiere said too loudly, then lowered her voice. "He doesn't look more than thirty."

She knew most people would find Sgaile strikingly handsome-although she'd die before admitting that aloud. His white-blond hair was thicker than that of most elves, and he wore it neatly tied back. His face was narrow and smooth, with skin slightly darker than Leesil's.

"They live longer than we do," Wynn replied. "One hundred and fifty is a common age. Some live to be two hundred."

Magiere glanced sidelong at Leesil, who watched the conclave of assassins with fixed interest. By how many years would Leesil outlive her?

"The others are questioning Sgaile," Wynn continued. "Especially the angry woman."

"What about?" Magiere asked.

"They are unsettled by the task they were given, though the elder male supports Sgaile's adherence to the custom of guardianship. It seems safe passage for humans is unprecedented. None of them have even seen a human set foot in these lands."

Wynn cocked her head, still listening. "They are hesitant to question what this Most Aged Father has asked of them… but they are to take Leesil to him."

"I knew it," Magiere whispered. "Leesil, they're up to more than taking you to your mother."

He didn't answer. He didn't even look at her.

"I do not think Sgaile is lying to us," Wynn argued. "And this patriarch of their caste may have been the one to order Nein'a's imprisonment. If so, he is the one we need to see."

She tilted her head up to look at Magiere.

"The elder and the woman do not wish you or me to be taken farther. They do not want"-she stopped, eyes widening-"any 'weakbloods' in their homeland."

Wynn fell silent for a moment, listening.

"Sgaile refuses. He gave his word to Most Aged Father to offer guardianship to all with Leesil and deliver us to a place called Crijeaiche… 'Origin Heart'… I think." Then she sucked in a long breath of air. "Oh, Leesil, you are considered dangerous, even by Sgaile… a criminal."

Magiere tensed. They'd had more than one run-in with these murdering elves in gray, who always found some way to put Leesil under suspicion.

The elves' debate ended as Sgaile stood up. He and the younger male disappeared into the forest. Magiere watched the two who stayed behind. They remained at a distance, and the woman turned her back, leaving only the elder man gazing stoically at the invaders gathered about the fire.

Sgaile returned sooner than Magiere would've guessed. He was alone and carried a bunched cloth of lightweight tan fabric. He approached and opened the cloth for Leesil. Within were more bisselberries mixed with bits of strangely wrinkled gray lumps.

"This will keep you until Osha returns from the stream." He turned toward Chap. "He will bring fish to roast."

Sgaile neither spoke nor looked at Magiere or Wynn. Leesil didn't appear to notice and took the offered food. He poked suspiciously at one gray lump.

"Muhkgean," Sgaile explained, then paused thoughtfully. "The heads of flower-mushrooms."

With a grimace, Leesil took a few berries and held the rest out to Magiere and Wynn.

Wynn snatched one mushroom head, popped it in her mouth, and chewed quickly with a deep sigh of satisfaction. Magiere took only berries.

" Osha… is this the young man's name?" Wynn asked.

Sgaile didn't answer.

"It means… 'Sudden Breeze'," Wynn explained with her mouth still full. "A good name."

She yawned and drooped so heavily that Magiere had to separate her knees so Wynn leaned against the stump.

Sgaile remained silent. Regardless of this guardianship oath he'd taken, it was clear to Magiere that he was no more comfortable with the arrangement than his comrades were. Magiere placed a hand on Wynn's soft hair, thinking the sage grew weary beyond good sense.

"Soon as you've had some fish, you're going to sleep."

"Mmm-hmm," was all that came from Wynn, and she popped a peeled berry and another mushroom together into her mouth.

"Where did you find these?" Leesil asked, picking up the cloth of the berries and mushrooms. "We saw nothing like them in the forest."

Sgaile's thin white eyebrows arched. "The forest provides."

Leesil again offered the cloth bundle to Magiere. She shook her head. She wasn't about to touch one of the wrinkled gray lumps, and peeling berries seemed like too much trouble. And she didn't feel hungry.

This made no sense, considering she'd gone without food for as long as the others. Strangely, she wasn't even tired.

Sgaile walked back out into the forest, only to return moments later carrying six sharpened and forked sticks. He stuck three into the earth around the fire, so their forked ends slanted upward above the low flames.

Osha melted out of the trees. He carried three large trout hooked by their gills upon his fingers. He half-smiled at Sgaile and dropped to his knees by the fire.

The two elves' flurry of busy preparation was almost more than Magiere could follow. Three more sticks appeared, pointed on both ends. Osha skewered each fish from mouth to tail, then balanced the ends in the forked sticks Sgaile had planted. Soon, the trout began to sizzle above the flames.

Wynn murmured sleepily, closing her eyes, "Am'alhtahk ar tu, Osha."

Osha jerked his head up to look at her, studying Wynn's round face and wispy brown hair, but his expression held no malice. He went back to fanning the fire, then he sprinkled some powdered spice over the fish and a savory smell filled the air.

Chap sat up and whined. Magiere hoped he'd wait until the fish finished cooking before helping himself.

The other two elves finally approached, carrying large leaves, which they handed to Osha. All was quiet but for the crackling fire, and then Wynn's eyes popped open.

"Do all Anmaglahk speak Belaskian?" she blurted out.

Leesil looked to Sgaile. "Well, do they?"

Sgaile frowned. "Some… Osha is learning at present."

Groggy and exhausted, Wynn still seemed unaware that Sgaile avoided speaking to her.

"Wynn," the sage said to Osha, pointing to herself, and then to the others in turn. "Magiere… Leesil… Chap."

Osha blinked, glancing tentatively at Sgaile, then bowed his head briefly to Wynn.

"You placed a name upon a majay-hi?" Sgaile asked.

All the elves appeared unsettled by this. The woman hissed something Magiere didn't catch and turned away.

"Wynn, that's enough," Magiere warned.

"Should we not be introduced," Wynn asked, "if we are to travel together?"

Sgaile stood up in discomfort. Again, Osha glanced at him, clearly uncertain if he should speak. Then he pointed to the elven woman off among the trees with her back turned.

" En’nish," he said.

" En’nish…" Wynn repeated sleepily, "the wild, open field."

Osha pointed to the elder man."Urhkarasiferin."

"Shot or cast… truly?" Wynn tried to translate.

Osha scrunched one eye and looked up to Sgaile, who nodded.

"And Sgaile," "Wynn added.

"Sgailsheilleache," he corrected, the first words he'd spoken to any but Leesil since their earlier standoff.

"Willow…shade…" Wynn murmured.

"Sgaile it is, then," muttered Leesil.

Magiere tried to retain the names. Hopefully, shortened ones wouldn't cause offense, not that she cared much if they did. To her relief, Osha finally lifted one trout off the fire, and all attention was diverted as he deftly slid it onto a large leaf.

He boned the fish, cut the fillets into pieces, and, using smaller leaves as plates, passed them around in no particular order. Sgaile worked on the next trout. He fanned a full fillet to cool it before placing it on a leaf for Chap. Urhkar picked up two servings and joined En’nish off in the trees.

Magiere took small bites. She still wasn't hungry, even after three mouth-fuls that smelled and tasted better than any fish she could remember. She continued to nibble rather than have Leesil or even Wynn make a fuss about her not eating. Once her own companions finished, she put a hand on Wynn's shoulder.

"Lie down and sleep."

The sage didn't argue. She scooted over to lie on the ground, but she stopped halfway.

"Oh, Sgaile, whoever keeps watch should take care. We encountered a tashgalh this morning. I have not seen it again, but you would know what they are like."

To Magiere's surprise, Sgaile spoke directly to Wynn with concern.

"Atashgalh? Where?"

"That little rodent?" Leesil asked. "We found it in a cave on the mountain. It didn't seem dangerous."

"But troublesome," Sgaile answered carefully, and gestured out into the dark. "The majay-hi should warn us, and Osha will stand first watch."

Magiere looked where he pointed. Here and there a shadow moved. She saw the shapes of the dogs among the far trees, some near enough that their eyes glimmered from the firelight.

Wynn lay down and pulled her blanket up, and Chap curled in next to her as always.

Both Sgaile and Osha stared with differing degrees of astonishment. Osha’s mouth opened slightly as Leesil spread his cloak out on the ground and reached for Magiere. She lay down on her side.

Osha turned quickly and walked away. Sgaile followed without a word.

Magiere put her back against Leesil's chest. He pulled the blanket up and placed his palm on her temple, slowly stroking her head and hair.

"This isn't what I expected," he whispered.

What had he expected?

"We'll find Nein'a," she whispered back.

"I know. Go to sleep."

Magiere heard his breathing grow steady and deep. Once certain he'd drifted off, she reached over him for her falchion left leaning against the stump. She tucked it under the blanket next to herself with her hand on its hilt.

She lay awake for a long time, not tired enough to sleep, strange as that was. She listened but couldn't hear the elves above the forest's soft sounds.

Magiere finally closed her eyes and tried to drift off…

She suddenly found herself walking the forest in darkness, alone, wondering how she had gotten so far from the camp.

Pieces of the night moved around her between the trees.

Here and there, half-seen shapes shadowed her. Their colorless and glittering eyes watched her, as if waiting for her to do something.

These were not majay-hi. They walked on two legs. And in her belly she felt their hunger. She smelled it, like blood on the damp breeze, and her own hunger rose up in answer.

The forest began to wither around her, until the stench of rot made her choke.

Magiere snapped her eyes open with every muscle ridged from the nightmare. It felt disturbingly familiar, as if she'd seen such a vision before. Lifting her head, she found the fire was now little more than glowing embers.

She didn't sleep for the rest of the night.