A terrible, wild roaring filled her dazed mind... her screams and Shan’s mingling in an agony of madness and pain as again and again and again the Eld seared and scorched her.
The Fading Lands ~ Fey’Bahren
Fey and tairen stood in a tense ring, violence simmering beneath the surface. Rain struggled to gather his thoughts and find the breath Tenn’s revelation had knocked out of him.
«Rain... »Bel’s expression was desolate.«Sieks’ta, kem’maresk. I should have told you, but once you came back to us, I never thought there would be cause. I never thought they would be so bold.»
“You would banish the Defender of the Fey when the FadingLands stand on the brink of a second Mage War?” Gaelen challenged with cold fury. “You would banish the woman who brought life back to the tairen and the Fey? You would cast them out when the only reason they wove Azrahn was to save your miserable lives?”
“The reasons do not matter,” Tenn said. “The law is clear. Those who weave the forbidden magic must be banished or slain. These are the ways of honor. These are the ways of the Fey.”
“These are the ways of death and idiocy,” Gaelen snapped.
“Feel free to join them in their exile,dahl’reisen,” Yulan spat.
Steli growled.«What is ‘banish’?»
Rain answered, speaking aloud for the benefit of the Fey. “Banishment, Steli-chakai, means these Fey say I am no longer the Tairen Soul. It means they intend to drive me and Ellysetta-Feyreisa from the lair and from all lands of the Fey.”
Every tairen on Su Reisu roared. Flames shot from snarling muzzles, searing the morning sky, wings spread wide in a show of fearsome might.
Protective shields sprang up around the gathered Fey. Dozens of hands reached for red Fey’cha.
Rain flung shields around Ellysetta but none around himself. He glared at the gathered warriors. “And you callmemad? You would pull red against the pride?” He raised his hands to the tairen.«Steli-chakai, my pride-kin, stop.»To all of them, he said, “We have enemies enough without turning upon one another. Stand down, Fey.” When they did not move, his voice dropped an octave and boomed across the plateau.“I said stand down!”
Behind him, Ellysetta gave a choked cry, and an icy chill washed over him.
He whirled around and all the blood drained from his face.
She was shaking, every muscle clenched, every tendon pulled taut beneath her skin. Her hands were clawed and her eyes were endless black pits awash in whirling red lights, like a dead sky filled with bloody stars.
She threw back her head, her throat convulsing.“Sal veli! Piersan veli ti’Teleon te Orest! Sala talothi!”They’re coming! The enemy comes to Teleon and Orest! Kill them!
The voice from her mouth was not her own. Low and throbbing, as if ripped from the throat of death itself, the sound scraped across Rain’s senses like a serrated blade.
The Azrahn-filled gaze pinned him, and in a guttural voice, she cried, “Feyreisen! Defend the pride!”
Her legs folded, and she collapsed into his arms, and in her own voice, urgent and agitated, she whispered, “Orest and Teleon. They are in danger. He’s coming. You must warn them. Warn them,shei’tan. Let them know...”
Rain clutched her to his chest and raised stricken eyes to the others. “We must warn Orest and Teleon.”
“Are you mad? Did you see her eyes?” Tenn pointed a finger. “She’s Mage-claimed! The Mages are using her to draw us into a trap!”
“How can they be drawing us into a trap?” Rain snapped. “Our brothers are already there.”
“Then they must be trying to drawyouout,” Yulan snapped when Tenn frowned in perplexed silence.
Gaelen sneered. “Considering you just banished him, what do you care?”
“It isn’t a trap.”
All eyes turned to Ellysetta.
Her lids opened, revealing eyes of bright Fey green, glowing and just beginning to whirl with the radiance of the tairen. “It isn’t a trap. The Eld are coming. I don’t know how I know it, but I do. Orest and Teleon are in danger.” She rose to her feet, though her body continued to shake with helpless tremors, and her eyes held his in an unwavering gaze.«Believe me, shei’tan. Our friends are in danger. We must warn them.»
Her urgent concern and unshakable certainty filled his veinsfirst with ice, then with blazing fire. She had no doubt. And because she had none, he could not doubt either.
Rain flung his head back and sent the cry on the Warriors’ Path.«Fey! To arms! Orest and Teleon, prepare for war! Kieran! Kiel! Get the shei’dalins and Ellysetta’s family to safety! Now, Fey, now! The Eld are coming!»
