3 When Darkness Falls.8 (57 page)

"You could rest, as he's suggested," Jermayan said firmly. "Though I fear the news from Halacira must come first. Walk with me, if you will, in the gardens."

* * * * *

BY now Jermayan's heavy winter cloak was dry. As they reached the door, Idalia retrieved her own cloak from a peg. It was one Jermayan had not seen before. The cloak was made of heavy violet velvet, lined with soft deep brown fur. A gift, perhaps, from a grateful patient, for even in the depths of war and disaster, life still went on.

The garden at the House of Leaf and Stat was designed to be beautiful at any hour of any season, and even now, at noon, a day or so before Midwinter, it was lovely. Tall hedges of evergreen sculpted the snow into pleasing patterns, and the holly bushes glittered with ice. Here, people had even taken the time to build the ornamental snow-sculptures of gentler times, for the House of Leaf and Star and its gardens were truly the heart of Sentarshadeen, to be tended and defended when nothing else could be. Here the paths were swept clean, and the ornamental benches stood invitingly in their stone bowers. The stone braziers beside the benches were filled and ready, inviting those who wished to sit and linger to kindle them and enjoy a pleasant warmth.

When they had come a good distance from the house, Jermayan kindled two of the braziers, and seated himself upon the bench. Idalia settled herself beside him.

"It must be ill news indeed," she said quietly.

"Kellen asks the impossible, and I do not know how to answer him. Vestakia has had… perhaps it is as well to call it a vision."

Quickly Jermayan told Idalia all that he and the others had spoken of at Halacira.

"And I know not what to do. Kellen is certain there is some magic to answer hers… "

"There
has
to have been," Idalia said in frustration. "We're all still here, and you've fought the Endarkened twice before. Only… it would be good to know how you could have won."

Jermayan sighed and smiled. "In the First War there were many Elven Mages, and Great Queen Vielissar Farcarinon made her pact with the dragons, so that they added their power to ours. In those days, the world was not as it is now, for Men had not yet come to be, and the Wild Magic was not as it is now. It was then that
He Who Is
was banished from the world. In the Great War, all the races of the Light fought together to defeat the Enemy, and though there were no Elven Mages, there were Wildmages, and Knight-Mages, and dragons, and even, from what Cilarnen tells us, High Mages, all blending their magics together. And so, once again, the Enemy was cast down — that time, so we thought, forever."

"All very nice," Idalia said absently, "but I'm more interested in the First War. If
He Who Is
was banished then, there must have been
something
around that was powerful enough to banish him."

"Idalia," Jermayan said gently, "it was a very long time ago. Before your race had truly taken form. Not even we, with our long memories, truly remember those days."

"Someone must," Idalia said stubbornly. "After all, you remembered
He Who Is.
"

"Perhaps, then, we should go talk to Ancaladar," Jermayan said.

* * * * *

ONCE more Jermayan crossed the city, this time with Idalia at his side, and returned to Ancaladar's comfortable refuge beyond the House of Sword and Shield.

The dragon looked as if he had only been waiting for them to arrive.

"Idalia, Jermayan," Ancaladar greeted them in his soft deep voice.

"Hello, Ancaladar," Idalia said. "I've come to ask you a question. How did Vielissar Farcarinon defeat
He Who Is?
"

Ancaladar cocked his head. "She did not defeat him, Idalia. Vielissar Farcarinon riddled with dragons. Every Elven child knows that. If you would gain a prize from a dragon, that is what you must do. Bonding with a dragon to use its magic is quite another matter. And I must warn you, I am already Bonded."

"Oh, can't you just
tell
me?" Idalia demanded irritably. She was instantly contrite. If Ancaladar could tell her what she wanted to know, she was certain he already would have. Sometimes magic was simply… inconvenient.

"I'm sorry, Ancaladar."

The dragon lowered his head. When he rested his chin on the ground, Idalia still had to reach up to give him a comforting rub along the soft skin of his jaw. It was odd how a creature so covered with hard scales everywhere else could have parts that were so soft. Quite silky, really. As she rubbed, he half-closed his pupil-less golden eyes with pleasure, and she found herself staring into their golden surface.

"If you can't tell us what we need to know, Ancaladar, can you show us?" she said at last.

Ancaladar sighed with relief.

"Here is a riddle, Idalia. If there is will, and desire, and memory, then you can see. What is the answer to that?"

"I really should kick you, Beloved," Jermayan said conversationally.

"No," Idalia said. "It's a riddle — and a simple one. Three people. Desire, that's me, because I need this answer. You're memory, Jermayan, because the Elves are known for having the longest memories of all. And will — who has a stronger will than a Knight-Mage? So that has to be Kellen. The three of us together will be able to see the answer. Right, Ancaladar?"

"Correct, Idalia. You have solved the riddle. If Kellen will come, Jermayan will give you the answer you seek, though he does not know it yet."

Idalia looked at Jermayan, who regarded her with a blank expression. Obviously Ancaladar's words were as incomprehensible to him as they were to her.

"Then it seems I must send for Kellen with all due haste," the Elven Knight said slowly. "And trust he will hold this mysterious task to be as urgent as we do."

* * * * *

KELLEN and Shalkan arrived a few hours after dawn of the next day, having been sent word by unicorn messenger. They rode directly to Ancaladar's paddock, where Jermayan had already erected an ice-pavilion for the spell to come.

"You look awful," he told Idalia as he hugged her. "You should get more rest."

"Pot to kettle," she said simply. "When was the last time
you
slept in a bed?"

Kellen grinned tiredly. "I really can't remember. Before we left for the Gathering Plain, I think — and
don't
ask me when the last time was I was actually warm. Now, why am I here?"

"You said there must be something powerful enough to banish He Who Is from the world," Idalia said. "We know there is, because he was banished once, a very long time ago. Ancaladar and Jermayan are going to help us find it."

"This should be fun," Shalkan said.

"Find it how?" Kellen asked.

Idalia shrugged. "By looking for it."

* * * * *

THE four of them entered the ice-pavilion, while Ancaladar coiled himself around the outside, thrusting his large head into the opening. There were braziers set at the four corners of the pavilion, warming the enclosure considerably, and several thick fur rugs had been placed upon the ice floor for them to sit upon.

"Now what?" Kellen asked, when the three of them were seated in a ring facing each other in the center of the pavilion. Shalkan had taken up a position near the door, beside Ancaladar.

"Idalia must contemplate her desire for this answer," Ancaladar said. "You, Kellen, must will her to succeed. And you, Jermayan, must remember a time before the light of the stars looked upon the face of your father a hundred generations gone."

Kellen barely registered Jermayan's startled sound of protest. He was gazing into Ancaladar's eyes. They had always glowed, but now they seemed to swirl and dance, as though he was looking into the depths of a dancing fire…

A ripple of magic passed from Ancaladar to Jermayan, and slowly the air between them began to… condense as Jermayan cast his spell.

The Mountainborn often joked about the temperature being cold enough to freeze fire. This was as if the air were freezing, though the temperature in the pavilion was no colder than it had been a moment before. But slowly, in the space between the three of them, the air itself darkened and solidified, until it had become a perfect egg-shaped piece of ice.

It was so cold that its surface smoked in the pavilion's cool air; so dense that its color was the pale blue of a winter sky; so pure that Kellen could see right through it to the other side.

"Memory," Jermayan said, staring at the ice-egg. "The most ancient memory of all."

"Look," Idalia said.

Kellen looked.

* * * * *

HE was no longer Kellen Tavadon, Knight-Mage.

He was Vielissar Farcarinon, Great Queen, victor of a thousand battles. Since she had been old enough to hold a sword, she had fought — against the Centaurs, against the Minotaurs, against the Bearwards. She had fought the warring Elven tribes who would attempt to take her crown from her, and united them beneath her banner. She had brought her rule to the land from the Forests of Ulayna to the Golden Isles, and united the Hundred Houses. All of them had acknowledged her right to rule, for she was wise, favoring no House over another.

Then, in the moment of her greatest victory, when all the land was at peace, a new enemy had come. Not just an enemy of the Elves, but an enemy of all who walked beneath the Light.

The Endarkened.

* * * * *

HE was no longer Jermayan, son of Malkirinath, Elven Knight, Ancaladar's Bonded.

He was Vielissar Farcarinon, Great Queen, victor of a thousand battles, Elven Mage. Since she had been old enough to enter The Sanctuary of the Star, she had studied the mysteries of the Great Magic that bound the Children of Leaf and Star to the heartbeat of the world, and mastered all its secrets. With that power had come great wisdom, and so she had planned her battles carefully, knowing that the Elves must not forever expend their substance on petty wars between House and House, but must unite together beneath a strong ruler, and end their bickering forever. For there had been omens revealed in the stars at the moment of her birth that foretold that a great enemy was coming, and she knew that she must be there to meet it.

She labored long and bloodily, and at last there was peace. And then, as the prophecy foretold, the enemy came. Winged creatures of Shadow, with sorcerous powers greater than those of the greatest Elven Mage. Once more she rallied her armies beneath her banner, and found, to her horror, that all their power, all their magic was not enough.

But she had been planning for this day for a very long time, and she did not despair. She went into the deep earth, armed only with her wits, her magic, and her love, and found new allies.

The dragons.

There, she made a pact that would change the world forever. She made it willingly, knowingly, gladly, for the enemy they faced was worth any sacrifice. But it was still not enough to save them.

* * * * *

SHE was no longer Idalia Wildmage, tool of the Wild Magic.

She was Vielissar Farcarinon, Great Queen, victor of a thousand battles, Elven Mage.

With all the limitless power of a dragon to draw upon, she was still not the equal of the enemy she fought. She could destroy them one by one upon the battlefield, but the Power
They
served walked the land beside them, and its power was as much greater than
Theirs
as Leaf and Star was greater than hers.

It was that Power that she must seal away from the world, if all who walked beneath the Light were to survive — and prevail.

There were yet Allies upon whom she might call. Those who loved her people well, who had answered their prayers upon a thousand battlefields, to whom offerings were made at the Nine Shrines in every season. Allies as bright and dangerous as a swordblade, as powerful as the lightning.

As powerful—perhaps—as He Who Is.

* * * * *

IDALIA opened her eyes. She couldn't remember closing them, but obviously she had. The egg-shaped ice crystal was gone. Only a clear pool of water remained, slowly freezing into the ice beneath.

She remembered — as if she had done it herself — what Vielissar Farcarinon had done. It was a spell, but more than that. A Greater Summoning, a magic so old that, like the spells of the High Magick it required precision of place and timing. There were only eight times in the year, and thirteen places in the world where such a spell could be cast, and of those thirteen places, Idalia, even with the help of the spell Jermayan had just cast, knew the location of only six — and two of them were in places where no human could go and survive, no matter how great their magic.

The next time she could attempt the spell was Midwinter, just a day from now.

If she could not cast it then, she did not think they would all survive until Kindling, when she could try again.

Across the circle from her, Kellen and Jermayan were rousing from their trance. Both men looked dazed and only half-aware.

"You've remembered," Ancaladar said with pleasure.

"Yes," Idalia said. "Thank you, my friend."