Hero's Song (18 page)

For a long time they followed the green figure with the dying girl in his arms. And finally they came to a cavern that glowed with a dim light. Crann told Talisen to extinguish his torch. The cavern walls were gray and rough like those of the path they had been following,
but at the other end was a wide tunnel carved of smooth white rock. Crann led them inside.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, two Ellylon stepped into their path. They looked much like Silien, with golden hair and silver eyes, and they carried white shields and short swords made of metal that gleamed blue in the soft light. Silien stepped in front of Crann. The two Ellylon deferentially moved back, letting the company pass. Silien silently took over the lead.

They passed through many caverns, all made of the same smooth stone and illuminated by a soft white light. At first Collun could not see the source of the light, but then he noticed a glowing white stone set in the corner of one of the caverns they passed through. After that he saw each cavern had a white stone set in a corner. As he passed one, he ran his hand over it. The stone gave off no heat, only light. It reminded him of the glow of a firefly.

At first they saw few Ellylon, but soon they passed into a cavern that appeared to be different from the others. Clusters of radiant gems were arranged in seemingly random patterns along the walls. They shone with colors richer and more dazzling than Collun had ever seen. He could not gaze at them long without having to look away.

Many Ellylon were gathered in this cavern. One in particular was clearly the king. He was old, with hair that matched the silver of his eyes. It fell in smooth waves from his large brow and down his neck. A circlet of the gems ringed his forehead. Even at a distance, Collun could see a resemblance between Silien and the king, mostly in the proud way they held their chins.

Crann turned to Talisen and wordlessly passed Brie into his arms. Then he approached the king, covering the distance between them quickly on his long legs. He stopped and, looking the king in the eye, said, "I am Crann."

The Ellyl king gazed at the wizard for several long moments without speaking. "Wizard of the Trees," he said finally, his voice soft and deadly. "You took a great risk coming into my kingdom."

"I come in peace. With a girl who is dying."

"What is that to me? She is a human." The Ellyl king's face held no pity, and Collun's hope dimmed. "Why do you not heal her yourself, Wizard of the Trees?"

"She has gone beyond my reach, Midir," replied Crann. "As you well know."

"Father, the Flame-girl..." Silien began, stepping forward.

The king turned toward Silien and the younger Ellyl's words died on his lips. His father's eyes burned with cold fury. "How dare you bring humans into Tir a Ceol!"

"I do as I choose," responded Silien, his head erect, and for the first time since Collun had known him, Silien's pale cheeks were flushed.

"Enough!" Crann's voice echoed through the cavern. The wizard had thrown off his hood. His eyes were lit with anger, and he held his oaken staff high.

The Ellyl king's expression did not change, but he rose from the seat of polished white stone on which he sat. Crann towered over the Ellyl.

"Is this, then, what Ellylon have become? It was not always so." Crann's voice held contempt.

"Having compassion for humans was the weakness of my ancestors. It almost destroyed us," replied the king.

"You speak of a forgotten war with a foolish human king who is long dead. And because of this you would arbitrarily dispense death with your Daoine Ellyl. You have become as cruel and merciless as any shadow creature Medb has called out of Cruachan's cave. Or even as Medb herself."

The Ellyl king's eyes flickered. His voice when he spoke was dangerous. "I would not be compared to the Queen of Ghosts."

"And what separates you? What reason had you for wishing these humans dead?"

"We want no part of humans. They were trespassing."

"They came with your son. Invited by him. And would you have killed him as well? Have you so many sons that one more or less matters not?"

The king was silent a moment. He glanced at Silien, and his voice was chill. "My son swims as the fish swim. But Silien chose to leave his kingdom, to live among humans. He is no son of mine."

Silien responded, his voice as cold as his father's. "If I am to rule one day, then I choose to know why things are as they are. I would
know
humans before I shun them." He paused. "I met the queen of Eirren, Father, and she was as full of grace as any woman of Tir a Ceol."

The Ellyl king looked at his son with a mixture of outrage and curiosity. "You were not content to merely roam among them, but you must consort with their queen?"

Crann spoke then, his voice low and deadly serious.
"If you wish for Ellylon to survive in the days that come, you must not only meet the king and queen of Eirren, but you must find a way to join your might with theirs. Even as we speak, Queen Medb gathers a host of evil that will destroy all in its path. And I promise you, Ellyl king, Tir a Ceol will know the taste of fear."

The Ellyl king gazed at Crann, his mouth set. "How do I know you speak the truth?"

Talisen suddenly cried out and dropped to one knee, his eyes on Brie's wasted face. "I think ... she is dying." His voice was choked. Collun quickly came to his side and sought Brie's pulse. He could not find it.

And then Fara, who had also silently glided to Brie's side, let out a long, penetrating cry. Collun felt tears come into his eyes.

The king's head came up at the sound of the faol's cry. He stared steadily at Fara, who let out another low sound. The king gave a slight nod. He raised his hand. Two Ellylon came at once and lifted Brie out of Talisen's arms. They left the cavern soundlessly. It all happened so fast that Collun didn't have time to react.

Then Crann spoke in a quiet voice. "Thank you."

Collun's heart leaped within him. He did not know why the Ellyl king had decided to help them, but he wanted to shout aloud his happiness.

"I would speak with you more," the king said to Crann. "Silien, take the humans away, then return here."

As he and Talisen followed Silien, Collun asked the Ellyl, "Where have they taken Brie?"

"To Slanaigh and to the healing waters. Slanaigh will try to heal her." Silien's eyes fell on Collun's arm, which still hung limp at his side. "I had better take you to him as well."

Silien gave Talisen over to an Ellyl woman he called Ebba. Her face was tranquil, and she had long golden hair, which was brindled with gray.

Collun followed Silien through a number of caverns, then along a winding corridor, and down a steep flight of steps. They ducked their heads to enter a dark, warm room that smelled like the darkest, richest earth in which Collun had ever worked. A single light flickered from a thick candle.

When his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Collun saw an Ellyl seated by the side of a large, still pool of water. He was gently dipping Brie's emaciated body into the water, his hands holding her under the armpits. The Ellyl was very old, though his pale, translucent skin was unlined. He looked slight, almost fragile, but he held Brie effortlessly. He sang. His voice was feathery and ancient, but the melody was true.

The water Brie floated in was the color of milk. Small, rainbow-hued bubbles dotted the surface. Just looking at the water made Collun's body relax. Silien gestured for Collun to sit, and as soon as he did, he became drowsy. As he drifted off, he saw the healer lifting Brie's head out of the water. White beads of liquid dripped off her dark eyelashes.

***

At first Collun couldn't remember where he was. But he felt peaceful and warm. He blinked several times.

He lay in darkness. Something soft pillowed his head and a coverlet of feathers lay over him. He sat up, trying to remember. Brie. The white pool. The Ellyl with the translucent skin.

Then he suddenly realized. He could feel the tips of
all his fingers! And his right arm moved when he wanted it to. He curled his hand into a fist, and he laughed out loud.

He lay there for a long time, savoring the warmth. Once, when he reached up, almost by habit, to rub his forehead, he found that it, too, had been healed. There was no more numbness.

Finally he sat up, thinking it was time to find out where he was and what had happened to the others, when someone bearing a candle entered the darkened room. At first he thought it was an Ellyl because of the way its hair shone gold. But the hair was cut short. And then the candle came up to the face, and Collun saw it was Brie.

Without thinking, he gasped. He did not understand. Why was her hair gold now when before it had been black? Was it the Ellyl waters, and was his own hair gold now as well? He reached up and touched his head in confusion.

Brie laughed. "Do not worry. Your hair is as it was," she said, smiling. "Mine has always been yellow. I used black walnut leaves to color it, to make me look more like a boy. The Ellyl water washed all the stain away. My eyes and lashes were always dark, like my mother's."

Collun gazed at her without speaking. She was still gaunt and pale from her ordeal, but her eyes were her own again. She looked young. And beautiful. She wore a simple white shift that fell almost to the ground. He had not seen her in women's clothing before. He stood, feeling suddenly shy.

"How is your arm?" Brie asked.

"It is healed."

"I am glad." A strained silence came up between them.

"Talisen must be pleased beyond measure to be here in Tir a Ceol," Brie said with a smile. "Perhaps he will finally learn an Ellyl song."

Collun nodded, his mind searching for words.

"Is something wrong, Collun?" Brie asked abruptly.

"No. Nothing," Collun mumbled, his eyes averted.

"You are angry with me. For the way I behaved to you..."

Collun blushed. "No, it's just—it's your hair," he blurted out.

Brie looked startled. And then they both burst into laughter. Collun's confusion drained away.

"Are you well, Brie?"

"Yes. The white water healed me."

"What was it like before? Your eyes were so empty, but I kept wondering if you could see or hear us."

"I could hear voices, yours in particular, but it was distorted, and I could not always understand the words. I was cold all the time, and I saw everything through a cloud of gray. Then toward the end the gray began to turn black, and I heard a hollow voice calling to me. I did not want to listen, but it kept calling and calling and pulling me toward it." She shuddered. "Then suddenly it stopped. I began to feel a warmth growing in my body. It started in my toes and worked its way up. It felt ... wonderful." She closed her eyes and smiled. Then she swayed and abruptly sat down on the bed.

"I still feel shaky," she said.

"Of course." He sat beside her. She looked so frail. Collun had a strong urge to wrap the feather quilt
around her and to rub her thin arms with his hands to warm her. But suddenly that same feeling of shyness washed over him again and all he could do was say stiffly, "Can I get you something?"

Brie opened her mouth to answer, but the door opened and Ebba, the Ellyl woman with the calm eyes and brindled hair, came into the room.

"That's enough talking for now. You need your rest, especially you," she added with a stern look at Brie.

Brie rose and began to follow, but then turned back toward Collun. "I came to apologize. I have acted unfairly toward you since we left Temair. There is more I would tell you—that I would have told you if the creature, Nemian, had not come when it did. But Crann has asked me to wait." And then she was gone. The door swung shut behind them. Collun sank back on his soft bed, his thoughts racing.

***

During the next two days they slept, ate, and slept some more, as they recovered their health and strength. Collun, Brie, and Talisen each had a separate room, but the rooms were joined by a common one where they met for meals. The food they were given was different from the food they knew, but they soon developed a taste for it. A particular delicacy of the Ellylon, brisgein, was made of stalks of heather and silverwood. They found it to be surprisingly delicious. Fish was also a staple of the Ellyl diet and was prepared in a variety of ways.

They often heard music coming from other rooms. Whenever it began, Talisen would grab his harp and try to pick out the melodies. He asked Ebba if she would
teach him a song, but she told him she did not have the gift for music.

Ebba was the only Ellyl they saw at first, except for an occasional visit from Silien, who told them that Crann and the king were deep in discussion, barely pausing for meals.

Ebba was an artist who worked with an unusual white clay with streaks of light blue running through it. She showed them samples of her work, and they were impressed by the grace of form and line she had achieved. The subjects of her art were from nature: a fish with unusual, trailing fins; a plate depicting the sky after a summer storm; a puffball bending in the wind.

"How do you know of plants and clouds, Ebba, when you live below the ground?" Talisen asked at the evening meal on their second day in Tir a Ceol.

She laughed. "Ellylon move freely between land and water. We have devised many ways over the years of obscuring our presence from you."

"How?" queried Talisen in some disbelief.

"Dense fogs, hidden valleys, unscalable mountains, to name only a few," she replied placidly as she heaped more brisgein on his plate. "Silien is one of the few Ellylon in many hundreds of years to move undisguised among humans." She paused. "Though there are many young Ellylon with the same curiosity. Silien is merely the first to have the courage to risk the wrath of the elders."

Crann came to their quarters just as they were finishing the meal.

"You look well," he said, gazing at them. "Better, at
least, than the last time I saw you," he added with a brief smile in Brie's direction.

"When do we leave here?" asked Collun.

"We have only just arrived, spriosan."