[Lanen Kaelar 01] - Song in the Silence (60 page)

I held my breath. After some few minutes of
silence, Shikrar said,
“Is there a
voice to
dissent?”

None spoke. Shikrar turned to me and bowed, that
lovely sinuous wave of his long neck. “Be
well, Lady Lanen, and go with the
blessing of the Kantrishakrim,” he said aloud in my own
language.

“I thank
you all, O people of my beloved,”
I said,
finally breadiing again.
”Never has one
of
my
race been so honoured, and never blessing was more precious.”
I
turned to Idai, my eyes awash with unshed tears
. ”And to you, lady, I say that more generous soul never lived.”

“Be thou then as generous in thy love to him
who was
Akhor, Lanen Maransdatter, for that
thou dost love him for us both,”
she said privately to me,
the formality
of her words a seal and a benison
.
“And remember also that distance is no
hindrance
to truespeech. Shouldst thou need me, here am
I.
”

I bowed to her.
“I hear thee, lady,
and will remember.”

Varien

I stood on the dais as I had hundreds of times
and gazed deep into the eyes of my people. I
knew well that I would never stand
before them all again.

“Be well, my Kindred,” I said, working
to keep deep sadness out of my truespeech. ”Prosper
and be well, and strive ever to
restore the Lost, as shall I. O my people, my Kindred— know
that the love
of him who was your King is with you ever. In the name of the Winds, my
people, I bid
you farewell.”

I bowed one last time and stepped carefully down
from the dais. Unaided, I walked slowly
d
own the aisle they made for
me, gazing at each in turn as I passed—then through the long
dark passage
and, finally, out under the stars.

XX

LANEN THE WANDERER

Kédra

That Lord Akhor lived, in whatever guise,
banished the raw wound of grief I had borne since
hearing of his death, and left me
rejoicing. When my father told me of the Council’s final
decision, I
was astounded, and found hope in my heart for my people at last. At dusk, when
the Lady
Rella came once more to the Boundary, I answered her summons swiftly, my heart
l
ight with
wonder and a reckless delight.

“Kédra, old son,” said Rella, “the
ship’s Master is not going to wait for her forever. He’s
leaving at
dawn and that’s flat. I did my best, even suggested that we all come back
ashore to
get
more lansip, but they’re all spooked and won’t come near for fear of
DRAGONS.” The
way
she said the word made me laugh. “Aye, I know, but true enough they’ll
leave without
her
sure unless she’s at the landing before dawn.”

“I thank you, Lady Rella, and I have a boon
to ask. The Lady Lanen has asked that she might
speak with you—will you come?”

She looked up at me with a curious arrangement of
her features. Her Attitude seemed to have
something of distrust in it.
“You’ll return me here in time, will you? Whatever she wants is her
own affair,
but I mean to be on that ship when it leaves.”

“You have my word, lady,” I answered,
bowing. “Will you walk, or shall I bear you upon the
Winds?”

Her eyes widened. “Fly? You’ll take me with
you while you fly?” As best I could tell she was
well pleased with the prospect.
”How? Shall I sit where I did before?”

“No, lady. I bore Lanen thus aloft, but only
of desperate necessity, and my neck aches yet. If
you will permit, I shall carry
you.” I felt a curious sensation as I took her carefully in my
hands. Her
weight was barely noticeable, though my balance changed of course. It was the
feel of it,
though, that took me by surprise.

How should so new, so unheard-of a thing, feel so
customary and so right?

Rella

I was terrified by the idea, but how could I
refuse such a chance? “Very well,” I said as he
gathered me
into his front claws. Oddly enough, it felt safe. “Now what?”

“Take hold of my hands and hold tight,”
he said. I’d barely taken hold when he launched
himself into the air. It was better
and worse than when he had run so swiftly with both Lanen
and me on his
neck. Scared witless and enjoying every moment, I held on like grim death
until he came
to ground again. I felt like a child, every dream of flying come true. It had
been
too
short a trip, I didn’t want it to end.

We landed in front of a cave (he had to drop me a
little way to the ground so he could land).

Firelight flickered from within, and when we
entered I recognised it as the same one I had
gone into before. Shikrar was there,
a golden patch on his shoulder gleaming in the firelight,
along with
the other Dragon I remembered seeing on the battlefield.

Kédra

“They are not here yet, lady, but they
should not be long,” I said to Rella.

“Who else are we expecting?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t think many more Dragons would fit in
here.”

I found my mouth closed with wonder, I could not
answer her, for there at the cave mouth
entered the Lady Lanen, and on her
arm—Name of the Winds, I could see it in his eyes. I had
heard the
words of the Council, but I had not yet seen.

It was Akhor become human.

Lanen

I was surprised to find Rella waiting for us. She
seemed a bit confused, as well she might be.

“Who are you, lord?” she asked, looking
at Varien. She spoke in her true voice, with little
accent. She seemed to feel
instinctively the awe that surrounded Varien, and he still wore the
circlet that
Shikrar had made.

“Rella, you are welcome here. I am called
Varien,” he said simply. “Come, stand by the fire
and be
warmed.”

She approached cautiously, looking from me to
him. “Kédra told me you wanted to see me,”
she said at last, forcing herself to
look at me. “What do you want? I came to tell you that the
ship leaves
at dawn tomorrow no matter who is or isn’t on it.”

“I was afraid something like that would
happen,” I said. ”I was going to ask you to scare up
some spare
clothing for Varien from the ship’s stores. It doesn’t look as if we’re going
to have
enough
time for that.”

I turned to Varien. I hated to say it, but it had
to be said. “Dear heart, could you bear to leave
so soon? I was hoping to persuade the
ship’s Master to stay on for a time while you
got used to—things, but it doesn’t
sound like he’s going to listen.”

Varien

“And what should we tell them, Lanen?”
I asked. I found myself growing senselessly angry at
whatever powers were forcing us to
move so very swiftly, with not time even for me to find
my balance on these new legs.
“Have you any thoughts as to how we shall explain my
presence?”

“I wouldn’t explain it at all,” said
Rella’s practical voice. “They don’t need to know, and if
they ask just
tell them you are under the protection of the Dragons. That’ll be true enough,
I’ve
no
doubt,” she muttered.

”And do you think that will suffice?” I asked.
She paused for a moment, thinking, when
Lanen laughed and clapped her hands.

“Yes!” She turned to Idai, Shikrar and
Kédra, her eyes shining. “My friends, will you consent
to bear us
one last time on the Winds? Not now. At dawn.” She laughed again,
“Oh, Akor,
they
will not question our protectors if they are the ones that take us to the
ship!”

I laughed with her. “True enough, though it
may be a long, silent voyage.”

“Oh, you don’t know them as I do. Give it a
few days, they’ll need all the hands they can find.
We’ll hear from them soon
enough.”

”Look to the
lady,”
said Kédra in truespeech.

Lanen

Varien and I turned as one, to see Rella sat on
the ground, her face white as a fine sheet.

“Akor. You called him Akor. That was the big
silver one, I remember,” she mumbled to
herself. “But he can’t be Akor,
Akor’s a Dragon, he was near death just yesterday at the battle,
I know he
…”

“Rella, I misspoke. This is Varien,” I
said, flustered. I hadn’t noticed my slip. “How could he
be
Akor?”

“How could a man I’ve never seen suddenly
appear from the dragonlands?” she asked sharply,
then lapsed back into frantic
muttering. “Can’t happen, they kill the ones who cross, save you
and me—oh
Blessed Shia. You didn’t come on the ship, so either you’ve arrived from thin
air
or
you’ve been with the Dragons all these years. There isn’t anywhere else.”

“We asked you here because we thought you
deserved an explanation, after all your
assistance,” said Varien, his
voice gentle. I marvelled at his patience. “Do not worry, Lanen, I
know what we
agreed, but I think only truth will satisfy the Lady Rella.” He knelt down
to her
and
said gently, “It is true, I am he who was Akhor. Do not ask me how this
transformation
came
about, for I do not know, but accept that it has. I shall be coming with
you.”

Rella nodded, her eyes wide. He turned to me
again. “I think you have hit on the way, Lanen.
If you are all willing, my
friends?” he asked the Kantri, and all three accepted.

There was not much more to be done, though I did
insist on one thing. Kédra obliged by
scraping a large quantity of
khaadish
from the walls of Akor’s chamber. I laid it close by for
morning, when
I meant to wrap it in my tunic until we were private on the ship. I’d be cold
in
just
my shirt, but it would not be for long. At my request, Varien allowed a quantity
the size
of
my fist to be taken for Rella. By that time she was so overcome that she simply
thanked
him
and put it in her scrip.

It was well into the night, and though Rella
seemed fine (despite her shock), Varien and I
were still exhausted. Shikrar agreed
to wake us at dawn. We stoked the fire and lay close to
each other. The last thing I saw was
Rella wrapped in her cloak, sitting by the fire and talking
in a low
voice with Kédra and Shikrar. As if the Peace had been restored, I thought, and
slept.

I woke to Shikrar’s soft voice in my mind.
“Lady, the sky lightens. It is time.”

Varien was stirring. I went to Rella and touched
her shoulder. She was instantly awake.

“Time to go,” I said. She grunted and
rose to her feet.

I had been dreading this moment. I had warned
Varien that he must not wear the circlet with
his soulgem openly on the ship. Men
have killed for far less. What that really meant, of
course, was that he must say farewell
here, before we left.

He bespoke them, of course, the green soulgem of
Akor bright against his pale hair and skin. I
was deeply thankful that I could not
hear what was said, for my own heart was full enough,
and I had only known these people for
a few days. How should I bear hearing my beloved’s
farewells after a thousand years?
Varien’s cheeks were wet when at last he took off his circlet
and wrapped
it in my tunic with the rest of the
khaadish
.

“Seawater?” I whispered to him, drying
his face with my sleeve.

“Tears,” he replied, and smiled.

As for my own farewells, I found that after a few
stumbling words all I could do was to open
my heart to them in the Language of
Truth. Wordless, my thoughts flew to them all with love
and deep gratitude. From them in
return came clear images: from Kédra, a vision of Mirazhe
and Sherok
playing on the beach at the Birthing Cove, and behind all gratitude mixed with
love deep and
strong. Idai sent an image of Akor in his youth, and the barely heard thought
“Even then he never turned to me. It is
the Word of the Winds that you belong to each other,”
From Shikrar,
images I could barely understand, they were so complex and many-layered—but
they spoke of a friend closer than a brother, of years beyond counting spent in
one
another’s
company, of wonder and thanksgiving and hope for the future. And the last image
I
had
from Shikrar was of the soulgems of the Lost, combined with his regard. I
caught his eye
and
he whispered in truespeech,
”Do not
forget the Lost, lady, for it is in my heart that your
destiny and theirs are intertwined. Seek ever their restoration.”