Raven Flight (40 page)

He stirred; he opened his eyes, and they were no longer blank, but full of all he had held trapped inside, full of all that had not been said, all that had played on him during the long years of silence. He opened his mouth to speak, and Siona laid her fingers across his lips.

“We’ll be awa’, my lady,” Constant said quietly. “Come on, Trusty. Neryn, can ye walk?”

When it was obvious I could not, he picked me up bodily—not difficult for such a giant—and bore me out of the chamber, with Trusty coming behind. It was the first time the Twa had been away from their Lord, both at once, since the day I had met them. As Constant carried me toward my bedchamber, as careful as if I were a basket of eggs, I fell asleep in his arms.

I woke to find myself tucked up in bed. For a while, I lay there watching the oil lamp throw patterns on the stone walls, not ready to get up and face the immensity of what it seemed I had managed to do. Lady Siona had come home; the Lord of the North had woken from his long sleep. If I felt anything, it was an awareness of my own temerity for daring to meddle in the lives of such powerful and ancient beings. All very well for the Hag to say I need not worry about overreaching myself. When I’d called Himself, I had already got to know both him and her; I had been fairly sure neither would take offense. This was quite different.

After a while Tali came in with Flow behind her.

“You’re awake,” Tali said. “Good. He’s asked to see you.”

It was an effort to get up and change my clothes; an effort to brush and replait my hair. Flow set food and drink before me, then stood with hands on hips watching me eat.

“Is it all right?” I asked. “Is he angry? Is Lady Siona happy to be back?”

“I don’t think you need worry about that,” Tali said with a crooked smile. “Nor will you have to give lengthy
explanations, since everyone including the Lord and Lady seems to know all about Regan and the rebellion, as well as your own history, even some bits that are new to me.” She lifted her brows in query.

“Oh. I did talk to him quite a bit, told stories and so on. In the first days I couldn’t think what else to do. I didn’t realize he could hear me; he was sunk so deep in his sleep.”

“Saves explaining anyway,” she said. “When you’re ready, we’ll go.”

Beyond the door of our chamber, the household was transformed. There were lights everywhere and folk bustling about; the uniform gray cloaks had been discarded to reveal garments decorated with feathers and fur, and as they met in the hallways, members of the household were stopping to greet each other with smiles. As Tali and I passed, folk reached out to touch me, to thank me, to offer shy nods or extravagant bows. There was no doubt that in their minds I had achieved the required miracle.

The Lord of the North received us in a council chamber, where he sat at a table fashioned from a huge stone slab set across two slightly less monumental blocks. He was alone save for the Twa, who stood guard on either side of him. They made no move as I came in, but Constant smiled and Trusty winked.

I advanced to the table. “I am Neryn, my lord, the Caller. You asked to see me.”

He rested his chin on steepled hands and regarded me across the table. It felt odd to see his features released from the sleeplike spell; they were full of bright intelligence and
alive with question. He continued his scrutiny for some time without saying a word.

“My lord,” I said eventually, “I hope the action I’ve taken has not offended you. It was hard to know what to do. Your people needed you. The Twa, Flow, Whisper, your warriors—all your folk were desperate to see you restored to yourself. But I also had a purpose of my own for seeking you out. I need your guidance. I’m told you already know about King Keldec and the way he has changed Alban for the worse; about the planned rebellion. I have an important part to play in that, but without your assistance, I cannot do it.”

“I understand this,” he said, his voice deep and sure. “While I lay silent, I was not deaf to the tales you told me. You spoke with sincerity and passion. As for offense, none was taken. You brought my lady home. You brought love back to my lonely hall. You helped me, and now I will help you. They tell me you want to learn, and they say time is short. What is it you seek from me?”

“To learn the magic of earth and stone,” I said, “so I can use it to strengthen my gift.”

A smile curved his thin lips. “What was it you used to bring Lady Siona back to me, if not the very magic of which you speak? I felt your tendrils in my mind; I felt you seeking out the secrets I had hidden deep. You understood the heart of an oak; you became one with earth; you trod the slow pathways of stone. Besides, did you not call one of my beings out to help you, long before you knew you would be traveling here? Did not you bring forth one of my own to
crush your enemy? In the magic of stone you have a natural ability, and you are already proficient.”

“My lord, I am happy that I could be of service to you and to your household. Yes, I have done those things you mention. But I still have much to learn before I can use my gift for the good of Alban. You know, I think, that our leader—the leader of the rebels, Regan—plans a confrontation next midsummer, at Summerfort, while the king and his forces are all gathered there.”

“And the plan is that you call my kind to the assistance of your human rebels. Yes, if I had not learned that from the tales you told by my bedside, my guards would no doubt have recounted it.” He glanced in turn at the Twa. “You have made some fast friends during your time here, Neryn.”

“I know, my lord, and I am glad of it. My lord, the Hag of the Isles taught me to be fluid as water; to move as the sea does, to learn the shapes of things, to single out one being among many and call to it. And in this hall … calling the Lady Siona was something new for me. I have never before tried to call a being who was far away and in a place unknown to me. Since I managed to do it, and do it successfully, perhaps I do have more ability than I thought. But … I cannot imagine that the forces we’d need at Summerfort, the uncanny forces, could be there in some kind of disguise, ready to reveal themselves on command when they were required. Regan’s plan depends very much on the element of surprise. The loyal chieftains will have their men-at-arms ready, of course, and the rebels can be in
the crowd. Your folk … they would be far harder to hide. I believe I would have to call them from afar. I would need to send a call strong enough to summon many, but precise enough to fetch only those able to fight alongside us.” I hesitated. “There’s the question of cold iron. Is it true what your folk have said, that there is no charm or spell that renders immunity against its destructive power?”

“Ah,” said the Lord of the North, sitting back and folding his arms. “The heart of the matter. Not only will you need to call with strength and precision, you will need to do it quickly, if I understand the plan. You’ll have a few moments, no more, before this king senses trouble and orders his forces to attack. And your rebel army, I imagine, is somewhat more makeshift than Keldec’s.”

“Makeshift but well drilled,” I said.

He smiled again. “That does not surprise me; I understand your friend has transformed my own army during her time here. You can expect their support when the time comes.”

This was a remarkable offer. “Thank you, my lord. Regan will be well pleased with that news.”

“So. I will help you to refine your call in the manner you require. I will give you the rudiments; you must practice after you leave my hall. They tell me time is running short for you.”

“I do not know how long we have been here already, my lord. But we do need to return to Shadowfell before the end of autumn.”

“Then time is indeed short, and we have work to do. As
for the matter of cold iron, my answer will not please you. I have no charm by which its influence may be kept at bay. My own fighters have a natural resistance to it, but that is not so for many of the Good Folk. You’ll have seen its effects. You’ll understand why our people keep away when it is present. The Westies in particular. Call them into a place full of iron weaponry, and you’ll earn lasting enmity toward yourself and your kind. That is not the way to begin a new age.”

The weight of this was heavy in my heart. “So there is no shield against iron,” I said.

“That is not what I said.”

I waited, not daring to breathe.

“Fire masters iron,” the Lord said quietly. “You’ve seen a smith at work, yes? I think the answer you want may lie in the south. You should seek out the Master of Shadows.”

Torn between dismay and hope, I protested, “I only have from spring to midsummer, and I must travel east to visit the White Lady! I saw the Master of Shadows. He told me I needed to learn something from each of you, from each Guardian, before I could use my gift fully. He did not … He implied that meeting him that day and undergoing his test was sufficient for his part of my training. I don’t think there can possibly be time.…” Tali would be horrified.

“Perhaps not. And perhaps I am wrong. All of us would like a charm of defense against iron. I have not heard of its ever being used; it does not appear in the lore. Possibly it does not exist. I suggest only that if it did, that is where it would be found.”

“I see. Thank you, my lord.”

“No need for thanks.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Tonight there will be feasting and celebration. Tomorrow we start work. My gift to you will be to ensure you leave this place with some, at least, of the answers you need. Go now, Neryn.”

Over the days that followed, while the household grew bright and joyful under the benign eye of Lady Siona, the Lord of the North took me down to the caverns where his warriors honed their skills to work on my call. He taught me to concentrate my energy tightly, to encompass a whole group of folk with my mind, to see the one-in-many that would allow me to bring five, ten, twenty beings to me in a matter of moments.

He used his own folk as the material of my practice: not only Scar and his fellow fighters, but Flow, Whisper, the Twa. He made me call others, folk from beyond the confines of his dwelling, folk of whom I had only a faint notion. He made me place his people at risk; he made me put them to the test. It was not comfortable learning, but I did it without protest, though it troubled my dreams at night.

It became clear to me that the Lord loved to teach. He worked me rigorously. He spent long days with me, and set high standards. When I struggled or made errors, he did not grow angry, merely analyzed the difficulty and made me try again. He was good at explaining, always providing reasons for what he told me, spelling things out in logical sequence. I often remembered those images of him with
Gem, the two of them engrossed in their discoveries, the same delight on their faces, the same shining enthusiasm in their eyes. As a fey girl, she had doubtless been more apt than I. As his daughter, she had probably challenged him far more. I knew I could not measure up to her, and I did not try to, only felt glad that he took some pleasure in working with me.

As for Scar and the others, it helped that they were willing participants. I had given them back not only the Lord for whom they had waited so long and so faithfully but their Lady as well. They were all too ready to subject themselves to whatever the Lord required of me: calls out to the mountainside at odd times of day, calls to leap into a mock battle, a call that brought a huge creature suddenly into their midst, a being of mud and shale and old tree roots that sat there scratching itself and whimpering, until the Lord called Whisper to make it small and carry it outside to be released among the rocks.

And, after a while, calls that encompassed not only the folk of the north, but Westies as well. Calls that traveled over countless miles of mountain and loch and forest, all the way to the wooded hills by Silverwater. Not Sage; not Red Cap. But I called Daw, the bird-man, and others of that clan, at first on their own, and then at the same time as folk from the mountains. They were not best pleased to find themselves here in a northern hall, but the Lord’s household greeted them courteously, and provided refreshments before he used his own magic to convey them home again.

“We lack the time for you to learn dismissal as well as summoning,” he told me. “When you called a stanie mon, you were able to reverse the call with the same kind of rhyme. A creature like that thinks very simply; the childhood rhyme you used was ideal for his understanding. For others it is more difficult. If you were able to stay with us over the winter, I could teach you. But your friend is eager to depart, and I think she will not leave you behind.”

“She’s concerned about our comrades. And she needs to be there for winter, to keep them strong and to help Regan with strategy. I need to report to him as well. But I thank you for the offer; perhaps, at some time in the future, I might return here and study further with you, my lord.”

“My door is open to you, Neryn. For a human woman, you learn well. As for the matter of reversing a call, should you win your battle, those of our folk who survive will make their own ways home.”

Those who survive. Despite all I had learned, midsummer remained a grim prospect.

Only once did the Lord of the North speak to me about the choice I had made, when faced with the need to wake him. It was after a long day’s training, when Tali and the warriors had left the cavern where we worked to go upstairs to supper, and only he and I were left, with the ever-present Twa close by.

“You chose not to call me out of my slumber,” he said. “You chose instead to call my wife. A very wise choice, when it came to it. I heard that Flow advised you.”

“Yes, my lord.” I was somewhat reluctant to talk to him
of true love, and the presence of Flint in my thoughts when I had called Lady Siona to her husband’s side.

“If you would raise a mighty army to do battle against this king, your command of your gift must be total. You must be prepared to summon anyone. Is not your cause served best by the most powerful beings in your realm?”

“I believe, my lord, that it is served best by the wisest. Indeed, perhaps the wisest
are
the most powerful.”