The Wandering Fire Part 12

"Indeed," Loren replied. "For someone put them under that stone. Tell me, Levon, was it a very great rock?"

Levon nodded without a word.

Loren waited.

"The Paraiko!" Diarmuid said, who had been student to the mage when he was young. His voice was soft; there was wonder in it.

"The Paraiko," Loren repeated. "The Giants. They were here, and the Wild Hunt rode the night sky. It was a very different world, or so the legends of the lios tell. Shadowy kings on shadowy horses that could ride between the stars and between the Weaver's worlds."

"And the child?" Kim asked this time. It was the question that was gnawing at her. A child before them all.

"I wish I knew," Loren said. "No one does, I'm afraid."

"What else do we know?" Diarmuid asked mildly.

"It is told," came a deep voice from the door, "that they moved the moon."

"What?" Levon exclaimed.

"So it is said," Matt repeated, "Under Banir Lok and Banir Tal. It is our only legend of the Hunt. They wanted greater light by which to ride, and so they moved the moon."

There was a silence.

"It is closer here," Kevin said wonderingly. "We noticed it was larger."

"It is," Loren agreed soberly. "The tales may be true. Most of the Dwarf tales are."

"How were they ever put under the stone?" Paul asked.

"That is the deepest question of all," Loren murmured. "The lios say it was Connla, Lord of the Paraiko, and it is not impossible for one who made the Cauldron of Khath Meigol and so half mastered death to have done so."

"It would have been a mighty clash," Levon said softly.

"It would have been," Loren agreed, "but the lios alfar say another thing in their legends." He paused. His face was quite lost in the glare of the sun. "They say there was no clash. That Owein and the Hunt asked Connla to bind them, but they do not know why."

Kim heard a sound, or thought she did, as of quick wings flying. She looked to the door.

And heard Paul Schafer say, in a voice that sounded sc.r.a.ped up from his heart, "I know." His expression had gone distant and estranged but when he continued, his voice was clear. "They lost the child. The ninth one. They were eight kings and a child. Then they made a mistake and lost the child, and in grief and as penance they asked the Paraiko to bind them under the stone with whatsoever bonds they chose and whatsoever method of release."

He stopped abruptly and pa.s.sed a hand before his eyes. Then he leaned back for support against the wall.

"How do you know this?" Levon asked in amazement.

Paul fixed the Dalrei with those fathomless, almost inhuman eyes, "I know a fair bit about half-death," he said.

No one dared break the silence. They waited for Paul. At length he said, in a tone more nearly his own, "I'm sorry. It... catches me unawares, and I'm thrown by it. Levon, I-"

The Dalrei shook his head. "No matter. Truly not. It is a wonder, and not a gift, I know, but earned. I am grateful beyond words that you are here, but I do not envy you."

Which, Kim thought, was about it. She said, "Is there more, Paul? Do we wake them?"

He looked at her, more himself with each pa.s.sing second. It was as if an earthquake had shaken the room and pa.s.sed. Or a roll of very great thunder.

"There is no more," he said, "if you mean do I know anything more. But, for what it's worth, I did see something just before we left the other room."

Too clever by half, she thought. But he had paused and was leaving it for her. "You don't miss much, do you?" she murmured. He made no reply. She drew a breath and said, "It's true. The Baelrath glowed for a moment when Levon came up to me. In the moment when I understood what he had come for. I can tell you that, for what, as Paul says, it's worth."

"Something, surely," Levon said earnestly. "It is as I have been saying: why else have we been given the horn, shown the cave? Why, if not to wake them? And now the stone is telling us!"

"Wild to wild," Loren murmured. "They may be calling each other, Levon, but not for any purpose of ours. This is the wildest magic. And it is in the verse: we will never hold them. Owein and the Hunt were powerful enough to move the moon and capricious enough to do it for their pleasure. Let us not think they will tamely serve our needs and as tamely go away."

Another silence. Something was nagging at the back of Kim's mind, something she knew she should be remembering, but this had become a chronic condition of late, and the thought could not be forced.

It was, surprisingly, Dave Martyniuk who broke the stillness. Awkward as ever in such a situation, the big man said, "This may be very dumb, I don't know... but it occurred to me that if Kim's ring is being called, then maybe Owein is ready to be released and we've been given the means to do it. Do we have the right to deny them, regardless of whether we know what they'll do? I mean, doesn't that make us jailers, or something?"

Loren Silvercloak rose as if pulled upward. Away from the angled light, they could see his eyes fixed on Dave. "That," said the mage, "is not even remotely a foolish thing to say. It is the deepest truth yet spoken here." Dave flushed bright red as the mage went on. "It is in the truest nature of things, at the very heart of the Tapestry: the wild magic is meant to be free, whether or not it serves any purpose of ours."

"So we do it?" Kevin asked. And turned to Kim again.

In the end, as in the beginning, it came back to her because she wore the ring. Something nagging still, but they were waiting and what Dave had said was true. She knew that much.

"All right," she said, and on the words the Baelrath blazed like a beacon with red desire.

"When?" Paul asked. In the tinted light they were all on their feet.

"Now, of course," said Diarmuid. "Tonight. We'd best get moving, it's a white ride."

They had lost Matt and Loren and picked up the other Dalrei, Tore, and Diarmuid's lieutenant, Coll.

The mage had volunteered to stay behind and inform the two Kings of what was happening. Tore, Kevin was given to understand, had been there when the horn and the cave were found; he had a place in this weaving. Kevin wasn't about to question it, seeing as he himself had no real place at all. Coll was with Diarmuid because he always was.

Kevin rode beside Paul for the early going, as Diarmuid led them northeast through a gentle valley. It was curious, but the cold seemed milder here, the wind less chill. And when they came around a ridge of hills he saw a lake, small, like a jewel in a setting of white-clad slopes-and the water of the lake wasn't frozen.

"A wind shelter, you think?" he said to Paul.

"More than that. That's Ysanne's lake. Where the water spirit is. The one Kim saw."

"Think that's doing it?"

"Maybe." But by then Paul wasn't really with him any more. He had slowed his mount and was looking down at a small cottage by the lake. They were skirting it, pa.s.sing by on a high ridge, but Kevin could see two boys come out to gaze at the party of riders pa.s.sing by. Impulsively, Kevin waved and the older one waved back. He seemed to bend, speaking to his brother, and after a moment the little fellow raised a hand to them.

Kevin grinned and turned to say something to Paul, but what he saw in Schafer's rigid features erased the easy smile from his own. They resumed riding a moment later, moving quickly to catch the others. Paul was silent, his face clenched and rigid. He didn't offer anything, and this time Kevin didn't ask. He wasn't sure if he could deal with another rejection.

He caught up to Coll and rode the rest of the way beside him. It was colder when they came to the north end of the valley, and dark by the time they crossed the High Road from Rhoden to North Keep. He was carrying a torch by then, something which seemed, of late, to be his lot. The main illumination, though, more even than the low moon shining through clouds on their right, was the increasing brilliance of the red light cast by the ring Kim wore. Wild to wild, Kevin remembered.

And so, led by the Baelrath, they came at length to Pendaran Wood. There were powers there, aware of them, drawn by their presence and by the power of the ring. There were powers beyond these as well: the G.o.ddess whose gift had come to more than she had meant, and her brother, G.o.d of beasts and the wood. Above these also, Mornir waited, and Dana, too, knew why the Warstone burned. Very far to the north, in his seat amid the Ice, the Unraveller was still a moment and wondered, though not clearly knowing what, or why.

And far, far above all of this, outside of time, the shuttle of the Worldloom slowed and then was still, and the Weaver, too, watched to see what would come back into the Tapestry.

Kimberly went forward, then, to the edging of Pendaran Wood, led by the flame on her hand. The company waited behind her, silent and afraid. She went without guidance, as if it had all been done before, to the place where a giant tree had been split by lightning so long ago not even the lios alfar had known the night of that storm. And she stood in the fork of that tree, wild magic on her hand, and wilder magic asleep behind the great rock Connla of the Paraiko had put there, and now, at the time of doing it, there was no fear in her heart, not even any wonder. She was tuned to it, to the wildness, to the ancient power, and it was very great. She waited for the moon to clear a drift of cloud. There were stars overhead, summer stars above the snow. The Baelrath was brighter than any of them, brighter than the moon the Hunt had moved so long ago. She drew a breath of gathering, felt the heart of things come over into her. She raised her hand, that the wandering fire might shine through the broken tree. She said: "Owein, wake! It is a night to ride. Will you not wake to hunt among the stars?"

They had to close their eyes, all of them, at the pulse of red the words unleashed. They heard a sound like a hillside falling, and then there was stillness.

"It's all right," Kim said. "Come, Dave. Your turn now." And they opened their eyes to see a gaping cave where Connla's rock had been, and moonlight shining on the gra.s.s before the cave. The Baelrath was muted; it gleamed softly, a red against the snow, but not a flame.

It was by moonlight, silver and known, that they saw Dave stride, with long slow steps, more graceful than he knew in that moment, to stand by Kim and then, as she stepped back, to stand alone in the fork of the tree.

"The fire wakes them," they heard her say. "The horn calls, Dave. You must set them free."

Without a word the big man tilted back his head. He spread his legs wide for balance in the snow. Then, lifting Owein's Horn so that it glinted under the moon, he set it to his lips and with all the power of his lungs he sent forth the sound of Light.

No man there, nor the woman, ever forgot that sound for the length of their days. It was night, and so the sound they heard was that of moonlight and starlight falling on new snow by a deep wood. On and on it went, as Dave hurled the notes aloft to claim the earth and sky and be his own challenge to the Dark. On and on he blew, until it seemed his lungs must crack, his braced legs buckle, his heart break for the beauty vouchsafed him, and the great fragility of it.

When the sound stopped, the world was a different place, all of the worlds were, and the Weaver's hands moved to reclaim a long-still weft of thread for the web of the Tapestry.

In the s.p.a.ce before the cave were seven shadowy figures, and each of them bore a crown and rode a shadowy horse, and the outline of each was blurred as through smoke.

And then there was an eighth as the seven kings made way, and from the Cave of the Sleepers came Owein at last after so long a sleep. And where the hue of the kings and of their shadowy horses was a dark grey hue, that of Owein was light grey shading to silver, and the color of his shadowy horse was black, and he was taller than any of them and his crown gleamed more brightly. And set in it were stones red like the red of the Baelrath, and a red stone was set as well in the hilt of his drawn sword.

He came forward, past the seven kings, and his horse did not touch the ground as it moved, nor did the grey horses of the kings. And Owein raised his sword in salute to Dave and again to Kim, who wore the fire. Then he lifted his head to look beyond those two, and he scanned the company behind them. A moment he did so, and they saw his brow grow dark, and then the great black horse reared high on its legs, and Owein cried in a voice that was the voice of the storm winds, "Where is the child?"

And the grey horses of the kings reared high as well, and the kings lifted their own voices and cried, "The child! The child!" in a chorus like moaning winds; and the company was afraid.

It was Kimberly who spoke while in her heart she was naming herself a fool: for this, this was the thing she had been trying to think of all afternoon and through the ride to this place of power.

"Owein," she said, "we came here to free you. We did not know what more you needed done."

He whipped his horse, and with a cry it rose into the air above her, its teeth bared, its hooves striking toward her head. She fell to the ground. He loomed above her, wrathful and wild, and she heard him cry a second time, "Where is the child?"

And then the world shifted again. It shifted in a way none of them, not one, neither mortal nor forest power nor watching G.o.d, had foreknown.

From the fringe of trees not far from her a figure walked calmly forward.

"Do not frighten her. I am here," said Finn.

And so he came to the Longest Road.

From first waking in the morning after the storm he had been uneasy. His heart would begin to race inexplicably, and there would be a dampness on his palms. He wondered if he was ill.

Restless, he dressed Dari in his boots and coat and the hat their mother had made in a blue that came near to the blue of Dari's eyes. Then he took his little brother for a walk in the wood around the lake.

Snow was everywhere, soft and clear, weighing the branches of the bare trees, piling in the paths. Dari loved it. Finn lifted him high, and the little one shook down a white powder from the branches he could reach. He laughed aloud and Finn lifted him up to do it again. Usually Dari's laughter picked up his own mood, but not today. He was too unsettled. Perhaps it was the memory of the night before: Dari seemed to have forgotten the voices calling him, but Finn could not. It was happening more often of late. He had told their mother, the first time. She had trembled and turned pale and then had wept all night. He had not told her of any of the other times Dari had come into his bed to whisper, "There are voices."

With his long strides he carried Dari farther into the grove, farther than they usually went-close to the place where their copse of trees thickened and then merged with the dark of Mornirwood. It began to feel colder, and he knew they were leaving the valley. He wondered if Dari's voices would be louder and more alluring away from the lake.

They turned back. He began to play with his brother, tossing Dari into s...o...b..nks and piling in after him. Dari was not as light or as easy to throw around as he used to be. But his whoops of delight were still those of a child and infectious, and Finn began to enjoy himself after all.

They had tumbled and rolled a good distance from the path when they came to one of the strange places. Amid the piled snow that lay deep on the forest floor, Finn spotted a flash of color; so he took Dari by the hand and clumped over through the snow.

In a tiny patch of improbably green gra.s.s there were a score of flowers growing. Looking up, Finn saw a clear s.p.a.ce overhead where the sun could shine through the trees. And looking back at the flowers he saw they were all known to him-narcissus and corandiel-except for one. They had seen these green places before, he and Dari, and had gathered flowers to bring home to Vae, though never all of them. Now Dari went to pluck a few, knowing how much his mother liked receiving gifts.

"Not that one," Finn said. "Leave that one." He wasn't sure why, but something told him it should be left, and Dari, as always, obeyed. They took a handful of corandiel, with a yellow narcissus for color, and went back home. Vae put the flowers in water on the table and then tucked Dari into bed for his nap.

They left behind them in the wood, growing in the strange place, that one blue-green flower with red at its center like blood.

He was still restless, very much on edge. In the afternoon he went walking again, this time toward the lake. The grey waters chopped frigidly against the flat stone where he always stood. They were cold, the waters of the lake, but not frozen. All the other lakes, he knew, were frozen. This was a protected place. He liked to think the story he told Dari was true: that Dari's mother was guarding them. She had been, he remembered, like a queen, even with her pain. And after Dari was born and they came to carry her away, she had made them put her down beside Finn. He would never forget. She had stroked Finn's hair with her long fingers; then, pulling his head close, had whispered, so no one else would hear, "Take care of him for me. As long as you can."

As long as you can. And on the thought, as if she had been waiting, annoyingly, for her cue, Leila was in his mind.

What do you want? he sent, letting her see he was irritated. In the beginning, after the last ta'kiena, when they discovered that she could do this, it had been a secret pleasure to communicate in silence and across the distances. But lately, Leila had changed. It had to do, Finn knew, with her pa.s.sage from girl to woman; but knowing this didn't make him any more comfortable with the images she sent him from the Temple. They kept him awake at night; it was almost as if Leila enjoyed doing so. She was younger than he by more than a year, but never, ever, had he felt older than Leila.

All he could do was let her know when he was displeased, and not answer back when she began to send thoughts of greater intimacy than he could deal with. After a while, if he did this, she would always go away. He'd feel sorry, then.

He was in a bad mood today, though, and so, when he became aware of her, the question he sent was sharp and unaccommodating.

Do you feel it? Leila asked, and his heart skipped a beat, because for the first time ever he sensed a fear in her.

Fear in others made him strong, so as to rea.s.sure. He sent, I'm uneasy, a little. What is it?

And then his life began to end. For Leila sent, Oh, Finn, Finn, Finn, and with it an image.

Of the ta'kiena on the green, when she had chosen him.

So that was it. For a moment he quailed and could not hide it from her, but the moment pa.s.sed. Looking out at the lake, he drew a deep breath and realized that his uneasiness had gone. He was deeply calm. He had had a long time to accept this thing and had been a long time waiting.

It's all right, he sent to Leila, a little surprised to realize that she was crying. We knew this was going to come.

I'm not ready, Leila said in his mind.

That was a bit funny: she wasn't being asked to do anything. But she went on, I'm not ready to say good-bye, Finn. I'm going to be all alone when you go.

You'll have everyone in the sanctuary.

She sent nothing back. He supposed he'd missed something, or not understood. No help for it now. And there was someone else who was going to miss him more.

Leila, he sent. Take care of Darien.

How? she whispered in his mind.

I don't know. But he's going to be frightened when I go, and... he hears voices in the storms, Leila.

She was silent, in a different way. The sun slipped behind a cloud and he felt the wind. It was time to move. He didn't know how he knew that, or even where he was to go, but it was the day, and coming on toward the hour.

Good-bye, he sent.

The Weaver grant you Light, he heard her say in his mind.

And she was gone. Walking back to the cottage, he already had enough of a sense of where he was about to go to know that her last wish was unlikely to be granted.