Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Vadim Maur glanced down at Elfeya, the edge of his disfigured mouth curling. “Make her scream. Make her beg for death. But
do not give it to her. I want her alive the day I claim her daughter’s body and soul.”
The Fading Lands ~ Fey’Bahren
Dawn turned the eastern sky over the Fading Lands to pale pink.
Rain sat in the center of his magical cage, his body relaxed, his mind calm.
He’d Raged the first few bells of his imprisonment, but no longer.
Now, his tairen lay coiled within him, a silent hunter, not mindlessly wild but lethally patient, waiting for the first chance to spring.
Isolated by the dense weaves of their cages, he and Ellysetta could not call for help, and could not even speak to each other except through their bond threads.
Their Fey guards stood up and turned to the west, Fey’cha in hand. A moment later, they sheathed their blades and waved to
the approaching party. Tenn, Yulan, and Nurian crested the Su Reisu plateau, their shei’dalin mates close behind.
The six of them approached their imprisoned king and his mate. Tenn nodded to the guards, and the dome of magic around Ellysetta
dissolved, leaving five-fold weaves of Spirit surrounding her so she could not call to the tairen for aid, while gleaming
circlets bound her arms to her chest so she could not spin any other magic in her defense.
Tenn stepped forward. His expression was as stony as any Fey battle mask she’d ever seen. “Ellysetta of Celieria, you stand
accused of weaving the forbidden magic. Will you admit your crime willingly, or must you be Truthspoken?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Release Rain. You imprison your king. In Celieria, Tenn v’En Eilan, you would be branded a traitor and
sentenced to death by torture.”
“We are not in Celieria,” the Fire master said softly, “and our actions are not treason. We”—he gestured to include Yulan,
Nurian, and Venarra—“are here to stop Rain’s madness and keep him from destroying the Fading Lands.”
“Madness?” she spat. “Everything he’s done, he’s done to save the Fading Lands! How can you betray him this way?”
“You dare suggest we betray him?” Tenn’s eyes burned with red-gold flames, and his voice dropped to a low note that vibrated with fury. “He has broken every
Fey law that does not suit his whim and made a mockery of the honor that serves as the cornerstone of our existence! He brings
a dahl’reisen through the Mists and installs him as an honored chatok in the hallowed halls of Dharsa’s Warriors’ Academy.
He grants a Mage-Marked woman entrance to the Fading Lands .
. . stands idly by while she enchants hundreds of our finest and noblest warriors into bloodswearing themselves to her service .
. . then makes her his queen even though the Eye of Truth reveals her for the foul, Azrahn-wielding corruptor she is! ”
Tenn drew himself up to his full height, righteous fury swirling around him in swaths of fiery red magic. “He has betrayed
us in every way possible! Because he brought you into the Fading Lands!”
“He brought me because the Eye told him I would save the tairen,” she cried. “And I have! Four kitlings were born in Fey’Bahren
tonight—because Rain and I saved them.”
Consternation flashed across Tenn’s face. For a moment—just a moment—she saw doubt flicker in his gold-sparked eyes.
Yulan stepped forward, his brows drawn together in an accusing scowl. “How did you save them, Celierian? With Azrahn? Did
our king knowingly allow you to weave the forbidden magic?”
“Everything Rain has done, he has done to save the Fading Lands!” she cried. “He is your king, and he would die to save his
people!”
“Then he should have done so a thousand years ago!” spat Nurian, Sariel’s cousin. “He is as much an abomination as you! A
madman who inherited a throne he did not deserve because he did not die with his mate, as a bonded Fey should. Everything
about his rise to power is as corrupt as his existence and his rule. I reject him as the rightful king of the Fey.”
Ellysetta stared at him, aghast. “You hate him because Sariel died and he did not. Dear gods, all this time, he has held you
in his heart, and you have wished him dead.”
“Enough of this.” Tenn held up his hand. “We owe you no explanation. We have come for answers, and you will give them to us,
willingly or by Truthspeaking. You, Ellysetta of Celieria, stand accused of weaving the forbidden magic Azreisenahn, known
as Azrahn. Do you confess to having freely and deliberately woven this magic?”
She glared at them and clamped her lips shut. ?They accuse me of weaving Azrahn,? she told Rain. ?They say you are a madman, unfit to rule.?
To her surprise, he laughed. ?Well, you did weave Azrahn, and I am on occasion more than a little mad.?
She jerked her head around to glare at him. ?You think this is funny??
His teeth flashed in a grin more savage than humorous. ?Nei, shei’tani. The fun is only about to begin. Look.? He pointed skyward.
She looked up into the sky overhead, where Steli’s white form shone like a pearl in the early morning light. Her wings were
spread, and as she swooped down to get a closer look at the gathering on Su Reisu, her eyes blazed like blue stars. She gave
a roar that made every Fey on the plateau jump and stare upward in fear. Steli gave another fearsome roar, a call to arms,
and scorched the sky with an enormous jet of flame. ?Tairen! Defend the pride!?
Within a few chimes, the sky was filled with tairen, all of them roaring loud enough to shake down the mountainside. They
dove for Su Reisu, flames searing the air, and the Fey scattered like mice. The tairen herded them together with flames and
swooping attacks.
When the Fey were back on the plateau, ringed by a full dozen fierce, furious tairen, Steli-chakai, her fangs dripping venom, leaned her great head down and growled deep in her throat. In a pure, perfectly comprehensible
Feyan, she commanded, ?Release our pride-kin from your magic, or die where you stand.?
Tenn, Yulan, even Venarra, all looked taken aback. And in an almost laughable display, they turned beseeching eyes to Ellysetta.
“They would not dare . . .” Tenn said. “We are Fey. My brother was king!”
“Rain and I are tairen,” Ellysetta replied coldly, “and he is king. I suggest you do as Steli-chakai commands. Quickly, before you rouse her protective instincts even further. There are four hungry kitlings in the lair tonight, and the pride considers all intruders a threat better left dead.”
Glowering, Tenn nodded at the Fey, and the weaves around Rain, Bel, and Gaelen dissolved. The three warriors were at Ellysetta’s
side in an instant, shoving her back behind them, sandwiching her between their tall, protective bodies and the rumbling chests
of Steli, Fahreeta, and Torasul.
?Shall we scorch the wingless ones?? Steli sang in tairen song. Tairen did not play politics. To them, an enemy was a creature to be shredded and scorched.
Steli’s offer tempted Rain, but after a brief consideration, he turned it down. ?Nei. They are Fey, my kin whether I like it or not. Reason may be enough.?
The white cat growled. ?Reason? The wingless ones have already reasoned themselves stronger than you, or they would not have issued Challenge. Show
them fangs, not belly, Rainier-Eras, and keep your claws sharp. Even Sybharukai knows a bite on the neck will remind the unruly
to show respect. Show the wingless ones who is makai of this pride.?
?Steli-chakai is as wise as she is fierce.? He fixed his eyes on the Massan. “Explain your presence here, Tenn v’En Eilan. Explain to me why fifty warriors of the Fey,
three of the Massan, and three shei’dalins have come to the foot of Fey’Bahren to imprison their king and accuse the Tairen Soul’s mate of weaving the forbidden magic.”
“Do you deny our accusations?” Tenn retorted instead. “Your mate has already woven Azrahn once, and we had very good reason
to believe she was bringing Gaelen vel Serranis here with the deliberate intent of weaving it again.”
Rain’s jaw worked. “How long did it take you to run here from Dharsa?”
The question took Tenn aback. “Eighteen bells. What has that got to do with—”
“Eighteen bells. Eighteen bells ago, you set out for Fey’Bahren because you believed my mate was planning to weave a magic that could corrupt her soul and endanger the Fading Lands.
” His lips drew back in a snarl. “And yet not once in all that time did I receive a single word of warning from you or any of your fellow Massan that my mate was endangering herself. Why is that, Tenn?”
The Fire master clenched his jaw and did not answer.
Yulan leapt to his friend’s defense. “We are not the ones who have done wrong!”
“Are you not?” Sparks began to fly around Rain as magic and fury bubbled up inside him. “Every warrior of the Fey swears on
his honor and his life to protect the women of the Fading Lands from harm. Any one of you could have sent me a warning. I
could have arrived in time to stop her. But you didn’t. Which leads me to only one conclusion: You meant her to weave Azrahn.
You hoped she would. Because that would give you the opportunity to banish her from the Fading Lands.”
He seared each of the Massan with a glare so hot, it was a wonder they did not burst into flame where they stood. “You dishonor
your names and your steel.”
Venarra stepped closer to her mate. “Aiyah, we allowed her the opportunity to weave Azrahn,” she said, “but we did not make her do it. She knew the danger. She knows
the law. Yet still she chose to put the Fading Lands at risk. We all saw what will happen if we allow her to continue leading
honorable Fey down the Shadowed Path. She is the Eld’s creature, sent here to destroy us, and it is our duty to stop her.”
Venarra’s traveling leathers became scarlet shei’dalin silks, and a scarlet veil covered her face. “Rainier vel’En Daris, your mate stands accused of weaving the forbidden magic.
She will confess or be Truthspoken.”