The Mists of Faeron

The Mists of Faeron

By J.A. Giunta

Smashwords Edition

Published by Brick Cave Books at Smashwords

Copyright © 2011 Joseph A. Giunta

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

eBook ISBN 12: 978-1-938190-12-4

eBook ISBN 10: 1938190122

Also available in print:

ISBN-12 978-1-938190-07-0

ISBN-10 1938190076

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Cover Illustration by Henning Ludvigsen.

Interior Illustrations by Henning Ludvigsen.

Brick Cave Books

brickcavebooks.com

2012

In loving memory of

Kasim Amyx

Feb 28, 1976 to Feb 7, 2007

By J.A. Giunta

THE ASCENSION

Book One: The Last Incarnation

Book Two: The Mists of Faeron

Book Three: Out of the Dark

Learn more: Ascensiontrilogy.com

THE GUARDIANS

Book One: Knights of Virtue

Table of Contents

Ackknowledgements

Forward

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank my wife Lori for all her help, support and understanding. Writers aren’t the easiest people to live with. I’m probably worse than others.

My daughter Ada often reminds me, through actions and words, that I’m a father first. She’s five at the time of this writing, and I think she inherited my addiction to video games. Sorry honey!

My good friend Melissa Clazie, who teaches English to a great bunch of kids at La Sierra High School, was a big help in getting me away from World of Warcraft and finishing this book. She then helped me with editing and proofreading. Thanks again, Melissa!

Thanks to my beta readers and proofreaders: Nelson Sperling, Deb Bozek, Karen Miller, Scott Macy, Heather Baldwin and Greg Highberger.

It’s difficult, to say the least, to find every typo and grammatical error in such a large body of work. I need all the help I can get.

Thanks to my family, friends and fans (hey, I have a couple) who continue to support my work. It would be much more difficult to write without knowing you’re out there frantically waiting to read my lengthy outbursts of imaginative indulgence.

And lastly, a big thank you to Henning Ludvigsen! More than his incredible talent as an artist, I consider myself lucky to have him as a friend. I am also eternally grateful that he’s worked on my books. His cover art and illustrations have made a world of difference.

Foreword

I thought I’d explain why it took so long to finish this book or even why a rewrite was necessary. I say rewrite because I used almost nothing but ideas from the first version. There were so many changes when I revised the first book of the trilogy that I had no choice but to revisit the second. I went at the project with the same vision in mind as the first. I changed the point of view, reduced the number of storylines, really focused the book to two main storylines that merged in a cohesive manner at the end.

It was difficult but worth it.

Unfortunately, there are so many changes to this version that the manuscript I have written for the third book cannot be salvaged. Aside from very basic ideas, the entire book has to be redone. It will be some time for this to happen. I have decided to take a little break from the trilogy and write a new novel, one I can submit to agents and publishers. It may be a few months before I start work on book three.

As for why this book took so long to finish, I expect it had something to do with the year and half long hiatus that occurred after chapter nine. My absolute best friend came to me with the news he was dying from stage IV renal carcinoma. He thought it would help him if we re-subscribed to World of Warcraft. Those of you familiar with my gaming addiction can already see where this is going.

Kasim died, and it hit me harder than I expected. Even now, I still think about him every day. We were roommates for years, played online games together on a daily basis, spoke on the phone or emailed or instant messaged every day. If you’ve never lost someone who is a part of your everyday life… Well, let’s just hope that doesn’t happen to you any time soon.

I continued to play games, immersing myself yet again into online worlds. It was just easier to play than to think about the loss. When you’re trying not to think, writing is the last thing you should do. For me, writing is flat out hard. It drains me. It forces me to think, to see life from multiple perspectives. I wasn’t ready for that. Not for a long time.

I’m back to writing now, with games mostly behind me. Hopefully I can keep at it for much longer than last time.

Enjoy the story everyone. I did my best to make it one worth waiting for.

J.A. Giunta

– 1 –

The pain was fully gone, carried off in the swirls of cloying mist and ripples of dark water all about. It still lapped up against him, head to toe, like the intimate warmth and touch of a body, but the water had finally loosened its hold and allowed him to come awake. Stars glittered in the nighttime shroud overhead, but their light offered little to see by. At the edge of vision, where darkness reigned, mist stirred and came alive with the movement of furtive shadows.

Who’s there? Barr called out and rolled into a crouch, straining to see through the gloom. Mist roiled about and clung to his skin, sent a shiver down his back that conquered all warmth. Hello?

He saw them scatter and fade, as a whisper of magic touched his ears. His mother appeared from nowhere, stepping through the mists as if she too were a shadow given substance. Seeing her again brought back all the uncertainty he had tried to deal with the first time they met. He wasn’t sure how to react, how he was supposed to feel. All those years before his father Daroth was killed, then with Tuvrin and the elves, Barr had no idea what it was like to have a mother of his own.

At least not in this lifetime.

Aren and Idelle were both silent in his mind, and the exceptional quiet unsettled him more than any shadows or strange news. Everything came rushing back to him in vivid detail, the twelve Guardians that had attacked and Ealdan’s treachery. He had watched his companions fall to both blade and dark magic, and he feared for the worst when he couldn’t hear them in his thoughts.

Can either of you hear me? Barr asked, his calm giving way. Are you two alright?

Daesidaoli looked as if she could see the growing concern in his eyes and dropped to both knees beside him. She was shorter than he was, a full-blooded faeron, and had the same unusual contrast of eyes as the forest spirit that had given him Aislin – the sentient bracer Ealdan had betrayed him for. Barr rubbed his chest at the bitter memory, where the thief’s knife had pierced clean through his heart, but felt neither pain nor scar beneath his fingers.

Your friends await you, Daesi said in his thoughts.

Her eyes were the deep blue of an ocean at sunrise, ringed with an impenetrable black that reflected the starlight overhead. With hair down to her waist, neatly tied and interwoven in a web of silver filigree, the ebon ringlets that wrapped about tapered ears and a slender neck offset the pale shimmer of her skin. She looked out into the distance, then back down to Barr’s hand.

Are you well? she pressed.

I think so. Barr deliberately answered her out loud, unused to hearing any voice in his mind but Aren, Idelle or his own. I need to see my friends right away. I… can’t hear them.

With a nod, she helped him to stand. Another reason why I have come. With Aislin gone from the mists, my strength is not what it once was and has been steadily waning. I am not sure how much longer I can hold still this moment.

Barr then remembered what she had told him when he woke the first time, near dead from his wounds and frantic at the absence of his friends. She had rescued them after the attack, brought them to this place and froze a moment in time. There was no way of knowing how long he had slept, but he knew the waters would only heal the blood of a faeron. He had to get to the others as soon as he could.

He stood and gently pulled her up with him. Would you take me to them? Please.

Daesi glanced out into the darkness once more, as if seeing something he could not, then closed her eyes in concentration. Mist coalesced and quickly gathered, like the ghostly tendrils of a sun-strewn wraith. It wrapped about them both in a shimmering embrace that tingled his skin. To Barr, it felt not so much like moving, as it did the world all around him had shifted and changed. He looked down and saw his friends, wounded and still.

Seeing what had become of Aren brought a tear to Barr’s eyes. The giant war hound could have easily been confused for a bear, so large was his muscled frame. He was the strongest animal Barr had ever known, could carry a man in his jaws at a full run and not miss a step. Yet sprawled out in the dark water, with torn flesh and burned mane, Aren seemed weak as a newborn pup, bordering on death.

Slumped over beside the hound, Dar-Paj was nearly unrecognizable. There was a knife handle protruding from his chest, expertly struck through both robes and heart, and a frilly kerchief tossed over his face. Barr knew the stink of its perfume all too well. Commingled with the coppery scent of blood, it would have made him gag but for the anger boiling up deep inside him. He knelt and snatched the cloth away, clenched it in a fist, then swallowed hard at the frozen grimace staring back at him. Dar-Paj’s frosted gold skin was flecked with his own blood, and normally white hair was matted black about his neck and shoulders.

Idelle was far larger than Aren, with a wingspan the length of two wagons, and she looked the worst off of all three. Her wings were broken and pointed at odd angles, where bones came free and showed through the skin. She had feathers smashed and torn away, where her fragile body had been pummeled, and a black morass of dried blood pooled over an open wound from neck to leg. Her eyes were closed to the devastation, and Barr feared they would never again open.

Barr, please hurry, Daesi pleaded.

Putting aside his grief and anger, Barr summoned furie from within and brought his will to bear. Both hands out before him, he let the magic flow outward from his palms and encompass all three. An iridescent blue glow surrounded their bodies, brightening at the point of each wound. He let them take what they needed, allowing their bodies to heal themselves, offering his life force to fuel the repairs. Bones knitted together of their own volition, as muscle and sinew were fully restored. Blood cleansed itself of poisons and earth, while burns faded away and were gone. With a dying of the light, wounds slowly closed over and left no trace of a scar. The knife in Dar-Paj’s chest fell over and disappeared into the water beside him.

Daesi dropped to her knees, as time was set loose. Barr came to her side and steadied her.

I am fine, she assured him. I just need a moment.Betrayed! Dar-Paj shot up and cried out, revealing rows of sharp pointed teeth. He looked about, expecting to see something that was not there. He felt at his chest, where the knife had been, then looked at Barr and the others. What happened? Barr, it was Ealdan!

I know. We’ll deal with him.

Where are we? Aren asked, lifting his head from both paws. Idelle?

I’m here, she answered and pushed herself up. She spread her wings, as if testing their strength. I felt myself fall, and I tumbled…

Barr rushed over to the giant hawk and hugged her tight. She nestled her head against his and closed both wings around him.

I thought I lost you, he said, choking on the words. I saw it all in a dream, and still I let you come with me to Lumintor. I’m sorry.

It’s alright, she reassured. We’re all fine now. You saved us.

Barr leaned in closer, took a deep breath of her scent and let the comfort of her feathers encompass him fully. Grateful that his friends were alive and well, he was still plagued by thoughts of their loss. Overcome with sudden weariness, it was all he could do to keep standing. It felt as if sorrow and guilt had finally taken their toll. With the exhaustion from healing their bodies, it was simply more than he could bear. His breath became labored, as if stolen away, and darkness loomed up to claim him. He fell, reeling back through memory and time, through a collage of vision not wholly his own…

Laerna knelt upon the ground, rocking back and forth, as she held her baby girl tight. If only she’d been paying attention! Tears burned her cheeks, as she continued to rock the lifeless child, cursing herself for a fool and that damned wagon…

…that sped past, nearly crushing him beneath its wheels. Yaeri didn’t care. The world could end in a fiery blaze, and it wouldn’t matter in the least. The loss he felt tugging at his gut, tearing his heart to bits, was like a feral creature fighting to get out, desperate…

…to break free and save her son! Try as she may, Adelay couldn’t pull her leg from the fallen beams. Her son lay unconscious just a few feet away, as the fire drew ever closer. Though her broken leg sent waves of pain with each tug, she would not give up…

…trying to reach them. If but a single one made it past, the village was doomed, would be put to the torch. Screaming out a challenge, Karyd charged into the fray with pitchfork in hand. He punched one soldier on his left while spearing another to the right. Though it cost him his life, it was worth protecting…

…her husband if she could. There were just too many! Drunken fools, the lot of them. Tawen cradled him in her arms, crying as she berated. Though she held a hand to his neck, frantically trying to stem the flow, the blood would not stop…

…crying. His body had a mind of its own, and grief had come to lay claim. Was there ever a man so wretched as he? His wife and two children taken by the plague, leaving him to watch them wither and fade like so much dust on a breeze. He wanted to be angry, but the pain left room for naught…

…but pounding little fists and an ear-shattering cry. Faren shook his mother for the tenth time in as many breaths, but still she would not wake. Her eyes were open, but she couldn’t see. Her hands were cold to the touch, their nails rimmed with blue, and no amount of squeezing would force her awake…

When the visions faded and reality took hold, Barr gasped and clutched his stomach at the overwhelming grief. He rolled onto all fours in the water, fighting for air and wrestling with the emotions of past lives. In a losing battle, he fell over to his back, succumbing to the dark all around.

***

It tugged at his middle, tearing through long unused innards with a claw that gripped his spine and pulled him forward. Its voice rang in his ears, a distant whisper cooing promise of power and a desire for freedom. It beckoned him onward, coiled about his decaying frame like the odor of a lightning strike, and where Solastin’s cursed feet touched the ground, only withered flora and deadened earth were left in their wake.

The revenant roared at the skies.

His once vibrant flesh had long ago given way to rot, leaving behind hardened remnants of muscle and sinew. His skeleton was yellowed and jagged, where armor and black cloak did not conceal. Engraved into each bone were runes of great power, etched wards filled with the blood of a god. They protected his body more surely than any armor and fueled the bond with his lord.

Having ridden his horse lame, Solastin took the last of its furie. In a malevolent tendril of black energy, it spiraled about his fist like an obsidian snake. He kicked the drained corpse, splintering its remains with a steel boot, and turned his attention to the sun on the horizon. As always, time was running short and working against him.

Dropping to all fours, the revenant summoned up furie in a swirling ball of brackish green light. It swelled from his spacious middle and encompassed his frame. Bones twisted and popped, shimmering in the foul glow, and reshaped themselves into another form. Long barbs sprouted from the back of his new legs, with claws that elongated at each end. His torso stretched into a massive chamber of intertwined bone and web-like sinew. A pronged tail emerged from behind, as a saurian head jutted outward to fore. Rows of long, serrated teeth sprouted from his maw, beneath glowing narrowed eyes. Like two bloody suns, they set alight the ground ahead in a ghastly crimson shade.

Transformation complete, Solastin tore at the earth with all his strength, propelling himself forward with incredible speed. Tufts of rotted soil flew into the air at every stride. Ambient magic radiated off the revenant, sending coruscating waves of heat all around him. For those with an eye to see enchantment, his trail lit up the darkness behind for miles.

How close are you to Faelsha? Markus asked, his voice a painful echo in the revenant’s mind.

Very close, my lord.

Markus had ordered all of them to find and claim the remaining artifacts. Eleven in all, it would take some doing. Some were buried in distant lands, hidden long ago by the father god. Others were not so far away at all. So long as one of the Brood possessed an Emblem, finding the rest would be a matter of time.

The twelve swords were different now. Solastin could feel it, the spark of sentience in their whispers, the cunning in each image. The Emblems had become alive over the millennia, born of the very magic that gave them shape.

He sensed Faelsha nearby, prickling the air with its presence, like the scent of thunder before a storm. His skeletal body fairly crackled with dark energy, at the prospect of seizing new power. He slowed his gait and surveyed the rocky expanse ahead. Its whispers grew stronger, a feminine voice muffled by the oppressive wind and a billowy fog that seeped up from the ground. Something about the voice had changed since last it spoke. It was taunting now, daring him to approach. Solastin reverted to his human form, as he rounded a corner of rock, where he knew the Emblem awaited.

He instead found a small boy glaring back.

Wild-eyed and bloodied, the human child held the visage of one possessed by a great anger, brimming with rage and longing to release it. Blood flecked his cracked lips, as white froth erupted with each volatile breath. His simple clothing was torn and burned, frayed at the ends and swelling outward as if buffeted by a wind rising up beneath him. A crimson trail led back to a pile of sharp rocks, where the ground was clearly upended. In the boy’s hands was Faelsha, alight with a cerulean fire.

And he leveled the blade at Solastin.

You’re too late, the boy said in a ghostly voice. The same blue glow of the sword emanated from his mouth as he spoke, frosting the air with each word.

Solastin had no need of words. He came only for the sword, regardless of where it was hidden or who was unfortunate enough to claim it before him. This human child was but an obstacle, a nuisance to be dealt with.

Reaching out a claw, the revenant stomped at the ground and sent a tendril of midnight outwards. It coiled about the boy’s chest and neck, tightening its hold, and tore the furie from him. He cried out in pain but held tight to the Emblem. His small body rose up, flailing in the air, as the life was wrenched from his flesh. To Solastin’s surprise, the human swung Faelsha across the inky light and severed the connection between them. He then dropped to one knee and regained his feet, with what could only be considered a grim determination.

With his right hand gripping Faelsha and the other held to fore, the child pushed his palm outward in a roar of gathered furie. The amount of sheer force he let loose tore rock and dead earth from the ground a foot deep, and it blasted a path toward the revenant.

It struck Solastin full on and sent him sprawling.

I warned you, the boy told him in that frosty breath, lifting Solastin into the air by will alone. Now learn what it is to fear.

The revenant’s body crashed against a man-sized rock, impaled by a jagged edge that passed between enchanted bone.

Learn what it is to bend.

He was lifted once more, surrounded by an unseen force, and felt the crushing weight of its strength push inward. Armor crumpled under the strain and began to bubble from the heat. Higher he went, as armor melted and scorched its way down his limbs, until the force drove him downward into unforgiving earth. A cloud of rock and debris spewed outward.

Learn what it is to break.

Solastin was pulled toward the boy, plowing torn earth with his skeletal remains. Faelsha loomed over him, taunting with its whispers, caring only to serve who was stronger. He struggled to rise on one knee, but a palpable force continued to press inward, straining the divine runes etched into his bones.

Finish him! Markus roared, lending him strength.

Rasping out a feral growl, the revenant lurched his body forward and dug his teeth into soft flesh. Blow after terrible blow landed across his back, but Solastin would not relent and kept firm his hold on the leg. The sigils across his bones flared to life with a beryl sheen, as he drank deep of the boy’s furie and began to heal. Short moments passed before the child was fully drained.

Faelsha slipped to the ground from lifeless fingers.

***

Barr opened his eyes to the brightness of afternoon shining in from all around. Directly above him, painted onto a ceiling of crystal interspersed with blue veins, was the image of faeron men and women dancing beneath a canopy of night. He blinked to clear his vision, as the image began to move. The people danced and sang out their soundless revelry beneath the stars, moving across the panorama in an endless display.

He found himself lying on a couch full of pillows and silken blankets, in a room fully open to the sun. Or at least that was how it seemed at first. A closer inspection showed the walls were transparent, made up of runic patterns floating in midair and spinning in the rhythm of an azure glow. Leaves were piled at the base of one wall, where a gentle wind swept through the room but left the foliage behind. Crystal pillars stretched up from an array of opalescent tiles a mirror-smooth sheen, touched upon the ceiling and extended outward in a swirl of fanciful artistry. Vines grew freely about each column and were tipped with blooms of pink and white. The webwork of veins that ran all throughout the crystal, up the length of each column and the expanse overhead, was like the semblance of nature in its coursing of vibrant light. It left Barr with the sense that the stronghold was alive.

The sound of others could be heard, conversation and bright laughter. Barr caught sight of a few women tending flowers in another room. They were dressed in colorful linens, both light and revealing, and had hair neatly tied down their backs. Men with bows thrown over a shoulder passed by one transparent wall, but they paid Barr no attention.

You’re awake! Idelle said happily. Barr could feel her in the sky above him. I was worried.

I told you he’d be fine, Aren said, clearly gorging on something wonderful. The sense of it was making Barr hungry. Want me to bring you some?

Yes, I’m fine. And no, I can get my own food, thanks.

What, I’d use a basket. Aren seemed offended. Suit yourself, but everything is outside. I don’t know if they eat like this all the time, but this is the biggest feast I’ve ever seen. They’re a lot more hospitable than the elves.

Idelle laughed. Be nice.

I see you are awake, Daesi said from the vaulted opening between rooms. She cleared her throat and added, somewhat apologetically, I know our way of speaking is unsettling for you, so I will talk aloud until you are more at ease.

Thank you, Barr said, feeling a bit sheepish. Out of anyone, he thought he should be the last to feel uneasy at hearing voices in his head.

Stop brooding and come outside. Idelle swooped past Aren, ruffling his thick coat of hair. We’re having fun out here.

Aren growled. Cut that out. Can’t I have a moment of peace to finish my lunch?

You haven’t stopped eating since we got here!

Would you like to come outside? You can refresh yourself with food and drink while we talk. She waved a hand toward the runic walls, and they filled with an ivory mist until completely opaque. She then offered her hand and smiled. There is much to discuss.

Are we on Faeron?

Yes. I brought us here through the mists when you fell from exhaustion. This is my home. She squeezed his hand. You are welcome to make it yours. They passed through an arched trellis of flowers in the front doorway. She stopped and asked, Is your friend Dar-Paj well?

Barr considered a moment. As well as can be, I suppose. Do you mean his appearance?

It was then Daesi’s turn to ponder the question, but she chose not to answer. His thoughts are troubled, haunted. I cannot easily explain it.

He has no memory of who he is or where he comes from. My uncle found him starving in the streets and took him in. He’s only with me because he wants to find others like himself. Barr looked out at the long wooden table, where Dar-Paj and many faeron were eating. He helped me avenge my father’s murder. I owe him for that. I also promised I would help find his people.

That might not be wise. What he seeks, he must find on his own. Daesi stepped out into the sun and pulled Barr along with her. There is something I must ask of you, before you start making plans.

Barr! Dar-Paj reached across the table and clasped his arm in a crushing grip. Frail as the gold-skinned apprentice looked, he could easily bend iron with his bare hands. It is good to see you up and about. I have been thinking.

Not yet, Daesi admonished and motioned for all to sit. Everyone had risen at their approach. Please, take your seats and enjoy.

Aren licked his chops. Why are they all looking at you like that?

He didn’t notice right away, but all of the faeron did seem overly intrigued. Despite the glances and giggling, and the not so quiet whispers in his mind, they did look happy to have him there. Barr began filling his plate with fruit and warm bread.

Maybe they’ve never seen a human before.

But they don’t have a problem with golden skin? Or animals three times their size?

Hmm, good point. Is there a special occasion, or are all your meals like this? Barr poured himself a glass of wine, admiring the silver metalwork on each piece. The only thing that would make this absolutely perfect, he said and watched his wine become iced milk, is if… How did you do that?

Daesi replied, I did nothing. All that you see is a gift from the land. Your thoughts and desires can give shape to many things.

That caught Aren’s attention. Does that mean I can make boar –

No, it does not, she said to the hound. There is game to be found on Faeronthalsos, but it cannot be made from thought alone.

She can hear us? Aren stopped eating.

Amazing, Dar-Paj said, turning a second piece of bread into a fig the size of his palm. Your uncle would be astounded by this place.

Barr agreed between mouthfuls. We should let him know we’re alright. I won’t stay in Alixhir, but we did –

Daesi cleared her throat. Everyone, please excuse us. I must speak with my son. To Dar-Paj, she added, You may stay, of course.

That doesn’t bode well, Idelle said from her vantage far above.

Glancing upward, Daesi said, I fear your winged friend is correct. First off, I must apologize. Things did not go at all as I had planned. When my mother took Aislin, we had no idea what effect it would have on the mists.

With a hard swallow, Barr said, Your mother? Do you mean I have a grandmother? Do I have any other family?

Not anymore. I should have mentioned it sooner, but this matter is more pressing.

She looked as if struck by a terrible headache. Her brow furrowed in pain, and her hands began to shake as she rubbed at her temples. Barr put down his glass and stood, but she motioned for him to stay.

I will be fine. A few deep breaths, and her hands became steady, her brow once more smooth. The mists are a gift from Saernol – the Goddess of Magic. It is a place between realms, a source of great magic and a part of who we are. It allows us to travel to any place we can think of or talk with one another over great distances. She let out a sigh but did not seem in any pain. Such a wondrous gift, however, is not without cost. As in all things magical, there is a balance to maintain. There are dark creatures within the mists that feed on its power. We call them umbrals.

I think I’ve seen them, Barr said, recalling shadows at the edge of vision when he had woken in the mists. They didn’t do much, though, or respond when I called out.

As Matron of the Guiding Mists, my spirit is bonded to that realm. It is my will alone that keeps the umbrals at bay. If not for me, and the presence of Aislin lending its strength, they would break free and overrun Faeron, feeding on the magic of every living thing.

And now Ealdan has Aislin. Barr’s jaw clenched at the memory of the thief’s betrayal. I planned on hunting him down anyway. I’ll get it back.

Dar-Paj said, Hold on a minute. What exactly are we talking about? I have no qualms about finding Ealdan and breaking him in two, but what is this Aislin?

It’s what he took after stabbing me in the heart.

Aislin is a very old artifact, Daesi explained, first found within the mists, cradled in the arms of a statue of Saernol. In truth, I did not know until recently just how important it was. We have never before been without it. I am afraid, in its absence, I will eventually falter.

You were carrying this artifact? Dar-Paj asked.

I didn’t know it at the time. To me, it was just a bracer. Barr shook his head. I shouldn’t have trusted him. I knew what he was, a thief – or worse. All I could think of was killing that shapeling.

Stop blaming yourself, Idelle said. Trying to see the good in others is not a shortcoming.

It is if you’re blinded to everything else.

I am to blame, Daesi said. I was watching over you and planned to intervene should anything happen to you or Aislin. The ones who attacked… I stood no chance against them. I let them take Aislin, so that I could save you. No matter what happens now, I –

A trickle of blood ran from her nose.

Are you alright? Barr came to her side. She tried to staunch the bleeding with a napkin, but the flow would not stop. He could see the fear in her eyes, in the tremble of her body. Hold still. It’s alright, I can help.

With both hands to her cheeks, Barr summoned up the furie to heal and opened himself to her. The amount her body took with the first tug of desire nearly floored him with the strength of its need. Like a vast chasm of darkness, it longed to be filled. It dug into his spirit and pulled without relent, flailing against the barrier of his resolve. All around him was a growing blackness, a miasma full of shadow, and at the edge of that murk were scrabbling black claws and gnashing teeth.

Enough! Barr shouted, severing their connection with all the will he could muster. He fell to the ground, breathing heavy and exhausted. There was an emptiness in his middle, as if all his strength had been consumed. "What was that? I’ve never seen anything like it."

Did she attack you? Aren was genuinely concerned. It felt like you were fighting for your life.

I think I was.

I am not sure what just happened. Daesi looked light-headed and about to faint. I do feel better, though. I thank you for that.

Whatever it was, Idelle put in, it didn’t feel like her. It was something else.

Dar-Paj helped Barr to his feet. At least the bleeding has stopped. Here, take a seat. You look a little pale.

It was the umbrals. They’re killing her. I have to get that sword back.

Daesi said, Before you may leave, there is another matter to discuss. Your return to Faeron was not entirely unexpected. You will need to make an appearance at Starshrine.

Barr raised a brow. Do we have time for that? I don’t think we do. If I don’t get Aislin back soon –

The prince must make an appearance at Court, she said firmly. To do otherwise would be a grave insult, to both the Queen and our people.

Sounding dubious, Barr asked, And what prince would that be?

Getting to her feet, Daesi took hold of him by the shoulders. She smiled then, and despite the strangeness of her eyes, it warmed his heart to see it.

That would be you.

– 2 –

As they left through the courtyard of Daesi’s estate, past an array of sculpted shrubbery and a veritable palette of flowerbeds, she pointed out a new gazebo being formed. Coaxed from the rich soil and given shape by skillful artisans, it was solely comprised of the lively blue crystal from which all faeron structures were made. Though still incomplete, veins within its parts already thrummed and pulsed with a soft glow, as if coursing with the lifeblood of a growing creature.

The faeron, she told them, were not alone but shared their world with a number of other races. Homes were all about, dotting the verdant landscape. Many would have gone by unnoticed without her calling attention to each one. Massive hollowed trees were the abodes of playful sprites, a winged faeron-like people that could fit in the palm of any man. Sylphs, on the other hand, were only half the size of a faeron, and adored sunlight across a field more than honeyed milk or a good rain. They dug comfortable dwellings beneath wide, grassy hills and encouraged flowers to grow all around.

Many others lived there as well, from moss-farming pixies and their great cozy logs to bird-taming nymphs and their leafy cottages in the trees. It was a beautiful place, alive with magic in every crevice and a surprise at each turn. In all his time with the sylvannis, Barr had seen much of magic, but not even the elven tree city could compare to this splendor.

You still miss it, Aren noted.

Barr scratched under the hound’s jaw as they left the estate and stepped onto a road of smoothed earth. His mother was talking of dryads, a once serene people who were forced to move far to the south to avoid war.

How could I not? My father and Seltruin are there. He scuffed his boot in the road, kicking up an eddy of dust. I spent over half my life in Geilon-Rai. I won’t be forgetting it any time soon.

Idelle said, We haven’t been gone all that long, you know. It’s been barely a week since you were…

The word hung in the air, unspoken but stinging. Exiled. No matter that he was innocent of Harduen’s murder, the council had punished him all the same for disobeying their traditions. Barr could never again see his elven father nor the mentor who had trained him to be a sage.

I know. It feels longer, though.

How are we going to find Ealdan? Aren asked, with a growl at the edge of his thoughts. He made it clear there was a debt to settle between them. Even if he doesn’t have the sword anymore, I still want to track him down.

Yes, Idelle agreed. I would very much like to see him again.

Barr nodded, drawing a glance from Dar-Paj. I’m not sure just yet, but hopefully my mother can help us. After all, she’s the one who brought us here. He looked up at the foreign sky, where two suns were still rising at either end of a cloudless green vista that turned blue as it stretched down toward the land. I still can’t believe that my grandmother is the Queen of Faeronthalsos.

Hmm, Aren said.

What’s wrong?

This Starshrine place we’re going to. Do you think they’ll have a feast like the one we just had?

We just finished eating…

With as sour a face a giant hound could muster, I was just curious, is all.

Daesi laughed, then caught herself and stopped. My apologies, she said to Aren. I should not have been listening.

I will never get used to that, Dar-Paj said, "the way you can communicate by thought alone. The notion of hearing any voice in my head but