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.”“You are now,” Lennard remarked, but there was no sarcasm in his voice, just admiration.“The flower gives ye the power to heal,” Rhiannon explained.“But ye must stay strong, Siana, and accept the pain from the wounds.This was a slight one, but others’ll take the breath right from ye.Hold to yer purpose and trust in yerself.Ye’ll get through it.”“You speak as if you will not be around to guide her,” said Lennard.“Are you leaving us?”“I’ve other duties that need attending,” Rhiannon explained.She stroked a comforting hand across Siana’s cheek.“Do no’ be feared, me girl,” she said.“Ye’ve the strength to use the gift.”Rhiannon walked from the tent then, leaving the three of them staring blankly at each other.* * *The night was crisp and unusually chilly for high summer.Rhiannon fumbled through her packs, searching for the gown, gossamer and silk, that she had packed when she set out from Avalon.She paused when she found it, wondering what compulsion had told her to seek the dress.Certainly her tougher leggings would be better fitted to the road she had chosen.All at once, Rhiannon understood the compulsion.If she was to accept who she was, to allow that frightening power its place within her being, she must look the part.And then she was out under the stars, floating across the dark fields as if in a dream.A group of soldiers saw her, a ghostly apparition limned in the soft light of the heavens.They stood silent and unblinking, unable to find the words to describe the vision.Rhiannon moved to the river.She hadn’t even considered how she would cross, for she had no boat.But the River Ne’er Ending was a natural barrier, and nothing of nature would stand against the daughter of the Emerald Witch.Without even realizing the act, Rhiannon merely drifted over the great river, the rolling water not even wetting the trailing edge of her gown.Across the western fields she went, unconsciously using simple magics to make herself invisible to the eyes of talons.She traveled on throughout the night, toward the black silhouettes of the Baerendels.The playground of Bryan of Corning.Chapter 19Council in AvalonTHE RANGER WANDERED through dark, troubled dreams, alone and directionless in a sunless land.For the second time in a week he was close to death, but this time the horrid wounds inflicted by the wraith of Hollis Mitchell were much more insidious, sending the chill of death straight for his heart.But this time, too, the witch tending to Belexus was more experienced and knowledgeable of such ills, and he was in Avalon, the purest land in all the world.Brielle worked over him tirelessly, pausing only on those occasions when the Black Warlock launched another of his storms against her domain.Those first few hours after Calamus had snatched the ranger from Mitchell’s undead clutches had been the most critical.The witch had stayed with Belexus until long after the dawn tinted the eastern sky.Cold were the cruel claws of the wraith, but warmer still was the gentle touch of the Emerald Witch.She insinuated herself into the heart and soul of the mighty warrior, lent him the breath of her own life in his struggles.And when Brielle saw into Belexus’ most private thoughts—and into emotions that concerned her and her wood—she was moved.Healing the man became her obsession; one so noble and true as Belexus must not be allowed to die.And Brielle could not ignore the ranger’s feelings for her, feelings he had kept to himself for so long.“ ’Tis good ye have waked,” she said to him after several torturous days had slipped by.That first sight for the ranger, of Brielle leaning over him, smile and eyes so bright and joyful and her golden mane of hair rolling down off her shoulder and brushing his chest, was as great a medicine as any man could ever know.It took Belexus a few moments to recover enough to speak the words he had to say.“Twice have I been viewin’ the land o’ the dead,” he whispered softly, bringing one hand up to stroke Brielle’s beautiful hair.“And twice has a mistress of Avalon pulled me back to the world o’ the living.Ye’ll never know me gratitude, fair Lady.Ye’ll never know—”“Me daughter,” Brielle interrupted, intrigued by the ranger’s reference to a previous healing.“She is well,” Belexus replied.“And she has found her power?” Brielle asked hopefully.“Many were the feats of Rhiannon in the first days of the war—” Belexus started to explain, but Brielle put a finger to his lips to stop him.“Our minds have been as one,” she said.“Me thoughts saw into yer own, and I’m knowin’ all that’s befallen ye.”“Then ye know o’ yer daughter’s troubles?”“Ayuh, that I do, and I expected as much,” replied Brielle.“There’s troublins in the growth of such power, me friend; nothing comes without its cost.”“She is strong,” Belexus assured her.“Rhiannon’ll find her way through.”“ ’Tis me hope,” Brielle replied.“Me wish is to be beside her on this dark day, but I canno’ leave me wood.And Rhiannon, I know now, canno’ come to join me.”“Trust in her,” said Belexus.Brielle nodded and managed to return his smile.“Rest easy,” she said.“A council’s to begin this night and ye’re to attend.”Belexus slumped back, more than willing to oblige.But then another memory came over him, with such violence that he bolted upright.Brielle knew his next question before he had even asked it.“Andovar?”Brielle shook her head, finding no words suitable to break the news.She knew of the bond between the two rangers, best of friends since their childhood days, always counting on the other in times of trouble—and the other always being there.“I will avenge his death,” Belexus decreed.“Mitchell will not go unpunished.”“Hardly the Mitchell ye once knew,” Brielle put in.“An undead thing, a wraith from the netherworld and beyond yer power is me fear.”But Brielle could not deny the determination on the ranger’s face when he looked at her, an expression so grim that she took an involuntary step back.“I will find a way,” Belexus promised.“We will find a way,” Brielle corrected.“The passing of Andovar hurts me as it hurts yerself.I’ll not let Mitchell take another so dear to me.”She looked away as she spoke these last words, and her voice softened to become barely audible.Embarrassment? Belexus wondered, and then some of the other implications of Brielle’s melding with him, this joining of their thoughts and souls, brought him his own measure of embarrassment.“Ye be needin’ rest,” Brielle said to him again, easing him down onto the soft grass and pulling a warm blanket up over his chest.She bent low and kissed him on the forehead, then pulled back from him.“Glad I am that ye found yer way back, Belexus,” was all she said as she turned and moved off into her forest.Sad on sweet voices, the song of the elves drifted through the boughs of Avalon, a fitting complement to the magic of the trees.Brielle found Belexus standing near a grove of pines, quiet and enchanted by the distant harmony.She watched awhile from afar, letting the ranger enjoy the peaceful song.The witch wished that she could leave him to his enjoyment all the night through, or go and join him, but the business of war would not allow for such breaks.“Come,” Brielle bade him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]