King of Sword and Sky (53 page)

«Where else do I belong if not by your side?»
Ellysetta tossed her head and gave him a blinding smile. «
Tairen do not abandon their mates. Tairen defend the pride.»

He gave a snort and blew smoke. Stubborn woman. Headstrong woman.

His woman.

And he would have her no other way.

«You bring pride to this Fey.»
He set every thread of their bond singing with the vastness of his love. «
In truth, I can use your help at the Veil. There are wounded in need of a shei'dalin's care.»

She didn't hesitate or argue. «
I will go.»
Her eyes narrowed on the blood-soaked arrows quilling his side. «
Finish this, and join me, shei'tan. I will be waiting for you.»
She stroked a hand down Steli's neck, and the white tairen wheeled towards Upper Orest.

«What shall we do with the Eld?»
asked Pella, one of the other seven tairen, as Steli winged towards the mountain city.

Rain glanced down at the battlefield where so many had been lost. From this height, the Eld looked like nothing but ants scurrying across an anthill. «
Burn them,»
he commanded. «
Burn the Eld and scorch the ground. Leave no finger span unscathed.»

With the reenergized Fey forces keeping the bowcannons, archers, and Mages busy, the nine tairen made short work of scorching Lower Orest.

Most of the Eld broke ranks and ran for the nearest portal when the pride fired the battlefield. Those who did not died ablaze and screaming. To Rain's great relief, blanketing the entire battlefield in tairen flame seemed to destroy both the portals and whatever had enabled them to open. No more gaping holes in space opened. No more foul armies of the Eld poured out. Lower Orest was left a barren, smoking wasteland, as was the fortified Eld village across the river, but he and the pride did not stop burning until they'd scorched every last remnant of the Eld army from the soil.

Rain sang the same instructions to Fahreeta and Torasul in Teleon, and they burned the Garreval, and the mountainsides, and the valley around Teleon to the edge of the Mists.

When they were done, the Fey in both Orest and the Garreval walked the smoking battlefields to collect the
sorreisu kiyr
of their fallen brothers. Many had been stripped and stolen by the Eld during the battle, but the rest were gathered, to be sent back to the families and loved ones left behind. Among them were dozens of
kiyr
from sixty
lu'tans
who had died defending Orest. Ellysetta packed their
sorreisu kiyr
in a silk-lined pouch and asked the tairen to take them back to Fey'Bahren, to be placed with honor alongside the
kiyranis
of the pride.

Leaving Rain and the Celierians to begin the process of cleaning and repairing the city, Ellysetta spun healing on the wounded. Sadly, there weren't nearly as many as she'd expected. Mage Fire, like demon touch, killed rather than maimed. She spun
shei'dalin
healing on those in direst need, and by the time Marissya and Dax arrived on the back of Xisanna, most of the remaining wounded needed little more than rest and a hearth witch's care.

To Rain and Ellysetta's surprise, Marissya and Dax had not come alone, nor empty-handed. Xisanna's mate, Perahl, bore the Massan Air master Eimar and his mate, Jisera, on his back, and Dax had strapped a large trunk behind Xisanna's saddle.

Dax slid to the ground on a cushion of Air and set the trunk on the ground.

"I don't understand," Rain said as Dax lifted the trunk's heavy lid to reveal the shining golden armor of the Fey king. "The Massan banished me for weaving Azrahn. I am
dahl'reisen.
I no longer have the right to wear that armor or lead the Fading Lands in war."

"Apparently, you do, my friend," Dax said with a smile. He nodded to the white tairen crouched at Ellysetta's side. "Talk to her."

Steli sniffed and ruffled her wings. «
The golden steel does not belong to the Fey-kin, Rainier-Eras,»
she said in Feyan. Her blue eyes scanned the gathered Fey as if in Challenge, and a low growl rumbled in her throat. «
It is not theirs to give or take. The golden steel is pride-made. It belongs to the Tairen Soul.»

"But I am no longer the Tairen Soul, Steli
-chakai,"
Rain said. "The Massan stripped me of my crown when they made me
dahl'reisen."

The white cat snorted. «
Fey-kin do not choose the Tairen Soul. Only the pride can choose.»

"The pride never chose me," he reminded her gently. "I was Tairen Soul because I was the only one left."

Steli lowered her head and fixed him with her great, whirling blue eyes. Wisdom swirled there. Much more wisdom than most Fey realized. «
We chose, Rainier-Eras. We chose a thousand years ago, when we would not let you die.»

Silence fell over Upper Orest. Even the thunder of the Veil seemed to hush.

"What Tenn did will not stand, Rain." The Massan's Air master, Eimar v'En Arran, stepped forward to stand at Steli's side. The chimes in his hair tinkled in the breeze off the Veil, and his wintry eyes were hard and steady. "No Fey ever swore allegiance to the Massan," he added. "But we did swear allegiance to the Fading Lands and to our king, Rain Tairen Soul. You have my oath that Loris and I will see this set right. Until then, know that we stand where we always have: at the side of our king." He bowed low.
"Miora felah ti'Feyreisen."

Rain looked into the faces of the gathered Fey, seeing the same acceptance, the same belief. In him.

He turned to Ellysetta and saw the pride shining in her eyes. And this time, for the first time, the Fey he saw shining back at him was the Fey he knew he was.

"Will you wear the armor, Rain?" Bel asked. "Will you be our king?"

There was only one possible answer. Only one true answer.

"Aiyah."

Eld
~
Boura Fell

Vadim Maur sat in silence. Frost crackled on every surface of the Mage Council's war room. The room was so cold his breath should have formed vaporous clouds around him, but the chill of his fury was too deep, freezing him from the inside out.

Victory in Teleon and Orest had been snatched from his grasp. Lord Teleos, the strongest ally of the Fey in Celieria, still lived, and both passes into the Fading Lands remained in Teleos's control. He and the Fey would move quickly to rebuild his defenses, and the Fey would continue to move freely in and out of the Mists and interfere in Vadim's plans for Celieria.

Today's unexpected defeats had been a costly miscalculation. Already, he knew, the whispers had begun in the Mage Council.

He would now need a victory, swift and complete, to silence the enemies in his ranks. Celieria must be turned, the Fey's main supporters slaughtered or silenced, and then he must find a way to bring down the Faering Mists and beard the tairen in their lair.

He brought up the display of Celieria and began to plan his next move.

Celieria
~
Upper Orest

The roar of Kiyera's Veil drowned out all other sound, and torches burned bright around the lake, turning the billowing mist off the falls to clouds of red-orange flame and illuminating the faces of the tairen and the Fey who had gathered as Rain's witnesses.

Wearing her studded scarlet leathers, the Fey'cha belts full of bloodsworn blades criss-crossing her chest, Ellysetta stood straight and proud and watched with unblinking eyes as her
shei'tan
shed his leathers and steel. Her bloodsworn quintet surrounded her, and Steli crouched behind them, wings spread in a show of protection and might.

The air was chill against Rain's skin, the magic of the waters of the Heras strong. Each breath drew clouds of magic-laden mist into his lungs, making his power hum. Naked, he turned and walked down the slope to the lake and waded in.

The current was swift, and fought his progress as he swam towards the base of the falls and plunged into the torrential downpour of Kiyera's Veil. The water was icy from snowmelt and rich with potent magic from the ancient Source at Crystal Lake.

He turned his face up, letting the water pound down upon him. Invigorating magic engulfed him in clouds of billowing mist, and the icy streams of water cleansed him like the sharp, ruthless edge of a knife, stripping away the shadows of fear and doubt.

He stood there beneath the flow until the Veil had filled and scoured him, until every powerful branch of his magic awoke and surged up with desperate force, straining against the bonds of his control, fighting for release. His Fey skin grew brighter and brighter, and the water cascading down the Veil shimmered into mist and swirled around him in a silvery-white aura, like light from a star.

A voice, deep and resonant, like no voice he'd ever heard before, sounded in his mind and his soul and every illuminated cell of his body, as if the gods themselves were speaking to him.

You are ready, Rainier-Eras. Let yourself be king.

Tears mingled with the falling magic-bright mist. Peace stole over him. He breathed again, deeply, and filled his heart with courage and determination.

"I am Rainier-Eras!" He shouted it to the heavens, sending the affirmation spinning upwards in Spirit and thought and tairen song. "Feyreisen of the Fey'Bahren pride, king of the Fading Lands, Defender of the Fey."

The Fey and tairen echoed his cry. "Rainier Feyreisen! King of the Fading Lands! Defender of the Fey!"

Rain swam back to the shores of the lake. As his feet sank into the thick moss lining the bank, the star-bright magic continued to swirl around him, swathing him in veils of energy. He lifted his arms. Earth spun out in blinding whirls, enveloping the Fey king's armor, dissolving it in flows of green-hued magic that merged with the bright light spinning about him.

He continued to walk, setting one foot firmly before the other. With each step, the veils of magic flowing around him darkened to shades of red and black and gold, and he could feel the hundreds of Fey kings who had come before him brushing against his mind, whispering words of encouragement.

The sun-bright magic faded, leaving Rain clad in the armor of the king. He spoke a summoning word he'd never known before, and the king's gold blades settled snugly in their sheaths. The name-symbols etched into the armor flashed like a galaxy of stars before fading to simple gold and silver.

And there on the left breastplate, in a spot over his heart, a new king's symbol now shone: the sigil of Rainier-Eras, etched and encircled in gold.

Bel handed him the golden helm. Rain took it, remembering the Fey's brave cry of "To victory or death!" as Johr led them to war. He looked at his brothers, committing their faces to his memory, knowing many of them would not see another year. Knowing they would embrace their deaths so those they loved could live. He would not cry, "To victory or death!" That was not why he fought. That was not why they fought.

"To victory, my brothers." He caught Ellysetta's hand and raised it high. "And to life."

"To victory and life!" the warriors cried.

Rain summoned the Change, took Ellysetta on his back, and shot into the sky, leaving his plain warrior's leathers where they lay, the skin of his old life, now shed forever.

[v0.9 Scanned & Spellchecked by the usual from dt.]

[v1.0 Proofed by the usual]

chime—minute

dorn
—a furry, round somnolent rodent. Eaten in stews. A "soggy
dorn"
is an idiom for someone who is spoiling someone else's fun. A party pooper.

Lord Adelis—god of light. While Celierians worship a pantheon of gods and goddesses (thirteen in all),The Church of Light worships Adelis, Lord of Light, above all others. He is considered the supreme god, with dominion over the other twelve.

Lord Seledorn—god of darkness, Lord of Shadows.

rultshart
—a vile, smelly, boarlike animal. The term is often used as an insult.

Sulimage—journeyman mage

umagi
—a mage-claimed individual, subordinate to the will of his/her master.

•Meaning "of."
Kem'falla…
my lady, literally "lady of mine."
E'tani,
literally "mate of the heart."
Shei'tani,
literally "mate
of the truth/soul."

•In lieu of hyphen, and to indicate emphasis for words
combined of multiple root words.

•Sometimes used to replace missing letters/vowels. M
v'al'ta!
(literally M
ve
al'ta.)

aiyah
—yes

ajiana
—sweet one

Azrahn—common name of Azreisenahn, the soul magic

bas'ka
—all right

beylah vo
—thank you (literally "thanks to you")

bote
dial
—blades ready! (weapons at the ready!)

Cha Baruk—Dance of Knives

cha'kor
—literal translation is five knives. Fey word for "quintet."

chadin
—little knife; literally "small fang"; a student in the Dance of Knives. Each student is paired with a mentor who guides their progress through four hundred years of training in the school. It is an apprenticeship of sorts, though many teachers will contribute to the actual education.

chakai
—First Knife or First Blade. Champion.

chatok
—Big Knife (mentor, leader, also teacher in the dance of knives.)

chatokkai
—First General (leader of all Fey armies, 2nd in command to the Tairen Soul). Belliard vel Jelani is the
chatokkai
of the Fading Lands

chervil
—a Fey expletive. Bastard, as in,"You smug
chervil'.'

dahl'reisen
—Literally "lost soul." Name given to unmated Fey warriors who are banished from the Fading Lands. They either seek
sheisan'dahlein
or serve as mercenaries/assassins to mortal races.

deskor
—bad

doreh shabeda
de
—so be it (so shall it be)

e'tan
—beloved / husband / mate (of the heart, not the truemate of the soul)

e'tani
—beloved / wife / mate (of the heart, not the truemate of the soul)

e'tanitsa
—a chosen bond of the heart, not a truemate bond

faer
—magic

falla
—lady

Felah Baruk—Dance of Joy

Fey'cha—a Fey throwing dagger. Fey'cha have either black handles or red handles. Red Fey'cha are deadly poison. Fey warriors carry dozens of each kind of Fey'cha in leather straps crisscrossed across their chests.

Feyreisa—Taken Soul's mate; Queen

Feyreisen—Tairen Soul; King

jaffed—a Fey expletive. Used as in, "We'd be jaffed if that happened."

jita'nos
—sister's son

kabei
—good

ke vo'san
—I love you

kem'falla
—my lady

kem'san
—my love/ my heart

krekk
—a Fey expletive

ku'shalah aiyah to net
—bid me yes or no
las
—peace, hush, calm

liss
—light

lute
—red (also blood)

Massan—the council of five powerful Fey statesmen who oversee the domestic governance of the Fading Lands. They do not convene without the
Shei'dalin
and the Feyreisen except in times of extreme need.

Mei felani. Bei santi. Nehtah,
bas desrali
—Live well, love deep. Tomorrow, we (will) die.

meicha
—a curving, scimitarlike blade. Each fey warrior carries two
meicha,
one at each hip.

miora felah ti'Feyreisan
—joy to the Feyreisa (literally "Joyful life to the Feyreisa")

nei
—no

parei
—stop

sel'dor
—literally "black pain." A rare black metal that painfully disrupts Fey magic.

selkahr
—black crystals used by Mages. Made from Azrahn-corrupted Tairen's Eye crystal.

setah!
—enough!

seyani
—a Fey warrior's longsword. Each Fey warrior carries two
seyani
swords strapped to his back.

sha vel'mei
—you're welcome

shei'dalin
—Fey healer and Truthspeaker; capped when referring to their leader.
sheisan'dahlein
—Fey honor death. Ceremonial suicide for the good of the Fey.

shei'tan
—beloved / husband / truemate

shei'tani
—beloved / wife / truemate

shei'tanitsa
—the truemate bond

sieks'ta
—I have shame (I'm sorry; I beg your pardon)

sorreisu kiyr
— Soul Quest crystal

Tairen—flying catlike creatures that live in the Fading Lands. The Fey are the Tairenfolk, magical because of their close kinship with the Tairen.

Tairen Soul—also known as Feyreisen; they are rare Fey who can transform into tairen. Masters of all five Fey magics, they are feared and revered for their power. The oldest Tairen Soul becomes the Feyreisen, the Fey King.

teska
—please

Ver reisa
ku'chae. Kent surah, shei'tani
—Your soul calls out. Mine answers, beloved.