Leaves of Flame (6 page)
Authors: Joshua Palmatier
Lotaern’s mouth opened, but no words came out. They stood staring at each other silently, until Lotaern finally closed his mouth and grunted. “Why does it take so long?”
“Because the heartwood must be submerged long enough for the Confluence’s waters to penetrate to the wood’s core. This knife took twelve years. It will take even longer if we attempt the molding of a sword or anything larger.And then, before I could mold it with Aielan’s Light, it had to dry.
“About a month ago, I returned to the Hauttaeren, to the fires below, and I began to craft this.”
“You’ve been down in the Halls for a month and none of the acolytes or members of the Flame were aware of it?”
“Yes.”
Lotaern glared at the Alvritshai who’d given him the now bloody cloth for the cut on his finger. The guardsman shifted uncomfortably, bowing his head slightly. Colin suppressed a small smile as he shifted his grip on the staff. He could sense the animosity radiating from the man, although he wasn’t certain why the member of the Flame felt he was a threat.
“Perhaps we need additional guardsmen surrounding Aielan’s Light,” the Chosen said in a leaden voice, and the guardsman nodded imperceptibly.
“You shouldn’t fault the Order of the Flame,” Colin said. “I can remain hidden if needed.”
“Yes,but you are not the only one with those powers.As we learned before, with the unfortunate Benedine, the Wraiths can hide in our midst as well.”
“Not with the Winter Tree in Caercaern,” Colin countered, then cursed himself for bringing up the touchy subject.
“Ah, yes. The Winter Tree. I’ve often wondered how the Tree protects us from the Wraiths—men and women like you, who have drunk from the sarenavriell—and yet appears to have no effect on you at all.”
Colin almost didn’t answer, Lotaern’s tone carrying an edge, some of the anger over not being consulted about the Winter Tree before its introduction to the Evant seeping through. “I created them,” he finally said. “In some sense, they are a part of me. And unlike the Wraiths, I have not fully embraced the Well. It hasn’t affected me to the extent that it has changed them.” He thought about the stain of the Shadow that swirled beneath his skin beneath the outer robe and the shirt beneath. Creating the Seasonal Trees— and now the knife—as well as trying to establish a balance between the awakened Wells had taken its toll.
“I see.” Lotaern considered for a moment, long enough for Colin to begin wondering what he was thinking, but then he dropped his gaze back to the knife.
“Molding the knife is one thing,” he said, then set the blade back down onto the table between them. “But it doesn’t address the real question.”
“Which is?”
Lotaern looked up. “Does it work? Can it be used against the sukrael? Can it kill one of the Wraiths?”
Colin straightened. “Short of testing it on myself, there’s only one way to find out.” He thought about what Aeren had said on the balcony decades ago, about the dark understanding he’d seen in Eraeth’s eyes, about Walter.
“And do you know where the Wraiths are?”
Colin shook his head. “No. The Faelehgre have still not determined how to track them, or the Shadows, except through the news of those who have been attacked by them.”
Lotaern stilled and frowned. “I thought—” he began, then halted and murmured, almost to himself, “No, you wouldn’t know, would you? You’ve been within the mountain for the last month.”
“I wouldn’t know what?” Colin asked.
Lotaern moved away from the table, toward the two guardsmen and the door. “When the acolyte said that you were here, waiting for me, I thought you’d come for a different reason.” He motioned to the head guardsman, returning the bloody cloth at the same time. The moody guardsman nodded and stepped out into the corridor beyond, and for the first time Colin thought that perhaps the tension he’d felt from Lotaern and the guards of the Order of the Flame came from something other than the strained relationship the Chosen and he maintained.
The Chosen turned back.“Follow me.Vaeren will escort us to the top of the temple. There’s something I need to show you.”
Colin hesitated only a moment, suddenly uncertain and uneasy. He retrieved his satchel, removed a swath of finely made chain mail, the links so small it was nearly cloth, wrapped the wooden knife in the metal folds, and tucked it away.
Vaeren and the other guard were waiting in the outer corridor and began moving as soon as Colin appeared. Members of the Order of the Flame stepped out of their path as they wound through the corridors, climbing stairs until they’d reached the main level of the temple of Aielan that stood in the center of Caercaern. The groups of Flame fell away, replaced by the scurrying acolytes in training in the temple, and still they ascended flight after flight of stairs, passing through corridors that Colin had never seen even during his years of study.The members of the Flame looked apprehensive, but the acolytes merely appeared curious.
“Where are we going? What is it that I need to see?”
“Wait,” Lotaern said. “We’re almost there.”
The wide stairs leveled out, a set of doors at the far end of a narrow hall. Vaeren outpaced them, reaching the doors with enough time to open them just as they arrived at the threshold. A gust of frigid air, tasting of winter and the snows of the mountains, blasted through the opening and bit into Colin’s skin, passing through his robes as if he were naked, and then he followed Lotaern out onto the roof of the temple into the darkness of night. The Chosen didn’t pause, moving across the stone roof toward the building’s edge, his own robes flapping about his feet, his only concession to the cold the hunch in his shoulders. Snow that had fallen earlier blew across his path in a fine dust as Colin followed, staff in hand, satchel flung across his back. Behind, Vaeren and the other guard produced lanterns and came after them, the light reflecting warmly off of the roof, although the lanterns created no real heat against the chill.
When he reached the edge of the building, Colin stared down into the wide plaza in front of the temple, the arc of stone obelisks rising into the night beneath him. Flurries blew back and forth, lifted up by the wind from the few drifts of snow that remained from the recent storm. Lantern lights dotted the cityscape to either side outside the plaza and in the first tier beneath them. From this vantage, Colin could see the base of the Winter Tree over the wall that had been built around it, its leaves thrashing in the wind, its length towering above him, even though the marketplace where he’d planted the seed stood on the far side of the city. It had grown since the planting, and even though he had created the Tree, had crafted the seed using the power of the Lifeblood and Aielan’s Light, its sheer size awed him. He stared up at its branches, the uneasiness Lotaern had evoked crawling across his skin as he searched it for damage, for flaws, assuming the Chosen had brought him to the roof so that he could see the Tree. But he saw nothing wrong, felt nothing wrong, although he’d only be able to tell for certain by touching the Tree itself.
He turned toward Lotaern in confusion. “What is it? I don’t see anything wrong with the Winter Tree. It appears healthy.”
Lotaern shook his head. “It isn’t the Winter Tree. As far as I know, it’s fine. The Wardens—the acolytes assigned to its care—have reported nothing amiss.”
“Then what did you bring me up here to see?”
Lotaern nodded toward the south and east, toward the night sky, where the stars on the horizon were blotted out by what Colin assumed were clouds. Colin shifted position and moved down the edge of the roofline, staring into the distance. Neither Lotaern nor the two guards followed him. He watched the horizon intently, his fingers growing numb as the wind gusted into his face, but he saw nothing.
He had just begun turning toward the Chosen in irritation when something within those clouds flickered. Lightning fl ared, arcing from cloud to cloud, their contours harshly and vividly exposed, the sky beautiful for the space of a heartbeat before plunging back into darkness.
Colin sucked in a sharp breath, waited for the rumble of thunder though he knew the storm was too distant for them to hear it, even as horror crawled its way down into his chest. He straightened and turned toward Lotaern. “That’s not a natural storm,” he muttered, loud enough to be heard, even though his voice felt weak.
“No, it’s not. You see why I am concerned.”
“Yes.” Colin turned back to the darkness that blotted out the sky. Even as he watched, more lightning streaked from the clouds, flashing a preternatural purple. Like the storms that had scoured the plains before and after the Accord, that had plagued the dwarren and the Alvritshai alike for decades.
Until he’d balanced the power of the Wells and the storms had stopped.
“Someone has upset the balance of the sarenavriell,” he said, stepping forward as he angled his staff across his body protectively.
“That was our thought as well,” Lotaern said from behind him. “It’s why I thought you’d come.”
“No. I knew nothing of this.” He searched the storm, as if he could find answers there. Then he spun toward the Chosen, glancing toward Vaeren and the other member of the Flame. Anger had begun to build, creeping through the shock and sudden clench of his gut. “But it isn’t possible.”
“What do you mean?”
“It isn’t possible! I spent nearly thirty years finding those Wells and adjusting them so that the power had stabilized.” He began to pace, the frigid wind and the numbness of his fingers forgotten, his brow creased in furious thought.
“And the Wraiths can’t upset that balance somehow? They can’t adjust what you did?”
“No! I placed wards around all of the Wells, not just for the Wraiths and the Shadows, but to keep everyone else away from them as well. Their power is too dangerous, too deadly. I didn’t want anyone stumbling onto one, drinking from it, becoming like me,like the Wraiths.The Wells are protected!”
“None of those wards have failed?”
“I would know. They are tied to me, linked to the Lifeblood, to the sarenavriell. Even if one had failed, most of the Wells are within the boundaries of the Seasonal Trees. The Wraiths couldn’t approach them.”
“Most, but not all. How many are outside the Trees’ influence?”
Colin paused, drew in a deep breath to steady himself, said, “Three. Only three.”
Lotaern nodded. “Then you’ll need to verify that the wards on those three are still intact and that the Wells haven’t been altered in any way. Maybe the Wraiths have found a way around your wards. Or maybe something else has occurred.”
Colin straightened, back prickling at the tone in Lotaern’s voice, the hint of condescension. The words rang with command, as if Lotaern were ordering him to act, as if Colin were one of his acolytes.
“Such as?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
The guards caught the hint of warning. They stiffened.
Lotaern ignored it.“Perhaps you haven’t found all of the Wells yet.”
Colin wanted to scoff, his shoulders already tensing, but he was forced to let the anger out with a ragged exhalation. “You helped search the Scripts for the locations of the sarenavriell. You know how exhaustive that search was.”
“Yes. But the sarenavriell existed long before the Alvritshai appeared in these mountains. It’s possible that the locations of some of them remained hidden, even from our ancestors, those who wrote the Scripts in the first place.”
Colin nodded in grudging agreement, then turned back to the storm, watching the ethereal purplish lightning light up the skyline.The storm appeared to be moving southwest, out toward the plains and dwarren lands.He frowned.With effort, he shoved his irritation with Lotaern aside. He needed to focus on this new problem, on what it meant and how to solve it.
“When did you first notice the storms?” he asked after a long moment.
“A little over two weeks ago.”
Fingers aching with the cold, Colin moved across the roof toward the doorway.He heard the Chosen,Vaeren,and the second guard following, the light of the lanterns spilling his shadow out in front of him.
“What do you intend to do?” Lotaern asked as they entered the warmth of the Sanctuary, the guards closing the doors behind them.
Colin began massaging his hands as the Chosen took the lead and they descended into the halls and corridors of the Sanctuary proper. “First, I intend to get warm,” he said, snapping his hands briskly to increase the blood flow.“Then I intend to visit Lord Aeren.”
He smiled at Lotaern’s irritated glance.
The irritation did not taint the Chosen’s voice when he spoke. “And the storms?”
Colin’s smile faltered. He hated to admit it, but Lotaern had been correct. “I’ll have to verify that the Wells have been untouched, as you said.”
They reached the main corridor, the central chamber of worship for the Alvritshai and its acolytes opening up before them, its cavernous heights lit with thousands of candles. The chamber smelled of oil and smoke and incense, and echoed faintly with the scuffing of sandals from acolytes moving through the corridors and hallways above.
Lotaern paused,then said,“You won’t do it alone.You’ll have an escort of the Order of the Flame with you.”
“I
DON’T NEED AN ESCORT,” Colin protested. “But you will have one.” Colin’s eyes narrowed and he straightened inside the foyer of the Sanctuary, conscious of the two members of the Flame standing behind Lotaern and the acolytes kneeling in prayer inside the ritual chamber to one side. As he adjusted his grip on his staff, Vaeren surreptitiously shifted his hand to his cattan.
“I can travel much faster without them,” he growled.
The Chosen nodded. “I realize that, but there are more important things at play here now than speed.”
“Such as?”
“Such as the knife that you carry.” Lotaern did not drop his gaze from Colin to the satchel slung across his chest where the knife rested, wrapped in chain mail, but Colin tensed anyway. “That knife may be the only weapon we have against the Wraiths, the only object that can kill them. It cannot be lost. If you travel alone and the Wraiths find you . . .”He let the thought trail off,then added,“We cannot allow it to fall into the Wraiths’ hands.”
Colin’s knuckles turned white and with conscious effort he forced himself to relax. He’d spent the last one hundred and twenty-seven years since the Accord more or less alone. He’d traveled the land, worked with the Alvritshai, the dwarren, the Faelehgre, searched for the Wells and created the Trees, but almost always by himself, isolated, withdrawn from the world. Even the time spent with Aeren, Moiran, their son Fedaureon, and Eraeth eventually ended, the Lord of House Rhyssal drawn into the politics of the Evant, Moiran focusing on their new son and the Ilvaeren and the economic stability of the House. Colin had found himself visiting them far less often than immediately after the Accord, preferring the seclusion of the Ostraell and the white ruins of Terra’nor.
But Lotaern was correct: the knife had to be protected, guarded. Entrusting it to one person, even himself, could not be allowed. His isolation would have to end, unless he gave the knife to someone else, and that he would not do. Not until it had been tested and proven effective. Not until another weapon like it could be made.
And not until Walter was dead.
His shoulders slumped, although he let his anger darken his face, allowed his reluctance to tinge his voice. “Very well,”he agreed.“I’ll allow an escort of the Order.No more than four, I’ll want to travel as swiftly as possible. And they will follow my orders only.”
And if the need arose, he could always abandon them. They could not hold him prisoner, could not contain him.
He saw the same thought flicker through Lotaern’s eyes, but the Chosen turned to Vaeren. “Assemble the group. You’ll lead,but use only members of the Flame.Take whatever you feel is necessary from the Order.”
“I’ll want to take Siobhaen.” When Lotaern hesitated, Vaeren added, “She’s the best warrior you have, the most skilled with the Light.”
Lotaern grimaced. “Very well.”
“Also Boraeus and Petraen.”
The Chosen’s eyebrows rose. “Both brothers?”
“The two work well together.”
“Fine. Send word and have them gather here by dawn.”
“No.”
Both Lotaern and Vaeren turned toward him in surprise. Colin knew it was petty, but he didn’t like the sudden loss of control he felt.“If you want me to have an escort,assemble it now. I’ll give you an hour.”
“There’s no reason—” Lotaern began, but Colin halted him with a look.
Vaeren nodded, sent his fellow member of the Flame off in search of the two brothers, then gave Colin a threatening glance before stalking off into the depths of the Sanctuary, leaving Lotaern and Colin alone.
Colin watched his retreating back. “He doesn’t approve of me.”
“He doesn’t revere you, as so many within the Order do, acolytes and Flame alike. He sees you as a threat to the Order, to me.”
“Do you?”
Lotaern met Colin’s gaze, held it for a long moment. “You are not Alvritshai, not part of the Evant, and you have your own motivations, your own agenda. But the greatest threat you represent is that you are . . . unpredictable.”
Colin smiled. “Thank you.”
“That was not a compliment.”
Colin turned away from Lotaern’s scowl and moved into the depths of the main chamber. One of the acolytes looked up from his prayers at the scuff of his feet on the flagstone floor, then reached forward, rubbing his fingers in the soot that had stained the low stone pedestal beneath the wide bowl, spillover from when the bowl was filled with fire. He smudged the soot onto his cheek beneath his eye, as Colin had seen Aeren do so long ago, when he’d first met Lotaern. Then the acolyte rose and drifted from the chamber.
Colin moved to the edge of the bowl, where the acolyte had knelt,and stared into the empty depths.The scent of oil was stronger here, as if it had leached into the stone of the basin. The contours of the room amplified the sounds surrounding him, but blurred them as well. He heard murmurs from the depths of the Sanctuary as acolytes conversed, the scuffle of feet, and the flutter of wings from a bird trapped in the upper reaches of the chamber.
He glanced up and caught sight of the bird as it flitted from one of the stone-carved arches above to another, settling in a corner niche, its brown coloring blending into the gray of the stone.
“I never intended the Winter Tree to be a burden,” he said suddenly, his voice louder than he expected in the depths of the room. “I thought you’d welcome the protection it would bring the Alvritshai from the Shadows. I thought I’d have your support.”
Behind, he felt Lotaern still, then shift forward into the chamber. In the eighty-odd years since Colin had arrived with the Winter Tree’s seed in hand, they had rarely spoken of that day in the Evant. Even while working on the knife with Aielan’s Light they had carefully skirted the topic.
When the Chosen finally spoke, his voice was guarded. “I did welcome the protection, as did all of the acolytes and the Order of the Flame. The years without it, with the sukrael attacking Alvritshai lands, were horrible. The Flame and Phalanx did their best to protect the Alvritshai, but the sukrael were too difficult to track and attacked at random, without warning. The Phalanx could not harm them, their swords useless, and so they were relegated to evacuating towns and villages and cities when necessary, or diverting the sukrael with their own lives. And the Flame ...”
He’d moved into the periphery of Colin’s sight, and Colin saw him shudder.“I went there with them,of course.We tried to use Aielan’s Light against them, and it worked to some extent. The Light burns them, harms them. But to be effective we needed to prepare, which meant we needed to know where the sukrael were going to attack ahead of time. If we arrived after the attack had begun, the sukrael would simply flee before we could bring Aielan’s Light to bear.” He shook his head, mouth pulled down in a grim frown. “It was hideous: the loss of life, the panic of the people within the sukrael’s hunting ground, the uncertainty. The Order couldn’t offer anyone solace.”
He turned to look at Colin directly. “You brought them solace with the Winter Tree. You allowed them to return to their land and resume their lives. But the way in which you brought the Winter Tree.” His face tightened with anger. “You should have brought it to me. I should have been the one to present it to the Evant. Its power obviously fell within the domain of the Order, not the Evant, not Lord Aeren nor the Tamaell. I should have been given time to plan, to fi nd the best location for its planting. It should never have been placed in the center of Caercaern, in the marketplace!”
Colin’s gaze had dropped from the bird toward Lotaern. He didn’t like the assumption of authority he heard in the Chosen’s voice, nor the fact that Lotaern felt his authority rose above that of the Tamaell. “The placement in the marketplace was a mistake. I did not realize that it would quicken so fast.”
“That doesn’t matter now. It was planted in the marketplace, and has since been walled off, the plaza now a garden sanctuary maintained by the Order.”
Controlled by the Order,
Colin thought. Aeren had told him how Lotaern had sealed access to the Tree from the Evant, how he’d established Wardens to care for it even as the Flame guarded it and kept it from the Alvritshai, all with the sanction of the Evant, most of whose lords welcomed and feared the Tree’s power at the same time. It had become another way for Lotaern to control the Alvritshai, and through the lords, the Evant.
If Lotaern expected Colin to apologize for bringing the Tree to Aeren first, or to the Tamaell, he would be disappointed.
They heard Vaeren’s approach, his boots thumping through the chamber, moving swiftly, accompanied by the footfalls of another. Both the Chosen and Colin turned as the caitan of the Order of the Flame appeared in the foyer, his gaze flickering with irritation before he caught sight of them near the bowl. He and the woman, Siobhaen, approached, both dressed in the armor of the Flame, wrists banded with metal, the heavy cloth over their chests emblazoned with the stylized white flames of Aielan, boot heels harsh on the fl agstone fl oor, although Colin noticed that Siobhaen’s tread was much softer than Vaeren’s. Siobhaen’s long black hair was pulled back into a braid behind her head and she caught Colin with a sharp, searching glare, her light brown eyes flicking up and down once. Colin felt as if he’d been sized up and dismissed in the space of a heartbeat and straightened in indignation. Her features were narrow, made more severe by having her hair pulled back, but softened by small silver earrings.
Vaeren had changed into different armor as well, something more suited to traveling long distances. His hair had been tied back with a length of leather. “I’ve ordered the acolytes to bring horses to the main plaza for us, readied with supplies,” he said, ignoring Colin completely.
Before Lotaern could answer, two more members of the Flame appeared. Dressed like Vaeren, they came up behind the caitan and nodded toward Lotaern formally. The Chosen had straightened, assuming the mantle of his power. They were younger than Vaeren, but obviously related, their eyes the same dark gray.
“Is everything prepared?”
“No,” Siobhaen said. “Not yet. There is still one more thing to do.”
When the brothers shot her a curious glance, she moved toward the bowl, knelt on one knee, and lowered her head. Colin could hear her murmuring beneath her breath.
When he looked up, he caught the brothers rolling their eyes. Vaeren gave them a look and with sudden solemnity they both knelt.
A moment later, Siobhaen reached forward and smudged soot along her cheek, the two brothers following suit. Then all three rose.
“Now we are ready,” Vaeren said.
The entire group moved to the main entrance, acolytes pulling open the doors as they approached. Gusts of winter air pushed through, and Colin hoped that the acolytes had thought to include warmer clothes in his own set of supplies. Even as he thought it, one of the acolytes stepped forward and presented him with a second satchel. Inside, he found clothing of an Alvritshai cut and the Order’s colors, a bedroll, bowls and utensils, and other assorted tools for the road.
He pulled the clothing free.“I’ll need to change,”he said to Vaeren and Lotaern.
The Chosen motioned him away. As the acolyte showed him to a room, he and Vaeren spoke to each other quietly, too low for Colin to catch.
A few minutes later, he joined the Order of the Flame outside in the Sanctuary’s plaza, the stone obelisks surrounding them on all sides. The Alvritshai clothing fit, even though Colin fi dgeted with its unfamiliar cut, a little too tight in the shoulders for his taste.
Lotaern had just finished a blessing, the Flame members rising. He turned to Colin as they mounted the waiting horses. “Find out what’s causing the storms, Shaeveran.”
Colin didn’t answer the command, merely swinging up into the saddle of his own horse. He remembered when the Alvritshai had been afraid of horses, when he and his family had first ventured onto the plains and met Aeren and Eraeth.
The Chosen backed away, his acolytes following him into the protection of the door’s alcove, away from the wind.
“Why are we leaving in the middle of the night?” one of the brothers asked, barely above a whisper. “Couldn’t this have waited until morning?”
The other brother shrugged.
Colin turned to Vaeren.
“Where to first?”the caitan asked.“Rhyssal House lands to see Lord Aeren?”
“No,” Colin said. “To the Winter Tree. I need to verify that the Trees have not been affected.”
Vaeren’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but he nodded.
