Realm of Light (23 page)

“Like the cloud?”

Anas frowned. “You
saw that?”

“Yes, a terrible,
monstrous thing. Hecati sent it after me—”

“Nonsense! She has
no such power,” Anas said in astonishment. “Do you have no recognition of the
portents?”

Elandra stared back
in puzzlement. “Then what kind of—”

“You saw history,
wound into a maelstrom,” Anas said impatiently. “The cloud was the lifetime of
Kostimon. If it passed by you, it should have taken you up into its center.”

“It came right at
me,” Elandra said. “Then at the last moment it veered away.”

Anas’s blue eyes
widened. “Your destiny has protected you.”

Before Elandra
could respond, the Magria turned and strode away. Elandra hurried after her,
feeling hollow and strange inside. A terrible suspicion was spreading through
her, one she hardly dared let herself believe. Yet what else could it mean?

“Kostimon,” she
whispered. “Are you saying he is dead?”

“Yes, he is dead.”
Anas sounded almost pleased. “You saw his soul and all his knotted threads of
life—the history of his existence—swept away into the darkness. I wish I had
been able to witness it.”

Elandra frowned.
She had known it must happen soon, but even so she hardly dared believe it.
What she had felt for him had not been love, but she had respected him. She had
been in awe of him. She had almost felt—almost—affection for him. In some ways,
their minds had been much alike.

“Dead and gone,”
Anas said with satisfaction. “As is Sien the Vindicant—”

“Sien!” Elandra
echoed, and she almost added,
Good riddance.
But instead she thought of
the old Magria, likewise gone. So much had been swept away so suddenly. It made
her shiver.

“What is to
befall—”

“Please be quiet,”
Anas broke in, quickening her pace. “I require quiet, Majesty, so that I can
take us from here safely.”

Elandra stifled
the rest of her questions. She did not understand why Anas had to be so
prickly. Walking as fast as she could, she kept pace with the Magria and
wondered how far they would have to go.

In the next
moment, without any warning at all, she was back in the snowy gully.

Startled, she
stumbled and nearly stepped in the stream. The intense cold struck right
through her gown and seemed to freeze her face. Huge flakes of snow were
falling from a gray, gloomy sky. The air smelled fragrant and fresh, and she
drew in several deep lungfuls of it.

“You did it!” she
cried. “Anas, you are wonderful!”

Again Anas gave
her that fleeting smile before looking stern again. “Is it too much to address
me with respect, Majesty? I believe you have been thinking we should treat each
other as equals.”

Elandra’s joy was
jerked up tight. Hurt and annoyed, she grabbed for imperial composure as a
defense. “You must forgive me, Excellency, if I do not take your abilities for
granted in the way that you do. I am not yet accustomed to treating them
casually. I am sure my admiration will eventually fade.”

Anas frowned,
drawing in a sharp breath, but Elandra gave her no time to speak.

“As for equality,
I think that is fair. It would be pleasant if we could feel comfortable enough
with each other to be informal in private, but if that is not possible, I am
amenable to maintaining the formal protocols.”

Anas opened her
mouth, but Elandra gathered up her long skirts to keep them from getting wet in
the snow and walked toward the cave.

“Do allow me to
offer you shelter. The cave looks humble, but I believe it is considered a
place of sanctuary. It is better than standing out here in the wind and snow.”

With head held
high, she swept on ahead of Anas like a grand lady. Anas followed her without a
word, although Elandra half expected the Magria to vanish into thin air.

Once inside the
gloomy cave, however, Elandra found nothing welcoming about it. The ice-covered
walls gave off a damp chill. There was no fire to warm it, no food or drink to
bring back strength, hardly any light to see by.

Picking up her
cloak, Elandra wrapped it around herself and sank wearily to the floor.

Anas glanced
around warily as though she expected something to spring at her from the
interior of the cave. “How interesting,” she said at last, tilting her head as
she studied the ceiling and ran her fingertips along the ice-coated walls. “One
of the famous ice caves of Trau. It is a province known for its many natural
wonders. Sanctuary, did you call it?”

“Yes.”

“I feel a natural
resonance in the earth.” Anas extended her hand as though to press her palm
against the wall, then withdrew it. “Very old power is here, an ancient
presence like ...” Her voice trailed off thoughtfully. “Did the man bring you
here?”

Elandra looked up.

“The man in your
dreams. Caelan E’non.”

Heat flamed in
Elandra’s face. She looked away hastily, embarrassed by the question. The
passion she had felt in those dreams was very private. In her heart she cursed
the Penestrican dream walkers who robbed her of her secrets.

“You are free of
your marriage vows,” Anas said. “Have you realized that yet?”

Elandra’s eyes
widened. She was a widow, no longer married, no longer bound to a man she did
not love. Her heart suddenly leaped in her chest, and she looked at the mouth
of the cave in longing for Caelan’s return.

“Does he know you
love him?”

Elandra shook her
head.

Anas walked over
to her and crouched down beside her. Her hand covered Elandra’s in a brief
clasp. “Your feelings are not wrong or forbidden. You think your mother broke
her marriage vows for a wanton affair, but this is not true. Iaris was destined
to have an affair with Albain. Fate—not her free will—decreed their union. She
fought us. She fought him. She fought herself.”

Elandra stared at
the Magria, her eyes wide. “What are you saying?” she whispered.

“I am saying that
it is a time for truth. The veils and mysteries must be swept aside if we are
to become united against our common enemy. Your mother is well married. She did
not desire the affair which produced you. She was given no choice by the
sisterhood.”

“You mean—”

“Yes, Elandra.
Long before your birth, we cast the future and knew the final empress must be
special, must have the strong blood of Fauvina as a forbearer. We sifted
through all the lineages and found the necessary combination between your
father and mother. The spell was made. The affair happened. You were born.”

Elandra felt
stunned. “Small wonder she never loved me.”

“Oh, child,” Anas
said with sudden emotion, gripping her hand again. “She did not give you up by
choice. We commanded that as well.”

Elandra stared at
her a moment, soaking in the revelation, then jerked her hand away from Anas.
“Why?”

“To test you—”

“Tests!” Elandra
said furiously, jumping to her feet. “Always tests. What good are they? Do they
make anyone’s life better? Do they help anyone?”

“You were
strengthened and tempered by adversity to prepare you for your destiny.”

“My destiny was to
marry a great man. I have done that,” Elandra shouted at her. “Now what is left
but civil war I have little hope of winning? Or should I simply go home to my
father’s household and live the rest of my days in a widow’s veil?”

“Stop reacting
emotionally and use your wits,” Anas retorted. “There is more destiny ahead of
you, girl. More than you can imagine, if you have the courage to face it.”

“What?” Elandra
demanded. “You said there would be no more mysteries. Tell me all.”

“It is sometimes
better to face life blindly than with knowledge.”

Elandra gestured
impatiently. “Tell me!”

“According to the
visions, you have two possible destinies. Soon you will come to the fork that
determines the course of the world.”

“I don’t
understand.”

“One destiny is
this: You will wade in blood. You will wear armor like a man. You will stand
atop
Sidraigh-hal
and watch the destruction of the world.”

Aghast, Elandra
stared at her in horror. “And the other?” she whispered.

“The second
destiny is this: You are
chiara kula na,
the woman of fire. You will
reap the tears of the world.”

Elandra waited to
hear more, but Anas stood silent.

After a moment
Elandra frowned. The first destiny was too horrible to contemplate, and the
second destiny made no sense.

“What does it
mean?” Elandra finally asked.

Anas spread her
hands. “That is up to you, and the actions you take.”

Elandra stared at
her. “You aren’t telling me everything. There is more to what you know.”

Anas hesitated.

“Tell me! What do
I face besides war and destruction? What of Caelan’s destiny?”

“My visions do not
concern men,” Anas said sharply.

“But does your
vision show us together? Or do you intend to keep us apart?”

She looked at
Elandra very hard and said, “The only one who has kept you and Caelan E’non
apart has been you. In the past you have been told that fear keeps you from
spreading your wings like an eagle.”

Elandra flushed.
She did not like to be called a coward. “Perhaps too many tests create their
own bonds,” she muttered.

“Perhaps,” Anas
agreed. “But they are feeble bonds, easily broken. Better you should confront
yourself now and work out your own desires before you face what is to come.”

“And that is?”

“The portents are
very dark,” Anas said. “I will have another vision soon, but all those that
have come thus far are frightening. Something terrible is taking shape in our
world.”

“Does Beloth
rise?”

Anas shot her a
sharp look as though surprised to hear Elandra speak the god’s name aloud.
“Perhaps. But I think it is something we do not yet recognize. Do not look at
me thus. I am not withholding information. The visions offer many possible
futures, many possible outcomes. Not one only. It is confusing. It is my prayer
that the right future will happen.”

“But what shall I
do?” Elandra asked. “What course should I take? If I am to ensure the correct
future will—”

“The witch Hecati
accused you of being our puppet,” Anas said with unexpected patience, “but you
are not. You cannot follow, Majesty. You must lead. You must find your own way.
I have told you all I can.”

Elandra dropped
her gaze. She felt far from reassured. “I cannot lead Caelan,” she said. “He
will not—have you no knowledge of him at all?”

“Only that he has
long been in your dreams. Nowhere else in our visions does he appear. Nor has
he appeared in the auspices cast by the Vindicants. What this means, I do not
know. Perhaps you will walk beside him, as he will walk beside you. Enough,”
Anas said with a curt gesture. “This cave is cold and dark. Its magic is not
mine. I must go.”

With that abrupt
farewell, Anas headed for the exit.

Elandra hurried
after her. “Wait! Please, there is one more thing I must ask.”

Anas climbed
outside and stood impatiently in the snow. Her bare arms were blue with cold,
but she did not shiver. “Yes?”

Elandra met Anas’s
impatient eyes and felt her nerve waver. But she did not back away. “Is there a
way to alter time, to make it possible for Caelan and me to return to Imperia
more quickly than a normal journey? If we must return on foot or even on
horseback, it will take many days.”

“Nine weeks,” Anas
said.

“In that length of
time, Tirhin will have secured the throne for himself. I will have no chance—”

“You will find the
way you need,” Anas replied curtly. “I must go.”

Frustrated,
Elandra again hurried after her. “But, please, I—”

Anas held up her
hand to silence Elandra and shot her a stern look. “I have done all I can.
There are many preparations which I must oversee if the sisterhood is to
survive. I can do nothing else for you at this time.”

She quickened her
pace and strode away into the swirling snow, until the mist engulfed her and
she was gone.

Shivering within
the folds of her cloak, Elandra frowned against the snowflakes stinging her
face and realized it was nearly twilight.

Caelan, wherever
he had gone, should have been back by now ... if he meant to return at all. For
the first time she wondered if he had abandoned her, believing her lost to the
poison of the shadows.

Pain filled her
heart. She had lost her opportunity, lost him before she understood what it
meant to have him. Anger squared her shoulders, and for a moment she wanted to
choke him for not giving her more time.

Yet, in fairness,
how much time was he supposed to grant her? She had drawn away. She had refused
him. She had reminded him of her marriage vows, pretending they were not false
hypocrisy and clinging to them to ward off her fears.

Now Caelan was
gone.

She pressed her
hands to her lips, trying to hold back her emotions. He would not return. Just
as he had left his sister behind, so now had he left her.

Her anger came
surging back, trampling her grief. She wouldn’t stay here. She couldn’t hide in
this cave forever, like a rabbit in a hole. How was she supposed to live? What
was she supposed to eat? How was she supposed to occupy herself while he went
forth without her?

Furious and
frightened, she ran up the bank, telling herself he must have left tracks she
could follow. Yet she knew she could never catch up with him if he had indeed
left her.

Was she letting
her fear command her common sense? Was he not instead only out hunting? She
must believe he would return.

As she struggled
up the bank, she saw him emerge from the woods into the clearing.