Soul Seeker (The World of Lasniniar Book 1) (53 page)

It was finally over.

A choked gasp caught Iarion’s attention, reminding him their victory had not come without cost. He rushed to Linwyn’s side to cradle her broken form. He went to remove the blade, but she held out a hand to stop him.

“Leave it,” she said. “I know there’s no hope for me.”

Iarion placed his hand over hers, seeing her feelings for the first time. His eyes stung with unshed tears. He had the sudden suspicion the presence of the
Beliadar
and the additional forces in his vision had not been a lie. Somehow, she had persuaded them to come, leading them into battle.

“Thank you Linwyn, for all you have done. I would never have succeeded without you.”

“I did what I needed to do. I have no regrets.” She smiled before turning serious. “Iarion? Will I ever see you again?” It seemed a strange question, but Iarion understood.

“Sooner than you think.” He smiled down at her.

Iarion suddenly realized they were no longer alone. Barlo stood behind him, and Golaron rushed over to take Linwyn’s other hand. Iarion stepped back to give them some space. Lysandir was also there. Silvaranwyn was tending her mother, who watched the twins with a sad, wistful expression. Hidar was not to be seen. Iarion had a feeling his vision of Hidar’s death had also been true.

“Golaron, you are Lord of Belierumar now,” Linwyn said to her brother.

“Linwyn, no!” His expression was anguished. “You can’t die. I need you! How am I supposed to be your shadow?”

“You will have to go on without me. You have Silvaranwyn. She can be your light now. I know the two of you will be happy together.”

Golaron glared up at Iarion. “Can’t the elves heal her? You fixed the Quenya. Get them to use it!”

Iarion shook his head. “She is mortal. To use the Quenya to try to heal her would only seal her fate. She could not bear its touch. I am sorry.”

“Linwyn, why? Why did you do this? You were always too impulsive. Now you’ve gone and gotten yourself killed.” Golaron gave his sister a shake.

“Golaron, be still.” The weakness in Linwyn’s voice seemed to bring Golaron to his senses. “I have only behaved according to my nature. I knew the consequences. Now you will have to be strong. Our people need you.” She lifted a hand to wipe a tear from his cheek.

“Promise me something?” she asked. Golaron nodded, unable to speak. “If the two of you have a daughter, will you name her after me?”

Golaron swallowed. “I promise.”

She smiled. “I would like that…”

She breathed once more before the light faded from her eyes. Golaron threw back his head to utter a keen of sorrow. Iarion placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Linwyn was gone.

–
Chapter Fifty-Six –

Revelations

Iarion looked on as Silvaranwyn comforted her mother. Lord Valanandir had died trying to prevent Saviadro from entering the glade, just as he had in Iarion’s vision. Golaron still cradled his sister’s limp body in his arms. Lysandir stood apart, appearing lost in thought. Barlo and Sinstari stood at Iarion’s side.

“Iarion,” Barlo said in a quiet voice, “what did you mean when you told Linwyn you would see each other sooner that you think?”

“Sometimes, when a Greater Man or Woman has performed a truly momentous deed that helps all the Free Peoples of Lasniniar and they give their life to the cause, something special happens when they die. Instead of returning to the Quenya, like the rest of their kind, they are reborn as Shadow Elves, giving them a chance at immortality. I don’t know for certain, but I would like to believe Linwyn would fall into that exceptional group.”

“Why didn’t you tell that to Golaron?”

“As I said, I don’t know for certain. I wouldn’t want to give him false hope. Besides, he will probably find out for himself. If she is reborn, it’s likely he will be as well. They are two halves of a single whole, and he has also been a vital part of this quest. Twins are rare. They belong together.” Iarion felt the truth of his words as he spoke them.

“You are right, Iarion.” Silvaranwyn spoke softly as she walked toward them. She held her mother’s hand. “Twins do belong together.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” Iarion said to the two elf women. “Lord Valanandir will be sorely missed. He was a living legend among all elvenkind.” He spoke the words in their own language.

Silvaranwyn gave him a small smile. “Thank you, Iarion. But do not grieve overmuch. My father will return. He will be reborn here, among his people.”

Lady Iadrawyn stroked her daughter’s face. Her eyes were filled with sorrow. “It is time,” she said.

Silvaranwyn nodded and took a deep breath before switching to the Common Tongue. “Iarion, there is something I need to tell you. Since rejoining the Quenya, you finally feel a connection, yes?” Iarion nodded.

“But you still cannot remember your past or your purpose.” It wasn’t a question. Now Silvaranwyn had everyone’s attention. Even Golaron stood to listen.

“The time has come for me to reveal these things to you, which is part of my own purpose,” she said. “It is time for us to speak of the Kinslaying.

“A very long time ago, long before the Sundering of the Elves, a pair of twins was born among the
Linadar
. Those who were not there to remember it have assumed because they were twins, they were the same gender. This is not so. Like Golaron and Linwyn, these twins were also brother and sister. They were named Alfialys and Eransinta. They grew up together and were inseparable. Alfialys was different from all other
Linadar
. He was named for his strange, silver eyes.

“During the Age of Sundering, Saviadro devised his plot to steal the power of the Quenya for himself. He tricked the dwarves into forging his own vessel to hold the Quenya, and entered this very glade during the darkest part of night. In those days, elves came and went, communing with the Quenya when they wished. We never thought a threat to the Quenya would come from within.”

Although Iarion had heard this painful story once before as a child in Melaralva, it felt as though he were hearing it for the first time. He could see the events unfold in his mind, as if he were actually there.

Silvaranwyn continued. “Saviadro began the process of transferring the power of the Quenya to his vessel, but he was interrupted. Alfialys had also come to the glade. For some reason, he found he could not sleep and was drawn to the Quenya.

“He caught Saviadro in the middle of his theft. Alfialys called out in surprise, unable to believe what he was seeing. At first, Saviadro tried to use his honeyed tongue to convince the other elf he was merely acting according to the lord and lady’s wishes. Alfialys was not persuaded. Unarmed, he stood between Saviadro and the Quenya.

“But Saviadro had a knife. It was another gift of the dwarves. Feigning remorse for his actions, he moved closer and plunged it into Alfialys’s chest. But as his last act before dying, Alfialys used the Quenya to raise the alarm. Saviadro was forced to flee with only the small portion of the Quenya he had managed to steal.

“His actions had created a brief disruption in the Quenya’s power. The elves tried to use the Quenya to save Alfialys, but it was too late. He managed to tell them what had happened and the word was spread. But Saviadro had already disappeared, fleeing the forest with his prize.

“Alfialys died without seeing his sister. When Eransinta learned her brother’s fate, she went mad with grief. She changed her name to Finiferia and vowed not to rest until she found her lost twin.” Golaron choked back a sob at Silvaranwyn’s words.

Her silver eyes met Iarion’s. “All this you already know. But there is more. Because Alfialys died by violence, and before he could fulfill his destiny, many believed his soul would be doomed to oblivion. There is also another theory. Some of us believe because Alfialys died protecting the Quenya, he would be reborn.

“For millennia, we have waited for him to return as one of his own kind. But his sudden death, tied with the theft of the Quenya, created a rift. He never arrived among our
Linadar
children. Many believers began to doubt.

“Then someone came that we did not expect. It was one of our
Goladar
cousins, born during the Age of Shadow, not long after the Kinslaying and the Sundering. He had lived an exceptionally long life, even for one of his kind. Yet he could not die, because he had no connection with the Quenya.

“Unlike any other elf, he had no memory of his previous life, or his sense of purpose. The Lord and Lady of the
Linadar
could sense he was the one to bear the Levniquenya and reunite the Quenya, but they could not say why. He had strange, silver and sapphire eyes, unlike any of his own kind.” Iarion felt the slow dawning of realization.

“Now that the rejoining is complete, there can be no doubt. You have returned to this place under these circumstances to put everything back the way it was supposed to be, before Saviadro rejected his destiny and took matters into his own hands. Iarion, you are Alfialys.”

A stunned silence filled the grove. Iarion noticed that everyone was staring at him. A well of strange, new memories floated to the surface. He saw friendly faces he didn’t recognize. One did stand out. She had long, gleaming white hair and dark blue eyes. She was laughing and smiling.

Iarion suddenly remembered the singing elf maid he and Barlo had seen wandering the wood here, when they had first arrived. It was Finiferia. She had been looking for someone. She had been looking for him.

Iarion felt as though someone had thrown a bucket of icy water on him as full realization sank in. He remembered how familiar it had felt to be in the grove with Saviadro. Some things the Fallen One had said began to make sense. Iarion sank to his knees.

“It is true.”

–
Chapter Fifty-Seven –

Destiny

“So what does this mean?” Barlo asked. His hand on Iarion’s shoulder was like a lifeline to the elf. Iarion’s whole world had changed.

“It means he has come full circle. His soul’s destiny is back on its original path,” Silvaranwyn said, giving Iarion a meaningful look.

Iarion knew what she was implying, but he stubbornly refused to accept it. He had expected the reunion of the Quenya to mean a new beginning for him. He had never foreseen this. He realized now why Saviadro had been so smug.

“You mean my destiny for this lifetime has been fulfilled,” he said, almost in accusation.

“Is that not what you have been striving for?” Her eyes were filled with sympathy and understanding.

Iarion forced her pity aside. It was as though they were the only two people in the glade. A part of him realized they had lapsed into Elvish.

“I have spent my life searching for understanding and meaning,” he said. “I have wanted to know what it feels like to be certain your feet are on the right path. I had thought by fulfilling this quest, I would finally become complete and could live out the rest of my years in peace. I have given everything I have! Now even this has been stolen from me.”

“You will be made whole, just not in the way you expected.” She took one of his hands in hers.

Iarion used it to pull her down so she was forced to kneel in front of him.

“How is this even possible? For thousands of years, I have wandered, lost and searching. Now, without even having the gift of the Quenya’s awareness, I have managed to conveniently stumble upon the answer! This is not the way it’s supposed to be.”

Silvaranwyn shook her head. “For you, the signs might not have been visible, but the path remained the same.”

“I don’t just want a final solution. I want to feel what you feel. I want to know what you know! You don’t know what it’s like to live your life wandering in shadow.”

“That may be true, but I am about to find out. I have sacrificed almost everything that makes me who I am to serve the Quenya. I have already begun to feel some of the emptiness you have experienced. But each time I begin to feel afraid, I remind myself that all roads, no matter how long and winding, lead back to the Quenya.”

“So you are asking me to take all this on faith.”

“Is that not what you have done your entire life? Think, Iarion. There was never any guarantee you would find what you were looking for, yet you never stopped searching.”

Iarion knew she was right, but a part of him still rebelled. “But this isn’t right. I haven’t earned this. I’m still lost.”

Silvaranwyn put a hand to his cheek and gave him a sad smile. “As long as we act according to the best of our nature and try to do what is right, we can never truly be lost.”

Iarion sighed. “I just thought I would have more time.”

“Have you not lived several lifetimes already? When you began this quest, you claimed to be sick of your own immortality. Now you are considering hanging on to it. Did you cast down Saviadro only to take his place?”

“Of course not! It’s just… Well, I feel like all my life I’ve been running in one direction, trying to reach my goal. Now I find myself standing at the edge of a large chasm and the only way to keep moving forward is to leap across. I’m afraid, Silvaranwyn.” He looked up, meeting her eyes.

She took both his hands in hers. “You are not alone, Iarion. You have loyal friends at your side to help you.”

Iarion struggled to come to grips with what was happening. He knew what he had to do. He just had to accept it. He took a deep breath. “I always thought this was something I had to do on my own. I was wrong. Thank you.”

“Shall I summon Finiferia?” Silvaranwyn asked.

Iarion shook his head. “No. I don’t want her to think she has found me, only to lose me all over again. We will be together again someday.”

Silvaranwyn nodded her acceptance and let go of his hands. She rose to her feet and stepped back. “The time is drawing near. I must speak with Golaron. He needs me. You should explain this to Barlo.” She walked over to Golaron, drawing him off to the side. Lysandir was comforting Iadrawyn.