She got to her feet, pushing her chair back so violently that it overturned, and stormed out, with Kelon, his face pale with dismay, a step behind her. As he reached the door, Aelwen spoke. ‘Kelon, please. You don’t have to stay with her - with them. Come back to us, I beg you. There will always be a place for you in this company.’
He gave her a chilling look, so bitter, bleak and empty that Aelwen blanched. ‘You’re wrong,’ he said. ‘There’s no place for me here. He took it.’ With a last snarl at Taine, he was gone, and the slamming of the door reverberated through the silence he left in his wake.
‘My, what a display of intelligence and courtesy we’ve seen in the last few minutes. It makes me proud to be human.’ Everyone looked in surprise at Dael, who had been sitting so quietly throughout the discussion that most folk had forgotten he was there. He crossed the room to Athina, and took her hands. ‘At least it made me see sense. I’m sorry I was angry with you earlier. That ignorant human and her Hemifae friend have made me realise that you aren’t simply abandoning me without a thought: I can trust these people with my future.’ He gestured around the table. ‘The Lady Iriana spoke of the free fisherfolk of Tyrineld. Maybe, if she would take me, I could go there when . . .’ For a moment his voice failed him, and he swallowed hard. ‘When you’re gone.’
‘Of course you can come with me,’ Iriana said kindly. ‘I was dreading the thought of trying to get home alone, and once we’re there, I’m certain that the fisherfolk would welcome you.’
‘Thank you, Iriana.’ The Cailleach’s voice rang with gratitude and relief. Rising to her feet, she took a deep breath. ‘I think we have accomplished all we can by talking. Now the time has come for us to act.’
35
THE SEARCH BEYOND
Dawn was breaking when everyone gathered outside the tower to say their farewells. The ferals had decamped already and vanished into the forest. Tiolani, looking pale but resolute, was beside Aelwen, Taine and their mounts. The Horsemistress was mounted on Taryn, her black stallion, and Taine rode Kelon’s Alil, while Tiolani had taken the Huntsman’s pretty red and white mare. Iriana and Corisand waited together, the Wizard’s eyes shining with excitement, while Dael stood wide-eyed at Athina’s side.
‘Are you ready to perform the flying magic?’ the Cailleach asked Tiolani.
‘I’m ready.’
‘Then farewell, and go with our blessings.’
Iriana hugged Taine. ‘Thank you for being such a support that dreadful night.’
He ruffled her hair. ‘It was a pleasure, little sister. You helped me too, remember? Good luck to you in your travels, and I hope that one day we will meet again in Tyrineld.’
For the first time since they had been thrown together once more, Corisand addressed Tiolani directly. ‘I’m doing my best to trust you, but it’s mostly because Aelwen and Athina want me to. Don’t prove them wrong.’
Tiolani glared at her. ‘You’ll never trust me, Corisand, any more than I trust you. I haven’t forgotten that you tried to kill me.’ With that she lifted her hands, and the pale shimmer of the flying magic curled around the three riders. The horses leapt skywards, then they were gone, vanishing into the clouds above.
Athina turned to Corisand. ‘Was that really necessary?’
The Windeye put her ears back. ‘It was to me - and I suspect it was to Tiolani. Now at least we both know where we stand. And speaking of standing, it’s time Iriana and I were on our way.’
The Cailleach’s silver-white hair glimmered like moonlight, and her eyes glowed with the piercing blue of Taku’s glacier as she lifted her hands. ‘Safe journey, my children, and may good fortune attend you.’
‘And you,’ Iriana said. ‘Please - if you can somehow manage to heal Avithan, will you . . . will you tell him I love him?’
‘Of course I will. But I suspect he already knows.’
Blushing, Iriana thrust her staff into her belt and turned to Corisand. ‘Are you ready?’
The Windeye of the Xandim inclined her beautiful, sculptured head. ‘More ready than you’ll ever know. Climb onto my back, my friend, and hold on tight.’
Corisand had refused a saddle and bridle, not knowing how they would translate to her alternative form, and now she felt a slight tingle of alien magic as the Wizard used the hint of an apport spell to boost herself up into place. Iriana was light and balanced on her back, but natural horsewoman though the Wizard was, Corisand could feel her tension, communicated through her legs and spine, and the tightly clenched hands that were knotted in her mane. It was understandable. It would be impossible for Melik to pass into the Elsewhere. Dael had promised to take the greatest care of him until Iriana returned, but the blind girl was being hurled into the unknown without any of her companion creatures to act as her eyes.
The Cailleach lifted her hands, and Corisand felt a thrill of immense power pass through her to Iriana, linking the three of them. The Windeye concentrated with all her might on that beautiful other place: the shores of the shimmering lake cradled in the forest’s dark embrace, the soaring silver peaks all around. It was so easy, with such otherworldly power behind her. All she had to do was follow the deepest yearnings of her heart. The magical energy filled and filled her, until it was all she could do to contain all that force. Then suddenly there was that odd, sideways shift of reality. Athina, the chamber and the world were all gone.
Corisand went home.
And, in an echo of her first time, fell flat on her face. Her human form was not designed to take a rider on its back. Even as she and Iriana went sprawling, their fall cushioned by soft black moss, the Windeye felt her heart leap as her powers sprang to life within her. She was the first to get to her feet, and saw that she was once again in the area of luminescent amber mist that had been her initial gateway to the Elsewhere. She turned to find Iriana still sitting on the ground, tears streaming down her face.
‘What’s wrong?’ Corisand knelt beside her. ‘Have you hurt yourself?’
The Wizard turned a glowing face towards her. ‘I can see you,’ she whispered. ‘For the first time in my life I can truly see.’
Corisand hugged her. ‘Oh, Iriana, I’m so glad.’
Iriana wiped the tears away, and her voice steadied as she took a firm grip on her emotions. ‘And you! I can’t believe it. It is you, isn’t it? Yes, of course it is,’ she amended quickly. ‘Somehow I recognise you, though I’ve never seen this form before.’ She grinned, her eyes dancing with laughter. ‘You look awfully vulnerable without clothes, though - particularly if you have to fight.’
Only then did the Windeye realise that Iriana was still wearing the travelling garb she had worn in the other world, whereas she herself was naked. Somehow, in the Elsewhere, she had never thought about clothes. Why should she? They had never previously been a part of her life, and in this enchanted place her magic provided any warmth and protection she might need. Nonetheless, she decided to humour Iriana’s concerns. Joyously switching to her Othersight, she took a double handful of air and wove a garment of grey shadows that copied Iriana’s tunic and breeches. It left her limbs free to move, yet covered her from head to toe. ‘There,’ she said. ‘Is that better?’