Well, Aelwen thought, as they began their descent into the palace, we’re about to find out.
Their approach had clearly been spotted. In the absence of Tiolani, the Phaerie were without flying magic, so no one came to meet them, but the wide plaza was thronged with members of the court, and many were still swarming like brightly coloured ants out of the great carved doors. Even at this distance, Aelwen could hear their cries of relief and puzzlement. Among the gay rainbow hues, however, she also saw the shimmer of silver mail, and the bright flashes of sunlight on keen-edged swords, and her stomach clenched in trepidation. As they landed, the Phaerie scattered to give the horses room, and into the resulting gap stepped Cordain, with a troop of soldiers at his back. You could take them for an honour guard, Aelwen thought. If you were that stupid.
Beside her, she felt Taine stiffen, and from the corner of her eye she registered his hand inching towards his weapon. But her attention was fixed on Cordain’s face. Dismay and annoyance, she saw there - and, more significantly, guilt. He’d believed Tiolani to be dead. He had been counting on it. When she first came to power, she had removed him from his exalted position of Chief Counsellor and put Ferimon in his place, so he held a grudge, but it was more than that. The girl had turned out to be an unstable, unpredictable killer. Aelwen understood completely why, as the Forest Lord’s oldest friend and most loyal vassal, Cordain had decided that the Phaerie would be better off without her.
Cordain stepped forward, his smile as false as the grinning of a skull. ‘My dearest Lady, we had despaired of your life. We are all delighted to welcome you back. You must be exhausted after your terrible ordeal.’ He took her arm, to outward appearances all solicitude and courtesy. In reality, his fingers were like bands of steel, grinding flesh into bone. Tiolani, instinctively about to strike back, suddenly found herself surrounded by the putative honour guard. When she saw the drawn weapons and the clear, merciless intent in their eyes, she turned pale, and went very still. Aelwen and Taine found themselves similarly surrounded.
‘Come, Lady,’ Cordain said again. ‘You will want the comfort of your quarters. And I am sure we can also find some comfortable accommodation for your companions.’
Aelwen cursed herself for not having anticipated this. Though she had thought that Hellorin’s daughter might experience some resistance to her rule, she had not expected such cold-blooded treachery from Cordain, of all people. But with Ferimon dead, Tiolani was suddenly vulnerable, and the wolves were closing in.
We’ve failed, she thought. Even before we’ve started, we’ve failed. Even if, by some miracle, they could turn this disaster around and return Tiolani to power, they would still lose valuable time - maybe even long enough for Hellorin’s healers to bring him back from the brink and undo the time spells. Even if Corisand and Iriana succeeded in taking the Fialan, he could follow them back to the mundane world.
The consequences were unthinkable.
Then Cordain noticed Taine, and Aelwen saw cold recognition flash across his face. Her heart began to race with fear.
He was Hellorin’s loyal supporter. He would obey the Forest Lord’s orders, no matter how many years ago they had been given.
Unless she could think of something fast to get them out of this, Taine was as good as dead already.
When Corisand and Iriana shimmered out of sight, Dael found himself alone with Athina once more. For a precious instant, everything seemed back as it should be - then the Cailleach gave a little gasp and crumpled, grey-faced, to the ground.
‘Athina!’ Sick with fear, Dael knelt beside her.
‘Help me.’ Her voice was a thready whisper. ‘Get me back to your chamber, Dael. My power is fading fast. I must leave now.’
Though in his head he had known and accepted that this moment must come, his heart felt as if it were being ripped out of his chest.
‘Now, Dael. Hurry.’ He heard the desperation in her voice, saw the shadow of fear in her eyes - and put his own fear and grief aside.
For her.
She weighed next to nothing as he scooped her up into his arms and ran back to the tower, scrambling and stumbling as fast as he could up the airy spiral of the metal stairs. Shouldering open the door of his chamber, he carried Athina to the bed where Avithan lay and sat her on the edge, with an arm around her shoulders to keep her upright.
She held on to him, dropping her head to his shoulder. ‘You’ve been a son to me.’ Her voice was fading now. ‘Before you, the only joy I knew was that of creation; the only sorrow that of setting my creations free when I was done. You taught me how to feel. How to love. I love you, my Dael. Down all the endless stretches of eternity, I will always love you.’
Even as his eyes blurred with tears, Athina was gone.
Where she and Avithan had been was just an empty bed in an empty room, in an empty world. Deal buried his face in the coverlet, and wept.
Athina found herself lying on the floor because she was too weak to stand, and blinded by her tears. She needed no vision to tell her that she was back home, in her Tree in the Heart of the Wood. She could feel its life and power pulsating through her in the same way as it pumped in shining streams through the walls of the massive hollow trunk.
Suddenly there was no more urgency. Here beneath the Timeless Lake, she had all the time in the world. Athina simply lay there, letting home restore the power and the energies she had lost, and wept for Dael, the child of her heart that she would see no more.
‘Your folly astounds me.’ The harsh voice that broke through her weariness and grief belonged to Uriel. Once more he had taken his favourite form, a column of scintillating, multicoloured energy - a beautiful sight, but one that could not have been less welcome to Athina, in that moment. She scrambled to her feet, thankful that she was beginning to regain her strength. She had not yet recovered enough power to withstand Uriel - but did he know that? She took her natural form once more, her face growing leaner and more raptor-like, her eyes taking on the fierce, wild, golden glare of the eagle. ‘What do you want now?’ she snarled. ‘I did as you asked, Uriel. I have returned - and your involvement ends here. Get out of my home.’
The soft hum of Uriel’s energy rose to a threatening buzz. ‘Oh, you did as I asked, my sister - after you had done as you wished, and only when you finally had no choice. And even now, you persist in this insane involvement with your primitive creation.’ He drifted across to the still form of Avithan, who had lain, until this moment, unregarded on the floor. ‘What is this?’
The Cailleach stepped between her angry sibling and the Wizard’s helpless form. ‘What I do in my own place is my own affair. I owe you no explanations. As you demanded, I have left the mundane world and my involvement there has ceased. You have triumphed.’ She could not keep the bitterness out of her voice. ‘Now be content and go.’
‘Athina, I am not your enemy.’ His voice was edged with frustration, and a rumble of thunder sounded overhead as his temper frayed. With an effort he brought himself back under control. ‘My dearest sister, I am simply trying to warn you, and to help you. You, of all our brethren, were always the most prone to being ruled by your emotions. Now they have led you to a forbidden place, and as a result, your perceptions have become skewed. Do you truly not see the danger here? That in acting to prevent your premonitions from coming true, you might have been instrumental in bringing about the dreadful future you foresaw?’