Aurian knelt beside her and took Nereni’s hands in her own. “What do you want to do?” she asked.
“I want us all to stay together,” Nereni replied simply. “I want you to come back with me and talk Eliizar out of this nonsense.”
Anvar had been listening to the conversation with increasing dismay. He didn’t want to lose Eliizar and Nereni as companions, but the more he thought about the alternatives… “Nereni, are you sure?” He frowned. “In some respects Eliizar is right. You’d be far safer returning to the forest with your countrymen. There’s bound to be fighting where we’re going—and knowing Eliizar, he’ll be in the thick of it. Do you want to take that risk? If anything should happen to him, what would become of you, stranded in a foreign land?”
“Why, we would take care of her, of course!” Aurian’s voice was sharp with indignation.
“So long as we’re in a position to do it,” Anvar said somberly. “There’s no guarantee that we’ll survive ourselves. And what about Eliizar’s fear of magic? Once we return to Nexis, that’s what this fight will be about.”
“Are you saying that you want us to go?” Nereni asked in a small voice that trembled on the edge of tears, and Anvar hated himself for killing the hope that his soul mate had put into the little woman’s eyes. But it was for the best. “Yes,” he told her brutally. “That’s exactly what I want.”
“Anvar—why?” Beyond that one pained gasp Nereni, for once, was shocked into speechlessness, though Anvar recoiled from the look of hurt on her face. Aurian was glaring at him in a way that, if the look could be solidified, would have flayed the flesh from his bones. “Anvar—what the bloody blazes are you doing?” her mental voice resounded sharply in his mind.
Anvar sighed. “The right thing for Eliizar and Nereni.” His own mental tones were hushed with sorrow. “It may not be what you or I or Nereni want, but think about the alternatives, Aurian. It’s by far the best option for their survival.”
Aurian bit her lip. Anvar could see how much she wanted to deny his logic, but… “Curse it, you’re right,” she told him softly, and turned away—but not before he had glimpsed the sheen of tears in her eyes. When she turned back to Nereni, however, she had her emotions back under control. “Anvar and Eliizar are right,” she told the woman firmly. “I’ll miss you so much, dear friend, but we must think of your future. Once our quest is over—”
“Don’t lie to me, Aurian!” Nereni snapped. “We’ll never see you again.” Her eyes flashed angrily. “Reaper curse you—I came to you for support—not this! Don’t you care about us anymore? Eliizar and I were good enough to help you through the desert and the mountains beyond—and in the forest you had a use for us, while supplies needed gathering and there was clothing to be made…” Nereni’s voice was harsh with bitterness. “But now that your other friends have arrived from the north, you no longer want us!” And she burst into tears.
“Nereni, that’s not true!” Aurian cried.
“It certainly isn’t.” Anvar leapt to his feet and went to put an arm around the little woman’s shoulders, persisting even though she tried to shrug him away. “Nereni—listen to me. Aurian and I will be traveling far to the north, across the ocean, and we’ll be going into greater peril than anything we’ve experienced so far. Frankly, if it were up to me…” He smiled ruefully. “Well, if there was any way we could do it, Aurian and I would be going back to the forest with you right now, to make a new life for ourselves in peace. But that’s just not possible. We have to go on, into more hardship and danger, but it would help us to know that some of our companions, at least, will be safe.”
“But you need me,” Nereni protested. “Who will look after you? I’ll be sick with worry—and what about the child…?”
“Wolf is another reason why you ought to go,” Aurian told her gently. “You know that Eliizar has a horror of the poor child.” Her eyes smoldered at the idea, but she controlled herself with a deep breath. “It’s not his fault, really. You know Wolf was born as a human child—you were there—but Eliizar never saw him as he was before. He doesn’t want you to have anything to do with the babe, and I don’t want that to come between you. Besides,” the Mage went on persuasively, “you’ll have enough folk to take care of without fretting about Anvar and me. As well as his surviving soldiers, Harihn’s household folk were left behind in the forest. You’ll have enough people to start a thriving little colony, and it will need leaders, Nereni. If Anvar and I can win through, and bring peace back to the world, it will be an enormous help in the future to have allies in the south.” She smiled. “Why, next time we see you, we’ll be coming back to visit the King and Queen of the Forest!”
“If we all survive that long,” Nereni said sourly, but the anger had fled from her voice, and Anvar began to hope that she was coming round to the idea of staying behind. “So you’ll do it?” he cajoled. “For us?”
“Do I have a choice?” Nereni snapped.
Aurian put a hand on her shoulder. “Of course you have a choice,” she said. “If you really want to come with us, that’s fine by me—but I have a feeling you’ll be doing it without Eliizar. Is that what you really want?”
Defeated, Nereni lowered her face into her hands. “No,” she whispered in a muffled voice. Anvar saw a single tear trickle from between her fingers. Aurian, with tears in her own eyes, knelt to embrace the woman who had been such a staunch friend to her throughout so many hardships. “It’ll be all right,” she murmured. “It’s for the best—you’ll see. And the next time we meet, all this trouble will be over, and Wolf will be a human boy again…” She turned to Anvar. “Would you mind leaving us alone for a little while, Anvar? If you would send for Raven to say farewell, we can make arrangements to take Nereni back.”
“I’ll organize that,” Anvar agreed. “We’d better hurry. Eliizar will—”
“Eliizar won’t say anything,” Aurian said shortly. “Not after I’ve spoken to him, he won’tl”
“You’re going, too?”
“Yes, to talk to Parric. And I’d like to say good-bye to Eliizar and bring Wolf back with me. Want to come?”
“Indeed I do.” As the Mage left the room, he took pains to screen his thoughts from his soulmate. He didn’t want to worry Aurian unduly, but… Anvar also needed to speak with Eliizar—to pass on a warning.
Possession of the Harp of Winds had left Anvar with a preternatural awareness of the weather patterns over a very wide distance. When the Mages had brought spring back to the world, there had been one unfortunate effect of which Aurian had not been aware. The lethal sandstorms over the Jeweled Desert had ceased completely. With a shudder Anvar remembered Xiang, the cruel tyrant King of the Xandim. When the Mages had escaped his clutches, along with his son, Harihn, Aurian had managed to terrify the King into letting them go. By now, however, Anvar had: a feeling that the fear would be wearing off. Xiang was a vengeful man—it seemed impossible that he would not try to pursue them sooner or later. And now that the desert was safe once more, the way to the north lay wide-open—and passed directly through the great forested valley that Eliizar wanted to colonize. If Xiang should come… Anvar shuddered. Eliizar had to be warned.
Soft curls of morning mist drifted around the feet of Incondor’s Tower. The jingle of bits and the impatient stamp of horses’ hooves carried clearly through the cool, damp air, while cloaked and hooded figures, their voices hushed and low in the predawn stillness, hurried to and fro from the tower to complete their last-minute preparations for departure. Others, such as Jharav—the veteran Khazalim captain who had befriended Nereni during her captivity—had been more efficiently organized than their tardy companions and were already mounted and waiting, impatient to leave. At the edge of the thicket, away from the bustle in the tower, sorrowful farewells were taking place.