"More than good," Firesong applauded. "Well, then, if Nyara is agreed, I think it is time that we took the idea to the rest. We will discover if anyone can knock holes in this plan-or make it safer in any way."
The gathering in the Council Oak clearing held only part of the usual gathering. Both gryphons, Nyara, Skif, Firesong, Wintermoon, the Companions, Elspeth-and Darkwind himself. No other mages; this would not be a plan that required more mages than they had right here.
Starblade and Kethra were back to recovering; Iceshadow and Nightjewel were conserving their strength. And they added no more fighters than Skif and Wintermoon, either. As Need had said, there were times when one-or a handful-could do what an army could not.
Firesong had lost a great deal of his jauntiness in the past few days, and he had put aside his elaborate costumes in favor of simple, flowing clothing like any other mage wore. He could hardly hide the flamboyant bondbird that perched on his shoulder, but other than that, and his incredible beauty, there was nothing that set him apart from the other mages in k'sheyna.
"Here is the situation as it stands," Firesong began. Using a handful of stones and a bit of string, he began laying out something that looked rather like a very simple spiderweb. "If I had been looking for this earlier, I might have seen it being built-but it has the feeling of something assembled with haste, and we may be able to take advantage of that."
"What is it?" Darkwind was baffled. "I assume Falconsbane has something to do with this, whatever it is." Firesong flushed, the first time Darkwind had ever seen him truly embarrassed. "Pardon. I forgot that none of you have been working with me upon this. The enemy wants to capture the proto-Gate; to that end he has constructed this web of power-points and interconnecting lines about his stronghold. If you look in the direction of his stronghold with Farsight and Mage-Sight, you will see it." Treyvan examined the model, and growled. "Thisss isss a new thing, isss it not?" Firesong shook his head. "Only new to Falconsbane. I have seen this sort of construction before, and it isn't half as effective as those who use it think. It has a vulnerability, a severe one. If the connections were weakened all about the edge so that they might snap beneath a good shock, he likely would not note the weakening. And if they snapped, the power would backlash against him in some profound ways."
"What kind of ways?" Wintermoon wanted to know. "Something grievous, I hope." Firesong smiled faintly. "If he was not prepared with a way to ground it or to escape, he would likely be cast into the void between the Gates-as if he entered a Gate and both the Gate and the terminus were then destroyed. That is because of the way he has set up the tensions among his power-poles and his center. Great concentrations of power warp the world-space as Gates do." Darkwind shuddered; he had once had a glimpse of that void. He would prefer not to see it again. "That's not a fate I would wish on anyone," he said.
"Not even Falconsbane?" Elspeth asked. "I can think of one or two others I would like to see contemplating their deeds for all eternity!" Firesong continued, as if they had not interrupted him. "Any shock to him would snap these threads of power once they were weakened-that would be the best way, in fact. A shock at the center will have more effect than one at an edge. But the weakening-that would have to be done quickly, so that he did not have a chance to notice what was being done." He looked up into the gryphons' faces, expectantly.
Treyvan blinked slowly, his eyes distant. "You rrrequirrre ssswiftly trraveling magesss," he said. "And at the sssame time, you rrrequirrre sssomeone to infiltrrrate the beassst'sss home.
Firesong nodded, and waited.
"The ssswift onesss mussst be usss, I think," Treyvan continued.
"And the otherrr-Nyarrra."
"If you are willing, yes," Darkwind said awkwardly. "I hate to ask you, but if Falconsbane gains control of the proto-Gate, he'll have an enormous amount of power. It would be the kind of power that normally goes to establish and maintain an entire Vale; protections, Heartstones, Vale-sculpting, and all."
"He could dessstrroy usss all with a thought," Hydona replied flatly.
"He mussst not have that powerrr."
"Bring the little ones here," Darkwind urged. "With the Heartstone gone, there's no longer a danger to them in staying here." Hydona nodded, but Darkwind sensed that she had something else on her mind. She looked to her mate.
After a moment of wordless exchange, Treyvan sighed. "We wisssh sssomething in return," he said.
"What?" Firesong asked. "If it is in our power-"
"It isss. We requirrre a pricssse. We want k'sheyna to not dissolve the Vale when you leave. To give it to ussss. Veil, shieldsss, and all." Treyvan tucked his wings closer in to his body. "We had planned to take it oncssse you left, but-"
"But if you leave it asss it isss, it will be betterrr forrr ourrr new kla'hessshey'messserin," Hydona interrupted. "We might asss well brrring it into clearrr sky, asshkeyana." Darkwind blinked, trying to identify the two words they had just used. They sounded like Tayledras, but weren't. They weren't Shin'a'in, either.
"Kaled'a'in?" exclaimed Firesong, as he brought his head up, eyes wide with startlement.
Treyvan sighed, as Hydona nodded firmly.
Now that Darkwind knew the tongue, he could translate the words.
The second was simply an endearment; "beloved." But the first-it was complicated. The strictest translation would have been "family," or clan," except that it implied a family made of those who not only were not related by blood-but who might not even be of the same species.
Once again, Firesong beat him to identification. "Pledged-clan?" he exclaimed again. "You're-you can't be Clan k'leshya!" Wintermoon quite fell off his seat. "The Lost Ones? The Lost Clan?" he exclaimed, his eyes going so wide with surprise Darkwind was afraid he was going to sprain something. "The Spirit Clan? I thought-but-they were nothing but legend!" Treyvan's beak gaped in a gryphonic smile. "But we arrre legend, arrre we not? Orrr we werrre, to you." Elspeth, Skif, and Nyara were looking completely bewildered, as well they might. As Firesong stared and Wintermoon picked himself back up, Darkwind essayed a hasty explanation.
"At the time of the Mage Wars, a group of Kaled'a'in from several clans, a group of outclansmen, and some of the nonhumans all formed a kind of-of-brotherhood, I suppose. They called themselves-"
"Kena Lessshyanay, in the Tongue," Hydona supplied. "It meansss 'clan bound by ssspirit." Ssssomething like yourrr Heraldsss, but without Companionssss. Lessshyanay could not join, they could only be chossssen, then agrrreed upon by thrrree morre. Ourrr leaderrrsss werrre two. The great Black Gryphon Ssskandrrranon, and the kessstracherrn, Amberrdrrrake." Treyvan chuckled. "Though neitherrr everrr admitted to being leaderrr of anything!"
"The Spirit Clan supposedly held many of Urtho's mages, all of the gryphons and hertasi, kyree, tervardi and dyheli, and a fair number of the Kaled'a'in shamans and Healers," Firesong said to the three Outlanders, leaning forward so that they could hear him. Then he turned to the gryphons, watching them intently. "But during the evacuation of the stronghold, you disappeared." Treyvan shook his massive head. "No. Herrre isss what happened.
We did not ussse the Gatesss the lessser magesss crrreated to evacuate.
We had been sssent away-sssupposssedly to find a rrrefuge forrr the rrrest of you and a mysssterriousss weapon. Ssso we werrre not in Urrtho'sss landsss when the evacuation came. Inssstead of sssouth or easst, we had gone wesssst, we had with usss a Gate made by Urrtho-hisss verry own Grrreat Gate, anchorrred on a wagon. We usssed it while you evacuated to brrring the rrrest of ourr folk to ourrr rrretrreat in the wilderrrnessss. But therrre wasss not time to take everrryone thrrrough it-only Lesssshyanay. The ressst of you had to take what Gatesss werrre nearrressst you."