12.6 Refuge
General Summary
Day 120-125
It takes eight days for the rest of the Recovered to travel from the Deep Keep to Lone Mountain Keep. They travel as a group, while my family and a few key figures (Lurick and Petaran) travel with us aboard Haze.
Some of the younger Recovered travel to the Weaver’s Village and I’m torn when it comes time to decide where Petaran goes. I think he will be happier in the village, but I’m not ready to let him finish his watch yet. As he continues to recover, I want to be there to hear his story and tell him what we have accomplished.
At the Keep, we convert a tower into a prison for Lurick. This is uncomfortable for the elves; not being able to trust him on his word is unsettling and wrong. Fortunately we have humans here, and they are accustomed to not taking each other at their word.
With the rest of the week my family continues working on equipment for our small army. Working with them is strange - Tira is growing into a wonderful teacher and Hella is learning much from her. With her and Bran, it feels just close enough to home that I feel the absence of Alwen and Thalien even more. Bran is developing his own style now, but I still see Thalien in him.
Our plan continues to develop as we equip the army with pendants that unravel fire magic as it attacks them, and bracers that allow our archers to fire arrows of water and ice. They’ll be adequately defended, I think. While Tira and Hella and Kadia lie in wait for Killeon, I’ll stay with the army to heal them as they fight. I should think I have enough blood to sustain this army for far longer than we’ll need it.
Day 127
It does not escape my notice that there was no message through the Shadowgate last moon. I assume Tira brought all the news with her, but I take care this time to send letters through to Alwen, Doraal, Mistress, and my parents. It is an odd thing to write letters with no intent aside from sounding like yourself. It’s easy enough, but the news I send through is nothing they don’t already know. I assume the Empress has told them any critical military information so all that’s left is...love. And my voice. And whatever hope I can give them.
Alwen receives a largely businesslike letter. My thoughts and theories on the Barrier and what needs to be done to bring it down. Anything we had expected to happen through force and warfare must be accomplished through negotiation and friendship. It will be slower than we had hoped, but it will come with allies and more lasting peace. I urge patience and thank him for his work. I send Tira’s love and word of her safety, of course, and extend wishes that we be reunited soon.
I tell Doraal about Knotrael and tease him that I may try to lure him into my own circle. I try to recall unusual plants that I’ve seen here, especially those from the Crystal Spires. And I tell him that Daybreaker rests easily in my hands, and that he will be in my heart as I wield it.
I tell Mistress about the ocean as well, and the beauty of that city. Of the Twilight Garden and the elves here who have made a life for themselves. And of the room in this Keep that holds memories of people long passed. And the fae! I tell her about the fae - a whole race of people who sing their stories and then connect to the memories of their ancestors.
And to my family...lighter stuff. I tell them about the children here, about the kindness our people have shown to humans who needed it, and Sahlon and his daughter. Writing this letter is hard. Every happiness I want to share with them has the ghost of the danger and fear that came alongside it. They’re not under the illusion that my work is safe, but I would rather share the joy than the fear.
And when I receive my own package through the gate, it contains letters from Alwen, Doraal, and Mistress.
From Alwen, a similarly businesslike letter. He tells me that the Barrier seems to harden when the Empress reaches through to me, which is why nothing came through last time. He thinks they have figured it out but it still needs to be brought down.
He tells me that Mistress remains at the front line, and Doraal has left the Capital to form a second line behind her. I am surprised to hear that he has moved out, but I feel better knowing that her army will have a stronger place to fall back to if they need it. And he sends me a Carthian amulet of the moon. They remember me and what I’ve done for them; it will bring me luck under our moons.
My family remains at my estate, including my sister. They are safe,
Mistress’ letter is brief, as is her wont. She started a rumour amongst the Collective that I am alive and displeased (I snort, for this is not a rumour but the truth!) and when she raised my banner, their army fell back in panic. For this, at least, I am very very pleased.
And finally, a brief note from Doraal. He has been in the Frontier, keeping it safe for me. The letter is so short but the following pages are full of sketches and drawings of Frontier plants.
After my personal letters, there is something remarkable: Letters for other elves, and a list of families who are still alive and those who have been lost. The Empress has told my family the names of the people I’ve collected and they’ve ranged far and wide to send news across the Barrier. My heart aches for those with bad news (Linai, especially, has lost his entire family), but I’m proud of how the community comes together. Those with joyful news are careful and considerate, and those with bad news are not bitter. Any news is unexpectedly welcome at a time like this.
Day 128
As I had hoped, Lurick eventually asks permission to re-swear his oaths. In my memory, no oathbreaker has been allowed to re-swear and live to enjoy the shade. Perhaps if we were home, I would ask the Empress’ permission. Here, I don’t hesitate to allow it. He will continue to serve as a ledgerman in my house but he also asks to learn to work with glass.
Before we set out, I review Petaran’s notes some more. Some of the content rings like prophecy, and he writes that he regrets sharing them because he was locked away shortly thereafter.
He writes that the Order’s flames are not lit by the Candlemaker, but by a maker of chains. The Candlemaker knows that a candle burning at both ends will burn itself out. “As it burns, warm shadow follows behind”.
Day 129
Two days after the Shadowgate, the army moves out towards the Order’s fortress. Several days prior, Gederick left to manage our supply lines and help us travel faster. The journey is long, but less than a week. It would have taken a human army two.
Day 130
The fortress is overwhelmingly well-fortified against elves, but it might as well be a regular fortress for all they have used the fortifications.
As we mount our attack, Zadiyah takes charge of the army and instructs them in no uncertain terms to take prisoners and not kill. “No one should be proud of killing toy soldiers,” she tells them.
We do take most of them alive, thankfully. They are drunk on their ego and power and fight recklessly, shocked with their failing fire magic.
Killeon does flee, as we expected. Tira pins him in the tunnel as we close in behind him, and against my family’s Greater Circle he doesn’t stand a chance. I didn’t expect him to be truly human anymore but even I am shocked to see the extent. His flesh is charred and blacked, glowing from within with a horrible orange light. As we press him he summons chains of flame, calling out to some greater power to fulfill its promise. It does not feel like the Candlemaker; it is some other power who answers his call. I wonder what humans feel when they touch my magic? There’s such a distinction for me between the candle-light warmth I feel in the Candlemaker’s mystics and the raging fire I feel from this aberration. Do they feel soft shadows or neverending blackness?
But it is not enough. When he falls, I feel his magic radiate out of him and burn up the chains that hold his mystics to him. I feel the connection vanish, leaving them free.
We spend the rest of the day sweeping the now-empty fortress and gathering survivors. I’m sure it will be a long road to mental rehabilitation for many of them, and once again we need to decide who will come back to Lone Mountain Keep and who will go to Weaver’s Village or to Deldrin. Already, I’m wondering if we could set up another village of safety for us. Lael came to us for safety and revenge and already the Order has been destroyed (though this maker of chains will likely continue to be a problem).
I’ll have to ask Lael if he and Cheena prefer to stay here, or if he would like to return to Dewdrop. I wonder if we could build a small chain of safe resting spots from here to the Crystal Spires and my mind starts to wander before I shake it off and return to the task at hand: The Tree.
It is enormous, larger than any normal tree would be. And it is scarred, as though someone was trying to burn it. Still, it glows with its own light that even the non-mages can see. Standing beneath it I see leaves that shimmer gold, blue, green, and purple from below...and the songs...I hear songs on the breeze. Camellia beside me speaks,
“This is not like the Grove. The leaves, the tree...it’s the same but it’s not. It’s three times the size of the largest trees in the Grove,”
She lays a hand against the burned trunk of this enormous tree and begins to glow. I feel her energy drain through our blood bond but she remains upright, sustained by our Circle. “Not yet,” echoes through her mind and into ours as she breaks free and sags, suddenly tired.
“It wants to sing so badly but there’s no one to hear. It won’t sing to me until I sing to it...but it’s not time for me yet. It has heard thousands of songs here all by itself! Happy, sad, strong, weak…”
We clear the area for her and Knotrael swears to guard her overnight as she sleeps beneath the tree. Before we break for the night she catches me and tells me that it might be time for her to return to the Grove. Will I travel with her? This tree needs other fae and even a troll (a tree-singer, she says) to hear it. Of course. I had already agreed to do this whenever she needed it.
As I settle down for the night, I can’t help but think about this fortress and what it means for it to be ours after a thousand years. From what Kadia has told us, this was a location that the Empress was desperate to possess and now here we are. But this is a fae place, and it always should be. These people are not our enemies, and the Empress knows that. Thinking back to Camellia’s words about our races one day being at war again, it occurs to me to destroy the fortifications that make this place so impenetrable to elves but...that is not what we do in times of peace. Maybe one day I’ll have to send Alder slipping through shadows into this place with the magic of the pearl to bring the walls down, but not today. Today it is a refuge.
