>>
|
8483cf.jpg
Prince Dream Rose
8483cf
I tell Autumn and Apricot to stay armored and ready. Apricot’s armor is lightweight for flying, so she can sleep in it comfortably.
I volunteer to take second watch, since I could probably just stay up all night anyway. It gives Apricot, Autumn and Taranis time to wind down after their day. I lie back against a tree and let my thoughts wander, keeping a half-conscious ear to the woods, and letting my ruined eye keep watch for suspicious movements through the shadows of the trees. Soon enough it’s my turn to take watch, and when I do, I hear a distinct, high-pitched single-tone whistle, barely more than a breeze through the branches. It’s almost impossible to distinguish from the wind, but if you know to listen for it, it’s there.
My Circle is calling me. I surrepetitiously scan the surroundings, and find a single hunched figure a few dozen meters away. There aren’t any others- it’s a note meant to summon me specifically.
I nudge Taranis into wakefulness and whisper to him to keep back and be ready to rouse Autumn and Apricot if I give the signal. He nods and takes flight, and I send the reply whistle back. Three quick clicks come back: we’re to meet at the midpoint of where those clicks came from.
I make my way forward and spy a familiar face.
“Ailín,” I say quietly.
“Ráichéalín,” he responds. “I am happy to see you well.”
“And you,” I say. “Did you receive my messages about the Spirit of Bloodshed?”
“We were already aware of the situation,” he says. “I am here on another matter. There is no time for pleasantries, I’m afraid. Your brother wishes to warn you of an impending conflict, likely greater than any you have seen before. He recommends you seek shelter elsewhere. It would be a tragedy for you to be caught up in it without knowledge, and if you were to be captured by another Circle, it would force Ciarán to respond.”
“How sentimental.” I say, crossing my arms. “You can already guess my response. My family’s made it clear they wished I’d died instead of getting these scars. Why would Ciarán care if a failure like me got captured?”
“You are still his sister,” Ailín says. “A slight to a member of the Circle cannot go unanswered.”
“Of course.” The unspoken implication is that it’s not my honor my brother would need to defend, but his. “I take it he’s been answering other slights to his honor in ritual combat. He’s getting sloppy. Skipping steps in the ritual, letting spirits congregate. Leaving obvious marks where he’s been.”
“Ciarán’s name echoes in the forest,” Ailín nods. “He has become mighty since you left. He has risen to take up your mantle, and done so admirably.”
“Well, good for him,” I say, turning my head aside. “But he’s reckless. The humans are noticing the side effects of the Circle’s work. Just how much blood has my brother spilled in these rituals? How many challengers to his authority has he put down?”
“Many, and he has done so in pursuit of a greater goal. We are no longer binding animals to our will. Instead, Ciarán has found more powerful thralls. Ones we have not seen since twoscore years ago.”
Forty years. That was the time of the great fire. I can’t remember the details- I was too young. But everyone in the Circle knows what horrors the fire banished.
“He’s trying to summon them?” My throat is almost too dry to say it. “The Airceacháin. Father would have beat him bloody for even saying the name. Does my mother know about this madness?”
“No,” Ailín says softly. “She has lain down her arms forever.”
The air chills. My legs go weak.
“M-Mom?” A hand goes to my good eye unbidden, and despite everything, I can’t keep the tears from coming. “She’s gone?”
“It was a good death,” Ailín says. “A great battle. She killed many Clann an lasair before falling. It’s been more than a year, and they still haven’t dared challenge us.”
“A year?” An icy hand wraps around my gut and squeezes tight, filling my throat with sick, acrid bile. “Ciarán didn’t even… not even a single… he… he really does wish me dead, doesn’t he?”
“I’m sorry, Ráichéalín.”
“Fuck you.” I spit at his feet, tears threatening to spill down my cheek. “You didn’t tell me, either. How hard could have been? Just a simple fucking letter.”
“It would have changed nothing. We were far from home, deep within what was once Iasair land. You wouldn’t have been able to-”
“I know! I know that. But she’s my… was my mother. Once the battle was over, Ciarán could have invited me to Mom’s pyre. He couldn’t even let me say goodbye to her, could he?!”
“You know as well as I that our rites are closely kept,” Ailín says, his voice as empty as his heart. “You are not a warrior of the Uí Liatháin. Not anymore.”
“And I’m better off for it.”
Ailín doesn’t respond.
I take a deep, shuddering breath. I can barely hold myself back. I want to murder the elf I thought was my friend since we were children.
“So that’s it?” I ask. “You’ve come here to… to tell me there’s nothing left for me? That I’m not wanted? That I’m free to go? Well, I don’t fucking think so. I’ve got a place here, now.”
“With the humans?” Ailín gestures toward Minga. “You are selling scraps for coin. You could be so much more. And what will you do now? Will you tell the humans that the elves are warring once again? Scurrying in their backyard, growing in power? What will you do, Ráichéalín? Share our secrets with outsiders? Lead them to our beds, as a traitor to your kin?”
“How dare you?!” My voice cracks. “Is that what you really think of me? That I’d stoop so low? Slit my own people’s throats? Fuck you, Ailín. I thought you knew me better, but I’m obviously wrong. Wrong about so many things, and people, that… that are… important, and… and… I…”
A sob bursts out of my throat and I clap a hand to my mouth, finding it wet with tears. My shoulders hitch, and I feel a great, dull emptiness inside my chest that’s growing with every breath.
There’s a soft flutter of wings, and a gentle caress of feathers. When did Taranis land on my shoulder? He’s supposed to be hanging back, and… I don’t care. I just don’t care anymore. I cry into Taranis’s wings until I don’t have any tears left.
Ailín is gone.
I walk back to camp. Apricot and Autumn are still sleeping.
Taranis takes watch and I fall into a deep, deep sleep.
------
When I wake, I find Apricot and Autumn preparing breakfast. Taranis is gone, probably on patrol.
“Oh! You’re up!” Apricot says. “How are you feeling? Taranis said to let you sleep in. Are you okay?”
Okay? Why would I not be-
Oh.
“Leave me alone,” I say, and wrap my cloak tight around me.
I thought I was cast out before, but now, I truly am alone. Alone in every way that matters.
No more adventuring. No more exploring. I just want to curl up and wither away.
I’m done.
|