Mercedes Lackey - Elvenbane

What...Fire and Rain! Someone had been beating him!

"What happened to you?" the dragon blurted, frozen with shock. Mero limped over to him and looked around for somewhere to sit.

"One of Triana's old harem decided he didn't like being put away," the young man said casually, and eased himself down into one of Keman's armchairs. "He decided that if I wasn't around anymore, Triana would come back to her old ways. The Lady disagreed with his approach...and he is even now being shoveled into a very small sack for disposal."

The young man's face and hands betrayed the casual tone of his words; his hands were shaking, his face was white, and his expression was set in a patently forced smile.

He looked up at Keman, who was slowly lowering himself into the chair opposite him, and his eyes were dark, and full of something Keman couldn't read. Pain. And something else. "I never saw an elven lord actually kill someone before," he said forlornly. "I've seen them hurt plenty of people, but I never saw one kill someone. And she did it the way you or I might squash a bug."

Keman didn't know quite what to say, so he waited for Shadow to continue. Finally the halfblood's shoulders relaxed and he sighed as he sat back into the armchair.

"Elven lords...the fullbloods...they're really funny that way. They can convince you that they're feeling something when they're not, but they can't convince you they're feeling something when they are ."

Keman tried to follow the logic of that sentence. "I don't understand," he replied, shaking his head in confusion.

"They can't show their feelings; they're trained out of it," Mero replied, running his hand through his hair. "I should have known, I really should have known, that when Triana was acting like I was the only man in the universe she was faking it. Valyn, he's that way, and I've lived with him all my life, so I should have known . The stronger an elven lord feels about something, the colder he gets on the outside."

Suddenly that explained a great deal to Keman. "Shana's the opposite...but she was raised by us," he pointed out.

Mero smiled. "Doesn't hide anything , does she? No, Valyn has been getting more and more like a statue, and that should have told me something. And it didn't."

Keman didn't reply, just looked attentive.

"I doubt he meant it that way, but that fellow who tried to beat me into oblivion did me a good turn. He broke what I think was a half-formed glamorie on me, Keman. I'm sorry I've been such an idiot over Triana. Now I see what you were trying to tell me. Do you know, I actually had myself convinced that if I could somehow make myself into a really good imitation elven lord that she'd have me?"

Keman tilted his head to one side. "I had guessed something like that was going on. But I am not the one you should be apologizing to. You made Shana very angry with you, though I don't know why. And Valyn is not happy either."

Mero rubbed his temples with his fingertips. "I don't know what Shana's problem is, honestly. I'm not sure it has anything to do with Triana, or if it does, that's only part of it."

"I don't always understand her either," Keman replied ruefully, when Mero looked up at him.

Mero sighed. "I've been ignoring all of you, actually. Triana's been taking me everywhere, as if I was a lover or a mate. We've hunted or ridden over every thumb-length of this estate, she did some magic tricks for me...she built a mountain and flew us both up to the top for a picnic."

"I remember that. Afterwards she slept for two days," Keman said absently. "I didn't know elves had to sleep after doing magic."

Mero wasn't paying attention. "I thought that meant she loved me, so I started asking her to take me places she could only take one of the elven lords. And she did, she took me to a gladiator duel, and she took me to a Council meeting. I really thought she cared for me." He hung his head. "I should have known. It was all a lie, a ploy. She's just like all those women in the harem who try to eliminate each other to get positions as favorites. There isn't one of them that really cares for another person, just what that person can do for her."

"What does she want?" Keman asked reasonably. Mero looked up, startled.

"I don't know," he admitted. "All that time with her, and I don't know."

"It must be something important for her to be taking so much time with you," Keman pointed out. "And using a glamorie to get you, too..."

"Oh, that's not a big thing." Mero dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "I half think Valyn used a glamorie on me to get me to handfast to Shana. Elves do that sort of thing all the time."

"I don't know about that," Keman said reluctantly. "I wouldn't say that. There are lots of other things she could have done to you, you know, including ignoring you. If she wanted to control you, she could have substituted her collar for the one you're wearing. She's spent a lot of time and effort on this one spell, and it has to be because she wants something important from you, don't you think?"

"That is the purpose of a glamorie," Mero replied thoughtfully, looking past Keman to the darkening window. "But maybe you're right. I know I had a kind of fight with Shana over it. She kept saying Triana was trying to get something from me, and I didn't believe her."

"Are you going to be able to keep your mind free now that you know?" Keman asked, dreading the answer. "If she wants something from you, she isn't going to give up now."

"I think I can," Mero said, after a long moment of thought. "I really think I can. And if I can , then I can find out what it is she wants."

"Is that such a good idea?" Keman asked doubtfully.

"I think I'm going to have to," Mere said, with a grimace. He stood up. "Thanks, Keman. Thanks for not telling me to go lose myself."

"That's all right," the dragon replied, surprised at the feeling of warmth Mero's words kindled in him. "You needed somebody to listen, I think."

"You're the right person for that, Keman," Mero said over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "We have a lot in common. Thanks."

He was gone before Keman could say "you're welcome," but the pleasure those few words gave him stayed with the young dragon for a long time.

"TRY IT AGAIN," Triana urged, and Mero frowned, though she knew it was not at her. His frown was for the smooth quartz river-pebble on the cool surface of the white marble table in front of him.

Nothing much was happening to it, which was the problem. Mero was having trouble mastering the illusion-spell.

Triana reminded herself not to look bored, and concentrated on keeping her expression interested and eager. "I..." she began.

Mero interrupted her. "Just a moment! I think I've got it here..."

The river pebble began to glow, a soft, pale gold that was barely discernible from the sunlight streaming in through the windows behind him. The glow brightened for a moment, then vanished altogether.

But the pebble continued to shine...the reflected sheen of light off the lustrous surface of polished gold.

To all appearances, the plain quartz pebble had been replaced by an identical roundel of solid gold.

"Excellent!" Triana applauded. "That's it exactly! You've done it, you've built a perfect illusion!" Shadow looked up and beamed at her with pride. "Before long, you'll be a match for any of us." Inwardly she was laughing; he had all but abandoned his wizard-powers and was concentrating entirely on those magics he inherited from his elven blood. His attempts to make himself wholly elven were nothing short of hilarious.

He was like the overseers and the others, she thought with contempt. Fools who spent all their time trying to become something they weren't...wasting their efforts in trying to find a "trick" that would make their magic stronger. She'd seen them use everything from vegetarian diets to celibacy to taking up some of the old human religions. And all that time that they were wasting, they could have been using to discover what it was they did best and strengthen that . If Mero had any sense at all, he'd be learning how to combine his magics, not denying he had the wizard-powers altogether.