Mercedes Lackey: Winds Of Change

Was this the beginning of the oathtaking? It must be. She shook her head, and Skif mouthed the word "No." Iceshadow smiled slightly, and continued; still calm-still casual.

"Is it your wish to be made a brother of this Clan?" They both answered with nods.

Now Iceshadow sobered; the owl settled itself and turned unblinking eyes upon them as if it, too, was weighing the truth of their intent.

Elspeth was suddenly hyperaware of everything about her; the faint, cool breeze on her back, the way it stirred Iceshadow's clothing Skif's hair, the fringe on Tre'valen's sash. The way the blue light from the spell reflected in the onlookers' eyes. The call of a bird, somewhere out in the Vale. Iceshadow took a deep breath, and spoke, in a soft voice that still carried incredible intensity. "Hear, then, the privileges of brotherhood: to come and go freely within all lands held by Tayledras k'sheyna., to call upon your brothers in times of need; to ask of us teaching; to make your home among us. Hear also the responsibilities of brotherhood: to keep the secrets of the Clan; to neither bring nor lead strangers among us; to keep our lands and guard them as we do; to answer to our need if no other oath prevents; to teach when it is asked of you, aid when it is asked of you, give shelter and succor to your brothers of the Clan, of Tayledras, and of Shin'a'in. Can you be bound to these conditions?"

"Yes," Elspeth breathed. It would not have been unreasonable to swear them to absolute secrecy, or to require that they pledge a formal and complicated alliance to the Clan. Skif seemed just as surprised as he answered in the affirmative.

The breeze gusted past again, and the owl roused its feathers, shaking himself vigorously before settling down to resume his stare at them.

Iceshadow watched them as unblinkingly as his owl. "Then there is another vow you must make," Iceshadow continued. "But it is one that you must not make in ignorance. So listen-watch-and heed-" He gestured again, and as Elspeth caught her breath in startlement, a globe of glowing white mist rose up from the pavement between them, obscuring everything on the other side of the circle. As Elspeth turned her attention from the Hawkbrother to the globe of starlight, she saw that there was a picture forming in it-She bit her lip when the picture cleared, this time with a feeling of incredulity and horror; she had seen her own land ravaged by warfare, but this was beyond anything she had ever dreamed in her worst nightmares.

Encased in the glowing globe was the image of a devastated land; the viewpoint was from the edge of a blasted crater so wide she literally could not see the other side. She blinked and swallowed, finding it hard to comprehend destruction on so vast a scale, and nauseated by the very idea that such a thing could have happened. To see a place that must once have been green, been full of people, animals, trees and plants-to see it not only ravaged, but utterly annihilated-the shock of it drove any real thoughts from her head for a moment. Beside her, Tre'valen started in surprise, as if this was something he knew about but had not expected to see here.

"This was the homeland, long and long ago." Iceshadow's voice drifted across the silence, a voice filled with such sadness and loss that it seemed as if what Elspeth saw might have happened a day ago, rather than centuries ago. "This was the home-place of the people called Kaled'a'in.

This was all that remained, at the end of the First and Last conflict, the Mage Wars." The scene shifted, to a group of armed, subdued people, all with the long black hair and golden skin of the Shin'a'in, gathered on the edge of the crater. There was some confusion as they and their animals-horses, huge dogs, hunting cats, and birds of prey-milled about, and then it was apparent that about half of them were packing up and moving off, away from the crater, while the rest stayed.

"We fled from the destruction, and returned when we could. This was what we found, and there was mourning and confusion. Then came anger, at what had happened, at what had caused it. There was dissent over what the people should do. Some wished to renounce all magic; some, to make further use of magic to keep the Clans alive in this new and alien world. There was no compromise possible between those positionsdissent became argument, and argument became hate. That was when, rather than turn dissent to feud, the two sides agreed to divide, and with this decision came the Sundering of the Clans. Those who renounced magic became the Shin'a'in, while those who sought magery removed themselves from the rest, calling themselves Tayledras, after the birds that they had helped to bring into being. These, our Fathers and Mothers, went north." Again the scene shifted, to something that had probably been a forest.

Once.

Now it was another kind of nightmare; instead of lifelessness, twisted and contorted wildlife ran riot. The vegetation grew so thick it formed a solid green wall on either side of the road, except that it was hard to tell some of the flora from some of the fauna. There were plants that groped after the passing Clansfolk, and animals that were rooted to the spot like plants, some watching them with indifferent eyes, others that screamed unendingly. There were creatures she half-glimpsed through the veils of vines hanging from every branch that made Elspeth shudder.

As she tried to make sense of the confusion of color and motion, the group shown was attacked by things that were horribly worse than the creatures falconsbane had sent against them-things that seemed to be nothing but teeth and claws, with armored plates covering everything but their joints.

Iceshadow's voice made her jump."The five Clans that were now Tayledras found that the lands beyond the homeland were ravaged by the forces of twisted and tainted magic. No human or bird could survive there for long. Either they must starve, for they could not spare a moment from defense to grow or hunt their food, or they must give up defense and perish at the hands of the monsters that inhabited these lands. They despaired, for there was nowhere else for them to go." The scene fogged for a moment, and re-formed. The band of Tayledras had made a camp on the top of a hill, the earth scorched bare by fire, with a temporary palisade of thorny branches about the camp-but it was obvious it could not last for long against any kind of attack.

"They knew they could go no farther," Iceshadow concluded. "So, as their kindred that would become the Shin'a'in would do, they prayed to their Goddess. And She answered. Here is her answer to their plea." Nothing Elspeth had watched prepared her for what happened as the mist clouded again.

Suddenly there was no ball of glowing mist with pictures in it before her; suddenly there was no clearing, no Hawkbrothers, no Skif no light, no sound, no world.

Only herself, a sky full of stars stretching in every direction including down.

And out of this starry nothingness arose a white-hot flame that was Too bright to see clearly, She changed from moment to moment, and the raw Power emanating somehow also a woman from Her made Elspeth tremble. She'd have fallen to her knees-if she could have figured out how to do so in the midst of all this starry space.

I have heard your prayers, She said, in a voice that filled Elspeth's mind, leaving no room for anything, not even fear. There is a price to be paid for what you ask, and that price is in your lives and your freedom.

She gestured, and in the palm of Her hand was cupped the weirdly twisted landscape of the forest the Clansfolk had entered. Terrible magics have warped this land, and only magic can heal it again. therefore I offer this, that you have asked of me. I shall grant you safety here, long enough to establish each of you a Clan holding. I shall teach you the means of creating a place in the midst of the holding wherein you shall dwell in protection. I shall grant you the knowledge of Adepts, to use and concentrate the magic-and a knowledge even Adepts have not-to create a center of such power that the greatest of the mages who caused these changes would look upon you with envy.