Mercedes Lackey - Winds Of Fate

longer. joy at her recovery, anguish at her condition, rage at the one who had brought her to this-guilt because he was partly to blame. Warring emotions kept him silent as he fed her, wondering what to say and how to say it.

"Dawn-" he began, hesitantly.

"Darkwind, you're in danger," she interrupted urgently. She twisted her head to look at the strangers. "You're all in danger, terrible danger!" Quickly she told them of all she had heard; and most importantly, of Falconsbane's new plan, his decision to make Outland alliances.

Alliances? Oh, blessed gods- He forgot his other worries in the face of this new threat, for Falconsbane alone was bad enough. Falconsbane with allies was a prospect too awful to contemplate. Allies with mage-powers, allies with armies-either would spell disaster for the precarious hold k'sheyna maintained on power here, but this Ancar evidently had mages and armies, according to Elspeth. k'sheyna would be obliterated, and every other Vale faced with a formidable threat.

If he gets help like that, there won't be anything beyond him-The Heralds-and their Companions-questioned Dawnfire closely as he closed his eyes and tried to think of all the possibilities. Their reaction was identical to his-not too surprising, given that he thought this "Ancar" that Dawnfire said Falconsbane was meeting was undoubtedly the same man who had been doing his best to level their land. It was not a common name; it was beyond likely that there were two of them.

And although it seemed a terribly long way to travel just for a meeting with a possible ally, Mornelithe was a powerful Adept, and a desirable acquisition, so far as Ancar's position was concerned. The King of Hardorn needed mages; he'd been actively recruiting them. He might not yet have any Adept-class; it might be well worth it to him to come this far.

And a similar search had already brought Elspeth and Skif just as far.

"He said he was meeting the man in three days," Dawnfire was saying when he opened his eyes again to pay attention to what was going on around him. Now there were seven sets of eyes fixed on the exhausted hawk; the two Heralds, the two gryphons, the pair of Companions, and Nyara, who seemed as upset as any of them.

He thought he knew the reason why. Perhaps she sees herself in Dawnfire's entrapment. that was two days ago," Dawnfire continued. "I escaped that afternoon, and I've been flying in circles ever since, trying to find my way home. So today, or the day after, they will meet."

"Ancar wouldn't have come all this way just to turn around," Elspeth said grimly. "He wants this alliance, wants it badly. He's got no other reason to leave his own realm, and I don't care how much Hulda taught him, he wouldn't leave the place even in her hands if there was any other way out. Gods-with Falconsbane's power and Ancar's armies-and his recklessness-we won't have a chance. We've got to stop this before it happens."

"We have an opportunity to put paid to both our enemies," Darkwind growled, his hands clenched into fists. "Not only to stop this alliance, but take both our enemies at one stroke. I must talk to the Elders." He started to get up; Skif caught his elbow and his attention. "You'd better include Elspeth in your plans, no matter what else you do," he whispered, "or she's likely to march right in there on her own." She, who holds a grudge like an eyas binds to a kill. He nodded curtly, annoyed, but knowing Skif was right. The gryphons had a grudge of their own to settle. They probably wouldn't try to stop her.

"Settle down, you lot!" Need growled suddenly, startling all of them.

"I don't know what's set the burr under your tails so you aren't thinking, children, but I stopped falling for tricks like this one a millennium ago and I'm not going to let you cart me into a trap now. I said he likely wouldn't be able to use me; I'd prefer not to put that to the test, if you don't mind." They stared at each other in shock, Dawnfire included.

"What? "Darkwind asked.

"Let me spell it out for you. Dawnfire was allowed to escape, so that she could bring you this trumped-up story. So that you lot would go charging off straight into his loving arms." Nyara was the first to recover. "oh, no," she whispered. "It is too, too like my own escape-an escape that was not. This sword is right!" Elspeth set her chin stubbornly, her eyes flashing for a moment, then sighed, and threw up her hands. "Bright Havens, I want to believe it, I really do, because it's such a good chance to get the bastard now, while he's away from his support and his army-but you're right, you're both right. It's too damned pat, too coincidental. Mother's intelligence web had Ancar safe in his own palace when we left. We made much better time than he could have because we're riding Companions. The only way he could possibly have matched our time would be to ride in relays, and how would he manage that off his own lands? He has farther to come than we did on top of all that. So how could he possibly be arriving here just at the same moment we did?"

"And why sssshould he perrrmit Dawnfirrre to overhearrrr hisss plansss?" Treyvan rumbled. "Mossst essspecially, why ssshould he have given herrr to one who wasss not competent with hawksss to take to the mewsss? He wanted herrr to fly to usss with thisss."

"And then wanted us to-what?" Elspeth asked. "Falconsbane never does anything for just one reason. He wants us not only to try and break up this nonexistent meeting, he wants us moved. Why? What's so special about this neutral area where the supposed 'meeting' is? Is it a particularly good place to stage a double ambush?"

"There's nothing special about it that I know of," Darkwind replied, frowning with concentration.

"He can't have meant to catch you as he caught the dyheli, can he?" Dawnfire asked, drooping a little, as she, too, acknowledged the fact that her escape had been too easy. "He deliberately reminded me of what he had done to them there-"

"Which probably means he wanted us to concentrate on that as well," Skif mused aloud. "We know he wants the sword. From what Quenten told me, he probably wants Elspeth as well."

"oh, yes," Nyara agreed, nodding her head vigorously. "Yes, an untrained mage? He uses such as tools. He would be pleased to have you in his hands, lady."

"'So, is there anything else he wants? Something we'd leave unprotectedsomething even the whole Clan might leave unprotected, if we went to them and got more help for this?" Skif continued.

Elspeth glanced sideways at Darkwind. "The Vale itself?" she hazarded." Or your father?

He shook his head. "No, the static protections are too much for him to crack easily. We could return and entrap him before he had even begun to break the outermost shields."

"The Heartssstone?" asked Treyvan, then answered himself. "No, it isss the sssame as for the Vale-" The squall of a hungry young gryphon cut across their speculations, and sent all eyes in the direction of the inner lair.

"No," Treyvan whispered, his eyes widening.

"Yes!" Nyara cried, in mingled pain and triumph. "Yes-that is what he wants-as much as sword and mage, and Starblade and Starblade's son! Revenge, and the souls of your younglings!"

"And I... " Treyvan whispered, his eyes wide with horror, "nearrrly gave it all away to him... again."

It had taken Darkwind no time at all to create a scale-model of the area around the lair, using rocks, twigs, and the flat expanse of sand near the entrance. It was the only place big enough for all of them.

Elspeth shook off the many memories of time spent bending over a sand-table with Kero, and paid close attention to Darkwind. She wondered now how she could have mistaken simple stress for arrogance.

Not thinking clearly lately, are we? she asked herself. Not observing at all well. When this is over, it might be a good idea to take a few days to rest and think. About a lot of things.