Leslie Moore - Griffin's Daughter

“ You already have the greatest honor in my father’s eyes, beloved. You saved his life. He is obligated to grant you anything that you ask of him,” Ashinji pointed out.

“ I do not wish to get permission from him because of obligation. I wish him to give it freely because he agrees for us to be together,” Jelena responded. “Please, my love. Wait just a little longer.”

Ashinji opened his mouth as if to repeat his objection, then gave in with a frustrated sigh. “I’ll do as you ask, but only for a short while,” he warned. “If my father can’t turn up any leads on your elven family by summer’s end, we’re going to tell him about us. No arguments.”

“ Agreed,” Jelena answered. She stretched and yawned, suddenly reluctant to move, but she knew that she had to report to Lord Sen soon, to find out if he had any messages for her to deliver today. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Something caught her eye, and she looked down to see a small, irregular scarlet blotch upon the cream-colored mattress cover. She drew in a sharp breath then relaxed in realization.

“ Don’t worry about that,” Ashinji said. He sat up beside her and rubbed her back companionably. “I sometimes cut myself during sword practice. The servants won’t think anything of it.”

The sight of her virgin’s blood brought home the reality of her changed circumstances. Back in Amsara, she had given up hope of ever experiencing the soul-satisfying joy of true lovemaking. At best, she had resigned herself to remaining untouched for her entire life. At worst, she had feared eventual rape by one of several castle louts who had grown increasingly more open and persistent in their intentions as she had grown into young womanhood.

She leaned into Ashinji and he slipped an arm around her shoulder. “I…don’t feel like I deserve you,” she whispered in Soldaran.

“ Don’t ever say that again,” Ashinji chided, placing his hands on either side of her face. “I love you, and that will never change. You are my life. It is I who don’t deserve you.”

He stood up and helped her to her feet. She wiped away the tears that had sprung to her eyes at Ashinji’s heartfelt declaration of love, then bent to gather up her discarded clothing. “Aneko and Kami will know I have been with you,” she sighed as she shrugged into the rumpled chemise. “They will…tease and tease.”

Ashinji pulled on a pair of breeches and came over to help her with the outer gown, tying up the cords at her waist. He smiled. “Let ‘em talk. I don’t care if the entire population of Kerala knows about us.”

Abruptly, his mood shifted, and he spun her around and looked deep into her eyes with a seriousness that frightened her. “Jelena, you need to beware of my brother,” he said in a low voice. “Sadaiyo finds pleasure in anything that hurts me, and I’m afraid that he may try to get to me through you. I don’t think he’s any physical threat to you, but he uses words like they were the keenest of weapons. Don’t believe anything he says. In fact, just avoid him.”

Jelena briefly considered telling Ashinji about her encounter with Sadaiyo the day after the wedding ceremony but decided against it. Not much would be accomplished except that it would further upset Ashinji, and besides, nothing had happened. “I will stay away from Lord Sadaiyo. It will be easy. He never comes to the barracks and I almost never see him except sometimes with your father.”

“ Good. That’s good.” Ashinji ran his hands through his hair and pulled at the rings in his left ear, a gesture that Jelena had come to recognize meant that he felt upset or preoccupied. He forced his face into a semblance of cheeriness. “Are you hungry?

Jelena thought a moment. “Yes, I think I am,” she replied.

“ I’ll walk with you down to the kitchen, then,” Ashinji said. He took her hand. “Let’s go.”

The raven flew in lazy circles high above the red-tiled rooftops of the castle, its bead-like eyes scanning the landscape below. It had once been a very beautiful bird-sleek and strong-but that was before. Now, it had nearly come to the end of its strength, its life essence depleted in slavery to the alien intelligence that guided its every move.

Hundreds of leagues to the north, deep within his mountain prison, the Nameless One seethed with malevolent triumph. Through the eyes of the raven, he had seen it-the Key, at long last! It burned within its vessel-a cold blue fire-pulsing in rhythm to the beat of the life force that sustained it.

For weeks, he had concentrated his search to the southeast, beyond the Great Forest, but he had been unable to pinpoint its exact position. He had used up many ravens in the search, and his frustration had grown with each passing day. Then, quite unexpectedly, he had felt the unique energy of the Key surge through the aether, alerting him to its location. A nearby raven had been dispatched to a mid-sized castle in the southern borderlands.

Through the eyes of his small tool, he had observed the vessel and had beheld the glorious light of his Key, illuminating its flesh like a beacon. Now that he finally knew the exact nature of the vessel and where it lay, he needed to find a way to get both his ring and the vessel to him. Only then could he resume what had been interrupted by bitterest treachery over five lifetimes ago. It would not be easy. He needed a willing ally in the outside world, preferably one trained in the use of magic. He felt confident he would find such an individual among the ranks of Alasiri’s professional mages, one who could be bent to his purpose by the lure of greater power. Were not all magicians driven to a certain degree by the thirst for more power and knowledge?

No, it would not be easy, but it could be done.

A sound like the winter wind sluicing among the high, icy peaks of the Kesen Numai Mountains echoed through the dark chamber deep beneath the ancient fortress-the sound of The Nameless One laughing.

It is time.

Do you think the girl is ready?

Yes. She has already come to me asking to learn about what she calls her ‘blue fire.’

Still…She is very young, and such a burden would be extremely difficult for a trained, experienced mage, let alone a hikui girl!

What other choice do we have?

None…Very well…Begin the girl’s training. When she is further along, you will bring her to Sendai. I shall take over then.

There is still the question about our own strength. When the time comes, I fear that, without a full complement, we will be unable to complete the Working.

I am concerned as well, but there is no one suitable that we could invite to join us.

There is my son.

Your son is untrained…because of your family tradition, I might add!

I am beginning to deeply regret that. He is the only one of my children who has inherited the strength of my Talent, it seems.

Does he even know how powerful a mage he could become?

No. I put a block in place when he was a child, after I was certain of the magnitude of his Talent. I have kept it all from him, mainly to spare him the frustration.

Even if you began training him now, yourself, he could never be ready…Not for a Great Working.

He doesn’t have to have the skill of a full-fledged mage. He only needs to know how to control and direct the proper energies…and be willing to perform the Sundering, if need be.

Can you be certain he will strike the killing blow if called upon? If what you say is true and he is in love with this girl, he may hesitate at the last moment. I don’t have to tell you what that will mean.