Edith Pattou - Fire Arrow

"He desires to conquer the Queen of Ghosts? This Balor does not lack for ambition," Silien said dryly. "The pass you saw, Brie, describe it to me."

The Ellyl listened intently, then nodded, saying, "Yes, it sounds like Tanniad Pass. Perhaps there is something we can do about the gabha coming from the mountains. Come, we must go quickly."

Silien rode with Collun on Fiain, while Monodnock nervously climbed up behind Brie on Ciaran. Silien led them east into the foothills.

"Excuse me." Monodnock leaned forward to whisper to Brie. "Prince Silien isn't truly planning to engage a host of one hundred gabha?" His voice cracked on the final word. "I mean, I know that the prince's draoicht must be impressive and all. But one hundred goat-men?"

"There is always danger when one seeks to defeat evil," Brie replied solemnly.

"Of course," Monodnock said tremulously.

***

By midnight they had begun the ascent into the northern peaks of the mountains. They rested briefly, then pushed on.

Silien, with his keen Ellyl ears, heard the gabha long before they were visible. The sun was rising as the Ellyl led them up a ridge. They then dismounted and followed Silien to the top of an escarpment. Taking care to keep out of sight, they gazed down into the valley that was Tanniad Pass.

In the distance they could make out the beginning of the column of goat-men Brie had seen winding through the mountains.

"There is a little time yet to prepare," said Silien.

He led them back to the ruins of an ancient stone wall. Giving them all a pleasant nod, he wandered over to a cluster of three larch trees. There he lay down on a mat of pine needles and promptly fell asleep. Fara curled up beside him, in her customary position by his shoulder. Monodnock stared across at the sleeping Ellyl, clutching Brie's arm.

"Don't worry, Monodnock," Brie said. "You know how much, um, energy it takes to work draoicht." She remembered all the times she had seen Silien fall asleep after performing some miraculous feat, although she could not actually recall him napping beforehand. She sent Clun to the crest to keep watch on the goat-men, while the others settled against the stone wall.

"He might have told us what he was planning," grumbled Aelwyn, fiddling with a gemstone on one of her necklaces. Brie noticed that it was a saphir and wondered if it was from the rock Collun had given Aelwyn long ago, when She had told their fortunes.

"Silien has always kept his own council," replied Collun. "But rest assured, if there were something we could be doing, he would have told us."

"I am glad to hear it," responded Aelwyn. "You met the Ellyl on your journey to destroy the wurme, did you not?" she asked, looking up at him with wide amber eyes.

Embarrassed, Collun said, "Well, it was before that. He rescued us from a vine, cro-olachan."

"I have heard of cro-olachan," Aelwyn said with a slight shiver. The saphir at her neck caught the sun.

Brie abruptly rose and moved away. She crossed to Ciaran and Fiain, who were grazing nearby. Hanna followed her.

"Have we done the right thing, coming here?" Brie said to Hanna, running her fingers through Ciaran's mane.

"The Ellyl prince must know what he is doing," Hanna said.

"No doubt," Brie responded. "But it is a risk; perhaps we should have returned to camp instead of..."

"Do not worry, Biri. We shall have our day on the battlefield soon enough."

Brie glanced over at the others. Maire had risen and was walking toward the larches, leaving Collun and Aelwyn alone with Monodnock, who appeared to have dozed off himself.

Hanna followed Brie's gaze, then smiled. "You know, wylls rarely use their own love charms; for some reason they won't work. Wylls have to go to other wylls."

"Hanna! I wasn't even thinking...," Brie protested, very much annoyed.

"No, I know. I just thought you might be interested."

"Well, I'm not."

***

Almost an hour had passed when Clun scrambled down from his lookout post on the ridge. "The gabha are about to enter the pass," he called as he came.

Silien, who was awake now, rose and looked thoughtfully over at Hanna.

"You are a weather maker?" he asked.

Hanna nodded, her eyes blue.

"Come, Traveler," Silien said. "Together we will make weather music." He turned and began to climb the escarpment. Hanna followed without hesitation.

The others stood in a knot at the bottom, watching. They could hear the sounds of distant marching. The goat-men were approaching Tanniad Pass.

The Ellyl and the Traveler lay on their stomachs, peering into the valley. Then Brie saw Silien gesture to Hanna, and the older woman rolled over onto her back.

Great billows of gray clouds begin to pile up overhead. And it was not long before a light drizzle began to fall. Steadily it grew stronger, until Brie and the others had to seek shelter under a rocky overhang that jutted from the side of the ridge. The noise from below grew louder. The gabha must have entered the pass.

Brie saw that Silien had pulled up into a sitting position, and she briefly worried that he might be spotted. She could hear faint singing, that agonizingly beautiful Ellyl music that reached into one's insides and twisted them, causing all else to lose meaning. Then came flickerings of heat and flame that scorched Brie's ears and nose and lips; waves of heat pulsing against her skin, accompanied by glittering eruptions of orange and yellow and gold.

The music faded and Brie blinked. She looked out at the rain and saw that scattered among the raindrops were quills of flame, no more than a finger long. They flared as they fell, a blur of yellow, orange, and gold, and when they hit the ground there was a dazzling burst, then they faded.

Ignoring the fire barbs raining about her, Brie ran out from under the overhang and up the escarpment to where Silien sat, cross-legged, his face drained of all color and his lips bent in a half smile. Hanna lay beside him, her eyes closed, sneezing violently.

Then Brie looked out and over the ridge into the valley. Unlike the intermittent quills of flame on the ridge, there, just a short distance from her, were sheets upon sheets of fire rain. The rain flames fell, unrelenting, on the goat-men below. It was an overwhelming sight, barely believable, and for a moment Brie felt something like pity for the creatures below.

Screams of agony and the appalling cacophony of goat-men and horses burning alive rose up to them. And Brie watched with a horrible fascination as the fire rain consumed all that it touched. Soon after came the smell, waves and waves of it. Brie's throat closed.

Hanna began to cough uncontrollably, and Brie stooped to her. The older woman had a terrible cold, but more, she had a raging fever and was trembling. Brie helped her up, and together they half slid, half walked down the ridge. Collun passed them, scrambling up to assist Silien, who was already falling asleep, dangerously close to the edge of the ridge.

When Collun came down the slope, carrying a limp Silien in his arms, Monodnock let out a shriek, "The prince is dead! All is lost!"

"Oh, shut up, Monodnock," said Aelwyn.

"He sleeps," explained Brie tersely.

They laid Silien on Fiain's back, where he slumped onto the horse's neck, still fast asleep. They gave Monodnock Hanna's horse to ride, while the shivering older woman rode in front of Brie. She too was bent double, her face pressed into Ciaran's soft mane.

They rode quickly, arriving back at the encampment by nightfall. While Collun and Aelwyn took care of Hanna and the Ellyl prince, Brie had Lom gather the company.

The army let out a cheer when they learned of the successful mission to destroy Balor's reinforcements, but listened soberly as Brie described the forces already arrayed against them.