Volog rode with them as far as the Faolain crossing, where in a sun-washed meadow he gave his most beloved daughter to Ostvel in marriage. On the same day Sioned fulfilled two promises: to stand with Hollis as she married Maarken, and to provide token of the union. She helped Maarken, whose injured hand was still useless, fasten around his new wife’s throat a necklet of silver leaves clasping sapphire flowers. Then Sioned gave Hollis a simple chain made of gold to place around Maar-ken’s neck. Three of its broad, flat links were studded with a ruby, a diamond, and a faceted chunk of translucent amber taken from one of Andrade’s rings.
A prince’s authority in recognizing marriages was equal to that of the Lord or Lady of Goddess Keep. Lleyn and Volog both stood with Rohan to lend extra honor to the couples joined that day. Meath pronounced the traditional words that should have been spoken by Andry; it would have been heartless cruelty for him to preside as the woman he loved wed another man. The new Lord was long gone in any case, riding with Urival and the contingent of Sunrunners back to Goddess Keep for his investiture. Sorin had accompanied his twin to represent the family during the ritual and because Andry was in need. Rohan, watching as Alasen placed a silver necklet set with luminous gray agates around Ostvel’s neck, thought of his nephew with sorrow. Perhaps Sorin would be able to help him through this. Perhaps not. But as he saw Ostvel’s careful tenderness while clasping moonstones and onyx at Alasen’s nape, he knew that these two at least had found peace. He hoped that Andry would, too.
There was a feast that night, and Sioned at last wore the dress Pol had had made for her. Tobin, astounded by the red-and-silver gown presented by her nephew, was not persuaded to risk it in the dancing that followed until Pol himself led her out into the center of the meadow. Among Rohan’s suite were several musicians—and the moment when Ostvel borrowed a lute and began to sing brought tears to Sioned’s eyes.
“You didn’t know, did you?” she asked Alasen, who listened wide-eyed to her new husband’s music and shook her head. “He hasn’t sung like that since—“ She interrupted herself with, “I’m so happy he found you.”
“Then smile,” Rohan whispered, kissing his wife’s bared shoulder.
They lingered for several days along the river, enjoying the late summer calm. The events of the Rialla had faded a little with every measure they put between them and Waes. Meadowlord was green and golden, as if summer lingered, holding its breath. There was no hurry to return to the Desert; the Sunrunners among them took turns scanning the Veresch, and no storms had yet gathered enough strength to spill from the mountains and shatter the delicate stillness.
After Volog and his retinue left them, returning to the coast to take ship for Kierst, they crossed the Faolain. The promise of continuing good weather allowed Rohan to act on whim, and he took most of the party north, leaving Meadowlord for Princemarch’s lowlands. The rest would return to Stronghold and Radzyn by the usual routes, but there was a pass through the Vere Hills which, though not particularly steep or arduous, was not often used. The way was long and twisting, and it was shorter and faster to follow the river south. But they had time, and Hollis needed time to wean herself from the dranath. That alone clouded the soft, warm early autumn. Sometimes they lingered in one place for a day or two while she tested her strength against her addiction; with Maar-ken and Sioned and Tobin attending her, she refused the drug until she could stand no more. But the amount of it in Sejast’s pouch diminished by a lesser amount each day.
Old Prince Lleyn stayed with them after telling Chadric and Audrite to head south to the sea and wait for him there. “Haven’t seen this part of the country for years,” he told Rohan. “Not since I was a boy and my father sent me on a grand tour. I’ll tag along, if you don’t mind. I’d like to see it again before I die.”
Meath stayed, too, once again taking up his duty as Pol’s guardian. By unspoken agreement between him and Sioned, he began to teach the boy some of the more basic faradhi arts. The results showed up sometimes when a tiny whirlwind would skitter across the road ahead, or dancing color touched the minds of the other Sunrunners. Sioned would arch her brows at Meath, watch her son give an apologetic shrug—and smile. Pol delighted in power just as she herself did, loved its beauty and joy. Let him learn the best of it now, she told herself. He had already found out the other.
The fourteenth day of autumn saw them in the foothills of the Veresch, to the west of and almost directly between Stronghold and Skybowl. It was stiflingly hot, even riding creekside through the woods. Sweat clogged Rohan’s hair and his thin shirt clung soddenly to his back. He called a rest stop and turned in his saddle to survey the fifty or so riders, all of them drooping in the thick heat. As he settled again he made a wry face at Prince Lleyn and said, “You’d think a lifetime in the Desert would accustom us to this kind of thing. But I swear I’m about to melt!”
“Ah, but the heat you get there can suck water from stones. This is like high summer on the seacoast: air thick enough to swim in.” Lleyn stretched, his old bones cracking, and smiled. “I find it quite comfortable, really.”
Rohan laughed—then swore in startlement: there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but all at once a cool rain descended, drops indenting the road’s dry dust. There were whickers from the astonished horses and exclamations from their riders. Rohan glanced around wildly. The invigorating shower extended the length of the column—and nowhere else. “What in the—?”
Sioned, shaking out her loosened hair in delight at the coolness, rode up to him and grinned. She gestured to the nearby creek, whence the water drifted up to sprinkle down, and said, “Don’t look at me! If you want a culprit, talk to your son!”
Sure enough, Pol wore a mischievous smile and Meath was trying without success to appear disapproving. The boy urged his horse forward and said, “It’s so hot, Father. I thought it’d be nice to cool off.”
Rohan eyed him. “You did, did you? And what else have you been learning?”
He shook water from his face. “Nothing Meath will let me try—yet.”
“Tallain,” Rohan said to his squire, “ride back and let people know what’s going on here.”
“They already do, my lord. And who caused it.” He looked consideringly at Pol. “Just don’t soak the bedrolls, if you please.”
Instantly contrite, Pol flicked a finger and the gentle rain stopped. “Sorry. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
“Hmm,” Rohan said.
Later, when they had made camp for the night beside a forking of the same creek, he asked his wife, “Should he be able to do that kind of thing?”
There was something in his eyes that kept her from a light answer. She hunched her shoulders briefly and stared into the little fire near their bedrolls. The night air was still very hot, but Sioned preferred having light to see by. She glanced around briefly. Ostvel and Alasen were not yet returned from their usual moonlit stroll; Maarken and Hollis were also absent, but not for romantic reasons. Though her dependence on dranath was waning, she was restless and wakeful for most of each night. Hus- band and wife paced together while he talked to her about Whitecliff, Stronghold, Radzyn, anything to distract her from dranath-hunger and reassure her about the life awaiting them. Sioned, remembering the way it had been with her, had comforted Maarken with the reminder that insomnia and its accompanying exhaustion were only temporary. But there were deep, pain-weary bruises under their eyes, and Sioned was saddened that their first days together should be shadowed thus, a longer and more painful version of what she and Rohan had endured.
Chay, Tobin, Riyan, Lleyn, and all the retainers except those on guard duty were already asleep, worn out by muggy heat. Pol was down at the creek with Meath and Tallain, trying to cool off with a more conventional wash than the one he’d given them all that afternoon. She heard muffled laughter and splashes that hinted at a water fight, and smiled.
At length she answered her husband’s question. “I don’t think anyone can say what’s usual and what isn’t for Pol. Or Riyan either, for that matter. I suspect Urival is the same as they. They saw most of what Maarken saw during the combat. I only caught glimpses, and so did the other trained Sunrunners.”
“That’s no indication—“
“Pandsala must have seen,” Sioned murmured, not looking at him. “And she as much as stated that her mother was of the Old Blood.”
“But she never got sick crossing water,” Rohan pointed out. “Pol and Riyan do—and I remember Cami’s hatred of water very distinctly.”
“But Pandsala didn’t have any Sunrunner blood, either. Pol does, through you. I think we can conclude that someone with only sorcerer’s heritage doesn’t, but something in faradh ‘im causes it whether the Old Blood is there or not.”
“You’re reaching,” he said flatly.
“Am I?” Sioned picked up a twig and poked at the fire. A spark danced up nearly to the trees overhead. “Pandsala could cross water without difficulty—and that alone made her different from the rest of us, suspiciously so. She could sense when sorcery was being used. I felt her drag herself out of the weave I tried to protect Maar- ken with. And there was something strange about her colors, Rohan. I’d never noticed it before, because the only other time I was ever in close contact with her was the night her father died. I grabbed onto anyone I could then—even Pol, day-old though he was. I’ve been thinking about that lately.”
“You sensed the same in him?”
“No. But I wasn’t looking for it. But consider, my love.” She met his gaze across the fire. “When Pandsala withdrew most of herself from my conjuring, what she left behind was faradhi—or the parts of her that were faradhi-trained. I only had a glimpse of what she took with her. It was very like what we are, yet subtly different.” She paused, frowning as she tried to find words. “Like almost identical mirrors reflecting back and forth. But not angled quite right. Strange depths in each that didn’t match the other.”
Rohan mulled that over. “When Pandsala’s gifts were first discovered, Andrade went back in the genealogies as far as she could, and nothing on Roelstra’s side even hints at the gifts. So Pandsala’s heritage was only of the Old Blood, through her mother. Not Sunrunner at all. Yet she learned the arts. Because Riyan could sense what Pandsala could, Cami probably had the same heritage along with her faradhi gifts.”
“Either that, or it’s in Ostvel the same way it’s in you. But we’re not discussing Riyan,” Sioned told him softly.
“No.”
“Pol can’t cross water—that makes him Sunrunner,” she said. “But he also sensed the visions Sejast used to assault Maarken. That makes him part of the Old Blood.”
“It makes him a sorcerer,” Rohan said grimly. “And sooner or later he’s going to figure it out.”
“What of it? We’ve always said that Maarken will be his example of a Sunrunner who’s an important political power as well. In this other, he’ll have Riyan to look to. No one could accuse that boy of being a sorcerer! Pol will understand.”
“And will he understand where that second heritage came from?”
Sioned gasped. “Rohan—“
“I’m sorry, love. But he’s bound to realize it someday.
He’s grown so much this spring and summer, Sioned. Perhaps it’s time he knew. He’s old enough to understand.”
“No! Not yet. Rohan, please. Not yet!” She held out one pleading hand.
After a moment he took her fingers. “You know, of course, that the longer we wait. ...”
“But he’s still so young. He wouldn’t really understand why—“
“Why his father raped his mother?” He gave a small, bitter laugh. “I suppose so. Lleyn’s teaching him to be too civilized, Sioned. Only barbarians comprehend rape.”
“Stop it. Don’t do this to yourself, Rohan.”
“It’s true, though, isn’t it?” He shrugged and let go her hand. “Once again, for all my pretensions to civilization, I did the good barbarian thing. I killed Masul. You know, Sioned, it doesn’t count” for much that I resisted so long. Better to be an honest savage and just do it.”
“If you say next that if you’d killed him when we first knew of him, Andrade might still be alive, I’ll—“
He smiled ruefully. “No threats. You’re all too likely to carry through on them. Very well, no second-guessing. But there will always be those who believe Masul was indeed Roelstra’s son. Somehow, I can’t bring myself to care very much, as long as Pol’s safe. But we’d better have a damned good explanation ready for him when he asks where his gifts really come from.”
She stirred the fire again with the twig, staring moodily into the glowing red coals. “There’s never been a word spoken anywhere, Rohan,in fifteen years. As far as anyone knows, you and I were imprisoned by lanthe at Feruche and then let go. Even if someone knew that the child she bore was yours, they assume he died along with her when the castle burned.” She met his gaze briefly. “I don’t want him to know the truth. Ever. I don’t want to hurt him.”
“I don’t want to lose him,” he whispered. Sioned flinched, and he gestured aimlessly with one hand. “A lapse. Ignore it. I’m just tired.”
She was wise enough to let the matter drop. Banking the fire, she stretched out on the blanket. Lying close together, they stared up at the silent, dangerous stars for which Pol had been named.
* * *
“Oh, excellent, Sioned!” Meath rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Fresh stew tonight for dinner, thanks to that hawk of yours!”
The bird had settled daintily back on her wrist and was preening as if she understood every word of the praise. The hawk had indeed performed beautifully. Sioned had flown her once or twice during the journey, but never yet at prey. Today, however, she had brought back a rabbit twice her own size, deposited the kill gracefully at Sioned’s feet, then leaped back up to her mistress’ hand.
“And she only tore a little off for herself,” Pol observed, adding the rabbit to the two small birds taken down by his and Tobin’s hawks. Rohan and Alasen had yet to fly theirs; he gestured gallantly and she rode forward, loosening the bird’s hood but not yet revealing the fierce black eyes in an amber face. She glanced back over her shoulder at Ostvel and smiled.
“If she makes a good catch, my lord, will you sing for us tonight?”
His brows arched. “It’s a wife’s duty to provide for her husband’s needs. Why should I reward you for doing your duty?”
“Ostvel!” Chay reprimanded, grinning. “That’s no way to talk to a bride of less than twenty days! Especially one who hasn’t seen your keep yet. Until she does and approves it, she can still un-Choose you. So take care!”
Alasen was laughing as she waited for Ostvel’s answer. “Well? Will you sing if I provide your supper?”
“No lullabyes,” Lleyn told him sternly, eyes snapping with mirth. “I don’t think singing her to sleep was exactly what she had in mind.”
“Providing for my needs was more what I meant,” Alasen teased.
“You know,” Sioned remarked, “I thought I’d seen his last blush years ago. Seems there are a few left. Congratulations , Alasen!”
“Enough!” Ostvel roared, causing the hawks to shake their feathers irritably. “A song for a decent meal, eh?
Very well, my lady. But it had better be a sizable catch. I find I’ve a hearty appetite these days.”
“Legitimately come by,” Tobin drawled, winking at Alasen.
Sioned handed her own hawk to a servant after hooding the proud head and smoothing the iridescent blue feathers rippling down the bird’s back. A memory of Cami-gwen tugged with painful suddenness at her heart. Ostvel’s lute had been her wedding gift to him, mostly silent since her death. But Alasen had brought back his music.
The hood was removed and the amber-faced hawk flew. Gorgeous bronze and green and gold pinions flickering in the sunlight, she called out her joy in free flight. But instead of ranging through the low hills for grounded prey, she gave voice to a triumphant cry and wheeled northward.
“Damn!” Riyan exclaimed. “We’ll never catch her if she keeps on like that!”
Sioned gave in to temptation and wove a few threads of sunlight together. She followed the hawk, eyes closed and spirit soaring. This was what it meant to be faradhi: skimming as free and wild as if she, too, had wings, borne along on wind and sunlight and her own strength. After all the pain and trauma her gifts had brought her during the Rialla, this, the most beloved of her powers, was sheer delight. She flew with Alasen’s hawk above rich hillsides and meadows tucked between them, saw the bird circle above a valley and then dive too swiftly to follow even at sunlit speed.
“Come on!” Sioned cried, “I know where she is!”
It was a wild ride she led them, galloping through rolling foothills and jumping their horses across branches of a stream that within a measure became a summer-thin river. Thundering along its banks, Sioned called out a warning as the watercourse narrowed through a rocky, tree-lined defile that compelled them to ride slower and only two abreast. Pol splashed his horse through the shallows to catch up with her and Rohan. She could hear Meath cursing behind her, and Tobin laughing like a madwoman, and Chay yelling at them all to slow down. Sioned did no such thing, and when the path widened again, she coaxed her mare to prodigious speed through the forest.
All at once they burst out into the valley she’d glimpsed on sunlight. Sioned pulled her horse up short, gasping at the sight. A broad, lush flatland spread before them, fully ten measures long and half that across at its widest point. Trees heavy with fruit grew up the slopes, and lofty pines towered at the higher elevations where ragged gray stone thrust to the sky. The river wound its way on the eastern side, surrounded by meadow thick with blue and crimson flowers that together turned the land purple. In the distance, as the valley narrowed, was the sunlit shimmer of a small lake, tall grasses bending gracefully in the breeze, alternating gold and silver-green. Sioned caught her breath and flung an excited smile at Rohan, whose blue eyes had gone slightly glassy as he gazed at the beauty around him.
“Like the hollow of the Goddess’ hand,” Tobin breathed. “Sioned—are those roses climbing up that hill?”
“And wild grapevines, too,” Chay affirmed. He turned to one of the grooms who had managed to keep up with them. “Go back and get the others. We camp here tonight.” With a glance at Rohan’s transfixed face, he added wryly, “And maybe for the winter!”
Rohan didn’t hear him. He spoke his wife’s name in a voice vibrating with suppressed excitement. “Tell me what the soil’s like.”
She blinked. “Rohan, it’s been years since I—“
“Do it.”
She jumped down off her horse and threw the reins to Pol. Walking—wading—into the ocean of wildflowers, she pulled off her riding gloves, knelt, and dug her hands into the rich dark earth. She squeezed it in her fists, inhaled its fragrance, sifted it through her fingers. The daughter of a farming lord remembered her lessons of a lifetime ago; she tested the soil with knowledge that had no use in the beautiful, dead Desert. Rising, she gave her husband a brilliant smile.
“This will grow anything you care to plant in it. Not that anybody should even have to test it by touching it— look around us! I’ve never seen anything so perfect!”
He nodded slowly, light dawning in his eyes. He dismounted and walked forward alone, the sun finding bright reflection on his blond hair, and the others watched in bewildered silence. All but Sioned; she knew exactly what he was thinking, and could barely restrain herself from telling everyone else.
At last he returned, and surprised even Sioned by seizing her around the waist and swinging her up into the air, laughing in triumph.
“You’re right, you’re right, it is perfect!” he cried. “Sioned, it’s the most beautiful place in the world! And it’s ours!” He kissed her and set her down, then turned to the others. “Pol! Where do you think we should build your palace?”
“My—“ The boy nearly fell out of his saddle. “Father!”
Tobin gaped at them. “Palace? What are you babbling about?”
“Oh, you know—walls, floors, painted ceilings and tapestries and carpets and—“
“And huge windows and stained glass and gardens and fountains and—and everything!” Pol finished exuberantly. “I can see it all right now!”
“So can I!” Tobin started herself with the words, and laughed. “You’re mad, every one of you! Where are you going to get the stone?”
“That’s the nice thing about being rich!” Rohan grinned at her.
“Father—we won’t have to spend a thing. Rezeld Manor!”
“Where?” Chay asked.
“It’s a holding we visited this summer—remember, Maarken? They owe us,” he added to his mother. “And they’ve got a quarry.”
Rohan nodded happily. “I’d almost forgotten!”
“Hold it right there,” Chay ordered. “I assume you’re going to explain that later, but what I want to know right now is what in all Hells you’re talking about.”
“I gave Castle Crag to Ostvel for a reason, you know. I want a new palace that embraces both the Desert and Princemarch. This valley isn’t too far from the pass leading to Stronghold. And this is where the Rialla will he held in the future, not in Waes.” He pulled Sioned to him and kissed her again. “So my Sunrunners won’t have the bother of crossing the Faolain anymore!”
A little while later Lleyn arrived with the rest of the party. His approval was instantaneous for the valley, a new palace, and a new site for the Rialla.
“Clutha won’t mind, and Gennadi will be grateful not to have it hanging over her head every three years. Besides, I’ve always felt the High Prince ought to have an accessible residence. Castle Crag is an impossible place. This. . . .”He gazed into the valley and nodded. “This is indeed perfect.” The old man grinned suddenly. “By the way, did you find Alasen’s hawk?”
“Oh, Goddess!” Sioned exclaimed. “I completely forgot!”
She wove sunlight while the servants and guards began organizing their camp for the night. But her efforts met with no success and she apologized to Alasen, who shook her head and smiled.
“She’ll show up again, once she’s fed full on whatever she caught.”
“I gave her to you, and I don’t intend to lose her through my own stupidity,” Sioned replied. “Let’s go find her. Pol, Rohan, Ostvel, come with us.”
Maarken joined them after seeing Hollis comfortably settled in the shade with Lleyn to keep her company. She shook her head when he asked a silent question with his eyes.
“I’m feeling quite well, love. And I haven’t had any wine since yesterday morning. I think it’s over, Maarken—or nearly so.”
He kissed both her hands and smiled.
Lleyn poked his leg with the end of his dragon-headed cane. “You’ve had her all to yourself for days now,” he scolded. “Allow an old man to flirt with your pretty wife out of your hearing. I promise I’ll make only the most scandalous suggestions, guaranteed to put a blush back in her cheeks.”
“Old lecher,” Maarken accused fondly.
They rode away from the trees, following the course of the river toward the lake. Rohan was full of plans that
Pol amplified, the pair exchanging ideas as if they’d rehearsed this for years.
“And over there we’ll plant an orchard, and a grove of nut trees.”
“More grapevines up that hill—“
“If we hold the Rialla here, we’ll have to have a racing circle—but at the end of the valley so there won’t be so much dust.”
“Could we set up a horse farm with it?”
“Now, wait just a—“ Maarken began, but neither heard him.
“Excellent! Nothing elaborate, just stables and a paddock—we’ll breed for color! What would you say to a pasture full of golden horses? We can coax Chay into giving us a few good mares and a stud—“
“Giving you?” Maarken said, more loudly.
“Selling, then,” Pol laughed. “You wouldn’t begrudge us a few horses, would you?”
“Dangerous question,” Sioned put in. “What about this palace?”
“A foundation of Rezeld stone, but a facade of that wonderful grayish marble from that quarry north of here—you remember we saw it this summer, Pol. It’ll shine silvery in the sun and rose-gold at dawn and dusk.”
“With a blue tile roof,” the boy affirmed. “Kierstian ceramic. Father! I have an idea! Why not have something from every princedom, the way it is in the Great Hall at home?”
“I like it,” Rohan announced. “We’ll have a whole palace to work with, after all.”
Alasen had been listening to all of this with wide eyes; Ostvel, with an indulgent grin. He touched her arm and said, “Tobin’s right, you know. They’re utterly mad.”
“Ha!” Sioned scoffed. “This from the man who redid Skybowl from cellar to tower, and before that changed Stronghold from one end to the other, and before that ruled Goddess Keep for all that Urival held the title of chief steward! I know exactly how you’re going to spend your first year of marriage, Alasen: wondering which room at Castle Crag you’re not going to recognize next!”
“A vile slander, unworthy of a High Princess,” Ostvel told her. “Aren’t you supposed to be finding a hawk?”
“A graceless change of subject, unworthy of a regent!” she shot back, laughing. “But you’re right. Let’s see if our wayward friend is airborne again.”
They stopped half a measure from the lake. As she wove light once more, Maarken asked his uncle, “Why hasn’t anybody lived in this valley before? It’s beautiful, according to Sioned it’ll grow anything, and it’s not badly situated, though a little far from the main roads. Why do you think—“
He broke off abruptly, Rohan was not listening. He had reined in, his body rigid, his face turning to the north where the small lake spread its shimmer before the embrace of the hills narrowed. Sioned drew back from the sunlight and stared at him. He was tense with expectation, eyes shining. Sioned exchanged a wry smile and a nod with Maarken.
“That’s why,” she said.
Dragons.
Upwards of thirty adolescents and hatchlings, watched over by five adult females and a sire, flew down from the high hills into the valley. They wheeled in dizzying patterns before landing to drink at the lake. The hatchlings were nicely grown, almost half the size of their elders, sleek with good summer feeding in the Veresch. Some plunged into the lake for a wash, earning annoyed snarls from the others as they stirred up sediment.
The horses sidled nervously. The dragons condescended to give the humans a single disinterested glance before proceeding to ignore them.
“I wish Feylin could see them,” Rohan murmured. “Look at those beauties!”
“Mother . . . how does he do that?” Pol whispered.
She shrugged. “He’s dragon-bred, too, you know.” Suddenly she straightened in her saddle. A reddish-brown female dragon sprang up from the lakeshore and soared lazily above them, calling out softly. Sioned calmed her restive horse and rode forward a few paces. The dragon spiraled down, wings spread wide to show their golden undersides and head extended to peer at Sioned. A rau-t cous howl of greeting presaged a masterful display of flying skills, ending in a happy plunge into the middle of the lake that splashed water nearly to the shoreline.
“It’s Elisel!” Sioned waved. The dragon rolled over and over in the water before sculling to the shallows and standing erect. Another cry of joyous greeting sounded, and wings were shaken in a shower of sparkling drops.
“Elisel?” Rohan asked.
She glanced at him, embarrassed. “My dragon. I’ve been calling her that in my mind. It means ‘little wing.’ “
He smiled. “And people accuse me of being foolish about dragons! At least I never put a name to one!” He paused, then added thoughtfully, “But then, I never had my own dragon, either.”
“You think I do?” she laughed.
“Well, just look at her—showing off for you, calling out as if she’d been looking for you! I’d say you do indeed have your very own dragon, Sioned.”
She stood in her stirrups and lifted one hand, her emerald aglow in the sun. The dragon spread her wings in answer. Sioned wove light, careful to keep from touching the dragon—but Elisel strode out of the water directly into Sioned’s sunlight. She caught her breath as the contact showed her a dazzling array of colors. They whirled and danced in a living rainbow that intensified in speed and light until she grew dizzy and her mind cried out.
The maelstrom of color softened, slowed. And through it she sensed apology, curiosity. Stunned, Sioned reorganized her thoughts and spoke to the dragon.
My name is Sioned. Have you a name ?
The dragon came closer, her head tilting in a strangely human gesture of inquiry. Sioned began to dismount. She felt Rohan’s cautioning hand and glanced at him with a reassuring smile. But the weaving tugged at her, and through it she sensed a petulance that astonished her.
He’s my—my mate. His name is Rohan. He’s the sire of the boy over there—the hatchling man with hair like sunshine. The hatchling’s name is Pol. Elisel, are you understanding any of this, or am I just talking to myself?
Her frustration was almost palpable, even to herself; the dragon whined and shook water from her wings, shifting as if the emotion made her uncomfortable.
“Sioned—“ Rohan came to stand beside her.
“That’s it,” she breathed. “A language of emotions.”
“You mean you’re communicating with her?”
“I’m not sure.” She hesitated, then put an arm around his waist, leaning against him, and let her love for him flow through the sunlight. Elisel looked uncannily surprised for a moment, her eyes widening. Then she shuffled a few steps closer and hummed low in her throat, eyes half-closing in an expression of pleasure, her head swinging from side to side on her graceful neck.
“I’ll be damned,” Sioned murmured. “I’m telling her I love you—and she understands me!”
“I thought it might be something like that. Keep it decent, Sunrunner.” He grinned at her. “She’s only a three-year-old. I won’t have you corrupting an innocent dragon.”
“Oh, hush!” Moving closer to the dragon, she tried once more in speech. Elisel! My name is Sioned, and my mate’s name is Rohan. Do you have a name ?
The dragon looked bewildered. Sioned bit her lip, groping for some means of communicating with her. Then she had it. Imagination painted a picture of dragon sires on the sand and females choosing them; whimsy put Rohan standing among them and herself walking forward to take his hands. She concentrated, conjuring the scene within the skeins of sunlight—not too difficult, only a variation of what she did with Fire. Elisel warmed to the picture, humming again, and this time her pleasure surged through the weave.
This was the way to do it, then. Sioned made a further picture of Skybowl, the way she herself saw it when Sun-running, the way a dragon would see it in flight. She showed the dragon the keep crouching beside the lake. Elisel called out happily and swayed back and forth. Colors ricocheted through the air, all the bright blues of water and sky. Sioned let them wash over her without trying to assimilate them all. She formed a vision of Stronghold, again from a Sunrunner’s—or dragon’s—point of view, then focused down on herself and Rohan and Pol standing in the courtyard. This time images came back, and so powerfully that Sioned winced a little. A mountain aerie, richly green with summer foliage, elk and deer easy pickings; the gentler heights of the Catha Hills in winter, storms flashing across a dark sky viewed from the snug safety of caverns. Within each picture was a myriad of colors and subsidiary images: rivers, fish, wild deer and elk, other dragons, trees, birds, flowers, flight patterns to and from each location, surrounding countryside with human settlements hazed over in dark warning colors—too much information for Sioned to take in.
Elisel! Please! Slower—you ‘re hurting me!
The images abruptly terminated. The dragon fluttered her wings, whimpering concern. Sioned concentrated again, trying to project reassurance. She formed her own distinct pattern of color, the shades of emerald and sapphire, onyx and amber embedded in her consciousness, more a part of her than her own name. This is me. Sioned. These are my colors.
And at last it seemed the dragon understood, for the pattern appeared to hover duplicated in the air between them, oddly elegant when filtered through a dragon’s perceptions, an image of Sioned’s face superimposed. An instant later another structure appeared, complicated with colors Sioned had never seen before. Interwoven with this was a picture of the little red-brown dragon with her gold underwings.
Elisel! Sioned told her in triumph. And the dragon hummed and swayed. She spoke the word aloud—and could have sworn Elisel winked at her. “She knows her name!”
“Good Goddess,” Rohan breathed. “She understands you. All my life I’ve wanted—Sioned,” he interrupted himself with sudden urgency, “ask her if it’s all right that we’re here.”
“Do you think I need to? She likes us!” She laughed and kissed him. The dragon’s humming took on the same low note as when Sioned had communicated her love for her husband. Rohan pulled away, blushing a little. “Oh, she likes you, too,” Sioned assured him playfully. “But I think you’re right about asking her if it’s all right to build here.”
“But we couldn’t! Not now. If this valley belongs to them—“
“Let me ask, love.”
Stepping away from him, she wondered how to convey so complex an idea. She showed Elisel Stronghold again, then changed the picture in her mind. The keep now rested down the valley, rising tall and proud, people going about their business within and without. Curiosity again from Elisel; the great eyes peered southward as if a castle had indeed appeared there. She looked at Sioned, bewildered, head tilting in that oddly human gesture. Imagination’s picture expanded to include a large paddock where golden horses grazed in the sunshine. Elisel perked up and Sioned nearly giggled; the dragon was seeing easy prey.
But the picture Sioned created was suddenly given back to her in changed form: instead of long-legged mares and stallions, Elisel rather wistfully pictured plump white sheep. The Sunrunner altered the vision accordingly and showed her a pen near the lake, stocked with ewes and lambs. The dragon rumbled with delight and gave Sioned a view of the whole valley from flying altitude—complete with castle, paddock, horses, people, sheep—and dragons stopping off for a drink, a swim, and a free meal.
Sioned did laugh then, and her approval of the plan met and merged with the dragon’s. So you like sheep, do you ? You can have all you want in exchange for letting us build our palace here!
Elisel shook her wings and projected Sioned’s pattern of color once more into the space between them. Woven through it was a view of winterswept hills that must be this group’s southern home in the Catha Hills. The invitation to join them was very clear, not only across the plaited sunlight but also in the huge soft eyes. Sioned had no trouble conveying her regret; she showed Elisel Stronghold again, and the dragon actually sighed.
All this time the other dragons had been refreshing themselves at the lake, completely oblivious to the revolutionary contact taking place nearby. But now the dragon sire bellowed stern warning and took to the sky. He circled the lake, snapping his great jaws at hatchlings who seemed inclined to linger and play in the water. One by one the other dragons soared windward, mature females keeping adolescents and hatchlings in line.
The horses trembled as the sire swept over them and roared at Elisel. The little dragon gave a start and jumped to attention like a reprimanded soldier. Sioned smiled and gently unthreaded the sunlight. Elisel whimpered again with the loss; Sioned felt like echoing her at giving up the splendor of her colors and the warmth of their communication. The dragon took flight, circled once over the lake, then joined her kind as they flew south.
Sioned watched until they disappeared. Only then did she feel Rohan’s touch on her shoulders. She turned, met his gaze.
“It was wonderful,” she said softly. “Indescribable.”
“For the first time in my life, I truly regret not being faradhi. “
Her heart swelled with pity that he would never know what it was to touch one of his dragons. “Rohan—“
He shook his head, smiling. “Later. When you’ve had time to think it all through. When you can find words to describe the indescribable—because I want to know everything! “
Pol approached them, still on horseback. “What did she tell you, Mother? What did she say?”
Sioned looked up at him. “We can stay here, and we can build our palace—as long as we provide the dragons a free meal when they stop over! This valley is on one of their flight paths between the Veresch and the Catha Hills. Oh, Pol—I can hardly wait until you learn to use your gifts!”
“So I can talk to a dragon of my own?” He laughed in excitement. “I think you’re the only one who can teach me that, Mother.”
“Well, if you’re giving lessons. ...” Maarken put in.
“Once I figure out how it happened,” she promised.
A sharp, frightened cry startled them. High overhead a small, swift shape darted across the sky: Alasen’s hawk. Ostvel kicked his horse to a gallop, following the bird to the top of the valley. The others hurried after, and finally came upon him in a wooded slope, where a thin waterfall drifted down a cliff. With autumn rains it would swell to a roaring torrent, and perhaps with winter it would turn to a column of ice. But now it was like frail white gauze, nearly silent.
Ostvel was on foot, his horse tethered nearby, and gestured them to silence as they rode up. His gaze was fixed on a stripling pine. In an upper branch was a flash of amber and green and bronze.
“So your big cousins scared you, eh?” he crooned to the hawk. “It’s all right now, little one. They’re gone. Why don’t you come down now? Alasen, call to her.”
She slipped from her saddle and glided toward him, whistling the low, three-note call to which the hawk had been trained to respond. Feathers rustled. She whistled again, holding out her arm invitingly. A few moments later the bird leaped down with a cry both forlorn and relieved and settled on her wrist. It took Alasen some while to smooth feathers and coax wings to fold; when she had, Ostvel slid the hood over the bird’s head.
“Well,” he said, “at least we know what to name this place.”
“Lost Hawk Valley?” Maarken asked whimsically.
“Ah, no,” Rohan said, and there was that in his voice which drew all eyes. He smiled. “What else could we call it and our new palace but Dragon’s Rest?”
Index of Characters
Sunrunner
ABIDIAS (658-701). Lord of 1\iath Castle. Died of Plague.
ABINOR. Lady of Rezeld Manor.
AFINA. Kiele’s childhood nurse.
AILECH. Afina’s sister; deceased.
AJIT (657-). Prince of Firon. Six wives, including Pavla (713).
ALADRA (676-694). Roelstra’s mistress.
ALASEN of Kierst (696-). Volog’s younger daughter.
ALLUN (685-). Lord of Lower Pyrme.
*ANDRADE of Catha Freehold (649). Milar’s twin. Lady of Goddess Keep 677-.
*ANDRY of Radzyn Keep (699-). Son of Chay and Tob-in; Sorin’s twin. Fostered at High Kirat 711-713; Goddess Keep 713-.
ANTALYA of Waes (679-701). Sister of Lyell. m698 Eltanin. Mother of Tallain. Died of Plague.
ARLIS of Kierst-Isel (710-). Son of Latham and Hev-atia, grandson of Volog and Saumer; heir to both princedoms.
ATHIL (680-703). Father of lanthe’s son Segev.
AUDRITE of Sandeia (670-). m692 Chadric. Mother of Ludhil, Laric.
AVALY of Rezeld Manor (703-). Daughter of Morlen and Abinor.
BAISAL (650-). Lord of Faolain Lowland.
BIRANI of Kierst (688-). Daughter of Volog. m708 Obram.
BOSAIA of Einar (698-). Brother of Sabriam. Fostered at Lower Pyrme 710-.
CABAR (687-). Prince of Gilad. m705 Kenza.
*CAMIGWEN (676-701). m698 Ostvel. Mother of Ri-yan. Died of Plague.
CHADRIC of Dorval (664-). Son of Lleyn. m692 Au-drite. Father of Ludhil, Laric. Fostered at Stronghold 677; knighted 683.
CHALE (645-). Prince of Ossetia.
CHALIA of Ossetia (650-695). Chale’s sister. m680 Haldor. Mother of Jastri, Gemma.
CHAYNAL (668-). Lord of Radzyn Keep. m690 Tob-in. Father of Maarken, Jahni, Andry, Sorin. Battle Commander of the Desert 695-.
CHELAN (670-). Father of lanthe’s son Ruval.
CHIANA (698-). Roelstra’s daughter by Palila.
CIPRIS (687-708). Roelstra’s daughter by Surya.
CLADON (681-). Lord of River Ussh.
CLUTHA (644-). Prince of Meadowlord. Father of Gennadi, Halian. Grandfather of Isaura.
*CRIGO (665-698). Addicted to dranath by Roelstra.
DANLADI (694-). Roelstra’s daughter by Aladra. DAVVI (665-). Prince of Syr. Sioned’s brother. m686 Wisla. Father of Kostas, Riaza, Tilal.
DRESLAV (646-). Lord of Grand Veresch.
ELTANIN (678-). Lord of Tiglath. m698 Antalya. Father of Tallain.
EMLYS. Lord of Dasan Manor. Athrl at whose home Masul grew up.
ENEIDA. Fironese ambassador.
*EOLIE. At Gray pearl.
*ERIDIN. At Goddess Keep. EVAIS (674-). Father of lanthe’s son Marron.
FARJD (638-704). Lord of Skybowl. Killed by Mer-ida.
*FENICE. At Goddess Keep.
FEYLIN (684-). m706 Walvis. Mother of Sionell, Jah-navi.
GARIC (642-). Lord of Elktrap Manor.
GEIR of Waes (707-). Son of Kiele and Lyell.
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GEMMA of Syr (694-). Daughter of Haldor and Chalia. GENNADI of Meadowlord (667-). Daughter of Clutha.
*GERIK. Ancient Sunrunner.
GEVINA (679-701). Roelstra’s daughter by Vamana. Died of Plague.
GIAMO. Innkeeper on Dorval.
HADAAN (634-714). Lord of Remagev. Rohan’s distant cousin.
HALDOR (656-701). Prince of Syr. m680 Chalia. Father of Jastri, Gemma. Died of Plague.
HALIAN of Meadowlord (680-). Son of Clutha.
HEVATIA of Isel (682-). Daughter of Saumer. m707 Latham. Mother of Arlis.
*HOLLIS (691-). At Goddess Keep.
IANTHE of Princemarch (676-704). Roelstra’s daughter by Lallante. Mother of Ruval, Marron, Segev, Pol. Killed by Ostvel.
INOAT of Ossetia (664-). Son of Chale. Father of Jos.
ISAURA of Meadowlord (700-). Granddaughter of Clutha.
JAHNAVI of Remagev (711-). Son of Walvis and Fey-lin.
JAHNI of Radzyn Keep (693-701). Son of Chay and Tobin; Maarken’s twin. Died of Plague.
JAL. Guard in Chay’s service.
JASTRI (688-704). Prince of Syr. Son of Haldor and Chalia. Killed in battle.
JAYACHIN. Waesian merchant’s daughter.
JELENA (689-701). Roelstra’s daughter by Palila. Died of Plague.
JERVIS (655-701). Lord of Waes. Father of Antalya, Lyell. Died of Plague.
*JOBYNA. At Goddess Keep. Jos of Ossetia (709-). Son of Inoat.
KARAYAN (660-689). Roelstra’s mistress.
*KASSIA. At Goddess Keep. KENZA (683-). m705 Cabar of Gilad.
KIELE (681-). Roelstra’s daughter by Karayan. m704 Lyell. Mother of Geir, Lyela.
KIERA of Einar (698-). Sister of Sabriam and Bosaia.
*KLEVE (681-). Itinerant Sunrunner. KOLYA (696-). Lord of Kadar Water. KOSTAS of River Run (687-). Son of Davvi and Wisla. Fostered at Swalekeep 700; knighted 708.
LALLANTE of The Mountain (655-679). m673 Roel-stra.
LAMIA (683-701). Roelstra’s daughter by Karayan. Died of Plague.
LARIC of Dorval (698-). Son of Chadric and Audrite. Fostered at High Kirat 710; knighted 718.
LATH AM of Kierst (683-). Son of Volog. m707 Hev-atia. Father of Arlis.
LENALA of Princemarch (674-701). Roelstra’s daughter by Lallante. Died of Plague.
LLEYN (637-). Prince of Dorval. Father of Chadric.
LUDHIL of Dorval (694-). Son of Chadric and Audrite. Fostered at Fessada 705; knighted 714.
LYELA of Waes (709-). Daughter of Kiele and Lyell.
LYELL (683-). Lord of Waes. m704 Kiele. Father of Geir, Lyela.
*MAARKEN of Radzyn Keep (693-). Son of Chay and Tobin; Jahni’s twin. Fostered at Graypearl 702; knighted 712; Goddess Keep 712-719.
MAETA (670-). Commander of Stronghold guard. Myrdal’s daughter.
MARRON of Feruche (701-). lanthe’s son by Evais.
MASUL (698-). Pretender to the throne of Prince-march.
*MEATH (673-). At Graypearl.
*MERISEL. Ancient Sunrunner.
MILAR of Catha Freehold (649-701). Andrade’s twin. m670 Zehava. Mother of Tobin, Rohan. Died of Plague.
MILOSH of Fessenden (699-). Pimantal’s youngest son.
MIREVA (659-). Sorceress who raised Ruval, Marron, and Segev.
MIYON (689-). Prince of Cunaxa.
MORIA (684-). Roelstra’s daughter by Surya.
MORLEN (674-). Lord of Rezeld Manor.
*MORWENNA (684-). At Goddess Keep. MOSWEN (692-). Roelstra’s daughter by Palila. MYRDAL (645-). Retired commander of Stronghold guard. Maeta’s mother.
NARAT (667-). Lord of Port Adni. m705 Naydra. NAYATI (684-717). Roelstra’s daughter by Vamana. NAYDRA of Princemarch (673-). Roelstra’s daughter by Lallante. m705 Narat.
OBRAM of Isel (680-711). Son of Saumer. m708 Bir-ani.
OSTVEL (673-). Lord of Skybowl. m698 Camigwen. Father of Riyan.
PALILA (669-698). Roelstra’s mistress.
*PANDSALA of Princemarch (675-). Roelstra’s daughter by Lallante. At Goddess Keep 698-704. Regent of Prince-march 705-.
PATWIN (691-). Lord of Catha Heights. m709 Rabia. Father of Izaea, Sangna, Aurar.
PAVLA (687-713). Roelstra’s daughter by Palila. m713 Ajit.
PELLIRA. Guard in Pandsala’s service.
PIMANTAL (657-). Prince of Fessenden.
POL of Princemarch (704-). Rohan’s son by lanthe. Fostered at Graypearl 716-.
RABIA (693-715). Roelstra’s daughter by Palila. m709 Patwin. Mother of Izaea, Sangna, Aurar.
RASOUN. Overseer at Skybowl mines.
REVIA. Guard in Chay’s service.
RIALT. Merchant’s son at Graypearl.
RIAZA of River Run (694-701). Daughter of Davvi and Wisla. Died of Plague.
*RIYAN of Skybowl (699-). Son of Ostvel and Camigwen. Fostered at Swalekeep 711-713; at Goddess Keep 713-718; at Swalekeep 718-.
ROELSTRA (653-704). Ruler of Princemarch, High Prince 665-704. m673 Lallante. Father of Naydra, Len-ala, Pandsala, lanthe; Gevina, Rusalka, Alieta, Nayati;Kiele, Lamia; Moria, Cipris; Pavla, Jelena, Moswen, Rabia, Chiana; Danladi. Killed by Rohan.
ROHAN (677-). Prince of the Desert 698-; High Prince 705-. Fostered at Remagev 690; knighted 695. m698 Sioned. Father of Pol.
*ROSSEYN. Ancient Sunrunner. RUSALKA (680-712). Roelstra’s daughter by Vamana. RUVAL of Feruche (700-). lanthe’s son by Chelan.
SABRIAM (695-). Lord of Einar. Brother of Bosaia, Kiera.
SAUMER (659-). Prince of Isel. Father of Obram, Hevatia.
SEGEV of Feruche (703-). lanthe’s son by Athil.
SINAR (610-678). Prince of Kierst. m635 Siona. Grandfather of Sioned, Davvi, Volog.
*SIONA (614-679). m635 Sinar. Grandmother of Sioned, Davvi, Volog.
*SIONED of River Run (677-). Sister of Davvi. m698 Rohan. Princess of the Desert 698-; High Princess 705-.
SIONELL of Remagev (708-). Daughter of Walvis and Feylin.
SORIN of Radzyn Keep (699-). Son of Chay and Tob-in; Andry’s twin. Fostered at New Raetia 711-.
SURYA (665-690). Roelstra’s mistress,
TALLAIN of Tiglath (700-). Son of Eltanin and Antalya. Fostered at Stronghold 713-.
TIBAYAN (642-714). Lord of Lower Pyrme.
*TIEL. At Swalekeep.
TILAL of River Run (692-). Lord of River Run. Son of Davvi and Wisla. Fostered at Stronghold 702; knighted 712.
TOBIN of the Desert (671-). Rohan *s sister. m690 Chaynal. Mother of Maarken, Jahni, Sorin, Andry.
ULRICCA. Goldsmith in Waes.
*URIVAL (653-). Chief Steward of Goddess Keep 681-.
VAMANA (658-686). Roelstra’s mistress. VELDEN (683-). Prince of Grib.
*VESSIE. At Goddess Keep.
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VOLNAYA of Kierst (702-). Volog’s younger son. VOLOG (659-). Prince of Kierst. Father of Latham, Bir-ani, Alasen, Volnaya.
WALVIS (685-). Lord of Remagev. m706 Feylin. Fostered at Stronghold 697; knighted 703. Father of Sionell, Jahnavi.
WILLA. Giamo’s wife.
WISLA of River View (663-717). Princess of Syr 705-717. m686 Davvi. Mother of Kostas, Tilal, Riaza.
YARIN-(690-). Lord of Snowcoves.
ZEHAVA (638-698). Prince of the Desert. m670 Milar. Father of Tobin, Rohan. Killed by a dragon.