Page 1 (1/2)

part one

WILDERLANDS

I aoodly people of all the world Pony and I rode south frorief, but with hope Avelyn, Tuntun, and Bradwarden gave their lives, but in destroying the dactyl, we had, I believed, taken the darkness fro stride Sy us to ht, and so I told Pony, whose doubts were ever greater than oblins we have seen! Thousands, Uncle Mather, tens of thousands, and with scores of foiants and hundreds of cruel powries as well It took Pony and hts to reach the area near Dundalis, and there we found onlythe re theirband we set up before ent to the Barbacan are gone - to the south as we discussed, I pray But so vast is the darkness enco the land that I fear nowhere will be safe

I am afraid, Uncle Mather, but I vow to you now that no matter how bleak the situation beco not the deoblins, not all the evil in all the world, can take froth to my sword arm, that Te arrows as score after score are lost to goblin hearts - a line of monsters that seems not at all diminished by my efforts

Hope, Uncle Mather, that is the secret I think that my enemies are not possessed of it They are too selfish to understand sacrifice in the hope that it will bring better things for those who coht and optimism, they are often easily disheartened and chased from battle

Hope, I have learned, is a prerequisite for altruisht on, and with every battle I a with the stones, and the ical forces she conjures are indeed incredible Also, our eneht in any coordinated fashion Their binding force, the deoblin battles goblin

The day is dark, Uncle Mather, but there may yet be a break in the clouds

CHAPTER 1 Another Day

Elbryan Wyndon collected his wooden chair and his precious mirror and moved to the mouth of the small cave He blinked as he pulled the blanket aside, surprised to see that the daas long past Cli out of the hole seemed no easy task for a man of Elbryan&039;s size, with his six-foot- three-inch iven hi with the lithe elves of Caer&039;alfar, he had little trouble navigating the course

He found his co up their bedrolls and utensils Not so far away, the great horse Sye of the stallion would have given most men pause Sym-phony was tall, but not the least bit lanky, with a powerful,ht, and eyes that projected profound intelligence A white diamond-shaped patch showed on the horse&039;s head, above the intelligent eyes, but other than that and a bit of white on the legs, the only thing that eically set in the middle of the horse&039;s chest

For all the splendor, though, the ranger hardly paid Syaze was locked on Pony She was a few er than Elbryan, his childhood friend, his adult wife Her hair, thick and golden, was just below her shoulders now, longer than Elbryan&039;s own light brown htly overcast, the sky gray, but that did little to dith, the ranger knew, the bright spot in a dark world Her energy seehtened her, no sight daunted her; she pressed on methodically, determinedly

"Do we look for the camp north of End-o&039;-the-World?" she asked, the question shattering Elbryan&039;s conteht They had discerned that there were satellite caoblins, er encampments set up in what used to be the three towns of Dundalis, Weedy Meadow, and End-o&039;-the-World Because the toere each separated by a day&039;s walk, Dundalis west to Weedy Meadow, and Weedy Meadoest to End- o&039;-the-World, these sion - if ever an army from Honce-the-Bear made its way to the borders of the Wilderlands If Elbryan and Pony could clear the monsters from the dense woods, there would reood a place as any to start," the ranger replied

"Start?" Pony asked incredulously, to which Elbryan could only shrug Indeed, both eary of battle now, though both knew that hts lay before the toward the mirror Elbryan had explained Oracle to her, that ht converse with the dead

"I spoke at hi as a shiver coursed his spine - as always happened when he considered the ghost of the great one before hiure out how he ht better explain Oracle "I answer hts, I believe, but in truth, he does not give me the answers"

Pony&039;s nod showed that she understood perfectly what the youngto say to her Elbryan had not known his uncle Mather in life; the e, before Olwan Wyndon - Mather&039;s brother, Elbryan&039;s father - had taken his wife and children to the wild Timberlands But Mather, like Elbryan, had been taken in and trained by the Touel&039;alfar, the elves, to be a ranger Now, in Oracle, Elbryan con-jured his ier, and when speaking to that ihest ideals

"If I taught you Oracle, perhaps you could speak with Avelyn," the ranger said, and it wasn&039;t the first tiht try to contact their lost friend for several days now, ever since he himself tried, and failed, to reach Avelyn&039;s spirit at Oracle two days after they had started south from the blasted Barbacan

"I do not need it," Pony said softly, turning away, and for the first time Elbryan realized how disheveled she appeared

"You do not believe in the ceremony," he started to say, more to prompt than to accuse

"Oh, but I do," was her quick and sharp retort, but she lostthe turn in the conversation "I I "

Elbryan stared at her cal her the time to sort out her response

As the seconds passed into minutes, he prompted, "You have learned Oracle?"

"No," she answered, turning to look at the man "Not quite the same as your own I do not seek it Rather, it seeks me"

"It?"

"It is Avelyn," Pony said with conviction "He is withme"

"As I feel about my father," Elbryan reasoned "And you about yours I do not doubt that Olwan is watching over" His voice trailed away as he looked at her, for Pony was shaking her head be-fore he finished

"Stronger than that," she explained "When Avelyn first taught me to use the stones, he was badly injured We joined, spirit to spirit, through use of the he, for both of us, that Avelyn continued that joining over the weeks, as he showed e and capabilities with the stones pro-gressed far beyond what a "

"And you believe that he is still connecting with you in that spiritual manner?" Elbryan asked, and there was no skepticiser had seen tooand diabolical, to doubt such a possibility - or any possibility

"He is," Pony replied "And every , I wake up to find that I know a bit more about the stones Perhaps I dreaiven stone, or new combinations between theer reasoned

"It is Avelyn," she said firmly "He is with me, in me, a part of who I have become"

She went quiet, and Elbryan did not respond, the two of the the revelation - one that Pony had not made even to herself until this very moment Then a sradually joined hi comfort that their friend, the Mad Friar, the runaway ht still be with theht is true, then our business becomes easier," El-bryan reasoned He held his s to pack Sys

Pony didn&039;t reply, justdown the caht - often not oblin patrols in the area The ranger finished his task first, and with a look to the wo nod, he took his sword belt and wandered away

Pony hurriedly finished her task, then silently stalked after hi they had passed right be-fore they set camp, and knew, too, that she would find ample cover in the thick blueberry bushes on its northeastern end Stalking qui-etly, as Elbryan had taught her, she finally settled into place

The ranger ell into the dance by then He was naked, ex-cept for a green arreat sword Teiven by the Touel&039;alfar to his uncle, Mather Wyndon Gracefully, Elbryan went through the precise , body shifting, keeping him always in balance

Pony watched, mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the dance, which the elves calledbi&039;nelle dasada, and her love&039;s perfection of form As alhen she spied on Elbryan&039;s dance - no, not Elbryan, for in this fighting forhtbird, and not Elbryan Wyndon - Pony had pangs of guilt, feeling quite the voyeur But there was nothing sexual or prurient here, just appreciation of the art and beauty of the interplay between her love&039;s powerful , she wanted to learn that dance, to weave her oord in graceful circles, to feel her bare feet becorass below theround

Pony was noserved with distinction in the Coastpoint Guards She had battled ht her But in looking at Elbryan, the Nightbird, she felt herself to be a mere amateur

That dance,bi&039;nelle dasada, was perfection of the art form, and her lover was perfection ofbi&039;nelle dasada The ranger continued his slashing, weavingto the side, front, back, body going do and then rising in graceful se-quences This was the traditional fighting style of the day, the slashing routines of the heavy, edged swords

But then, abruptly, the ranger shifted his stance, heels together, feet perpendicular to each other He stepped ahead, toe-heel, and went into a balanced crouch, his knees bending out over his toes, front arm cocked, elbon, and rear arm similarly bent except that his upper ar loose He went forward then retreated in short, measured, but iht from one such retreat, his front arm extended and seemed to pull him It happened in the blink of Pony&039;s eye, and this , as with every such strike, it stunned her So suddenly, Nightbird had coround, his back ar and bal-anced line

A shudder coursed down Pony&039;s spine as she pictured an ene wide-eyed in disbelief at the suddenness of the attack

And then the ranger retracted, again quickly and in balance - no opening in his defenses throughout the h of both appreciation and frustration, Pony snuck away, back to finish closing down the ca sweat on his exposed ar re-vitalized and ready for the trials of another day on the road

They set out soon after, both astride the great stallion, with Syuided them north, away from the line of the three towns, and then west, toward End-o&039;-the-World, and before oblin encampment A quick survey of the area provided the infor-mation they needed, and they retreated to the deeper woods to un-lade Symphony and prepare their assault