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PART ONE TO THE EDGE OF DARKNESS

I cannot begin to explain the tremendous shift that has come to Caer&039;alfar since the de rot, upon our fair valley For centuries, we of the People have lived in relative seclusion, peaceful and content Only the rangers knew of us, truly, and a select few of Honce-the-Bear&039;s ruling families Our concern with the ways of the wider world ended with the potential iers, while protectors of the human settlements on the outskirts of human civilization, were also our link to that world, our eyes in the field

That was enough

Bestesbulzibar has apparently changed all of that Curing the time of the De sooblin andpowrie hordes I would have perished in that battle - perhaps I should have! - except that Lady GaSStefoncTamved and took up ical ereatest power, back to Andur&039;Blough Inninness, just outside of Caer&039;alfar There, Dasslerond drove the demon away, but not before Bestesbulzibar had left its indelible stain upon our fair land, a

I believe that if Dasslerond had understood the cost, she never would have brought us all back to the valley, that she and I would have died on the field that day

For then ould be gone, but Andur&039;Blough Inninness would live on

That rotting stain has done e the coed the perspective of Lady Dasslerond The Touel&039;alfar have existed by re on the outskirts, passive observers in a world too frenzied for our tastes We do not involve ourselves in the affairs of humans - how many times have I been chided by Lady Dasslerond and my peers for h, Lady Dasslerond has assuh Inninness She sends Brynn south to free To-gai froai will proveand friendly toward our people should the deo south, through the Belt-and-Buckle and across To-gai, to another of our ancient homelands, Caer&039;Towellan, where perhaps our brethren still reside

Still, despite the potential gains should that event occur, I ain a war, huainst human If ere forced to journey southward, we could do so, I aai-ru or the Yatol Chezru Chieftain ruled the steppes But Lady Dasslerond insisted upon this, asI have ever witnessed She is truly fearful of the demon stain

And so she undertakes her second unusual stance, and this one frightens me even more than the journey she has determined for Brynn She took }ilseponie&039;s child, unbeknownst to the ht from its mother&039;s womb! True, her action saved the lives of both Jilseponie andAydrian that dark night on the field outside ofPalmaris, for had not Dasslerond intervened to drive away the demon-possessed Markwart, both humans would surely have perished

Still, to raise the child as her, as our, own

And thescares ing Lady Dasslerond has plans for Brynn, but they pale co Aydrian He will be the one to deliver Andur&039;Blough Inninness from the demon stain, at the sacrifice of his own blood and his own life He will becoer, and then, when that is achieved, he will become Dasslerond&039;s sacrifice to the earth, that the demon stain be lifted

She has foreseen this, my Lady has told me, in no uncertain terms She knows the potential of her plan All that sheAydrian to the required level of power and understanding

But there&039;s the rub, I fear For Aydrian Wyndon, raised without the gentle touch of his mother or the love of his father, raised in near seclusion with harsh treath to understand theer There was a side to Elbryan, the Nightbird, beyond his abilities with the sword and his understanding of nature The greatest gift ofNightbird, the greatest strength of the ness to sacrifice every thing for the greater good Nightbird&039;s gift to the world was his death, when he threw his wounded form fully into Jilseponie&039;s final battle with the de full well that he could not survive that conflict, that, in aiding Jilseponie, he would be giving his very life

He did that He didn&039;t hesitate, because Nightbird was possessed of so ave to hih third was a man of true character and true community

Will the child raised alone and unloved he as much?

This is my fear

Chapter 1 First Blood

They were out of thewas smooth and easy Diredusk round, the powerful pinto pony striding long and eagerly under Brynn&039;s expert handling True to his noble To-gai heritage, the pony could trot fora break, and even then, he was quickly ready to be back on the trail, straining against Brynn&039;s hold to travel faster and faster

For Brynn, riding along quiet forest trails on a late-spring or early-suet, and would have been perfect - except that with every passing er&039;s eyes turned back less and looked forward ever erly She couldn&039;t enjoy the ride as much when the destination was all-important

Belli&039;mar Juraviel rode with the woht of the diminutive creature The elf typically sat in front of Brynn, turned to face the wo the pony&039;s powerful neck He didn&039;t speak to Brynn h, for he could see that the woht about the destination awaiting the woman; that&039;s what the Touel&039;alfar deoal was all-i else should clutter Brynn Dharielle&039;sfully, not the sounds of the songbirds, not even the sparkle of the rasses and leaves

And so they rode quietly, and sometimes Juraviel leaped from Diredusk&039;s back and fluttered up to the branches of the trees, e points to scout the road ahead

Their evenings, too, were for the, with little stimulation about them, Brynn would sometimes tell Juraviel stories of her homeland, of her parents and their sht, with Andur&039;Blough Inninness a hundred ic

"We alent to the higher ground in the sureat e you call the Belt-and-Buckle, but that we called Uleshon Twak, the Dragon Spines

We&039;d cah sometimes that it was hard simply to draw in sufficient air You&039;d always feel as if you couldn&039;t catch your breath Every step seeht take you an hour to walk to I remember that at times blood would run from my nose, for no reason My mother would fret over h-sickness could do that and it was nothing to bother about"

Juraviel watched her as she continued her tale, her head tilted back so that her eyes were staring up at the night canopy It wasn&039;t starry that night, with thickening clouds drifting in from the west The fulla pale full light, other ti completely behind a dark and thick blanket

Brynn wasn&039;t seeing it, any of it, Juraviel knew She was looking across the years as ht sky froreat boulders on the high slopes of the Belt-and-Buckle( She was pearing her h, perhaps, and her father&039;s stern but loving coai ponies, so loyal-that they didn&039;t need to be tethered, as they protested the sparse grasses at the great elevation

That was good, Juraviel knew Let per recall the feeling of the old days, of her life before Andur&039;Blough Inninness Let her reai had lost, so that her calls to her people to reclaie would be even o to the high passes?" Juraviel proaze to regard the elf, as if one of the clouds from the sky had dropped down to cross over her fair features ?I know not," she admitted somberly ?When I was taken by your people, the Chezru were trying to establish perai-ru must walk the land with the creatures," said Juraviel ?That is their way"

"More than our way It is our spirit, our path to" She paused - unsure, it seemed

"Your path to what?" the elf asked ?To heaven?"

Brynn looked at him curiously, and then nodded ?To our heaven," she explained ?There on the high plateaus

There in the autuolden flowers that bloom to herald the cold winds There by the su the deer"

"The Chezru do not see the value of such a life," Juraviel noted ?They are not a wandering people"

"Because their deserts are not suited to such a lifestyle," said Brynn ?They have their h the sea-sons would not show them much beauty beyond those denned enclaves Behren is not like To-gai, not a land of differing beauties in differing seasons Thus they do not understand us and thus they try to change us"

"Perhaps they believe that in giving villages to the To-gai-ru, they will be showing the To-gai-ru the path to a better life"

"No," Brynn was answering before the elf even finished the statereees, even cities, that they es, they can watch the clans, but out on the plains, ould be free to practice the old ways and to speak ill of our conquerors"

"But the gains," the elf said dramatically ?The stability of existence"

"The trap of possession!" Brynn was quick to argue ?Cities are prisons and nothing more When they run correctly, they trap you, they make you dependent on the comforts they provide But they take from you - oh, they take so ency to Juraviel&039;s tone He could tell that he was getting to Brynn, driving her on, which was precisely his duty

"They take away the summer plateaus, the mountain wind, and the sh fields in the su fish They take away the rides, the ponies charging across the open steppe Oh, you should hear that sound, Belli&039; hard as she finished, her brown eyes sparkling with energy, as if she itnessing that charge - as if she was leading that charge She finally came out of her trance a bit and looked to the elf

"I itness it," ca answer ?I will"

Their road reht south over the next few days, and Brynn was under the iai and begin the process of liberation

That&039;s what Juraviel and the others had told her, but the elf knew that he and Brynn had other things to attend to before beginning the long process of placing Brynn at the front of a revolution Brynn Dharielle had been trained in the rigorous h In-ninness for centuries, but, as fine as that training ht be, Juraviel knew that it had its limitations Even thetargets froreatest of consequences, and hence, without the true understand-ing of the disaster that could be failure For failing a test in Andur&039;Blough Inninness could , but failing a test out here would likely mean death Brynn had to learn that, had truly to appreciate all that she had to lose

And so, on thatwhen Belli&039; the soft ground in front of them - tracks so subtle that Brynn didn&039;t even notice them from horseback - he allowed the woman to move obliviously past the spot, then studied the trail more closely Juraviel knew the tracks, had seen the the days of the Dehtbird and Jilseponie battling Bestesbulzibar&039;shuman, perhaps But those made by shod feet revealed a poorly crafted boot, and those made by bare feet showed a telltale flatness in the arch and a wide expanse at the toes narrowing al east and in no apparent hurry

Juraviel looked up and studied the area, even going so far as to sniff the breeze, but then he smiled at himself and shook his head The tracks were probably a day old, he knew These goblins were likely long gone

But he knew the direction

To Brynn&039;s surprise, JurayieLannounced that they had to turn to the east for a bit She didn&039;t argue/of cobrse, for he was her guide, and so with a shrug, she brought Dirediisk in line behind theelf When that day ended, the pair had put twenty miles behind them, but in truth, they were no closer to the steppes of Tpai than they had been the previous day, so that Brynn surely/took note of

"Are we to travel around the world, then?" she asked sarcastically after they had eaten their dinner of vegetable stew ?Perhaps that e can sneak up on the Chezru froht line is always the shortest distance, &039;tis true," the elf replied ?But it is not always the swiftest"

"What does that ot up and looked to the south ?Monsters?"

"There is no barrier loo to the south, but this road is better, I believe"

Brynn stared hard at the cryptic elf for so and didn&039;t return the look He wanted to keep theHe didn&039;t want her to knoas co the very next day

Later on, when Brynn was asleep, Juraviel hopped, flew, and clih the dark night to the east

There was the ca way off, to be sure

But the goblins, he believed, weren&039;t in any hurry

Brynn stared through the tangle of trees, sorting out the distinct and con-fusing lines until she was fully focused on the ugly little creatures beyond

They were diminutive - not as much so as the Touel&039;alfar, but sray to sickly yellow to putrid green, and hair grew in splotches about their heads, backs, and shoulders

Elon-gated teeth, en-erally wretched h to sine that such an experience wouldn&039;t be pleasant

She turned and looked up to Juraviel, as sitting coh she had heard of the creatures during her stay with the elves, she had never actually seen one

"The vermin are thick about these stretches," Juraviel answered, ?out-side the borders of the hus over carefully, particularly their unexpected change in course of the previous day ?You knew they were here," she reasoned ?You broughtroup Several of them were visible, and he suspected that , a tree or an aniht you here to see theain

Juraviel shrugged ?Perhaps it is ood that you should view these creatures," the elf explained ?A new experience to widen your understanding of a world ine"

Brynn&039;s expression showed that she could accept that, but Juraviel added, ?Or perhaps I feel it is my - our - duty to better the world wherever we oblins, after all"

The woe ?Goblins who see"

"Perhaps that is because there is no one or nothing about for them to bother at thisyour intent correctly?" the young ranger asked, turning back to survey the distant, undeniably peaceful scene of the sroup?"

&039;Straight out? No," Juraviel answered ?Of course not - there are too oblins about for that to be wise

No, wein our methods"

When Brynn looked back to him, she wore an expression that coo around them and leave them in peace"

&039;And fear forever after for theher head before Juraviel ever finished, but the elf pressed on drarieve for loved ones slain by the evil creatures For the forests destroyed and dese-crated, the ani, but just for entertainment"

"And if we oblins, by any measure," Brynn declared, and she tilted her head back, her expression proud and idealistic ?Is it not our coness to find peace and not battle, that makes us better than creatures such as this?"

"Would you be so generous if those were Yatol priests about that distant encampment?" the elf slyly asked

"That is different"

"Indeed," came the obviously sarcastic reply

"The Yatol priests chose their course - one that invites revenge frooblins did not choose their heritage"

"Thus you reason that every single Yatol priest took part in the atrocities perpetrated upon your people? Or are they all guilty for the sins of the few?"

"Every Yatol priest, every Chezru, follows a creed that leads to such con-quest," Brynn argued ?Thus every Yatol priest is an accomplice to the atroc-ities cooblins have visited rief upon the world than ever did the Yatol priests"

"Being a part of that group, gobliris, is not a conscious choice, but e