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The arlitter of ht struck shimmers from the weapons Old Barrock held the torch in his wizened hand His long white hair was a soft crown around his bald pate His blue eyes were still the sa

Keleios said, "The weapons are in good condition"

He swelled a little at the coh no one comes back for them I make sure they could have the the walls were all the weapons of all the fugitives who had been given refuge over the centuries If one intended to stay on the island, there was no need for anythingKeleios stepped into the softly charged glooht on a pole ar not to tear it She succeeded and used one hand to hold the full dress closer to her body Barrock found an ee two-handed sword Keleios hung the sword in place carefully, caressing the fine work is demon touched"

"Ah, &039;tis a pretty piece of work Some of the best I&039;ve ever seen, and I&039;ve seen a lot"

They turned to go So sword lay on the floor Keleios hung it once h the sheath she could feel it pulse, the life beating in the h its silver forain

She stopped Barrock fro back for it and said, "Let it lie there if it wants to play childish games" They mounted the stairs Keleios nearly tripped over the sword as it appeared on the step in front of her She walked over it, sending Barrock ahead It reappeared two steps in front of her Keleios squatted beside it, tugging skirts back and under "Why won&039;t you stay in the armory?"

Its voice came muffled and indistinct She clasped it carefully and unlocked the blade The sword rose half a blade length fro to give you up"

"How like me?"

"I am elven work that needs an elven hand I am demon powered that needs a deht to controlrestraints upon who could wield h the pit and survived; it taints the blood" The sword rose farther until Keleios caught its hilt to keep it fro of sadness and past ages "You are half-elf who has been through the pit and survived Do you kno rare that is? I will not give you up"

Keleios resheathed the sword and snapped the locks in place

Barrock said, "My lady, ill you do?"

"I will find another way"

In the afternoon Keleios rode toward the sea The whitethe cliff road Soiven her the name of Snowball Keleios chose to call her Cloudrunner Keleios left the road when she was near Gull Cove It was the best place to find seashells, s down and urged the horse to take it The riding clothes were not exactly what Keleios had wanted The entire outfit was blue velvet, too big, and hopelessly elaborate, but if so ruined, she would wear it Her own boots, now clean, had been kept

The sand that stretched out before theht in a thousand starlike crystals Pulverized Mirlite had gone to rain was a tiny pris the beach as it pleased, reins dangling in the sand

She had felt the call ever since she began trying to think of a joining gift for Lothor It was custo an enchanter, there was not enough tiht be

Keleios walked just above the water line The waves careen, capped hite foam Seaweed rode the waves in brown strands The waves crashed upon the sand, and the tide crawled up over the ground and retreated as if pulled back A clue h the wet collapsing sand and knelt beside the seaweed The as brown and heavy There nestled in its wet fishy tendrils was the shell It was ser It curled to a perfect spiral and was ivory white with shades of gold sketched down its swirling length The lip that led inside of its whispering depths was a pale pink, flushed and beautiful

It spoke to her like rawof the sea&039;s power Here was a piece of iven, not made With a tiny bit of added power, it would be what she wanted it to be

Water swirled over her boots and wet the bottom of her trousers She stood and carefully put the shell in a sht for the occasion Cloudrunner ca at the salty taste of her hands She led the horse back up to the cliff top, thinking as she went The shell would be a charm to enable Lothor to breath underwater, for a time Instant enchantiven so little tiht of the black healer gasping on the bottom of the boat An adult who couldn&039;t swim -- it was unthinkable The sht they would bed together She shivered, half in fear and half in so she could not put a name to Suddenly, the wind felt cold on top of the cliff

She dropped the reins and let the e of the cliff She unbuckled the sword belt, unlooped the belt fro to the distant s of the sword It pulsed and pronored it She drew her sorcery out and began to build it in her mind She would put a shield between the sword and herself A shield to surround it, a prison to keep it from her "I cast you out; I cast you down Let the waves have you Let theth and threw the sheathed sword out over the water A thin wail sounded in her head It spun end over end, glittering in the sun, and vanished beneath the waves

When she returned, she was finally allowed in the room Methia had prepared for her The bed was draped and canopied with veils and silk The goosedown tick was so soft as to suck and hold her body when she lay on it The coverings were done in cloth of gold and heaviest black It was the color of er her, always? Then Keleios shrugged and laughed Perhaps the black would s cloaked the walls The scenes were all of battle, death, failed love: the failed love of Gynndon and Pestral, their gruesoor hill with itsOnefor help, one hand held outward, beseeching, eyes full of horror and the coreat stag fallen to its knees, blood frothing on its lips The hounds roared down to tear at it

Methia had the slyness of the court She had done everything properly but in a backhanded way

As dusk fell, Keleios stood looking out of the many narros The cream-colored dress was back on, and she had even consented to s were so tight shethe cereold lace veil lay on the bed Her hair had been brushed until it shone, wavy and thick, the candlelight catching hints of dark gold in it Two thin braids, one on each side of her face, were intertwined with gold thread It was the way a Wrythian elf would wear her hair for a wedding No one but she would know, but then she was the one joining Every comfort was needed

She turned from the ith a swish of silken skirts Poth hissed and struck at the skirts Keleios stooped, nearly knocking over a small table with the full dress The cat hissed and backed away, fur stiff "Poth, it&039;s all right; it&039;s still me" She sat aardly on the floor and coaxed the cat to her Poth ca herself to be petted

She had tried to talk herself into acceptance He was young, handsome, half-elven She could have looked farther and found worse, but he was evil Keleios was beginning to realize that she herself wasn&039;t wholly good The sword Ache silvestri had been evil and preferred her to Lothor Or perhaps the sword didn&039;t feel like fighting with Lothor&039;s ax Yet Lothor had trapped her into this joining He had trapped her like an animal Well, there was one more bite left in this trapped beast

She cuddled Poth to her face "No, I can&039;t fight hiht But I can&039;t just let hi to comfort, but there was little coled in the dress, and was forced to put the cat down and craards using the bed There on the bed was Aching Silver, painful death It lay on the neatlydisturbed, but the sas there

There was a whoosh and crackling of fla the road to light the procession They flaht

The sas cold to the touch She unsnapped the locks slowly and drew the sword It glittered and turned pale gold in the rich candlelight It pulsed softly and spoke "I am yoursforever"

"You are cursed, a cursed sword"

The thing laughed, a strange sound without lungs to hold it If possible, the laugh reverberated round thea hollow sound to it "Cursed, well, it depends on how you look at it" It went into another peal of laughter

She shoved the blade into the sheath and locked it, its laughter still co muffled and tinny She tossed the sheath back on the bed

Groghe appeared with a night-bloo as Keleios&039; outstretched hand The scent was heady and exotic Methia had been using earth row in the winter-ruined cli the plants weren&039;t as happy

"A present for you, Master, a present"

She stooped and took the flower "Thank you, Groghe, it is beautiful"

A knock sounded on the door with a, "It is tiirls entered, squealing when they saw the small demon Keleios waved thean to brush at the wrinkles in the skirt, tsking Keleios could hear the rustle of the golden veil It was lifted over her head, and they began to bind it in place with hairpins It fell in a point past her knees, but was ed and fluffed and finally said, "Princess Keleios, you look lovely"

Keleios approached the oval nize the creature who stared back This person was ilea to see the back of the dress The serving girls brought up a second mirror and positioned it This wasn&039;t her Someone else had come and stolen her away and left this -- this woman -- in her place Keleios had one consolation: there was a knife in a thigh hilt under all the finery Not that she could get to it in ti the faone or swept away; Keleios Incantare, called Nightseer, was still under there somewhere

Her only colances, but it was not their place to criticize

Groghe ca," he said, "shining"

She smiled down at the imp "It is that"

Keleios lifted the moonflower from the table "Please have this put in water" The brown-haired serving girl bowed and took it

Methia stepped in the door wearing the sahe, you stay in the roo horse "I will do as you say, Master" Keleios followed Methia out with the serving girls crowding behind, not wishing to be left alone with the deenerous of you to he is pleased with it"

Methia sniffed "The de playing together It can have the rocking horse, as long as it stays away froolden veil

In front of the castle were four horses Tere pure white One was black with a white blaze down its face and one white foot The last horse was a light golden cream with a white blaze down its face and one white foot The cream stallion had a side saddle on it as did one of the white horses

Tobin caht the first torchlight in coppery reflections His auburn hair looked golden-red tonight Behind was the black healer The silver thread in his tunic caught the light His hair fell long and free past his shoulders, and it shiht of its own A plain silver circlet like a prince&039;s crown adorned his head

Tobin and Methia stood to one side, and Lothor took Keleios&039; hand A great cheer went up fro the torchway He helped her mount the cream stallion, then mounted his own black Tobin and Methia an

The people shouted and exclaimed over the beauty of the princesses and the exotic but handsome consort-to-be

The tee The procession stopped and dismounted Lothor helped Keleios down If he felt her reluctance, he said nothing They walked with her left hand placed lightly on his right and entered the teht was a fire at the far end of the darkened central room

The rustle of silk and the tramp of booted foot was loud as they approached the priest He was tall, broad shouldered, with a full brown beard streaked with grey His eyes were blue, but he was not a native of the island He wore a priest gare trimmed with brown, the colors of Urle On the front of it was an eht the?"

Methia and Tobin answered in unison, "We have"

"You have done your duty; youbefore the priest, and he s?"

"No"

"Yes"

They glared at each other The priest said, "You do wish to be joined?"

They both answered yes

He stepped down and to one side, exposing the roaring pit of flathened one by the other As two pieces of er, let it be so with the two of you As the hae to the apprentice without need of words, let you both hear what the other truly ifts of yourself"

Keleios unwound the gold chain froht wrist and held it out to the priest The shell dangled s of sorasped the Bless this joining, Urle, our god, as two of your followers join together Let these gifts be a token of your vows to each other" He held the chain out to Keleios and she took it Lothor had to bend down for her to slip it over his head

"It will allow you to breathe under water for a time"

He thanked her and took his own present fro oven of his platinum hair; for a jewel there was a pale red dot of his blood She gasped as he slipped it down her finger and stared at him He had put his life in her hands With such tokens an herb-witch could steal the life from a ly hurt you"

"Join hands" They did, and he had theether with a strip of leather If it had been a th of chain "Rise; you are joined"

He unbound their hands They walked out still hand in hand, for the croould expect it

The crowd gave a hty cry, and they were pushed apart by the crush of people Two sedan chairs had come from somewhere, and they were carried on the backs of the croard the feasting The peasants had always had more freedom here on the isle There were people in the croho had known Keleios when she was a babe They re the island bullies for what they did to the budding illusionist one autuht to coed face over the crowd At least he held his tongue and did not insult therass outside the castle, and the entire village had come to feast and dance The crowd carried theht ribbon and round ell trarass All day as Keleios and her companions had slept and washed, there had been festival The croas half-drunk and already well fed There had been much to buy and see today There had been sacrifices of the best fruits of the field, the best catch of the day Now the laughing throng set the new-rounds and yelled fored at the mind but not at the feet

Lothor frowned He was forced to shout in her ear to be heard "I did not knoould have to dance I do not kno to dance"

"It does not matter; you would not know this dance" She took his left hand and led hiht Follow race and speed of a fight soertips and half-promised kisses He shed, a full-throated sound He looked puzzled until a lady stepped up to hirabbed Keleios&039; hand, and she, too, joined the dance This was a night for peasants to dance with princes Many, as a sacrifice to the All-Mother, had forgiven old debts, old grudges The Mother would take a harvest of the soul as happily as a harvest of the earth

Lothor swirled through giggling throngs of peasant-bright skirts Keleios was grabbed by hands reddened fro nets The blacksrip like the iron he worked with, still s stench Keleios saw it all through a glory of golden spots The veil whirled about her face, strangely hot and close Finally, they sat down for the feasting The tables groaned under the torchlight There just h people to eat all the food, but Keleios doubted it

Lothor was seated at her side A thin sheen of sweat listen Like some very pale human folk, he had become red with exertion His pale skin flushed pink, and his eyes glittered fro at him and stared at her Keleios did not look away He sht, er, then nodded A knot of tension started in her belly and cli to choke her He offered her his arether without touching, and when the crowd realized their destination, a great cheer went up

When Keleios stu skirt, he stead led her and she did not pull away Good-natured cheering and rowdy jokes followed them to the horses

She allowed him to help her rily He raised an eyebrow and grinned at her "Jitters, my beloved?"