* * * * *
WHEN the Crystal Spiders had retreated, and she tried to get to her feet, she discovered that she was as weak as if she'd lain long abed with a high fever. Khirethil had to help her to her feet.
"It would be good to hear that your work has prospered. It is nearly noon."
"So long?" Vestakia gasped. They'd come down to the caves just after dawn, and she'd thought only a few minutes had passed.
"I… think I have the answer now. We need to ride back to the Main Camp and find somebody who will know."
"We need to ride back to the Main Camp," Khirethil agreed. "But to place you beneath the eye of the Healers, were I to be consulted."
"There's no time for that!" Vestakia said impatiently. "Though I suppose Idalia would be a good place to start." Idalia knew as much about the Elven Lands as anyone Vestakia knew. If she didn't recognize Vestakia's description of the caverns, she might know someone who did.
* * * * *
JERMAYAN and Idalia were just preparing to send a messenger up to the Further Cavern when Khirethil's troop rode down to Healer's Alley with Vestakia chilled, shivering, and wrapped in several fur cloaks in addition to her own.
Khirethil and Idalia both insisted on putting Vestakia into a warm bed at once, while Vestakia was equally adamant that she must deliver her news: The Crystal Spiders had finally provided her with a landmark that someone would be able to use to identify the last of the Shadowed Elf Enclaves.
"Tell me, then, of your courtesy," Jermayan said, bowing slightly. "I do admit, that while Idalia is an admirable woman, there are times when she does not listen as well as she might, especially when one is attempting to tell her something important." There was a faintly teasing note in his voice.
"This news will wait," Idalia snapped. "The fact that Vestakia is freezing will not."
"But I am not freezing now," Vestakia said pleadingly. "I am perfectly warm, truly I am, Idalia. And I have worked so hard to find this out, and I am so tired. I want to tell someone. And I am sure that Jermayan must know."
"Very well then," Idalia said grudgingly. Her gruffness, both Vestakia and Jermayan knew, was caused by very real worry over Vestakia's health. "You may talk to Jermayan. I shall go to prepare you a sleeping cordial. And when I come back, you will drink it."
"I see our speech is to be brief," Jermayan said. "Then let us begin."
Vestakia drew a deep breath. "From the first, the Crystal Spiders have been showing me pictures of water and jewels it is their way of making names, I think, because they do not talk in words. Sometimes they would show me actual pictures, but they were just the same: water and jewels. It made no sense to me!"
"It makes sense to me," Jermayan said. "But you have said that today they showed you a different thing."
"Yes!" Vestakia said, her voice vibrant with relief. "Today they showed me a great cavern carved to look like a giant xaique board, with all of the pieces in place, and the floor inlaid as well. Surely someone must know of such a place, Jermayan!"
"Indeed, and this confirms my deepest fears, for you have just told me that the Crystal Spiders say that the last lair of the Shadowed Elves is at the Jeweled Caverns of Halacira."
"But… Kellen is going to Halacira," Vestakia said numbly.
"He is," Jermayan said. "But he will not reach the caverns for some time yet, I am certain. When I return from the Crowned Horns, I will take your warning to Kellen, and he will be grateful to receive it, you may be sure."
"But " Vestakia said.
"No buts " Idalia said implacably, returning with a large steaming mug. "We now know where the last Enclave is, which is a lot more than we knew this morning. Kellen has been fighting these things all winter and doing just fine. And he certainly wouldn't thank me if I let you wear yourself to a frazzle worrying about him after you'd done your part. Now drink, and get a good rest. You've spent far too much time in those damp caverns."
Meekly, Vestakia did as she was told.
* * * * *
JERMAYAN and Idalia waited until Vestakia was asleep, then left the Healer's Tent. Khirethil would stand guard over Vestakia, making certain she remained where she was supposed to even if she woke up. A nice warm sleep would be the best thing for her.
* * * * *
WHILE they waited, Jermayan wrote out the details of what Vestakia had learned and gave them to a runner to deliver to Redhelwar, so that the Army's General would have the latest information though there was little more that Redhelwar could do about it than what as it turned out he had already done.
No one knew better than Jermayan how well Kellen fought. And Kellen had as much experience as any of them against the Shadowed Elves. Further, Kellen was a Knight-Mage, the first in a thousand years. The Wild Magic often worked with great subtlety; it was not impossible that Kellen's being sent to Halacira was part of the unfolding of a pattern of the Wild Magic too vast and enigmatic for either Elves or Men to see. If there was one thing Jermayan was certain of about his young human friend, it was that Kellen would not go charging blindly into anything without making certain that it wasn't a trap.
And yet…
"It would be reassuring if we could warn Kellen immediately," Jermayan said aloud, when he and Idalia left the pavilion. He had told Vestakia that Kellen was days away from reaching Halacira, but in truth he was not certain of that at all. Distance was a variable thing in winter, depending much upon weather conditions. It was possible that Kellen was already there or if not actually there, then certainly close enough that the Shadowed Elves might venture out of their stronghold to attack him.
Idalia made a rude noise. "If your magic can't reach him, mine certainly won't. But we can try Cilarnen. It's a lovely day for a ride, I think." They turned and headed back in the direction of the horse-lines.
* * * * *
VALDIEN was delighted to see his master after such a long absence, and Cella had not gotten as much exercise as Idalia would have liked, with all the work she'd had to do in both camps. The two animals were quickly saddled, and Idalia and Jermayan set out.
"Cilarnen is living up at the pavilion you built for the mirror-spell now," Idalia told him as they rode. "He says he needs the quiet to work. Kardus visits him daily, since a problem we ran into earlier and I think the unicorns are fascinated by the High Magick, but otherwise he pretty much keeps to himself."
"I do not know that I would think that entirely wise," Jermayan said slowly.
"He says it's safer," Idalia said. "I'm not sure for whom. There's a lot he isn't telling us, but it's only common sense that you can't cram a lifetime of training and study into a few moonturns without serious side-effects. And I don't know much about the High Magick, but I do know it isn't meant to be worked by just one person alone, even if he does have… help."
"Redhelwar said that he has found a source of power for his spells," Jermayan said doubtfully.
Idalia made a face. "He's gained the consent of the Elementals to draw on them directly. Don't even ask me to explain how that works."
* * * * *
SOMEONE was coming, but he would be finished long before they were close enough to be a nuisance.
It had taken him a long time to build up this most dangerous of spells, but it was vital. He had told Kardus what he must do; the Centaur Wildmage, understanding the necessity, had promised to cease his visits until Cilarnen was finished. Cilarnen understood why Idalia thought they were necessary, and Kardus was his friend, but the constant fussing and interruptions annoyed him. To do what he must do, to learn what he must know, he needed privacy and solitude. A lot of it.
If he could not do it, there was always the possibility that he would be the traitor within, the Endarkened's weapon to use against the forces of the Light at the moment of their greatest weakness.
He knew that Anigrel had tampered with his mind.
He knew part of what the Tainted Darkmage had done: He had suppressed Cilarnen's Magegift when he should have Burned it from his mind. Why?
And what else had he done?
How did it aid Anigrel and the Demons to have Cilarnen whole, and in possession of his Magegift, alive and among Anigrel's enemies? He must know.
He had told the Elves truly that he was no Mindhealer, and even now, with infinite power to draw on, and a High Mage's library at his disposal, he could not claim such skills, for those healing arts took a lifetime of practice to master.
But to find a compulsion set in his mind… Perhaps he had the skill for that.