Even worse, after all of Leesil's efforts, the loss and bloodshed, Nein'a wouldn't even speak to him.
Magiere avoided looking at the trees. Every time she did, they conjured images of the blotched dead marks her own touch had left on the birch. The ones no one else seemed to have noticed. Her vision of undead slaughtering an encampment still plagued her.
Elves, short and stout dwarves, and humans had fought side by side as allies, though it didn't seem possible. Certainly not in any part of her world. Wynn spoke at times of elves near her homeland who were far different from those here.
If it were real-if it had happened-then where and when? And how and why had she seen it upon touching the birch?
Wynn shivered in the cooling air and clutched at Chap for warmth. Even Leesil huddled up as if chilled.
"We should start a fire," Magiere said. "Brot'an... help me find firewood."
"I'll go," Leesil demanded, though he kept his eyes down, unwilling to look at Brot'an. "You need rest."
Brot'an seemed about to object to either option. Magiere shook her head slightly at him, and then tilted it toward Leesil. Brot'an remained silent in puzzlement.
"Stay here," she told Leesil. "Have Wynn tell you about trying to walk Nein'a out of the clearing. Maybe there's something we've missed."
She got up and started off, and Brot'an followed. When they were far enough away not to be heard, he spoke up first.
"What is on your mind?"
"You saw me change when we fought in the crypt, but you didn't tell your... kind about me?"
After a pause, he replied, "It was not their concern."
"Does anyone else know that Leesil killed Darmouth?"
He stopped walking, forcing her to face him. "I reported my purpose as complete. No questions were asked, so I did not elaborate."
"Yet you did tell them he killed Groyt?"
"A body does require explanation," Brot'an replied passively. "I returned Groyt'ashia to his family and kin. He was Anmaglahk, and his throat had been slashed open. Only the truth... only another trained in our way, was a believable explanation."
Magiere hated it when any of these butchers referred to Leesil as one of them.
"Whatever you want from Leesil, forget it," she warned. "We're leaving, and-one way or another-we're taking Leesil's mother. Your people have put him through enough. He'll live as he chooses, and I'll see to that. Understand?"
A strange weariness, or maybe sadness, washed over Brot'an's scarred face. "You have mated with Leshil."
Magiere was so taken aback that she lost her voice for an instant. "Don't try meddling in my life. What's between Leesil and me is none of your con-cern.
"It is his concern, more than he may know," Brot'an answered. "I understand your intention, but you do not understand all that is involved... because of Leshil's heritage."
Magiere flinched at this, though she didn't understand all that Brot'an implied. Except perhaps that her connection to Leesil might be one more weight upon him in the coming days. She changed tactics.
"Then do me one favor," she said.
"If I am able."
"I need to speak with Nein'a alone... just for a few moments."
The wary Brot'an reappeared, and he shook his head.
"The others won't see or know," she went on. "I have questions for her before I decide what to do next. And I... I will owe you in return."
Being indebted to this man was almost more than Magiere could stomach, but she had to know what Leesil risked his future for. If she could go back in time and save her own mother, she would at any price. Magelia was worth the cost-but was Nein'a?
"Do not think for a moment," Brot'an warned, "that Frethfire will forget what she saw this day."
Brot'an's steady gaze made Magiere's persistent quiver all the more unsettling. He headed for the barrier woods, and she followed. When he stopped before the passage through those tangled trees, he held her off a moment longer.
"Remember your debt the next time I must have Leshil's cooperation for his own sake."
Magiere nodded, though it made her flush with resentment. She hoped Leesil would remain distracted by Wynn for a little while longer.
The passage through the woods had grown as dark as dusk beneath the clouded sky. As Magiere pushed aside the tall ferns and stepped into the open clearing, she wasn't certain how she would handle this meeting. She ended up waiting, lost in thought, until Nein'a appeared from around the domicile tree.
Nein'a carried the saffron cushion left beside the brook and headed toward her home. She stopped at the sight of Magiere, dropped the cushion beside the tree, and stood waiting.
As Magiere approached, Nein'a studied the two majay-h still present. One lapped at the brook's water while the other curled upon the moss to wash. The sight seemed to bring the tall elven woman satisfaction.
"You risk the moment of peace Brot'an'duive created, but Sgailsheilleache will be the one to pay if your absence is discovered."
Magiere had bargained blindly for this meeting, and now her tongue was tied as she looked upon this apparition of Leesils past. Lovely, deadly Nein'a. Brot'an's hint at Magiere's intimacy with Leesil suddenly left her uncertain in facing Leesil's mother. Magiere wondered-out of all others, why had Leesil chosen her?
Magiere wore her emotions on her face. She had no wiles and no ways with feminine mystery.
"Don't you miss him?" she asked quietly. "Aren't you glad to see him?"
It wasn't what she'd planned to say. But if anyone had taken Leesil from her, had parted them for eight years, the sight of him again wouldVe broken her into tears.
"You are... his?" Nein'a asked, though it wasn't really a question.
Neither insulting nor as bitterly sad as Brot'an's statement, and yet it intimidated Magiere.
"Yes. We own a tavern... in the town of Miiska on the Belaskian coast. But he has wanted to find you ever since Sgaile came at him in Bela and hinted that you might still be alive." Magiere found a touch of her own bitterness. "Even after everything you've done to him."
Nein'a stared directly into her eyes. "And what have I done to him?"
Magiere's hesitant bitterness became anger again. "You trained him-used him-forced him to murder in your footsteps. He drank himself to sleep every night just to forget the things you taught him to do."
"And would he have survived in your company without his training?" Nein'a asked.
"Survival, of course," Magiere hissed. "That is why you trained him. How unselfish!"
It was cruel, rather than just her usual bluntness. But did Nein'a bear any real love for her son?
"I know nothing of you," Nein'a returned. "Less even than you know of Leshil, who may yet serve a necessary purpose, and not just to my people alone. Only time will see if that comes to pass, and in part, I hope it does not. He must leave this land and get beyond Most Aged Father's reach. If you care for him, take him from this place."
She turned away and vanished inside the elm, not even stopping to retrieve the cushion she had dropped.
Magiere couldn't tell if it was rage or the forest's influence that made her tremble. The pieces of this game were still unclear to her.
Nein'a had trained Leesil without love-without a conscience. She had birthed him for a "purpose," as the Anmaglahk called all their missions and dark tasks.
Chap had suggested that Nein'a and others among the Anmaglahk wanted to thwart Most Aged Father. Or at least choose their own way to deal with some forgotten adversary their leader feared would return. For their own reasons, they wanted a half-blood for this. Perhaps they needed someone outside of their people as well as their caste. Leesil's mother had secretly trained him against the rules of her order.
Nein'a didn't love Leesil as a son, though he loved her as his mother.
Sorrow welled in Magiere as she swatted the ferns aside and strode out through the woods' passage. She would love Leesil enough to make up the difference.
Leesil glanced up as Brot'an returned with an armload of firewood and small dead branches for kindling.
"I cannot see what else to try," Wynn was saying.
"Where's Magiere?" Leesil asked Brot'an.
"Gathering more wood. She will return shortly."
Leesil rose to his feet and looked toward the elves' camp. He counted them and made certain all were present. They were, and relief from fear unleashed his anger. About to bark at Brot'an for stupidity, he held his words a moment longer. It didn't make sense that Brot'an would leave Magiere unattended.
How long had he been distracted by Wynn's experiences with Nein'a? His stomach churned each time he thought of his mother's greeting-or lack of it. He started off to find Magiere.
"She will return directly," Brot'an said. "Help me start the fire."
Leesil didn't wish to share even such a simple task with this man. But he crouched down, looking about repeatedly for any sign of Magiere.
The air grew damp, and the kindling was no better. Brot'an struck flint to a short stub of steel he produced, but it took a while to get decent flames started. Wynn fell to peeling bisselberries and cracking walnuts left beside the tree. Finally, Leesil heard footfalls crunching in the forest mulch. Magiere appeared but carried only three branches.
"Is that all you found?" Wynn asked.
Magiere didn't answer. Leesil took the branches and dropped them beside the fire.
"She's tired," he said, and pointed Magiere toward a large redwood a dozen paces off. "We're going over there to rest. Wynn, stay with Chap. Try to get some sleep."
"But you will be away from the fire," Wynn argued.
Leesil expected a challenge from Brot'an, but the man didn't even stand up.
"We should all rest," Brot'an said. "Find what comfort you can, but stay within my sight."
Leesil pushed Magiere on. Within sight, indeed. He wasn't about to leave Wynn alone in the scarred elf's company. He only wanted to be out of earshot. When he went to settle against the redwood, Magiere pulled back.
"Let's just sit in the open," she said and dropped down, waiting for him.
The forest grew darker with scant daylight, but she didn't seem to care. So he crouched and dropped to his haunches beside her.
"This isn't what you expected, is it?" she whispered. "You thought she'd be grateful to see you after all this time-no matter what happened when you escaped from Venjetz."
Is that what made her so quiet and withdrawn-worry for him? No, there was something more. He could sense it.
"No, not what I expected," he answered. "Nothing we do turns out as we plan. It's like my childhood never happened, and she doesn't even know me."
Magiere's face grew tense and thoughtful, and she seemed reluctant to look at him. She had exposed her dhampir nature. The elves' reactions would cut her deeply, and she'd become the focus of their hatred more than he. He didn't care what she was. She was still Magiere. But was he what or who she would really want?
A thing-a tool-a weapon. She deserved more than that. Even his own mother rejected him as anything more.
"You're my blood, Leesil," Magiere whispered, "my family... all that I need."
Leesil's mind went blank, caught between her words and the fear of losing her. He looked at the black locks of hair hanging around her pale face.
"Marry me," she whispered, quick and sharp.
Leesil braced a hand upon the ground between his legs. He grew almost faint as the weight of the day and everything that had happened vanished and left him light-headed.
In this place, surrounded by so little hope and so many threats for the future...
He couldn't think straight, her two words echoing over and over in his emptied mind.
"No," he blurted out.
Magiere lifted her head, her eyes round with shock.
"Yes, I mean... no," he fumbled. "I mean..."
Any other time he'd made an ass of himself, she'd turned livid, ready to club him for his stupidity. But Magiere just sat there in startled pain.
As if he'd struck her.
Leesil grabbed Magiere's face and pressed his mouth hard to hers. She wrestled free, nearly shoving him over. Confusion mixed with a hint of her old ire.
"Yes," he said quickly. "I mean yes... but no, not here and not now."
Oh, how he had botched things again. But Magiere's brows softened quickly.
"Can't you see?" he rushed on, and grabbed both her hands, holding them tightly. "I don't want it like this, not among enemies. Not until we're home again with Karlin and Caleb and maybe Aunt Bieja. That's where it should happen. Where it can be the right day-a celebration. The finest day of our lives."
Two tears slid down Magiere's face. "A celebration?"
"With dancing," he added.
She slipped her arms around his neck, clutching him so hard he couldn't breathe.
Chap stayed with Wynn, eyeing Brot'an, though he knew Leesil would not move out of sight. He tried to understand Nein'a's unexpected behavior.
Unlike Leesil, Chap had never anticipated an open welcome. The Nein'a that he remembered was cunning and cautious. So much so that Chap had always had difficulty in dipping even one memory from her thoughts. Brot'an and even Eillean were much the same. All three were adept at keeping their minds clear of triggered memories that would interfere with their focus upon what must be done. But Nein'a should be doing everything in her power to help free herself. Her refusal to leave perplexed Chap.