Freth scrambled over the bottom stair, braced herself against the wall, and kicked out. Her foot struck Chap's chest, tossing him away. Chap twisted back at her so fast that Freth gained no ground. He lunged at her, jaws opened wide.
Brot'an slipped between them, and Chap's teeth closed fast on his forearm. Chap thrashed his head and dragged Brot'an to one knee.
"Chap, stop it!" Wynn cried out.
Brot'an did not strike back. He crouched there, rigid and waiting as Chap settled to rumbling stillness.
"No more!" Brot'an said sharply.
Leesil held off Sgaile with the stiletto, but his eyes shifted toward Freth. "There's little I wouldn't pay to kill you. Don't ever touch me or mine again."
"Chap... you let him go... now!" Wynn commanded.
Chap unclamped Brot'an's arm with clear reluctance, rumbling as he backed toward Magiere. His gaze remained fixed on the tall elf rising to his feet. Dark stains spread through the gray-green felt of Brot'an's torn sleeve.
He spotted the blade in Leesil grip, and held out his hand. "Please."
"Give it to him," Magiere whispered and straightened herself.
Leesil flipped the stiletto, catching its blade, and slapped the hilt into Brot'an's palm.
"Frethfare..." Brot'an warned, tossing the stiletto to her, "keep your distance-and your conduct."
"And you too," Wynn said to Chap, though relieved to see him. "Where have you been?"
Chap ceased rumbling and the leaf-wing rose in Wynn's mind. Watching Watching.
"This way," Sgaile said as he circled the chamber.
Wynn did not understand until she spotted the opening in the center root. Sgaile stepped through, and Wynn followed ahead of Magiere.
In the shining candlelight, Wynn at first saw only teal and saffron pillows on the floor, but her mouth went dry as she took in the rest of the small chamber.
Curled in a cradle of wood growing from the far wall and floor was the oldest elf she had ever seen. Only vague hints remained in his withered form to mark his race.
An emaciated face surrounded sunken eyes that had lost most of their amber color. Those old eyes never blinked, and patches of scalp showed through thinned hair. He shuddered with either fear or rage when he saw Magiere.
"Why are we here?" Leesil demanded.
"To be judged," Freth snapped from the doorway.
Brot'an's broad frame stood in her way. Sgaile stepped close to the frail form in the living bower and proffered a deep, respectful nod. The old one did not even glance at him.
"Judged?" Wynn said.
Most Aged Father's thin, reedy voice filled the root chamber as he spoke in Belaskian.
"No undead will poison this forest. Destroy it at once."
Sgaile did not answer or look up.
"You'll be bleeding before anyone touches her," Leesil warned.
"She is not undead," Wynn blurted out.
"Truth," Brot'an added, and moved closer to the old one. "And this is not the way judgment is rendered... especially when guardianship and safe passage have already been given. Do you now break your word as well as that of Sgailsheilleache?"
"You are Anmaglahk," said Most Aged Father, and finally turned his attention on Brot'an. "You are sworn to protect the people. Would you leave an un-dead in their midst? I do not know how this one could even enter our land."
"Her heart beats," Brot'an returned. "I know little of the humans' walking dead... but enough to know she is not one of them."
Most Aged Father's eyes narrowed upon Brot'an.
Freth pushed through into Wynn's sight. "Do you question Most Aged Father? Do you deny what we saw in the traitor's clearing?"
"The forest accepts her," Brot'an answered. "And the majay-h do not hunt her."
"Until she showed herself for what she is," Frethfare argued.
"She is not undead," Wynn repeated straight at Most Aged Father. "She hates them as you do. She is only half of what they are, and it makes her their natural adversary."
Brot'an glanced at Wynn, as did the other elves, each with their own mix of suspicion and doubt. Magiere grabbed Wynn's hand with a sharp shake of her head.
Most Aged Father's voice screeched in Wynn's ears. "Half undead is more than enough!"
"Truly?" Brot'an asked. "Is a half-blood a human or an elf, let alone an'Croan? And what would that make a three-quarter-blood?"
Sgaile lifted his head at the reference to Leanalham, and Brot'an let the question hang. And it left Wynn wondering if the girl's status among her people was not yet determined. She watched all four elves present, waiting for someone to speak up.
They were not presenting arguments to sway Most Aged Father, for at least Freth and Brot'an spoke from some equal authority here. It was their people's customs and cultural rule versus Anmaglahk authority that was being called into question, as well as anyone's status of mixed heritage. In the end, Magiere's welfare alone might not be all that was at stake, though she would likely be the first weighed in the outcome.
"And still, this is not our decision," Brot'an continued. "As Most Aged Father has wisely stated, we are sworn to protect our people... to serve them, not to rule them or decide for them. We are not a clan."
"You overstep yourself," Freth cut in. "Neither does a Greimasg'ah make decisions for the caste, nor define what it is."
"Yet another truth, Covarleasa," Brot'an answered agreeably. "The people determine what we are... have determined it. We serve them. We are defined by their will-not by ourselves or the purpose we serve. The clan elders are the voice and will of the people. They already gather to address any judgments-as is proper."
Sgaile finally spoke, in a ragged voice. "Usurp our people's ways, and there remains nothing for our caste to protect, preserve, or serve. Father... you would agree?"
Most Aged Father's old eyes were fixed upon Magiere. Wynn's panic rose as she realized that he wanted Freth to murder Magiere where she stood.
"Wise as always, my son," Most Aged Father replied to Sgaile. "The elders will see this woman for what she is. But I withdraw my protection-the outsiders are no longer my guests."
Sgaile straightened and stiffened, staring at Most Aged Father as if some breach had occurred. Brot'an's features clouded. Both men were about to speak, but Most Aged Father held them silent with a frail wave of his bony hand.
"She stands formally accused," he continued, "as does Leshil for bringing her into our land, knowing what she is. All three interlopers will remain under guard. That is within the purpose and service of the Anmaglahk. Do you not agree?"
The final question was aimed at Brot'an. Wynn waited for a denial, some argument that might get Magiere out of danger.
Brot'an nodded polite. "Yes, and I thank you for the reminder. I will escort them."
Sgaile looked ill. Perhaps he had never disagreed with Most Aged Father before.
Brot'an placed a hand on Wynn's back. "Go."
She hurried out to find Freth waiting at the stairs, blade in hand.
Leesil hooked the doorway curtain with a finger and peered out of their living cell. Four armed Anmaglahk stood outside the domicile elm, gripping shortbows with arrows notched. Urhkar was among them, but not Osha. Leesil let the curtain fall back into place.
Magiere slumped upon one bed ledge in the tree's wall, her arms folded across her chest as if she held herself together. Wynn sat with Chap, spreading parchments of Elvish symbols on the dirt floor.
"We have to find a way out of this," Wynn said. "I do not believe Magiere will be given a fair trial. These people are paranoid about humans, let alone a...
She didn't finish, but Leesil knew what she meant. Let alone an undead, half or otherwise, though even that wasn't the truth.
"We wouldn't get six paces out the door," Leesil said in frustration. "What's this council like? What kind of trial laws do the elves have?"
"How should I know?" Wynn snapped. "I have never seen one, even in my land. Chap may know more."
Chap swung his head from side to side and huffed twice for "no." Wynn sighed, sat back, and ceased spreading out the parchments.
Magiere had hesitated upon entering their quarters and remained silent thereafter. Leesil crouched before her and placed his hands on her thighs.
"I never should have brought you here... any of you."
Magiere didn't answer, but Leesil felt a quiver in her legs.
"I am guilty," she finally said. "At least of what they think I might be."
"Don't talk like that!" Leesil said. "You're not some undead."
She raised only her dark eyes to him-the same look she gave him when she thought he was being thickheaded or purposefully evasive. But her face was more weary than annoyed, as if she'd already given up.
"Do not do that!" Wynn snapped. "Not unless I am expecting it. I have had enough of getting sick for one day."
Leesil pivoted to find Wynn shoving Chap away. The dog growled and then clawed at the parchments. But he wasn't tapping out symbols for Wynn to read. He just scattered them in a tantrum as the sage tried to grab the sheets away from him.
"Stop it!" Wynn shouted at the dog. "We are talking the old way, whether you like it or not."
"Keep your voice down," Leesil warned. "What's going on?"
Both of them ceased fighting over the parchments. Chap growled at the sage, barking once for "yes."
Wynn took a long breath, frowning. "I did not want to distract you from more immediate concerns."
"Spit it out," Leesil demanded, and Chap barked agreement.
Wynn rubbed her knees where she knelt, and then crawled closer to Leesil.
"I can hear Chap," she said.
"What?" Magiere asked, her voice hushed.
"And I hear when he communes with his kin," Wynn added. "Although it may never happen again. They used him-as much as anyone has used either of you."
Leesil couldn't even form a question. The more Wynn whispered of all that had happened, from hearing Chap with the silver deer to the assault of the Fay, the less he wanted to know. As the sage finished, he stared at her and the dog.
Chap watched him silently in turn.
Leesil understood being an outcast in this world. He'd been alone but for Chap, without a place of his own, until he'd stumbled into Magiere-with Chap's meddling, of course. But now it seemed the dog didn't know everything concerning his own purpose.
Chap had been played by his own kind-one more unwitting tool manipulated by the Fay. Leesil wanted to sympathize with his oldest companion, but right now the last thing he needed to hear was that Chap was almost as ignorant as the rest of them.
And Wynn could hear him?
"The mantic sight," Wynn went on, "which I invoked by ritual in Droevinka to help you track the undead sorcerer... it returns at times. Whatever Chap did to take it from me, something went wrong, and it is getting worse. I was able to call it at will, but then Chap had to lick it away again."
"But you still hear him, even without the sight?" Magiere asked.
Wynn nodded, and then she flinched with a gag and uttered one word. "Sorhkafare."
Magiere's leg muscles knotted under Leesil's hands.
Wynn balled up her little fist at Chap. "I told you-not until I am ready!"
Chap ignored her and focused on Magiere, and Leesil turned his eyes on the woman he loved.
That word-or name-did it mean something to her? Magiere's pallid skin made it hard to be certain, but she looked suddenly ill.
"Where did you hear that name?" she whispered.
"Not me," Wynn said. "That was Chap."
Leesil followed Magiere's rapt attention back to Chap, as Wynn slumped in resignation, speaking for the dog and turning a bit sickly herself. For every word Chap spoke through Wynn, Leesil saw his own dread echoed in Magiere's brown eyes.
Most Aged Father had been alive during the war in what the sages called the Forgotten History. How long ago wasn't clear. Even his own people didn't remember where or when he had come from.
The sages still argued over when this war took place, and even Chap couldn't guess, for his memories didn't give him any measure of time. However long ago, Sorhkafare had not been old. Now he was the decrepit leader of the Anmaglahk and impossibly ancient.
What Leesil heard still didn't explain the man's fanatical hatred of humans, strong enough to teach generations of his people to fear them. But how had Magiere known his long lost name?
"What else haven't you told me?" he asked her a little too harshly.
Magiere didn't answer.
Wynn flinched in fear, over and over, at the words Chap poured through her. As the tale swept on to the night following the battle, Leesil saw strange recognition in Magiere's face. More than once she mouthed a name before Wynn even spoke it aloud.
"I know them," Magiere whispered. "I was there... I was him that night... when I blacked out in Nein'a's clearing."