Aylem at the Crystal Shrine of Tiki

Aylem and Asgotl flew into the great dome of the Tiki shrine, startling the young attendant on duty. "Great One," he knelt and made his obeisance, "this is unexpected."

"This visit is to find the Blessed Emily, who was abducted last night in Aybhas, from with the Shrine of Mugash itself," she explained so he could make the proper notation in the shrine's chronicle of events.

She sat on the throne facing the crystal and dropped into the trance. Her vision showed her the insides of a shed with Emily sleeping on an old beat-up window seat. The other occupant appeared to be a laborer of some sort, puttering about and sharpening garden and lawn tools. The door opened and the laborer fell to a man all in black, who then scooped up Emily and ran through the grounds of an estate she recognized near Decorat.

She groaned inwardly. Imstay's other uncle, Kushamar's brother Nirirgi was behind the kidnapping. She saw the current truce unraveling before it even had a chance to go somewhere.

She watched as Usruldes made breathing tubes from cattail stalks and noted the location where he and Emily were hiding from Nirirgi's agents and dropped the trance. She now knew all she needed. After a few words to the young attendant who was recording what appeared in the crystal, she and Asgotl were back in the air and flying straight to the Island Swamp region.

She mindcast to Lisaykos, whose mind was most like her own for telepathy, and sent Emily's location, only to learn Usruldes' eagle had arrived at the palace to beg the king for help.

---

Instay King, at the palace in Is'syal

"Will someone shut that noisy bird up," Imstay bellowed in annoyance. Someone's eagle kept flying the window of the king's study screeching. He finally got fed up after listening to the racket for several minutes and stomped over to the window. Flinging open the drapes, the eagle spotted him.

The bird screamed at him, "Imstay! Usruldes! Help Imstay! Usruldes! Help!" There was an arrow stuck in his right wing.

Imstay said something far worse than blarg and then mindcast at the eagle, "Go to the north courtyard. I will meet you there. Understand?" The eagle nodded and banked downward toward the courtyard.

"Garki!" Imstay bellowed.

"Mighty One...?"

"Garki, take this tablet. Go to the guardroom. Tell the officer to ring the sequence for winged mounts at mounted quarters immediately. Repeat what I just told you." He listened to make sure the boy had the expression correct, physically spun the boy around, and gave him a push. "Run!" The boy ran. So did Imstay, leaping down the stairs three and four steps at a time, yelling for people to get out of his way, running as fast as he could.

Cadrees was waiting in the courtyard, with one of the guards from the gate arguing that he couldn't land there.

"I'll take care of this, soldier," Imstay clapped her on the shoulder and moved her aside. "Cadrees, where is Usruldes?"

"I left him and the Great One hiding in the Island Swamp. He told me to get help."

"Can you take me to the House of Mounts?"

"Yes, but what about the search?"

"That's why we're going to the House of Mounts. There should be the signal for guards to meet me there any moment now." Just as he finished speaking, the palace bell began the sequence for guards with mounts to meet at the House of Mounts. "See?"

"Get on," Cadrees pushed the king with his beak. He was so tired that he felt every stone of the king's weight. His departure was sloppy because of it.

It took mere seconds to fly from the palace to the House of Mounts. Sliding off, Imstay gave the eagle a chiding look, "you should stay here and rest because you are exhausted."

"I will come with you," Cadrees disagreed. I have the charm of reunion embedded in my beak. I will find them for you."

Imstay gave the eagle an unhappy look and then sighed. "You are too much like your master." As soon as he said it, he regretted it.

"Not master," the eagle said with his head drooping from fatigue, "brother; he is my brother and I am his."

"I am most truly sorry, friend," Imstay put his folded hands against his forehead and bowed in apology. "I knew that and I apologize for forgetting that. I know you and he are close." The grooms, soldiers, and guards entering the House of Mounts were shocked to see their king apologizing to an eagle. Was this really the man who once flogged his own mount for a minor mistake?

"Imstay King, I forgive you," Cadrees replied. "You are worried and I am tired. Neither of us is flying at our best."

"Cadrees, I thank you for your understanding. May I place a charm of location on you, in case we get separated?"

"Certainly, Imstay King."

Imstay retrieved a charm gem from his belt pouch and placed it on the side of Cadrees' beak. "Tiki, Lord of Time, who knows the place of all your children, bless us so we may know the place of Cadrees even when he and I are far apart." There was a warm glow around Imstay's hand as the gem was set into Cadrees' beak.

Imstay found his griffin already tacked up. "Flavriansha, we have some difficult night flying to do, maybe with some fighting involved." He stopped to count the javelins in the large quiver on the griffin's right shoulder but Flavriansha stepped back and turned to face Imstay.

"What? Hey! What are you doing, dunderhead?" Imstay frowned.

"Did I see you just apologize to an eagle?" Flavriansha pushed Imstay with his beak.

"We don't have time for this," Imstay snapped and tried to step around the griffin's neck to mount, but Flavriansha maneuvered to keep Imstay in front of her, where she pushed again with her beak. "You just apologized to an eagle," she accused Imstay and sounded upset.

"Can we please talk about this later? There are people who need rescuing on this dark and cold night."

Flavriansha stared at him for a moment. "Don't forget what you just said. Get on."

As soon as he was settled, Imstay counted up the number of riders mounted and ready to go. He was pleased to see the three squad leaders present had formed the riders into three groups: one of soldiers, one of guards, and one mixed. The most senior of them, a guard lieutenant who looked old enough to be his mother, approached on her flying horse and saluted: "The eagle here said there were three assailants on eagles after a Cosm and a Coyn on foot, Mighty One. I regret to say that we don't have any strong mindcasters among us."

"Hmm," Imstay considered what the best course of action would be, since coordinating three groups at night would be difficult without a strong mindcaster. He was good at the task but not the best. He was accustomed to having one of the strong mindcasters on his staff on hand so he could be free to command.

Before he had a chance to say anything, someone in a bright green tunic on a grey winged horse dropped into the assembly yard out in front of the House of Mounts. The high-speed descent was followed by an abrupt bank, upward turn, and aerodynamic stall to a controlled drop just a hand off the ground. It was a maneuver that took extreme skill and fearlessness on the brink of insanity.

"Sorry to be late, Mighty One," Bobbo saluted. "I was on the far side of town."

"Excellent," Imstay said. "Bobbo, you're in charge. We'll use your clairvoyance and my mindcasting. Usruldes and Emily were in the water in the Island Swamp when Cadrees, that the eagle over there, was ordered to leave them and get help. There were three armed assailants on eagles chasing them. Cadrees has a charm of reunion tied to Usruldes and a charm of location tied to me."

"Usruldes? Usruldes the Wraith sent for help? Cadrees," Bobbo was all business, "when did you leave them?"

"The start of twilight," the eagle replied.

"Was Usruldes injured? Why did you break up?"

"I was too fatigued to outrun our pursuit," Cadrees hung his head in shame. "He stayed to protect Emily who is injured."

"Does that arrow in your wing pain you?" Bobbo asked.

"It's stuck between feathers, a few of which are broken," Lisaykos replied as she grabbed the arrow shaft and dislodged it.

Imstay and Bobbo both jerked in their saddles at her sudden unexpected appearance.

"How did you get here?" Imstay squawked.

"I walked," she replied very calmly. "Cadrees, lower your head," she held out a hand. He lowered his beak into her hand and she placed her other hand between his eyes. They stood like that for several breaths until she removed her hands.

"There, that should be good for about two bell-lengths, then all the fatigue will come flooding back in on you," she patted him on the neck. "Next time, don't stay up this long without sleeping." She stepped aside as she pulled a headcloth from a pocket in her riding cloak and started to tie up her hair, "well, don't wait on me; I'll catch up."

"Holy One...," Bobbo began.

She cut him off, "You are going to need a healer and possibly someone to handle Emily, who might take one look at a gaggle of soldiers and guards, and take to the river to get away from all the big scary Cosm."

"We'll be looking out for you, Holy One," Imstay told her.

"Please be kind to my friend Usruldes when you see him," Cadrees addressed her awkwardly, his head tilted to the side, looking uncertain and worried.

She looked up at him kindly. "Why would I not? Everything will be fine." She patted him again on the neck and then turned to get her mount from inside the House of Mounts. Cadrees followed her walking away with his worried eyes. Then he turned his head to Imstay. Imstay looked just as worried.

"If she says she'll catch up, she'll catch up," Bobbo stated. "You can take whatever that woman says as scripture." He then began rolling out orders to the three squad leaders, checked to see that they could hear the king's mindcasting, and then got everyone into the air to follow Cadrees.

---

Aylem, in a hayfield in Gampff Holding

Asgotl outdid himself on the flight up the river. Even before we passed Blockit, I could feel Emily, her strong will like a bright flame in my clairvoyant sight, confirming what I suspected before: that some kind of charm had been hiding her from me, preventing me from finding her without the aid of the Great Crystal. I could also feel two different groups on flying mounts, which I assumed were the forces Imstay assembled for the rescue. Lisaykos mindcasted that information to me in flight, being one of the few mages in the realm with the power to mindcast that far.

It was not too far from the Manse of Gampff to the riverside hayfield where Emily, Usruldes, and Usruldes' eagle were waiting for help. I was surprised to be the first to arrive.

Given Usruldes' reputation, he must have been in bad shape. In all my years as Queen, Usruldes the Wraith had never before asked anyone for help. Ever since he first showed up around 16 years ago, no one had ever seen his face. I myself had only seen him in person four times. All I knew about him was that he was taller than Imstay, which meant he was a silverhair, and that he could hide from even my clairvoyance. He undertook missions for the king which most would consider impossible.

He was a legend. As far as anyone knew, he had been foiled only once; and that was when I caught him in a physical trap when he expected a magic trap instead. That was when the King set him to spy on me at my villa. Even then, Usruldes slipped out of my grasp immediately so I never had the chance to unmask him.

This was why I was so surprised to see his face for the very first time when I landed in the hayfield. It was not what I guessed a man like him would look like. He had an open friendly face and enough crows' feet around his eyes to testify he was a man who smiled and laughed a lot. Appraising him with all his defensive charms dropped, I could feel he had a strong magical attribute of empathy, which was the last thing I would expect from a man reputed to be the King's assassin.

I could also see in my mind's eye five bright red spots of pain in him and one on Emily, who was asleep in his lap with his arms wrapped around her, her head cradled in the crook of his elbow. He raised a finger to his lips, looking me in the eyes and then looking back at her protectively. I liked that look he had for her. It was unfathomable to me that the infamous and frightening Usruldes was a man of empathy and compassion.

I knelt silently in front of them and reached for Emily, dropping her into a deeper sleep. "We can speak now. She won't awaken." I took off my riding cloak, put it on the ground, and then moved Emily to it, covering her up against the evening chill. Asgotl wandered over and laid down on the ground next to her.

I looked at this silverhaired man who looked to be in his 30s, his face for once not hidden by his hood and face coverings. His hair was cut short like a scout or courier. He was cleanshaven, except he had about two days' worth of stubble showing. He had a very prominent beak of a nose and a bit of a sloping chin. His eyes looked gray in the starlight. For some reason, he looked a bit familiar but I couldn't place him at all.

He was sitting very straight. He had to or the arrows in his back might shift. One had penetrated a short way into his right lung. He had succeeded in casting stasis on himself to control the bleeding and the edema but it was beginning to break down from the extreme fatigue which cloaked his aura in a solid blue haze. Just below his heart was a knot of dark green fear, which I found inexplicable, given his placid and calm exterior. His self-control was unworldly.

"Can you maintain your posture and stasis for thirty to fifty more breaths?" I asked, kneeling behind him. "There will be no pain but those arrows must come out and the puncture of your lung sealed over. The rest we can take our time to heal, but the arrows must be dealt with immediately."

"Great One, I can indeed last as long as fifty breaths," he said in a soothing bass voice so musical that he could be a court herald if he wanted. "Please, get them out. I feel the tip of one grate against a rib as I breathe. It is most unpleasant."

Healing soft tissue while pulling out an arrow is easy so long as you have the time and the magic to do so, and I have magic to spare. My concentration was profound while pulling them out so I did not hear two mounts land in the field next to us, though I did note that it became brighter as someone set more charms of light around us.

Just as I finished closing the layers of the epidermis, I felt the knot of fear inside Usruldes explode though physically he did not move at all. His control over his own body was quite impressive. He was a remarkable man, first for casting stasis on himself, which usually only healers can do, and now, not even moving under extreme emotional stress. I looked up to see what he was reacting to and was shocked to find just Imstay and Lisaykos.

Imstay was wearing a very worried face and Lisaykos was staring at us. I got up and stepped to the side but Lisaykos' eyes did not stray. It was Usruldes she was staring at. I noted with some confusion that Imstay was rather nervous.

It was Usruldes who broke the impasse, "I would kneel and greet you properly, Holy One, but I'm afraid that I might lose consciousness if I tried to do so. Pray forgive my current state of incompetence."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Lisaykos' voice was a note higher in pitch than usual and her expression did not change, plowing him into the dirt with her glare.

"Meeting like this is like tearing the scab off a deep wound that has never healed." Usruldes took a deep shuddering breath, "yes, I admit that I am a coward that I could not bring myself to tell you I was alive and well. I should have done that at least but...but..." He started to collapse to the side and caught himself only at the last moment.

Lisaykos started to take a step toward him and stopped herself when he sat back up.

"You need to tell her what you planned for cold season midday," Imstay prompted. Lisaykos shot him an accusatory scowl. "You knew all along, didn't you?" she hissed under her breath at him. Imstay calmly nodded back, his face regally neutral.

"My oldest passed the examination just after growing season midday to study as a healer-in-training," Usruldes continued, his voice fading as the strength ran out of him. "She just turned 12 and she's already showing white in her hair though she’s so blond it’s hard to tell. I planned to bring the entire family to meet you when she enrolled at the shrine. I was thinking you at least wouldn't throw me out of the shrine and castigate me as an unfilial son in public, and you would at least get to meet your grandchildren."

He drooped and then sagged, bracing his hands against his knees in the fight to stay upright. "I'm afraid I am going to fall over now," he said in a calm and informative voice and then collapsed to the side. I was already behind him, catching him before his head hit the ground.

With his eyes closed, he smiled an amused little smile, "ah me, here I am, close to dying but in a beautiful woman's arms." His eyes cracked open just a little, "please, don't tell the wife."

Then Lisaykos was kneeling on the ground next to us. "Well, put him down on his back," she was snapping orders just as if she were in the wards doing her rounds at the shrine, her hand on his head, assessing him; but the tears were falling down her cheeks. "You are dangerously exhausted, you stupid boy." She wiped her face on her sleeve and looked at me, "he should be carried to where he can recuperate, and he needs to stay in bed for several days with a healer sitting on his legs so he can't get up too soon. And someone needs to take care of that gash on his left arm and the twisted ankle. Also, he probably got some river water down the wrong way because his throat and airway are irritated with elevated mucus production. That will have to be watched to make sure he doesn't pick up a respiratory infection."

Imstay joined us kneeling around Usruldes flat on his back. "Can you take him back, Aylem? I've got a fully-loaded war saddle on Flavriansha and your griffin is a more stable seat than trying to get him up on the high priestess' eagle."

"I can do that," I replied. "Where should I take him? We can put him in one of my guest rooms, and no one would be any wiser. That would at least protect his identity. But who will take Emily? And we still need to see to her severed finger."

"Yes, you must take good care of Emily," Usruldes startled us all by speaking, which was half muttering by now as he allowed himself to be as exhausted as he felt. "I'd be a dead body in the river but for Emily. She saved my life twice today. Knocked the archer that shot me right off her eagle." He nodded and closed his eyes again. "She's a little wolverine...and...," he finally faded all the out.

"That tiny little thing is a wolverine?" Imstay was confounded, looking over to where Emily was sleeping next to Asgotl. "Who rescued whom here?"

"You haven't had the privilege of startling her in the forest," I replied. "I did that once and had the unique experience of looking at an arrow aimed right at my eyes. She's decisive when it comes to defending herself."

"Huh." Imstay frowned.

"She took care of herself and survived alone for years, living in the wilderness north of the lava plains," I pointed out. "She's not exactly normal. What I want to know is if she really took out an archer and how."

"I'm sure Irhessa will have quite a tale to tell when he wakes up," Lisaykos remarked, brushing the hair from out of her son's eyes. She also looked spent and as weary as I have ever seen her, though given what just happened in this hayfield, it was understandable. I knew from years of experience with her as my mentor, that her stoic exterior hid a caring and soft heart. Her troubled relationship with her son was something she hid from her working colleagues in the community of healers. I didn't even find out he had run away until a year after it happened. That was when her husband died and she moved out of the Manse of Gunndit and into the suite on the fourth floor of the shrine. That's how well she hid her pain from the people she worked with.

"I will take Emily," Lisaykos said, "but I will take her to your suite, Aylem. Bringing her to the guest house at the Shrine of Galt would not be good. Every single high priestess wants to meet and question her. It would set her back months in getting her accustomed to Cosm."

I laughed, "I think she's a bit more resilient than that, dear heart." I lifted Usruldes, or Irhessa to use his real name, and walked over to Asgotl. "I'll put him in the room that's to the right just inside the door to the drawing room. I'll fly straight to my balcony so we can get him inside without exposing his face. I have Emily's finger inside a stasis charm so I can take care of it tonight. I'll be waiting for you."

Imstay ran to catch up with me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Aylem."

I stopped and looked at him, "Usruldes is not exactly light so please, make it quick."

"Thank you."

That confused me. "For what?"

"For helping Usruldes. I know there are some hard feelings there."

"We can talk about things later. Your night is not over yet. Your troops are at your uncle's home right now and you probably need to be there."

"General Bobbo is taking care of it," he looked like he was about to weep. "I was afraid I would let him escape if I went with them, so I came here instead."

"You've changed, Imstay," I lifted Usruldes onto the back of the saddle and started to strap his legs so he wouldn't slip and fall in flight.

"So have you," he turned and walked back to where Cadrees and Flavriansha were waiting.

---