The cambion staggered back a step. Two steps. He clutched at his chest and toppled to the ground. With one horrific, gut-wrenching cry of anguish, Kaanyr Vhok died.
Aliisza sobbed and fell on her side.
Everything went black.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Kael knelt over Aliisza in the shallow water. He bathed her forehead with the healing waters of the Lifespring, willing them to work their divine magic upon her.
The alu was still dying.
It had been too late for Pharaun and Tauran. They were both already dead by the time he reached them. But Aliisza still lived, and he had hoped.
Hope is a cruel thing, Kael thought bitterly. Maybe it's better to live without it.
Aliisza smiled up at him, her dark eyes beaming. 'You fought well today,' she said.
'Not well enough,' he mumbled, cradling his mother's head in his lap. 'And now the Lifespring won't heal you. I don't know what to do.' He could hear the anguish in his voice.
What in the Hells is wrong with me? he thought, wiping away a tear. I've seen friends die in battle before. How can this hurt so much?
'The power of the spellplague within me is too strong,'
Aliisza said, her voice weak. 'The magic consumed me in a way the Lifespring cannot undo.'
'Well, it should,' Kael said. 'After all you've done for this place, your life shouldn't end like this.' He fought to keep his voice steady. 'It's not fair.'
He looked out over the battlefield. His gaze moved from body to body, settling first on Pharaun, then on Tauran.
Two fathers, and I lost them both. And now my mother, too. An orphan three times over. None of this is fair.
Kael choked back a sob, not wanting to let the alu lying on his lap see him that way.
'Look,' she said, pointing with one trembling finger. 'The peak up there. It looks like a crystal mountain.'
Kael turned to see what she was staring at. The sun had at last broken through the clouds and the blue sky was visible once more. The bright rays shone upon the peak where the mists of the waterfall burst from the side of the mountain. The whole thing sparkled from the dampness, refracting the light in a dazzling display.
Kael smiled. 'It does,' he agreed, turning back to look at her face.
'I wish I'd gotten to live with you,' Aliisza said, her voice fainter. 'You know, when you were a boy. I would have liked to have raised you.'
Kael sniffed and rubbed a hand across his eyes. 'I know,' he said. 'I missed you then too.'
Aliisza opened her mouth to say something more, but she coughed, and blood came with it.
'Don't talk,' Kael said. 'Be still and rest.'
She shook her head. 'No time,' she whispered. '1 can't breathe.'
Kael felt his throat constrict with sorrow. 'I'm sorry,' he said, his voice cracking.
'I want you to have this,' Aliisza whispered, fumbling for something on her hand. 'It was Pharaun's. Your father's.'
Kael saw her slip a ring from her finger and hold it up to him.
'He would want it back,' she said, smiling, 'but since he can't have it, you should.'
Kael took the ring from her. It was thick and silver and had a strange, spidery emblem etched into it. 'Thank you,' he said.
Aliisza died smiling at her son.
Kael spent a long time sitting on the edge of a rock, staring out over the golden water of the Lifespring. After a time, Eirwyn came and sat next to him. Though she seemed frail and weak, her own wounds had been healed by the divine powers of the pool.
'I'm sorry,' she said. She put one hand around his shoulder, pulled him close in a hug, and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead. 'We tried as best as we could.'
'Thank you,' Kael said.
They sat together in silence for a time, until Eirwyn said, 'The intuitive part of me senses that the worst of the battle with the demons is over. I can feel relief spreading through Celestia.'
'That's good to know. Wait… Celestia?'
Eirwyn nodded. 'Something tells me that we will no longer know this place as the House of the Triad. Torm intends to make a few changes. Regardless, shall we go find news?'
Kael sighed. 'No,' he said. 'Do what you must, but I won't.'
Eirwyn drew back and looked squarely at him. 'What? Why?'
'I don't know who I am,' the half-drow said. 'Nothing makes any sense any more. I thought I understood my place, but it all vanished today. I lost one father I hardly knew, a mother I grew up despising, and a father who was as different from me as two people could possibly be, and yet I loved him most of all. Now I find myself grieving for all three of them.'
Eirwyn smiled. 'That's not so unusual,' she said. 'You came to see them as the people they were, rather than just the creatures they were.'
'I suppose. But now I don't just see myself as the person I am, but also the creature.'
'Be careful,' Eirwyn cautioned. 'Don't get sucked into the notion that your heritage is what makes you who you are.'
'Isn't it, though? Can I ever be like you? Can I ever truly belong here, in this place?' Kael gestured around the two of them. 'I don't think so.'
'But you also can't be like Aliisza or Pharaun. You are a product of your forebears, true, but you are also what your heart says you are. In the end, if you are true to what you believe in, things should work out.'
Kael chuckled ruefully. 'Funny, that sounds a lot like something Pharaun told me.'
'Well, then, he was a wise fellow. At least, for a drow wizard,' she added.
Kael nodded. 'In any event, I have to leave, at least for a while.'
'You have to find your own path,' she said, 'and no one can tell you in what direction it lies. I understand that. Perhaps better than you realize.' She tilted Kael's chin until he was looking at her. 'Your destiny may take you far from here, or it may bring you back. Wherever you go, draw on your experiences here to remember both your heritage and the love all of them gave you.'
Kael stood. 'I will,' he said. 'Thank you, Eirwyn.' He hugged her, a long embrace that let him release much of his sorrow.
When he stepped back from her, she smiled. 'My duty calls me in another direction. I hope our paths will cross again, Kael.'
With that, the angel took flight.
Kael watched as her form grew small and eventually vanished on the horizon. Then he pushed himself aloft too, and started on his own way.
