Stardeep

scabbard.

'Kiril, I-' began Gage.

'Quiet! I need to think,' she interrupted. But did she have time for that luxury? Doubtful. Something was terribly wrong within the bastions of her old home. How could she come to any other conclusion when the bodies of wood elves lay in shallow graves before the Causeway, and its once doughty defenders attacked former Keepers?

She mentally reached out, feeling for the planar veil and the access points that would flip the Causeway open once more-and found nothing. The Causeway Gate had been sealed from within, and no external force, not even a Keeper, could access it until those inside decided otherwise.

The half-elf martial warrior and his sorcerous companion approached. Where had they come from, and what would they demand of her? Too many thoughts competed for her attention. She didn't need any more complications. She was close to breaking. Maybe a sip from her flask would do the trick. She grabbed the enchanted container, easily unclipping it now that Angul had mended her …

No.

No! She shook her head, so violently she saw flashes of light.

No. If Nangulis had somehow, beyond all reason, returned to Stardeep, dulled wits wouldn't pave the road to that reunion. Quite the opposite. Better just to run herself through here and now than allow her decade-old habit to sabotage her, on the cusp of comprehension. Kiril returned her flask to her belt.

The strangers bowed their heads in greeting. Their unforeseen aid had turned the tables, or at least preserved her life long enough until someone within Stardeep pulled back the Knights. Perhaps the newcomers had answers, if Gage didn't. The half-elf, the one who'd fought with only his hands-his skin and hair were dark for an elf, and his features possessed a cast and shape unfamiliar to her. Yet his likeness reminded her somehow of the Sild? yuir realm.

She addressed the newcomers. 'What do you know of this debacle?'

Gage held up a gauntleted hand to point. 'Be easy, strangers. But answer the question.'

The half-elf spoke. 'I am Raidon Kane. My companion is Adrik Commorand. Who are you?'

Kiril shook her head. 'All in good time. I have a legitimate reason to stand here. I acknowledge the aid you provided and am in your debt, but I would know how you came to be here, and why?'

Raidon nodded. He said, 'Mounted elves of stern visage, like those we just faced, rode from across the misted water to attack an expedition of some dozens of elves we accompanied, including a sizeable contingent known as the Masters of the Yuirwood. Adrik and I numbered among the survivors. When the defeated remnants of that force departed, Adrik and I lingered.'

'Why did these so-called masters approach Stardeep?'

Raidon responded, 'Stardeep? Is that the realm beyond the water?'

Kiril said, 'Yes, though calling Stardeep a 'realm' is inaccurate-it is much smaller.' To speak so to strangers broke rules she'd sworn as a Keeper. Too bad-if these were agents of the Traitor, she would end their days soon enough.

The half-elf, his voice serene and strangely composed, said, 'Some tendays now past, mail-clad elves of unfamiliar demeanor rode forth from this location and exterminated a nearby wood elf encampment. The Masters sent a retaliatory force, thinking to extract vengeance, and perhaps seal the portal from whatever realm of discord the murderers originated.'

Kiril swore, 'Bastard sons of whores!' Raidon cocked his head at her outburst. Adrik took an involuntary step back.

The Empyrean Knights were now striking out into the sun-warmed world to commit genocide? She couldn't grasp the man's story; she didn't want to believe it. If he spoke the truth, then the worst may have already happened. The Traitor must have escaped his bonds and taken control of Stardeep's forces. But if that were true, wouldn't she know? Though a Keeper in exile, she retained sensitivities born in her years of service to the Cerulean Sign. Somehow, she thought she'd know if the Traitor ever completely slipped his bonds.

She controlled her voice enough to ask, 'And you are one of these Masters of the Yuirwood?'

Raidon shook his head. 'Neither I nor my companion are native. I've been on the road for some time, a road that has led me here, where I hope to find answers concerning the whereabouts of my absent mother.'

So saying, the half-elf drew an amulet from beneath his shirt and brandished it for Kiril to see.

She gasped, 'Where did you get that?'

Kiril could scarcely credit what flashed before her in the afternoon light: a Seal of the Cerulean Sign. Thirty-six Seals once were known, or perhaps double that; Keeper histories were confused and incomplete. But the knowledge of their making was certainly lost, and as the centuries blurred forward, more and more Seals went missing, were stolen, or were consumed in use. In recent times only a single one remained to Stardeep, the one Nangulis had worn in his vigil over the Well. When Nangulis was transformed and Kiril left Stardeep, she'd left the amulet with Commander Brathtar to pass to the next Keeper of the Inner Bastion.

Raidon said, 'This was given to me by my absent mother, before she returned to her people, who she claimed lived in the Yuirwood. I have followed signs and clues that led here, where I hope to match the symbol on the amulet with that said to be scribed on the gates of what you call Stardeep.'

Kiril reached out her hand for the amulet. After a moment of consideration, Raidon relinquished the stone. She peered at its convoluted textures, the Sign displayed so prominently, and along both sides, looking for the telltale marks that would identify it. No. It was not the same Seal Nangulis had carried; it must be one of the earlier Seals, returned from history's obscuring grasp.

And it was dark. The amulet Nangulis had carried had been sky blue. She wondered if the color was a mute warning of the Traitor's activity. Too late in coming, if so.

Kiril looked up and met Raidon's anxious eyes. 'You carry an extraordinary relic. She who gave this to you- who was she?'

The man shook his head. 'I know not. I called her Mother. She left me when I was a child. Now that I'm grown, I've sworn to find her.'

'She was an elf,' Kiril stated. 'Your father, a human?'

Raidon nodded. 'He was an honorable man. I had not realized prior to a few tendays ago my mother was a wood elf of the Yuirwood.'

Kiril raised a single eyebrow. 'Your looks argue against that, not to mention you carry a Seal unlikely to have originated in the Yuirwood. I doubt she was a wood elf of the wood. No, she came from somewhere else.'

The half-elf squinted at her, his face framing a question.

She continued, 'She came from a realm behind the Yuirwood, a place called Sild?yuir.'

'Another name for Stardeep? She is one of these murdering elves?'

'No. Stardeep is a splinter of Sild?yuir, long disconnected from it. Elves dwell in that starry land-I am one. And they are not a murdering people. Normally.' Kiril glanced at the blood still staining her leg.

She allowed, 'Something awful has happened, I fear …'

Kiril swung to face Gage. 'Tell me what you know about Stardeep.'

Gage swallowed, turned pale. But he nodded.

'Kiril, Sathra did steal your sword, as I explained. And only because of my efforts was it returned to you. Please remember that while you listen to the rest of my tale.'

She gave a fractional nod of her head. 'Time is not on our side-out with it, thief.'

He swallowed, a blush heating his checks. 'Sathra took your sword, but it wasn't she who worked for Stardeep-it was me. I was the spy..'

Kiril backhanded Gage so hard he spun and fell. Adrik the sorcerer took another step back, concern growing on his face. A high-pitched bell tolled from a nearby treetop; Xet was concerned about what might follow the slap.

Gage lay where he fell for a moment, rubbing his jaw. He coughed and spit out a bloody tooth. Kiril didn't much care. She said, 'I knew you lied when you said you'd killed Sathra, you bastard.'

The thief slowly sat up, but didn't stand. Anger threaded his voice, but he replied, 'You were justified in doing that. Now, are you planning on hitting me again, or do you want to hear my story?'

'I thought you were my friend!' Gage's betrayal was the oil that fueled her fury.

He looked down. 'I made a terrible mistake, Kiril. I am your friend, or would like to be, if you can forgive