The boys tried to turn their faces, but only Corbin succeeded, keeping his ward to his face in trembling hands. Brand couldn't tear his eyes away from the most beautiful female creature that had ever lived.
Even Gudrin was affected. She staggered forward, and then halted, swaying slightly. Still, her hands were outstretched above her. The golden clasp of her book glinted in the moonlight.
“Look upon mine beauty,” the Lady said to Gudrin, “Accursed, Ugly creature, constructed of oil and filth, is it not thy heart's desire to share in my perfection?” The glimmering figure drifted down the mound ever so slowly.
“Lady,” said Gudrin, her words coming with difficulty. “Lady, why are you here? Why do you torment us?”
“Brand, something is wrong!” Telyn hissed in his ear. “Brand, we must get away from here!”
“A kiss, only one kiss,” mumbled Brand.
She shook him, and Brand was distantly aware of her, but his mind was focused upon the Shining Lady. He took a full step forward and now stood at the edge of the clearing. Sweat poured from him, his head had filled with sweet music and the powerful smells of lilac and mint. In desperation, Telyn tugged at him, but against his tense muscles, she could do nothing. Corbin remained on his knees, clutching his ward and shivering.
The Shining Lady took notice of Brand then, and did turn upon him. She drifted closer, swaying a bit. Her hands wove themselves together in mock embraces, her lips moved softly. Brand knew what she wanted. It was only a kiss she wanted, just one single kiss. Her radiant skin shone through her white gown, revealing all but her feet, which were said to be the talons of a bird of prey.
He took another halting step toward her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Telyn moved between Brand and the Lady and talked insistently to him, but he didn't hear her words. He saw only the Lady. But, for a spare second, he managed to glance down into her face. Telyn was beautiful to him, an earthly beauty.
“Telyn,” he said.
Then, somehow the spell had broken. He stumbled backwards and turned his eyes from the Shining Lady.
Gudrin swayed no longer. Gathering herself, she held her book before her as the River Folk held their wards. “I banish you! Offer us nothing! Your embrace will result in no beauty for me, but only ugly death. To touch you is to know death, agony and ecstasy, triumph and terrible defeat. By the Teret, the book of the Kindred, I banish you!”
The Shining Lady paused and a sadness came over her that was hard for Brand to bear. With a final, regretful, heart-wrenching tilt of her head, she glided back and away. Her golden hair floated about her lovely face, but there was no breeze. She paused, and then looked over to Brand. She smiled then and raised her hand in a gesture of farewell. Brand might have run to her, but then she winked out, sliding away into nothingness.
Gudrin dropped her arms. Her head lolled against her chest and her shoulders slouched forward as if she had undergone a great exertion.
But her trials were not at an end, as another shadowy figure on horseback walked his dark steed forward. From him the elfkin and the Wee ones fled, crying out their fear in their small voices. His horse had red eyes and a long mane and tail of white which shone upon its sleek coat of black. It snorted and tossed its head, as if wanting to be away and galloping. “It is you who are banished, talespinner,” said the shadow man, his voice at once melodic and sinister.
“The shadow man,” said Brand vaguely, coming partly to his senses. He was still captivated by the Shining Lady. Corbin regained his feet, but leaned on a tree trunk for support.
“We must leave!” insisted Telyn, trying to rouse them. “Things are not as they should be!”
“Ah, Voynod the Bard,” said Gudrin, nodding to the shadow man in recognition. “I have been tracking your whereabouts of late. You and your master have done much to circumvent the Pact. Oberon will no doubt chastise you for your adventurousness.”
Voynod chuckled, a sound like the music made by water in a rocky stream. “The Pact is broken. It will not be renewed. Go back to your mountain burrow, talespinner. These muck-dwellers are not your people. You need not die for them.”
With those words, Voynod turned his horse's head and retreated, and the forest swallowed him whole. The goblins, sprites, elfkin and Wee ones that remained continued to eat and drink, feasting as would stray dogs that have starved for many days in the wild. The sounds of their gulpings and slurpings filled the clearing. Brand saw them with a new clarity now. He saw more and more goblins it seemed, and in fact, among them were others that did not shine. They were like goblins, but larger, more man-like. These hairy, fanged creatures were bestial in their manner, and openly took the remains of the ravaged Offering from the smaller Faerie. One of the Wee ones, holding fast to an apple it had claimed, was scooped up and tossed across the clearing. It caught itself and ran with great hops into the forest, clutching the apple with its coattails fluttering behind.
Gudrin cried aloud several times for Oberon to come forth, for any lord of the Faerie to accept her Offering and renew the Pact. None answered her save the snickers and catcalls of those that were gorging themselves upon the goods that the River Folk had worked so long and hard to gather.
The three River Folk, having regained enough of their composure to retreat from the clearing, set out for the common. Their mood was one of deep shock and dismay. The idea that the Pact was broken was unthinkable.
“What will happen to us all?” asked Corbin aloud. “Will we all find changelings in our cradles? Will the Shining Lady croon promises of lust and beauty outside our windows at night and drink our lives?”
“Did we have anything to do with this?” asked Brand, voicing his greatest fear.
“No,” said Telyn firmly. “The signs have been evident for months. The Faerie are no longer keeping the Pact with any devotion, that is clear to see. Many things have crossed the borders, and we have been stalked by such as Voynod himself across the breadth of the Haven.”
“Could they perhaps have waylaid Myrrdin? Perhaps this is all part of a plot that has been long building,” said Brand.
“And what were those things that ate with the Fair Folk? Were they beasts or men?” asked Corbin.
“At least I can answer that,” said Telyn. “I believe they were Rhinogs.”
The boys looked at her in horror. “Half-breeds?” said Corbin, aghast. “The offspring of goblins and human women? Such are strictly against the Pact.”
Telyn could only nod. Brand numbly realized that if Rhinogs were being bred, that could only mean that war was at hand. The brutes were good for nothing else.
Corbin pointed off at a glimmering shape half as tall as a man that stole forth to leer at them before disappearing again into the trees. “Isn't that fellow the goblin we followed up here?” The others agreed, and they all walked with greater care. The shadowy forest seemed to be hiding something.
“Hello?” came a call from down the hill. Brand thought it was Jak's voice.
“Hello?” Brand answered back.
“Hello, hello, hello?” mocked strange voices from all around. The three of them halted in sudden apprehension. The dark woods seemed to close around them, hemming them in. The trees were no longer friendly. Peering into the gloom, they picked out half-seen shapes that flittered and glowed. Somewhere to their left, the metallic edge of a weapon gleamed.
“Brand, Corbin?” came Jak's voice again, more distantly this time, from somewhere downhill in the blackness.
“Brand, Corbin? Corbin, Brand? Hello?” mocked strange voices. The trio halted again and wheeled, trying to locate those that stalked them. The boys wished that they had not left their woodaxes at Drake Manor. Telyn's long thin knife appeared in her hand.
“The goblins hunt us,” hissed Telyn.
