Between the reassuring presence of the wizard and Michael’s boundless joy and exhilaration at their flight, Aedan’s fear began to ebb, to be replaced by a growing sense of awe. He did not feel the wind of their swift passage through the skies: he was the wind, and far below him, the Aelvinnwode was like a vast green carpet stretching out across the land.
In the distance, he could see the mountains of the Five Peaks region, and to the northwest, he could make out the rapidly approaching forest highlands of the goblin realm of Thurazor. But for the elves, that would have been their destination. Now, however, they swept past the land of their late captors and lag continued in a northeastern heading, past the rugged Stonecrown Mountains toward the elven kingdom of Tuarhievel.
It did not seem possible that they could have covered so much distance in so short a time, but when Aedan saw the first gray light of dawn appear over the horizon, he realized much more time had passed than he had thought. Hours had somehow seemed like only moments as he was caught in the fascination of the spectacle unfolding far below him, seeing the world the way a hawk would see it, or an eagle.
From the sky, he watched the sunrise, its rays casting an expanding band of light over the forest and the rolling, rugged country of the Northern Marches.
His initial fear became forgotten as he was mesmerized by the beauty of the land waking up to a new day.
The forest seemed to slowly rise up toward them, and he realized they were descending. They were still moving forward with great speed, but they were gradually angling down, and soon he was able to make out birds flitting among the uppermost tree branches, oblivious to their presence.
As they went lower still, a flock of doves rose up out of the trees, ascending toward them. Aedan could not get over the experience of birds flying up toward him. The flock flew closer with a fluttering of white wings in the early morning sun and then, amazingly, the doves passed through them! They were all around him, and even within him, soaring on the wind currents, and Aedan could actuallyfeel their hearts beating.
Then the doves were above them, and they descended lower still, barely skimming the treetops, which bent with their passage. It was dreamlike and
surreal as they swept over the forest, rushing smoothly through the sky above the forest canopy. Not even in his dreams had Aedan ever experienced anything like this. Surely, he thought, this was what it felt like to be a bird. As a child, he had often watched birds and wished he were capable of flight. Now he was doing it. And for a moment or two, while the doves had flown with them, he had experienced their feelings and sensations, too.
He had always thought that wizards lived their lives in dark and musty rooms, dimly illuminated by candles set in skulls, that they spent all their time puttering about with ancient manuscripts and arcane scrolls and breathing in the sulfurous fumes of their mystic potions while they squinted in the smoke from their incense burners. This, however, was magic of a different sort. Elven magic.
It made him wish his course in life had not been predetermined from his birth, for if this were what elven magic could accomplish, he would have become an eager student of it. He wondered if elven mages would accept human apprentices, and even as the thought occurred to him, Gylvain responded.
Elven magic is for elves alone, the mage replied. If we were to teach it to humans, it would no longer belong only to us, and the possibilityfor its misuse would be too great.
just as no human wizard would ever take an elf as an apprentice, so no elven mage would ever teach a human.
But are not the principles of human and elven magic the same? asked Aedan.
Indeed, they are, Gylvain responded. However, the disciplines are different, as are the spells. And we are not yet so trusting of each other that we may reveal all our secrets. Someday, perhaps.
But not today, thought Aedan, realizing the wizard’s rely served as a pointed reminder of their situation. Elves and humans were far from friends, and the peace between them was still a fragile one. It would be a long time before elves and humans were able to trust one another, if that day ever came. The memory of how the humans had invaded elven lands and took them for their own was still painfully fresh among the elven kingdoms, and with the Manslayer still actively pursuing the gheallie Sidhe in these very woods, the days of humans falling to elven blades and arrows were far from over.
Nor are the days of elves falling to human blades and arrows, Gylvain replied, reminding him once again that while they were joined in the spell of windwalking, he was privy to their thoughts, while his own, unless he wished them known, were somehow guarded.
When I am emperor, I shall decree an end to that, Michael replied.
Would that our problems could be solved so simply, the wizard responded.
You mayfind when you ascend the Iron Throne that there can be vast differences between what a ruler wishes to do and what he is able to do.
I wish you luck in those days to come. Butfor the present, I bid you welcome to the elven city of Tuarhievel.
And suddenly there it was, directly ahead of
