“It is all right that you are afraid, dark flower,” Taeben said, his words forming a cocoon of comfort around her. “I will do my best to make this quick, but it will be uncomfortable. Do you change your mind with this knowledge?”
“No, A'chrya.” She had nothing to lose. “I am resolute.”
“Good.” He held out one of his slender hands toward her. “Your left arm, please?” Ellie took a deep breath and placed her wrist across his palm, wincing as he grasped it tightly. “Open your hand, Elspethe,” Taeben hissed. She obeyed and nearly cried out as he drove the point of the knife through her skin before dragging it across her palm, tracing the lines there with a bloody trail. “Your blood is not bright red, like mine,” he whispered, smiling in wonder as the line of dark blood coursed out of her hand and dripped over his fingers. “Now, to the oath. With the blood you spill here, do you swear that you will obey your A'chrya now and after I am gone from this world in death?”
“Yes, A'chrya, I so swear,” Ellie said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Good.” Taeben raised the knife and punctured her skin at the opposite side of her palm, then drew it across her skin until there was a bloody X across her hand. This time she did cry out as the two wounds met in the center of her hand. “Silence!” Taeben barked at her as he gripped her wrist, causing the blood to spill from both wounds. Ellie bit her lip and stared off over Taeben’s shoulder. “Look at me, Elspethe,” he said, his voice markedly softer as her gaze met his. “With this blood, you swear that you will continue my life’s work, both now and after I am gone from this world in death?”
“Yes, A'chrya, I so swear,” Ellie replied.
“Good.” She was relieved that Taeben released her arm, but she dared not move from the position she was in. “One last thing, my dark flower,” he said as he stretched out his own palm toward her. “Keep your eyes on mine, Elspethe.” She held his gaze as he punctured his own skin with the blade, and did not look down to see her dark blood mingling with his. “Ah, these new hands hurt just as much as the old ones did,” he muttered. Ellie did not ask what he meant, though she wondered. Perhaps it was something to do with being dead and in the afterlife. She knew better than to ask questions. “Now, give me your hand again,” he said, and she offered it. Taeben took her hand in his now bloody one, palm to palm, and squeezed them together. Ellie winced but made no sound. Their blood flowed out from between their interlaced fingers onto the ground at their feet, her dark blood mixing with his bright red blood.
“A'chrya, I am…” Ellie felt lightheaded and looked around wildly as darkness began to swim around the edges of her vision. “I fear I may…faint…” She saw the smile twist into his features as her vision blurred.
“You have sworn your oath to me and bound your soul to mine. You have saved me. There is nothing I would not do for you for as long as I am still in this world.”
It was as though she had ceased to be for a while, for all that she could recall. Brought back to the present and after staring at the X shaped scar on her hand for a long time, Ellie rose from the grass, recast her invisibility magic, then whispered the words to a transport spell that would take her to the Outpost. She had a purpose now. She would avenge her mentor’s death! But how? Surely one wizard could not take on the Rajah of Qatu’anari alone. Taeben had proven that to be true already. There was planning to do. Ellie smiled darkly as the spell cast and the familiar circle of fire formed around her. She knew just where to get the information she needed. It would take time without her A'chrya there to guide her, but the time spent would be well worth the revenge.
Three
The Nature Walker’s Residence, Aynamaede
The sun set behind the shining parapets of Alynatalos as Gin sat on the edge of the highest platform of Aynamaede. She leaned back against the wall of the hut belonging to the Nature Walker – her new home in the treetop city – but her mind wandered to night skies above faraway parts of Orana when her life had been so much more simple. Her hand hovered over the pendant she wore, her finger tracing the tiny etched tree that spanned the deep green emerald. Once, not so long ago, the emerald had been inset in the gold of the ring her father had worn—the ring had lost the magic that made it fit the current Nature Walker so Gin’s mother gave it to her father—but Kae had taken the ring and had it made into a pendant for Gin. So much had changed—she was hardly the young druid that left the safety of the forest with Dorlagar so many seasons ago. In the weeks since she returned to Aynamaede as the Nature Walker, her days were spent in meditation. Connecting to the source of her power – the magic of all Nature Walkers gone before her and the All-Mother, Sephine, took focus. She took care of her people and the Great Forest, but she missed Sath, Khujann, and the Fabled Ones. She missed her former life.
Young druids came to her for training, and she did her best to lead them in the ways of the Mother Goddess. The King of the High Elves grew reclusive in his old age, and the military council
