'I agree,' said Ilsevele. She glanced back to Muirreste. 'Thank you, Elvath. We will take advantage of your generous offer. Where exactly will we find ourselves on the other side of the gate?'
Muirreste looked at Grayth and Maresa, and said in Elvish, 'It might be better not to say. The People of the LastHome are even more careful in guarding their secrets from n'tel-quessir than we are.'
'Grayth and Maresa have my trust, Elvath, and through me my father's confidence as well. They have fought valiantly and endured great danger already in our cause.'
'Then I will not bar their passage, though Lord Seiveril may have to answer for them in Evereska. I hope your trust is well placed.' He switched back to Common. 'Fall in at the end of the company moving through now. When your turn comes, simply touch the stone marker. The magic of the gate will do the rest.'
The four companions dismounted and led their horses to the back end of the archer company passing through the gate-a disorderly gang of wood elves, who laughed with delight when they saw a human and a planetouched following their column.
Ilsevele said to Grayth and Maresa, 'I hope you will forgive us for leaving Evermeet so quickly. I would have liked the opportunity to show you more of the island.'
Til carry it with me in my heart,' the cleric said with a smile. 'I am honored to have seen it even for a day.'
Their turn came a few minutes later, as the last of the wood elves trotted through the gate. Araevin waited while Ilsevele, Grayth, and Maresa walked their horses up to the markers and touched the stones, disappearing in a sparkle of golden light, and he did the same.
The hilltop misted away from him. There was a moment of darkness and a strange, directionless sense of motion in the center of his body, and Araevin found himself standing in a dark, rainy plaza or square in an elven city. Soft lanternlight glowed around him, flickering as the wind shifted, and white stone towers rose up between towering shadowtops and cedars.
Of course, he thought. We moved several thousand miles to the east, so naturally we moved later in the day.
An elf soldier dressed in a long mail shirt took Araevin by the arm and guided him away from the arrival point. The mage noticed that a pair of Evereskan drummers kept the time of the drummers in the Evermeet glade. Already the wood elves were marching away down a broad thoroughfare, still laughing and singing with high spirits. Araevin led his horse away and joined Ilsevele and the others off to one side.
'Where will we find Seiveril Miritar?' Ilsevele asked one of the elves nearby.
'Out in the Meadow, my lady,' the elf replied. 'Follow the company ahead of you, they're being led there now. But leave your horses here. We'll have to take them down by another way.'
They relinquished their reins, and hurried after the wood elves through the forested streets of the city. Evereska was a striking place of marvelous buildings, deep groves, and steep hilltops. Lanterns glowed above the streets, each haloed by the falling drizzle. But Araevin was startled to see signs of war amid the city's towers and trees: a shadowtop scorched badly on one side by fire, a tower with a great gouge in its side from some spell or another, windows of theurglass boarded up with simple wooden shutters.
They fought the phaerimm in the streets of the city, he reminded himself. It was only two years ago.
They reached a park overlooking the city's edge. Evereska sat atop sheer cliffs nearly a thousand feet in height, its hills and forests crowning the stark stone of its great pedestal. Below lay the Meadow, a ring of grassy open land at the foot of the cliffs, and circling that the Vine Vale, a valley of terraced fields, vineyards, and orchards surrounding the city. At one side of the park, quite near the edge, a golden circle glowed on the ground. One by one the wood elves walked into it and vanished.
'Where are we going now?' Grayth asked.
'We're descending to the valley floor outside the city,' Araevin explained. They waited their turn, passed through behind the wood elves, and stepped out of a shallow niche in the cliffside, walking out into the broad, open Meadow.
Columns of elf soldiers waited here, organizing themselves before marching off. Araevin spotted Seiveril at once. He stood amid a knot of other elves, dressed in his gilded armor of mithral plate, watching as the elves who had already passed the gate and the cliff marched off into the darkness. The sight of Seiveril attired in battle- armor startled Araevin. With an abrupt and chilling clarity he realized that all the martial hurry they'd wandered through for the past hour had a purpose. The great host gathering in Evereska's green Meadow had come to fight, and perhaps die, in battle against the enemies of the People.
How could I have forgotten that for an instant? Araevin wondered.
'Father!' Ilsevele called.
She hurried over to embrace Seiveril, while Araevin and his friends followed.
Seiveril turned in surprise, but returned his daughter's embrace, saying, 'Ilsevele! What are you doing here?'
'We came to find you, but it occurs to me that I might ask you the same question,' Ilsevele replied. She stepped back and looked around at the marching soldiers. A long, snaking line of elves carrying their arms and armor were ascending the outer wall of the Vine Vale, following a trail that switchbacked up toward the higher hills surrounding Evereska and its valley. 'What is going on?'
'It is a long story, but… I could not stand by and allow our people to do nothing to aid the Evereskans. If I had not done something, no one would have, and I believe with all my heart that this needs doing,' Seiveril said. He looked over to the officers standing nearby. 'Lord Gaerth, you know where these troops are supposed to go. Will you take over for me for a time? I need to speak with my daughter. Make sure they know to remain vigilant, our foes might attempt to pass our lead companies and strike at us here.'
Vesilde Gaerth, resplendent in his golden plate armor, touched his fingertips to his visor and replied, 'Of course, Lord Seiveril.'
Seiveril took one last look at the mustering elves then took Ilsevele's arm, leading her to a nearby tent.
'Come, both of you, and your friends as well. I suspect we have some news to exchange. Starbrow, why don't you join us, too?'
One of the elves who had been standing with Seiveril detached himself and followed. He was a tall and strongly built moon elf, his red-brown hair pulled back into a long braid behind his back. He wore a lacquered breastplate with a large kite-shaped shield slung over his back. Araevin didn't recognize him, but then again, in the last hour he'd seen hundreds of elves he didn't know.
They filed into the pavilion Seiveril indicated, and found simple but comfortable furnishings, including light folding stools and a portable table with several maps laid out across its surface. A tray of fruit and bread filled one end of the table, along with ewers of cold water and wine.
'I wish I could claim credit for the hospitality, but I can't,' said Seiveril. 'Thilesin and her assistants decided to provide me with a valet so that I could devote all my attention to the challenges ahead, instead of fretting about where to rest and when to eat. Please, be seated.'
'Father,' said Ilsevele, 'what are you doing here? Why didn't the queen send the army? Why did she refuse to help?'
'As I said, it is a long story, and it is a story that may not be for everyone to hear. I will only say that the queen has duties and responsibilities that constrain her freedom of action, and that this was the only way for those of us on Evermeet to send any real help to the People in Faerun.' Seiveril looked over at Grayth and Maresa. 'You have neglected to introduce me to your guests, Ilsevele.'
Ilsevele frowned, noting the change in subject, but she did not protest. Instead she introduced Grayth and Maresa, and in turn Seiveril introduced the moon elf called Starbrow. Araevin took the fellow's hand wondering who he was again, and his eyes fell to the sword hilt at the moon elf's hip.
'You are wearing Keryvian!' he gasped in surprise.
'Yes,' Starbrow said. He offered a crooked smile. 'Seiveril loaned it to me. I have some experience in fighting demons, and he thought I could make good use of the sword.'
'I don't believe I have ever heard of you,' Araevin said. 'Where are you from?'
Starbrow glanced at Seiveril, then back to Araevin, and said, 'Cormanthyr. Though I have been away from my homeland for a long time.'
Seiveril poured himself a cup of water from the ewer on the table.
'Well, Ilsevele,' he said, 'you can see what has been occupying my time since we parted. Where have you
