“A few months is one thing,” Ammisyll Veldann observed. “What if you find no sign of the daemonfey for a year? Two years? They are evidently well hidden, after all. Is Evermeet to be left shorn of its defenders for as long as you see fit to be stubborn?”
“The daemonfey are not the sole standard by which I shall judge my errand in Faerun completed,” Seiveril replied. “The daemonfey were tempted to strike against Evereska because the People withdrew so much of their power from Faerun. I mean to find a way to set that right before I say I am done.”
“That will be hard on your warriors, will it not?” Veldann asked. “They joined you to defend Evereska, and Evereska has been defended. They did not answer your call in order to garrison gloomy old ruins in the middle of the wilderness for years.”
“I require none to remain who are not willing,” Seiveril said.
Ammisyll Veldann threw up her hands, and leaned back in her seat. “Nothing has changed,” she muttered.
Selsharra Durothil looked around the Council table, and let her gaze linger on Amlaruil. “I would like to put forward a proposal,” she said.
If Queen Amlaruil anticipated more argument from the conservative sun elf, her face did not show it. She graciously nodded. “Of course, Lady Durothil.”
“While I do not necessarily agree that Lord Seiveril requires an army quite as large as he now has at his command,” Selsharra Durothil began, “I think we have all seen the wisdom of his arguments about maintaining a presence in Faerun. In fact, it seems to me that this task may be important enough to justify a lasting amendment to Evermeet’s defenses. Instead of relying on the zeal and good intentions of those who happen to take interest in affairs in Faerun, we should shoulder this responsibility ourselves, and formally recognize and support Lord Seiveril’s actions so far. Let us name him the East Marshal of the Realm, admit him again to the High Council, and designate his standing army in Faerun as the East Guard.
“We can incorporate the East Guard into the armies of Evermeet, and thereby ensure that our brave soldiers need not abandon their oaths to the Crown in order to take service in Lord Miritar’s army. In fact, we can assess both Evermeet’s current defenses and the forces Miritar will need to continue his watch overseas, and divide our forces with more deliberation than before. Both the defenses of Evermeet herself and the strength of our East Guard should be improved with some careful planning.”
Seiveril stared at Selsharra Durothil, not bothering to hide his amazement. He noticed that most of her fellow councilors were staring, too.
She can’t have decided that I was right! he told himself.
Almost grudgingly, Keryth Blackhelm nodded in agreement. He looked to Queen Amlaruil. “There is a great deal of sense in that idea, my queen,” he murmured. “We could station the forces best suited for each job in the right place. Evermeet would be safer, and we would be better situated to intervene in Faerun when the need arises.”
Grand Mage Olithir also nodded and said, “The same is true for our mages, spellblades, and bladesingers. And I for one would welcome Lord Seiveril’s voice at this table again.”
Ammisyll Veldann turned a furious look on Selsharra Durothil. “You are not seriously suggesting that we reward Miritar’s disobedience by returning him the seat that he surrendered in this council!” she snapped.
“I do not condone the manner in which Lord Miritar assembled his expedition and decided for himself what was right for all of us,” Selsharra answered, “but I cannot deny that his vision and foresight secured Evereska, and perhaps saved thousands of our kindred from destruction and slaughter.”
“The constituency of the High Council is the queen’s prerogative,” Zaltarish observed. “It is for her to decide such matters.”
“I must consider the suggestion for a time before I know my answer,” Amlaruil said. She looked at Seiveril. “And I suspect that Lord Miritar will wish to consider the question, too. You are asking him to take up a heavy burden, Lady Durothil.”
“A burden that he sought out, Your Highness,” Selsharra replied.
Amlaruil rapped her scepter on the glassteel table. “We will reconvene in a few days to deliberate the question at length. Until then, Lord Miritar, I would be delighted if you could tarry a few days here in Leuthilspar.”
Seiveril bowed again. “Of course, Your Highness,” he said.
CHAPTER THREE
10 Mirtul, the Year of Lightning Storms
For three days, Araevin explored the depths of Silverymoon’s Vault of the Sages. He passed long hours poring over ancient yellow parchments and carefully thumbing through heavy tomes of thick linen paper. He wandered from chamber to chamber, examining the orderly stacks kept by the priests of Denier, or he waited in reading rooms while the helpful clerics brought him books and scrolls they thought might interest him. It was not inexpensive, of course-to make use of the library cost him hundreds of pieces of gold-but Araevin did not begrudge the cost. The clerics of Denier used the fees to acquire and copy rare texts from other libraries all across Faerun.
Ilsevele helped him in his search, screening works of potential interest to determine whether or not Araevin needed to see a particular reference. She saved him countless hours of reading through dead ends, or wasting time on old works that simply had no bearing on the subject matter he was after. The two sun elves arrived at the library an hour after dawn every morning, and remained until after dark each night before heading back to the Golden Oak and joining Maresa and Filsaelene for the evening meal, wine, and dancing.
They had little luck at first, spending the first day looking at old records and accounts of Arcorar that had nothing to do with magic or mythals. On the next day they successfully narrowed their search by reviewing a list of potentially relevant tomes assembled by the Deneirraths; less than sixty books or documents in the Vault possessed the right combination of antiquity and subject matter to warrant close inspection. A dozen titles into the list, on the morning of the third day of their search, they stumbled across what they were looking for.
“Araevin, I think I’ve found something,” said Ilsevele. She straightened up from the desk where she sat, reading through a set of ancient scrolls. “This scroll describes a judgment by the Coronal of Arcorar against House Dlardrageth, and records how the House was expunged from the realm.”
Araevin looked up from the window bench where he was sitting, consulting his journals, and asked, “Who is the author?”
“A court mage named Sanathar.”
“I know that name,” he said. He set down his journal and joined Ilsevele at her table. He found the passage she indicated, and murmured aloud as he read: “Yes, I see it… the high mage Ithraides gathered a company of wizards, and they used their spells to destroy or drive off the Dlardrageths, finally walling off the Dlardrageth tower in Cormanthor-that was the old name for Myth Drannor, of course
…” He skimmed the old manuscript, careful not to handle the ancient parchment more than was absolutely necessary. “Look, here. More passages were added later. The spell-prison raised around House Dlardrageth was finally removed almost five hundred years after the coronal’s mages moved against the Dlardrageths.”
“I saw that. They found that they had missed several of the daemonfey.”
“Sarya and her sons, and a few others. Yes, that makes sense. We know that the daemonfey escaped from Arcorar and insinuated themselves into several powerful Houses in Siluvanede, creating the fey’ri.” Araevin read farther, and his eyes widened. “Interesting,” he breathed. “This may be what I was looking for. Near the end of this account Sanathar tells us that the Nightstar was interred in a secure vault-that we know, of course, since I eventually found it there-but he also says that Ithraides departed for Arvandor soon after the creation of the vault. The star elf Morthil took many of Ithraides’s tomes and treasures into his keeping.”
“Star elf? An unusual turn of phrase. Do you think he meant sun or moon elf?”
“No, it’s quite clear. Look, other sun elves and moon elves are named here, and here. I think the text implies a separate race or nationality.”
“I’ve never heard of star elves before,” Ilsevele said. “A kindred of the People who died out long ago? Or maybe he is referring to elves who came to this world from another world? Some of Evermeet’s folk are descended
