but through raw force of will he was on his feet again within a day, making certain that no one in Maerchlin had any doubt as to who was the lord of the county. He relayed no words of thanks to Aeron or Eriale for their service, instead ignoring their presence in his lands. If it had been anyone else, Aeron might have felt slighted by the lack of gratitude, but he knew that it must have angered Phoros beyond reason to be indebted to him. He intended to remove himself from the count's domain as soon as he was satisfied that Crow's magic would work no more mischief.
Three days after their confrontation with Master Crow, Aeron and Eriale burned Kestrel. Aeron used his sorcery to create a clean, pure pyre; he could not stand the idea of burning Kestrel with the sodden, sickly firewood at hand. A somber handful of their old friends and neighbors turned out for the ceremony.
Eriale and Aeron lingered for a long time by the pyre, watching the funereal flames dance and crackle. Eriale was silent and worn, with dark circles under her eyes, and Aeron was exhausted as well.
He was shaken out of his reflection by Eriale's voice. 'Aeron? Why did this happen?'
'What?' He turned toward her with a startled look.
'What did we do to earn Master Crow's hate? Why did he come to Maerchlin, and why did he do what he did?'
Aeron tried to think of an answer and failed. Eriale looked up at him, the cold damp air plastering her hair to her cheeks like a dark hood. 'He said that he came here because of me,' he said at length. 'I don't know whether I believe him, though.'
'I remember what he said, but what I want to know is why. What did you ever do to him?'
'I knew him back at the college, Eriale. His name then was Sarim, and he was one of my mentors. A terrible wrong was done to him by Lord Oriseus after I left.' He repressed a shudder as a cold tendril of water pierced his hood and ran down his back. 'I'd thought that I was no longer of interest to Oriseus and his followers. Out of sight, out of mind. After all, they never tried to contact me or hunt me down after I left. I guess I was wrong.'
'So you think that Oriseus made Sarim into Crow and sent him after you?'
Aeron thought it over. 'Yes. I think he did.'
'Do you think that Oriseus told Crow to use his magic to enslave the people of Maerchlin? Or do you think that was Crow's idea?'
'I don't know, Eriale. I just don't know what he's capable of.'
Eriale stepped closer and fixed her gaze on his eyes. 'Do you think Oriseus might try again?'
Aeron fell silent. He didn't have an answer.
Eriale turned and paced away. The mists and rain shrouded them in a world of gray, bleached of color. The dark line of trees that started beyond Kestrel's homestead might as well have been a wall of wet stone. 'Didn't Crow say that he and his friends were responsible for this?' She waved her arm in a gesture that included the earth, the forest, and the gray sky overhead. 'That this was all a spell they were working on?'
'What are you getting at?' Aeron asked.
'We can't let this go on,' Eriale said, speaking into the shadows under the trees. 'This is killing the land. Whoever is behind this must be stopped. Whoever-' her voice broke for a moment- 'Whoever sent Master Crow to Maerchlin and forced us to confront him must be stopped.'
'They're dangerous, Eriale. Ruthless, arrogant. We're beneath their notice. Do you understand? They have no fear of me.' Aeron clenched his fists, his shoulders taut. 'You don't know how close I came to sharing Sarim's fate. There are powers in the world that no one was meant to tamper with, and they almost destroyed me.
'I'll set myself against Oriseus. I'll try to make him stop what he's doing. But I don't know if I'm strong enough to resist Oriseus and the Shadow Stone.' He faced Eriale, iron fighting despair in his voice. 'I might become the next Master Crow.'
The archer's face softened as she studied Aeron for a long moment. 'Aeron, someday you're going to have to confront what happened at the college in Cimbar.'
'Easier said than done,' Aeron observed with a wry smile. He dropped his gaze and saw Baillegh scramble to her feet. She barked twice and bounded away, back to the forest. Aeron watched, puzzled, before seizing his staff and spinning to see what had alarmed the hound.
Baillegh barked somewhere in the distance, obscured by the mists and the trees, but after a moment she reappeared, trotting happily by the heel of a tall, gray-cloaked figure. Aeron recognized the stride at once. 'Fineghal!'
The elf lord looked up, pushing his hood back over his shoulders and shaking out his pale golden hair. He was dressed for traveling, in a seamless tunic of pearl gray and green that seemed to melt into invisibility in front of the dark trees. He carried a long, thin staff, and there was a short, straight-bladed sword belted at his hip. He grinned, ruffling the top of Baillegh's head, and raised his hand. 'Well met, Aeron! I am glad that I found you.'
Aeron rushed up to him and caught his forearm in a warm clasp. 'I thought you'd be a week or more yet!'
'I found an old gate to take me from the Chondalwood to Calmaercor without resorting to my own magic,' the elf replied. 'From the Storm Tower, it's not much of a walk.' He nodded at Eriale. 'Hello, Eriale. It's good to see you again. How is your father?'
Aeron and Eriale exchanged a silent look. Aeron moved aside and pointed at the raised bier, smoking in the damp morning. 'He fell, fighting Master Crow, the sorcerer I told you of,' he said.
Fineghal bowed his head. 'I am sorry, Eriale. He was a good man, one of the best I have had the honor to know. How did it happen?'
Aeron related the events of the past few days while they stood by Kestrel's pyre, and then adjourned to the warm sitting room of the forester's old house. Eriale prepared some hot tea, while Fineghal shook the rainwater from his traveling cloak and settled by the fire. Aeron could not recall a time that he'd ever seen the elf lord glad to be indoors and out of the weather, but the hard pace he'd set for himself had apparently sapped even his elven reserves of strength.
'I heard some strange tales as I traveled here, Aeron,' the elf said. 'The folk of the countryside whisper that the dead are walking, that the ground has soured, that evil is abroad in the land.'
'Any word of other sorcerers at work?' Aeron asked. 'Crow seemed to imply that those who served Oriseus might be abroad, working to further his purposes.'
Fineghal frowned. 'No, I heard no such stories. But I did encounter tales of a different sort, of mages and magicians who had suddenly disappeared. Wizards are uncommon folk to begin with, so I didn't pay it any attention, but now I wonder if it might be important.'
'Disappeared? How?'
'In some cases, the mage vanished years ago, but in Villon people were speaking of their lord's magician, who had deserted his master's court only a few days ago.'
Aeron scowled in thought, trying to make sense of it. 'I suspect that these are all symptoms of one illness,' he said. 'Do you remember what I told you of my journey through the plane of shadow? It seems to me that all of this is familiar. I've experienced this before. There's no Weave in the Shadow, only the magic of the dark powers.'
'That sounds like what we have witnessed in our own world over the past few weeks,' Fineghal said slowly. 'Do you think that the borders between the worlds are growing weak for some reason? That we are seeing the planes of shadow in the living land around us?'
'I'm certain of it,' Aeron replied.
'Assuran preserve us,' Eriale breathed.
'Such events have happened from time to time over the years,' Fineghal said thoughtfully. 'Yet these conjunctions have rarely lasted for more than a few nights. By day, the shadowrealm's power cannot exist in our world. How can this continue week after week? When will it end?'
'I don't think it will,' Aeron said. 'I think Oriseus has mastered the Shadow Stone. This is his doing.'
'That,' said Fineghal, 'is a dire thought indeed.'
'Can you do anything to set things right?' Eriale asked.
Aeron turned to look at her. 'You told me that I'd have to confront my failure at the college again. I think you're right. I cannot conceive of any magic that would undo Oriseus's enchantment. But if I go to Cimbar I might be able to find out what he's doing and how I can stop it.'
'Do you really think you can defeat Oriseus and his allies?' Eriale asked quietly.
