AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, but I want her to love me.” I began to cry. “I want her to smile down on me, and say, ‘You’re mine. You’re my daughter. Stay with me always.’”
“You love her.”
“I love her. I would give my life for her if necessary.”
I looked down to find a rose there. A beautiful deep red rose. I picked it up and smelled it, holding it to my nose. I’d never smelled anything so incredibly intoxicating.
“It will be a long journey, and you may regret it…”
Lying back, I stared up at the sky as I laid the rose between my breasts.
“No,” I whispered. “I never, ever will regret it.” And the voice vanished, and I realized that I’d just promised my life in an unofficial compact to the Moon Mother. And she’d answered.
I opened my eyes, staring at the rose. It had been a long journey, yes, and dangerous, but I had been truthful. I had never regretted it. Not once. As I gently replaced the rose into the book and placed it back on the shelf, a chime rang, alerting me that the Whispering Mirror had activated.
Sliding onto the chair in front of the table, I whispered the password that opened up the mirror and waited. A moment later, the mirror swirled with mist and then cleared, and I could see my father, staring out of the mirror at me. Behind him, stood Trenyth, looking through a sheaf of papers.
I caught my breath. I hadn’t actually spoken to my father since we’d been in Otherworld for Menolly’s wedding. At least we were on speaking terms again, and so far he’d shown nothing but remorse for treating me like dirt. I wasn’t holding my breath—Sephreh could change his mind at any time—but I was giving him a second chance.
“Camille, good evening.” He was always formal, always the soldier, even though I knew he cared. But sometimes his training as a guardsman overshadowed his role as our father.
“Father. Is anything wrong?” Yeah, I’d inherited his bluntness.
He leaned forward. “We have news on several fronts. I’ll let Trenyth speak to you first—his news is the most urgent.” Without another word, he slid out of his chair and Trenyth, nodding to him, sat down.
“Trenyth, what’s going on?” I didn’t like the look on the advisor’s face. Trenyth was the advisor to Queen Asteria, and he probably knew more about what was going on with the demonic war than anybody. “Should I get the others?”
“Just take good notes. We don’t have a lot of time, and I’d rather not waste it by waiting for them to join you.”
I grabbed the voice recorder I kept in a docking bay near the mirror. At first we’d jotted down notes when talking, but this preserved more of the information, and Delilah transcribed them onto her computer. I tested it, then turned it on and set it near the mirror.
“Speak up, if you would. Go ahead. I’m ready.”
Trenyth gave me a bare nod. “Good. Darynal’s group has managed to infiltrate Rhellah. Quall hasn’t approached his father yet, because we’re unsure how that might go, but Taath has joined up with a new guild down there.”
“Do I even want to know what the guild is?”
“Probably not, but you have to. It’s a guild that Telazhar has started—the Guild of the Flame Serpents. It’s a sorcerer’s guild, and it’s aligned with the temple of Chimaras. And from what Taath has seen so far, they are planning an assault on Ceredream. They’re planning to march through the Southern Wastes, gathering up as much of the rogue magic as they can, and first take Ceredream, then move north and northeast.”
“The Moon Mother’s Grove.”
“We don’t know that for sure—I believe they are far more focused on Elqaneve because of the spirit seals. Telazhar seems to know they’re here, in Otherworld, and he seems to have an idea of where they’re being hidden.”
Trenyth’s face looked so despondent that I wanted to reach through the mirror and give him a long hug, but even if I could, it wouldn’t do any good. Hugs were Band-Aids at this point.
“Okay, then. What’s Darynal’s group doing about it?”
Trenyth stared at me, then shook his head. “Doing about it? There’s nothing they can do about it. Taath has caught sight of Telazhar, but he can’t get near enough to dare staging an assassination. What they are doing is feeding us information. We are debating on how to approach the leaders of Ceredream to discuss this—the city has no real love for the elves and is home to a lot of rogues and sorcerers who might have found their way into the court. We are, however, now aligned with King Vodox of Svartalfheim, and the dwarves have come around. The kingdom of Nebelvuouri is our ally.”
“Well, that’s something, at least. And we have Y’Elestrial on our side.”
Another pause, and then Trenyth held up a piece of paper on which I could see some faintly written decree. I couldn’t read it, but I could make out the official seal of Y’Elestrial.
“One more thing. Queen Asteria and Queen Tanaquar have agreed to send your father to Aladril, to speak to the seers and see if they can help. He leaves in the morning.”
That was a surprise. Dropping in on Aladril was no small feat, and to dare ask them for help meant that both queens felt the impending war might not go their way. I shot a glance at my father, who was standing, arms behind his back, in typical guardsman stance.
“So, that is our news. Taath says the sorcerers are creating magical weapons—spells, charms of all sorts, anything they can to do as much damage as possible. And they are attempting to harness the magic of the sands—dangerous, unpredictable…”
