Bedlam's Edge by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey [Lackey, Mercedes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2005-02-25T10:20:54+00:00

Catriona smiled. For the first time in months, she felt content, maybe even happy. She and her lover, Aelbrigr, were taking a break from their "normal" Underhill life, and instead of being two among many at Elfhame Liefdraumar, they were visiting one of Aelbrigr's far-flung holdings in the Chaos Lands to "get away from it all." After months and months of dreary court business, they were finally alone together in a Pocket Domain far, far away from the Liefdraumar Court and all the petty people in it.

And being together, without any other people—elven or human—was helping her to relax. Aelbrigr was cooking, a hobby he indulged whenever he thought he could get away with it, and those calming kitchen-type noises helped her relax even more. She'd been too nervous lately to even play her clarinet.

It was only after she hadn't touched the instrument for a month that Aelbrigr had conceived of their little retreat.

She tried not to think about what else they would have to do here. That wasn't important right now; the only things that were important were the two of them and her music (and, eventually, the meal he'd cooked for her).

For now, she concentrated on how much she loved the clarinet; she loved how it sounded, how much it could do . More than that, she loved how she felt when she played. The sheer power and beauty, the feeling that she was tapping into something beyond herself . . . there really weren't words for it.

She frowned slightly as she took a breath; Aelbrigr had stopped cooking. He darted out from the kitchen to their luxurious, silk-lined living room.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I heard something," he spoke aloud. "Worse, I felt something."

"Something's wrong with the wards?" she asked, striving for lightness. If the wards are awry, does that mean . . . no. Aelbrigr will fix it, if it's broken, and we'll go on as we have. . . .

" I don't know, but I'll take care of it. You go on with your playing."

Obediently, she went back to practicing, picking this time to play one of her original compositions. The notes poured through her to her clarinet, and seemed to multiply; enchanted, Catriona kept playing until the composition was nearly at its end. Too bad Aelbrigr had had to go out to check the wards—

Screech!

It wasn't really a sound, but that was the only way she knew to represent the feeling: as a dissonant clash of chords cutting across her music-making as if to wipe it away. Then she felt something inside her, something she'd hoped never to feel again, and a picture formed in her mind; Aelbrigr, helpless on the ground outside. He wasn't moving; worse, he didn't appear to be breathing. A dark-haired elf woman ran lightly away, carrying a silver-and-gold necklace . . . but Catriona couldn't worry about that right now.

Aelbrigr was hurt. She had to do something.

She ran outside to the edge of their Pocket Domain, to where everything turned to drifting, formless grayness.

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