Lord of the Fading Lands by C L Wilson

Author:C L Wilson [Lands, Lord of the Fading]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-03-18T09:33:29+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

With wings unfurled and joy unbound,

I dance on laughter-spangled winds.

I bathe in freedom's rushing breath

And drink cool nectar from the clouds.

Up, up, through sunlit fields of blue,

I soar through boundless ether.

Look! Starlight shines at height of day.

I hear infinity calling.

—Tairen's Flight, by Cadrian vel Sorendahl,

Tairen Soul

"Why did I bring my coat?”

Rain cast an amused glance at Ellysetta. His shei'tani had been an uncorked bottle of questions since

they'd dropped off the twins at her home. Her hesitance with him had been replaced by incessant curiosity

and wide-eyed wonder that reminded him very much of a young tairen eagerly examining the world for the

first time.

"Because, shei'tani," he replied, "it is very cold in the high reaches of the sky. If it gets too cold, I will

weave Fire and Air around you to keep you warm, but then you will not feel the wind on your face. Feeling

the wind is one of the best parts of tairen flight”

"What if I discover that I'm afraid of heights?”

"You will not be”

"How do you know?”

"Because you know you will always be safe in my care." Ah, blessed arrogance. He wanted to grin. He

astonished himself. The Fey and tairen were teetering on the brink of extinction, darkness was rising again

in Eld, and Rain Tairen Soul, Defender of the Fey, was happier than he'd been in a thousand years, all

because he was taking his mate for a ride in the skies. Even the anger that had simmered in him since

leaving Dorian—and roused again upon learning of Ellysetta's treatment at the hands of Annoura's

tradesfolk—was gone. If Ellysetta was weaving a shei'dalin's peace on him, he could not detect it.

"Lillis and Lorelle are probably still wailing because they couldn't come," Ellie said. The twins had

pitched an unholy fit, complete with copious tears, when Lauriana had informed them that, no, they were

not going to ride on tairen- back, and, no, they were not going to tag along with their sister and her betrothed

this time.

"This I doubt," Rain replied. "Kiel and Kieran would not permit their unhappiness." Kiel and Kieran had

both stayed behind to entertain the girls, while the holders of Water and Earth in Ellysetta's secondary

quintet took their places for the afternoon.

They walked through the city gates, out into the open fields that ringed the city. "Tell me again, why do

we have to come out here?”

"I prefer to have space for the Change. Besides, there are fewer eyes.”

She glanced over her shoulder at the crowds gathered on the walls. "Right.”

She had a dry sense of humor, very Fey, that made him want to laugh as he had not in centuries. `Just

imagine the audience we'd have if we had stayed in the city," he replied.

Rain brought the group to a halt about two hundred yards from the city wall. "Stay here, Ellysetta, and

wait until I tell you it is safe to come forward." She nodded.

He turned and began jogging away, slowly at first, then faster and faster until he was sprinting. With a

tremendous Air-powered leap, he catapulted himself into the sky and flashed into tairen form, winging high

above the earth.

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