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blade was inscribed with all manner of symbols in the Old Script, reciting the glorious
history of the House of Silvanos. It was beautiful and valuable, but impractical in a fight.
Still, it rankled him to hear his brother speak ill of it. "Lord Quimant has procured a
splendid longsword for me," he said stiffly. "It will do quite nicely."
"Good." Kith took no notice of his brother's annoyance. "We'll have to leave our
metal armor behind. With this load, Arcuballis can't handle the extra weight. Have you a
good set of leathers?"
Again Sithas replied in the affirmative.
"Well, we'll be ready to go at first light, then. Ah "
Kith hesistated, then asked, "How did Hermathya react?" Kith knew that Sithas had
put off telling Hermathya that he would be gone for weeks on this journey.
"Poorly," Sithas, said, with a grimace. He offered no elaboration, and Kith-Kanan
did not probe further.
They attended a small banquet that night, joined by Quimant and Nirakina and
several other nobles. Hermathya was conspicuously absent, a fact for which Kith was
profoundly grateful, and the mood was subdued.
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He had found himself anxious throughout these last days that Hermathya would tell
her husband about her dalliance with his brother. Kith-Kanan had tried to put aside the
memory of that night, treating the incident as some sort of waking dream. This made his
guilt somewhat easier to bear.
After dinner, Nirakina handed Sithas a small vial. The stoneware jar was tightly
plugged by a cork.
"It is a salve, made by the clerics of Quenesti Pah," she explained. "Miritelisina gave
it to me. If you are injured, spread a small amount around the area of the wound. It will
help the healing."
"I hope we won't need it, but thank you," said Sithas. For a moment, he wondered if
his mother was about to cry, but again her proud heritage sustained her. She embraced
each of her sons warmly, kissed them, and wished them the luck of the gods. Then she
retired to her chambers.
Both of the twins spent much of the night awake, taut with the prospect of the
upcoming adventure. Sithas tried to see his wife in the evening and again before sunrise,
but she wouldn't open her door even to speak to him. He settled for a few moments with
Vanesti, holding his son in his arms and rocking him gently while night gave way to early
dawn.
11
Day of Departure, Autumn
They met at the stables before dawn. As they had requested, no one came to see them
off. Kith threw the heavy saddle over the restless griffon's back, making sure that the
straps that passed around Arcuballis's wings were taut. Sithas stood by, watching as his
brother hoisted the heavy saddlebags over the creature's loins. The elf took several
minutes to make sure that everything was secure.
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They mounted the powerful beast, with Kith-Kanan in the fore, and settled into the
specially modified saddle. Arcuballis trotted from the stable doors into the wide corral.
Here he sprang upward, the thick muscles of his legs propelling them from the ground.
His powerful wings beat the still air and thrust downward. In a single fluid motion, he
leaped again and they were airborne.
The griffon labored over the garden and then along the city's main avenue, slowly
gaining altitude. The twins saw the towers of the city pass alongside, then slowly fall behind.
Rosy hues of dawn quickly brightened to pink, then pale blue, as the sun seemed to
explode over the eastern horizon into a crisp and cloudless day.
"By the gods, this is fantastic!" cried Sithas, overcome with the beauty of their flight,
with the sight of Silvanost, and perhaps with the exhilaration of at last escaping the
confining rituals of his daily life.
Kith-Kanan smiled to himself, pleased with his brother's enthusiasm. They flew
above the Thon-Thalas River, following the silvery ribbon of its path. Though autumn
had come to the elven lands, the day was brilliant with sunshine, the air was clear, and a
brilliant collage of colors spread across the forested lands below.
The steady pulse of the griffon's wings carried them for many hours. The city quickly
fell away, though the Tower of the Stars remained visible for some time. By midmorning,
however, they soared over pristine forestland. No building broke the leafy canopy to
indicate that anyone elf, human, or whatever lived here.
"Are these lands truly uninhabited?" inquired Sithas, studying the verdant terrain.
"The Kagonesti dwell throughout these forests," explained Kith. The wild elves,
considered uncouth and barbaric by the civilized Silvanesti, did not build structures to
dominate the land or monuments to their own greatness. Instead, they took the land as [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]