The Lady Of The Storm Part 19

"Thomas?" Her gaze skittered over to the crystal, and Giles quickly turned her toward the vision. She sat up, a smile of relief lighting her face. "Father! You frightened me. I thought you were-"

"I am. No, Cecily, don't you dare faint again. I can't ever remember you doing such a thing before." His face creased. "What you must have gone through... I'm sorry to have put you through all of this. But I know you're strong enough, my girl. I have counted on that."

Cecily rose very purposely to her feet, brus.h.i.+ng at her skirts and adjusting the sleeves of her coat. Giles rose with her, standing by her side, his arm ready for support if she should need it.

"But why?" she demanded. "What could possibly be so important that you've brought me half across England and to this-this dreadful place?"

"Information, my dear. And the ring, of course. Our leader needs it."

Cecily narrowed her eyes, a good healthy dose of anger replacing her sadness. Giles nodded in satisfaction. She would not break.

"You have always put this Rebellion before me," she snapped. "Why did I think this would be any different?"

Thomas shook his head, his brow crinkling. "That is not true. I protected you from them until the day I died. I could do no more after that. And you were the only one I could reach with my sending."

"Because I love you." Cecily clasped her hands together. "Because we share a bond that nothing can sunder. Not even your-"

"Death? You can say it, my dear. I've gotten quite used to the idea."

"But-but how? What happened?"

Thomas swept back his golden hair, and perhaps because he was looking for it, Giles saw the ring upon his finger. A square lavender stone inset in a thick band of gold. No wonder Thomas appeared more youthful than Giles remembered. It looked as if he clutched something else in his other hand, but Giles could not quite make out what it might be.

"I have much to tell you," Thomas replied. "And although I can send you this illusion much stronger standing next to my body, I do not know how long my strength will last. This place... is quite unpredictable."

"We know," muttered Giles.

Thomas glanced at him. "Beaumont. Thank you for keeping her safe."

Giles nodded.

Thomas's attention quickly swung back to Cecily. "I need you to take the ring back to our new Mor'ded. You know of his alliance with us? His new... situation?"

Cecily nodded. "He needs it to hide his human age-"

"Precisely. But you must tell him to take to wearing gloves when he speaks with the other elven. La'laylia of Stonehame is aware of the theft, and may recognize the ring and remember a human she once loved long ago."

"So it was Sebastian's grave. How did you get inside the mountain?"

Thomas smiled, flas.h.i.+ng even white teeth. "With music."

"I should have guessed," muttered Giles.

"Indeed." Thomas held up a hollow crystal tube with three finger-holes in the top of it. "It took me some time to discover the whereabouts of the key to the door in the mountain, for I never dreamed it to be in the shape of a flute. The crystal instrument is enchanted with a resonance that responds to the pattern carved on the side of it. I found it in a temple dedicated to La'laylia and had a devil of a time stealing it, and only by sheer chance did I think to play the tune backward to break open the coffin. Unfortunately, the guardians' tombs opened as well."

"The creatures surrounding the pavilion," breathed Cecily.

"Just so. Magical creatures that I had no hope of vanquis.h.i.+ng. So I fled."

Giles could not help the stupefaction in his voice. "To this place?"

Thomas shrugged. "It's amazing what one will do when being pursued by a four-headed snake, a snarling h.e.l.lhound, a roaring demon... ah, I knew I but traded one danger for another, but I hoped such enchanted creatures would be affected by the wild magic within these woods. And I was right. They... fractured."

"But it didn't matter," huffed Cecily. "You lost your life all the same."

"But to a much greater purpose, my dear."

Giles had been studying the small crystal instrument. "It protected you through the maelstrom. You played the flute again, didn't you?"

Thomas grinned. "Well done, lad. A final act of desperation... yet it did create an opening within the spire, and I stepped through. But this stone lacked an open s.p.a.ce, forming around me and cutting off my air, and yet... it has somehow kept my consciousness alive." He raised his arms. "And it allowed me to uncover the secret of the Seven Corners of h.e.l.l."

"But Professor Higley told us all about it." Cecily stepped forward, as if she longed to throw herself into his arms, and pulled back only at the last moment.

Thomas lowered his hands and looked at his daughter with just as much longing in his gaze. "We humans know only that this is the place where the border of every sovereignty meets. We could only guess the convergence of the different magics is what created the chaos. But my dear, this place is more than that. It is the doorway to Elfhame."

Giles sucked a breath between his teeth. "What do you mean?"

Thomas answered, although he kept his attention riveted on his daughter. As if this was the last time he would ever see her, and he must drink his fill. "When the elven lords created the doorway between our worlds, they did not close it all the way. There is a small opening, and indeed, this is the source of their magic. Through that opening flows the magic of Elfhame, like a river flows and spreads into a lake. This is why the elven do not press beyond England's borders, for the magic can puddle only so far. And the scepters are useless without the magic."

"Have you seen this opening?" asked Giles.

Thomas pointed to a group of stones between the meadow and the woods. Giles could just discern the glimmer of a small spring that bubbled up from within the shelter of the crystal rocks, creating streams flowing away from it. "It is there."

Cecily frowned. "I see nothing unusual about it."

"When the black fire comes, it changes. We do not see it truly, but that is the center. I can't imagine a way to close this opening to stop the flow of magic, nor do I know if a true doorway between the worlds can be opened, or how. But if you bring this information to the Rebellion, perhaps those who follow me will figure out a way."

Giles scratched his face. d.a.m.n if the little sc.r.a.pe from that monster's claw hadn't healed yet. "How do you know this for a fact?"

Thomas nodded. "Good question, Beaumont. I trained you well." His gray eyes suddenly gleamed with some inner wonder. "I saw Elfhame. When this place erupted again, I could actually see the flow of magic from that stream with uns.h.i.+elded eyes. And I caught a glimpse before..."

Cecily's breath caught.

"Before all h.e.l.l broke loose."

Cecily dashed the tears from her eyes. "But why did you take on such a dangerous mission in the first place? Breden's soldiers raided our village and they killed Mother. And now you are... and I have no one."

Thomas flinched when he heard of Eleanor's death, but he didn't appear to be surprised. Giles wondered how long Thomas had been trying to contact Cecily, and if he'd managed to be with her before she could see his actual vision. Thomas would know then, how hard Giles had tried to keep his distance from his daughter. Did he also know that, in the end, Giles had failed?

Odd, how it no longer seemed to matter.

"Cecily, my love." Thomas floated forward, as if he would embrace her if he could. "What have I always told you? The good of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I think I did you more harm than I knew, by loving you as a father should. I allowed you to become selfish."

She opened her mouth to protest. Giles put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you want nothing more than to stay in that little cottage by the sea," continued Thomas. "But don't you see the world has need of your gifts?" His gaze flicked to Giles. "Don't you see that others need your help?"

"I did not think..."

"I know, my dear. But now it is time for you to think about it. Will you promise me?"

Cecily bowed her head, tears freely flowing down her face. She did not sob or wail, just cried those thick drops of moisture.

"You are the only one I know of who has the level of power to survive the magic within this place. Will you at least take the ring, and the information I have given you, and bring it back to Sir Robert?"

She nodded.

Giles felt this odd squeezing in his chest, an overwhelming sympathy for her. He rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension in his muscles that the feeling had created. "I foresee only one slight problem, sir. The ring"-and he nodded at the crystal capsule-"is in there with you."

Thomas frowned, his gaze still fixed upon his daughter. "You need to break it open with that sword of yours."

"I tried that before, with that mountain of crystal in Stafford. Didn't work."

"And your sword showed good sense. Had you broken it, the elven lady would have been upon you in a blink."

Giles glanced down at the hilt. It could show good sense? He had come to treat his sword as if it were alive in some way, but the fact that Thomas shared similar thoughts shook him. "It is naught but an enchanted blade."

"But more powerful than we know, I think." Thomas held out a trembling hand to his daughter. "Cecily. Dearest."

She looked up.

"The crystal has kept my soul bound to this life. When it is broken... I may not be able to come to you again."

She shook her head, but stayed silent.

"I love you, child. More than if you had been my very own. Remember what I said, and remember what value I placed on my life-do it now, Beaumont. You may not have much time left."

Giles quickly glanced at the trees for a sign of black fire, sighed with relief when he didn't see it, and drew his devil-blade, swinging it at the pillar in one smooth movement.

Ten.

"No!" screamed Cecily, and she lunged forward at the ball of light, falling through it as the crystal spire cracked, Thomas's vision fading as his physical body tumbled to the ground.

The ground beneath Giles's feet trembled.

She spun, threw him a furious glare, and dug through the shards of crystal until she reached her father. She picked out the pieces of stone that had lodged in his face, swept his coat clean of debris. Her hands left behind smudges of her own blood. "Now I will have nothing left of you," she said. "Nothing left at all."

Another odd emotion swelled in Giles's chest, something akin to envy this time, and he scratched at his face yet again. Cecily made him feel the d.a.m.ndest things. He recognized the emotion as unworthy but could not suppress it fully. He hoped that someday, Cecily would love him as much as she did her father. He had no family left to mourn him when he pa.s.sed, but it had never bothered him before now.

The ground shook again. The faint scent of black fire reached his nose. Giles bent down and removed the ring from Thomas's finger. The other man's golden hair quickly turned gray at the sides, and a few wrinkles seamed his face, the corners of his eyes. Giles pocketed the ring, hesitant to put it on his own finger, despite the fact that the elven lords deemed it harmless-or perhaps because of it. Thomas still clutched an object within his other hand, and when Giles drew it forth he realized it was the small crystal flute the man had spoken of. He tucked it in his pocket next to the ring, and the ground shook again.

"Cecily, we must flee."

She turned to look at him with blind eyes, the rims red from her tears. Then she blinked and focused her gaze, her eyes widening with fear as she studied his face.

"Yes, the fire is coming." He held out a hand, she clasped it, and he helped her to her feet. "I'm not sure if we can outrun it this time."

"We... we don't need to. Just hold my hand tightly, Giles."

He nodded, trusting her as he had never trusted anyone before in his life. Giles glanced over his shoulder, the acrid stench of the fire even stronger now, and spied the black flame dancing over the treetops. But the sight of it did not make his heart race as much as what Cecily did with her magic. The lake they'd sheltered in before erupted, an arm of it reaching out to them, forming into the rough shape of a hand.

Giles looked down at Cecily.

"Take a deep breath," she warned with a grim smile.

And then the hand of water reached them, lifting them both off their feet, curling over their heads like some giant fist. Giles could no longer see past his nose, for white spray and bubbles churned in front of his face. He closed his eyes, spun head over heels, Cecily's hand his only anchor as the wave propelled them forward with a speed he could barely comprehend.

His lungs had just begun to ache for want of another breath when he rolled one last time and came to an abrupt stop, the water receding about him.

Giles sat in a wet meadow, muddy gra.s.s beneath his bottom, still holding Cecily's hand. He glanced over his shoulder, saw the chasm open in Seven Corners to swallow the maelstrom, and did not wait for the eruption that would follow. He lifted Cecily to her feet and dragged her as far away as he could before he collapsed in exhaustion, dragging her atop him to cus.h.i.+on her body.

The thrill of survival raced through Giles. "That was amazing," he said.

She looked down at him, sadness still in her eyes. He wished he could make it disappear. He wished he could bring back Thomas for her.

Giles smiled his most radiant smile, the one that he knew brought women to their knees. "Had I known how exciting it would be with you, I would have taken you up on your offer long ago. Little girl or not."

"No, you wouldn't," she replied. "You may be a rake, but you have always been an honorable one."

He laughed, bouncing her on his chest. "Well, my wandering days are over. There is only one woman I will be taking to my bed from now on, and no other could compare to her."

A tremulous smile curved her mouth. "Do you mean it, Giles?"

"Aye, my lady, I do. Did you think I asked you to marry me out of some sense of honor?"

"Perhaps."

He laughed again, curled his arms about her waist, lowering her face closer to his. "Mayhap that had a little bit to do with it. But the truth is... I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Cecily. I can't imagine living it without you." His grin faded as he looked deeply into those crystal blue eyes. "I'm sorry about Thomas. But you are not alone. You will never be alone, as long as I draw breath."

She lowered her head and kissed him then, a kiss he never wanted to end, for he had never been kissed like that before. Such tenderness. Such love and longing and a need for him that spoke to his very soul. And in that moment, he knew their hearts met as one, melding together with a finality nothing could ever sunder.

When Cecily finally came up for air, Giles released a breathless gasp. "If we continue this, my dear, we shall be making love in mud, and although the idea has its merits..."

She swatted him gently and stood. "We must save our energy to find Apollo and Belle. I have no idea where my wave dumped us."

Giles sat up and glanced around, muddy hair sticking to his cheeks. "I think that way."

And so they walked for a time, the mud drying on his clothes until he felt as if he strode in armor, his boots as stiff as wooden clogs. They found their horses and rode away from that h.e.l.lish forest toward Oxford, stopping at the edge of a river as the sun lowered from the sky, beneath a copse of willows that offered a bit of privacy and shelter.

Cecily slid from Belle and immediately discarded her clothing, Giles watching her with a longing gaze. Their mission had been too urgent for them to indulge in love-play on their journey to the Seven Corners of h.e.l.l, but now that they had survived the dire task and the excitement of true peril still flooded his veins, he could not help the direction his thoughts wandered.

He needed to possess her with an urgency that surprised him. But after what she had just gone through, he did not want to push her.