Tir Alainn - The House Of Gaian - Tir Alainn - The House of Gaian Part 67
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Tir Alainn - The House of Gaian Part 67

"I don't know the steps," Gwynith said.

Selena smiled. "Just follow me-and follow your heart."

"Is this dance only for the Ladies of the Moon?" Ashk asked.

Selena shook her head. "Anyone who wishes to honor the one who has left

us can join this spiral dance." She turned away from the people watching,

her arms extended, her palms up.

Power flowed, as soft as moonlight. Balls of white light filled Selena's palms. Tendrils of light twined down her arms and over the rest of her body until she glowed with the light of the moon.

Then she began to dance. Solemn and simple, just a few steps and a turn, over and over again. But as she moved, moonlight followed her, forming a path.

Rhyann stepped onto the beginning of the path, her steps matching her

sister's.

He could feel the song of those steps, those solemn turns. "Follow me when you have the tune," he told the minstrels quietly. Raising his pipe to his lips, he let his music follow moonlight down the spiral path Selena created as she danced. A simple tune, repeated like the steps. When he glanced at the minstrels, they nodded, and harp and pipe joined him, taking up the melody while he let his own pipe's notes twine around it.

Ashk stepped onto the shining spiral, followed by Breanna ... and Liam.

Gwynith followed them, then Falco. Fiona and Rory. Gwenn and Donovan.

Elinore took Kcely's hand, and the two of them stepped into the dance.

Sheridan and Morphia. Clay, Edgar, and Glynis. Varden. Squire Thurston and his wife. Kin and neighbors, humans and Fae, Sons and Daughters of the House of Gaian joined the dance. And last... Lyrra, her eyes wet with tears.

Finally Selena stood at Nuala's feet. She extended her arms again, palms up.

Raising her face to the sky, her voice soared as Aiden let the last notes of the song fade.

"Great Mother, we give back one of your Daughters. Let earth take her body.

Let air remember her voice. Let water remember her laughter. Let fire remember her heart. Let her spirit fly to the Shadowed Veil and pass through to the Summerland. She is no longer with us, but she will be remembered until she is back among us. Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again."

The ground in front of Selena swelled with moonlight, dazzling the eye.

When it faded, there was a gentle mound of bare earth-and Nuala was

gone.

As if hearing an unspoken command, people turned and walked out of the spiral until only Selena remained. Then she too turned and walked out-and

moonlight filled in the path of the spiral dance, leaving a circle of light around the new grave.

After thanking the minstrels, Aiden tucked his pipe through his sash and

joined Lyrra. He held her close and felt her shuddering effort not to cry.

"It was beautiful," she whispered.

He felt his throat close, felt the sting of tears. "Yes, it was. Come along, my

heart, we have to help Breanna and her kin get through the rest of it."

Slipping an arm around her waist, he led her back to the carriage.

Most of the mourners came back to the house to say a few words to Breanna and Keely and have a bite to eat. But even as they talked and ate, they kept glancing at the ever-darkening sky, and soon those with any distance to travel were saying their good-byes. Until all the nighthunters were destroyed, people wouldn't feel easy about being far from home at night.

Aiden wandered among the people still gathered on the back lawn, making a point to talk to the villagers and farmers who hadn't had any contact with the Fae yet. As he was making his way back to the house, a voice asked, "Bard?"

"Yes?" Aiden answered, turning toward an exhausted Fae male.

"Lord Aiden?"

"Yes."

The Fae pulled two pieces of wax-sealed paper out of his inner vest pocket.

"I've a message for you from one of the northern bards. And a message for Baron Liam, but I don't know where to find him."

"I'll take it to him." Aiden held out his hand for the letters.

"Why don't you get something to eat? I'll talk to Lord Varden. He'll make sure you have a place to stay tonight."

Impatience mingled with dread as Aiden hurried over to the group of barons

talking to Liam and Donovan.

"A message for you," Aiden said abruptly, handing over the paper addressed to Liam.

He hesitated before breaking the seal on his message. Noticed Liam did the same.

Then he read the message. "Mother's mercy."

"What is it?" Donovan asked sharply, looking from Aiden to Liam.

"Wait," Aiden said, looking around. "Hunter! Huntress!" When Ashk and

Selena turned in response to his call, he signaled them to come over. Lyrra, catching the signal, said something to Fiona before hurrying to join them.

Liam looked at him. Aiden nodded.

"It's a message from one of the northern barons," Liam said. He cleared his throat quietly. "The Arktos and Sylvalan barons we were fighting in the north have surrendered. Or more to the point, the men they were leading put down their weapons and surrendered, leaving them no choice. The elders of the House of Gaian who were from the northern end of the Mother's Hills drafted the terms of surrender, which our barons seconded. The men are being allowed to return home. The Arktos barons and the Sylvalan barons who sided with the Inquisitors will be held until the army has disbursed.

Then they'll be permitted to go home." Liam closed his eyes. His hand fell limply to his side. "That part of the fight is over. We've won that much."

"Did the baron say anything about captured Inquisitors?" Donovan asked.

"There were no captured Inquisitors," Ashk said softly. "Were there, Bard?"

Reluctantly, Aiden looked up from his own letter. "No, Hunter, there were

not."

The barons around Liam muttered, but it was Donovan who expressed the outrage. "They escaped?"

Aiden shook his head. He glanced at Ashk-and remembered the chill that

had gone through him after the dance the Breton-wood Fae had performed at the Summer Solstice, when those masked faces had stared at him. When hermasked face stared at him. And Morag's words: They're the Fae.

"The Wild Hunt?" Ashk said, her voice still soft.

Aiden swallowed hard. "The Inquisitors who were caught were released in a

woods, where the Lords of the Woods and the Ladies of the Moon were waiting for them... with packs of shadow hounds."

"Justice," Ashk said. "And vengeance. There is nothing quite so terrifying as

trying to flee a shadow hound-or the Wild Hunt. The Fae were absent for too long, even when they were present. Now they have returned."

The barons shifted uncomfortably.

"Was there anything else in your message?" Liam asked after an awkward silence.

"Just something a minstrel reported overhearing," Aiden said, hoping Liam would understand the dismissive tone and let it go.

"Well?" Liam demanded.