PROLOGUE

 

Looking over the wall, he was greeted by snow covered mountains and he sighed. Impenetrable and eternal, the barrier they created lay between him and his home and he felt his despondency rising. Too many years ago he had abandoned the forest that he and his people resided in, but it had begun to call to him again. He wished he could see it from where he stood. Perhaps then the haunting pull might ease and permit him a moment or two of contentment.

 

‘You can hear it too?’ a voice more familiar than his own asked him, bringing a smile to his face.

 

‘Clear as day, though I’m surprised you can.’ Turning, he regarded the man he’d known for centuries.

 

‘So am I.’ Laughing, the man—whose pale skin had not aged a day—seemed to be entertained by a notion. ‘Sometimes I think Naliad does it just to torment me.’ Sighing, the pale man moved to the wall’s edge and studied the view, his light blue eyes devouring the flatlands that separated them from the mountains.

 

‘Perhaps you are right.’ Lowering his head he smiled. He had often felt the same way. ‘What brings you out on this crisp morning? I would have thought you’d be in the tower reading,’ he said cheekily. ‘That reminds me, Ayslien sends her regards. She asked how you were progressing with the Dragon Scrolls, have you finished them?’

 

‘No,’ the man sighed. ‘They are quite lengthy, you know, and rather wordy. I’m not certain if it was the dragons or the scribes, who bore the affection for unsecure details—which seem to have been included as a matter of course. Some days I wonder if they did it to test my resolve.’

 

‘Finish them, Kadean,’ he said easily as he laughed at the way his friend seemed to be able to take everything difficult in his life as a personal insult. ‘It will be worth it to you.’

 

‘I know, Bihen, but when I’m reading them I start thinking about Ma’andi and what they did to her and as soon as I do, I can think of nothing other than going to her and before I know it, I’ve lost days inside that chamber,’ Kadean said sadly and seeing his sadness manifest caused a lump to form in Bihen’s throat.

 

‘Perhaps you should consider leaving this place.’

 

‘I have considered it, at length, and whenever I am resolved to do so, a pit forms in my stomach and I develop this irrational fear of what lies beyond these walls. It’s fascinating, really, and perhaps not wholly a condition of my design…’

 

‘You think Ma’andi is encouraging it?’

 

‘I wouldn’t put it past her,’ Kadean said with a rueful chuckle. ‘We may not be able to communicate in her current state, but I believe she is adept at making her desires known.’

 

Bihen shook his head, flabbergasted at the very idea of it. ‘She must wield an astounding power to be able to permeate her prison in such a way.’

 

‘I believe she does,’ Kadean’s voice trailed off as he sighed once more. ‘I needed respite, my friend. The time is near and my patience is thinning.’

 

‘I wasn’t aware you still burdened yourself with patience,’ he said wryly as a light appeared in his aqua eyes. If there was one thing that could make his homesickness abate, it was teasing the man when he fell into seriousness. The occasions were few, but as the years passed, it had become more common.

 

‘It has been almost a hundred years and I’ve sensed nothing that might even hint at the accuracy of the prophecy. Could it have been mistaken?’

Bihen regarded his old friend, his heart aching to see him so desperate. He wished he’d been able to keep him from discovering the truth of the stone, to spare him that century of torment. ‘It could have been, though Naliad thinks it to be accurate. I don’t mean to prolong your suffering, Kadean, but if you could hold out for just a few more years before you fall into despair again, I think you might be able to avoid it entirely.’

 

‘Humor, Bihen, at such a time? It’s hardly becoming of an elf.’ Gripping the crenellations of the battlement that had not seen fighting in centuries, Kadean bowed his head, allowing his white hair to fall over his shoulders. ‘It’s cold, we should go back inside. It seems winter has come early this year.’

 

Bihen had to agree with that observation. The leaves had not long fallen but the coverage of snow on the mountains, and even where it dusted the foothills and flats, was deep. The floods had come early, three years past, and ended rapidly but the winters were still producing heavy snow.

 

Staring into the white, he had to admit it was beautiful; haunting and pure. He’d lived many hundreds of years protected by the forest of his kind and the sight of the foreign landscape was vastly different; and worthy of appreciation. As Kadean turned from his position, Bihen saw movement amidst the perfect blanket of white.

 

‘Do you see that?’ he asked, calling his friend back.

 

Grunting, Kadean returned to Bihen’s side and squinted, following the elf’s outstretched arm with his eyes. ‘What is it? A wolf?’

 

‘No,’ Bihen shook his head as the figure drew nearer. Barely more than a speck in the foothills, the shape became clearer to his elven eyes as it stepped onto the flatter, snow covered land. ‘It’s nehan.’ Leaning forward to gain more distance with his keen vision his face fell. ‘A woman.’

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