“ ‘But how shall we know whose hand was meant to hold Ins thing?’ we asked.
“ ‘That will be your test,’ they told us.
“ ‘How shall we know when the Sword is needed?’ we begged. . ^
“ ‘You will know,’ they said, ‘A time will come when the Magefolk will dwindle and foil, and fell upon one another like wolves. Brother will slay brother, and ambition betray trust, and the world will fell into great evil. That will be the time,’
“ ‘But how shall we return the Sword to the world?’ we asked.
“ ‘How can we guard it, where we are powerless?
“ ‘That,’ they said, ‘is your problem.’ So I asked them; ‘What is to be our reward for undertaking this great task?’ ”
Hellorin paused, his eyes gleaming. “They promised us our , using the Sword to circumvent the ancients’ spells and bring us back into the world. We swore fealty to it, and to the One who will wield it. When he claims it, we will follow him back into the world, to fight at his side against the evil. Having overcome it, we will be free, as once we were. Free, my children!”
“When brother slays brother,” D’arvan whispered. “So the time is at hand. But how will you return the Sword, Father?
How will you guard it?”
The Forest Lord would not meet his eyes, but simply sat, staring into the fire, his face shadowed by sorrow. The silence stretched between them.
“I take it, my Lord, that this silence means that you intend to use us, somehow,” Maya said bluntly.
Hellorin looked up at last, nodding. “D’arvan, I’m sorry,” he said. “There are age-old laws governing dealings with the Phaerie. Laws I made myself, long ago, for the sake of my people. When you summoned me, you put yourself under those laws, and I cannot alter them, even for my son. You asked a boon of me—the saving of Lady Eilin’s life—and I granted it. Now you are beholden to me, and I can demand a service from you. Do you understand?”
“You want us to guard the Sword.” D’arvan’s disappointment in his father warred with his understanding of the Forest Lord’s predicament. A ruler should obey his own laws, and Hellorin had the responsibility for his people on his shoulders. “I’ll try,” he said at last, “but Father, I ask only this—I beg you, leave Maya out of it.”
“No, D’arvan! We’re in this together!”
“D’arvan, I cannot,” The voices were simultaneous in their protest.
The Mage looked from his father to his lover with mounting annoyance. “Will you two stop that!”
Maya and Hellorin looked at one another and burst out laughing. “Ah, what a woman!” Hellorin said. “How I wish I could keep you both here with me! But we are in the grip erf events much larger than any of us.” He held out his arms an1 gathered both of them in a close embrace. “I promise you wi not be parted, though you must be sundered as lovers until our tasks are complete. That being so, the large events must wait a while. You need time together—as far as time applies here— and a room is ready for you. Go, children, and rest—or not, as the case may be!” His eyes twinkled wickedly. “I will call you when it’s time to go.”
They met again in the Great Hall, after the passage of a night by wordly standards, but far too short a time by those of D’arvan and Maya. Hellorin embraced them once more. “Are you ready, children?”
They nodded. They were, as far as they might be. During their time alone they had shared fears and secrets, exchanged their own private vows, and loved one another endlessly, trying to store up memories for the time they must spend apart. “Will Eilin be all right?” Maya asked, and D’arvan marveled once more at her courage as she stood, straight and composed, before his father.
Hellorin nodded. “Our Healers say she will recover, and she will stay with us in safety and honor until this businesss is done.”
“Thank you,” Maya said simply. “Lord—have you any idea how long that will be?” There was a catch to her voice, and D’arvan suddenly realized that she was as afraid as he,
Hellorin shook his head. “Until the One claims the Sword, that is all we know. Let us hope, for all our sakes, that he hurries!”
Maya’s eyes twinkled. “What makes you so sure that it’s a man, my Lord?” She stepped back to let D’arvan say his own farewells.
Hellorin embraced him roughly. “How it grieves me, to lose the son I have only just found.”
“It grieves me to lose you,” D’arvan whispered. “I hope, rfien this is all over, we’ll be able to make up for it.”
Hellorin nodded gravely. “And now, my son, you must ce us into your world,” he said.
D’arvan stared at him. “Me? But how?”
“Do as you did yesterday. Summon the forest. The real st. Use the Lady Eilin’s staff that you bear—it has more yer than you imagine.”
It was easier than D’arvan had expected. Eilin’s staff emed to want to go home, of its own accord. Within a few iths, they stood on the banks of the lake at sunrise. The ;s was scarred where tree roots had gouged it, and though vines had retreated from the tower, the stonework was scored and the windows broken, leaving the building open to the elements. “It would break Eilin’s heart to see this,” D’arvan murmured.
“She will not.” As Hellorin spoke, the tower blurred—and vanished. In its place, on the island, stood an immense red crystal. As it caught the sun’s first rays, it glowed with pulsing brilliance and hummed with power, dazzling the eye. Within its glittering facets, the outline of the Sword could be glimpsed, shimmering with its own ghostly light.
“That will never do!” Hellorin waved his hand—and the massive gem clouded and turned gray, taking on the appearance of a huge, rough boulder. Vegetation swarmed up to cover its sides, and moss and lichen appeared on its grainy surface.
May a gasped. “How did you do that?” she demanded. “I thought you had no power in this world.”
“I do it through D’arvan,” the Forest Lord explained. “He brought me here, and he is part Phaerie, like me, and part Mage, and the Magefolk made these rules. But we must hurry. I can only bend their magic so far.” Already strain was showing on Hellorin’s face. “Now, my dearest daughter—”
“Wait!” Maya ran to D’arvan and threw her arms around him.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.” He kissed her one last time, and stepped back reluctantly as the Forest Lord raised his hand.
Maya blurred—and vanished. In her place appeared the most beautiful creature-that had been seen since the dawning of the world. A unicorn—insubstantial—made up it seemed from all kinds of light: starlight’s glimmer, gossamer moonlight, silken dawn mistlight, and incandescent sunbursts where her hooves touched the ground. On her forehead was a long, slender, wickedly pointed silver horn.
“See?” Hellorin said softly. “Our warrior still bears her sword—for it will be her task to protect the Sword of Flame. Only you can see her; to all others she will be invisible. To be worthy of the Sword, the wielder must be wise as well as courageous. In order to approach the Sword of Flame, the One must discover a way to see the Unseen—for in no other way can our Invisible Guardian be passed.”
“Passed?” D’arvan shouted. “Killed, you mean?”
“No, no!” Hellorin forestalled him. “I do not mean killed. It is part of the spell that if Maya becomes visible to any person save yourself, her Guardianship will be suspended and she will return to her normal shape. There will be no need for killing. Besides,” he added, “would a being who was worthy of the Sword of Flame wantonly slay such a beautiful creature? I think not.”