"Yes, there was some kind of fight. They left you behind because you were hurt, and you wanted to follow them," he said, very serious. "We will follow them, but it is too dark to follow now. In the morning… " he yawned as he began to climb to the loft.
"If you and I can't find three gully dwarves, then we've no right to call ourselves dogs," he laughed as he collapsed into his bed.
Soon, snores rattled the rafters. Millisant lay down beside the door with her chin on her paws, her eyes open. She licked her bandages for a while then whined softly to herself well into the night.
19
"The north tower is the tallest tower of Isherwood," Jessica said, her voice echoing in the high drafty hall. "It is called the Roseburg Tower, as it was named for the Knights of the Rose. The best rooms are here. This is where I have my room," she added with a tinge of regret that she couldn't conceal "and where I'm sure you'll want to live as well."
"I'm sure," Alya said with a polite smile.
Jessica stopped beside a low, arched doorway in which was set an ironbound door. "Through this door is the courtyard, if you'd like to see it," she said.
"Of course," Alya said. With a smile, Jessica opened the door and followed her guests outside.
Once the courtyard had been paved with flagstones, but most of these had long since been broken or pushed up by the roots of trees. A small forest filled portions of the courtyard, and those areas not covered by trees were filled with a profusion of weeds, thorny vines, and grasses. Dark green ivy covered every inch of standing stone walls, though Jessica kept it trimmed from the window casings from the habitable areas of the castle. Where parts of the ancient stone curtain wall had fallen into the courtyard, piles of rock provided coverts and dens for all manner of small animals, from lizards to chipmunks. Alya strolled around the area near the door, stopping to examine a maple sapling pushing its way through the flagstones. Valian Escu stood like a statue of a warrior, sniffing the air, his eyes far away.
Castle Isherwood was a remnant of a past age. Its towers and battlement, its very design, were old-fashioned even before Huma rode to glory astride his silver dragon, ages upon ages ago. Once upon a time, its four square towers rose majestically over the valley, guarding an ancient wayroad to the north, a symbol of the strength and wealth of the lord of the keep. Between the towers ran four thick walls, as strong as the stonemasons of the day could build. Halls and storerooms, kitchens and armories had once lined the inner wall, surrounding the great paved courtyard where men-at-arms marched and trained, battling with wooden swords and staves or jousting against the Quintayne.
"Most of the castle is in ruin," Jessica apologized. "I tried to fix up things here and there, but I could never make much headway. In the end, I rather grew to prefer it this way."
"It will soon rain," Valian said, abruptly changing the subject.
He seemed able to tell the weather by the smell of the air. All along their journey from Castle uth Wistan, the dark elf had astounded them with his nature lore. Being born an elf of the sylvan forest, he was in tune with his surroundings in a way that, to humans, seemed almost supernatural. He was a mystery to Jessica, strange and ugly with his sharp features and cold manner, yet strangely compelling and attractive too. His physique was unmatched by any man she'd ever known, yet he was neither muscular nor skinny. His every movement bespoke feline grace, his every glance burned like fire, while his tone and his manner were as cold as the glacial blue of his eyes.
Seeking some way to bring him into a conversation, Jessica said, "The rain fairly pours through the roof here, though the North Tower is dry enough. It's like living in cave. Rather delightful, actually."
"Dwarves live in caves," Valian said as he turned and re-entered the castle. "I'll see to the horses."
"I've learned to ignore him," Alya said, smiling at Jessica's efforts to be friendly. "Elves seem to live on another plane than we do. Mind you, it isn't any higher than ours, only different. They like to think it is higher. They only think a profound mental life makes up for their physical weaknesses. Not that Valian is weak. For an elf, he is almost statuesque."
Jessica nodded. A dark elf was simply any elf who chose to follow a lifestyle not in accordance with traditional elven concepts of morality and goodness. Therefore, he was "cast from the light" of elven society.
"So what did Valian do to be cast out of elven society?" She felt bold enough to ask.
"Oh, he killed another elf," Alya absently remarked as she stared at the darkening sky.
"That's horrible!" Jessica exclaimed. "Why?"
"It does look like rain," Alya said. "What? Oh, it had something to do with class. He is Silvanesti, of course. It seems when he was young, he and an elf maid fell in love and wanted to marry, but she had already been promised to someone else, an elf of some importance, I believe. On the morning of the wedding, as the groom was traveling to the ceremony, Valian confronted him on the trail. They fought, and Valian killed him.
"That's why they banished him. Can you believe that happened before the War of the Lance? He doesn't look any older than you or I, but actually he is older than Lord Gunthar was. Perhaps we should go inside?" Alya suggested as the first drops of rain plopped on the cobblestones.
The two Knights entered together and made their way up the tower stairs to a chamber Jessica called the tapestry room. The walls here were hung with ancient fading tapestries, some of them hanging in shreds, and in the corners of the room stood numerous dusty old racks and frames for the sewing and embroidery of tapestries. A single tall window looked northward toward the wild mountains and the frontier of the Knights' lands. The sky lowered, and rain came down in sheets, hissing against the thick stone walls, while an occasional distant thunderclap rolled and echoed in the empty halls of the castle. Jessica lit several candles and dusted off two chairs near the window.
"So how did Valian come to join the Knights of Takhisis?" Jessica asked after they'd settled into the chairs.
"Well, the elves may have cast him out, but he didn't leave Silvanesti. He lived there for years afterward, stealing moments with his beloved whenever he could. It was a deadly and dangerous game he played, for if he'd been caught, they'd have killed him on the spot. That's the elven moral code for you," Alya said, her feelings getting the better of her for a moment.
"So, as I was saying, he continued to live in the Silvanesti forest, avoiding contact with everyone except his beloved," Alya continued, "but then came the war. The dragonarmies of Takhisis attacked the northern borders of the realms; the elves armed themselves and patrols became more frequent. Valian found it harder and harder to avoid being discovered. He retreated to what was probably the deepest, least explored part of Silvanesti forest. Something happened to him there, something terrible. He refuses even to this day to speak of it, but it is a testament to his will and courage that he survived at all. When Valian was captured by the Green Dragonarmies, his hair was white, just as it is today, and he was ranting like a mad man, claiming visions of the future. The Dark Queen's clerics spirited him away, to probe and question him, and they kept him in a dungeon for many years. Valian claims that in those visions he saw the inevitable creation of the Knights of Takhisis, and that the priests of Takhisis tried to probe his mind for further details. His main concern was the promise granted in the vision that by joining the Knights, he would eventually be reunited with his beloved. So they say that when Lord Ariakan formed the Knights of Takhisis, Valian begged to join. It wasn't until the war that he was finally released from the dungeons and accepted into the Knighthood. The leadership was not yet ready to trust an elf, and only their desperate need for soldiers opened the way for him."