Epilogue
"What will happen to us?"
"We won't know until we face the matron mother," Fychan said quietly, sitting just inside the mouth of the cave that had originally led the drow to the hated surface world. Outside, the relative darkness of the night was beginning to give way to dawn, and within a short while the terrible sun would once again rise over the forests. "We did not fail utterly," the wizard said. "We devastated their homeland and killed several of their number."
"The tree things remain alive," Talaith said quietly. Since their defeat during the night, the normally confident noble had slipped into a deep melancholy, and Fychan was not certain if she would allow the two surviving raiders to return to Llyr or try to find and defeat the tree things again. "We lost the female. We have no sacrifice and did not accomplish our goal."
"Our goal was near impossible to begin with," Fychan pointed out. "Four drow against the entire surface world? I think we did well for the odds."
"You had best hope that Matron Saffir sees things in the same light," Talaith snarled, suddenly regaining her hard edge and turning on her brother. "If you had not fallen for the illusion that the human used against you, would could have defeated them and retaken our prisoner!"
"Be that as it may, dear sister, you were our leader," Fychan stated evenly, unwilling to back down after such an arduous night. "And Matron Saffir will remember who she placed in charge of such an important task. It may be that in several days' time, Arwydd may become eldest daughter and heir to House Evnissien, while Talaith Evnissien becomes little more than a cursed drider hiding the depths below Llyr."
"Do not threaten me," Talaith growled, leaning in close to Fychan and reaching for her whip. "In several hours' time, Naomhin could be the only male child left in House Evnissien, no longer needing to fear his treacherous younger brother."
"Like it or not, Talaith, you cannot punish me now," Fychan said. "We need each other. We will have to face the Matron Mother, and unless we work together to appease her, both of us will be cast into the pits of the Abyss."
Talaith hesitated for a moment, certainly unwilling to admit that she ever needed anything from a male, but in the end she knew that Fychan was right. Each one had no intention of saving the other, but unless they both used all their skills to manipulate and cajole their vicious mother, neither would live long past their return to the gate of House Evnissien. Finally, the priestess closed her eyes and nodded.
"We will work together," Talaith said. She looked at the slowly brightening sky one last time, then turned her crimson eyes to the lightless depths of the tunnels leading down into the earth. "Let's go home."
Her journey home had not been quite as long as her initial trek into the wildest forests of Argent, and her return had led her through the heartrending destruction the drow had wrought across so much of Argent's western reaches. Her return was made even more difficult by the memories of the brave elves she had left behind. Of the six that had gone to stop the hidden threat, only Valtaya would return to the majesty of Oakenbough. She had lost her teacher and dearest friend in Druce, and she could only pray to the Mother to grant her one time companions and friends an everlasting place in the great cycle of nature. She could also never forget Cyril, the human wizard who had given his own life to save Argent, or Aiken, the half elven ranger that had also fought bravely in defense of the elven homeland and had helped her build a cairn to honor the fallen Fife. They had said little to each other on their final parting, but now, days later, Valtaya silently wished that she had invited him back to the elven capitol. The elves of Oakenbough needed to see the faces that had helped save their forest from total destruction. In the end, two humans had meant at least as much as any elf involved in the fight against the shadowy drow.
Now, almost three weeks after she had left the elven capitol, Oakenbough once again came into sight as she slowly paddled down the River Embléz. Already she could see her father, as well as Teirtu and a handful of soldiers, waiting on northern bank of the river just outside the city. Eagerly Valtaya turned her canoe to the waiting men, her fatigue and grief replaced by the joy of seeing her father alive and waiting for her on the riverbank.
"Valtaya!" Lord Caradoc shouted, forgetting his elegant robes as he rushed knee deep into the water to retrieve his daughter. The lord's face was flushed with relief and happiness as he pulled his daughter from the canoe, holding her in a tight embrace that barely allowed the younger elf to breathe. "You cannot imagine how thankful I was to hear from Ceallai that you were finally returning!"
"I missed you, father!" Valtaya exclaimed, returning Lord Caradoc's hug with equal intensity. "I didn't know if I would ever see you again! Thank the Mother!"
"I… I was sorry to hear about Druce and the others," Lord Caradoc said, finally releasing his daughter and escorting her onto the shore. Teirtu met the reunited father and daughter at the waterline, bowing to Valtaya as she came ashore. "To lose such fine elves is a tragic blow to Oakenbough, but those elves will be remembered and honored for some time to come."
"And humans," Valtaya added. Teirtu's welcome smile was replaced quickly by a faintly confused expression.
"Yes, and humans too," Caradoc reluctantly added. "Though I think you place too much emphasis on their… actions."
"Cyril died fighting a drow wizard, and you think I place too much emphasis on their actions?" Valtaya repeated, her cheer at being home vanishing instantly.
"Drow?" Teirtu echoed in a tone of amused disbelief. "My dear, drow are only a myth! It was hobgoblins that you fought!"
"Hobgoblins?" Valtaya repeated, stunned. Teirtu's face still showed his humor at the thought that she had fought drow, but the general's eyes shot a stern warning to the young noble not to mention the word again. "But… they… they were drow!"
"No, my dear," Lord Caradoc corrected gently, putting his arm around her and leading her away from the elven general. "You fought hobgoblins. The drow disappeared millennia ago, and they never survived their exile underground."
"Father, I saw them!" Valtaya countered. "They were drow!"
"They were not drow!" Lord Caradoc snapped, turning on his daughter as he dropped his voice to a harsh whisper. ":Do you have any idea what the existence of drow would do to our nation? Do you have any idea what could happen to us?"
"Yes," Valtaya retorted defiantly. "We could ally with the humans and destroy those monsters once and for all!"
"Ally with humans? Against drow?" Lord Caradoc concluded in amazement. "You are wrong! The humans would overrun us as soon as they would help us against our mythical enemies! They would use our war as an excuse to expand their influence into our nation, and destroy the forests that you love so dearly like they have their own! And if Krysztof and the hobgoblins ever truly discovered that such creatures as drow existed, they would gain a new ally and bring the fight to our very homes! For your sake, for all our sake, there is no such thing as drow! Do you understand me?"
"I understand you," Valtaya snarled out, locking eyes with her angry father for a long moment. Finally, she turned on her heel and stalked away, furious with the mindset that the leaders of Argent had taken. She now held no doubt that Aiken and Cyril would be intentionally forgotten in any mention of the fires that had nearly destroyed Argent, and that officially the fire had been caused by hobgoblins. Argent was bent on retaining their fragile illusion of perfection and impregnability. Like Aiken had said to her, until someone at the top fixed things, people on the bottom would continue to get kicked.
Maybe now, the druid thought as she cast one last, furious glance over her shoulder to her father, was the time for Lady Valtaya to fix things at the top.