Silver Shadows - Elaine Cunningham [113]
Yet what choice did he have? Vhenlar would be forced to fight the wild elves until he was either slain or went mad. Bunlap would not let him go until his desire for vengeance was slaked. And from all that Vhenlar had seen of his captain, that was not likely to happen easily… or soon.
Several days after the midsummer celebration, Arilyn walked off alone into the forest. The key to the lythari's den, the wooden pipe that approximated the call of a lythari, was gripped in one fist. What she intended to do was not easy, but she saw little choice.
The half-elf went as far out into the forest as she dared. Even now, she easily got turned around in the magic-laden area surrounding Talltrees. She raised the wooden summoner to her lips and sent a long, mournful call wavering through the trees. Choosing a fallen log as a likely seat, she sat down to wait.
Arilyn was not certain Ganamede would even answer the summons. The young lythari had been puzzled, perhaps even hurt, by her apparent inability to understand the gift he had given her in taking her to the lythari den. Nor could she explain to him that she'd had no real intention of asking him to recruit his peace-loving people to join the green elves' battles. In suggesting this to Rhothomir, she had been buying time, purchasing Ganamede's safety. But how could she explain this when it was precisely what she now intended to do?
"Arilyn."
The half-elf spun toward the soft voice and found herself nearly nose to muzzle with the silver-furred lythari.
"I heard a strange story in Talltrees," she began without preamble. The green elves tell of warrior who saved their tribe a few centuries back. It turns out this warrior was one of my ancestors, Zoastria. Soora Thea, they called her. Word has it that she commanded the silver shadows. Is it true your people once allied in battle with the forest folk?"
"Once, long ago," Ganamede agreed reluctantly. "But the evil that came to the forest in those long-ago times was great, one that threatened its very fabric. Undead abominations, creatures from the dark plane, and an orcish tribe that fought for them, battled for no purpose other than the pleasure to be found in the death of elves. These creatures were an ulcerous growth upon the land, and so the lythari fought until the enemy was no more."
The humans we're dealing with now are none too pleasant either," Arilyn pointed out.
"Even so, humans are intelligent folk, and there is much good among them. From time to time the lythari strike against an evil individual-a rogue human, if you will, and sometimes even against an elf. But to do battle with many humans? How can we be certain the good are not slain along with the evil?"
"Sometimes you can't," she admitted. "At times I've resented my sword for judging those who fece me, but its a comfort to know that because of its magic, I can't accidentally kill an innocent. Most warriors don't have that advantage.
"If you will not fight," she added with a sudden surge of inspiration, "perhaps you'd consent to scout? Surely there are many 'doors to the gate' in the forest. You could slip in and out and give us a better idea of what we face."
The lythari considered her suggestion. "It is as you say. Yes, I will do this, and bring word to you of threats against the green folk. It is not much, but it may help."
Arilyn smiled and placed a hand on her Mend's furred shoulder. "It's quite a bit, and more than I like to ask of you."
"I know this," Ganamede replied softly. "For a time I doubted your purpose. But like us, you also walk between two worlds. It is not an easy thing to do, and sometimes others, who see through only one pair of eyes, do not understand."
"Sometimes I don't understand, myself," Arilyn admitted.
The wolflike elf placed his muzzle