Cutter and his companions battle the rapacious human warlord Grohmul Djun, and evil elf Winnowill, for the forest and the Palace of the High Ones. (HY 10-15; Shards 1-16) This section is by D. Aviva Rothschild with some edits for continuity and detail These events take place concurrently with the events in the "Forevergreen" section. Winnowill has been floating, apparently mindless, in a bubble of water in the Palace. But she awakens while the Wolfriders are off carousing with the trolls. Having mentally joined with the Palace, she attempts to fly off with it. But Venka detects her, and in a mental struggle for control, Venka and Rayek break Winnowill's concentration. The Palace hurtles through the sky and crashes into the mountains, disintegrating into innumerable crystal shards and flinging Winnowill out of her water chamber. Unfortunately, the shards have fallen in human territory, and worse, a party of human warriors saw the whole thing. The saddle-chief of the warriors immediately orders his men to locate the fragments; his intention is to send some crystals back to Grohmul Djun, the powerful and cruel warlord of the area. The Djun plans to raze the forest where the elves live, so that he can build a huge Citadel. Rayek is frantic to get to the shards, but the Wolfriders have more immediate concerns, such as food. Recognizing that they dare not show themselves even for the Palace, they send some Preservers to watch and see what happens. As the Wolfriders wait, Cutter makes a new wolf-friend, and Tyleet returns to a human woodcutter that she had teased previously and starts to learn the human tongue from him so that she can teach it to the others. Scouter mistakenly believes that Tyleet is in danger from the human and “rescues” her, only to have a most unexpected thing happen as she attempts to elude him: they Recognize one another (which delights Dewshine) and Tyleet gets pregnant. Meanwhile, the Djun himself arrives at the site of the crystal-fall to see them for himself. He commands that every last fragment be gathered up; and while he broods over the slowness of the process, a mysterious female figure appears in his tent, whispers “... save... me...!” and collapses. She appears to be dead but comes back to life at the Djun's touch. It's Winnowill, in human shape. Fascinated by her beauty, he decides to “keep” her. Later, when the Djun's men discover the Scroll of Colors, she attempts to go to it. Enraged that she showed herself to the men, he strikes her; she retaliates with a pain-touch. The Djun decides to kill her, but cannot bring himself to do it when she freely kneels and bares her neck to him. Instead, he decides to take advantage of the power she can bring him. Time passes. Tyleet continues to learn the human tongue from the woodcutter and pass it along to the other elves. But one day the Djun's men press-gang the kindly man into their shard-gathering corps, which has a mere three days to finish the task. Tyleet is unable to help him escape, and indeed nearly loses her wolf-friend Patience to the crossbows of the Djun's men. After Leetah and Mender heal the wolf, Cutter announces that it's time for the tribe to split up. He will take the warriors and most of the magic-users in a quest to take the shards from the Djun; his daughter Ember will lead the rest of the tribe in a search for a safe holt in which the Wolfriders can survive should the Palace-questers be killed. After this stunning announcement, Tyleet and Skywise attempt to rescue the woodcutter. They succeed, but one of the Djun's men--the mercenary from Kings of the Broken Wheel, whose daughter Shuna was saved by Leetah--captures Tyleet, thinking he has another healer with which he can make money. Tyleet only escapes when Shuna frees her (and Shuna runs away in the process rather than be whipped to death by her father, with consequences that will be seen later). Ember chooses the Wolfriders who will accompany her, and they embark on their quest for a new Holt (see Ember's Quest section for their adventures). Winnowill has become the Djun's “Lady Venovel” and is eagerly trying to get at the Scroll of Colors, locked away in the Djun's library. Winnowill savors the brutal murders of slave-workmen as they finish their work on the Djun's palace. She also survives an assassination attempt. She and the Djun visit the crystal towers, where he reasserts his authority over her and dangles the promise of a session with the Scroll before her. Later, while resting, she is contacted mentally by Rayek, who pleads with her to help him regain the Palace. Infuriated by his genuine love, she tosses him away and resolves to take revenge on him and those who shelter him. She urges the Djun to cut down a patch of forest (the elves' holt) that has so far repulsed his men with its ever-renewing brambles. The Djun's Master Builder (a.k.a. Two-Edge) builds fearsome machines to do the job. In the holt, Rayek and the Wolfriders plot shard-retrieval strategy. Then Aroree sees the woodcutting machines approach. After a short battle against the men defending the machines, the elves abandon the holt and escape underground through Ekuar's tunnel. Soon they connect with the troll tunnels. King Picknose is loathe to let the elves through, but his argument with Cutter is interrupted by human warriors who had followed the elves into their tunnel. After the one-sided battle, Picknose is more concerned with filling in the tunnels than stopping the elves. The elves continue on, joined by troll siblings Flam and Drub, who want a share of the booty that's sure to result from the quest. The elves' tunneling abruptly ends when Ekuar collapses. Though Mender saves his life, the rock-shaper is unfit to continue, so they bind him in wrapstuff, and the trolls dig up. They break through into a pigsty, under which they hunker as Rayek, Venka, Zhantee, and Aroree take off in search of the Scroll of Colors. Meanwhile, Winnowill is finally working with the Scroll but can't make any sense out of it--until Rayek approaches, and the Scroll ignites in response. As a result, the Djun's guards are ready when the quartet arrives. Rayek blasts them, but he is distracted by Winnowill's mental attack. Venka shields him, and he blasts his way into the Djun's library. Rayek attempts to carry off half the scroll, but the Djun desperately holds it down. Aroree manages to yank the half away. Then a boulder launched by the humans hits Rayek and Venka square on. Already weak, Venka loses her grip on Rayek and tumbles into the Djun's palace. As the exhausted Rayek remains behind to search for Venka, Aroree and Zhantee return to the others. Safe from Winnowill's spying (at least via the Scroll), but faced with stirred-up humans, the elves decide to split up even further to climb the mountain and sneak into the Djun's citadel. First, they move to another hide-out, the cellar of an inn. There they are discovered by the young woman Shuna, whose life had previously been saved by Leetah and who saved Tyleet and ran away from home. Meanwhile, the Djun demands, and to his dismay sees, Winnowill's true form. Rattled and yearning yet knowing that to have her is to lose his soul, he manages to stay on top of the situation by exerting his “ownership” over her and making her use her powers on his behalf. Claiming to be a god, he proclaims to his people that to worship anything but him will mean their deaths. To back up his words, he has Winnowill transform a pack of war dogs into vicious Peace Hounds: claw-tentacled, lantern-eyed, fork-tongued horrors. The Peace Hounds are released into the city, where they ferret out and kill the rebellious. Shuna is chased by three Hounds, but the Hounds are diverted by the scent of the elves at the inn. After briefly driving the Hounds back, the elves scatter in their prearranged groups, leaving Clearbrook and Treestump and their wolf-friends to “keep the how-unds amused.” A fierce battle leaves one Hound dead and the other two hurt and fleeing--and the humans astonished that the supposedly undefeatable Peace Hounds can be killed. In the Citadel, Rayek searches for Venka, who is being tended by Two-Edge. The elf-troll is falling in love with the elf maiden and shows off his work to her, including the horrible “birds,” machines used for public executions of 'rebels'--one of which Shuna witnesses. Shuna is so disgusted that she starts recruiting others to fight the Djun. Unfortunately, a Hound scents her rebelliousness--but luckily, Strongbow, Skot, and Krim are nearby and destroy the Hound, then hop into an untenanted building with Shuna to avoid the Djun's men who come to investigate the noise. Later, she and her companions lead more Hounds to the elves, who dispatch them and make it plain to the humans that the “good spirits” are on Shuna's side and against the Djun. But things are not going so well in the Citadel; Winnowill forces Rayek, Venka, and Two-Edge into the open. For various reasons none of them can slay her, so she subdues Rayek; Two-Edge manages to escape with Venka. Ignoring the Djun's demands that she explain what's going on, Winnowill enters Rayek's mind with the intent of learning how to reconstruct the Palace. In the streets, more and more humans are joining Shuna's rebellion. The chaos is useful to Aroree, Mender, and Flam, who are able to move about without attracting notice. Then Flam smells gold in a human house and breaks in to steal it. Mender tries to drag him out, and they start to tussle. Aroree flies in to stop them, but guards see her and also break in. The guards are attacked by the owners of the house, who are swiftly cut down. Coming to their senses, Flam and Mender quit fighting, and the trio escape through a hole in the floor--Flam pauses briefly to retrieve his dropped treasure and, incidentally, kill the guard who was about to kill the householders' two children. Another guard shoots a crossbow into the dark hole, but hearing nothing, and terrified of what's in the hole, they leave--and below the floor, Mender is bleeding to death. The revolt of the humans is reaching fever pitch. Hoping to definitively quell it, Grohmul Djun orders his mercenaries to capture Shuna. Elsewhere, Flam employs a little force to get Mender to heal himself, while Cutter, Drub, Zhantee, and Holdfast destroy a peace-hound, only to be confronted by Djun's men. In the Djun's castle, Venka finds Rayek and attempts to protect him from Winnowill, but Rayek insists she let him continue to distract his black-souled lovemate. The Djun recognizes that Venka is a shield against Winnowill, and, in return for dragging Winnowill away to let Venka have a few private moments with Rayek, extracts a promise from her (ultimately unfulfilled) to sleep with him. This infuriates the smitten Two-Edge, who determines to help the elves regain the palace and destroy the Djun. He telepathically contacts Cutter, who doesn't trust him but has no choice but to follow his mental trail. Moving openly now (to the astonishment and awe of the humans), the elves converge on the castle, trailed by the remaining peace-hounds. Though they ultimately defeat the horrible beasts, the elves pay a terrible price to get past the drawbridge and into the castle itself: Skot gives up his life to help them get through. At the same time, elsewhere in the city, Shuna confronts her mercenary father, who has just killed her mother and wants nothing more than to kill Shuna. Although she fends him off, she is knocked out by another mercenary and is taken to the Djun's castle, where the sadistic “birds“ are readied to tear the girl to shreds. Luckily, the preserver Tittersweet sees the preparations and warns the elves of Shuna's peril. Cutter determines to save the girl, and he and Zhantee leave the others to effect her rescue. The sight of Cutter, robed in Zhantee's shining shield, confronting the Djun and rescuing Shuna inspires the commoners as never before, and they begin to rampage through the castle. After rescuing Shuna, the elves enter the building that will lead them into the castle. But the floor above them gives way when humans set fire to the building, and Zhantee gives his life in his heroic efforts to keep the floor from falling on all of them with his magical shielding power. While he is dying, Cutter grants Zhantee his dying wish and sends to him what it is like to be Recognized to Leetah (whom Zhantee has always loved). As his soul leaves its body and flies toward the castle, Zhantee reveals to Cutter that only the power of Timmain, the High One, can rebuild the shattered castle. Krim is badly hurt and wants to be allowed to die, but Mender tells her that she is pregnant, which makes her determined to live, and Mender heals her. Cutter sends Aroree on a mission to find Ember's group of elves and bring Timmain (who went with Ember in her wolf form) back to the human city. While Rayek and Winnowill engage in a spirit-battle, Venka watches over them. The Djun tries to kill Winnowill, but Venka stops him so the Djun makes to attack her. Two-Edge intervenes to save Venka, causing many of the castle shards to fall on the Djun, who runs out of the room, which Two-Edge immediately bars to him. Cutter's band of elves, preservers, two trolls and the human Shuna make their way through the bowels of the castle, dodging Two-Edge's built-in traps while Two-Edge observes them secretly, as yet undecided whether or not to help them reach the shards. The group endures many wounds, and the loss of one wolf, making their way through his traps; when they near the end he decides to help them. He leads them into the castle kitchen, where the preservers wrap all the humans there in wrapstuff and the group takes a much needed rest and meal. Venka sends to Cutter an urgent call to find her, Rayek and Winnowill in the inmost shard chamber and reunite the shards and save Rayek from Winnowill. Cutter's group makes their way toward Venka, guided by her sending. They have to pass through the throne room, where the Djun and his guards attack them. Two-Edge steps in and shuts the door on the guards, while the preservers wrap the Djun in wrapstuff. The elves, trolls and Shuna make their way to the shard chamber where Rayek lies near death while Winnowill's spirit torments his. Mender begins to heal Rayek, releasing his spirit from Winnowill's grasp, while Venka and Strongbow prevent her spirit from returning to its body. Aroree has returned to the Wolfrider's holt, which has recently been destroyed by humans. She sends out a mental call to Timmain, and eventually Skywise and Timmain (still in wolf form) find Aroree. Meanwhile, Picknose's trolls discover Ekuar's preserver-wrapped body and unwrap him, intending to hold him prisoner. Aroree, Skywise and Timmain look for a way into Picknose's domain so they can free Ekuar, retrieve the other half of the scroll, and tunnel underground to reach Cutter in time to restore the palace. Ekuar eludes his troll captors and opens up a tunnel for Aroree, Skywise and Timmain to enter the trolls' caverns. Picknose lets the elves pass through his domain unharmed, and they make their way underground toward the Djun's Citadel. Shuna finds that she cannot kill the Djun while he is helpless in preserver webbing. She runs to find Cutter and warn him that the Djun and his guards are on their way to the shards room. When they enter the room, Rayek renders the humans unconscious with one blast of magic power. Ekuar, Skywise, Aroree and Timmain suddenly appear through a tunneled hole in the floor, along with the other half of the scroll. They set the scroll up and Timmain starts to shape-shift back into an elf to help them restore the palace, but as she does so, Winnowill's spirit returns to its body and Winnowill and Timmain begin a magical battle. The humans start to wake, and Ekuar traps them with rock covering their hands and feet, but the Djun escapes his trap and makes to attack Venka. Two-Edge saves Venka and mortally wounds the Djun. Winnowill, realizing that Timmain is stronger and will overcome her, decides to let herself die so that her spirit can be free to control the shards. She lets the Djun kill her, but as her spirit flies from its body, Rayek captures it in his own mind and holds it there. Timmain completes her shape-shift and the elves restore the palace with their combined magic powers. Torn from the citadel, the shards form a cocoon-vessel around the elves, the trolls and Shuna, and the citadel begins to collapse while the fires from the humans' revolt rage all around it. The cocoon-vessel (which was the palace's original form) flies into the night sky, guided by Timmain. She restores it to a palace-like shape and flies it to where Ember's group of elves is located; Skywise has told Cutter that they need help. Go to the next section
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Ember and her small band embark on a quest for a new Holt (HY 16-29) This section is by D. Aviva Rothschild with some edits for continuity and detail These events take place concurrently with the events of the Shards and Forevergreen sections. Having been charged with preserving the Wolfriders while the majority of them go off to recover the shards of the palace from humans, the newly fledged chief Ember and her small band—Leetah, Skywise, Pike, Moonshade, Redlance, Nightfall, Dewshine, Scouter, and pregnant Tyleet, along with their respective wolves—embark on a quest for a new Holt. At first, every decision is a test for Ember, as she struggles to determine which direction to take and how to find shelter in the open plains through which the band is traveling. To make matters worse, Moonshade freely expresses her doubts about and displeasure over Ember’s choices. It takes a series of dangerous encounters and a bout of insect-induced hallucination for Ember to understand and deal with Moonshade’s distress. Ember’s first chance to really shine comes when a period of bad hunting for the elves leads her to consider a source of food that they would have otherwise overlooked: mice. Finally, the small band arrives at an island of rock in the ocean of grass. Though it had been inhabited, it seems deserted now, and the many caves and proximity to water make it a serious candidate for the new Holt. The discovery of a small spire shaped like a howling wolf settles the Wolfriders’ minds. However, as they start to move in, they are approached by a strange elf who can make himself invisible to the Wolfriders’ senses. He is Teir, beast-friend and loner who has lived among the rocks for many years with only animals to keep him company. Most of the Wolfriders take to him immediately; only Skywise is suspicious and wary. Teir stays distant from the little tribe at first, but gradually he begins to interact with them. Indeed, he and Ember are attracted to one another, though neither admits it. More urgently, the peaceful settling-in process is disturbed when a horribly mutated wolf attacks the Wolfriders during a hunt. As the Wolfriders discuss whether to stay at Howling Rock after the appearance of the shapechanged wolf, Ember walks out on the council to follow Timmain back to Teir. He shows her his ability to mimic animals and make them trust him. He also tells her of his past: he is actually a Go-Back. Later, Skywise is plagued by dreams of his lost wolf blood, with Teir as a central figure. His distrust of Teir doesn't sit well with Ember. Skywise and Ember verbally spar, leaving Ember feeling she isn't fit to be chief. A vision of an earlier chieftess, Huntress Skyfire, helps her sort out what she's doing wrong. With more horrible news from the Shards war resonating among the elves, Skywise, Dewshine, and Pike go on a ride-out to see what's what. Something seems to be agitating the game--and something seems to be driving it toward Howling Rock. The scouting party finds out quickly enough when they stumble on a passel of mutated creatures and are forced to fight them. The creatures ignore Skywise, so he is able to kill them after the others are incapacitated. The other elves fetch the wounded, and Leetah heals them. Skywise is convinced that Teir is behind it all, and Ember decides to find out once and for all. She rides off to confront him alone. (At the same time, Skywise and Timmain accompany Aroree back to the human city, as Timmain is needed to help put the Palace together again.) Dodging mutated monsters, Ember comes across Teir, who is distracted by someone calling inside his head. He doesn't seem to be responsible for the new monsters; indeed, when they are attacked and Ember is hurt, he defends her. As Teir carries Ember back to the Holt, Leetah and Nightfall intercept him. They automatically assume he's responsible for her injuries, and, after bringing Ember back from the precipice, they warn Teir not to follow them. Teir isn't so easily discouraged, though, and follows at a distance. When more shapechanged monsters arrive, Teir makes them attack one another, to prove that he's on the Wolfriders' side. However, in doing so he opens himself up to the voice that's been calling him, and he collapses. Leetah goes to him “to learn [his] heart" and mentally discovers the horrible, intelligent mutated bear--created by Winnowill, as were all of the other monsters--that is trying to feed off Teir's powers. At last accepting his innocence in the matter of the mutated beasts, the Wolfriders bring him into the Holt and make him comfortable. Leetah must keep him asleep, though, to protect him from his enemy. Soon the Holt is surrounded by many monsters, led by the mutated bear, who demands Teir and threatens slaughter if the loner is not delivered. Ember makes the painful decision to sacrifice Teir to save the tribe. They strap the sleeping elf to a litter, and Dewshine, riding her wolf-friend Longshanks, races down to deposit the body among the monsters. Of course, the monsters have no intention of letting her leave, and she barely escapes. Longshanks is killed in his valiant attempt to get her back, and she is bitten by poisonous snakes, but Scouter arrives to pull her to safety, and Leetah is able to purge her veins of the poison. The mutated bear easily overwhelms Teir's mind and joins with him. It broadcasts its dreadful intent: it wants the death of all wolf-blooded elves. The monsters attack! The Wolfriders fight ferociously, but the odds are overwhelming. There is one slim chance, however: Leetah has the same sort of magic as Winnowill, and the monsters implicitly trust her; Ember tells her that she must kill their leader. Leetah approaches him, and touches minds with him to see the true purpose for Winnowill's creation of the monsters: to destroy all wolf-blooded elves. This angers Leetah enough to motivate her to kill him magically. She then heals Teir who is on the verge of death. But because the monster's mind was linked with Teir's when Leetah killed the monster, Teir's mind was affected as well and he can no longer send. Ember, afraid that more of Winnowill's monsters will come seeking Teir and the Wolfriders if Teir regains his sending powers, she gives him a choice: to be fully healed by Leetah and separate himself from the Wolfriders, or to stay with them but not regain his sending powers. He is extremely frustrated by this decision, and he and Ember get into an argument. But as they both express their frustrations, they come to an understanding and give in to their attraction to each other. The next day, Teir announces that he will take the healing and return to his solitary life with animals. After he is healed, the Palace appears. As all of Ember's group of elves prepare to reunite with Cutter's group who have all flown to meet them in the Palace, Teir quietly departs, promising Ember that if she ever needs him he will find a way to her. All the elves except for Teir enter the Palace, and the Palace disappears as Teir watches. Go to the next section A group of younger Wolfriders go in search of a new home for the Sun Villagers and must deal with a mad elf who wants to rule over a lost jungle city. (NB 15-35, Shards 16) Parts of this section are by D. Aviva Rothschild These events take place concurrently with the events in the “Shards” and “Ember's Quest” sections. The desert sun village of Sorrow's End has its own problem with the medieval humans, who have started to come close to the village, despite the gigantic rocks placed around it by Ahdri. Savah tells Suntop, who now lives in the Sun Village, that she believes he has an unlimited sending range and will, with training, be able to connect all elves on the planet to each other via his sending powers. During a training session, Suntop gets a brief, tantalizing vision of a wondrous jungle. Who sent the vision, and why? Windkin recognizes the jungle as a place he dubbed the “Forevergreen” when he was doing long-range scouting during the time of drought. He hadn't explored it before, but now he wants to. Everyone does, but their method of travel, the Palace, is currently in many pieces. So, wearing wings made of wrapstuff that will help him fly, Windkin immediately takes off by himself for the Forevergreen. Dart vows to follow him in three eights of days if he doesn't return. And he doesn't, because when he gets there, he discovers a human civilization that is apparently trying to emulate elves; they cut off one of their fingers on each hand and shape their ears to have pointed tips. Spotted, he tries to flee but is zapped with knockout powder. He awakens tied to a pillar. The Attained Father Aramek wants to use Windkin as proof that Aramek's various atrocities--human sacrifice, mutilation, etc.--are the will of the High Ones. Later, caged inside the temple, Windkin meets an ancient Glider, the rock-shaper Door, one of the few Gliders to have survived the destruction of Blue Mountain. Given over to the protection of the Hoan-G'tay-Sho (now called the Hungtsho) after the fall of Blue Mountain, he is their pet High One. Door tells Windkin that he sent out a vision of what the Forevergreen used to be like, so that any elves who received the sending would be attracted to the vision and compelled to find Door, and then help him right the wrongs of the Hungtsho. Several of the humans confide in Windkin that they hate Aramek, and he pledges to help them. But then, in a confrontation with Aramek, the Attained Father angrily and tearfully explains how badly he and his people want to be elves. Windkin decides to stay and help the Hungtsho get over their obsession with elves. Meanwhile, Suntop has picked up on Windkin's distress, and a small rescue party embarks on the journey to the Forevergreen--Dart, Suntop, Kimo (son of Newstar), Dodia, Jethel, Chot (a former Go-Back), Shenshen (Leetah's sister), and Yun (daughter of Skywise and a Go-Back). They must cross the Vastdeep Water, which they almost do; as they spy land, their craft is swamped, and they are separated, washing up in various places around the beach. Dart, Kimo, and Yun encounter one another; the others join together elsewhere and are captured by a band of humans, the arch-rivals of Aramek, and scheduled for execution. However, Dart's group finds them in time and convinces the rebel human leader, Pei-lar, that they have the same enemy. He agrees to help her troops in their upcoming attack against Aramek, because it is the only way he can see to rescue Windkin. However, he and two other elves want to scout out Aramek's territory first, and they are attacked in the woods by Aramek's son Geoka and a couple of warriors. The elves defeat the humans in the battle, and Pei-Lar takes Geoka prisoner. Geoka is disillusioned as he realizes that Aramek is not attempting to rescue him, and after Dart shares with him the story of Dart's friendship with the human boy Geoki (see “Siege at Blue Mountain“), Geoka becomes friends with Dart. The three make their way out of the temple just as Pei-Lar's troops are attacking the city. Aramek appears at the top of the temple to rouse his people to action against the rebels. But then Door appears, throws Aramek down off the temple, and tells the people that Aramek does not speak for him. Unfortunately, Door is even more cruel and tyrannical than Aramek, having been twisted by Winnowill's ancient poison. Pei-Lar, realizing that her rebel attackers have no chance of defeating the powerful rockshaper/glider elf, calls a retreat. She comes across Aramek in the woods and kills him in revenge for his cruelty against her family and many others. Dart later convinces her to permanently stay away from Door and his tribe of humans in order to save her people. Dart and all the elves who journeyed from the Sun Village say their goodbyes to Pei-Lar's humans, and make their way further into the Forevergreen forest and away from all the humans (and Door). They hope to find a suitable new Holt for the Sun Villagers. The human youths Geoka and Ahn-lei accompany them. During their search, the elves meet a small band of human sailors who turn out to be friendly. Geoka decides to sail away with these humans and seek his fortune on the seas. Door sends to Windkin and asks Windkin to join him in the temple. Door convinces Windkin that the humans need the elves' help and that the best way to achieve this is to unite all the elves through the little piece of the Palace that resides in the Sun Village. Door really wants the Palace for his own evil purposes, unknown to Windkin. Windkin agrees to fly back to the Sun Village and bring the Palace fragment to Door, and sets off at once. Dart, realizing that Windkin is unwittingly aiding Door in some evil purpose (but not knowing Windkin has left the Forevergreen), decides to try to get Windkin out of Door's clutches. Pei-Lar finds Dart on his way toward the temple and they join forces because Pei-Lar knows a secret way into the temple and she wants to try to kill Door. However, when they arrive, they are discovered by Door, and Door kills Pei-Lar. Door sets fire to the entire Forevergreen forest, and with his rockshaping power, encloses the temple (and the entire human Hungtsho tribe) in an impenetrable rock sphere. Door and Dodia, one of the elves from the Sun Village who accompanied Dart to the temple, suddenly Recognize each other. They willingly become mates; however, the evil Door plans to 'rid himself' of Dodia once she bears his child (unknown to her). Dart and Chot are, for now, trapped in the dome with Dodia and Door. The three elves try to convince Door to treat the trapped and scared humans kindly, but Door doesn't listen. The other Sun Village elves, Shenshen, Kimo and Yun, hide together as the fire rages. They are worried about Suntop and Jethel who had earlier snuck off secretly to explore what they thought was an abandoned human hut, when the fire started. The owner of the hut, a kindly human named “Wanderer,” saves Suntop and Jethel by leading them underwater to an oxygen-filled grotto. Wanderer says that 'water spirits' formed the grotto. (Yun had earlier glimpsed what looked like an elf with a fish tail in a pool in the Forevergreen.) The human boy Ahn-Lai, rescued from the temple by Windkin, sees them dive under the water and follows them. Knowing there is not enough oxygen for all four beings to survive, the Wanderer leaves the grotto and disappears. After the fire ends, Suntop, Jethel and Ahn-Lai emerge from the grotto and ride the river on a log. But at one point the river turns choppy and the log topples them off, and Suntop is separated from the other two. Shenshen sends to Suntop, and Suntop finds her and Kimo and Yun just outside of the dome. At the same time, within the dome, Door attacks Dart and Chot. Dodia tries to stop Door's attack, as does Suntop, who can sense with his magic powers what is going on inside the dome and sends to Door. While Door is distracted by the sending, Dodia knocks Door unconscious or kills him; it isn't clear which. The dome breaks apart and the humans flee. Chot sets off by himself to try to find Jethel. Ahn-Lai and Jethel wash up on the riverbank, far from the other elves. Jethel had been knocked unconscious, and while he is knocked out the human youth Ahn-Lai ties him up, planning to give him over to a human trading village he knows of. When they arrive in the trading village, the humans there say that it is the fulfillment of a prophecy that a strange boy would come with a spirit after a day of fire. In honor of the prophecy's fulfillment, they make Ahn-Lai their leader. The Preserver Willowsnap finds and rescues Jethel from his prison cell, and Jethel escapes. Meanwhile, much has been going on in the Sun Village. A desert human tribe has been prodded into action against the Sun Village. In earlier forays they were frightened off, but they are determined to find a trade route through the mountains--despite the “demons.” They have a troll living with them, who gives them strategies for attacking and defeating the Sun Villagers. The troll wants to invade the village so he can gather gold in the surrounding hills. The elves figure out what the humans plan to do, and the rockshaper Ahdri goes to work building them a new dwelling place underground to escape the humans. But this means that the Sun Village must be abandoned, and all the villagers grieve at the loss of their long-time home. When the humans invade the village, the troll goes after the miniature piece of the Palace of the High Ones (having heard of its powers from Two-Edge), and the rockshaper Ahdri, who has not yet entered the tunnel, grabs it and runs away from him. She flees up across the Bridge of Destiny, but gets hit by a human's arrow. Even wounded, she breaks the Bridge of Destiny where the troll has followed her, and the troll falls to his death. She crawls into a hole in the rock, presumably to die. Thus, Windkin arrives in the Sun Village to find it deserted. There are a few human scouts, but humans have largely abandoned the area, because somehow Ahdri's spirit still moves the rocks against the humans, who now consider the place 'haunted.' Windkin is determined to find out what happened to the Sun Villagers, and there the story leaves him. A short time later, the restored Palace of the High Ones comes to the Forevergreen (called there by Suntop's sending) and the elves there are rescued from the now-burnt forest and fly away in the Palace. However, there is no sign of Chot or Jethel. Skywise meets his grown daughter, Yun, whom he didn't know he had. Guided by Suntop, the Palace then flies to the place in the desert where Savah and the Sun Villagers have been dwelling underground. Ekuar opens up a hole in the ground for the Villagers to emerge through. The Sun Villagers all enter the Palace. Loved ones long separated are reunited. Go to the next section |
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