Page 81 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

ELANNA

Elanna did not go with the others to search for Tolvar. She knew he would ne’er be found.

But her heart rose with the dawn the morning after the Falling Leaves Moon, thinking of the Wolf and Unsung somewhere in the vast canvas of the stars. Together.

Days later, she found herself in the middle of too many preparations and certainly too many good-byes.

The first was Daved. Wrapping her arms around him, Elanna whispered, “Thank you.”

“For what?” Daved asked.

“For being my brother. For once again, being my protector.”

They released their embrace, and Daved mounted his horse. He had three scores of men already mounted and awaiting his command. They were to journey back into the heart of Grenden.

“We shall right whatever wrongs we come across,” Daved said. “Spend the rest of our days serving the ideals of the realm.”

“A band like that needs a good name,” Hux said. “How about the Ravyns?” He winked.

“Mayhap,” Daved said. “’Tis not the first good idea you’ve shared, Hux. Good-bye, sister. ”

Tara, still recovering, watched with Elanna as he and his multitude rode away.

“Come. We have much to prepare,” Tara said.

Tara gave each of the StarSeers a copy of the prophecy.

When she’d ridden away after Goodsell’s death, she’d commissioned to have it scripted on five parchments.

Her instructions were clear. Each must go on the wall of a Delara.

It did not matter which, but the Legend of the Five—a term she’d coined—was for the people of Lenfore and Grenden, not them.

Elanna clung to her scroll of parchment as if it might keep them together. But, of course, ’twas an impossible thought.

The Five were scattering. Just as they’d Seen. Except Casta and Maristel. They would stay together until…until ’twas time.

The choice to abandon the field, too besmirched with thousands of bodies—now an open graveyard—was the only choice.

The few, and ’twas a very few, who had survived this battle had long since fled.

Of those who did make it home, stories would be told.

Those stories would travel until years later—centuries later—they’d become fairy tales of a long-ago kingdom that ne’er existed.

Casta and Maristel, taking one piece of the Edan Stone, would journey west to Deogol with Ghlee and Alvie—who’d offered to take the Lucien Oath and become their guardians.

“For Tolvar,” Ghlee said, leading Valko alongside his own steed.

Elanna beamed, pondering Maristel growing up in the comfort of Dara Keep. Away from Lenfore and Grenden, whose war was only beginning. The child would know peace and contentment.

“I have Seen how my fortune shall unfold.” Casta clasped her hands together. “The stars will be good to us on the island of the moon.”

Kyrie was headed north to Elendura Province with Joss and Barrett. Joss had volunteered so swiftly to take the Lucien Oath that it had caused rare laughter to escape Kyrie. She carried with her the other piece of the Edan Stone.

Tara. Tara was still white as the starstone key she carried. She refused to have another take the Lucien Oath on her behalf. A defiance to the stars. Elanna worried. This rebellion to refuse the Lucien Law would eventually wear down her Light. But Elanna could not convince her otherwise.

“Why, Tara?”

“The same reason that I could not allow you to call upon the Light of Siria in that battle. Because I choose it so.” Tara glanced at Hux in the background. “You still have a long life ahead of you. Promise that you shall ne’er use it a third time.”

“Tara,” Elanna said.

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

The two embraced.

Tara was to journey east into Grenden. The starstone key went with her.

Elanna had already buried the copper map and so took naught with her but the Lucien Oath that Hux had sworn.

They would go south.

Watching Hux pack up the rest of their supplies into the saddlebags of Rasa and Hux’s black stallion, Elanna’s mind raced to the life they were to have together. They would not all be good days. But they would have happy ones.

Beautiful moments await.

Hux caught her gaze and winked.

The night he’d sworn the Lucien Oath, Hux had said, “Lady, you are the greatest treasure that I shall ne’er deserve, but I swear that you will never want for love.”

She knew.

The last moons had been a sequence of events that Elanna scarcely believed she had lived through.

But wherever her future’s path led, Hux would be by her side.

In the many ways she now realized mattered.

That had allowed Elanna to reach this moment in time.

Because Elanna recognized that her role was greater than that of Seer of stars.

She understood this because Elanna the Fourth had acted.

The Five embraced the morning they each were to depart .

“Good-bye, my sisters,” Casta said. “Mayhap the stars shall allow us to meet again.”

“Mayhap not us,” Elanna said, through tear-filled eyes. “But someday, a new Five will stand in this very spot, and they shall embrace as we do now.”

The last to depart, Elanna could not bear to begin her journey until her sisters and their traveling companions had crested over the hills and were out of sight in all directions.

Elanna and Hux had traveled only a short distance away when she paused on the edge of a hill. She averted her eyes from the open graveyard.

Instead, she memorized the open field where Asalle’s absence stood. She Saw not the end of the world as others would no doubt perceive when they came upon this scene.

Instead, she Saw hope.

THE END