She threw back her head, her throat convulsing. "Sal veli! Piersan veli ti'Teleon te Orest! Sala talothi!" They're coming! The enemy comes to Teleon and Orest! Kill them!

The voice from her mouth was not her own. Low and throbbing, as if ripped from the throat of death itself, the sound scraped across Rain's senses like a serrated blade.

The Azrahn-filled gaze pinned him, and in a guttural voice, she cried, "Feyreisen! Defend the pride!"

Her legs folded, and she collapsed into his arms, and in her own voice, urgent and agitated, she whispered, "Orest and Teleon. They are in danger. He's coming. You must warn them. Warn them, shei'tan. Let them know…"

Rain clutched her to his chest and raised stricken eyes to the others. "We must warn Orest and Teleon."

"Are you mad? Did you see her eyes?" Tenn pointed a finger. "She's Mage-claimed! The Mages are using her to draw us into a trap!"

"How can they be drawing us into a trap?" Rain snapped. "Our brothers are already there."

"Then they must be trying to draw you out," Yulan snapped when Tenn frowned in perplexed silence.

Gaelen sneered. "Considering you just banished him, what do you care?"

"It isn't a trap."

All eyes turned to Ellysetta.

Her lids opened, revealing eyes of bright Fey green, glowing and just beginning to whirl with the radiance of the tairen. "It isn't a trap. The Eld are coming. I don't know how I know it, but I do. Orest and Teleon are in danger." She rose to her feet, though her body continued to shake with helpless tremors, and her eyes held his in an unwavering gaze. «Believe me, shei'tan. Our friends are in danger. We must warn them.»

Her urgent concern and unshakable certainty filled his veins first with ice, then with blazing fire. She had no doubt. And because she had none, he could not doubt either.

Rain flung his head back and sent the cry on the Warriors' Path. «Fey! To arms! Orest and Teleon, prepare for war! Kieran! Kiel! Get the shei'dalins and Ellysetta's family to safety! Now, Fey, now! The Eld are coming!»

«Belay that command!» Tenn shouted on the same path. «By order of the Massan, you will fall back to the Fading Lands! Do not engage the Eld!» To Rain, he shouted, "Even if she isn't speaking as the mouthpiece of the Mages, you have no right to command the armies of the Fey! You are dahl'reisen! You are cast out!"

Later, Bel would tell him that at that moment, Rain seemed to grow half a manlength taller, his shoulders twice as wide, and that his eyes blazed like twin purple suns. But all he knew at the time was the rush of his tairen's power, hot as the raging Great Sun and just as furious, filling him until his body all but exploded with its wrath. In a voice so low and deadly that the very ground rumbled beneath his feet, he growled, "War has begun and still you would divide us?"

Tenn stood his ground, refusing to back down. "War has not begun! Whatever trap the Eld are waiting to spring, I will not let the Fey rush into it! I will not sacrifice what precious few Fey lives we still have left for the sake of Celieria!"

Rain could easily have ripped out Tenn's throat and danced in the shower of his blood. "The Eld aren't attacking Celieria, you fool. Teleon and Orest are the gateways to the Fading Lands. They're coming for us!"

He spun away and sent a second desperate shout on the Warriors' Path. «Fey! My brothers, you must each make your choice. Those who would hide from the Eld and hope the Faering Mists will protect you, retreat as the Massan have commanded. The rest of you, prepare to fight!»

He leapt into the air, summoning the Change. «Fahreeta, Torasul! Take two of the pride and fly to the Garreval. Protect the Feyreisa's family. Steli, guard Ellysetta. The rest of you, follow me as quickly as you can.» He circled Su Reisu. «Gaelen, Bel, I may no longer be your king, but as your friend, I could use your blades.»

Bel exchanged a look with Gaelen, then said, «We would follow you through the Seven Hells, Rain, if you will but give us a ride.»

Rain swooped down. Bel and Gaelen leapt onto his back, shouting, "Miora felah ti'Feyreisa! Miorafelah ti'Feyreisen! And death to the Eld!" With a whooshing rush of powerful magic, Rain raced east towards Orest and war.

Celieria ~ Teleon

The shei'dalins did not get to finish their last session of Lady Darramon's healing. Within chimes of Rain's warning, Kieran and Kiel were hustling them and Ellysetta's family out of Teleon and towards the Garreval. Behind them, the Fey who had chosen to stay and fight were rushing Lord Darramon's party to the safety of the hidden fortress.

«What in the name of the Seven Hells is going on, Kieran?» Kiel asked privately as they hurried across the mountainside. After Rain's cry to prepare for war, the Warriors' Path had resounded with Tenn v'En Eilan's commands to retreat, claiming that he and the Massan were in charge of the Fey armies and that Rain was dahl'reisen, cast out for weaving Azrahn.

«Scorched if I know. The Massan have gone mad. Right at this moment, all I care about is getting the Feyreisa's family and the shei'dalins to safety before the Eld unleash every demon in the Well upon us.» Kieran glanced back at the small group behind him. «Quickly,» he urged them. «And quietly.»

Lillis and Lorelle clambered over the rocks, shrubs, and tangled grasses. Small slings were tied around their necks, holding the kittens they had brought with them. In addition, each child carried a small bag containing the belongings she'd packed the previous night. Sol hurried after his daughters, his own, larger pack on his back.