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Disclaimer:  The author of this story, Autumn Ice, claims in no way or form any rights to the characters and places, found in the wonderful books created by Mercedes Lackey.

 

Author’s Note:  Please be kind, this is my first Valdemar fanfiction, and my first work that I actually intend on finishing.  Please be nice??? Also, I’m sorry the chapter is short, but I didn’t know where to cut off the chapters...

 

 

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Bright eyed Herald

 

 

  The woman backed away from the silver horse quickly.  If she could get away from it, and lose it in the underbrush, it would never find her.  She was quickly approaching the forest near the empty roar she had been traveling, and she longed for it to be nearer.  The implications of that riderless, but calm, silver white horse were well known fables.  And I do not want to know any more then that!

  But the damn horse either did not hear her not-so-complementary thoughts towards it and it’s kind, or it did and didn’t care.  Go away! She begged.  If she didn’t let it get close enough for it to talk to her, then there was no way it would Choose her.  That was the only possible explanation for the horse, known as a Companion, to be on a seldomly traveled road, bedecked in all it’s finery, bells and all, and not in distress, as it would if it were seeking help for it’s Herald.

  She was almost there…

  She surprised the Companion as she spun quickly and dashed into the dark woods she knew were there.  She didn’t need sight to guide her through the trees of her upbringing, and life.  The essence of the forest guided her steps as she sped away from the ghostly horse from legends.  Her half-wild spirit resisted the control the Companion would have over her, if it should find her now.  She knew only too well the legends of companions controlling their Chosen, only every time she heard of them in Legends, even with the evil control, she always heard of them as good, and wonderful.  Nothing that can control and use power can possibly be good!

  As she ran, jumping over roots and stones, she thought back to the last time she had seen a riderless Companion.  It had been when the youngest of her peculiar kin had been spirited away, and she had distrusted the evil silver horses ever since.  No one had heard from Jerra since he had disappeared on the silver horses back, and her hatred had grown since.  Every time a Herald comes by our lonely corner of Valdemar he, or she, is always greeted with enthusiasm and good will by the stupid little villagers that shunned us!  All they do is give out information that we could have given them, and settle a few petty debates.  She ignored the fact that Herald-Mages had been the ones that had stopped the Mage storms that had nearly devastated her kin as she jumped agilely to the nearest branch of the tree in front of her.  Hah! Let’s see that silver demon find me now!

  Her still weak Gift of Mindspeech was only just beginning to be taught by the Eldest, the only one of her kin that knew how to train Gifts, but her Empathy had already been trained by him.  She could feel the Companions mind searching for her, and she had almost been caught by it.

  “Eldest, another of the silver horses has come to our neighborhood!” she sang out as she arrived at the enormous tree housing her kin.  For all their small numbers had deceived their enemies before, they could easily defend and even attack from their stronghold in the branches.  There had been many more of them, spread through the many great trees nearby, but the creatures of the Change-circles had decimated the others who had lived in them.

  The snickers of derision at her joke quieted as the Eldest, known by no other name, replied, “Are you sure? It is not some poor beast of burden dyed by some villagers?” the gentle and commanding voice asked.

  “I am sure.  And,” she paused, not sure if she should mentioned it, “it was looking for me.” She winced at the abrupt silence and stares from her comrades.  She knew that no others had her Gifts, but she was held in high regard for her exceptional communion with the forest and her deep hatred for other humans and the demon-horses, so her statement startled many assembled.  As the only other one, besides the Eldest, that had her peculiar Gifts was her twin-sister, she knew they would not understand the feeling of the horse searching for her.

  The people grouped in the sprawling braches were so similar it was easy to believe that they were all close kin.  Any that did not fit in with the clan were sent, as babes, to the hated village.  They all had pale, almost silver, hair, often braided into intricate patterns which marked higher status then those with unadorned hair, and black eyes that saw well in the semi-darkness of the forest.  Couples sat together, and groups also formed, but they would listen to those higher in status.

  The Eldest’s own stare was the hardest to bear.  She was a favorite of his, and it was well known.  And she proved her worth, so it was not contended.  Her waist length hair was done completely in small braids, woven by the Eldest himself.  “Perhaps,” he paused, his eyes sill searching her, “you should have gone.  We cannot have the Heralds and their allies think that anything is amiss in our forest.  It would pain me, and the kin, to lose you, but even so…  I do not think there is any more I can teach you, favored, but they can.” He stopped, and the entire kin could see the pain his next statement would cause him.  “In fact, I order you to go.  I do not wish to, but my time is still lengthy, and you would someday expect to take my place, but I am not ready.  And you will always be welcome back to the clan.  But what I ask, is that you go.” His eyes conveyed to her what his words did not, the pain and heartbreak his decision was causing him.  What hurt more, was that his actions were right, in all minds of the kin.  Their favored was strong, and did need more training.  Not a week past she had nearly leveled a nearby tree when she and another of the kin, a warrior she usually got along with, had fought, and she had unknowingly unleashed the magic of a relatively weak ley-line, as she was told later, on the man.  He would be fine, she found out, but she was still shaken from what the implications that accident had stirred within her.

  She thought of something, and leapt upon it. “But the silver demon is probably gone by now!” she exclaimed, sure she had found a way out.

  The eldest smiled, sadly though.  “If he, or she, is meant to find you, as I’m sure he is, he will find some way to Choose you.” The Eldest knew the most of Heralds, and the world beyond their forest, so his knowledge was not contended.

  She was trapped.  She thought fleetingly of her sister.  She was her closest friend, and even the thought of leaving her wrenched her gut.

  As if she had read her thoughts, Treesong dropped out of the leafy canopy to land beside her.  “We will wait for you to return, sh’aen,” she whispered to her, her own pain at the prospect of her twin leaving obvious in her voice.  “Come back soon, favored,” her sister finished.  Treesong alone, except for the Eldest, was allowed to call her that.  The rest of the clan were required by their law to call her by her given name, Windance.  She wondered why she and her sister had been given such distinctly Tayledras names, but even her continued pestering of the eldest had never given any results or explanation.

  Her sh’aen’s final words made up her mind.  Her strong will would see her through, as well as her stubbornness. She had feared that something such as this would happen as soon as she saw there was less and less the Eldest could teach her.

  She pulled free of her sister’s comfort regretfully, knowing she would miss Treesong dearly.  For all her seventeen years of life, she still only had her as her closest friend.  The rest of the clan, she surmised, were too afraid of her to come near.  “I will go. At least it is better then the villagers.” She sighed, and, with a nod to the Eldest, and a last hug to Treesong, she leapt to her personal branch, gathered her only pack, and disappeared through the trees of her forest.  She resolved that she would not only train her Gifts, but she would return to aid her people.  She knew that her clan was slowly declining, the effects of the Mage-storms more and more evident as time went on.  She also knew very well that a Vale had been set up nearby, as well as the re-direction of the magic nearby into new ley-lines, nodes, and the incredibly powerful new Heartstone, and it intrigued her.  She should have been satisfied with what her Eldest had told her, but something called to her.

  “She will return, Treesong.  She loves you and the forest too much not to.” The quiet words of the Eldest comforted the already lonely young scout, who glanced at the Eldest in surprise.  It was not often that the Eldest would speak to any other then his favored.  But his cryptic words also birthed new questions, as to why the Eldest had said forest, and not clan.  And also what this new development would have to do with her own life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  Short author’s note:  Sorry about the slowness of the other chapters getting out, I was re-reading the mage-storms and realized a whole bunch of stuff I had planned for this story wouldn’t fit, and then I read the Owl books, and then all the new ideas were messed, up so some of the chapters will take some time to write.  So sorry about the delay!!!  And I’ll try and find more of my mistakes!!

  Thanks to Hildi-chan, Firefox, Jocelyn Magus, Shallan and Yue Kage for your much appreciated reviews!!!