Sons of Ironstorm - Book 1: Griffon's Rise

Chapter 24: Strange Bedfellows

"And in the End will they stand together,

Those who once were enemies,

Foes upon the battlefield.

Sword and Buckler, Spear and Arrow,

Now spent in Common Cause,

Eyes bent to the Coming of the Last Battle."

- from the Norak Utterance, Fifth Stanza

<<Why must I always find you sitting somewhere in the dark, thinking?>> Xanedra asked dryly as she stepped out onto the guard platform, set high in the northern Companion's branches, overlooking the curve of the Tolan der'Kith as it rolled by far below.

Ciramax looked up from where he lay slung in the crook of two branches and grinned as the big Lithosin padded towards him from the ladder climbing the big trunk holding the platform.

<<Because you know me so well?>> he replied in a low, hoarse voice and Xanedra chuckled as she found a comfortable spot beside her friend.

<<To say the least. Although the better I know you, the less I consider that a good thing!>>

The slender elven warrior's grin became wry at the dry comment.

<<Well, for your information, I'm not actually up here thinking.>> Ciramax held up a half full skin of pi'inoss. <<I'm killing this while enjoying the view Bentain was talking about. Not as good as Commander Thran's secret stash, but good enough to slaughter a few thoughts as I contemplate the images made by the lights.>>

<<You should stop lying, Max. You're not that good at it.>> Xanedra took the skin from Ciramax's hand to take a long pull of the sweet, golden liqueur inside, distilled from honey, fresh morning dew and delicate spring herbs.

The wiry prince chuckled softly at the gentle rebuke. Of course he was foolish to try to fool his friend of over twenty cycles. The skin of pi'inoss had, indeed, been completely untouched until Xanedra drank from it. The dark thoughts crowding through his busy mind demanded his attention. Fully intending to drink the heady liqueur when he first climbed to the high platform, it hung forgotten instead as he pondered once more what he had recently learned about the fate of the world.

<<Not bad, for second hand quality,>> she commented when she lowered the skin a bit later and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before handing it back to Ciramax, who took a long swallow of his own. Then both were tilting back their heads to fill their eyes with the patterns in the stars, easily visible through the branches at this height in the fortress. Without looking over at her friend, Xanedra spoke.

<<Your father's vision?>> Ciramax grimaced at the quiet question.

<<Aye, unfortunately. I just can't shake this feeling of impending doom, Xan. It's like a dark shadow on the horizon. I can't fight it, and there's nowhere to run from it.>> A sigh eased from his nostrils as he rubbed at a suddenly tired face.

<<I'll have the truth of it on the morrow, though, when we leave on the embassy to Elvenfast.>>

<<You think the city of the High King holds danger for us?>> Xanedra asked, turning her head to look at the thoughtful expression on Ciramax's face.

<<Only as the face of the unknown,>> Ciramax returned. Abruptly his face creased with a wide smile.

<<But that's what being an elf is all about, right? Just like you said back at Sulin: a grand adventure, wrapped in a bow and dropped into our laps. We wouldn't be elves if we didn't unwrap the gift and see what is granted us.>>