Shadows Return

own?”
    Alec wasn’t amused. “I’m worried about him. He’s so still.”
    “He’s made from magic, Alec, and he’s used a lot of it, helping us.”
    “You think he can use himself up?”
    “I don’t know. He probably just needs more rest.”
    Alec found Seregil’s hand and grasped it tightly. “You’re really all right with me keeping him?”
    Seregil kissed the back of Alec’s head, glad that the thick braid had been spared after all. “I owe him my life, and yours. Whatever he really is, he stays with us. You have my word.”
    He listened as Alec’s breath slowly evened out, but found he wasn’t sleepy anymore. He stayed where he was, thankful that they were finally safe enough for him to savor the feeling of Alec’s body, whole and alive, pressed close to his. His hand rested on Sebrahn’s shoulder. The rhekaro’s skin felt colder than usual, and had since it faced down the demon creature.
    After a little while, however, Sebrahn sat up, the blanket slipping from his narrow shoulders. The bones of his chest and shoulders stood out in harsh relief under his white skin. He regarded Seregil for a long moment, then touched Alec’s cheek and whispered in his faint, scratchy little voice, “Ah-lek.”
    “He’s sleeping,” Seregil whispered.
    “Sleeeee-ping.”
    “Yes, that’s right.” Seregil blinked up at him, wondering if it was only his imagination that Sebrahn looked somehow more real, more ’faie.
             
    They reached Gedre without incident other than bad weather. Sebrahn did not speak again, not even to Alec.
    As they sailed into port in the rain, Seregil was glad to see Magyana and his sisters, Adzriel and Mydri, waiting there with the khirnari to meet them.
    “Oh my dear boys!” Adzriel exclaimed, kissing first Seregil, then Alec. “And you, as well.” She smiled at Thero and Micum. “You have the thanks of my clan for bringing them back. Come, let’s get you in out of the weather.”
    Alec was still a little unsteady, so it was Micum who carried Sebrahn off the ship, closely muffled in a cloak.
    Seregil stayed close to Alec. Thero and Magyana hung back, talking quietly.
    Riagil had sent a carriage for them and soon had them all safely behind closed doors in the clan house.
    Thero nodded to Alec. “It’s time to show them.”
    As Alec unwrapped Sebrahn and smoothed his tousled hair, Magyana said nothing but regarded the rhekaro for a long time in silence.
    “He can heal?” she asked at last.
    Alec filled a cup with water and showed her the trick. She lifted the blue flower from the water and smelled it, then set it aside without comment. Taking the rhekaro’s hand in hers, she stroked the hair back from his face.
    “Well?” he demanded, unnerved by her silence.
    “In all my travels, I’ve never encountered such a thing,” she replied. Rising, she left the room, gesturing for Thero to come with her.
             
    Thero followed her into the next room and closed the door. She cast a seal on it, ensuring that they would not be overheard.
    “What do you see when you look at it?” she asked.
    “I see an aura of light, and the hint of another form.”
    Magyana nodded, pressing her folded hands under her chin and closing her eyes.
    “What do you see?” Thero asked, as the surge of her power filled the room.
    Without opening her eyes, she replied softly, “I don’t understand how it is possible, but I see a dragon.”

Epilogue

    WINTER CAME EARLY this year, before the end of Erasin. Looking out from the shelter of the domed
colos
on the roof of the clan house, Seneth ä Matriel Danata Hâzadriël admired the way the moonlight glistened on the new fallen snow. From here she could see the entire valley below, her beautiful fai’thast, and the warm glimmer of lights in the villages and steadings. Her lands stretched from the head of the long valley to the gleaming peaks of the Ravensfell Pass far to the south. Here and there, in the highlands above, distant fires marked the villages of their neighbors, the Retha’noi.
    How long had it been, since she’d slept a whole night through? Weeks, it seemed. Night after night she woke from a sound sleep, feeling like she’d forgotten something very important. She usually ended up here, while the household slumbered below.
    Tonight she found her gaze straying to the Pass again. Twin watch fires burned there, steady and bright, but the sight gave her little comfort.
    Just then Uri knocked at the doorframe