Darkwitch Rising by Sara Douglass

“Noah is not on trial,” the Lord of the Faerie said again.

Ringwalker stared at him, the muscles in his jaw working with anger, and Noah spoke softly into the silence.

“I did not know of my heritage, Ringwalker. It is nothing I can help. Ariadne trained me because there was no one else. Jane would not do it. And as for Weyland—I became his lover because Weyland, believe it or not, has wounds that need to be healed as well. I stayed his lover, because…”

Noah’s voice drifted off, and everyone stared at her.

She looked about, then shrugged. “I stayed his lover because it felt right to me.”

“And bred his child?” Ringwalker said.

“I have given birth to a daughter.” Noah looked to Long Tom. “Do you remember, Long Tom, when you came to me in this life many years ago? You said that I needed to heal wounds. Well, my place in Weyland’s bed, and the daughter I gave him, do just that.”

“What wounds?” Long Tom asked. “What wounds are these you needed to heal?”

“Weyland was wounded as much as anyone in pursuit of this terrible Game. He was loved and betrayed, his daughter taken from him. That was what shaped the Minotaur, not natural evil.”

“And undoubtedly this is why,” Ringwalker said, “filled with this spirit of generosity, you have handed four of the bands of Troy to Weyland.”

Noah smiled, very sadly. “I have not given them to Weyland. I am sheltering them.”

Ringwalker took two angry steps forward, jerking his chin up and to one side to show Noah the vicious red marks about his neck. “See these? They were inflicted by Weyland wielding the power of the kingship bands! This was—”

“If Weyland had been truly wielding the power of the kingship bands,” Noah said, “you would not be here now.”

“Noah.” The Lord of the Faerie stood up, walking slowly over to her and taking both her hands in his. “Noah, tell us what it is you do, and why.”

“I do not trust the Troy Game,” Noah said. “I am not dancing to its tune any more.”

“Fine words,” said Ringwalker, “and doubtless put in your mouth by Weyland.”

Again that soft, sad smile. “No. Words put in my mouth by knowledge, Ringwalker.”

“You are for the land,” said the Lord of the Faerie. “And you are the same Noah you have always been.”

Noah’s eyes flickered towards that strange incandescence behind the throne. “Jane gave you my message?”

“Aye.”

“And you trusted it?”

The Lord of the Faerie smiled, his hands tightening about Noah’s. “Aye.”

Noah breathed out a long sigh of pure relief. “Thank you, Coel,” she whispered.

Then she looked to Long Tom. “Long Tom, you have been my friend through two lives. You were the one to show me how the land and the Game had contracted an alliance. Do you still support this alliance?”

“It no longer tastes so fine to me,” Long Tom said, “but neither does this alliance you have made with Weyland.”

“There is something I should say about Weyland Orr,” said the Lord of the Faerie, dropping Noah’s hands and looking about the group. “Firstly, he did not cause the plague, and, secondly,” the Lord of the Faerie drew in a deep breath, “he is of the Faerie himself.”

Several of the group gave disbelieving cries.

“How do you know this?” said Ringwalker.

“Noah brought him to the Realm of the Faerie, with my permission. This is when we both discovered that Weyland hadn’t caused the plague, and that he was of the Faerie himself. The Faerie accepted him, although it was an uncomfortable acceptance.”

“Catling caused the plague,” Noah said. “The Troy Game itself is engaged in murdering as many Londoners as possible.”

“Why?” cried Ringwalker. “Why?”

“In an effort to turn me against him,” said Noah. “Who knows what the Game will do now that ploy has failed? Ringwalker, do you truly think the Troy Game wants to be subjected to bit and bridle? I don’t think so. I think much of the evil which has gripped England and London is just as much the Troy Game’s doing as that of Asterion, or any other malevolent entity.”

Now Noah looked back to the Lord of the Faerie. “I will do what is best for the land, but I will not do what is best for the Troy Game. Not any more.” She stepped closer to the Lord of the Faerie, placing her hand softly against his cheek, and once more calling him by the name by which she’d first known him so many lives ago. “Coel, I am this land before anything else. Before my love for you, or for Ringwalker. Before my duties as Mistress of the Labyrinth. Before what I feel for, or owe to Weyland. And very, very definitely before what the Troy Game has planned for me. Once, perhaps, the land and the Game were wedded in harmony, but I no longer think this the case. Please, trust me in this.”

The Lord of the Faerie lifted his own hand, and pressed hers the tighter against his cheek. “I will trust you, Noah. I do not like this, not at all…gods damn it, my love, be careful in what you do.”

Ringwalker’s face twisted. “Asterion has a fine champion in you, Noah.” He turned, walked away several paces, then vanished.

Twelve

Whitehall Palace, London

I can understand,” Noah said to Marguerite, Kate and Catharine, “if you do not wish to support me.”

“You ask us to support a stranger alliance than we could ever have imagined,” said Marguerite.

“What I do, I do for the land,” Noah said. “Everything is subservient to this.”

“But Weyland…” Kate said, shivering a little and wrapping her arms about herself like a child.

“I had always thought him foul,” Noah said, “and there can be no doubt he has done foul things. And yet…” she shook her head as if she could not believe what she was saying.

“Do you love him?” Marguerite said.

“Love?” Noah gave a short, humourless laugh. “Oh, aye, whatever love is. I loved Brutus-now-Ringwalker for many lives, over thousands of years. All uselessly, I think. All he has ever wanted is the Troy Game, whatever words of love he has spoken to me.”

“Noah,” said Catharine, very gently, “Ringwalker is distressed beyond words. All he has wanted, for so very long, is to be one with you. Now you deny him this, and turn instead to the Minotaur. He is angry, and for the time being he will accept nothing of what you say. Do not blame him for his pain.”

There was a silence, and Noah dropped her eyes and looked away.

“Noah,” said the Lord of the Faerie, “you say that you are for the land, but the land cannot have the goddess of the waters and the god of the forest at odds each with the other. If the land is to survive, then you need to make the Great Marriage with Ringwalker.”

“And so I will,” she said, “once he decides to walk with me and not against me.”

To one side Marguerite gave a great exaggerated sigh. “Why do I have the feeling that this dilemma is going to pursue us through the next twenty-five lives?”

“Noah,” the Lord of the Faerie said, “please do not turn against Ringwalker.”

“Before anything else,” she said, “I am for the land. That shall come first, always, before Ringwalker, before the Troy Game, and even before Weyland.” She cast her eyes about the entire group. “Trust me, please.”

And then, before any could respond, she vanished.

“Gods…” Marguerite said on a long breath. Then she raised her face to the Lord of the Faerie. “My lord? What should we do?”

He was still staring at the spot where Noah had vanished. “I swore once that I would be her companion on the road to her destination. I am no longer sure what that destination is…in truth, I think that destination may be the most terrifying objective I could possibly imagine. But…but I said I would be her companion, and so I will be. And you?”

Marguerite looked at Catharine and at Kate, then spoke for all three. “If she is for the land, then we are for her. Even if, as you say, she takes us on a journey more strange than we could ever have thought.”

From far, far away, came two simple, whispered words. Thank you.

Weyland.

“Go away!” he hissed. He stood in the kitchen of the house in Idol Lane, clothes strewn about, food scraps littering the surface of the table and the floor, windows shuttered against the light.

Weyland.

He held Grace in his arms, his touch gentle. “No. You shall not have her!”

I am not Ariadne.

Then, suddenly, she was there, giving Weyland a brief smile before reaching out to touch Grace’s short bright curls. Noah’s face relaxed and gentled at that touch, and she drew close, her eyes entirely on the baby.