became pregnant, Eowen warned me that if my daughter did not
leave Morrowindl before you were born, both of you would
die. She had seen it in a vision. She told me as well that Alleyne
could never return, but that one day you must and that your
coming would save the Elves.”
She took a deep breath. “I know. I felt as you must now.
How can this be true? I did not want Alleyne to go. But I knew
that Eowen’s visions were never wrong. So I summoned Alleyne
and had Eowen repeat what she had told to me. Alleyne did not
hesitate, although I know she was inwardly reluctant. She said
she would go, that she would see to it that the baby was kept
safe. She never mentioned herself. That was your mother. I still
had possession of the Elfstones, passed down to me through the
union of my parents. I gave them to Alleyne to keep her safe,
first changing their appearance with a bit of my own magic to
see to it that they would not be immediately recognizable or
appear to have any value.
“Alleyne was to return to the Westland with her husband.
She was to journey from there to Shady Vale and reestablish
contact with the descendants of the Ohmsfords who had gone
back when the Elves had come to Morrowindl. I never knew if
she did. She disappeared from my life for nearly three years.
Eowen could only tell me that she-and you-were safe.
“Then, a little more than fifteen years ago now, Alleyne de-
cided to return. I don’t know what prompted that decision, only
that she came. She gave you the leather bag with the Elfstones,
placed you in the care of the Ohmsfords in Shady Vale, and
flew back with her husband to us.”
She shook her head slowly, as if the idea of her daughter’s
return were incomprehensible even now. “By then, the demons
had overrun Morrowindl; the city was all that was left to us.
The Keel had been formed of our magic to protect us, but the
demons were everywhere without. Wing Riders were coming in
less and less frequently. The Roc Alleyne and her husband were
riding came down through the vog and was struck by some sort
of missile. He landed short of the city gates. The demons . .
She stopped, unable to continue. There were tears in her
eyes. “We could not save them,” she finished.
Wren felt a great hollowness open within. In her mind, she
saw her mother die. Impulsively she leaned forward and put her
arms around her grandmother, the last of her family, the only
tie that remained to her mother and her father, and hugged her
close. She felt the queen’s head lower to her shoulder and the
slender arms come about her in reply. They sat in silence for a
long time, just holding each other. Wren tried to conjure up
images of her mother’s face in her mind and failed. All she could
see now was her grandmother’s face. She was conscious of the
fact that however deep her own loss, it would never match the
queen’s.
They pulled away from each other finally, and the queen
smiled once more, radiant, bracing. “I am so glad you have come,
Wren,” she repeated. “I have waited a very long time to meet
you.”
“Grandmother,” Wren said, the word sounding odd when
she spoke it. “I still don’t understand why I was sent. Allanon
told me that I was to find the Elves because there could be no
healing of the Lands until they returned. And now you tell me
Eowen has foretold that my coming will save the Elves. But what
difference does my being here make? Surely you would have
returned long ago if you were able.”
The smile faded slowly. “It is more complicated than that, I
am afraid.”
“How can it be more complicated? Can’t you leave, if you
choose?”
“Yes, child, we can leave.”
“If you can leave, why don’t you? What is it that keeps you?
Do you stand because you must? Are these demons come from
the Forbidding? Has the Ellcrys failed again?”