ries and songs. Something had happened to the wishsong in the
freeing of the land’s magic at Southwatch. All it could do now
was what it had once done—create images. But that was
enough for Par and Coil to tell the stories, just like before. Coil
would resist leaving Shady Vale, of course. But Par thought he
could talk him into it.
438
The Talismans of Shannara 439
The Shadowen were gone from the cities of Callahom, and
there was a growing determination among the members of the
population that the Federation occupiers should be gone as
well. Almost immediately Padishar Creel began making plans
for a free-bom-instigated revolt that would drive the South-
landers from Callahom for good. He told the men who aided
him that his parents had once owned land in Callahom. The
Federation had imprisoned and then exiled them, and he had
been given to an aunt to raise. He had never seen his parents,
but he had heard that his father was commonly known as
Baron Creel.
Morgan Leah kept his promise to Steff and went back into
the Eastland to join the Dwarf resistance in its fight against the
Federation. Many Roh went with him, no longer wondering if
she was making the right choice, no longer troubled by the
ghost of Quickening. Morgan told her he wanted her to come.
They would find Granny Elise and Auntie Jilt, and they would
stay until the Dwarves were free again. Then they would return
to the Highlands and he would show her his cabin in the hills.
That was what he said, but she thought that maybe he was say-
ing something more.
Wren Elessedil went back into the Westland as Queen of the
Elves, mindful of her vow to see to it that the Elves resumed
the old practice of going out into the Four Lands as healers.
With Triss and Tiger Ty and now even Barsimmon Oridio
backing her, she did not think the High Council would ques-
tion her further. Her healers would come from among the Cho-
sen. They would be caretakers not only of the Gardens of Life
and the Ellcrys but of all the earth. They would not be ac-
cepted at first, but they would not give up. After all, it was not
in the nature of Elves to quit.
The war with the Federation intensified for a while and then
died away as the Southlanders began to withdraw back into
their home country once more. Without the Shadowen to influ-
ence the Coalition Council, and with the defeat of their army
at the Valley of Rhenn, interest in pursuing the war quickly be-
gan to fade. The uprisings in Callahom and the Eastland led to
growing dissatisfaction with the whole program of Southland
expansion, and finally the Federation abandoned the outlying
lands completely.
440 The Talismans of Shannara
Time passed, and the seasons turned.
Paranor sat undisturbed through the fall and winter, rising up
out of the shadowed forests that sheltered it, hemmed by the
vast peaks of the Dragon’s Teeth, a dark gathering of walls and
parapets, battlements and towers. Now and again, travelers
would pass by, but none dared enter the Druid’s Keep. It was
said by most to be haunted, a playground for the spirits, a
crypt for the souls of Druids dead and gone. Some said a moor
cat prowled within and sometimes without, as black as night,
as big as a horse, and with eyes of fire. Some said the moor
cat could speak like a man.
Within the Keep, Walker Boh slept the Druid Sleep undis-
turbed. Though his body rested, his spirit went forth often
across the land, speeding on the wind to its far comers, riding
the clouds and the backs of waves. Walker dreamed while he
slept of things gone and of things to come, of what had been
and of what should be. He dreamed of a new Druid Council,
of a gathering together of the wisest men and women of the
Races, of a pooling of knowledge that would let the Four
Lands grow and prosper. He dreamed of peace. His dreams
stretched farther than the journeys he embarked upon in spirit