Remnant of Power

Chapter Forty-six

Timod

"Did you not explain who you were to the mage?" Digheldan asked grimly as he greeted the six remaining Dryads standing in front of him.

"We had no chance to speak, Sire. The mage had concealed the soldiers. We could neither hear nor sense them in the forest. The first we knew of them was when they leapt in front of us, and smashed into Ryandor, Sirin and Greann. Ryandor called to the mage as he came towards her, and explained our mission, but he laughed at her and said the King would laugh too, before he killed us and burnt our forest."

Vitella stepped forward. "Sire, there's something urgent we have to tell you." She waited to make sure she had Digheldan's full attention. "The mage had Starstone. That's what gave him his power." She let him digest this fact. "And Sire," she lifted her arm to point to Yavenna. "The Princess has some too. She wears it around her neck."

Behind them, uproar broke out. A crowd of Dryads surged forward, a forest of hands reached to grab Yavenna's pendant. She slapped them away.

"Silence," roared Digheldan. "Stand back, Dryads. Excuse them, Princess, this is a very emotive subject. Come now, we'll go to the hall to discuss this in private. Dryads, stand back. I will inform you what we find out after we have had private discussions with the Ithrim and the Talahund."

Digheldan barged through the crowd into the meeting hall, and stopped in front of a table. Treghanna walked in shortly afterwards, appointing two large Dryads to prevent anyone else entering.

"These are indeed dark tidings, friends. In fact, this is probably the worst news anyone could ever bring. Princess Yavenna," Digheldan asked quietly. "What can you tell me about your necklace?"

Yavenna looked deep into the Dryad king's eyes, trying to weigh up his character. Despite his former coldness, now she only saw concern and wisdom and felt reassured enough to tell him what she knew.

"I can remember my mother always wearing it. She gave it to me the day before she died. Then when I came to Arvad and I first saw the mage, it felt warm to the touch. But I never knew it was anything other than a silver pendant."

"Thank you. And if you escaped from the King, you must have lived in the castle. Do you know how many mages he has?"

"He has a mage called Gildron; the one who attacked us today wasn't Gildron, but I don't know his name, and I think there is one more..." she looked up as Treghanna glided closer "...also, the King is looking for something. That's why he's digging up the ground. And it's Zorad who's told him to look for it, but he wants it for himself as well. I overheard him say this to his scheming minister, Lord Rassten."

Treghanna shook her head, "Long have we feared this, my husband." She turned to the others. "Yet years have passed, and all has seemed peaceful in Arvad, and even all over Aeldenarth. It is true that over the past two years or so we have heard rumours of troops moving, and of creatures not seen before. And the King of Menendreth has been on the throne for many years, but yet not too many, if he was very young when he inherited the throne. But we were so confident that there was no power in the world other than the greed of men, that we took no notice of the rumours, thinking that we had destroyed the only thing that could harm us. We've been remiss, we've grown lazy, we haven't cared for the land and its trees as we should have done, and this is our reward. Rumours told us King of Menendreth has found a part of the Starstone and he is using its power. From the sound of it, he's looking for more. And he's making Ulric, as his vassal, dig up the whole of his kingdom in search of it." She lifted her eyes to Yavenna, "And you too, have a piece of the star, a remnant of the power we fought to destroy."

"I never knew what it was, I've told you," burst out Yavenna, twisting her pendant furiously. "And he doesn't only want to dig up Arvad. I see now why Zorad wanted Ulric to marry me. So that my father would not be able to prevent him digging up Tarhasta. I was to be used as a ransom!"

"But why is it Tarhasta as well? And what is this Starstone?" growled Ragnar, rubbing his whiskers with a paw.

Treghanna sighed and moved her chair closer to the table. She clasped her hands together.

"Thousands of years ago, not long after the world was made, a star fell to earth on the edge of our kingdom. And as it lay sparkling in the ground, unimaginably beautiful, it gave off a rainbow of different shades of blue light. For a long time, it was too hot to even get near to. But when it cooled, Dryads, as well as men, were drawn by its beauty and wanted to carve pieces off it, to hold pieces of star in their hand. As stories grew of the power and strength it gave to men, they wanted it for more than its beauty. And men fought over it, for any that had seen it wanted more of it. But then many humans who possessed the stone grew weak and took to their beds with a strange wasting disease and then died; it was as if the power of it was too much for some of them, and so to protect them, because we Dryads were put in the world to create and to nurture, we told them we would destroy it. But the humans still craved the rock, even when they grew weak and ill, they would not give it up. And so, a war began between men and Dryads. Those men who were not made weak by the stone were made very strong by it. And some of them set our forest on fire and destroyed it. So we hunted down those who burnt our kingdom and then we searched for all the pieces of the stone. Because of men's anger we moved our kingdom here, far away from where the rock had fallen. It's a painful memory. Many of us here lost loved ones. We thought we'd destroyed it, but still through the years we knew there was the possibility of some more of it being found."

"Before the star fell to the ground, it lit up the sky, as if it had exploded. It is possible that parts of it may have landed in Arvad, or even Tarhasta. In those days, we Dryads lived in Menendreth, which is where the star fell. We only moved to Arvad after the war, and it was then that Esa created the Thirdkinds."

She reached past Channa to Yavenna, put her hand out and touched the Princess's pendant lightly. "Your remnant of Starstone has been coated in silver, but it is still Starstone, and it contains great power. You'd better keep it. Although I can hardly bear to look upon it, to destroy this piece now would be foolish."

Whilst his wife was speaking, Digheldan had been pacing slowly around the hall. As she stopped he walked back up to the group.

"It would seem that our worst fear has come to pass. Ulric is a formidable enemy, and with Starstone in his possession he could be unbeatable. The King of Menendreth is the overlord of all the countries up to the Eastern Sea. I fear to imagine the power he could wield with Starstone. Truly, it is as if an abyss has opened up in front of us. I wonder how long we can stand balanced on the edge of it."

"Yet Sire," interrupted Giryan. "We do not know how much of the Starstone King Zorad has, it could be that he only has one small piece, or that he's given some away. That would explain Ulric and Zorad's urgency."

"You're right Giryan, there's no way of knowing. But one thing's clear from today's attack. We know now that unless we join you to fight Ulric's forces, he'll send his troops against us. We must go to war. I believe you agreed to meet the army of men south of Gelenburg in two days' time?" Giryan nodded. "Well, we have a few hours to arm our people. You must leave at dusk."

right now." HJ]u