All around them was the stench of death.

"Where are we, Uncle?" Ian rode next to Ashe, slightly behind Evaynan as the hunting party moved quietly down a path that seemed almost familiar to him. The trees here were leafless, the bark a strange milky gray, and a number of dead animals had been found lying on the path. What was most disturbing about the latter was that there was no sign of a violent death, yet the animals had all died in obvious agony. Poison, Ian thought.

Ashe seemed as uneasy as his nephew. "We're near the Pool of the Goddess. It's just around the next bend in the road. I like this not, Ian; something is not right." He pointed. "Look at the stream! That water is black !"

Ian looked at the water and nodded. Like the Forest, the Pool left part of itself behind on every plane the Green Silences ever had visited, a Shadow Pool, so to speak. He'd seen the one left behind on his home plane, about a day's ride from Camelot, and had meant to bring Skye there sometime to see its clear waters. Now he wondered if it looked like this there as well.

Evaynan drew rein with a curse. Another dead animal lay in the dirt at his horse's feet, but this one was different. It was larger, and it took a few seconds to realize that this was some sort of badger. Ian frowned and then slid down to examine the prints in the dirt. "Something else passed this way; a lot of somethings." He spread his hand to measure the size of one set of prints." These have got to be the biggest damn wolves I've ever seen. And they headed away, back down the path." He remounted quickly. "They're behind us. They are between us and the herd, Grandsire"

The Lord of the Green Silences frowned. "We'll go on to the Pool first. Then we'll find these wolves." He led them on, and for the first time in memory their horses had to be coaxed to carry them further. When they finally had the Pool in sight, it became clear why the horses had become skitterish. Dead animals lay all around it, some victims of poisoned waters, others of those that had survived the water and turned into the twisted beasts. The Pool itself was rancid, full not of clear water but of some thick viscous liquid. Evaynan's reins shook as his hands quivered in grief and rage. "A Mother's tears formed the Pool and its Fountain; only a mother's tears will redeem it."

"It smells of blood," said Ashe "Someone has defiled the Tears of Mezumiiru". The other elves looked shocked, even the normally sarcastic Yarrow. "Come. We best deal with the results of this before we can repair the damage."

With that, the hunters turned and began following the trail of the beasts.

Then Ian realized where this pack was heading, and the frantic ride began.

**********

No matter what, he was not going to look behind him at what lay there on the ground.

The creatures, whatever they were, had pulled back a bit after the first attack, and the herd guards had quickly made sure any left behind were truly dead. The king stallion and the swiftest of the herd had joined the battle, and they formed the outer perimeter of a hastily fashioned ring of defense, their legs and sides spattered with blood. One of them had gone down fighting, and from somewhere out of Shane's sight they could hear the wolf-things fighting over the carcass.

"The horses can't keep them all away, you know." Trust Duir to see the worst, thought Shane. His cousin had taken a bite in the arm and a claw mark on the face. He looked at Shane's bitten hand and frowned "That doesn't look good. They might be poisonous, I suppose."

"No more than your words. How many of us are down?"

"Two of the herd boys. And Brennus."

Ian nodded. He would not look behind him. He would not! Instead he looked around at remaining guards. Four had bows. Six, including himself, had swords; he vaguely recalled he had taken it from one of the dead boys. Ten and the horses, and some of the beasts would, as Duir had said, manage to slip under and around the hooves to reach the elves.

Four bows. Six swords.

What would his father do? Or Uncle Corwin? Or Blackhawke?

He gestured with the sword. "Form a circle. Bowmen in the middle, swords on the outside. Shoot only at what you can hit easiest, and the rest of us will hold them off."

Duir bristled. "Who said we would listen to your orders?" As it happened, Duir was another with a sword.

"I'm Ian Blackthorn's son. I've grown up listening to soldiers talk about battles. You have a better plan? Anyone of you?" He looked at their faces. No one spoke. "Alright then, let's do it before they come at us again."

They formed the circle. Brennus lay at its center, barely breathing. Shane could not look there again. He couldn't. Duir stood to his left.

"Here they come!"

Grey shapes streaked past hooves by inches as Shane held his sword as Ashe had shown him. `Where are you, Da?' he thought.

And then he stopped thinking.

11/2000


Horses of Dawn X

"They'll have us on the next one, won't they?"

Shane looked at Duir; the older elfling looked more disgusted than afraid, no doubt unhappy at the company he was keeping as he died. The beasts had managed to break through the outer ring of furious horses three times now, and all Shane could say for certain about what had happened over the last hour was that they'd lost two of the swordsmen to the attacks. It nearly was three when one of the huge gray creatures had hurdled one of the two to come at Duir's back, but Shane's warning cry had alerted the other and together they had beat the wolf like thing away. It was the only clear memory he had of the whole fight. Now he tried not to let his fear show in front of his kinsman. Try as he might, he could not deny that Duir most likely was dead on, but he was determined not to give the other the satisfaction. "We can hold on! Someone from camp will come see where we are."

"If they aren't dead already themselves, you mean."

"You aren't helping anything talking like that. We'll make it, watch and see."

One of the archers smiled sourly. "Well, if we do, it won't be because of my skill with the bow. We're out of arrows."

Shane kept his eyes on the shadows slinking about the edge of the field. "Then two of you take up the swords from the two who are down." Still another beast broke through and charged the group. As before, no one tried to take it by himself, but instead all hacked away wherever they could. The monster howled and swerved away, his wounds slowing him enough that the enraged king stallion was able to deliver a crushing blow and then trample the thing in the grass.

The boys gave a ragged cheer and shouted insults at their enemy. But as two more shapes even larger than the one before used their pack mate's death to slip by the herd, the boys' voices faded. These two did not come straight at them, but rather in a long curve, loping low to the ground. Shane moved his sword to trace their arc, but he was tired and the blade moved slowly.

Then a big bay horse came pounding up from behind the survivors and a tall figure slid out of the saddle, his sword drawn and ready before he hit the ground. One of the beasts came at this new prey, but Ian Blackthorn stepped forward to meet the charge and cleaved the attacker's skull with a two handed swing of the sword. Before the second wolf could slip away, a command in Sithryn brought the bay horse about to kick with his rear legs and send it flying.

Off in the distance a horn blew, and then the men of Lord Evaynan burst into view, and Shane let the sword drop to the ground. His father ran over to hold him as the hunt roared by in determined pursuit of the pack. "Shane, are you alright?" Ian looked in dismay at his son's clothes; what small area that wasn't covered in blood was torn by tooth or claw. "Let me look at you. Where were you hurt?"

"I'm fine, da. But Brennus..." He pulled his father over to where the herd master lay in the grass. "He's hurt bad!"

Ian crouched beside the man and felt for a pulse, an act made harder by a great wound on the side of the throat, barely missing the carotid. The boys had pressed some cloths up against the tear, but they were now soaked with blood. Ian looked at Shane and shook his head. There was a choked back sob from one of the other herd guards and a heart-felt curse from Duir. Ian stood. "I'm sorry."

Shane stood numbly; looking down at a man he had been talking with only a few hours ago. He made no resistance as Ian led him away and towards the river, just letting his father take him by the hand to the water's edge." We'll get these washed and sewn." Ian pulled the tunic up over the boy's head, relieved to see no serious wounds on his torso. "Here, sit down and let me help take off the boots. Shane did as he was told, then looked up. "Who will Evaynan make herd master now?"

"He won't. The Horses will. Here, stand up and slip out of the breeches. They'll be as good as new tomorrow."

"I don't want them back. I won't wear those again."

Ian nodded. "Alright. You clean up and I'll get my cloak from my saddlebag." He watched as Shane waded into the river a few yards from where the king stallion and others were letting the river's current wash the blood from their hooves and legs. Then Shane turned and looked back to the shore.

"Now I know why you wear black. It's to cover the blood."

11/2000


Horses of Dawn XI

They sent Ailim and two others back to the stars that night, the three bodies laid side by side on a large funeral pyre. Shane, now clad in a fresh set of leathers, but these green colored, stood with his father and kinsmen as the embers flew up to the sky in a bright stream and then blinked out of sight. Brennus would be sent home to his own gods in the morning; the boy supposed they would bury him in the fashion of humans.

Afterwards they all went back to the camp and sat around a smaller fire, singing songs and drinking to the memory of the fallen. Even Ian sang a duet with Uncle Ashe, who then sang a song by himself that took Shane by surprise, a barracks ditty about maids and warriors. The expression on Shane's face must have mirrored his inner astonishment, for his great uncle saw it and began to laugh so hard his face turned red. But when Evaynan stood and cleared his throat, the circle hushed as all listened to his words.

"We've suffered greatly these past few days... Aillim..the others..and Brennus. We will hunt down the rest of this pack and wipe it out. But the more important matter lies in the Green Silences. Someone has defiled the Pool of Mezumiiru. From what we are able to determine, the desecration extends across the planes, befouling each part of it left behind as a Shadow Pool. Ian, I ask you to seek out the Pool on your plane and access the damage there. Ashe. my son, I ask you to seek out others from those places the Silences have visited in its journey. We must know the full extent of this taint." Heads nodded as a general discussion broke out. Only Yarrow seemed hesitant over this plan, but Shane was too tired and still grieving for Brennus to notice. He went off to bed..

********

In his dream the king stallion stood over him, the great eyes staring into Shane's soul. "Not me", Shane whispered. "I cannot leave my family." The horse nodded his head once, and then vanished, as the elfling at long last slid off into a deep sleep.

**********

Shane was wrong. In the hour just before dawn they sent Brennus home on a funeral pyre as well. All the elves without exception gathered to pay their respects to the herdmaster, and Evaynan himself lit the pyre. Just as the first rays of dawn lit the sky, the fire collapsed inwards, sending a great cloud of embers into the air. For just the briefest of moments it hung there, until the Horses of Dawn came thundering by, and as the herd ran off into the morning, the embers were pulled along behind it like a glowing tail in the sky. They watched until the Horses and embers vanished in a flash of sunlight, and then the three visitors from Camelot said their farewells and made their way to their own horses and gear.

"They're gone, aren't they?" Shane looked at his father. "They're gone to look for the new herdmaster."

*********

Far to the east of Camelot, on the Hungarian steppes, a young boy hears the thunder of hooves coming, it seems, out of the very air. Then suddenly he can see them, the most beautiful horses he has ever seen, and he knows he wants nothing else but to be with them, ride with them, go where they go. How can he not, having seen them?

How could he not?
He waits until one draws even, grabs a handful of mane….
And rides away into the dawn.

11/2000