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outpost lay before him. Rain took another step. The air around him rippled like water in a pond.
    With one more stride, Rain passed through the wall and disappeared from view.
    "Spit and scorch me," Dev breathed. He glanced at Marissya and Dax, then charged after Rain, plunging headfirst into what seemed like solid stone. The air rippled again, and Lord Teleos vanished too.
    "Spirit weave," Kiel said, his eyes sweeping over the mountainside. There was no sign of Rain or Lord Teleos, only the rear wall of the outpost and, beyond that, the tumbled remains of Teleon scattered across the mountainside, tufts of cliff grass and stands of hardy mountain trees waving in the breeze.
    "Scorching clever one," Bel said. "They're using the magic-shadow off the Mists to mask the energy of the weave. Not even a Spirit master would see it until he was almost on top of it."
    "Well?" Kieran said with an eager grin. He held out a hand to Lillis. "What are we waiting for? Let's go see what's behind the weave."
    With a burbling laugh, she stuck her hand in his and they ran up the trampled path after Rain and Teleos. Lorelle grabbed Kiel's hand and yanked the Water master with her as she darted forward in hot pursuit.
    Ellysetta, Bel, and Sol followed close behind, and when they stepped through the rippling wall of illusion and cast eyes on the sight beyond, Ellysetta's jaw dropped open in stunned wonder.
    "Bright Lord save me," Sol whispered, staring awestruck at the gleaming magnificence before him. "I've never seen anything so beautiful."
    "It's like a magical palace from a Fey tale," she breathed.
    They were standing at the open, arching gate of an immense mountain fortress of unparalleled grace and beauty. Silvery blue stone soared high into the sky in a dazzling display of Fey artistry and architecture. Crenellated walls gave way to lush, gracefully terraced gardens bursting with trees, fountains, fragrant shrubs, and flowers. Pennants in the bold colors of House Teleos fluttered in the breeze from every tower and along the series of interior walls that ringed up the mountainside and circled the upper keep with level after level of protection and silvery blue beauty.
    "Ellie! Papa! Come look!" Lillis and Lorelle stood in the center of a small grassy park nestled against the second inner wall. They laughed and danced beneath the graceful, arching branches of cherry trees as pale pink petals rained softly down upon them. Kieran and Kiel stood nearby, watching the children with indulgent smiles.
    Lord Teleos stood dumbstruck at Rain's side as Ellysetta and Sol crossed the lower courtyard to join the twins. "You did it," he said. "You restored her to her former beauty."
    "Not completely," Rain admitted. He dragged his gaze away from Ellysetta and the children and gave Devron Teleos his full attention. "A number of the gardens and buildings on the middle levels are still just Spirit weaves, but the walls and gates are real, and defensible, as is the manor at the top."
    "Even so … this is an amazing feat. How did you manage it?"
    "Three thousand Fey stand guard at the great war castles of Chatok and Chakai beyond the Mists. While we journeyed across Celieria, they came through the Mists to prepare a suitable home for the Feyreisa's family. And to prepare Teleon for battle once more."
    Lord Teleos turned to him in surprise. "You think the Eld will strike here? With the Mists blocking any hope of entrance to the Fading Lands?"
    Rain looked across the flagstone-cobbled courtyard to the lower garden, where Ellysetta, Sol, and the twins were inspecting a marble fountain of dancing maidens whose slender, upstretched fingers rained veils of clear water into a small pond.
    His expression lost any hint of softness. "If the Eld come," he said, "I doubt it will be passage through the Mists they're after."

Chapter two

    In sorrow, the blood-sown earth despairs, and granite stone weeps bitter tears.
    In fields once green, love lies entombed beneath a silent