Firstborn Read online

  Kith-Kanan did not enter the Gardens of Astarin by one of the paths. In his deerskin boots, he crept silently beside the shoulder-high wall of spell-shaped mulberry. He hoisted himself over the wall and dropped down on the other side, still without a sound. Crouching low, he moved toward the grove.

  The prince could hear the impatient rustle of footsteps inside the golden grove. In his mind he saw Hermathya pacing to and fro, arms folded, her red-gold hair like a flame in the center of the gilded trees. He slipped around to the entrance to the grove. Hermathya had her back to him, her arms folded tight with vexation. Kith-Kanan called her name.

  Hermathya whirled. “Kith! You startled me. Where have you been?”

  “Hurrying to you,” he replied.

  Her angry expression lasted only a moment longer, then she ran to him, her bright blue gown flying. They embraced in the arched entry of Silvanos’s retreat. The embrace became a kiss. After a moment, Kith-Kanan drew back a bit and whispered, “We’d best be wary. My father is in the tower. He might see us.”

  In answer, Hermathya pulled the prince’s face down to hers and kissed him again. Finally, she said breathlessly, “Now, let us hide.” They entered the shelter of the laurel grove.

  Under the elaborate rules of courtly manners, a prince and a well-born elf maiden could not consort freely, as Kith-Kanan and Hermathya had for the past half-year. Escorts had to accompany both of them, if they ever saw each other at all. Protocol demanded that they not be alone together.

  “I missed you terribly,” Hermathya said, taking Kith-Kanan’s hand and leading him to the gray granite bench. “Silvanost is like a tomb when you’re not here.”

  “I’m sorry I was late. Arcuballis had headwinds to fight all the way home.” This was not strictly true, but why anger her further? Actually Kith-Kanan had broken camp late because he had stayed to listen to two Kagonesti elves tell tall tales of adventures in the West, in the land of the humans.

  “Next time,” Hermathya said, tracing the line of Kith-Kanan’s jaw with one slender finger, “take me with you.”

  “On a hunting trip?”

  She nipped at his ear. Her hair smelled of sunshine and spice. “Why not?”

  He hugged her close, burying his face in her hair and inhaling deeply. “You could probably handle yourself right enough, but what respectable maiden would travel in the forest with a male not her father, brother, or husband?”

  “I don’t want to be respectable.”

  Kith-Kanan studied her face. Hermathya had the dark blue eyes of the Oakleaf Clan and the high cheekbones of her mother’s family, the Sunberry Clan. In her slender, beautiful face he saw passion, wit, courage —

  “Love,” he murmured.

  “Yes,” Hermathya replied. “I love you too.”

  The prince looked deep into her eyes and said softly, “Marry me, Hermathya.” Her eyes widened, and she pulled away from him, chuckling. “What is funny?” he demanded.

  “Why talk of marriage? Giving me a starjewel will not make me love you more. I like things the way they are.”

  Kith-Kanan waved to the surrounding golden laurels. “You like meeting in secret? Whispering and flinching at every sound, lest we be discovered?”

  She leaned close again. “Of course. That makes it all the more stimulating.”

  He had to admit his life had been anything but boring lately. Kith-Kanan caressed his lover’s cheek. Wind stirred through the gilded leaves as they drew closer. She entwined her fingers in his white hair. The prince thought no more of marriage as Hermathya filled his senses.

  *

  They parted with smiles and quiet touches on each other’s faces. Hermathya disappeared down the garden path with a toss of bronze-red hair and a swish of clinging silk. Kith-Kanan stood in the entrance of the golden grove and watched her until she was lost from sight. Then, with a sigh, he made for the palace.

  The sun had set and, as he crossed the plaza, the prince saw that the servants were setting lamps in the windows of the palace. All Silvanost glimmered with light by night, but the Palace of Quinari, with its massive tower and numerous tall windows, was like a constellation in the heavens. Kith-Kanan felt very satisfied as he jauntily ascended the steps by the main doors.

  The guards clacked their spears against their shoulder armor. The one on Kith-Kanan’s right said, “Highness, the speaker bids you go to the Hall of Balif.”

  “Well, I’d best not keep the speaker waiting,” he replied. The guards snapped to, and he passed on into the deep, arched opening. Even the prospect of a tongue-lashing by his father did little to lower Kith-Kanan’s spirits. He still breathed the clean, spicy scent of Hermathya, and he still gazed into the bottomless blue depths of her eyes.

  The Hall of Balif, named for the kender general who had once fought so well on behalf of the great Silvanos, took up an entire floor of the central tower. Kith-Kanan swung up the broad stone stairs, clapping servants on the back and hailing courtiers heartily. Smiles followed in the elf prince’s wake.

  Oddly, two guards stood outside the high bronze doors of the Hall of Balif. The doors were not usually guarded. As Kith-Kanan approached, one guard rapped on the bronze panel behind him with the butt of his spear. Silently Kith-Kanan stood by as the two soldiers pushed the heavy portals apart for him.

  The hall was indifferently lit by a rack of candles on the oval feasting table. The first face Kith-Kanan saw did not belong to his father, Sithel.

  “Sithas!”

  The tall, white-haired young elf stood up from behind the table. Kith-Kanan circled the table and embraced his twin brother heartily. Though they lived in the same city, they saw each other only at intervals. Sithas spent most of his time in the Temple of Matheri, where the priests had been educating him since he was a child. Kith-Kanan was frequently away, flying, riding, hunting.

  Ninety years they’d lived, and by the standards of their race they were barely adults. Time and habit had altered the twins, so much so that they were no longer exact copies of each other. Sithas, elder by scant minutes, was slim and pale, the consequence of his scholarly life. His face was lit by large hazel eyes, the eyes of his father and grandfather. On his white robe he wore a narrow red stripe, a tribute to Matheri, whose color it was.

  Kith-Kanan, because of his outdoor life, had skin almost as brown as his eyes. The life of a ranger had toughened him, broadened his shoulders and hardened his muscles.

  “I’m in trouble,” he said ruefully.

  “What have you done this time?” Sithas asked, loosening his grip on his twin.

  “I was out flying on Arcuballis —”

  Have you been scaring the farmers again?”

  “No, it’s not that. I was over the city, so I circled the Tower of the Stars —”

  “Blowing your horn, no doubt.”

  Kith-Kanan sighed. “Will you let me finish? I went round the tower, very gently, but who should be there on the high balcony but Fatherl He saw me and gave me that look.”

  Sithas folded his arms. “I was there too, inside. He wasn’t pleased.”

  His twin lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “What’s this all about? He didn’t call me here to chastise me, did he? You wouldn’t be here for that.”

  “No. Father called me back from the temple before you came home. He’s gone upstairs to fetch Mother. He’s got something to tell you.”

  Kith-Kanan relaxed, realizing he wasn’t going to get dressed down. “What is it, Sith?”

  “I’m getting married,” said Sithas.

  Kith-Kanan, wide-eyed, leaned back on the table. “By E’li! Is that all you have to say? ‘I’m getting married?’ “

  Sithas shrugged. “What else is there to say? Father decided that it’s time, so married I get.” Kith-Kanan grinned. “Has he picked a girl?”

  “I think that’s why he sent for you and Mother. We’ll all find out at the same time.”

  “You mean, you don’t know who it is yet?”

  “No.
There are fourteen suitable clans within House Cleric, so there are many prospective brides. Father has chosen one based on the dowry offered – and according to which family he wants to link with House Royal.”

  His brother’s eyes danced with merriment. “She will probably be ugly and a shrew, as well.”

  “That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she be healthy, well-born, and properly worship the gods,” Sithas said calmly.

  “I don’t know. I think wit and beauty ought to count for something,” Kith-Kanan replied. “And love. What about love, Sith? How do you feel about marrying a stranger?”

  “It is the way things are done.”

  That was so like him. The quickest way to insure Sithas’s cooperation was to invoke tradition. Kith-Kanan clucked his tongue and walked in a slow circle around his motionless twin. His words rang off the polished stone walls. “But is it fair?” he said, mildly mocking. “I mean, any scribe or smith in the city can choose his mate himself, because he loves her and she loves him. The wild elves of the woods, the green sea elves, do they marry for duty, or do they take as mate a loving companion who’ll bear them children and be a strength to them in their ancient age?”

  “I’m not any smith or scribe, much less a wild elf,” Sithas said. He spoke quietly, but his words carried as clearly as Kith-Kanan’s loud pronouncements. “I am firstborn to the Speaker of the Stars, and my duty is my duty.”

  Kith-Kanan stopped circling and slumped against the table. “It’s the old story, isn’t it? Wise Sithas and rash Kith-Kanan,” he said. “Don’t pay me any heed, I’m really glad for you. And I’m glad for me, too. At least I can choose my own wife when the time comes.”

  Sithas smiled. “Do you have someone in mind?”

  Why not tell Sithas? he thought. His twin would never give him away.

  “Actually,” Kith-Kanan began, “there is —”

  The rear door of the hall opened, and Sithel entered, with Nirakina at his side.

  “Hail, Father,” the brothers said in unison.

  The speaker waved for his sons to sit. He held a chair out for his wife, then sat himself. The crown of Silvanesti, a circlet of gold and silver stars, weighed heavily on his brow. He had come to the time in his life when age was beginning to show. Sithel’s hair had always been white, but now its silky blondness had become brittle and gray. Tiny lines were etched around his eyes and mouth, and his hazel eyes, the sign of the heritage of Silvanos, betrayed the slightest hint of cloudiness. All these were small, outward signs of the great burden of time Sithel carried in his lean, erect body. He was one thousand, five hundred years old.

  Though past a thousand herself, Lady Nirakina was still lithe and graceful. She was small by elven standards, almost doll-like. Her hair was honey brown, as were her eyes. These were traits of her family, Clan Silver Moon. A sense of gentleness radiated from her, a gentleness that soothed her often irritable husband. It was said about the palace that Sithas had his father’s looks and his mother’s temperament. Kith-Kanan had inherited his mother’s eyes and his father’s energy.

  “You look well,” Nirakina said to Kith-Kanan. “Was your trip rewarding?”

  “Yes, Lady. I do love to fly,” he said, after kissing her cheek.

  Sithel gave his son a sharp glance. Kith-Kanan cleared his throat and bid his father a polite greeting.

  “I’m glad you returned when you did,” Sithel said. “Has Sithas told you of his upcoming marriage?” Kith-Kanan admitted he had. “You will have an important part to play as well, Kith. As the brother of the groom, it will be your job to escort the bride to the Tower of the Stars —”

  “Yes, I will, but tell us who it is,” insisted the impatient prince.

  “She is a maiden of exceptional spirit and beauty, I’m told,” Sithel said. “Well-educated, well-born —”

  “Father!” Kith-Kanan pleaded. Sithas himself sat quietly, hands folded on his lap. Years of training in the Temple of Matheri had given him formidable patience.

  “My son,” Sithel said to Sithas, “Your wife’s name is Hermathya, daughter of Lord Shenbarrus of the Oakleaf Clan.”

  Sithas raised an eyebrow approvingly. Even he had noticed Hermathya. He said nothing, but nodded his acceptance.

  “Are you all right, Kith?” Nirakina asked. “You look quite pale.”

  To her surprise, Kith-Kanan looked as if his father had struck him across the face. The prince swallowed hard and nodded, unable to speak. Of all the eligible daughters, Hermathya was to marry Sithas. It was incomprehensible. It could not happen!

  None of his family knew of his love for her. If they knew, if his father knew, he’d choose someone else.

  “Ah,” Kith-Kanan managed to say, “who – who else knows of this?”

  “Only the bride’s family,” said Sithel. “I sent Shenbarrus acceptance of the dowry this morning.”

  A sinking feeling gripped Kith-Kanan. He felt like he was melting into the floor. Hermathya’s family already knew. There was no going back now. The speaker had given his word. He could not, in honor, rescind his decision without gravely offending Clan Oakleaf.

  His parents and brother began to discuss details of the wedding. A tremor passed through Kith-Kanan. He resolved to stand up and declare his love for Hermathya, declare that she was his and no one else’s. Sithas was his brother, his twin, but he didn’t know her. He didn’t love her. He could find another wife. Kith-Kanan could not find another love.

  He rose unsteadily to his feet. “I —” he began. All eyes turned to him.

  Think, for once in your life! He admonished himself. What will they say to you?

  “What?” said his father. “Are you ill, boy? You don’t look well.”

  “I don’t feel too well,” Kith-Kanan said hoarsely. He wanted to shout, to run, to smash and break things, but the massive calm of his mother, father, and brother held him down like a thick blanket. He cleared his throat and added, “I think all that flying has caught up with me.”

  Nirakina stood and put a hand to his face. “You do feel warm. Perhaps you should rest.”

  “Yes. Yes,” he said. “That’s just what I need. Rest.” He held the table edge for support.

  “I make the formal announcement when the white moon rises tonight. The priests and nobles will gather in the tower,” Sithel said. ‘You must be there, Kith.”

  “I – I’ll be there, Father,” Kith-Kanan said. “I just need to rest.”

  Sithas walked with his brother to the door. Before they went out, Sithel remarked, “Oh, and leave your horn at the palace, Kith. One act of impudence a day is enough.” The speaker smiled, and Kith-Kanan managed a weak grin in reply.

  “Shall I send a healer to you?” asked Nirakina.

  “No. I’ll be fine, Mother,” Kith-Kanan said.

  In the corridor outside, Sithas braced his brother’s shoulders and said, ‘Looks as if I’m to be lucky; both brains and beauty in my wife.”

  “You are lucky,” Kith-Kanan said. Sithas looked at him in concern. Kith-Kanan was moved to say, “Whatever happens, Sith, don’t think too badly of me.”

  Sithas frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Kith-Kanan inhaled deeply and turned to climb up the stairs to his room. “Just remember that nothing will ever separate us. We’re two halves of the same coin.”

  “Two branches of the same tree,” Sithas said, completing the ritual the twins had invented as children. His concern deepened as he watched Kith-Kanan climb slowly up the stairs.

  Kith-Kanan didn’t let his brother see his face contort with pain. He had only a scant two hours before Solinari, the white moon, rose above the trees. Whatever he was going to do, he had to think of it before then.

  *

  The great and noble of Silvanesti filed into the open hall of the Tower of the Stars. Rumors flew through the air like sparrows, between courtier and cleric, noble clan father and humble acolyte. Such assemblies in the tower were rare and usually involved a matter of state.
/>   A pair of young heralds, draped in bright green tabards and wearing circlets of oak and laurel, marched into the hall in perfect step. They turned and stood on each side of the great door. Slender trumpets went to their lips, and a stirring fanfare blared forth. When the horns ceased, a third herald entered.

  “Free Elves and True! Give heed to His Highness, Sithel, Speaker of the Stars!”

  Everyone bowed silently as Sithel appeared and walked to his emerald throne. There was a spontaneous cry of “All hail the speaker!” from the ranks of the nobles; the hall rang with elven voices. The speaker mounted the steps, turned, and faced the assembly. He sat down, and the hails died.

  The herald spoke again. “Sithas, son of Sithel, prince heir!”

  Sithas passed through the doorway, bowed to his father, and approached the throne. As his son mounted the seven steps to the platform, Sithel held out his hand, indicating his son should stand to the left of the throne. Sithas took his place, facing the audience.

  The trumpets blared again. “Lady Nirakina, wife, and Prince Kith-Kanan, son of Sithel!”

  Kith-Kanan entered with his mother on his arm. He had changed to his courtly robes of sky-blue linen, clothing he rarely wore. He moved stiffly down the center aisle, his mother’s hand resting lightly on his left arm.

  “Smile,” she whispered.

  “I don’t know four-fifths of them,” Kith-Kanan muttered.

  “Smile anyway. They know you.”