Crystalyn quelled a sigh and swallowed her admonishment, it would serve no purpose. The Valen regarded her with obvious adoration for some reason; it shone deep inside his intelligent gaze. “Do you know where Durandas and the Lore Mother are positioned for their attack with those that can still battle?”
“I do, Sarra—”
Crystalyn interrupted. “Good. Tell Durandas to prepare his band of refugees to exit the Vale from the south draw. If he cannot guarantee safe passage through it, he is to send word immediately, for we will work our way down from here once you leave. After that, but only if the way is clear, send a trusted messenger to Lore Rayna and the wounded. Get them moving toward us. Can you do this?”
“Yes, Sarra’esiah.”
“Then go, make haste. May the One watch over you.”
RaCorren bowed deeply and then vanished downhill moving faster than she would’ve thought possible for one of his great size who descended a steep mountain slope.
Crystalyn returned her attention to Kara Laurel. “Let’s talk about what you know about the vermin ransacking the Vale. Make it quick. We shouldn’t stay here long.” As much as Crystalyn hated to leave the view the quarry provided, there were many people to get to safety.
Brushing at a dirt clump on her yellow skirt, Kara Laurel left it alone after she’d succeeded in smudging it. “For now, I cannot say how I know; you must accept what I tell you. The attack was staged not for the decimation of the Vale people or even the great falun trees.”
Atoi was suddenly beside her. “What else could they want there? The Vale people hold little wealth.”
Kara Laurel went on as if she hadn’t heard the little girl. “The Alchemist sent his army here for one specific purpose. He came for what was under the falun trees, under the Vale itself. He came for something below that was there tens of thousands of seasons ago when the Vale was young. He came for the source.” Kara Laurel grew quiet, looking at her expectantly, her green eyes bright.
Slightly annoyed, Crystalyn took the prompt. “What source?”
Kara Laurel raised her chin, holding her head higher. “The source of the Flow for power Users, the Flow itself.”
The quarry grew deathly quiet. Or had her heart thumping loudly in her ears blocked all hearing? Crystalyn quelled her rising anxiety with difficulty.
Kara Laurel glanced around the quarry, her gaze lingering a long moment on everyone, even Atoi. “The Alchemist has developed worms, Flow worms as he refers to them, introduced to the Flow, they feed upon it and proliferate. Eventually the Flow shall cease to exist as they multiply.”
A man wearing silver bands on his large biceps and a dark hood covering his head intruded upon Crystalyn’s mind, dredged from a memory she’d thought locked safely away. A conversation between the hooded man and Darwin Darkwind, her Darwin, clamored for attention. The worms had a weakness, one that had caused the hooded man concern. If only she could recall what it was. Sifting through the events of that dreadful day, she kept stumbling over losing the man she loved and failed to think beyond it.
Kara Laurel was watching her. “You have knowledge of this?”
Crystalyn stuffed the image of Darwin’s broken body, a distraction she couldn’t afford, back into the cold dark recesses of her mind. “I know only a small part of it. The hooded man tried introducing the worms the first time the Vale survived such an attack last spring.”
Sureen gasped. “You have met the Alchemist? Those who meet him do not survive.”
Kara Laurel hobbled near, nodding her head full of hair. “Do you not see Crystalyn? He must not succeed this time. The Dark One believes I follow him, I have his complete confidence, but I must return before he releases the Flow worms.”
Crystalyn’s irritation rose. An early sign of her great anger testing the barrier of her will, Crystalyn knew, but she didn’t care. “Then why did you chase one of them down and incinerate him horse and all. The horse was only doing what it was trained to do, and we might’ve been able to take it for our own use.”
Kara Laurel was shaking her head before Crystalyn finished speaking, which added another spike to Crystalyn’s irritation. “No. Listen carefully. I performed the hooded one’s bidding to destroy the rider, and the horse he rode, for one urgent reason only. There is something unseen infiltrating the Alchemist’s domain. This dark thing has an unnerving ability to infest a mind and gain control. No one, no corporeal thing, is safe. This entity appears to have the ability to infest and control the mind of anything living.”
Shocked by the woman’s words, Crystalyn’s irritation grew from a stab of doubt. Could she destroy such evil before her own subversion? After all, her mind was already broken with hard-to-control anger, her mind affliction. Wouldn’t that make it easier for the thing to take her? NO! Crystalyn couldn’t let that happen. Her mind must be her own, broken or not.
Kara Laurel’s melodious voice broke into her reverie. “This thing is insidious and powerful. At least it was, pray that I managed to end it with the rider, though it seemed too easy. Even so, my mission has not changed. Defeating the Alchemist’s dire plan is paramount to Astura. Have you sufficient strength to heal me?”
Sureen moved beside Crystalyn, their shoulders touching. She stared into Kara Laurel’s eyes, her mouth tightening around the edges as she pursed her lips. “Do not trust her. There is much more she’s not revealing.”
The woman stared back at Crystalyn, her face smooth and her light green eyes unblinking.
“Do not forget how she repaid our aid last time, mistress,” Hastel said, sliding down from the overlook.
Atoi’s bejeweled dagger appeared in her hand. “Jewel ends all concerns. Let me end this one for you, mistress. How do we know she is not this evil she speaks of?”
Atoi rubbed a thumb on a brilliant ruby embedded in the bone white handle. Perhaps it truly was bone. Crystalyn almost sighed. Atoi wouldn’t understand. The entity Atoi hosted couldn’t comprehend the subtle nuances of allowing one’s instinct to determine the course of action. All it knew was how it could kill. Though that wasn’t entirely right either, the Dark Child had shown great sophistication on several occasions. Atoi was a mystery of duality. “Put it away, it will make healing her harder. I’ll let you know when to use it. Such a time is coming, I fear.”
Reaching behind his back, Hastel pulled his crossbow to the front and fitted a bolt. “Healing will drain you, won’t it? What’s to keep her from trying something with you too weak to stop her?” he asked, raising the weapon.
Crystalyn did sigh this time. She couldn’t stop herself. “Fine. Keep it pointed at her if it makes you feel better. Why do you all see her as such a threat? The woman has never actually done us harm.”
Hastel kept the crossbow leveled. The scar across the bridge of his nose wept a little from his frown. “She’s admitted to working with the hooded man.”
“Listen to the warrior,” Sureen said.
Crystalyn was mildly surprised. “You’ve heard of him also, Hastel?”
Hastel’s gaze flicked to Atoi and then away so fast, Crystalyn wasn’t entirely certain she’d seen it. “Why should that surprise you?” he asked.
Crystalyn knew a hedge when she heard one. Asking a question to avoid answering one was a tactic she’d used on many occasions, but she let it drop. A blasted Dark army was not that far away.
Imagining the silver-white symbol with its simple spider-webbed pentagram pattern brought it hovering in the air before her. “We have little choice with trust. The threat of the Flow worms is too great a risk not to take her at her word. Kara Laurel will have this one chance to show Astura where her loyalties lie.”
Kara Laurel inclined her head. “You shall not regret it.”
“My symbol works better if you are lying down.” Having never tried it on someone upright, Crystalyn didn’t know for certain, but it sounded right.
Using a branch for support, Kara Laurel eased her body to the ground, accep
ting Sureen’s hand under her shoulder. Neither Hastel nor Atoi made a move to help the woman.
Combining the golden symbol with one she’d read under the heading dilutions in the tier one book of the Tiered Tome of Symbols, the symbol reformed. Intricate gold and silver lines wound back and forth filling the symbol with a hedge maze with no beginning or end. The symbol glowed faintly silver and gold in color. Crystalyn flipped the symbol horizontal over the prone woman and let it sink into her, attaching her awareness to it.
The wound was easy to find. Damaged muscle and sinew beckoned her from the muscular system immediately under Kara Laurel’s skin. This time she wouldn’t have to conjoin with her circulatory system. Had the crossbow bolt even so much as nicked Kara Laurel’s main artery, the woman would have bled out in mere minutes.
Once she reached the deepest point, Crystalyn fused a portion of her symbol there. Unraveling it, she worked her way back out, pulling ligaments and tying sinew together as she filled the hole with symbolic gauze. Having already begun to close over from natural healing, the wound filled quickly.
With only one tenth of her symbol used, Crystalyn reached the top, and then allowed the symbol dissolve, which snapped her awareness back to herself. Though Crystalyn expected it, the speed of the transfer created havoc with her sense of self for a heartbeat or two. Finally, her brain readjusted, and she found herself bent over Kara Laurel’s leg.
Crystalyn pulled the bandage off. Only a red bruise remained, already fading. A wave of fatigue dimmed her vision for a time, long enough she grew frightened it wouldn’t return. When it did, her anxiety lessened but little.
Kara Laurel had sat up. When Crystalyn sat back, the woman stood, her green eyes wide. “Your symbol magic is always a sight to see. However, I do not wish to experience it firsthand again. Your presence is so… dominating. Why do you have such great anger?”
Crystalyn didn’t care for her healing showing that side of her. Having Kara Laurel curious and asking questions constantly was a scenario she didn’t want.
“My daughter has an affliction of the mind,” Sureen replied, before Crystalyn could tell Kara Laurel to go on with her mission. One question from the Circle woman answered always led to many more. “She has had it since an event in childhood,” her mother added. Bending over, she examined Kara Laurel’s wound briefly before straightening, and turning to Crystalyn. “Quite interesting. There is no mark visible. I do not doubt she will not have even the slightest limp. How about you my daughter, can you walk?”
Crystalyn grew irritated with her mom and then wished she hadn’t. Her head throbbed. “We don’t have the leisure to sit around waiting for me to gain strength. Besides, Broth will support me, won’t you, Do’brieni?”
Broth rose to his four paws and came close, offering his broad back. “Lean on me, Do’brieni. Together we shall descend.”
Crystalyn draped an arm over her companion’s front shoulder gratefully, rising to her feet. “Go gently, Do’brieni, I‘ve overtaxed myself again.”
“Are we to go then?” Atoi asked.
“Yes,” Crystalyn replied.
Atoi dashed beyond the fallen evergreen, vanishing from sight.
Turning to follow, Hastel let out a great sigh. “I was going to say I’ll take the lead. Instead, I’ll settle for finding you the gentlest path down. Atoi will be waiting somewhere below when we get there.”
Sureen waved her staff. “Go next, Kara; I shall come last and watch the hillside above.”
Kara Laurel smiled briefly and then followed Hastel without comment.
Crystalyn nudged Broth to begin, but her mom gripped her shoulder, making her pause.
As soon as she gauged Kara Laurel had moved beyond hearing, her mom spoke. “I would hear your plan. What of the refugees, where are we to go?”
Irritated, Crystalyn shrugged out from under her mom’s firm hand. “There’ll be a meeting with the leaders once we’ve secured a place away from the Dark army. I don’t trust the situation. As I asked, why retreat when they had us in a rout? Did they get word of my trap?”
Her mother frowned, which looked odd on her usually serene brow. “That would mean someone has contacted them.”
Crystalyn smiled, but she had no mirth. “I imagine it would.”
Her mother looked troubled, and then her brilliant green eyes, so like Jade’s, hardened, unlike Jade. “Then we will flush out whoever has done such a traitorous act from our company. There are methods that may do it. Shall we begin?”
Crystalyn wondered what methods she meant, but there was a burning question foremost on her mind. “Once you’ve told me why you abandoned your family for so many seasons… we thought you dead.”
Sureen, her mom, set the end of her staff on the ground, gripping it with both hands. Her lips thinned as her mouth tightened. “The story is long and fraught with my great dereliction. My selfishness caused many lives to have been lost, or so I was informed. Yet my decision would remain the same to this day. For now, will it suffice you to know I did not leave you willingly?”
“When you vanished from your room, Dad put all he had into finding you, forsaking everything else. He lost his indenture as head of security for the king, and worse, his health. His heart is failing. He may not live much longer.”
Her mom’s shoulders slumped. Then she straightened. “You must believe I never meant for him, for any of you, to have such turmoil placed upon you.”
Shifting his weight, Broth leaned against her chest. His deep breaths pressing gently against her gave her comfort. “Didn’t you care for us, for him, at all?”
Letting go of the staff with one hand, her mom reached for her. Partway there, her arm dropped to her side. “You would not comprehend. I have done what needed doing.”
“Oh, I understand enough, enough to know you weren’t there during some bad times, and we grieved for you. Dad is somewhere on this world, did you know that? How long do you think it will take for his heart to fail here?”
Her mother’s eyes widened with shock. “Then it was him,” she breathed, her voice barely a whisper.
Crystalyn’s anxiety rose steeply, though she wasn’t certain why. “What are you saying?”
“I have seen him, not long ago.”
Crystalyn relaxed a little. “That’s a good thing for it means Dad’s still alive.”
Her mother shook her head slowly from side to side. “It is not what you think. The hooded man has him.”
Crystalyn’s anxiety rocketed. A glaring thought rolled around in her mind. Now I have two to rescue. How was she ever going to keep everyone alive?
ARRANGE AN ESCAPE
General Karnas raised his dark gauntleted hand. Garn slowed, as did the men riding abreast behind him and his daughter. The general’s hand fell downward, pointing toward the ground as he brought his horse to a standstill, pulling slightly on the reins with one hand. A billow of gray dust coated a thicker layer to the horse’s underbelly, stirred from his black stallion’s great hooves.
Stopping, Garn hopped from the back of his dark gelding, gathered the reins from Jade with his own, and then helped her dismount with a hand under her shoulder. He headed for an open spot beside the general, trampling across dry dusty plains of the foothills they’d encountered after leaving the green canopy of the mountains surrounding the Vale, a full day and night’s ride beyond Broken Gap.
A dark shape halted in front of Garn, blocking his way forward. Captain Bozlun sat upon his horse. Though he spoke to General Karnas, his agate eyes fixed him with a hard stare. “Why do we stop, General? The dangers and pestilences of Bracken Lake and Serpent Gorge are close. Silent Blade is only a half bell’s ride; the men could use a hot meal.”
The general’s harsh voice carried, coming from under the front shoulder of the great warhorse. “By men, I assume you mean yourself as well. We are going to bypass Gray Dust, have you forgotten our core command so soon? Stopping for a hot meal will only invite a night o
f carousing in the tavern after. Perhaps that was your intent?”
At the first words, Captain Bozlun’s helm swung toward his commander. “Nay, General, but a mug of ale would not cause untoward harm. I will ensure my men stick to the rules of active patrol. No more than two mugs shall slip past their lips in one sitting.”
“No ale shall pass any man’s lips until our charge is safely guarded inside the great lord’s chambers,” General Karnas hissed. Tall and forbidding in his black plated armor, he strode toward Captain Bozlun’s steed, his helm wedged under his left arm. As he strode past the great warhorse, the stallion’s long tongue shot forth and licked him on the cheek. General Karnas stiffened. Then he spun on a metal-shod heel and moved back the way he’d come, his movements stilted, as if sudden cramping from too long in the saddle assailed him.
Captain Bozlun shifted in his saddle, looking after the general for a heartbeat and then glanced behind him. “Make temporary quarters, we stop for a meal,” he shouted down the line.
Garn heard a few groans, but the soldiers did as ordered. Seasoned warriors all, there were still too many to take on at the same time. Though he had a slim chance at success, he couldn’t take a chance something would happen to Jade while he battled.
Hearing a town was close had caught his interest. Perhaps he could slip away with Jade and make a run for it with the hope the horses would outlast the others, providing he could get an idea which direction the town lay.
Leading both horses, Garn strode past Captain Bozlun making certain Jade stayed close to him by keeping a hand on her elbow. He was disappointed to note General Karnas striding toward an earthen mound close to the lake, his movements unbalanced. He must need some privacy, Garn thought. Too bad, he’d wanted to question the man about how long it would take to reach the Citadel, though he’d have to exercise delicacy with how he asked. He didn’t want the general getting suspicious of his motives.
Captain Bozlun rode up. “Take your mounts to the picket soldiers. They will allow them to graze on the scant grass of this hillside while they can. The land gets sparser from here.”
Beyond the Dark Gate Page 19
