As she pulled her hands out of her pocket, something fell onto the ground.
Thallan stepped over and picked it up. Lifting it, he let it drop down and dangle at the end of a chain. It was Will’s pendant he’d gotten from the dead elf. The one that said—
Will blinked at it, and then looked at Thallan.
Of course! Will thought. The pendant!
Thallan’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “Where did you get this?” he asked.
Maya shrugged. “It’s Will’s. I was holding on to it for him.”
“An elf gave it to me,” Will said. “He meant for you to have it, though I’m only now remembering it.”
“Where is he?” Thallan asked. “The elf that gave this to you?”
Will opened his mouth to speak.
“It doesn’t matter,” Thallan said sharply. “We have to get out of here. Now!”
The flaps of the tent flew open, and before Will knew what was happening, two elves had grabbed Maya and Thallan from behind and placed knives to their throats.
Will ran at them, but a third elf entered the tent and intercepted him, smashing the pommel of his sword into the side of Will’s head and sending him crashing to the ground.
Sowena heard shouting and the pounding of footsteps. Ducking into the shadows of a tent, she peered around the corner. Six elves ran past followed by none other than Ophi herself, that brute Haladavar who had held her captive, and another lordly-looking elf Sowena didn’t know.
When they disappeared, Sowena emerged from her cover and followed after them, keeping out of sight. She had a sinking feeling that wherever they were headed probably involved Will.
The elves all ran into a tent nearly four times the size of any of the others in the area. Sowena could partially see through the flap at the front.
“Good work, Thallan,” Ophi said, walking over to the elf and running her finger along his neck and chin.
The guard holding Thallan released him.
“What!” Will exclaimed, looking off to the side to somewhere Sowena couldn’t see. “I thought you said he was on our side?”
Footsteps behind her drew Sowena’s attention. She had no cover in front of Ophi’s tent and she felt exposed sitting there. Sowena noticed there was a smaller section off to the side that wasn’t lit. Guessing it was a bedroom or storage space, she crept around to the back and slid a knife into the canvas, running it straight down about three feet. When the gap was large enough, she slipped inside.
“The stone is on the girl,” Ophi said. “Seize it.”
The room Sowena found herself in was dark save for a sliver of light from the main chamber shining in through a gap in the door flap. Sowena snuck over and pulled it apart slightly.
The guard holding Will stood with his back toward Sowena, obscuring most of her view. But she could at least see Thallan as he walked over to Maya and dug his hands into her pocket.
“You—You led us into a trap?” Maya asked. “Why, Thallan? Why are you doing this?”
Thallan backed away with what looked like Will’s soul stone in his hands.
Why did she have it? Sowena wondered. Will must have given it to her before the battle to protect it.
“Has everything you told me been a lie?” Maya asked.
Thallan looked away. “I have always been forthright with my plans,” he said, with a strain in his voice. “But my brother will always be more important than any of you.”
Maya lunged forward, trying to lash out at him, but the guard holding her restrained her.
“If it makes you feel any better, you’re not the ultimate target,” Thallan said. “You never were.”
“What?” Maya asked.
“My deal with Ophi has always been for Will,” Thallan said, handing the stone over to Ophi. “She thought maybe if we killed you, that he’d go storming off right into her clutches.”
“But that wouldn’t have worked,” Ophi said, shaking her head. “And I came to realize that soon enough. Even if I were to capture Will, he’d have just taken another body and disappeared again. No, what I needed was a hostage—a way to force Will to do what I wanted. But then Thallan went and changed the plan. I admit I was shocked when he let you go. And revealing my leverage over him was risky, but it was the only way he could get you to trust him again.”
“I thought you said she couldn’t see anything through the shield?” Maya asked Thallan.
“She can’t,” Thallan replied. “But—”
Ophi laughed. “But he’s your counter. Or have you already forgotten? He punched a hole in your shade and you never even noticed.”
“Wait a second,” Erintos said. “You knew they were coming to Berxley and didn’t tell me?”
“If I had, they would have known something was wrong,” Ophi said.
“I almost died!” Erintos exclaimed. “I could have played the part and acted surprised.”
“You have always been a terrible actor, Erintos,” Ophi said. “You nearly cost us our freedom when you attacked Drygo in the Wandering Wood so many years ago. No, I had to leave this in Thallan’s hands.” She turned and looked at Maya. “His honesty about my plans was a start in gaining your trust, but that wasn’t enough was it?”
Thallan walked over and stood a foot from Maya as he said, “Didn’t you stop to wonder why I didn’t kill Erintos?”
“I—I thought he was too powerful,” Maya said.
“Hardly,” Thallan said, glancing over his shoulder at the elf lord. “Erintos is little more than Ophi’s plaything. She has a leash around his neck, as surely as there was one around mine.”
Was? Sowena wondered. What was that supposed to mean?
Thallan continued, “But she would have been much too upset if I’d hurt her pet, so I left him alone.”
Erintos bared his teeth, but restrained himself.
“So you knew at some point this day would come,” Will said. “You knew our armies would stand at odds and then you’d feed us some lie about taking out Ophi knowing it was a trap the whole time.”
Thallan didn’t admit it, but neither did he deny it.
“If this is all about me, then why did you insist Maya come along?” Will asked.
“He thought I still needed her,” Ophi said. “For obvious reasons, I haven’t communicated with him since Penrythe, but he had no way of knowing you had already signed your own death warrant.”
“Togun,” Will said, glaring at Haladavar.
The elf crossed his arms and smiled.
Sowena shook with fury at the smug look on his face.
“Yes,” Ophi said. “I’ve no need for a hostage when I can prevent you from hopping bodies and escaping.”
“Then let her go! She has no part in this!” Will shouted.
“Now why would I do that? It will be much more fun to make you watch her die,” Ophi said.
Sowena wasn’t about to let them kill her friends. Drawing her sword, she pushed through the flap as quietly as possible, and plunged her blade into the back of the guard holding Will. The elf released his grip on Will and fell to the ground.
Thallan lunged forward and grabbed Will by the collar, throwing him sideways into Maya and the guard restraining her. The force of the impact knocked Maya away and she fell, hitting her head against the chest. Beside Will, Maya lay there unconscious, a small trickle of blood running down her face.
The confusion only lasted so long before Ophi pointed at Sowena and yelled, “Kill her!”
Sowena stared at the dead body at her feet and stood paralyzed in shock as four armed guards rushed at her. Will launched himself at the lead elf and tackled him to the ground. The others turned to assist their comrade.
Will stood and ducked under a sword, then drove his fist up into his attacker’s chin.
“Do not kill him!” Ophi shouted.
The elves sheathed their swords and ran in. One of them wrapped his arms around Will’s waist. Will drove his elbow back in response, connecting with the side of the
elf’s head and loosening the elf’s grip. Wrenching free, Will turned, but another elf tackled him from behind.
“Don’t just stand there!” Thallan said, grabbing her hand to pull her along.
Sowena yanked her hand free in surprise. She wasn’t going anywhere with him.
“I know you have no reason to trust me,” Thallan said. “But do it for Maya. Come!”
Sowena looked at Will, then at Maya’s body laying a few feet away, then at Ophi shouting obscenities at Will, and back to Thallan. Deciding she didn’t have much choice, she ran after Thallan, who was already grabbing Maya and lifting her up onto his shoulders. She turned and looked back at Will.
Will grabbed his opponent in a headlock, then twisted, tossing him to the floor. A fourth elf dropped his weapon and raised his fists. The elf lunged forward with a right jab, but Will caught his wrist, pulled him in close, and smashed his nose with his elbow.
As Will turned around, Haladavar’s fist connected with his face. Will stumbled back right into the arms of two guards who restrained him once more.
There was nothing more Sowena could do to help him. Sowena regretted leaving him, but if she stayed another minute she, too, would be in irons. She turned and slipped through the door after Thallan and Maya.
Sowena glanced around, but didn’t see them. Then a flickering shadow the size and shape of someone carrying another person filled the ground a few rows of tents ahead.
As she stepped forward to chase after them, a hand closed on her right wrist and pulled her back. It was the elf lord—Erintos, she thought his name was.
“Where do you think you’re—”
Sowena nailed him in the groin, and he groaned and let go of her wrist. Then she kicked him in the shin and he fell to the ground. She didn’t wait another minute and took off to find Thallan.
She ran through a maze of tents and trees, her heart beating against her chest and fire burning in her legs.
“Find them!” Ophi shouted in the distance behind. “I want that traitor Thallan strung up and hanged!”
Sowena didn’t stop running. She hated to think what those elves might do to her if they found her. Trees flew by her and leaves crunched beneath her feet as she raced through the forest. The dim light of the campfires faded into the distance, and then the forest abruptly ended.
In the valley up ahead, Sowena saw Thallan racing back to Derton with Maya draped over his shoulders. She glanced back toward the elf camp and thought of returning to help Will. But as shouts from her pursuers drew closer, Sowena spun and chased after Thallan.
43
Maya’s eyes blinked open. She found herself staring at the ceiling of her room back in Derton Castle. Sitting up, she grabbed her head and groaned. A bandage had been wrapped around her forehead.
“Easy,” Sowena said from a chair next to the bed.
“How—How did I get here?” Maya asked. Then she remembered where she had been. “Will!” she shouted, tossing the blanket off of her and hopping out of bed.
Maya took a step and her knees gave out. Catching her, Sowena eased Maya back onto the mattress.
“Be careful,” Sowena told her. “You’ve suffered an injury to the head. You’re going to be a bit dizzy and a little disoriented.”
“Will,” Maya said again. “Is Will all right?”
Sowena pursed her lips and sighed.
Maya cringed. She tried to remember what had happened, but it was fuzzy. She remembered the elf camp, and breaking into Ophi’s tent and—Thallan! He had betrayed them.
“You’re awake.”
Maya lifted her head as Thallan walked into the room.
“Traitor!” Maya said, grabbing her knife off the nightstand and lunging at him. “I’ll kill you!”
Maya took a step and stumbled off balance again, falling onto Thallan and knocking him to the ground. As they hit, the knife flew from her hand and slid across the room. Maya raised her fist and brought it down on Thallan, but he caught her wrist and flipped her onto her back, pinning her to the floor.
“Stop!” Sowena shouted.
“He did this!” Maya yelled at her. “He betrayed us!”
Sowena hadn’t been there. She couldn’t possibly know that Thallan was a lying, manipulative little—
“He saved you!” Sowena shouted.
Maya startled and gasped in confusion.
Thallan’s face softened and he eased himself off of her.
“You led us into a trap,” Maya said as she sat—the conviction gone out of her voice.
“I’m sorry,” Thallan said.
“You—You’re sorry?” Maya asked with a laugh. “You about get us killed and all you can say for yourself is sorry?”
“What more do you want me to say?” he asked.
“How about explaining what’s going on, for one?” Maya asked. “Was your betrayal just another lie? If you really cared about your brother, why save me and risk his life? And where’s Will? You know what, I don’t even know if I can believe anything you say anyway.”
Thallan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Rather than speak, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pendant. Maya recognized it as the pendant Will had given to her to hold onto for him.
“What is it?” Maya asked. “What does this mean to you?”
“It belongs to my brother,” Thallan explained. “It’s a symbol that he’s alive and well and out of Ophi’s hands.”
“How so?” she asked.
Thallan snorted. “Did you really think I would let Ophi take my brother and do absolutely nothing to get him back? Before I left Morathil, I directed my friends to free him and send word if the mission was successful. This,” he said, lifting the pendant, “is proof my brother lives.”
“How did Will get that pendant, though?” Maya asked. “Doesn’t the fact that he has it mean your brother is dead?”
“I fear that my friends are dead, whether Will killed them or they died of other means, I don’t know,” Thallan said. “But the only way he would have this is if the one bearing it had died. However, that person wouldn’t have been Vallan—my brother. He’s likely in the wind.”
“Can anyone truly escape Ophi?” Maya asked. “She has eyes everywhere. You’ve proven that to me.”
“No doubt it will be a long time before I see my brother again. He’s likely left Aralith and headed east beyond Tikani, beyond the desert, beyond any known borders. He’ll remain on the run, constantly moving, never settling until either he or Ophi lies dead. She will never stop chasing him,” Thallan said. “No one betrays her or escapes her clutches.”
“And so, what? You decided since your brother is safe it’s suddenly okay to help us? I thought you said you didn’t care at all what happened to us,” Maya snapped.
“That’s not what I said,” Thallan said, shaking his head. “I said my brother will always be more important to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”
He reached a hand out to brush his finger against Maya’s cheek, but she flinched away from his touch.
“You don’t betray people you care about,” Maya spat.
“What choice did I have?” Thallan asked. “You would have done the same in my situation. You already did! You rushed me and the others off to Berxley, endangering our lives all to save your family. And, in fact, that poor Alban boy did die, all because of you and your decision to put your family first.”
Maya winced and dropped her head into her hands.
It was true. Every word of it was true. She was no different than him. She would have done the same thing had she been in his position. She was supposed to be the Queen of Aralith, capable of doing what was for the greater good of her people. Instead, she’d put herself and her family before others, and people had died.
How was this any different?
“And Will?” she asked.
Thallan frowned.
“Why will no one tell me what happened to Will?” she asked.
“There was no way we
could have saved you and Will,” Thallan said.
“We?” Maya asked.
“Sowena was there, too,” Thallan said. “In fact, she’s the only reason we’re here. Her timely interruption gave me the opportunity I needed.”
Maya leaned back, her eyes widening. Turning to Sowena she said, “You? You saved us? I—I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”
Sowena blushed and shrank into her chair.
“So Will is… dead?” Maya asked.
Thallan shook his head. “Not likely, they—”
Khal burst into the room. He looked as if he had meant to speak to Thallan, but when he saw Maya on the floor he asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“It’s the elves,” Khal said. “They’ve mobilized and formed up just outside the reach of our archers. They’ve got Will. I—I think they’re going to kill him. They’ve got a soulfiend.”
“What do you mean they’ve got a soulfiend?” Maya asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “They’ve got the thing leashed somehow, some way.”
It must be Togun, Merva said. The immaterial part of the soulfiend is nothing more than uncontained magic. But if Togun is suppressing that side of it, then the soulfiend is really little more than a beast.
“I’m coming with you!” Maya said, jumping to her feet. As she stood, she wobbled again, still feeling dizzy.
“You need to stay here and rest,” Khal said.
Maya was shaking her head before he finished. “I don’t care if you have to carry me, you’re taking me out to that wall.”
Khal crossed his arms and stared at her, hard.
“The soldiers need to see me,” Maya said. “They need to know their queen stands beside them.”
“Come on, then,” Khal said, waving as he left the room.
Thallan stepped toward Maya, but she flinched away. Thallan’s face fell and his shoulders sagged.
She wasn’t sure she could forgive him for what he’d done. Then it hit her like a sack of bricks. This was Will all over again.
He’d made a mistake, they’d argued, and she’d spurned him. She had isolated herself from her friends, refused to forgive them, and, in the end, they’d all gotten hurt. She wasn’t going to let that happen again.
Soul Shade (Soul Stones Book 2) Page 34
