“Read my mind,” said Sarah. “I will show you who I am and how we came to be in your kingdom. And you’ll see that we haven’t harmed anything, Elf or animal, since we arrived.”
Yinnilith looked at Sirinia, then back to Sarah. “Our law bars entry into another’s thoughts,” he said. “Although it is permissible in times of danger, with the other’s permission.”
“Oh, really?” I said with a laugh. “Because Sirinia totally went into all of our minds already.”
Yinnilith looked at her again, and this time his eyes remained fixed. Sirinia stared back at him, cold as winter’s frost. “It was a special circumstance,” she said. “They have lied to us since first you encountered them.”
“The law does not speak of special circumstances,” said Yinnilith. “I would have thought that you, of all people, would have held the letter of the law in utmost respect.”
“The lords have commanded their death,” said Sirinia. “Will you defy their will?”
“No, they haven’t.”
Tess stepped up between Sarah and me. She looked small and fragile, standing there before the Elves, but her shoulders were set and her eyes didn’t waver.
“The lords didn’t command you to kill us. You never even contacted them.” She turned to speak to Yinnilith. “Read my mind. See if I’m telling the truth.”
Yinnilith smiled at her. “With your permission.”
His eyes went white. Not just white, though. As I watched, they began to glow from within, a light of the palest yellow pouring out like it was trying desperately to compete with the sun. It illuminated the clearing around us like Yinnilith was a lamp. Then the light died away, and his eyes switched back to pale grey irises.
Those irises swiveled to Sirinia. “You accuse them of perversion of the truth,” he said slowly. “But you are guilty of the crime yourself. There is no greater perversion than that.”
Sirinia’s nostrils flared. “You have been fooled, eldest!” she shouted. “The human has planted lies in her mind for you to believe.”
“You know that is beyond her power,” said Yinnilith. “You have strayed further and further from the path of truth, Sirinia. I have been lax with your transgressions for far too long. I will be lax no longer.”
Sirinia’s hands were trembling. With a cry she took a step forward, slamming her heel down on the ground. The strike reverberated on the air with a deep thooom, threatening to burst my eardrums.
“Old fool!” she cried. “You have grown at last into dotage if you think that I am frightened by your blustering. My will is the law here. If I say that the lords have pronounced their doom, then that doom shall be delivered, whether you will it or no.”
Yinnilith’s face had turned hard as a diamond, and without my realizing it, his hands had strayed to the hilts of his sword hanging on his hips. “Your will is not the law. The law is the law. And you are seer by my leave only, in belief that your mind was as pure as it was powerful. But I see now that it is neither. For you were made seer of this land, not because your gifts in Mind were greatest, but because I did not desire the position.”
With that, Yinnilith’s eyes flashed again. Sirinia cried out as her back arched, her robes fluttering as if in a breeze as the same light poured from her eyes and mouth that shone from Yinnilith’s. Her cry rose in pitch, higher and higher until I thought it would never end. But finally it did, and she collapsed to the ground like she was a puppet whose strings had been cut. She pushed herself unsteadily to her feet, clutching at the silver necklace hanging from her neck. As she pulled on it, it slid from the folds of her robe. At the end of it hung a thick chunk of amber, carved into a thousand facets that caught the moonlight and cast it on the ground in streaks of orange glow.
“Her amulet!” I shouted.
Barius roared and drew his sword. Darren and Nora followed suit.
Sarah turned to Tess. “Tess, now!” she screamed.
Tess’ eyes went white. There was a ripple in the air that was followed by a crack, and suddenly I felt the power of Lightning within me once more. I snatched my whip from my belt and let it ripple through the air in one long stroke, while in my other hand I let a flow of lightning gather in my fist, coalescing around my clenched fist like an armored glove of pure light and power. The electricity danced along my skin like an old friend’s hug.
The town square dissolved into pandemonium. Many elves leapt to Sirinia’s side, drawing blades and sweeping toward us with faces twisted in hatred and rage. But Yinnilith leapt between us and our attackers, and to him flocked more Elves from within the town. I saw Cennan leap to stand by Yinnilith’s side, an arrow drawn and nocked to the string faster than my eye could track the motion.
Sarah swept her arm through the air, and a massive platform of soil sprung up, flinging back the Elves that moved forward to attack us. But even as they soared through the air in the town hall, I saw them slow and then come to a stop as though held up by invisible wires before being lowered gently back down to the ground. Sirinia’s eyes were pure white, and her hands were held out before her. We weren’t the only ones with magic on our side.
Elves leapt at us, and I stepped backward with a yelp. The area all around dissolved into a melee as Sirinia’s Elves fought to kill us, while the other Elves fought to take them down. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem too interested in actually protecting us. If anything, they seemed to regard that as a side effect. As far as the Elves were concerned, we were largely irrelevant.
One elf came at me, and I blasted him back into his group with a bolt of lightning. Another stepped forward to take his place, her blade swinging in arcs I could barely follow. I let loose with another bolt, but she dodged it and stepped closer. I tried to raise my whip, but suddenly a mountain of flesh slammed into her from the side. She flew eight feet before landing on a blade and sinking to the ground. Barius stood where she’d just been, his shield held before him like a battering ram.
“Thanks, old man,” I said gratefully.
“You’re welcome, girl,” he replied.
A fresh group of Elves poured from the trees behind us. I turned and smiled, thinking they were on Yinnilith’s side. That thinking swiftly changed when I saw them looking at me with hatred in their eyes. There was nothing in between us.
“Run!” I shouted, then turned and took my own advice. I flew through the press of hacking, slashing, spinning bodies all around, followed closely by Barius. I spotted Tess out of the corner of my eye, Nora beside her. Sarah had gotten separated from us.
The town hall loomed above me suddenly, and with nowhere else to go I dove through the front door. It was no better inside than it had been outside; Elf fought Elf beneath the high ceiling of the great hall. A trio of them turned and saw us standing near the doorway. As one, they raised their bows and loosed shots in our direction. I didn’t have time to do anything more than flinch. But suddenly the arrows rebounded in midair, recoiling from an invisible barrier. The Elves stood dumbfounded. I slashed them with a wave of lightning, and they dropped to the ground. Tess’ eyes stopped glowing as she lowered her hands and the invisible barrier she’d used to stop the arrows.
“Might want to leave that up,” I said. “There’s a lot of stray shots flying around.”
“It takes too much concentration, and too much power,” she replied. “I’m going to need all the strength I can get.”
Before I could ask her why, we were rushed by more Elves, these ones with spears. Barius launched himself into the fray, dashing aside a thrusting spear with his shield before hacking down the Elf holding it. But he’d strayed too far, and he was in the open. One of the Elves saw his chance and moved to attack. I saw him and lashed out with my whip, sending it to wrap around his wrist and yank him backward off his feet. Barius fought on, oblivious I’d just saved his skull.
I didn’t have time to dwell on it; I had my own problems. A spear came thrusting in my direction, and I barely had a chance to sidestep it. The spear retreated only to fly bac
k at my face. I leaned back, but this time I seized the shaft. I cut loose with a blast of power, and the Elf holding the spear convulsed as he dropped to the ground. Another one swept in with a sword—I dashed her aside with a bolt that sent her flying all the way across the hall to crash into the wall. I wasn’t trying to kill anyone, but I didn’t like that one’s odds.
“There’s too many of them,” Tess yelled behind me. I saw Elves scatter before her as she cut loose with silent blasts of power. When they got too close, she’d try desperately to hold them off with her sword, sending a metallic ringing through the air. I could see Barius and Nora nearby, but they were too hard-pressed, both of them completely surrounded. Tess was right. We couldn’t keep this up forever, and we seemed to be the Elves’ main targets.
“Just do your best to hold them off,” I shouted back as I sent an Elf to the ground with a burn mark across his chest. The clash of metal behind me ended abruptly with a sickening crack and a gasp. I heard a sudden yelp as another Elf was flung through the air.
“My sword just broke!” Tess screamed in a panicked voice. The Elf in front of me jumped back from my whip’s wide swing, and I risked a glance behind me. Half of Tess’ shattered blade lay on the grass before her. Tess had her hands up, and Elves were pounding uselessly on a mental plate she’d thrown up to block them. I knew Tess could barely hold up against arrows for very long—there was no way that even her adrenaline-fueled wall would keep the Elves away forever. As the Elves rained blow after blow on the air in front of them, Tess fell to one knee with a cry.
“What do I do?” she screamed.
“I don’t know, but think of something fast,” I said. I faced forward once more and sent two more Elves flying back through the air.
THOOM
The sound was like a bomb going off, jerking my attention behind me once again to Tess. Something had changed. Her face no longer contained even a trace of fear. Her expression was calm, her pure-white eyes motionless.
“Hold on to me,” she said in a very calm and direct voice.
As if my body were not my own, I found my arms wrapped around her waist as she stood up from the kneel. She dropped her hand, and the invisible screen holding back the Elves disappeared. Tess’ body convulsed as she lifted her arms. Before my eyes, her hair began to float like she was charged with static electricity. Everything was silent and still for a moment, and then suddenly there was a blast of force. The Elves around us flew backwards from some invisible force. At the same time, Tess and I launched through the air, flying away to land in the center of the hall where there was a wide group of Sirinia’s Elves moving to attack Barius and Nora. We were going to land right in their midst.
“Tess!” I screamed.
We landed all right, but it was like an explosion. Elves rocketed away from us, and I actually saw the ground ripple beneath Tess’ feet like it was fabric in a breeze. Elves screamed as they flew through the wall, bursting out into the fighting outside. Others knocked torches from the wall, which fell to set them ablaze. Still more fell upon their own blades as if by sheer chance. When the dust cleared, the only Elves left standing in the center of the hall were Yinnilith’s. They nodded at Tess in silent acknowledgment before turning to find stragglers from Sirinia’s side.
I looked up into Tess’s face and saw her stony, emotionless look waver. She blinked, and her eyes cleared. Her face sagged and she slumped into my arms, exhausted. She put a hand to her head. “Wha…what happened?” she asked.
I was speechless.
“Raven! Tess!” Sarah’s shout drew my attention to the front of the hall, where I saw her standing in the doorway. Beside her was Darren, his body so protectively close to her that they were practically embracing. “We need you out here!” she said.
Tess shook her head to clear it, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her as we headed for the front door.
“Wait,” said Tess. She ran over to one of the stone podiums we’d seen when we first entered the hall. On top of it was a great bow made of wood so dark it was almost black, with white bone lining the belly. Tess snatched the bow up, then stooped to a fallen Elf on the ground. With a queasy look on her face, she removed the Elf’s quiver and slung it across her own back.
“Do you know how to use that?” I asked as she returned.
“I learned at camp one year,” she replied. “I hope it stuck. But I don’t want to sword fight any more. That was way too close.”
That was good enough for me. “Suit yourself.”
Barius and Nora fell into step with us. Together the four of us burst from the front door of the hall into the wide open clearing. Elves everywhere fought each other and died, their blood mixing with the earth to ruin the silvan beauty of the place.
“Yinnilith’s warriors are taking heavy losses,” said Sarah. “We need to help them. If Yinnilith doesn’t make it through this, we’re going to be back to square one.”
Suddenly I heard a sound that was so out of place in the battle, I wondered for a moment if I’d taken a knock on the head. It was laughter. High, keening, overjoyed laughter. My eyes snapped to the sound to see Yinnilith. The hood of his cloak was thrown back, his white-blonde hair fluttering in the air as he spun back and forth, hacking, slashing and nearly dancing through the fight. No one could touch him. He didn’t even use his twin swords to block—no blade came near him. He was fully caught up in the thrill of battle, and clearly loving every minute of it.
“The heck is he laughing about?” I said in wonder.
Sarah sighed. “I don’t know. He’s pretty amazing with those swords, though.”
“Yeah, I really don’t think you need to worry about him not making it through this,” I pointed out.
Just then, Elves surged toward us en masse. I cut loose with bolt after bolt, wave after wave, but their reflexes were unnaturally fast. For every one I struck, another two leapt past my attacks and pressed forward. Soon Barius was side stepping back and forth, trying to keep himself in between me and the danger.
I heard a ksss-shunk to my left and spun toward the noise, fist raised and crackling with electricity. An Elf with sword raised stood there ready to strike…but he didn’t. He slumped to his knees and fell over with an arrow embedded deep in the center of his back. Tess’ eyes glowed, and the arrow dislodged itself from the Elf’s back to fly back into her hand. She nocked it to her bowstring again.
“Nice shooting,” I said.
“Yeah…I don’t remember being that good,” she replied with a slight laugh.
Then a silent blast struck her, and she flew backward to crash into the front of the great hall.
“My Lady!” cried Nora, running to her side. She hoisted her up, cradling her head in her arms.
Sirinia stepped into view, her eyes pure white and her arms raised. Her long sleeves were rolled back and rippled in a breeze that wasn’t there.
“You meddlesome little idiots,” she hissed at me. “Regardless of the outcome of this battle, I will take great pleasure in ending your lives here. Terrence will reward me greatly for your heads when Chaos completes its conquest of the mortal realms.”
“Are you serious?” I said. “Why dose everyone think that bad guys will actually deliver on their promises when they win? Haven’t you people ever seen a movie? Oh, that’s right, of course you haven’t.”
Sirinia’s eyes narrowed. “Your attempts at wit are meaningless. Prepare yourself for your end.”
“Yeah, no,” I said, flicking a hand up first. It was a quick, hasty shot, and my bolt of lightning merely glanced along the edge of her thigh. Still, that was enough to make her whole body twitch with pain, and she fell to her knees with a cry of pain. Her blue irises reappeared.
“Listen, Sirinia,” I said, walking forward slowly. I wrapped her in bonds of lightning, and her cries of pain grew louder. “I don’t mean to gloat at the moment of victory. You’re the bad guy, that’s your job. But one thing I’m consistently struck by is how dumb you guys are. It
’s like you don’t even know who you’re dealing with,which, I’ll admit, you might not. From what I hear, the last guys on the job weren’t the best at getting the word out. But if you think we’re just a gaggle of stronger-than-average human wizards, you’re dead wrong. We’re the people you call when Chaos is threatening to take over your city. We’re the ones who win wars for the side of right. I guess what I’m trying to tell you, Sirinia, is this: you really shouldn’t mess with the freaking Realm Keepers.”
Sirinia stilled her cries and gritted her teeth, glaring at me through the pain. “And you should learn when to be silent.”
Her eyes went pure white, and suddenly my bonds of electricity disappeared. My gift vanished from within my mind.
“Oh, crud,” I muttered.
An invisible something slammed into me like a Mack truck, and I flew back through the air to land heavily on the ground. My ribs struck a rock, and my back arched as I cried out with the pain.
“Lady Raven!” said Barius. He smashed the hilt of his sword into an Elf’s face, sending her crashing to the ground. The way cleared, he rushed at Sirinia, blade held high.
“Barius, don’t!” I cried, but it was too late. Sirinia’s eyes flashed, and Barius fell to the ground, body convulsing. I could see his teeth gritted against some unseen pain that only he could feel.
“Leave him alone!” I shouted. But without my magic, I couldn’t do anything to distract her.
Well, almost nothing. At my foot was a rock. And so I, Raven Penbrooke, the Keeper of Lightning, veteran of the Battle of Morrowdust and survivor of what seemed like a million life-or-death battles, picked up the rock and threw it at Sirinia’s head.
She spotted it at the last second and jerked her head back, leaving the rock sailing futilely past her temple. But her momentary lapse in concentration was enough for Barius to stop screaming.
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 26
