“Know me they do, and know me they do not, not yet,” said the elf. His grin widened as he came forward, making a beeline for the girls. He gripped Sarah by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead, then did the same with Raven. But when it came to Tess, he stooped and swept her up in a great hug. Tess’ eyes bugged out and she gasped, but a huge smile split her face. Behind her, I saw Blade go rigid, but thankfully he didn’t do anything.
“Greetings, friends,” said Yinnilith. “I see you have not failed to find even greater troubles since last we spoke.”
“What are you doing here?” said Sarah. Then recognition filled her eyes as she turned to Greystone. “Your friend?”
“I hesitate to call him that, but yes, this is the one I referred to,” said Greystone ruefully, eyeing Yinnilith as he exuberantly embraced Tess. “You never can tell with elves, you know. One minute they’re your friend, and the next their swords are at your throat.”
“And if ever a throat desired cutting, it was yours, grandfather,” said Yinnilith, flashing his white teeth in a smile at Greystone. Then he turned back to us and went to Nora. “My lady,” he said, stooping in a bow.
Nora blushed as she returned the bow with a hand over her breastplate.
“Sir Darren,” said Yinnilith, stepping over to him. “You have protected Lady Sarah well, and for that you are owed a great debt. Not by me, you understand.”
“You are well met once again, Yinnilith,” said Darren, his face bearing the same awed grin that the girls’ faces did.
“And the grumpy one!” said Yinnilith. He clapped a hand on the shoulder of Barius’ breastplate. I thought it was amazing that Barius didn’t deck him on the spot.
Sarah and the others introduced Yinnilith to the rest of us quickly. Calvin could only stand there open-mouthed and stare when he met Yinnilith, which made the elf laugh heartily before moving on.
When they were done, Greystone waved forward the other men with the horses. “Realm Keepers, these men are warriors of the Netiri. It is a tribe from a nearby land, one that has long been on amicable terms with the kingdom of Athorn. They have pledged their army’s strength to protect you in exchange for your help driving Chaos from their lands.”
“Good to meet you,” said Sarah. She raised a hand for a shake, but to my surprise Greystone slapped it away. The men drew up stiffly, eyeing Sarah with distaste.
“The Netiri do not shake hands,” Greystone said testily. “Any bodily contact other than that between foes on the battlefield and embraces between family is strictly forbidden.”
“Right,” said Sarah. “Sorry.”
“You are forgiven,” said one of the men, stepping forward slightly. He had to be their leader, I figured. “Many lands have many customs, all strange to each other.”
“Thank you for your understanding,” said Sarah. At last she turned to Greystone. “All right, Greystone, now we’ve got to talk about how we’re going to get out of here. Did you come down this mountain pass? And how many more of you are there? We were going to escape this way.”
“There are very many more of us, but they wait higher up the mountainside,” said Greystone. “You cannot continue along your current path. It ends in sheer cliffs two thirds of the way through the pass. You would have been trapped with no way out.”
I felt a chill run through me at the thought. Alone and isolated, waiting for Terrence to find us and kill us. It was lucky that Greystone had found us when he did.
“We must lead you to the higher road,” said Greystone. “Though it is longer at first, it will at least…”
His words trailed off as he stared at Tess. “Where is your sword, Lady Tess?”
Tess hunched into her shoulders a bit, suddenly self-conscious. “I lost it. A long time ago.”
“Where did you get that bow?” said Greystone, suspicious.
Tess hesitated before answering. Her eyes flitted to Yinnilith. Greystone followed her eyeline and looked at the elf flabbergasted.
“It was a gift,” said Yinnilith, smiling. “Or rather, a reward well-earned in battle. She took up the bow in the fight among the trees of the Fairgreen. Since she wielded it so well, I thought she might as well keep it.”
“But…” spluttered Greystone. “But…is that not the bow—”
“Yes,” said Yinnilith, interrupting him. “It is.”
Greystone’s eyes were already bugged out, but they grew even further.
“What?” said Tess, her hand going to the bow self-consciously. “What’s wrong with the bow? Am I in trouble?”
“Perhaps more than you can imagine, and perhaps none at all,” said Greystone. He looked at Yinnilith with an expression that I couldn’t read; either he was in awe, or he was ticked straight off. “We will have to speak of this later. It is too important, and we have too little time.”
“Okay,” said Sarah, clearly eager to move on. “Lead the way. We need to move quickly. We don’t have that long before sunrise.”
“I know exactly how long we have before sunrise,” said Greystone. “Do you not realize that every moment of this escape has been carefully planned?”
We all regained our mounts and spurred our way after Greystone up the mountain side. He led us through the trees without hesitation, though I couldn’t see any kind of road or path. Maybe there were markers that were invisible to me.
“Hey, about that, Greystone,” I said. “How’d you know to bring the army here? I mean, here at all? If you didn’t know what was happening on Wyrmspire, how’d you know we’d fail to get the dragons’ help?”
“I summoned the army once I knew Terrence had found out about our deception,” said Greystone. “I flew upon Lady Raven’s falcon as fast as I could to the Netiri people and asked for their help.”
“Ella?” said Raven, sitting forward in her saddle. “You brought her? Is she here?”
“She is nearby, yes,” said Greystone. “She will no doubt be happy to see you.”
Raven tried to suppress her smile and look nonchalant, but she couldn’t completely dispel it.
“When I came within a reasonable distance of Wyrmspire, Meridia contacted me directly,” Greystone went on. “We have been in somewhat regular communication ever since.”
“Wait, you and Meridia have been planning this whole thing?” said Sarah. She glared at the leather pouch on her belt. “Meridia, why didn’t you tell us Greystone was here?”
“Do you really need to ask?” snarled Blade. “We didn’t need to know, apparently.”
No, you did not, came Meridia’s voice in my head. Nor did Greystone need to know why he had brought his army to this mountain pass. If I had to explain every move in the great game to every piece upon the board, I would spend my days doing nothing else.
I felt my lip curl. I hadn’t had much direct dealing with Meridia, but from what I’d seen of her she was a horrible woman. Blade had tried to throw her off a cliff after wearing her for just a few days—I thought that gave me a pretty good idea of how tiring it must be to have her around all the time.
“When an oracle speaks, a wise man listens,” said Greystone, suppressing any further argument. “Even if her manner is not as pleasant as, say, her sister.” He gave Sarah’s pouch a little glance.
Because Aurora kowtows to the whims of man does not mean I must do the same, said Meridia.
“Silence!” said the Netiri leader. “We approach the camp.”
We fell quiet as the song of a nightingale floated through the trees. One of the Netiri responded with a similar call. In moments, three sentries materialized between the trees.
“Come,” said the Netiri leader. “My men stand ready to ride.”
We rode out into a broad flat clearing set into the side of the mountain. There were hundreds of men there, most of them similar in appearance to the ones who had found us with Greystone and Yinnilith. There were some that wore less clothing and no armor. They had to be freezing on such a cold night, but they didn’t so much as shiver. Others rode
with bows and arrows instead of swords, and had on thick leather helmets with colorful feathers erupting from the crowns. All of this I glimpsed in the dim light of the moon, straining to pick out the details.
“Ella!” cried Raven. She leapt from her saddle with the effortless grace of someone who’s grown up around horses and ran across the clearing. A giant falcon with white tail feathers looked up at the sound of her voice.
Raven leapt forward and threw her arms around the bird’s neck. Thankfully, it remained silent, but it nuzzled its beak against her side.
Greystone turned to one of the huge soldiers next to him. “Now that the Realm Keepers have arrived, we must leave with all possible haste. How soon can you be ready, Abidemi?”
The man snorted. “My men are fast. We will be mounted in five minutes.”
Greystone nodded, and Abidemi moved off. “And you, Yinnilith?” said Greystone, turning to the Elf. “Are your warriors ready to travel?”
“They have been since the moment they arrived,” said Yinnilith.
“Wait, there are more of you here?” said Calvin, looking like a kid coming downstairs on Christmas morning.
“Yes, though not as many as I might have hoped,” said Yinnilith, looking at him with a smile. “Much attention must be given to repairing the Fairgreen and to rooting out the influence of Chaos in my people there. But there are some few dozen of them who would not be turned away.”
As if waiting for a signal, figures emerged from the trees surrounding the clearing and came forward. Like Yinnilith, each of them had a bow strung across their back, but most only carried a single sword rather than two.
“Cennan,” said Sarah, bowing to the elf in the lead.
“Well met, Keeper of Earth,” said the elf. His face didn’t crack a smile, but a light danced in his eyes as they swept over the rest of us. “And you, Keeper of Mind and Keeper of Lightning. And may I assume that this is the rest of you?”
Sarah went one by one and introduced the rest of us to the Elf. By the time we were done, Abidemi had returned to report that his men were ready to ride.
“Very well,” said Greystone. “Let us set forth without further delay. Realm Keepers, you shall ride behind the vanguard but ahead of the main force. With luck, we may still make the other side before dawn.”
Abidemi shouted a command, and a host of humans rode forward along a trail leading away from the clearing. Once a hundred or so had passed, Greystone clucked his tongue to send his horse forward. We followed him in a group as Yinnilith and his Elves fell in beside us. Raven launched into the air on the back of Ella to keep an eye on us from above as we pushed our horses through the inky night.
I nudged my horse forward slightly to pull up beside Greystone. “How have things been going back home while we’ve been gone?” I said. “How’s the war?”
Greystone gave me a quick look as everyone else turned to hear, their faces keen with interest. “Some things have gone well, and others not so well. It is a complicated situation, more suited to a lengthy explanation within the safety of the Runehold than a brief summary during a moonlight ride.”
“But Morrowdust is safe?” I pressed, thinking of the city in which we’d spent so much of our lives the last few months. “He hasn’t attacked it again?”
“Yes,” said Greystone, his voice dour. “Yes, Morrowdust is safe. Now be silent, or Terrence will find us by your braying.”
There was no way our voices were louder than the hoofbeats of hundreds of horses, but I let it go. We’d learn the whole story soon enough, when we’re safely back home. Back in the war.
Without the dragons.
Near the front, Abidemi slowed suddenly, allowing his men to pass around him as he fell back to us. “The way grows narrow ahead,” he said in his thick, guttural voice. “Be wary. If they find us here, they will—”
There was a crack of thunder above us that made me jerk in my saddle. My eyes shot skyward to see another flash of lightning lance through the air, followed by another low rumble.
“Raven!” cried Sarah.
“She is safe,” said Greystone, but his eyes were grim.
A moment later there was a whistling on the wind, and when it died away I caught the glint of moonlight on white feathers. It was Raven, swooping down from the stars on Ella.
“Crows!” she said, breathless. “A whole host of them. They were above me, I don’t know for how long. I only spotted them when I decided to fly a little higher.”
“Our passage has been marked,” said Greystone. He stared at the road ahead with wide eyes, and in them I saw more than a trace of fear. “But for how long? If he has known of our coming for more than a few hours, then—”
THOOOM
The ground rumbled beneath our feet, making my horse rear and whinny in terror. Ahead of us, I heard the screams of men.
“Light!” said Sarah, her voice louder than an air ride siren. “Blade, Raven, show us what’s happening.”
Blue lightning and red fire blasted through the night to show us the road ahead. But where there had been a path before, now there was only the smooth, fresh-turned face of the mountainside. The vanguard was buried beneath a tide of earth, swept from the path and cast into the empty space below us.
The light went further and further. A moment later we could see the other side of the new, clean swath on the mountainside. And standing there was a figure with dark bronze skin covered in tattoos, huge rippling muscles, and a leer on his face like a serial killer’s worst nightmare. Behind him swarmed a host of nearly-formless black figures in bronze armor, with gnashing teeth and glowing eyes.
“No,” said Greystone.
It was Terrence.
TRAPPED
TESS
“RUN!” SAID GREYSTONE. “TURN BACK and flee!”
“We can’t escape the other way!” said Sarah. “We have to try to break through!”
“If he is here, he will have brought the whole of his strength,” said Greystone. “We cannot risk it. Ride!”
There was a thundering CRACK above us. I looked up to see a great wedge of earth slide away from the side of the mountain on which we rode. An avalanche of rocks and snow thundered toward us, and for a moment I froze in terror.
“Tess!” said Blade. He kicked his horse, which leapt toward me, and tried to place himself in between me and the oncoming tide of death.
Then suddenly it diverted, the earth sliding off and away to tumble across the same portion of the path that had already been swept away. I looked over to see Sarah with her arms raised and sweat on her brow.
“Heck of a lot easier to start an avalanche than to stop one, apparently,” she said. “But, that gives me an idea.”
She swung her arm like she was swinging a whip, and I heard another thundering roar. The mountainside above Terrence broke apart and began to descend on him. Like Sarah had, Terrence diverted it to pass by harmlessly, washing away any trace of the path that we’d been riding on.
“This is folly!” said Greystone. “Every moment allows him more time to bring the greater part of his strength upon us. Captain Gaskill! Bring them!”
“Retreat!” said Cara. Before I realized what was happening, the reins of my horse were wrapped around Nora’s fist, and she was riding back along the path as fast as she could. We rode in a tight clump, each of us hunched over our saddle horns. Even Sarah had given up all thought of trying to take the fight to Terrence, and together we fled for our lives.
Bolts of lightning arced over our heads, missing us by mere feet. Greystone turned in his saddle and held up a hand. I felt a twinge in the back of my mind, a feeling like I’d forgotten something. It was the feeling I got when people near me used the power of Mind. I tapped into my power, and the world went misty. I glanced back over my shoulder to see a thick, solid wall forming in the mist. Greystone was putting up some kind of force field behind us as we retreated. As I watched, bolts of lightning ricocheted from it as Terrence cast them again and again.
&nb
sp; “I can help,” I said, but my voice was lost in the thunder of hooves. Greystone didn’t hear me. I tried again, louder. “I can help!”
“I can withstand him, at least for now,” he said. “Save your strength. It will come to battle before long.”
In the midst of the Netiri army, we roared into the clearing where they’d been camped. Without pause, our horses carried us out the other side and down the side of the mountain again. We were dashing through the trees, and I had to keep ducking my head to avoid branches. I was thankful, at least, that my horse was smart enough not to run into a tree trunk. It dodged left and right, weaving through the woods as it fled in terror.
“Where are we going?” called Sarah, her voice piercing the darkness. “We can’t go back into dragon territory—we’d be breaking their laws. Some of them will come after us.”
“There is a place outside their borders,” cried Greystone. “A plateau upon which we can make a stand. It will at least repel the Shadows until we can get you free. Abidemi will take us there.”
The ground grew more level, and we emerged from between the trees again. I breathed a sigh of relief as my horse’s strides lengthened. Every step expanded the distance between us and Terrence, and that could only be a good thing.
Screee!
I heard the screams above us for barely a second before black, winged shapes swooped down into the Netiri ahead of us. Men were plucked from their saddles, their screams abruptly cut off as they were attacked with beak and claw or flung into the ground.
I heard another cry, this one more pure, and caught moonlight on Ella as Raven swooped and dived. The crows were much smaller than Ella, but she was just as nimble. Raven cut back and forth through the night, unleashing bolt after bolt of lightning. The electricity leapt from crow to crow, casting half a dozen of them from the sky at a time. But the swarm above us was too great for her to make much of a difference.
The others began to unleash their powers, but we were firing blind. Blade shot balls of fire into the sky, but they struck air as often as they struck a crow. Sarah shot spikes of earth, Miles spikes of water. Calvin seemed to be having more success, creating small, whirling tornadoes that flung crows from the air. But he had trouble keeping his winds away from Raven.
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 69
