Dawnsinger (27 page)

Dorann hoisted his backpack but paused before settling it on his back. “Are you ill?”

She gave him a gentle smile. “Not in a way you can cure.”

His forehead creased. “You speak of magics.”

Her smile faltered. “I’ve felt its breath. Still, I speak more of mysteries than magics.”

Kai’s arm encircled her, and Shae leaned against him. They set their feet again upon the road that ran straight to Pilaer Hold, but made halting progress until she regained enough strength to walk alone.

They continued their journey, but she slowed them, weakened by the encounter. The sun stood low on the western horizon as they passed empty dwellings that watched them out of blank windows. She kept her eyes forward, just stopping herself from searching those windows for movement. Anything that stirred here did not warrant discovery.

Something dark rushed at her from the side.

She jerked and turned her head.
Nothing.
Her heart beat like a wild thing. Swallowing, she fought to still her shaking.

“Magics.” Dorann muttered.

A pall hung over this place, as if the mists shrouded a corpse, not a town. Sorrow lay so heavy over all that it would not have surprised her if the walls ran with tears and the stones themselves wept.

Whispers of despair invaded her mind.
We will never reach Maeg Waer. The bones of all who have tried and failed litter Laesh Ebain.

Shae shook off the thoughts, but they returned and multiplied.
You deceive yourself. It is all for naught. Elcon will go mad under Freaer’s assault. Torindan cannot stand. Elderland will fall.

Hopelessness looked back at her from the faces of the others. She roused herself to encourage them. “We will succeed.” They did not respond, and she couldn’t blame them. Her words did not even bolster her own spirits.

As they approached the shell of Pilaer Hold, shivers walked up her spine, for the setting sun stained the walls and pillars blood red. Ramps and steps led to the gatehouse, where splintered strongwood doors hung agape in mute testimony to the violence that had once visited here. What sort of lives had her ancestors lived in this place before the devastation that ended many of them? Pilaer’s remoteness had not saved it from ruin. In the end, unity, rather than isolation, had saved the Kindren.

****

Kai looked away from the ruined hold towering overhead.

A rushing shadow vanished as it reached him.

He pulled Whyst from its sheath. The blade shone with blue light. Balancing the great sword in his hand, he turned to face another shadow. He needed no confirmation of what he already sensed. Wraiths hung heavy in this place of defeat.

An image of Guaron, lying pale and still as death, rose in his mind’s eye.
You lost Guaron. You will lose the others.

A hand touched his arm and he turned to meet Shae’s gaze. An image of her in a bride’s veil, her eyes closed in death, rose between them. He swallowed against tears.
You’ll never wed. She will die. You will die.

He reeled backwards but turned to confront the next shadow. Another loomed on its heels, only to disappear when it reached him. Strange. That one reminded him—it had looked like Eberhardt. He stabbed at another shadow. Whyst seemed only to slice air, but a faint hiss told him he’d hit his mark.

More shadows ran at him.

“I’ll send you to your rest!”
His shout dropped into dead air. It seemed the more wraiths he dispatched, the more came. They ringed him in, now running at him, now dancing out of reach. A terrible howl filled his ears and made him quake. He flailed, no longer able to move or see beyond the shadows.

Aerlic and Dorann shouted from somewhere near.

Shae’s voice cut to him with quiet intensity.
“Stop fighting!
You’re only making matters worse.”

Kai glimpsed Shae. She stood with Leisht in hand, bathed in its light. He recognized the truth of her words, but he didn’t know how to disengage. If he stopped fighting, the shadows would overrun him. He fended off yet another attack and fell back with a cry. The wraith had worn the face of his missing brother Daeven.
What madness ruled this place?

“Kai, Dorann—Shae’s right.” Aerlic’s voice lifted above the howling. “The wraiths gain strength when we fight them and fade when we stop.”

Another shadow scuttled toward Kai, and he saw his own face as a boy. With tears running down his face, he swung Whyst. The shadow hissed and vanished, but two sprang forth to take its place. He understood then. The more he fought, the quicker they multiplied. They could not hurt his body—only his mind. They were shadows of nothing—wraiths of his regrets.

He held Whyst before him and, even as shadows rushed him, forced his mind to quiet. They fell upon him, shrieking. Panic screamed in his mind.
You’ll suffocate!
He tightened his jaw and held his ground. If this didn’t end soon, he would lose his sanity.

Their shrieks faded, and the wraiths fell away to fizzle and vanish.

He lowered his sword arm, which trembled so badly he almost dropped Whyst. “They seem to have fled.”

Dorann passed the back of his hand across his sweat-glazed brow. “Well then.”

Aerlic blew out a shaky breath. “I guess that’s that.”

Kai restrained the urge to follow every flicker of shadow and instead turned to Shae. “Why didn’t the wraiths approach you?”

“They did, but they couldn’t hold me. Leisht must have cut their enchantment.”

Kai gave a weak smile. “I’m thankful. Let’s forsake this eldritch place before more trouble finds us. I know of a tracker’s shelter that once stood a little distance away on the mainland
.
If it still stands, we can avail ourselves of its protection.”

Pilaer and its ruined town shrank behind them as light leached from the sky. At the narrow neck of the peninsula, they crossed through the shattered remnants of a gatehouse. An ancient path led from there into the Darkwood of
Syllid Braechnen.
They entered the syllid as full dark fell. Kai kept Shae close to him, for he did not relish the fall of night in such a place. Nightbirds called from the thick brush and gnarlwoods bent twisted branches low to grasp at them as they passed.

Kai caught himself looking backward more than once. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something stalked them through the night.

23

In The Darkwood

Hissing whispers woke Shae. She propped on one elbow and looked for Kai in the silvered moonlight but found only an impression in the sweetgrass where he’d lain. She sat up. Where were the others? She pushed to her feet and circled the clearing with dagger drawn, peering into the shadows. The swirlstones in Leisht’s handle flared with light.

Laughter slashed through the air.

“Who’s there?”

More laughter.

Shae steadied herself. Did the Feiann also dwell in Syllid Braechnen? Anger lent her strength.
“Answer me!
Show yourself.”

Silence.

She calmed herself enough to speak with civility. “We are no threat to you. We only want rest and safe passage.”

More silence.

Her patience snapped. “What have you done with my companions?”

The whispering returned and rose to fever pitch, but then faded into the babble of the brook that cut across the clearing.

Shae opened her eyes.

A full moon rode like a ship in the sky, shedding light like sea foam. Trees, combed by the wind, tossed at the edge of the meadow. Partway into the darkness of the syllid the collapsing tracker shelter hunched.

Only a dream—it had been but a dream.

She turned her head, and her heart thudded in her ears.

Her companions really were gone.

Freaer emerged from the shadows. Even in the dark of night she read triumph in the tilt of his head. He stood over her.
“You are mine, Shae!
I bought you with Maeven’s death song.”

Terror clutched her mind and weighted her legs. She opened her mouth to deny his words, but no sound came.

Freaer held out a hand. “Come.” His voice echoed through the
syllid.

She jerked her eyes open. Freaer was gone. The moon, which no longer rode high, dimmed in the gathering light of morning. She cast about in confusion. What had happened? Had Freaer found her with the shil shael? Or had she suffered one nightmare after another—a dream within a dream?

Sounds carried to her—rustlings and a sudden thump. She turned her head, and her gaze clashed with Kai’s. He crouched, ready to spring.
Something was wrong.

A scuffling sounded. Metal rang on metal. A fearsome cry rent the air.

Kai rolled and sprang to his feet, Whyst
at the ready. But he had no time to take up his shield. The sounds of battle escalated.

She pushed to her knees.

Hairy, thick-necked giants had invaded the clearing.
Garns!

Shae fumbled to snatch Leisht from its sheath. She lurched to her feet. Kai called a warning, and she put out her dagger in an instinctive gesture.

It caught the wall of stinking, hairy flesh that slammed her backwards and against the hard ground. The garn grunted as it bled and died, pinning her to the ground beneath it.

She could barely move. Her lungs burned, and a creeping blackness edged her vision. In a surge of desperation she twisted and bucked until the dead garn shifted.

She gasped in air but when the garn’s stench filled her nostrils she fought the urge to retch.

Redoubling her efforts to free herself had bought her exhaustion rather than freedom. She lay helpless beneath the fallen garn, able only to watch the battle unfold.

Kai fought with zeal. Whyst sang as it sliced the air. He took up his shield and raised it to deflect a strike from the garn’s huge sword. She would not have thought the light shield could withstand such an onslaught, but it remained unmarked. Forced into a defensive posture, Kai fended blow after blow. But blood stained his tunic. His wound must have reopened. As Kai’s vigor flagged, the garn concentrated its attack on his injured side.

Dorann fared better. She caught glimpses of him just beyond Kai. Small of stature and light on his feet, he seemed almost to dance in battle. As their prey darted about, the two garns who chased him bellowed, but their frenzied blows came to naught.

She could not see Aerlic.

Kai cried out. His shield spun away. He stood, exposed and panting. A spreading stain soaked his side. He gathered himself.

The garn waited, sword ready.

No!
Her cry came out a whisper. She had already watched Kai die once, or at least thought she had, at Elcon’s Coronation. She could not do it again. She called to Dorann.
“Help him!”

Tears slid down her cheeks, for he did not hear her soft cry. Besides, Dorann had his own battle to fight. With renewed strength, she shoved against the dead garn.

Aerlic stepped from the edge of the clearing with bow drawn.

Thwank!
His arrow thumped into the side of the garn attacking Kai.

With a grunt, the garn turned to face a new threat.

In that instant, the dead garn slid sideways and Shae pulled her legs free.

Her ears rang but cleared as she gulped in air. She lifted to shaky knees and jerked her dagger out of the garn’s body. It dripped blood. Her stomach heaved. Cold tremors ran over her. Panting, she crouched and waited for the sickness to pass.

She peered around the dead garn’s body. By some miracle Kai still stood. But he swayed on his feet.

She spotted Aerlic, fallen at the edge of the clearing, his body as broken as his bow.

Tears wet her cheeks. She tried to move, gritting her teeth as blood tingled back into her legs. They would not yet serve her. She suppressed a moan at the delay, but its necessity won her time to think. She could not hope to overpower the garn, but she could provide a distraction.

As the tingling eased, she crawled away from the dead garn and toward Kai’s fallen shield, which gleamed just out of reach. The carved and twined wingabeasts
adorning it, symbol of the guardians of Rivenn
,
remained unmarred, a testiment to its strength. She held back a sob, for she had never felt more exposed, but the garn’s attention remained fixed on Kai. Her fingers touched the edge of the shield. An instant more and she would bear it.

Her fingers curved around the boss ring. She hoisted the shield, almost falling backwards, for it was lighter than it seemed. Recovering her balance, she staggered to her feet.

A battle cry raised her hackles, and she turned her head. Dorann made a running lunge and planted his sword in the neck of one of the garns he faced.

The garn’s dying roar filled the clearing.

As blood spurted, Shae winced and averted her eyes. She swallowed against the acid stinging her throat and willed herself not to give way to queasiness.

Raising her dagger with a fierce cry, she charged Kai’s garn.

****

At sight of a screaming, dagger-brandishing Shae, fear jolted through Kai’s veins.

The garn swung toward Shae, exposing its wound, blood oozing around the arrow Aerlic had placed.

Kai saw his chance. Gripping Whyst with both hands, he drove his blade deep into the garn’s side. Kai staggered backwards as the garn toppled. Kai’s legs buckled, and he went to his knees. Blackness edged his vision.

Shae screamed.

The garn, still living, clawed her leg. The vile creature now dragged her toward its fangs.

Kai fought to his feet, but blackness pressed him on all sides, and he had to pause.

Dorann sidestepped a blow from the remaining garn he fought. Before it could recover Dorann spun and, with a powerful thrust, embedded his sword in its side. The garn went to its knees and Dorann moved in for the kill.

When the garn lay dead, Dorann started toward Shae. Kai breathed a prayer.
“Lof Yuel, save her!”
Dorann would never reach her in time.