Randel urged the mare forward, up to the edge of the light that spilled from the open door. The woman peered up at them. Her hair was nearly white and poofed out in every direction. She had a tattered old robe wrapped around her.
“I don’t have much,” she said. “I’m only an old woman all alone and I can’t be—” She broke off as she finally saw Aislin clearly. She barely glanced at Randel. All her attention fixed on Aislin.
“My word,” she breathed. “Why, you’re naught but a little thing.”
“Not that little,” Aislin grumbled under her breath.
The old woman switched to Randel. “What’re you sitting there for? You waiting for a sign from the gods? Get down and come inside.”
Randel dismounted. He was so stiff and sore he nearly fell on the spot. Then he helped Aislin down. The old woman crouched in front of her.
“You’re a sight, aren’t you?” she breathed.
“Can we come in or not?” Aislin asked irritably. “It’s been a long day.”
“Of course, of course.” The woman stood, her knees popping, and gestured toward the open door. Aislin started for the door. The old woman looked at Randel. “You can put your horse in the barn. There’s hay in the rick, but don’t use too much.”
Randel did as he was told. A short while later he walked hesitantly into the farmhouse. The old woman was hovering over Aislin, who had a cup of tea in her hands, steam rising from it.
“The stew will be warm in a bit,” the woman said. “It’s fresh. I only made it tonight.”
Randel stood there, not sure what to do. Aislin sat in one chair. There was only one more in the room. It was pulled up by the stone fireplace with a blanket over it. He didn’t think he should sit there and leave the old woman with nowhere to sit. His gaze went longingly to the pot that was hanging over the fire.
“Did you come from a place where they don’t close the doors at night?” the old woman said abruptly, startling him.
“Uh…no. Sorry.” He hastened to close it.
The old woman had already turned back to Aislin. “You’re an adorable little thing, aren’t you?” she said softly, more to herself than to Aislin. One hand reached out to stroke Aislin’s hair.
Aislin jerked her head away and gave the woman a look.
“Sorry,” the woman said. “It was forward of me. It’s only…I had a daughter about your age. She died. My sons died when they were still babies. My husband died last year. It’s only me now, and I don’t see others much. I forget how things are sometimes.”
“It’s okay,” Randel said.
The woman gave him a sharp look. “It wasn’t your hair I was touching, was it? Why are you still standing there? Sit down already. You’re making me antsy.”
Randel sat down on the spot. The woman started to say something, then changed her mind and shook her head. “That’s as good a spot as any, I suppose, even if I will be tripping over you.”
“I’m Randel, and this is my sister Aislin. We’re looking for our brother Karliss.”
“Are you now?” She looked from one to the other. “You don’t look much alike.”
“Different mothers?” Randel ventured.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”
“Thank you for that,” Randel said.
“What kind of person would I be if I turned away a helpless little thing like her?”
“I’m not helpless,” Aislin said.
“Of course, you’re not, dear,” the woman said.
“I don’t think you mean that,” Aislin said. “I think you’re only saying that.”
The woman looked at Randel. “Your sister speaks her mind, doesn’t she?”
“She always has.”
The woman loaned her a blanket, and Aislin curled up on the floor. She fell asleep almost immediately.
Chapter 38
By the time the sun set, the Ichthalids were clearly having trouble staying in the saddle. Finally, when it was almost dark, S’nash called a halt. The three invaders climbed down and leaned against their mounts.
“Why are we stopping?” Lowellin said loudly, riding up to them and hopping lightly down to the ground. “The girl is getting away. You’re not tired, are you?”
“We will catch her. Only we must…recharge first,” S’nash said.
“About that. How do you recharge? It’s something I’ve wondered about for some time. I haven’t seen you sucking people dry the way the sorcerers do…I mean the way they used to do.”
S’nash turned to look at Lowellin. The blue veins winding across his face seemed almost luminescent. A spark of anger glittered in his eyes. “I will not discuss this with you.”
“Fair enough. I don’t need to know all your secrets, I guess.” Lowellin made a show of looking around. “I noticed the other member of your cheery crew still hasn’t shown up. What do you think happened to him? Maybe the girl put up a fight when he tried to take the piece from her.”
“You know I do not know this. You only ask to anger me. And it is working.” S’nash curled his fingers. Lowellin twitched and bent over in sudden pain. He held up one hand in surrender.
“Okay. Sensitive topic. Forget I said anything.”
S’nash released him. The three Ichthalids walked away into the growing darkness. Fen rode up to Lowellin and dismounted.
“Where do you think Ilsith is?” Fen asked. He’d been wondering about the shadowy Ichthalid’s absence all day.
“I don’t know. During our time together, he disappeared for long periods of time, and I never knew where he went or what he did. It didn’t matter. He seemed to show up when I most needed him.”
“Maybe he already stole the key piece from the girl.”
“What good would it do him? He’s not strong enough to take the other pieces from S’nash.”
“You know something that you’re not telling.”
“Are you suggesting that your loyal ally is withholding from you?”
“The loyal ally who almost let the sorcerers kill me?”
“Alliances are tricky. You never know when they will change. One day I was Rome and Quyloc’s only hope against Melekath, and the next…this.” He pointed at his own chest. “I will tell you this. I think Ilsith is feeling what you call disgruntled. Maybe even slighted. It’s possible I helped him feel that way.”
“What did you do?”
“I only said aloud what everyone was thinking.”
The rest of the squad rode up. Lowellin waved them off. “What’s with all the standing around? Is this how you take care of your king? Set up a command tent or something, a place where I might sit on my throne and ponder my empire.”
“We don’t have a tent,” Cowley said.
“Or a throne,” Noah added.
“No, I suppose not. It seems I forgot to tell you to bring one. I’m still new at this king business. I forget these things. Well, build a fire then. And take care of my horse. Feed it or whatever you do with them. And leave me alone. I need time to think.” So saying, he wandered off by himself.
They were out on the plains that stretched for days west of Qarath, rolling hills covered with long grasses. The only trees were scattered clumps here and there, growing alongside the streams that snaked across the landscape. Once Lowellin was out of earshot, Noah moved over next to Fen.
“Now?” he said.
“Now what?”
Noah gestured in the direction the Ichthalids had gone. “You saw how they were walking. They’re tired. They’re weak. Let’s follow them and kill those bastards. I’m dying to see how they feel about a sword in their guts.”
“Dying being the important word there,” Cowley said. “They’d roast you before you took a step toward them.”
“Not if I sneak up behind them when they’re not looking,” Noah said.
“What a great plan,” Strout said scornfully. “Did you think that up all by yourself?”
“I don’t see you coming up with anything better.”
> “We’re not attacking them,” Fen said.
“Why not? We’re never going to get a better chance.”
“We’re going to join up with the girl first,” Fen said.
“The girl,” Noah said in a disgusted voice. “What’s she going to do out here? There’s no sea. Is she going to make waves in that little stream over there? That will be terrifying.”
“Who do you think she is?” Lukas asked Fen.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Fen said. “If there are Shapers in the Stone, then maybe there are some in the sea as well.”
“A Sea Shaper.” Lukas considered this for a moment. Then, he said, “Why not in the sky too?”
“Really?” Noah asked him. “The sky? What about in the bread? Or how about in rabbits? You’re being dumb.”
“I ought to punch you in the mouth,” Lukas said.
“But you won’t.”
“Don’t push me.”
Fen cut in. “Stop it. Maybe there are Shapers in the sky, maybe there aren’t. What we do know is there is power in the water, and there’s at least one person who knows how to use it.”
“We know you got your power because Lowellin gave it to your father. How did she get hers?” Gage asked.
“Does it really matter?” Strout asked.
“No, it doesn’t,” Fen said. “What matters is that she’s also trying to keep them from getting the key. That makes her an ally, and from what we saw earlier, a powerful one.”
“Does this mean we’re not attacking them?” Noah asked. “I still say we should attack them.”
“Be quiet,” Strout said. “No one cares what you have to say.”
“The decision is made. I’m not talking about it anymore.” Fen looked around. There was no sign of Lowellin. “Cover for me, will you?” he said to the others.
“What are you going to do?” Cowley asked.
“I’m going to follow the Ichthalids, see what they’re up to.”
“We’ll come with you,” Lukas said.
“No. You’ll stay here. If Lowellin sees us all gone, he’ll stop us. With the rest of you here, maybe he won’t notice I’m not. If he asks, tell him I’m looking for firewood or something.”
“You’re not going to do anything foolish like attack them by yourself, are you?” Lukas asked.
“Why would I do that? I just said it would be dumb to attack them before I can ally with the girl.”
“I don’t know,” Lukas replied. “But you have a habit of going off on your own and getting into trouble.”
“He’s right,” Gage said.
“It’s recon. That’s it.”
The squad headed off to hobble the horses and build a fire, while Fen started after the Ichthalids, leaving his sword behind so he could move more quietly.
He walked to the top of a low hill, where he stopped to listen. In the distance he could faintly hear chanting. Knowing they wouldn’t be able to hear him over the noise they were making, he increased his pace. When he was a stone’s throw away, he slowed and began creeping forward.
He found the Ichthalids standing in a circle on a wide, flat spot, their hands over their heads. They were still chanting. From the sound of it, Fen had the feeling that they were beseeching someone or something, though he didn’t understand any of the words. One of the words kept getting repeated. He thought it was probably a name. The chant made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and left him feeling nauseated. His gut told him something awful was coming, that he should flee as far and as fast as he could.
The ground underneath the Ichthalids began to glow with a soft, cloudy light that was tinged purple. The light grew steadily stronger, until it was hard to look at. Fen held up a hand to shield his eyes against it. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like the normal ground was gone. In its place was a smooth, circular surface, almost like a sheet of glass. The light was shining through it from the other side.
They must be making an opening into the Abyss, he realized. Were they going to bring through more Ichthalids? If that was the case, then maybe he should attack them now, before they brought in reinforcements.
While he hesitated, the chant grew louder, the light stronger, until it was a solid beam of light shining up into the sky, illuminating scattered clouds overhead. The light was a milky purple, shot through with streaks of swirling black. Chaos power radiated outward from it, so strong that Fen’s stomach heaved.
Squinting against the glare, Fen saw shapes moving on the other side of the opening, tentacled things with teeth and bulbous heads. They crowded close, looking like they were trying to come through. Fen had a feeling that they were very close to doing so.
The chant changed. Now it was only the single word that he thought might be a name, over and over.
“Lazaria! Lazaria! Lazaria!”
Fen felt something approaching the opening, something vast and terrifying. The tentacled creatures all fled before it. Its presence grew ever stronger as it came closer. He felt like he was slowly being crushed beneath it. He was an insect under the foot of a giant. Nothing he did, nothing he could ever do, would make the slightest difference against power such as this.
Something black and scaled swept past the opening, too fast to identify. He caught a glimpse of a claw that was the yellow of old bone and filigreed with runes. It was also huge. Terror gripped him at the sight of the creature, and if he could have made his muscles work, he would have fled in terror.
Then, in the opening, an eye appeared. It was far bigger than the window, the pupil filling most of it, with only a little bit of the iris visible. In that depthless blackness Fen saw the doom, not just of his world, but of every world. A scaled eyelid closed and opened. Fen clawed at the ground, biting his tongue to keep from crying out. The Ichthalids fell to their knees, and now their chant sounded like a moan of fear.
The eye moved away. It was replaced by a lip with enormous, curving teeth. The lip pulled back, and the mouth opened. Far down in the depths of the maw Fen could see a churning, fiery ball of magenta flame. The mouth seemed to be swallowing everything. Fen felt like he was falling into it, and he threw out his arms, trying to stop himself, but there was nothing he could do.
The chanting stopped. The Ichthalids rose unsteadily to their feet.
From the maw came a gout of incandescent magenta fire. The fire engulfed the Ichthalids, so bright that they could no longer be seen. The light seared Fen’s eyes, and he clapped his hands over them in pain. He might have cried out, but he couldn’t be sure.
The magenta fire shut off suddenly. The opening disappeared. Blinking against the afterimages burned into his eyes, Fen looked upon the Ichthalids in awe. They were transformed. No longer did they look gaunt and worn down. They glowed with inner radiance and rippled with fresh muscle. They were fierce and terrifying, capable of grinding all resistance to dust beneath their feet. S’nash turned toward Fen. His eyes were glowing so brightly it was hard to look at them.
In a booming voice he said, “Now you have looked on the Queen’s glory, human. Be glad the sight did not shatter your mind and shred your flesh from its bones.”
Fen made it to his feet and staggered blindly away. His mind reeled before the implications of what he’d seen. He had no awareness of where he was until he felt someone shaking him and heard his name being said over and over. He blinked, and the queen disappeared, replaced by Cowley’s face.
“What happened? What did you see?”
“The end of…of everything,” Fen replied.
The others all stared at him in shock.
“Uh…you’re speaking metaphorically, right, Fen?” Cowley asked.
“Meta what?” Noah asked. “What’s that mean?”
“I wish I was,” Fen said. He pushed his way through them and sat down next to the fire, putting his head in his hands.
“What does that mean?” Noah insisted.
“It means I really did see the end of the world,” Fen said, raising his head and looking
at them. “I was wrong. I should have attacked them when I had the chance. Now it’s too late.”
They sat down around him. “Tell us what you saw,” Strout said.
Fen told them. They looked sick when he was finished.
“I don’t think I like metaphors,” Noah said.
“This isn’t a metaphor, you dummy,” Strout said.
“At least now we know who their queen is,” Cowley said, trying a weak smile. “That’s something, isn’t it?”
“We are so screwed,” Lukas said.
“Hey, the queen isn’t free yet,” Gage pointed out. “We’re still in this fight.”
“You’re only saying that because you didn’t see her,” Fen said glumly.
The rest went silent then, sobered by Fen’s despair. None of them had ever seen him like this. A couple of times Cowley started to say something, but each time he gave up and clamped his mouth shut. What was there to say, really?
Lowellin came sauntering up. When Fen saw him, he jumped to his feet, ran to him, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he yelled. Fen’s hand and forearm were glowing the red of molten stone from the power pulsing through him. Though he gripped Lowellin’s neck with power enough to crack stone, Lowellin showed no discomfort.
“First of all, if the Ichthalids show up and see you doing this, I think they’re going to be a little suspicious. You’re supposed to be a common soldier, remember?”
Shaking with suppressed anger, Fen tossed Lowellin down. “I want answers,” he growled.
“You’ll keep wanting, then, because I don’t have any for you. I’m as surprised about this queen as you are. I was kind of expecting something a little more…smaller.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That makes no difference.”
“Our alliance is at an end.”
“Are you sure you aren’t just upset? Maybe you should think it over.”
“There’s nothing to think over. You can’t be trusted.”
“Are you only now figuring that out? Surely you can’t be that slow. Of course, I can’t be trusted. I’ve been saying that all along. But, once again, you have no real options. Your best bet is still to tag along and see how it all unfolds. Unless you were planning on attacking them tonight, while you’re all angry?”
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