by Terry Brooks
The Chzyk darted back in the direction from which they had come, even as the trio continued moving ahead. He was gone perhaps fifteen minutes before reappearing, racing across the barren landscape in a flash of dark movement, spines flaring out in warning. Tesla Dart dropped to one knee and bent close to the little creature as it charged up to her, and the two of them began chattering away in a mix of non-words and rough grunts.
The Ulk Bog rose swiftly, shaking her head. “This is bad. Tarwick hunts us with Goblins and wolves. The Straken Lord’s Catcher can find anything he wishes. We will not escape if we try running. Another way is needed.”
“An airship would give us a way,” Redden declared.
“The only airships near are those fighting in Arishaig.” Oriantha cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t want to go back there, do you?”
There was a moment’s silence. “Horses,” the boy said.
“No horses out here, either. This isn’t settled country. Not until we get to the Tirfing. We’re a day from there.”
“Too far!” Tesla Dart snapped.
“We can hide our trail,” Redden said, though in truth he had no idea how they could do this.
But Tesla Dart clapped her hands. “No, we can do better! We can hide where they do not think!” She paused, looking from one to the other, excitement etched on her rough features. “We can go back inside the Forbidding!”
Redden stared. Surely, he had not heard correctly. “What did you say? Go back inside the Forbidding? I am not going back inside the Forbidding again. Ever!”
“Wait.” Oriantha was suddenly interested. “How long would we have to stay?” she asked Tesla Dart.
The Ulk Bog grinned toothily at Redden. “You see? She knows what I do.” Her bright eyes shifted to the girl. “We go quick, then out again. Lose Tarwick in land of Jarka Ruus, if he comes for us, get out again closer to place you want. See?”
“You mean we go back in long enough to travel to where we can find another way out and then leave again?” Redden demanded, flushed and suddenly terrified. “But what if we can’t get out?”
“Lots of ways out! The wall crumbles many places. The magic is weakened. Can find ways for us, you see. Tarwick never catch us there. I know more than he does. Weka taught me. I can keep us safe.”
It was a huge gamble, but the boy also saw why it made sense. There was reason to believe the pursuit might end at the entrance back into the Forbidding. Would anyone reenter while the Straken Lord’s army was here? And Weka Dart had outfoxed the Straken Lord and his last Catcher in the time of Grianne Ohmsford. Maybe Tesla was similarly well informed.
But to go back into the Forbidding? Redden shivered, cold to his bones.
Oriantha moved around in front of him. “Let’s do it. It has to be safer than trying to outrun pursuit out here. We’re too far away from any help, and we have no one we can turn to. If we don’t find an airship or horses, we’ll be run down before the day is out.”
“You realize what you’re asking of me?” Redden snapped.
The girl leaned close. “No worse than what has been asked of you already.” She paused. “I will stand by you to the end.”
So we can both die together, Redden thought. But that was being small-minded and ungrateful. She was trying to reassure him. Clearly, she believed that this was their best chance.
He backed away from his anger and fear. She had not failed him so far. She had saved him when no one else could. She deserved his attention. And at this point, her judgment was admittedly better than his.
He took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, feeling all of the power that remained leaking out of him. “This nightmare is never going to end, is it?” he muttered. And without waiting for a reply, he started back toward the entrance into the Forbidding.
20
Deep inside Arishaig’s walls, huddling in the shadows of the doorway to a shop that was closed and locked in the wake of the assault on the city, Arling Elessedil tried to decide what to do next. She had been running for two days, first from the crowds that swarmed the streets when the demon army appeared on the ridgeline and then from her own personal fears as she realized that the escape she had envisioned was now impossible. She had spent most of her time determining that this was so, running from one gate to the next to find all of them sealed and guarded, futilely tracking along the walls in search of other ways out, and finally stumbling exhausted through the streets in search of someone who might be able to help her. She hadn’t stopped moving in all that time, desperate for help and terrified that Edinja might find her. What rest she’d gotten had been taken in brief snatches, all too quickly ended.
Now, about an hour before sunset on the second day, she had reached the limit of her endurance and could go no farther. She settled down on the doorstep and leaned back against the door in despair, crying silently.
Then she fell asleep.
When the hands shook her awake and the voices whispered her name, she could barely make herself respond.
“Arling!” she heard.
“It’s all right. She’s just sleeping.”
She opened her eyes and found Aphen and Cymrian bending over her. She blinked hard several times, not quite able to believe they had found her—not even able to believe it was really them.
Then she reached quickly for Aphen, who took her in her arms and held her close.
“We’ve spent two days tracking you through the city,” Cymrian said, “but you kept moving. We would use the Elfstones to find where you were, but when we’d go there you were gone. We couldn’t manage to catch up with you. What were you doing?”
Arling shook her head. “Running. Trying to escape. Afraid I would be caught again.” She exhaled sharply, gasping out her words. “How did you get here? I thought I would have to come looking for you in the Westland.”
Aphen continued to hold her tightly, stroking her hair. “We caught up with those people who gave you over to the Federation. They told us what they had done. We were able to track you here using the Elfstones. Once inside the city, we began searching for you.”
“We knew where you were at first,” Cymrian interrupted. He crouched down next to the sisters. “But we couldn’t find a way to get inside Edinja’s house to free you. How did you get out?”
Arling managed a quick grin. “I escaped. I fooled Edinja into thinking I was hysterical and couldn’t do anything. She had me locked in a bedroom, but when the serving woman came in to drug me again I hit her over the head and went out the door. Edinja was gone. I threw on a travel cloak and went right out the front door. No one stopped me. I’ve been running ever since, but I couldn’t find a way out of the city.”
Aphen and Cymrian exchanged a quick look, but Arling just continued on. “She took me into the cellars and showed me what she was doing to people down there. She changes them. She makes them into monsters, things that aren’t human anymore. She wanted to scare me into helping her find you!”
Cymrian put his hand on Aphen’s shoulder. “We need to get out of sight. Let’s use this shop.”
He broke the lock and the three of them moved out of the alley and inside, closing the door behind them. They were in a storeroom filled with boxes and racks of clothing. Cymrian set about finding something Arling could change into while Aphen kept holding her sister close, letting her continue with her story of what had happened to her while she was Edinja’s prisoner.
“I thought at first I was a guest and she was taking care of me. I was told the airship that brought me was hers and the captain and crew had found no sign of either of you when they looked. I believed her. But then she started asking more questions and drugged me when I wouldn’t answer so that I couldn’t lie, and I had to tell her everything. Even about the Forbidding and the demons and the Ellcrys …”
She broke off, her face suddenly drained of color. “Aphen! I don’t have the seed anymore!”
Aphen released her, holding her out at arm’s length. “What do you mean? What happened to i
t?”
Arling was in tears. “I don’t know! I was unconscious when those people found me and then aboard the ship, too. I didn’t wake up until I was in Arishaig in Edinja’s house, and when I searched it was gone!”
“Then Edinja has it,” Cymrian declared.
“No, she doesn’t,” Arling said quickly. “She didn’t know anything about it. When I told her about it after she gave me the drug, she kept trying to find out where it was, who might have taken it. It wasn’t the captain and crew. She’d imprisoned them in the cellars, and she’d done things to the captain, turned him into a monster so that …” She broke off. “We have to find it, Aphen!” she said frantically. “I have to get it back!”
“I can’t find anything for her to wear in here,” Cymrian announced from across the room. “Bring her into the shop. We can search there. We need to change, as well. Look at us. We look like we’ve been attacked by feral cats.”
They moved out of the storeroom and into the front of the shop. The clothes on display were better organized and Cymrian quickly found garments they could change into. While Arling and Aphen did so, he moved to the windows and peered out.
“Quiet out there. No one about.” He scanned up and down the street. “Everyone’s gone into hiding.” He shook his head. “I don’t like their chances if they don’t get out of here soon. Or ours.”
“What do you mean?” Arling asked, lacing up her blouse and tightening the belt around her waist. She had wiped the tears and dirt away from her face and tied back her hair.
Cymrian looked at her. “We’ve watched the last two battles, and then we climbed up where we wouldn’t be noticed and took a look over the battlements. There’s an army of demonkind out there, obviously broken free of the Forbidding, and the Federation defenders aren’t going to be enough to stop it. They’ve nearly broken through Arishaig’s defenses twice.”
“So we have to get out of the city,” Aphen finished. “Escape and go back into the Westland and find the Ellcrys seed.”
“But I’m not sure what happened to it!” Arling insisted.
“I am,” Cymrian said. “The couple who found you and took you to the Federation warship took it. If you don’t have it, and Edinja and her captain and crew don’t have it, then who’s left? They must have stolen it off you when they found you.”
Aphen stared at him. “Are you sure about this?”
“Process of elimination. It’s the only possibility. The man, in particular, seemed anxious to me, even before he found out Arling was your sister. He has it, all right.”
Arling looked stricken. “But I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about the woman, either. How will we ever find them?”
“Before we worry about that, we have to get out of this city.” Aphen put her hands on her sister’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Arling, look at me. Let me see your eyes. Are you all right now? You look exhausted.”
Cymrian had moved away from the windows and stepped behind a clothes rack to change, as well. “We’ll start by finding Rushlin and see if he has any ideas. Rovers usually know one or two tricks for getting out of tight corners.”
They found a better travel cloak for Arling, and together they moved toward the storeroom door, intent on going back out the way they had come in. They had just passed through the doorway when they saw a small, exquisitely beautiful woman with silver hair and dusky skin standing at the back door, blocking the way.
Arling gave a small cry and shrank back immediately.
“Why don’t we talk about how I can help you leave all this behind,” Edinja Orle said. “Isn’t that what you want?”
Aphen’s first impulse was to attack, but she resisted it when she saw the giant moor cat crouched off to one side. It was much too close for her to stop it from springing on them, which it would likely choose to do if she tried to attack Edinja.
“I’m not here to try to take Arling back,” the sorceress said to them. “I’m just here to talk. Listen to me, and then you can go wherever you want. I won’t try to stop you. In fact, I won’t do anything to get in your way. But I can help you get to where you want to go, which ought to make what I have to say worthwhile.”
Aphen could feel Cymrian tense next to her, so she reached out and took hold of his arm in warning. “How did you find us?” she asked Edinja.
“Cinla and I tracked you. We’re very good at that sort of thing.”
“You let Arling escape, didn’t you?”
“I gave her the opportunity so that she could lead me to you and we could have this talk. I admit that in the beginning—weeks ago—I was looking for something entirely different from what I am looking for now. As Prime Minister of the Federation, I wanted to find a way to put pressure on the Elves to form an alliance. Or on the Druids, for that matter. But now that I know what is happening with the Forbidding, I’ve decided I need to pursue a different course of action entirely.”
“You tried to kill us!” Cymrian snapped.
She shook her head. “I did not try to kill you. Stoon tried to kill you. I sent him to find you and bring you back to me so that I could discover what you were up to. He took it upon himself to do more.”
“He had the use of your creatures, Edinja.”
“Yes, my creatures. Thieves and murderers and men who lied to me; I made them into something better. I gave him three of them for protection. He’s been terrified of Aphenglow ever since their encounter at Paranor. He insisted he needed them. How he used them was his own decision.”
“Your man tried to kill us without your permission?” Cymrian pressed incredulously. “You expect us to believe that?”
She shrugged. “That’s up to you. But I had no idea he decided to countermand my orders or that he managed to persuade the captain of my ship to be his ally. Killing you was easier than trying to bring you back alive. He just wanted you out of the way. Think about it. What would I gain by killing you? What would be the point? I have done nothing to pursue Drust Chazhul’s plans for Paranor since his death. I have kept away from the Druid’s Keep because it does not belong to me. It belongs to the Druids, and I respect that. So what would I achieve by inflicting any sort of harm on you?”
“I don’t believe you,” Cymrian declared, making a dismissive gesture.
“You could have known about the Ellcrys,” Aphen said.
Edinja made a face. “Assuming for a moment I knew about Arling’s purpose on your voyage, why would I want to interfere? Why would I want to take Arling prisoner when she is the only one who can save us? From the very beginning of my involvement, Aphenglow was the one I wanted to reach.”
“So you sent assassins to Arborlon to try to kill me?” Aphen snapped.
“Assassins? I don’t know anything about any assassins. I didn’t send anyone to Arborlon. As for the Ellcrys, I didn’t know anything about that until Arling was in my bedroom, recovering.” She pointed at Arling. “Tell them. Do you think I knew anything about the Ellcrys before you told me?”
Arling hesitated. “No, I don’t think you did.”
“When I had you in my care, did I do anything to hurt you?”
“You drugged me.”
“So that you would tell me the truth, which you weren’t going to do otherwise, were you?”
“You could have just let me go.”
“So that you could disappear and I would never know what happened? I couldn’t allow that. I needed to keep you with me long enough to let you lead me to your sister. I admit I tricked you. I admit I used you. But only because I couldn’t get the answers I needed otherwise. None of you were going to listen to me.”
Aphenglow was beginning to see a modicum of reason in Edinja’s arguments, which was troubling. Even worse, she was also beginning to hope that the sorceress was telling the truth so that she would help them find a way out of the city.
“You could have just asked me to come see you,” she tried.
Edinja laughed. “Oh, and you would have come right over?
After my predecessor tried to have Paranor seized and the Druid order disbanded? Why would you trust me? Why would you have anything at all to do with me?”
Aphen did not have an answer.
Edinja made a dismissive gesture. “None of that matters now, in any case. What matters is that the Forbidding is down and the demons are loose and most of them seem to be gathered right outside the gates of Arishaig. This is my city, and as Prime Minister it is my responsibility to protect it. All this has changed my thinking about what has to happen next. I need Arling to find the Ellcrys seedling and do what she must to put the demons back where they belong. So I want you to forget about everything you think you know about me or you think I am responsible for, and concentrate your efforts on saving us all.”
The Elessedil sisters and Cymrian looked at each other doubtfully. “So you really intend to help us?” Aphen asked.
Edinja nodded. “I said I did, and I meant it. I will provide you with a fast airship—one that will get you past the dragon and the other flying things that are waiting out there. I will put you aboard and send you on your way because I am depending on you to save my people and this city. And because the Elves are also at risk. Everyone in the Four Lands faces extinction if we don’t lock the demonkind back within the Forbidding.”
“Do you intend to accompany us?” Cymrian asked suddenly.
Edinja laughed again. “I wondered when you would get around to asking that. In other circumstances, I would insist on it. But a Prime Minister of the Federation can’t be seen abandoning her capital city when it’s under attack. A Prime Minister is expected to stand or fall with her people.”
“And you don’t intend to send any of your creatures with us, do you?” Arling pressed.
“They would be of little use. I could give you a warship and a captain and crew, but that would just make you a more visible target. I think it best if just the three of you go. Don’t you agree?”
Aphen nodded. “But what do you want in return for this? You, personally?”