Witch Wraith

by Terry Brooks

  She shook her head in despair. “You won’t let go of this, will you?” She gave a deep sigh. “All right. Maybe there’s something in what you say. We’ll give it a try.”

  She held up one hand quickly as she saw the look of joy on his face. “But here are my terms. If something dangerous wards the treasure of the Old World and I decide we are overmatched, we come back out. If we fail to find the Elfstones quickly or are not able to free them from their chamber, we come out. Tesla Dart, how do we see anything once we’re down there?”

  “Torches,” the Ulk Bog said. She looked at Redden. “I know how to go, the way down and out again. I can lead us. Let me watch for dangers, use Lada to help.” She looked back at Oriantha. “Agreed?”

  The shape-shifter nodded. “Agreed.” She glanced over at the valley and its black pit, then over her shoulder, already looking for the pursuit she knew would be coming. “Against my better judgment.”

  They left the valley rim and started down a brush-covered slope that provided handholds as they went. Tesla Dart made the choice of approach, offering a dozen reasons why others wouldn’t work, most having to do with hidden dangers involving poison and teeth. Oriantha didn’t argue. It was bad enough that they were going at all, but once the decision had been made she was not about to start second-guessing. This was the Ulk Bog’s country, and she knew it better than the outlanders. Oriantha decided the best use of her time was in keeping watch for danger.

  Slipping and sliding down patches of loose rock and dry earth, grabbing one clump of brush and then reaching for the next, using outcroppings of rocks for footrests and handholds where the brush was sparse, the trio made a torturous descent into the valley. Daylight was fading quickly now, the already pale gray light darkening by the minute as the skies lost what little glow they offered and shadows spread in sweeping pools that soon covered everything. Visibility diminished to a point where Oriantha was left feeling adrift, but it seemed not to bother Tesla Dart at all. Lada had disappeared early on, skittering away at the beginning of things, a flash of color disappearing into the brush. Apparently, the Chzyk was out there somewhere, scouting the way forward, but Oriantha couldn’t prove it.

  She glanced often at Redden Ohmsford. The transformation was astonishing. From beaten down and discouraged to reenergized and eager; it was as if he had been newly made. Before, he couldn’t stand being inside the Forbidding and wanted only to get out again. Now he seemed to have lost his sense of despair and his fears, and his thoughts were dominated by what he saw as the very real possibility that he could find and carry away the treasure they initially had come searching for. Admittedly, it was an astonishing prospect. That, after all that had happened, they should actually lay hands on the missing Elfstones was beyond belief. In truth, all of them had long since forgotten or at least set aside the original purpose for their quest. No one had given thought to it since the destruction of the company and discovery that the demons were breaking free of the Forbidding. There had seemed no reason for doing anything else. Redden was right: They had lost their way and believed they had no real chance of finding it again.

  Now this.

  Fate worked in mysterious ways. Oriantha understood that much about life, and her own strange history convinced her that the future was unpredictable and the past often shrouded in confusion and mystery. But what was happening now, undertaking this effort to find what had seemed forever lost, surpassed everything she knew.

  “Can you see anything?” Redden asked Tesla Dart, his voice a whisper.

  “Can see everything,” the answer came back. “Night eyes are Ulk Bog’s friends. Nothing hides. We are safe.”

  Oriantha doubted that, but then she harbored so many doubts anyway that one more hardly mattered. It had been her plan for them to reenter the Forbidding and escape swiftly—not to veer off on an unexpected quest that she could not help thinking would be a failure. But no one’s plans had worked out as intended since the moment they had set out from Bakrabru. Mostly, they had just muddled through, trying to do the best they could.

  Minutes later they reached the floor of the valley and started across the shattered terrain toward the dark pit that would take them down inside the earth. She kept her eyes directed ahead, scanning for whatever waited.

  But as the Ulk Bog had said, there was nothing to see.

  Twenty-six

  How could this have happened?

  Aphen screamed the question in the silence of her mind, its echo reverberating as she fought to regain her composure. She had never trusted Edinja Orle, not even when the sorceress was helping them escape Arishaig. She had wondered then if Edinja had something to gain by giving them her airship and sending them on their way so willingly. Given what she knew, it seemed wrong to believe the other woman could change so abruptly from an enemy to a friend.

  But there was no indication of an ulterior motive and seemingly no earthly way she could do them harm once they were away from her.

  Now Aphen knew better.

  “How did you find us?” she asked.

  Edinja gave a small shrug. “I never lost you. Not as long as you kept your sister close, which I knew you would. She is fitted with my marker, a bit of magic buried beneath the skin of her neck, there in the hairline where it can’t be seen. Had you searched her thoroughly, you would have found it. But I knew you wouldn’t do anything like that where dearest Arling was concerned.”

  “You tracked us as soon as we left, didn’t you?”

  “Shortly after. I used the second Sprint. Arishaig was doomed by then. Even I knew that. There was no reason to stay once it became apparent. Besides, I had plans of my own that were more important than going down with the ship. I might be Prime Minister of the Federation, but I am not required to sacrifice myself when the cause is lost.”

  Aphen was thinking desperately of what she might do to turn the situation around. Edinja’s knife was perilously close to ending Arling’s life. A single swipe of that blade across her sister’s throat, and there would be nothing anyone could do. In which case, the Ellcrys could not be renewed and none of them would be saved.

  But Edinja must know this, too. Would she really kill Arling if they came at her? What was she trying to do?

  Aphen glanced sideways at Cymrian. He seemed at ease, but she knew he was looking at a way to get at the sorceress. The difficulty with this lay not only in the danger to Arling but also in the closeness of Cinla, who was crouched down and ready to spring. He might try to reach Edinja, but the big cat would be on him before he completed his first step.

  “Hold your light steady,” Edinja said to Arling, tightening her hold on the girl. “Point it where I can see everything they are doing. No tricks. If you drop the light or try to switch it off, I will cut you.”

  Arling’s features tightened. “You won’t do anything to me. If you do, you doom us all. I have the quickened seed of the Ellcrys. I am the only one who can send the demons back to where they came from. You don’t dare harm me.”

  Edinja’s strange green eyes glistened. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. You don’t even know what it is that I want yet. It would be better for you if you wait to hear me out before you risk your life in a foolish effort to escape.”

  “Stay still,” Aphen said to her sister. “Let’s hear what she has to say.”

  Arling—the new, hardened version of Arling, unpredictable and volatile—did not seem convinced, and for a moment Aphen thought she would abandon caution and do what she so clearly wanted to do. She would wheel back on Edinja, knife or no knife, and claw her eyes out.

  “What is it you trying to do?” Aphen asked quickly, hoping to forestall any reckless attempts of that sort. She continued to look into Arling’s eyes, hoping her sister would remain calm.

  “Are you are ready to listen to what I have to say?” Edinja replied. “You might be surprised by what you will learn.” She tilted her head sideways. “Move over there.”

  She wanted Aphen and Cymrian to shift away f
rom where they stood between her and the passageway leading out. They hesitated only a moment, then moved over as directed. Edinja shuffled Arling several steps over until she stood where the way was clear.

  “Now let’s all be very quiet while I talk.”

  She forced Arling to sit on one of the stone benches while she stood over her, one hand gripping her hair, pulling back the girl’s head, the other keeping the blade of the knife pressed up against her throat.

  “My purpose in all this is simple, even though my methods have not always been successful. In the beginning, I wanted only to be Prime Minister. That meant getting rid of Drust Chazhul and Lehan Arodian. Stoon helped me with that. I assume from his failure to return with Arling that you put a stop to any further help he might give?”

  “He was trying to kill us,” Aphen said.

  “Which he wasn’t supposed to do, I should point out. He was supposed to bring you to me so we could talk. But he was terrified of you—ever since that confrontation at Paranor when you almost caught him. He couldn’t seem to get past it. So he made his own decision about how to handle matters. It makes no difference now. Mostly, he did what he was supposed to do, so I have no complaints. His time with me was over in any case.”

  She shifted slightly, looking down at Arling. “Comfortable? Good.” She smiled, and her gaze shifted back to Aphen. The knife never moved. “What I’ve wanted all along—even when I wasn’t Prime Minister, but was planning to be—was to find a way to ally myself with the Druids. I am as much a believer in the importance of magic as those who make up the order. I have been exposed to magic all my life. Members of my family use magic. I use it. But it was clear that my chances for forming an alliance were nonexistent as long as the Druids and the Federation remained enemies, so I began looking for other ways.

  “When Khyber Elessedil and the others set out for the Westland, I was curious as to why. I began trying to find out. Drust wanted to crush the order, and so he sent airships and an army to seize Paranor—all of which came to nothing. His spies in Arborlon, which were really my spies, could learn nothing useful. The Druids went out, but only one returned. I began seeking answers to this puzzle.”

  She pointed to Aphen. “You had those answers, but I couldn’t find a way to get them out of you. I knew you wouldn’t reveal them to me willingly. I needed to find a way to force you. That was the purpose of dispatching Stoon to intercept you. I didn’t know where you were going, but once I had you in hand I would be able to find out. Stoon failed me, but through a stroke of luck Arling came under my control. I learned most of what I needed to quickly enough from her.”

  “You pretended friendship when you gave us the Sprint, but you tried to kill my sister in Arborlon weeks before that!” Arling snapped.

  Edinja bent close to her. “Not kill her. Disable her. I wanted what she had found in the Elven histories. I knew she had found something, but I didn’t know what. It was evident early on that it was important. I wanted whatever it was, but my servants failed me. Drust’s creatures. He was the one who sent them, persuaded by Stoon on my orders. A mistake.”

  “How do you think to gain entrance into the Druid order at this point?” Aphen asked. “You’ve ruined any chance of that by coming after us.”

  “Have I?” Edinja shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. There was never any real chance. I know that now. You would never have had me. None of you would have agreed to it. Things change, in any case, and they have done so here. I no longer care about an alliance with the Druids. The Third Druid Order is at an end. The Druids have become irrelevant.”

  Aphen realized with a start that she was right. All that remained of the order were Seersha and herself. The rest were either known dead or likely so—including Khyber Elessedil. The missing Elfstones, which might have made a difference, were lost. The Druids had failed in everything they had sought to accomplish.

  “What is it you want, then?” she asked. “You’ve come after us for a purpose. What is it?”

  “I want almost exactly what you want—to take Arling back to the Elves in Arborlon and let her do whatever she is meant to do with the Ellcrys seed.”

  Aphen and Cymrian stared. “Then why are we standing about?” the Elven Hunter snapped. “Why aren’t we doing just that?”

  Edinja cocked her head. “I said almost. We aren’t doing this. I am. Alone.”

  It took Aphen only a moment to see what she meant. “Because you want to be the one who returns Arling and saves the Elves. You think that will elevate you to a position of power.”

  “I know it will. It will make me the single most powerful person in the Four Lands. How can it not? I will have saved the Elven nation by bringing back the one person who can restore their precious Ellcrys. I will be in a position to form an alliance not between the Druids and the Federation, but between the Federation and the Elves. I will be forgiven everything. Even leaving Arishaig to its fate as I did will no longer matter. I will be appointed Prime Minister of the Federation for life after this.”

  Aphen shook her head. “You won’t be able to do any of this. My grandfather will never allow it. He will see the truth of things!”

  “Oh, Aphen, you are such a child! Your grandfather is no longer King. His brother assassinated him while he slept. Phaedon is now King of the Elves.”

  Aphen stared, a cold dread flooding through her. “Ellich killed his brother? That would never happen! What have you done, Edinja?”

  “What I needed to do. I’ve had a spy in your family circle for years. I have kept track of you—all of you—to learn what I could that might prove useful. My creature is clever and resourceful. Sometimes, it does favors for me. In this case, it eliminated someone who might stand in my way. Your grandfather was old. His life was almost over anyway. Now his son rules, and his worldview will be shaped by me because I will have access to him from the moment I return.”

  “Your creature,” she repeated. “Who does it pretend to be? What disguise does it wear?”

  Edinja laughed. “You don’t need to know that. If you knew, you might be tempted to tell someone. Better that I leave you guessing.”

  “What does it matter?” Cymrian asked. “You intend to kill us and take Arling with you, don’t you?”

  The sorceress shook her head. “You still don’t see. Yes, I intend to take Arling with me. I will return her to Arborlon and she will fulfill her destiny by doing what she has been given to do. But I don’t need to kill you for that to happen. I just need you to remain behind until she has had sufficient time to serve her purpose.” She shrugged. “Besides, if I kill you Arling will be much less likely to cooperate. And some cooperation will be necessary if she is to become the Ellcrys. Leaving you alive gives her hope for your future and hers.”

  “We’ll follow you,” the Elven Hunter said. “We’ll expose you to everyone. We’ll tell them the truth.”

  “And who will believe you? A disgraced member of the Home Guard? And an Elf girl who abandoned her people to become a member of the hated Druid order? What proof do you have to back up your claims? By the time you return, your uncle will be dead, too. There will be no one left to support your story about what you were doing here. Phaedon will never believe you. No one will.”

  She yanked Arling to her feet by her hair. “You should be satisfied with knowing that what you intended to bring about will still happen. You might not be the one who conveys your sister to Arborlon, but that shouldn’t matter, should it? You’ve found the Bloodfire and allowed Arling to immerse the Ellcrys seed, to quicken it so that the Forbidding can be restored. That should be sufficient reward.”

  Dragging Arling with her, she began backing her toward the passageway leading out. “You’ve had your explanation. Or as much of it as you’re entitled to. It’s time for me to go. Don’t try to follow. Delaying me might cost your people their chance at survival. And it might cause unintended harm to come to Arling. I know you, Aphen. You won’t let that happen. Nor will you do anything to prevent the Ellcr
ys from being renewed. The fact that I’m leaving you alive should be enough to satisfy you. The rest is unfortunate, but necessary.”

  She was at the passageway entrance. “One last thing. You can’t follow me, even if you try. I’ve disabled your Sprint. It won’t fly. It will take you two days to walk out of here and reach even the smallest village.”

  She paused, a satisfied look on her beautiful face. “Cinla will remain behind long enough to make certain you stay where you are until I am clear of the tunnels. She can find her way out much quicker and more efficiently than either of you, so you won’t be able to track her when she leaves. Don’t think to use magic against her, Aphen. She will sense what you are about and tear you to pieces before you can complete even the smallest conjuring.”

  She gave the Elven girl a smile. “Have I forgotten anything?”

  Arling’s eyes were fixed on Aphen, and the rage reflected there was unmistakable.

  Then Edinja backed her all the way into the tunnel’s gloom, and they were gone.

  In the silence that followed, Aphenglow and Cymrian stood frozen in place not six feet apart, staring into the luminous eyes of Cinla. The big moor cat had positioned herself directly between them and the passageway Edinja had disppeared down with Arling. There was no way forward.

  “We can’t let her do this,” Aphen said to the Elven Hunter.

  Cymrian did not respond. He was studying Cinla, his concentration so intense he didn’t seem to hear Aphen. He took two steps away from her, widening the distance between them. His hands dropped to his sides casually, hovering just above a pair of blades strapped to his thighs.

  Then, abruptly, the moor cat disappeared.

  They could do that, Aphen knew. Cinla could melt away like mist and be there all the same, yet not visible. Cinla was simply responding to the threat she sensed from Cymrian, choosing to remove herself as an obvious target. If he wished to come at her, he would have to do so blindly.