Lena's engagement ring.
Will shoved it in his pocket and assisted Nefin by repeatedly chopping at the eel's body until they severed it in half. Then he turned, apparently ready to help Var subdue the last of
the skeletons. But once Brom's mental duel with the Shade ended, he had made short work of exploding the rest of the bony puppets with a single spell.
The Shade had done her best, but her collection of death's darkest delights ultimately failed to conquer.
While his friends rushed to Hanna, Zadí, and Ajh—perhaps sensing that Brom needed to be alone with Brin for a moment—Brom hurried to Brin's side as quickly as he could in his
exhaustion. There he dropped to his knees, his face contorted with fear. Brom raised his hand to Brin's throat and began muttering healing words in the ancient language.
"You won't die," he growled as Brin's yellow eyes listlessly shifted from his face to nothing in particular and back again. "I'm so sorry, Brin."
The spewing blood slowed as Brom healed the gash from the inside out, then only trickling until it finally ceased when he closed up her skin.
He moved his hand to the burn on her leg to repeat the healing process.
"Brom, you're too tired," Brin objected. "Leave the burn. Hanna has some ointment."
"No," Brom denied. "Be quiet."
Brin made no further protest, clearly seeing it would do no good. When Brom finished, she apologized, "Sorry, Brom. Sorry I didn't kill her. Now she'll come back even stronger."
"You think I care about that?" Brom snapped, squeezing his eyes shut against the tears that began burning. "You almost died, Brin!" Two thin trails coursed down his cheeks.
"I can't believe that's how she trapped me!" Brin muttered. "Pulling my hair! Have you ever thought to do that?"
"Yes, I've thought of it, but I never did because it seemed so underhanded."
"And then all those skeletons! If not for them, I think I would have been able to get free."
"I'm sorry I didn't help you prepare better, Brin," Brom hoarsely whispered.
Hearing the change in his voice, she worriedly glanced at him. "Brom, it wasn't your fault. I don't want to fight you anymore before we . . . before we, you know, move on. I'm
ready. Let's not wait any longer."
Brom knew what she meant, and he felt a pained expression cross his face. How he wanted to agree with her!
"Not yet, Brin," he softly said. "The Shade will come back, and it will most likely fall to you to face her again. And at some point we have to expect to fight Tenga. Who knows what
that will entail. I can't lose you, Brin. I need to help you prepare better. We need to keep fighting. If we get married right now, we might lose focus when it matters most, get
distracted by other things. We can't risk that."
Tears now filled her eyes. Brom pulled her into his arms. "I'm so sorry, beautiful. You know how much I want to marry you."
She nodded against his chest.
"Now let's go see how everyone else is," Brom suggested, working to rise to his feet.
"Ajh!" Brin exclaimed as she remembered.
"I think he's fine," Brom wearily reassured. "Hanna must have treated him fast enough. But let's find out. We need to plan quickly now. Time is not on our side."
With their hands joined, the two made their way to their friends. Brom wrinkled his nose at the awful stench in the room, which emanated from burning bones, the muck of the
hidden underground lake, and the mutilated monster's corpse.
He and Brin stopped behind Var, who was kneeling with a trembling Zadí clasped to his chest. Another reek assaulted Brom's nostrils, wafting from Zadí's vomit. The horrors of
their confrontation with the Shade and her friends must have been too much for his gentle little sister to bear, and the same revolting smells troubling Brom were no doubt more
nauseating in her expectant condition.
"How is Ajh?" Brom asked Hanna.
"Unconscious but alive," she tremulously answered. "I think he'll recover."
"Do you suppose we would end up outside of Ilirea's gate if we were to go back through that door?" Brom ventured. "Because we're obviously not on the main avenue."
"I say we try," Nefin proposed, holding a handful of grimy arrows, which he must have retrieved from the dead eel using magic. "The smell in here is about to knock me out."
Everyone nodded their agreement, so they slowly moved toward the door.
"Does anyone even know where 'here' is?" Will asked. He easily looked and smelled the most disgusting, and Brom felt sorry for his friend, who was covered in the eel's thick green
blood and other bits of innards.
Will must have sensed Brom's scrutiny. Before anyone could answer his question, he added, "Sorry that the worst odor is coming from me. I'll wash up as soon as I can."
"I have no idea where we are," Brom then responded. "As far as I know, there isn't a place such as this anywhere in Ilirea. Maybe that door was enchanted as some type of portal.
Or maybe it's just a mirage. Or maybe the Shade and Tenga built it like the maze and we actually are right inside the main city entrance."
Nefin carried Ajh and Var still held Zadí, so Will reached for the door handle. "Here goes nothing," he muttered.
They emerged into daylight, which seemed blinding compared to the mausoleum's gloom, though the day was still gray and morose. Better even than the fact that they were outside
in fresh air, the door had indeed led them right back to the opposite side of Ilirea's main gate. But their best discovery by far was that the maze they had struggled through to
arrive here no longer stretched away in front of them. The countryside beyond the city walls extended unobstructed to the distant woodlands.
"Some good luck," Brom gratefully commented. "We need to quickly discuss our plans and get moving. The Shade isn't permanently gone. When she rematerializes somewhere,
she'll be stronger than ever. And who knows what sort of new terrors she'll enlist when she does."
Noticing Nefin's downcast gaze, Brom firmly added, "Thank you for saving Brin's life, Nefin. One second of delay and she would be dead. There was no other choice, nor would an
arrow aimed at Trianna's heart have done any good. Brin was right in front of her, and the steelsilk would have blocked it."
Nefin nodded, apparently relieved.
Will recommended, "Bathe, eat, and start riding. We need to get back to the ship and to Vroengard as swiftly as possible. Maybe the weather won't work against us every second
while the Shade is in limbo."
"Yes, exactly my thoughts," Brom agreed. "And we have no idea when this temporary respite will end. I think it's still the same day as when we started this morning, so the horses
are mostly likely fine. We can't ride them day and night without killing them, and we'll need to stop for rest as well. But we'll travel as fast as possible. And I'm going to shield
everyone in this group from magical observation, if at all possible."
"Was it difficult to hold off the Shade?" Hanna meekly questioned. "Sorry I didn't help you, Brom."
"No matter, Hanna," Brom dismissed. "Saving Ajh's life was more important at the time because the Shade wasn't directly attacking me, but you others. She must have realized her
wards were gone as Brin occasionally tagged her, but she didn't think more of it in light of the chaos and intensity of the moment."
"Do you think that was at all preemptive of what it will be like to fight Tenga?" Hanna asked.
"It's hard to say, but not really," Brom said. "We were a little unprepared rushing in there, but I think the Shade was also less prepared than she could have been. And she was
overconfident that we wouldn't prevail. Tenga might also be arrogant, but once he learns of the Shade's failure, he will do all he can to prepare himself. He has had centuries to
protect himself with wards, and he no doubt has many powerful
magical reservoirs. I think mentally dueling with Tenga will be far more demanding, but I still have the belt of
Beloth the Wise.
"And after hearing the Shade's shadow mention how she hated Nasuada and that Tenga created a Shade from Trianna, I think it's probably safe to assume that Tenga and Lena will
not be alone on Vroengard. Many magicians have disappeared in recent years as they tried to escape the queen's regulatory measures."
"What if he just takes Lena away from Vroengard, like the Shade said?" Zadí shakily asked.
"We can't think about that," Will insisted. "Lena knows that's a possibility as well as we do. You all know how smart she is. We need to have faith that Lena will figure out a way to
stay in one place so we can find her. If Brom can disguise our whereabouts so Tenga can't directly attack us before we reach his hideout, we'll show him that he shouldn't have
underestimated us."
"Yes," Var agreed. "Let's get back to the horses, wash up in that stream, and eat some dinner. If we can get started tonight, we will. If not, we'll try to get a decent sleep and leave
first thing tomorrow. But it would probably be wise to put some distance between ourselves and Ilirea before nightfall."
Nefin nodded. "Do you think Ajh will be disappointed we didn't try to look around and see what state the city is in?"
"Ajh would agree that we need to find Lena," Hanna declared. "And it's obvious that the best way we can help these people and all of Alagaёsia is to put a stop to what Tenga and
Trianna—when she returns—are trying to do."
The youth began walking down the lane stretching away from the city gate. "We found out what happened to Isaac," Brom heard Zadí mutter to Var.
"Yes," Var replied. "I'm so sorry you had to see all that, sweetie. I know how hard it was for you."
Zadí shuddered. "It was awful, Var. I felt no fondness for Isaac, but that sort of death seems so harsh. I mean, eaten alive! And all those bones! Why so many skeletons? The Shade
said she thought leaving them in the dungeons would be a waste. And don't you remember how fearful people were whenever anyone mentioned the Shade or Ilirea's dungeons?"
"And increased sightings of Ra'zac," Keeta reminded. "People disappearing at night. The rumors must be true. Could the Shade have been feeding the human prisoners to some
Ra'zac?"
"I think that's a real possibility," Brom said. "One we need to be ready for. And even the potential that some of them—if there is more than one—might be nearing their twentieth
year."
"Lethrblaka?" Zadí breathed. "Please, no. Father only killed the last two with Saphira's help. How could we fight a flying monster without any dragons?"
"Let's not think about that right now either," Var suggested. "We've been through enough for one day."
The group remained relatively silent for the rest of their walk, though each quietly mused over the new terrors their futures might hold.
Lena was more accustomed to flying than many people, since her father, brother, and fiancé were all Dragon Riders—or had been—but the frequent experience of flying on dragons
had done nothing to prepare her for what she was currently going through.
In those cases, at least there had always been something solid underneath her, blocking her view of the open expanse stretching below. But now she was speeding recklessly along,
hundreds of feet above the ocean, with only Tenga's hand around her upper arm to provide any sense of stability. She was terrified.
On top of that, she had just been kidnapped out of the midst of her friends and personally witnessed the old man taunting her parents, confidently claiming he could and would have
killed her mother had he not felt a whimsical change of heart, one that involved taking Lena instead. And he had admitted . . . admitted. . . .
No, Lena! she sharply reprimanded. Not yet! Think about that later, but now you need to guard your thoughts from this horrible old man so your friends have a chance to rescue you
from him. You have no idea when he will stop at his destination, when he will try to learn any useful information, and it could be any time now with how swiftly you're traveling.
Lena had been shocked to arrive at the tropical island her parents and the other adult married Dragon Riders were staying on within what seemed like minutes of leaving the Isle.
She knew the same trip by dragon had taken the parents most of a full day, which meant she and Tenga had moved impossibly quickly. Tenga must be using some sort of spell to
keep them from being harmed at such high speeds, but they weren't completely shielded, for the wind shrieked past her face, ripping painful tears from her blinded eyes. Lena shut
them to help her focus and keep her mind from succumbing to the paralyzing physical and emotional terror she felt.
Lena replayed Brom's message to her right before Tenga had departed from the Isle. The most important things he had communicated were that they would come for her, that she
needed to uncover Tenga's plot and learn anything she could about the Eldunarí he was abusing, and that she must hide her awareness from him. And there were several key pieces
of knowledge that she would most particularly need to keep from Tenga.
First and foremost, he must never learn about Brom from her. Lena agreed with what Brom seemed to believe—that it was his responsibility to face and ultimately defeat the
powerful and ancient magician—so she immediately filed Brom and all memory of him into her mind's secret stronghold.
During their many practice sessions in Ilirea, Brom had encouraged Lena to change her mental image from the cylindrical stone fortress she had first envisioned. Brom told her that
it looked too much like a defensive structure, something that would make prying minds suspicious. So with his help, Lena had modified her stronghold, keeping the round shape but
altering the external appearance until it resembled a quaint gazebo surrounded by a lovely garden. The gazebo had invisible walls, which lent to its innocent look, but the —the ones only Lena knew about—were just as thick and strong as any impregnable citadel. And though her deception contained what appeared to be a doorway, it was simply part
of the ruse. There was only one true entrance into the gazebo, an opening with the exact size, shape, and color of Lena's golden ring, hidden behind a rose bush near the false
entry.
Lena could enter her gazebo by thinking her true name, her true true name, for Lena had two, and learning them had been a small matter for her after beginning to practice with
Brom. She had become intimately familiar with all parts of herself, since she had so carefully filtered through them to determine which aspects of her being needed to be secretive.
Her first was the true name of who she really was, her full personality, some of which she would now need to hide within the invisible walls of her beautiful gazebo.
Her other true name represented the person she was going to pretend to be while Tenga's slave. It encompassed the most obvious parts of Lena—she was the daughter of Murtagh
and Nasuada, a Dragon Rider and the high queen of Alagaёsia. She had six siblings. Most of the time she lived in Ilirea, but her family spent a great deal of time on the Isle of the
Eldunarí. She loved reading and writing. Things of that nature.
And another critical part of that selective image was that she loved Will. But this part of her also had to be divided right now because her ring and Will's must never come to
Tenga's awareness. Lena knew it was her beloved's only hope of finding her. As soon as possible, she must remove the ring from her finger and return it to its chain, then hide that
somewhere on her person. The ring had to stay near her so Will would know it was still with her, for if she stowed it away from herself, the feel of the ring would change and Will
would have no way of knowing if it was guiding him to L
ena or some remote location. As long as it was with her, Lena's ring would change temperature based on her physical and
emotional wellbeing.
Lena was sure Will's ring must be burning right then, for hers certainly was. They were both experiencing acute emotional distress. He must be beside himself with anxiety for her,
but she knew he would immediately leave to come after her. She was determined to do her part to help him succeed. So she shuffled her memory of her ring into her gazebo
through the tiny opening, promising that she would remember only long enough to remove it at the earliest opportunity.
Lena continued in this manner, hiding away her knowledge of her nine friends and their unique abilities, the twins' ship, the belt of Beloth the Wise, the steelsilk armor, and
anything else that might give Tenga a clue as to how his seemingly flawless plan might be foiled.
She wasn't sure exactly what kind of a person she was dealing with, so she tried to assemble the very scanty information she had gathered in the time since Tenga had kidnapped
her, as well as what little she knew from before, itemizing it into an organized list: he was impossibly old; he was impossibly powerful and was borrowing strength from an
enormous Eldunarí; he himself had said he wasn't a murderer and that he wouldn't harm her if she behaved, but he was clearly capable of taking action when pushed far enough; he
hated her mother; he was crazy—alternating between absolute lunacy and calculating clarity—but extremely intelligent; he was always searching for answers to questions, feeling
he would discover an amazing invention that would usher in an age of light and make him famous; and—Lena finally let herself focus on her deepest fear related to her dilemma—
he had admitted a desire to use her for sexual gratification.
Lena was grateful the rushing wind was already making her eyes water because she started to cry. How could she endure that? Here was an ancient hermit, with a gray beard so
long it reached his knees, probably thousands of years old, who was contemplating such a crime as a means of vengeance against her mother. Lena's thoughts turned to Will—tall,
strong, young, handsome. He was the man she wanted to share herself with, not a disgusting, twisted old graybeard. She wouldn't, couldn't, go through with what Tenga had alluded
The Black Morass Page 21