we would defend our friends and could kill your whole tribe, though we have no desire to do that. You knew we would try to escape tonight, and so we will. Shall we do so now? We
can cause you to fall asleep or fight and subdue you. Not that you seem to be very concerned with honor, but which would be more acceptable?"
"You think you can defeat us?" the man mocked in a heavily accented dialect. "We are the tribe's greatest warriors and you are unarmed."
"That doesn't matter," Brom calmly continued. "Seven of us here were once Dragon Riders. We would prevail."
"Even outnumbered five to one?" the man challenged.
"Even then," Brom confirmed.
"We shall see," the man spat, turning on his heel and motioning for two of the men to follow him.
Here we go, Brom thought. This might not be as smooth as I hoped, but the fewer men we face, the fewer will have to die. Hanna, put these other six men to sleep. Nefin, start
calling to the horses. I'm worried that trying to find our things will take the longest. They are scattered all over the camp, and I wasn't able to keep track of every person and which
direction they went. I'll have to start searching minds.
The remaining six guards had slumped to the ground before Brom finished his message. As he magically loosened his bonds, a young woman silently approached them and signaled
the youth to follow her.
"Come quickly," she urged in a much clearer command of the common tongue. "Several of the young people from our clan attended the Dragon Rider Choosing Ceremony last
summer. We immediately recognized all of you except for the dwarf, who wasn't there I don't think. My female friends and I declined to participate in the Drum Dance tonight,
claiming we didn't feel well. While the others were performing or watching, we snuck from tent to tent and recovered your belongings. I hope we found them all."
By this time all of the youth had freed one another from their restraints, after Brom had untied Var and Will. The girl stopped in front of a tent and lifted the flap aside.
"Brom," Nefin informed, "the horses are actually quite close."
Brom raised his eyebrows, and the girl hurriedly invited, "Come in and get your things. I'll explain while you do. We must not delay!"
They swiftly entered the tent. As the youth began tying on pouches, retrieving weapons, and shouldering packs, the young woman continued, "My brother and some of the other
young men in our tribe also attended the Ceremony and Camp. They volunteered to go after the horses. One of them is the chief's son, so he rode out during the ritual and informed
the men guarding the horses that his father wanted them back. The ruse worked, but we won't fool everyone for long. Hurry! Follow me!"
She exited the tent through a rear flap, the others following her out. When the girl started running, Var swept Zadí into his arms so they would keep up with the others while she
quickly ate and drank.
Brom said, "We can sense where the horses are. How about you return to your tent so you don't get in trouble. Will you be punished?"
"If they find out, definitely," the girl responded.
"Then think your friends' names and faces right now," Brom instructed. "I'll see them in your mind and come up with some way to protect you while we leave. Thank you for your
courage and help. You have no idea how important it is for us to be on our way without interruptions, and we had no desire to kill any member of your tribe."
The young woman nodded, already turning to go. "You're welcome. Good luck." And then she disappeared into the night.
"We have everything, right Keeta?" Brom questioned as they reached the horses. "You would know better than anyone."
"Yes," Keeta confidently answered. "I checked everything off in my mental inventory as we recovered our belongings."
"And I can sense the belt of Beloth still hidden at the bottom of my pack," Brom said. "They must not have had much time to rummage through things, which is good. We're going to
need to gallop away for as long as the horses can in case their horsemen pursue us. Nefin, Hanna, I know you're as hungry as the rest of us, but are you up for some running? Then
we can have a few fresh horses for Will and Var to rotate through. They're the heaviest."
"Absolutely," Nefin consented. "After sitting still for so many hours, I'd like nothing more."
Hanna offered her agreement. So without further ado the six who would be riding mounted up and they fled into the darkness.
After three days of hearing nothing from Trianna, Tenga finally could wait no longer. At breakfast that morning he informed Lena, "I travel to Ilirea today."
"Very well, Tenga," she replied. "Do you have any special tasks for me to attend to while you are away?"
"No, girl. Stay out of mischief."
"Yes," Lena agreed, returning her eyes to her plate. Tenga thought he could sense her worry and he suspected as always that she knew far more of his plotting than he would have
liked, but he was impatient to be off. He needed to learn why the Shade had failed to report to him.
Remembering his commitment of two nights earlier, when he had vowed to be more careful with Bid'Daum's Eldunarí, Tenga simply retrieved from his quarters several of his most
powerful stones to bolster his strength while he engaged in his magically accelerated form of travel.
He realized that the Shade's lack of contact might be a ruse. Perhaps she had not failed, as Tenga feared, but had succeeded in disposing of the nine children and now refused to
inform him so he would begin to worry. Maybe Trianna was waiting in Ilirea for Tenga to show up with Bid'Daum so she could implement some devious scheme of attempting to
steal the Eldunarí for herself.
Tenga would not risk allowing that to happen. Though he regretted that his stones were not better stocked with energy right then, for Tenga hadn't recently bothered to replenish
them, he was too anxious to take the time to address that. He would be fine.
So he swiftly departed Vroengard, flying across the ocean and over the land at a speed to rival a dragon. Tenga did not travel as quickly as he could have in an effort to conserve
the energy in his stones for his journey back to Vroengard. So rather than the usual five hours, his trip lasted ten.
The first troubling evidence he encountered once he arrived in Ilirea was the absence of the labyrinth. He and Trianna had designed the obstacle to disintegrate at the Shade's
command. Tenga had also secretly included a spell that would result in the same outcome—even the disappearance of the maze—if the Shade was defeated or killed, though he
obviously hadn't informed Trianna of this condition. No reason to convey any doubt in her methods, nor to worsen already resentful feelings.
Trying to be optimistic that the Shade had simply ordered the labyrinth to vanish, Tenga approached Ilirea's main avenue. All signs of their long magical efforts were slowly
dissolving. The small enchanted doorway no longer occupied the main gate. The entrance to Ilirea actually stood slightly ajar, and Tenga pushed the tall, heavy gateway open with a magical shove.
Their masterfully crafted mausoleum was also gone, but the reeking stench of rotting flesh assaulted Tenga's nostrils as he passed into the city. There lay the corpse of Trianna's
special pet, magically modified and enhanced for its special purpose, at which it had obviously failed. So too, apparently, had her idea to reanimate the skeletons from the
dungeons, which plan Tenga had quite favored. These macabre details often escaped him, but Trianna seemed an endless wellspring of creativity when it came to gruesome matters.
Tenga's eyes next fell upon a small heap in the middle of the cobblestone avenue. He walked over to it and crouched down, rifling through what he quickly identified as clothing.
Nearby glinted the Shade's weapon, bloodied along one edge of the blad
e. A great deal of dry blood surrounded the area as if it had spurted from some grievous wound, and Tenga
felt a sense of morbid curiosity at what had transpired during the battle that had clearly resulted in Trianna's defeat. But had she been killed? Or merely disembodied for a time?
If the former, all the better. Tenga didn't want to worry about insurrection from a powerful Shade, one he himself had specifically created to be mightier than any other. Tenga
remembered the strength of the spirits he had called upon to inhabit Trianna's flesh. Though perhaps only half a dozen of the wraiths had actually formed the Shade, their size,
strength, and malignancy were far deadlier than dozens of weaker spirits combined.
If the latter, then Tenga must tread carefully indeed. For Trianna would reform at some future point stronger than ever before. Regretfully shaking his head, Tenga stood and
brushed off his hands.
Revolting stink, he peevishly thought. I need to leave this place. But what became of the nine? Surely not all survived! The Nagra they might have dispatched with ease, seeing the
state of Trianna's horrid pet. But the electrical field must have destroyed at least one! And the burrow grubs were to emerge when the enchantment was breached! It couldn't have
been faulty! I created it with my own expertise. The mist should have rendered the males useless or uncontrollable. What of the Shade's shadow! I always worried that might be a
risky idea. Who knows what she might have revealed! And another certainly succumbed to the poison! Could they truly have escaped every snare unharmed? Impossible! I must find
them!
Tenga turned and stalked out of the city, continuing on down the lane beyond the gates. With a corpse like that lying in the main entrance to the city, it's no wonder this place feels
like a ghost town, he muttered to himself. Not a living soul was visible, but Tenga didn't care. Nor did he worry about the Ra'zac.
Let them roam free, he grimly thought. Invoke greater dread and chaos in the land, for all I care. When the time comes, I will seek you out and enlist you to my cause. But first
things first. Where are the youth? Troublesome children. We most certainly underestimated you, now didn't we? Just as I did with Lena, but I will not make the same mistake again.
Do you really think you can outsmart old Tenga, I who have lived over a thousand years! Bah!
Tenga soon found evidence of their horses' hideaway. So they are on horseback, are they? Well, they won't long outdistance me!
The old magician immediately sped after the trail, which was now a few days old. At least the tracks weren't covered with snow or washed away by rain, Tenga thought. might have taken the weather manipulation a trifle far. But the children did not remove the evidence of their departure? Foolishness.
He was so bent on his objective that Tenga forgot to keep tabs on his energy reservoirs. Not until he was tumbling toward the earth below did he realize that his stores were
exhausted, and so too was his own vitality. With the last strength in his body, Tenga slowed himself before he would have experienced a fatal collision with the ground.
There he lay in stunned exhaustion, on the brink of death because of a careless mistake. Am I getting soft? he wondered in bemusement. How could I make such a thoughtless yet
significant oversight? And what am I to do? I haven't the strength to replenish my stones, let alone even get up and walk on my own two feet. I am stranded in a barren wasteland with naught but the sand and dunes surrounding me for miles upon miles. I might have at least had the sense to draw of the living greenery in Ilirea before departing with such
haste. But . . . there is always life, even in a desert. Though it may be hidden, if I wait long enough to recover, I can borrow from the small insects and creatures burrowed under
the ground.
So with no other choice available, Tenga simply remained where he was, breathing weakly with his face in the sand and his empty stomach rumbling painfully. He slipped into a
dazed stupor as he waited to regain some energy and was aware of very little else for an indefinite length of time.
After their encounter with the nomads, the nine youth resumed their frantic pace across Alagaёsia. The only slight obstacle they had to overcome was the swollen Jiet River. Rather
than ford it at the most convenient place in line with their route, they rode south until they came to the well maintained bridge just east of Feinster. The structure was built high
over the waterway and far enough out on the banks from the usual water level that the current flooding did not affect its soundness. Here the nine crossed to the opposite side.
They ran into no further trouble and so arrived in Frederick's village only three weeks after leaving Ilirea. The horses, who had been cooped up in a barn for so many years and
whose trip from south to north had been slow indeed, seemed actually to enjoy the vigorous exercise. Their riders never pushed them beyond the point of exhaustion, and the
grazing opportunities only increased the farther south they journeyed. The winter had been exceedingly wet—thanks to the Shade—and now the early spring promised to be mild and
fair.
Three months to the day after departing from the small coastal town at the tip of the Spine, the youth returned. Frederick, Marta, Sara, and Freddie were overjoyed to welcome
them back into the inn for a time. Business had dramatically improved for the innkeeper, but he found room for his special guests during the few days they meant to stay and
recuperate.
Brom was particularly in need of this rest, for he had maintained his magical efforts the entire duration of their travels and wanted to be fully energized before heading to
Vroengard where he expected to face Tenga.
Sara was thrilled by the now obvious proof of Zadí's pregnancy, for she was eighteen weeks along, or just under halfway through. The two reunited like old friends, and Zadí was
equally thrilled to learn that Sara had befriended a respectful young man who loved Freddie and had begun to court her.
The townspeople recognized the boon to their village resulting from the upswing in the innkeeper's livelihood. Frederick now accepted guests of all races if they happened through
the small town on their way from Belatona to Feinster, or to and from any other destination.
The other residents attributed the subsequent improvement in their town's overall economy to the nine youth's work in helping Frederick recover his business three months earlier.
Thus it was that when the friends returned, no hard feelings awaited them. All of the villagers gladly received them, and they celebrated the arrival with a merry spring festival.
Zadí found opportunity during their brief respite to share news of Isaac's ultimate fate, and none of the four most concerned were terribly upset save Marta, his adoptive mother.
She shed a few tears to learn of her son's sad end, for she never gave up hope that even the wickedest person might turn away from their wrongdoings and amend their ways.
But her grief was shortlived, for she had Sara and Freddie, who looked like they would soon have a husband and father, respectively, to love and care for them in a way Isaac
never had.
Their intended few days of rest stretched into a week, but the nine youth then unanimously agreed that they needed to continue their journey. A trek up the beach with several
wagons full of the supplies Frederick had stored for them revealed that the ship was in perfectly sound condition. The cove had been the ideal location to anchor their vessel while
away, and the absence of any food provisions had ensured that no hungry animals ventured near.
Zadí was especially grateful that this next leg of their quest would take place aboard the ship rather than on horseback. Her small though growing womb now made sitting in a
saddle or riding long distances wearying indeed, and she looked f
orward to sailing, even if it meant another bout of seasickness.
Brom and the elves did not magically speed their journey as they had earlier on. Now that they knew they would face Tenga—and potentially more spellcasters—when they reached
Vroengard, the three decided it would be better to arrive a few days later but fully strengthened rather than sooner with diminished energy.
Instead of harnessing the wind, the elves and Brom replenished the stones in the Riders' blades, which Brom had depleted during their race across the land. He still hadn't dipped
into the store contained within the belt of Beloth the Wise, and he didn't plan to until at last he confronted Tenga. But the three magic users decided having the stones as additional
backup would probably be wise and doubted they would have much opportunity for transferring energy when their travels ended.
Though they were not helping, the weather was favorable for the first week of their voyage, and the ship made it around the westernmost arm of the Spine.
Brom and Brin engaged in a fierce duel almost daily. No longer were these the somewhat teasing affairs of the past. Both knew their lives depended on Brin being as prepared as
possible.
She now always braided her hair and tucked it under her shirt during their matches. And she wore the steelsilk armor, insisting that Brom not dull his sword so she would be more motivated to fight at her best. Brom used any and every conceivable method to subdue her that entered his mind, and Brin fought each contest with singleminded focus.
The others also seriously engaged in combat training, wanting to be prepared for any eventuality. Since Brom was so busy testing Brin, Nefin replaced him practicing with Hanna so
she could continuing honing her ability to counter magical attacks. Nefin cast the spells while Hanna worked to oppose them. She also reviewed the many protective wards she
knew, perfecting those she thought would be key in defending her nonmagical friends from magical aggression.
One night as they cuddled together in the captain's bed, Zadí murmured to Var, "I'm halfway through my pregnancy, sweetheart."
"That's so exciting, Izz. Will I feel the baby soon?"
The Black Morass Page 24