A shout—not so muted—rang out. Their party had been spotted. Dark shapes rushed across the grassy plain towards them, a scant mile away. Eld soldiers. And with them something else. Something on four legs rather than two.
One of theshei’dalinscried, “Darrokken!”
The snarling, slavering beasts gained on the Fey with deadly ease. Red eyes gleamed with menace, and Kieran’s blood ran cold. He’d never seen adarrokkenbefore, but he knew the beast didn’t need to bring down its prey to kill it. The yellow fangs dripped poisonous saliva, and the long, razor-sharp claws carried plague and putrescence. One bite, one slash of those foul claws and, without healing, a victim would die within half a bell.
“Run!” Kieran snatched up Lillis, while Kiel grabbed Lorelle. “To the Mists!” They began to run. They pelted over rock and scrub. The warriors fell back to the rear flank to offer what protection they could.«Fey! Ti’Kieran! Ti’shei’dalins!»He broadcast the cry on the Warriors’ Path.
Behind him, Fey’cha filled the air like rain, but for everydarrokkenfelled, another took its place, and the acid blood of the loathsome creatures ate at Fey steel so that each blade called back to its owner’s sheath was pitted and brittle and smoldering with foul vapors that burned Fey eyes and skin.
Two Fey at the back of the line were the first to fall as the massive, leathery, slime-covered bodies of thedarrokkentackled them to the ground and fangs ripped through Fey throats.
The pack split up, a dozen of the foul beasts racing to cut off the approach to the pass and herd the Fey back towards the Mages.
“Up! Go up! Run for the Mists!” Kieran changed directions, charging up the mountainside. It was beyond dangerous to enter the Mists on mountainous terrain, but that risk paled in comparison to the certain death posed by thedarrokken.
Globes of Mage Fire pelted through the air. Sol stumbled andwent sprawling. The warrior who paused to haul him to his feet died without a sound as Mage Fire took his head.
Larger spheres of the deadly blue-white flame showered down. Earth exploded all around them. Rocks and trees—everything the Mage Fire touched—vanished in an instant, and great hunks of the mountainside tore away, tumbling down in an avalanche of falling debris.
“Gods have mercy!” Sol cried.
“Hang the gods,” Kieran snarled. “Where are the jaffing Fey?”«Fey! Ti’Kieran! Protect the shei’dalins! Fey! Ti’Kieran! Ti’shei’dalins!»Lillis clung to him, her face buried in his neck, showering his skin with hot tears.
“Kieran!” Kiel shouted. “The mountain!” Another fearsome barrage of Mage Fire had dissolved half the mountaintop above their heads. The remaining rock and stone gave a rumbling shriek and collapsed, sending countless tons of dirt, stone, and wood rushing towards them in a deadly wave.
“Hold tight to me,ajiana,” Kieran whispered to Lillis. He turned to raise both hands. Green Earth fountained inside him, wrenched up from the center of his soul, spinning in flows of extraordinary mastery and strength. He was Kieran, son of the Solande and Serranis lines, descended from many of the greatest and most powerful Fey the world had ever known, an Earth master of tremendous power.
Screaming defiance, he flung out the weaves.
The crumbling mountainside froze. Kieran gritted his teeth, feeding his power into the weave, holding up the weight of the mountain through sheer force of magic and strength of will.
Raising his voice, he shouted to the warriors behind him, “Five-fold weaves,kem’jetos! Keep that scorching Mage Fire off us!”
But the Fey were already locked in a desperate battle for their lives.
And they were losing.
Between the snarling filth of thedarrokkenand the fury ofMage Fire, the warriors couldn’t protect themselves against the barrage ofsel’dorarrows as Eld archers came within bow range. Weaves faltered, and Kieran screamed in helpless rage as his blade brothers began to fall. Acid seared his thigh as a barbedsel’dorarrow sank deep.
“Master Baristani, take the girls. Go with theshei’dalinsinto the Mists! Run!” Anotherdarrokkencrashed through the Fey, ripping and slashing warriors. Two of theshei’dalinsgrabbed Lillis and Lorelle and ran up the mountain towards the Mist-shrouded peaks. The other three screamed as Mage Fire,sel’dorarrows, anddarrokkenherded them back away from the safety of the Garreval and towards the waiting Eld army. “Kiel, scorch it, where are the Fey?”
Kiel slammed a furious Spirit weave towards Chatok and Chakai.«Fey! Ti’Kieran! Ti’ku! Ti’Teleon!»To me! To Teleon! Spinning blue weaves shot out from his fingertips, desiccating thedarrokkenpursuing Lillis and Lorelle.
Rumbling thunder shook the ground at Kieran’s feet.Krekk! More Mage Fire?If the ground gave way beneath him, he was dead. He didn’t dare divide his weave or the mountain would come down upon them all.
But this time, the rumble wasn’t an avalanche spawned by Mage Fire.
The eastern army of the Fey charged out of the Mists, magic blazing, steel bared. Hundreds of them... a thousand... more. All of Chatok and Chakai had emptied and come rushing to the aid of their embattled brothers.
Two more arrows struck Kieran’s back. His weave faltered, and he screamed with fury as the mountain fell.
Eld ~ Boura Fell
The collection of moving lights at the edge of Vadim Maur’s display of Celieria winked out. He frowned and tapped the map of the Fading Lands, scanning the area near the Garreval, but themoving lights of thechemardidn’t show there either. They were gone.
His brows drew together.Scorch those fools!They were supposed to capture Ellysetta Baristani’s family, not destroy them and their preciouschemarwith Mage Fire.
He spun the display of Celieria into place. In Teleon, a new trail ofchemarled away from the main grouping. The bread crumbs Den Brodson had left behind to lead the way into the hidden Fey fortress.
