I shake my head. “I don’t have a lot of time, but I need you to follow Sahara’s instructions. The Elven Command is gone for now, but they won’t be contained for long. I need to know you’ll be safe. Promise me you won’t come after me.”
“Where are you going?” Jordan demands, always loyal. “You have to change your mind. Let us come with you.”
“No, my dear friends.” Before they can stop me, I hug them both at once, tears leaking down my cheeks even though they freeze, aghast.
Elise almost shrieks in my ear. “Princess! What are you doing touching us?”
“It’s okay. Baelen has my power.” It seems to be my new mantra, repeated everywhere I go.
“Oh. Okay then…” Jordan and Elise suddenly hug me back. A big, warm hug to make up for all the hugs I haven’t been able to have. I haven’t woken the rest of the Storm Command yet but I wish I could hug them all.
“Look after each other,” I whisper, pulling away before I don’t have the strength to leave my friends.
Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I drop to Reisha next, making sure that Sahara is ready to tend to her. Then I walk around the rest of the group, quickly assessing who is least and most wounded, leaving the most badly wounded until last, waiting as long as I can to make sure Elise and Sahara are ready to help them.
Finally, I wake Teilo Splendor. He holds his head in his hand, squinting up at me. “Princess, you’re alive.”
“Your daughter will tell you what needs to be done,” I say, turning away from him.
“Forgive me,” he calls. “I should have seen their betrayal, their sorcery.”
I don’t know what to say so I keep walking, returning to Baelen where the Storm is waiting again. My friends are all busy now, helping each other. I take a moment to close my eyes. I need to get to Erador as fast as possible, which means I need transport. I need a bird with fiery wings that isn’t afraid to carry the storm on its back.
Phoenix!I cry inside my mind.You said I could call you if I needed your help. Please help me.
There’s a brief moment of silence. Then…
I’m outside when you’re ready.
I sink to Baelen’s side as relief washes through me. But I have another problem. I whisper to the Storm, “I need to move Baelen, but I’m not sure how.”
“Oh, that’s easy. Wind will help us.” She lifts her hands and Baelen’s body rises off the ground. “Which way do you want to go?”
On any other day, I might have smiled at how easy she makes it look to float him upward with a mere lift of her hands. Now, I’m just grateful that it can be done. “Outside. A friend is waiting for us.”
I rise to my feet, but before I can take two steps, Jasper blocks my path. His armor is dinted. Like the others he bears welts across his face and lower arms. I wince as I picture my lightning cutting across his body like whips.
He says, “I’m coming with you.”
I shake my head, maneuvering around him, which is difficult now that more elves are awake. I already told Jordan and Elise that they couldn’t come with me. I’m not changing my mind for Jasper. “No.”
He swiftly steps into my path again. His eyes flick left to where the Storm hovers. For a second, I think he can see her, but then I realize he’s looking past her to Jordan and Sebastian. They’ve taken a moment to embrace each other, their heads together, the relief on their faces visible even from here.
Jasper says, “If I’m going to leave my family, it has to be for something more than hiding out and surviving in the mountains.”
“Jasper, I’m going into gargoyle country. I might never make it back.”
“The same way you walked out of a gargoyle’s nest?” His gaze is piercing. “You survived that. I think you have the chance to survive this.”
My jaw drops. He has to be talking about the nest I found on Scepter Peak. He’d come upon me as I exited the nest but I never suspected he knew it was there. “You knew it was a gargoyle nest?”
He shrugs. “It’s not the first one I’ve encountered. You can use my help, Marbella. So can Baelen. He made me promise, right from that first trial, that I wouldn’t let any harm come to you. I’m not going to break my promise to him. Let me come with you.”
He stares at me with earnest eyes. He kept me alive on Scepter Peak—we kept each other alive. I wasn’t expecting help, didn’t think I needed it, but where I’m headed I know I’m going to need it. Besides, he’s really not going to budge and he’s blocking the door. “I guess I can take one more. Follow me, please.”
Baelen floats along beside me as I reach the doors. I’m not sure what Jasper makes of that, but I’m hoping he thinks I’m using the storm’s power to move Baelen on my own. It’s close to the truth.
I pause there for a moment. Behind me, all the people I love—my family—are taking care of each other, preparing to leave, preparing to go into hiding. My heart tugs with the knowledge that I’m about to leave them, but I’m determined that I’ll see them again. I will come back and end the Elven Command’s reign over them.
