“You need not ask.”
“And give me one last kiss?”
She smiled and moved into his arms. “You need not ask for that either.”
Her lips, so warm and soft, parted beneath his. She tasted of life and sweetness and all the dreams he’d ever dreamed as a boy. She tasted of hope and of a future he’d never allowed himself to want since he’d found his wings. Regret dimmed his pleasure. She was so young, her life so unfulfilled.
Ellysetta pulled away to look into his eyes. “No regrets, Rain. I have none.”
Peace settled over him. He nodded, his throat too tight for words, and kissed her once more.«Ver reisa ku’chae. Kem sera, shei’tani.»
Her hands closed around his. The brightness that was Ellysetta flowed up his arms and filled him with peace and warm, rejuvenating strength. He gave her back the essence that was himself and watched her eyes flutter closed. She smiled, a secret, womanly smile.“Ke vo san, shei’tan.I always have. I always will.”
Together they turned to face the advancing line of soldiers.
“There.” Rain directed her attention to the spot where the line of soldiers was thinnest. He gathered his power. They would not have more than a few moments to make their escape. He would have to strike hard and fast, with only one or two concentrated weaves to open up a corridor between the advancing Eld.
She squared her shoulders. “Let’s go.”
They ran down the hill, magic blazing. Earth shuddered violently. The ground split open to the left and right, and dozens of soldiers toppled into the fissures. Fire and Air roared down the hillside, plowing through the remaining line of men and clearing a direct path to the Heras River.
Sel’dorscreamed in Rain’s flesh, amplified by the echo of Ellysetta’s matching pain, but he roared his defiance of it and held his weaves until his very bones rebelled. They raced through the burning carnage as the remaining soldiers converged on them, swords drawn.
A badly burned soldier leapt from the smoking ruins of his fallen comrades to make a grab for Ellysetta. She slashed out with Rain’s red Fey’cha. Blood spurted from the Eld’s torn throat, splashing her face. She swiped her forearm across her face and kept running. Beside her, Rain swung hisseyanisword in his left hand and fired off red Fey’cha with his right.
Behind them, the Mages had reached the crest of the ridge. A line of archers fired a volley of arrows. As they soared overhead, Rain saw the white stones attached to each arrow shaft already brightening. Rain grabbed Ellysetta’s hand and put on a desperate burst of speed.
Too late. Portals opened like gaping black maws directly in their path. Mages and soldiers poured out, blocking their path to the river and cutting off their only hope of escape.
Cornered, breathing hard, Rain and Ellysetta turned to face the enemy.
The Fading Lands ~ Chatok
With the Baristanis healed and safely in tow, Kieran and Kiel led their small group back up and over the shattered mountain to the edge of the Faering Mists. Though Teleon and the Garreval now appeared completely clear of Eld, Kieran and Kiel took no chances. They traveled just inside the edge of the Mists, following that edge to the Garreval and emerging only to make a swift dash into the Mists-filled pass between the Rhakis and Silvermist mountains.
They stayed close to theshei’dalins,walking in the thinner mist that surrounded them, and the passage into the Fading Lands went without incident. Kieran held Lillis on his back, while Lorelle rode on Kiel, and the girls’ kittens, who had also survived their ordeal, purred happily inside their slings on Kiel’s and Kieran’s chests.
Within a few bells of entering the Garreval, they emerged onto Taloth’Liera, the great, walled field that marked the boundary of the Fading Lands. Fey in full war armor stood atop the wall and flanked the mighty steel gates that led into the Fading Lands.
The warriors guarding the gate greeted Kieran and Kiel as if they’d risen from the dead. Which, Kieran supposed, they had.
“We’re glad to see you alive and well,” the captain of the gate said. “I’m sure Marissya-fallawill make the Feyreisa’s family feel right at home.”«Despite the current circumstances,»he added on the Warrior’s Path.
Kieran and Kiel shared a frown.«What circumstances?»Kieran asked.
The Forests of Eld
Eld surrounded Rain and Ellysetta on all sides, swords drawn,sel’dor-barbed arrows nocked and aimed. And with them were Mages. Scores of them. Yellow-robed Apprentices, red-robed Sulimages, and twelve of the most dangerous, the blue-robed Primages. The Mages’ eyes were alight with the unholy red-sparked black of Azrahn, and each of them held globes of lethal Mage Fire at his fingertips.
“Throw down your weapons, Tairen Soul,” one of the red-robed Sulimages ordered, “or we’ll see how your mate likes dancing with our Fire.”
Rain sneered at the threat. “Harm her, and the High Mage will roast your liver and eat it from your still-living body,” he reminded them in fluent, perfectly accented Elden.
To the right, the blue-robed Primage gave a wry laugh. “Very true,” he acknowledged pleasantly in equally fluent Feyan. “You have good ears, and a wonderful command of our language.” Suddenly, his eyes blazed black with red lights, and the line of Eld bowmen behind Ellysetta let their arrows fly.
Ellysetta cried out as half a dozen arrows plowed into her back and shoulders, dropping her to the ground and pinning her there. The red Fey’cha in her hands fell harmlessly to the dirt.
Rain let out a choked snarl of fury and reached for his own red Fey’cha, but five more bowmen shifted their stance to aim directly at Ellysetta.
