“Summon the Mharog.”
Melliandra leaned close to the bars of Lord Death’s cell and spoke in a low voice. “Remember I once asked you if you could show me how to unravel a ward?”
Lord Death’s head was bent over his bowl as he scooped hot stew into his mouth. At her question, his glowing green eyes looked up, pinning her. “I remember. I also remember telling you it takes magic to unweave magic.”
“What if someone just recently discovered they have magic? Could you teach them how to use it?”
His eyes narrowed. “I used to be achatok… a teacher. But learning magic takes time.”
“What if you don’t have much time?”
“That would be unfortunate. Instruction cannot be rushed.”
She took a breath. She couldn’t believe she was about to suggest this. “What if you didn’t exactly instruct?” She swallowed, and forced herself to spit it out. “Mages control people. They make them do things, even magical things.”
“Mages do many things Fey do not. Controlling others through magic is one of those.”
“Yes, but could you if you had to?”
Lord Death’s brows drew together. “What are you thinking, child? What are you asking me to do?”
“There’s an important battle coming. The High Mage is planning to personally oversee it. He’ll be leaving Boura Fell. It would be the perfect time to get your things.”
The Fey set down his bowl and gripped the cage bars.
“When?”
“In a few days. Like I said, there’s not much time. That’s why I need to know, if I can bring you someone with magic, and I show you the wards that need to be unraveled, can you—I don’t know—spin a weave of some kind to control their magic so they can unravel the wards?” “Who is this magic user? How do you know you can trust him?”
She bit her lip. Once her secret was shared, it could never be unshared. But then, she’d already shared other secrets with this Fey, ones that would be far more perilous to her if he ever revealed them.
“Her, not him. The magic user is a girl. And I know I can trust her, because she’s me.”
Celieria ~ Orest
“I am very glad to see you, my friend.” Teleos clasped Griffet Polwyr’s forearms. The neighboring Border Lord’s men had been deployed in lower Orest, while the nobleman himself had been escorted to the command center in Upper Orest.
“And I you, my friend. I saw the signal and the fire in the sky”—he jerked his chin towards the tairen and dragon fighting claw and fang overhead—“and thought you could use a hand.”
Despite the grim circumstances, Teleos laughed. “You thought right. I’ve never been happier to see your ugly face.” He and Griffet had been friends since they were lads. Griff’s second son bore Dev’s name.
A sudden cry rang out over the Warrior’s Path.«Portal opening near the south gate! Fey to your posts! Sound the alarm!»
The bells of Lower Orest began to ring. Teleos swore. A single portal had opened a mile east of Lower Orest, well out of cannon or weave range. A score of Eld soldiers emerged, racing north and south, and in their wake, dozens and dozens of other portals opened. Elden warriors and Mages poured out in a thick, black tide. Behind them, a second row of portals spewed batteries of bowcannon and siege weapons.
“Looks like they mean to take her this time,” Dev said.
Griffet moved to Dev’s side. “They do, my friend,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, but they do.”
“Griff?” Dev turned in time to see his friend’s eyes turn to bloody black horror. The sickly sweet ice of Azrahn washed over him. “Ah, no.” Dev’s mournful whisper ended on a choked grunt. His breath fled his lungs in a sudden, agonized gasp and pain doubled him over as the blade in Griffet’s hand slid under the scales of Dev’s armor and sliced through his belly, driving up towards his heart.
Celieria ~ The Verlaine Forest
For most of the day, Rain and thedahl’reisenpicked their way through the Verlaine’s heavy underbrush and dense stands of trees, pausing only a few times for brief rests. Progress was slow until the daunting thicket of the outer forest gave way to an older, deeper wood where small, persistent saplings and evergreen molia bushes vied for survival alongside great, densely needled conifers and thick, gnarled oaks. Twilight descended, and the forest gloom became an impenetrable darkness. Rain’s eyes adjusted automatically, his elongated Fey pupils opening wide to let in every hint of light. Where mortals would be blinded by darkness, Rain and thedahl’reisenhad the clear vision of cats hunting in the night.
A loud scream rent the air. Rain jerked to attention.
“Lyrant,”Farel said. “The forest is full of them… along with other vicious, Shadow-spawned creatures created and loosed upon it by the Mages.”
