Mage Fire pounded the dome with relentless fury until the sky overhead was a blue-white storm, but still—miraculously—those shields held.
Eld ~ Boura Fell
“Orest is taken, Most High. The generals await your command.” Primage Vargus bowed low.
Vadim barely heard him. His attention was focused intently on the glowing map of Celieria where the myriad tiny white lights indicating clusters ofchemarshone moved through the Verlaine Forest. He zoomed in, tracing the progress of Dur and the Mharog as they pursued the Tairen Soul and his mate. Regrettably, the attack on thedahl’reisenvillage had been routed several bells ago.
“Master Maur?” Vargus prompted.
The High Mage held up a hand for silence as he scrolled the view north, illuminating the bright collection of light now sparkling in the Celierian city of Orest, and farther north to Crystal Lake and the abandoned Fey city of Dunelan, where a few bright dots were slowly making their way around the lake. Finally, he scrolled the map west, across the dark, unlit countryside of northern Fading Lands, the Feyls, and the southern reaches of the Pale, where another four pinpoints of light had nearly reached the thinnest stretch of the Feyls due north of Dharsa.
Everything would soon be in place. He waved, and the glowing tracker map winked out.
“Tell them to secure the city and prepare for the next phase of our attack.”
Celieria ~ Verlaine Forest
“Enough with this… siege,” Azurel hissed to the Primage Dur. “We’re no closer to capturing the Tairen Soul’s mate than we were two bells ago. Time for new tactics.”
Dur scowled. “And just what do you propose? We’ve tried everything we can to get through those shields. Nothing has worked!”
“There is a saying in the Fading Lands… sometimes it’s better to send a mouse than a tairen.”
Dur rolled his eyes. “In plain Elden, if you please.”
“Wedon’t need to get through their shields. Only this does.” He held up asel’dor-tipped arrow that he’d modified to hold achemarin its shaft. “Surely we can weaken their shields enough to get a single arrow through.”
Dur arched a brow. “How good is your aim?”
Within a few chimes, the Primages ramped up their bombardment of the Fey shields, pummeling them mercilessly, while six of the Mages combined their powers and focused a bombardment of highly concentrated Mage Fire on a single handspan of the Fey shield.
It took a while, but the small area thinned. And when it did, Azurel and his companions let fly.
One of the arrows broke upon the already-regenerating shields, but two of thesel’dor-tipped missiles sliced through, into the center of the protective dome.
Ellysetta’s legs went weak as the all-too-familiar sensation of ice spiders shuddered up her spine.
“Rain!” she cried, falling to one knee. “Portal!”
Rain spun, red Fey’cha in his hands. His eyes flamed tairen-bright, pupils disappearing as his beast rose in response to the threat to his mate. Three Mharog leapt out of the portal and dove towards Rain.
“Fey! Ti’Feyreisa! Ti’Feyreisen!“
In desperation, Ellysetta tore one of the bloodsworn blades from her belts, slicing her palm deep. Blood welled in a swift, scarlet flow, and she smeared it over the shining surface of her bloodsworn-steel-forged armor to summon herlu’tan.
“Kem’lu’tan! Ku’vallar! Ku’vallar!”Help me!
A second portal opened behind her. She only had the briefest warning before an icy hand closed around her wrist.
“Neiiii!” The shriek of terror and denial ripped from her throat as a Mharog’s black blade with its red Fey’cha hilt slammed into the side of Rain’s neck.
Rain’s vision clouded, and his red Fey’cha fell from abruptly nerveless fingers as the combination of tairen venom and the corruption of the Mharog’s poison blade spread through him. His legs folded, and he dropped heavily to his knees. One hand reached for the hilt of the blade protruding from his neck, then fell away as he toppled to the ground.
He lay on his side, struggling for breath and watching helplessly as Ellysetta shrieked in a Primage’s grip and fought his efforts to drag her into the Well. Rough hands grabbed him by the neck and clawed fingers closed around his jaw, squeezing hard. The foul decay of a rotting soul poured into Rain’s mind. Festering memories of a once bright Fey life, destroyed by the deliberate betrayal of an unfeeling commander. Destroyed byhim—by Rain.
“She will die in torment, Tairen Soul,” an icy voice hissed. “Think of that as you burn forever in the Seventh Hell, and know that Maron vel Dunne has had his vengeance.”
Rain looked into the hate-maddened eyes of the Mharog without the slightest flicker of recognition. His mouth formed the soundless question.
