Thaddeus
stood on the edge of the platform, looking out toward the east. For
some reason, he wasn't surprised to not be looking out on row after
row of towering, snow-capped mountains – the Guardian's dwelling
apparently stretched almost the entire breadth of the Ivory Spires,
its eastern end opening out on where the mountains began to
descend before disappearing all together at the point where they bled
into the gently rolling rills that comprised the western plains of
Eltara. From the lore the Wanderer had known, Thaddeus understood
enough to realize that the view he looked out on hadn't always been
so gray and barren – Eltara had been green and full of life, once,
an idyllic paradise where no one had wanted for anything. So
much for thinking there might be something left,
Thaddeus thought. If
only Zoe hadn't disrupted the transit spell!
If
she hadn't, Atraxos might have had his prize by now,
Aylander said, his soul once again inside Thaddeus's sword. And
you're forgetting the new powers she received from the Abbott. He
took us from the ruins of Athelden to his abbey without using a
transit spell. It stands to reason that Zoe can do something
similar.
It
stands to reason.
Thaddeus chuckled and shook his head. You
already know she can, Aylander. I can sense that you do. What
aren't you telling me about what she's become? What does it mean for
her to be a Priestess of Adarion?
It means many things, most of
which you will simply have to experience to learn. What I can tell
you, however, is that she is now one of the most powerful magic users
in existence. Women like her were once called Sorceresses, and were
considered by some to be goddesses made flesh. They weren't, of
course – Sorceresses are just as mortal as any of us – but their
power was never to be questioned. And Battlmages, like yourself, had
no greater allies.
Because they can augment our
powers, like she did when we faced that Sword Priest.
Precisely.
And that was no Sword Priest, Thaddeus. Based on how Zoe dealt with
him, he was even more Twisted than I was. Or less,
as the case may have been.
Thaddeus didn't need to ask
Aylander what he meant about their latest foe being less Twisted than
Aylander, himself, had been. That creature had embraced his Twisted
nature completely – had reveled in it, in fact – and showing him
mercy of any kind would have been unthinkable. That was ruthless
reasoning, Thaddeus knew, but ruthlessness was something that had
become a part of him since being made whole.
“You're
brooding,” Zoe said, walking up to stand beside him. “I'm not
sure how well it suits you.”
“You
might have to get used to it,” Thaddeus said, looking at her and
smirking. “I am a whole man, again, after all.”
Zoe
smiled. “You are that.” The smile turned wicked. “Too bad I
couldn't have left you as two whole
men.
That could have been . . . interesting.”
Zoe's
wicked smile, coupled with her words and the tone she'd spoken them
in, made Thaddeus's blood grow warm, and he had to fight to keep from
taking her right then and there. It wasn't the time for that. Not
yet, anyway. “I'm sure one of me will be more than enough.”
Zoe
winked. “So am I. Now, what were you looking so stormy about?”
“I
was thinking about how we were going to get out of here
without the transit spell. At least, I was until Aylander reminded
me about your new powers. Then I got to thinking about that . . .
thing
. . . Aylander and I fought, and how ruthless I was in deciding it
was right that we showed it no mercy.” Thaddeus looked out toward
Eltara, again. “I'm finding this new, darker side to myself a
little hard to get used to, still.”
“And
yet you don't doubt the rightness of the decision, do you?”
“No,”
Thaddeus said. “I don't.”
“Good.
Because it was
the right thing to do. Some souls are beyond saving, and it's best
they be done away with before they can do any more harm than they
already have. Demons are born, otherwise.”
“Demons.”
Demons were the worst of the Abominations, and were the only kind
that could appear independent of a Necromancer's spell. Despite
that, however, there had been no substantiated reports of demons
since before the founding of the Torvaran Empire. “Atraxos has
become one, hasn't he?”
“No.
He's become something worse.”
Thaddeus
looked at her. “What could be worse
than a demon?”
“One
of their lords,” Zoe said.
“Atraxos
has become one of the Lords
of Darkness?”
“I'm
almost certain of it.”
“That
would
mean he has some sort of direct contact with the Sundered Halls!”
His
book,
Aylander said. Not
only was it his prison, it is also the source of his power. And, if
he combines its power with that of the Amulet of Adarion, he could
open the Sundered Halls.
“Which
would free the Lords of Darkness,” Thaddeus said. “Gods Above!”
“I
don't know what Aylander just told you,” Zoe said, “but I suspect
he has an inkling of how Atraxos was able to contact the Sundered
Halls, and that whatever power it has, coupled with the power of what
he seeks, would be a very bad thing for everybody. We need to get
moving.” Zoe closed her eyes and turned her
head, then, as if suddenly remembering something, opened one eye and
glanced back at Thaddeus. “You know, why don't you do it?”
Thaddeus
frowned. “Do what?”
Zoe
looked at him with both eyes. “Take us where we need to go.”
“But,
I don't know how. Remember? That's your area, not mine.”
“You
can do it, too. And we don't need to ride the wind, either. Light
would get us there much faster.”
“But,
I don't know the spell!”
That's
because there is none,
Aylander said. Not
for someone like you, or like her. Magic will obey your thoughts, no
matter how complex the thing you want it to do is. Your power is
truly unfettered. And you have no idea how envious that makes me.
Thaddeus
grinned. Oh,
don't I?
“What
did he say?” Zoe asked.
“That
you and I make him envious. Now, where should I take us?”
“Anywhere.
After Atraxos. But it'll have to be in small jumps. What we can do
doesn't have the range of the transit spell.”
Make
for the Plateau of Leng,
Aylander said. I
will help guide the journey.
Thaddeus
closed his eyes. An image of where they would emerge from their
first jump – a village that, in Aylander's memory, was pristine in
every detail, even having a fountain in its square around which
Eltaran children laughed and played – appeared in his mind, and
with it came an impulse to go.
Thaddeus fed that impulse with light, drawing it seemingly from the
very day, itself, and, all at once, he was moving.
Zoe came trailing after – it was like they were caught up in a
wave of some sort – and then, almost as soon as they'd left, they
had arrived at the village from Aylander's memory.
Except
the village was nothing like how Aylander remembered it. Its stone
buildings, so white and unblemished, before, were now gray and
broken. The fountain in the village square was dry, and had crumbled
into a barely recognizable ruin. There were no children, either, or
any other people of any kind.
This
was your village, wasn't it?
Thaddeus asked Aylander.
It
was,
Aylander said. A
very long time ago, it was.
Something
nearby – something that had to be alive even though Thaddeus
couldn't sense it – screeched. And then a black thing,
with small, leathery wings and a snout like a river lizard, emerged
from one of the ruins. Thaddeus knew what it was – there were few
who wouldn't, though the creature was commonly thought of as mythical
– and seeing it turned his insides to ice with terror.
“Gods
Above, that's a drake, isn't it?” Zoe asked.
It
was, and, according to myth, where there was one drake, there were
more. And drakes, just like their larger kin, which included wyverns
and dragons, were immune to all forms of magic. “Run!”
Thaddeus shouted.
