Its power became my power. I was its instrument, but the tune was still my own.
My ribs heaved against the pressure to keep breath in my body. The power tore its way to the surface, a complexity of magic I never knew existed until now. That power became a part of me, as did knowledge of a way to destroy what threatened us. Thoughts not my own flashed like lightning through my mind, too fast for comprehension, too complex for reason—but not too inaccessible for action.
One of the creatures rushed us, crazed with hunger. I threw myself in front of Piaras and into the creature before it could reach us, and before it was ready to feed. The instant of contact opened a floodgate, releasing more power than a thousand such creatures could consume, and threw us both to the ground. The thing tried to separate from me to save itself, but it couldn’t. There was a blinding flash of light, then all was still. The pressure holding me down lifted. I opened my eyes.
The creature was gone. They were all gone. There was nothing left.
I felt raw and exhausted and I had the worst headache of my life. I also felt the urge to be sick. I groaned, rolled over, and threw up. It felt like there were hundreds of voices inside my head. Wonderful. Every magic-sensitive within miles must have heard what had just happened. The volume was deafening. I held my head with both hands. It didn’t help. I rolled over onto my back, gulping air. The ground was cool and damp. Maybe if I could just shut my eyes for a little while.
Piaras was kneeling over me. “Raine, can you hear me? Are you all right?”
I opened my eyes to a squint, and moved my head in what I thought was an up and down motion. It hurt, so I stopped.
Piaras started lifting me to my feet. “We need to go. Now.”
I didn’t want to be on my feet, but I tried to help him as much as I could. “Something’s coming?” I heard myself slur.
“Yes, something’s coming.”
My legs would have been perfectly content to wait for every Mal’Salin and goblin in The Ruins to converge on us. The rest of me just wanted a nap. From the sounds of things, company wasn’t going to be long in coming. It didn’t matter if they belonged to the king, the prince, or the psycho—Piaras and I would be just as dead.
“I’m okay,” I told Piaras, standing on my own. I was a bit wobbly, but at least I was upright. The ground was still looking awfully good.
He didn’t look convinced. “You’re sure?”
I managed a weak smile. “I can sleep when I’m dead, and that’s not going to be tonight. Dead, that is. Sleep I’m still hoping for.”
“Perhaps we can help you with that.”
I knew that voice.
Paladin Mychael Eiliesor stood squarely in the middle of the path that I judged to be the best way out of this nightmare—and he didn’t look inclined to move. A full complement of Guardians moved quickly and silently through the trees, putting themselves between us and the goblins. That action I could agree with and even be grateful for, but I doubted the same was true of Eiliesor’s intentions. The beacon rested quietly against my skin. Coward.
A blond human Guardian ran back to the paladin from the direction of the goblin pursuit. “More Khrynsani shamans, sir.” The big man grinned. “Almost enough to make it worth the trip.”
He held a curved battle-ax in his hands, and I could feel the magic he held in check. I think he wanted a chance to use both, though he looked like he would enjoy using the ax more. I hoped he got what he wanted. Everyone deserved a little happiness. He was bearded and sections of his shoulder-length hair were braided. Myloran sea-raider stock. Uncle Ryn had a few Myloran berserkers on his crew, and the Guardian had a familiar maniacal gleam in his eyes. He looked like he’d fit right in with Uncle Ryn’s boys.
“Take the men and cover our exit,” Eiliesor told him. “Do not provoke an attack.”
“What if they attack first?” the blond Guardian asked eagerly.
“Defend yourselves.”
The Guardian saluted and vanished into the trees.
I took a step back. “Our exit?”
“You do know how to find trouble, Mistress Benares.”
Eiliesor hadn’t moved, but his posture told me he would be on me in an instant if I moved again. I decided to stay put, for the moment. I let my breath out slowly and relaxed my shoulders, ready to spring. His movements perfectly mirrored mine.
“It’s not like I have to look far,” I said. “Trouble usually finds me, especially lately.”
The Guardian smiled, and I had to admit the effect was startling. He managed to look boyish and dangerous at the same time. “I told myself the next time I found you, I was going to be on dry land,” he said.
I couldn’t help but smile back at him. “I won’t apologize for the dunking in the canal yesterday morning. A girl’s got to protect her privacy.”
“I’m no trouble, Mistress Benares. At least not to you.” His smile vanished, replaced with something surprisingly like concern. “You would do yourself and your spellsinger friend a great service if you would believe that. For your own safety, I need the two of you to come with me.”
I glanced at Piaras. Everyone recognized what he was. Did he have “spellsinger” written on his forehead or something? Piaras was looking at the elven Guardian with wide-eyed awe. Great. I didn’t need this now.
“She plays a dangerous game, Guardian,” came a smooth and cultured voice from behind us. “As do you.”
Sarad Nukpana was standing not ten feet away, looking at Piaras and me with bright-eyed interest. Still darkly beautiful, still just as deadly.
I used my arm and body weight to shove Piaras behind me. It took what little strength I had left, and I was sure he didn’t appreciate the gesture. I didn’t care.
The Guardians and the goblins had found each other among the trees, and judging from the sounds, neither group was playing nice. It didn’t concern me, not now. With everyone else occupied, it was just the four of us here in the small clearing.
“I’m not playing anything,” I told the goblin. “Games are fun, and I’m not having any.”
“Then you’re not playing the right ones.” Nukpana’s voice was soft, reminding me of something slithering through dry leaves. “Though what you did to my Magh’Sceadu was entertaining enough. Or should I say, what the Saghred did to my Magh’Sceadu. Either way, it was very impressive, but you should be more careful. Raine, isn’t it?”
My skin did a full-body crawl at the sound of my first name crossing Sarad Nukpana’s lips.
He spoke, his tone pleasant. “I have long looked forward to our meeting.” He considered me, his intense gaze holding me where I stood. “You have your father’s eyes.”
I just stared at him, shocked into silence, my breath stopped. I didn’t know who my father was, but I did know I didn’t want him to be anyone Sarad Nukpana knew and remembered.
He noted my reaction, absorbed it, then discarded it.
“Playing with the Soul Thief is dangerous,” he chided. “I would not want you to damage yourself prematurely. I have need of you later. I agree with you, games should be enjoyable.” His attention fixed on Piaras, and his smile spread, fangs clearly visible. “A hatchling nightingale. The power in your song was unexpected, but hardly unwelcome.”
Mychael Eiliesor circled off to the left, putting himself firmly between me and Piaras and the Khrynsani grand shaman. With his Guardians in the forest all around us, he probably wasn’t too concerned with us escaping.
“You would have done better to have remained in your embassy,” the elven Guardian told the goblin. “As would your king.”
“Our quarry has been as elusive as she is desirable,” Nukpana said, glancing at me. “Like you, I have been forced to seek her out.” One side of the goblin’s lips quirked upward as if from a private joke. “What are the odds? The two of us competing for the attentions of the same fair lady.”
“There is no competition.” Eiliesor’s voice was low and intense, and I felt his power building. So did the amulet. The slaughter in the forest around us was nothing compared to what the spellsinger had ready to unleash.
“Are you that confident in your success?” the goblin said. “Listen all around you. I do not hear many human or elven voices.”
I could see Eiliesor’s profile, and caught the slightest hint of a smile.
“You’re right, those screams are goblin.”
“Then we should hurry to conclude our business,” Nukpana said, completely unruffled. “Mistress Benares, you have something that belongs to me. I hired your human employee to recover it, but my attempts to retrieve it have been plagued by unexpected complications.” A hint of fang again glimmered from a slow smile. “Complications that for the most part have been eliminated.”
Simon Stocken. Nigel Nicabar. Me. Piaras, for standing next to me.
“You presume much, Primaru Nukpana,” Eiliesor said. “Such as ownership. The beacon is a Conclave artifact. That ownership has not changed—nor will it.”
“Ownership is possession,” the goblin said, his black eyes lingering on me.
Both Nukpana and Eiliesor were suddenly closer. I hadn’t seen either one of them move.
The elf’s eyes narrowed. “That’s far enough.”
“On the contrary, Paladin Eiliesor, I’ll be going much farther.”
I knew what was about to happen. Sometimes a girl doesn’t mind being fought over. This wasn’t one of those times. I was in no condition to fight my own battles right now, but I wasn’t about to stick around to become someone’s spoils of war.
Mychael Eiliesor didn’t move; he just dropped the glamour that had kept his power masked. The air around him rippled like the surface of deep water in the wake of something large just below the surface, something dangerous. The elf’s magic reached Sarad Nukpana. The goblin flinched. If you blinked, you’d have missed it. I didn’t blink, and I didn’t miss it.
