Crown of Crystal Flame (25 page)

Eld ~ North of the Heras

When Rain awoke, he was collared as well as manacled. The heavy metal yoke around his neck wasn’t spiked like the manacles, but it blistered his skin, constricted his airway, and made breathing an effort. Even if he managed to break free of the Eld, there was no way he could run or fight with the collar limiting each breath to shallow, hard-won gasps.

Ellysetta lay beside him in the dirt, curled into a small, trembling ball. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow and labored. Both her wrists and ankles were bound in heavy
sel’dor
and a matching collar circled her neck, attached to a thick chain. Rain’s gaze followed the length of hated black metal links to the Eld soldier holding the other end of the chain.

He couldn’t have been out for very long. They were still in the forest. If much time had passed, he and Ellysetta would already be halfway to whatever foul den the High Mage called home.

Half a tairen length away, the Mages stood together, arguing over something. After a furtive but thorough look around, Rain estimated there were about five hundred Eld soldiers and bowmen gathered in the surrounding trees, weapons in hand but not aimed. Rain turned his attention back to the Mages, focusing on the blue-robed Primages. They were the greatest threat, the strongest source of enemy power. The other Mages were powerful—no Mage advanced beyond green robes without mastering the ability to wield dangerous levels of his own innate magic—but they were only apprentices to the darkest secrets of Azrahn.

The Primage called Keldo was the obvious leader. There was both arrogance and temper in the haughty arch of his blond brow and the unmistakable snap of command in his voice. A sash bedecked with sparkling jewels attested to his many victories, and rings of power gleamed on each of his fingers, including two thumb rings set with large black
selkahr
the size of Soul Quest crystals. Which Fey, Rain wondered, had died—or worse—so this Mage could wear those rings?

The Mages were still arguing. Keldo scowled and said something, but he kept his voice too low to carry far. Rain strained his ears to catch the tail end of what Keldo was saying.

“… You think Primage Garok could ever have conceived—let alone carried out—the capture of the Tairen Soul and his mate? Don’t be such fools. Master Maur is the greatest Mage in the history of Eld, and thanks to his vision and leadership, we stand on the eve of the greatest victory Eld has ever known.” Keldo made a slashing gesture. “No. We deliver Master Maur’s prize to Boura Fell, as ordered. If Garok believes he is the better Mage, let him issue challenge. I, for one, will never bet against Master Maur.”

So… there was apparently dissension in the Eld ranks. Rain wished there was some way to put that knowledge to use, but once the High Mage had Ellysetta in his control, he’d be able to put his last Marks on her, and there would be nothing and no one with the power to defeat him.

He dragged himself closer to Ellysetta and reached out for her hand, but before his fingers could touch hers, the soldier holding Rain’s chain gave his collar a vicious yank. Rain fell backward, choking and grabbing at the collar.

The Eld soldier smirked. “Not so almighty without your magic, are you, Tairen Soul?”

Rain narrowed his eyes. Even with all the
sel’dor
in him, he could still summon enough magic to weave the Air out of a pair of lungs.

The sight of the man’s shocked, bulging eyes and sudden terror was worth the vicious beating Rain received as half a dozen soldiers leapt on him and bludgeoned him mercilessly until he released their comrade.

The choking soldier fell to his knees in the dirt, coughing and wheezing. Rain flung his hair out of his bruised and bloodied face and sneered. “Not so arrogant with no air in your lungs, are you, Eld
rultshart?”

“Ah, you’ve awakened,” the Primage observed in a cool voice. “And still full of defiance, though I’m sure the High Mage will rid you of that soon enough.” His eyes went cold as he turned them on the still-wheezing Eld soldier. “Get up. You are a fool to taunt a Tairen Soul, even if he is
sel’dor
pierced and bound. Unlike your friends I would not have intervened while he killed you. If you bait him again, I’ll kill you myself, and I promise you, your death at my hands will be far more painful than mere suffocation.”

The choking man blanched and lurched to his feet. “Understood, Primage Keldo.” He saluted briskly and resumed his station, standing stiffly at attention.

“As for you,” the Primage continued, piercing Rain with a cold stare, “bringing you back alive will add a substantial jewel to my sash, but your mate is the true prize. Cause me trouble, and I’ll slit your throat without a second thought. Captain!” An Eld officer snapped to attention along with several of his men. “Prepare him.” As the soldiers moved forward, the Mage told Rain, “These men are going to clean your wounds and pack them with
sel’dor
powder. We’re all going to take a trip to the High Mage’s palace, but in your current condition you’d never survive a journey through the Well of Souls. The smell of your blood would drive the demons mad with hunger.”

Rain suffered the ungentle ministrations of the Eld as they doused him in water to wash away the blood, then rubbed his wounds with powdered
sel’dor
to soak up any fresh blood that might ooze from them. Keldo himself cleansed and packed Ellysetta’s wounds, then stroked a hand over her cheek when he was done.

Rain’s chains rattled. “Do not,” he hissed.

The Primage arched a brow. For a moment, Rain thought he might dare some other, graver indecency, but apparently he remembered his own warning about baiting Tairen Souls. The Primage removed his hand, and Rain crawled over to pull Ellysetta into his arms. This time, the soldier holding his leash did not try to stop him.

At his touch, Ellysetta’s trembling lessened. One arm crept up around his neck, and she turned her face into the hollow of his throat, flinching back when her skin touched his
sel’dor
collar, then settling against a spot on his chest instead.

His embrace seemed to draw her back from whatever nightmare had gripped her mind, and he felt her return to full consciousness. “Rain…”

“Shh.
Las, shei’tani.
I am here.” He feathered a kiss on her pale brow, another in her bright hair, and kept his wary gaze on the enemy that surrounded them.

“Touching,” the Primage sneered, but he made no move to separate the pair of them. Instead, he turned sharply to two of the yellow-robed apprentice Mages. “Gelvis, Harryl, open the portal.”

“Yes, Master Keldo.” The two apprentices raised their arms. The cuffs of their saffron robes fell back, and the air around their hands began to glow as they gathered their energies. Rain clutched Ellysetta close as the sickly sweet odor of Azrahn filled the air, and the temperature dropped several degrees.

He watched the patterns of the weave form, dark ropes of red-tinged black writhing like snakes, looping and intertwining, undulating, pulsing like blood through veins. The chill of Azrahn grew colder until Rain felt his skin tingle with false warmth. The weave outlined a wide rectangle and began to bleed inward upon itself, forming an impenetrable, pulsating darkness in the late-afternoon shadows of the forest. As the edges of the weave touched and the last light shining through was blotted out, Ellysetta began to moan. Her limbs trembled violently.

Bright shafts of white blazed out from the edges of the weave, and it fell inward, like a cloth falling down an abyss. Sheer, inky blackness loomed in the middle of the forest. A low, keening cry issued from deep within the darkness. Whispers, insidious, hungry, frightening, snuck into the world.

“Rain…” Ellysetta clutched at him, her skin gone clammy, her eyes open and unfocused.

“Interesting,” the Primage observed. “She feels the Well open, just like a demon.”

At last Rain’s mind made the connection that had been eluding him for months. The wandering souls that occasionally sent shivers through Ellysetta and made her legs go weak. The whispering voices that had so terrified her when the tairen sang the Fire Song to cut the invisible bonds that tied Cahlah and Merdrahl to the earth and freed their souls to dance the stars. The pieces of the puzzle finally began to fall into place. When the Well of Souls opened, Ellysetta sensed it. The opening of the portal sapped her strength, leaving her weak and trembling. As if some part of her were being drawn back into the Well each time it opened.

Could the infant tairen whose soul had been stolen from the Well and tied to hers be trying to get back where it belonged? Or had whatever black magic the Mage had spun on her in the womb left her somehow uniquely connected to the things that dwelled in the Well?

“Rain…” she whispered. Her body went limp, and she slumped against him, unconscious.

Rough hands grabbed Rain’s arms and hauled him to his feet. Ellysetta dangled from his arms, her head back, her curls spilling to the ground like a waterfall of flame. “Wait!” he snapped. “Something’s wrong with her!”

Primage Keldo sneered. “Perhaps the fact that she’s carrying her weight in
sel’dor?”
His expression hardened. “Pick her up and carry her, or we’ll do it for you. The High Mage is expecting us, and he doesn’t like delays. You two”—he jabbed a finger at two armored soldiers standing nearby, then jabbed again to the swords, Fey’cha, and weapons’ belts piled a short distance away—“bring their weapons.”

As the two soldiers rushed to gather the Fey steel, Rain lifted Ellysetta into his arms. The Primage nodded, and the soldiers standing behind Rain shoved him towards the gaping maw of the Well of Souls.

The Forests of Eld ~ North of the Heras River

Before the sole of Rain’s boot touched the ground in his third step towards the Well, the world went mad.

A shadowed blur whooshed past his ear. The expertly thrown red Fey’cha buried itself in the chest of one of the apprentice Mages holding open the gateway to the Well of Souls. Red blood blossomed. The Mage’s mouth opened in a soundless scream.

Blackness came rushing out of the Well.
Demon!

Rain tightened his grip on Ellysetta and shoved away from the Well, propelling them both backward as the formless dark mass enveloped the Mage. He caught a brief glimpse of the demon’s snapping teeth and bloodred eyes. Then the air turned scarlet as the Mage’s body shredded. Long strips of flesh peeled away from bones; blood sprayed in a fine mist that never made it to the ground, bones pulverized into powder. In an instant, he was gone—utterly consumed.

The red Fey’cha that had initiated the Mage’s death fell to the forest floor only to disappear before it hit the ground.

A savage grin curled the edges of Rain’s mouth. He didn’t know how in the Seven Hells Bel had done it, but he’d somehow managed to reach them in record time. “Fey!” he cried, “Ti
‘Feyreisa! Ti’Feyreisa!
“

The whistling whoosh sounded again, this time in force as scores of Fey’cha rained down upon the Eld. Half the Mages died before they had time to raise their shields. Demons howled and rushed out of the Well, driven to frenzy by the sudden rush of rich, red blood.

The Fey must have been using Gaelen’s invisibility weave, because Rain didn’t catch a single glimpse of black-clad warriors or even the slightest purple glow of a Spirit weave. But their steel flew with blinding speed and deadly accuracy, and that was all he cared about.

As swift and merciless as the demons that consumed the dead, the Fey rained down slaughter on the enemy. Eld screamed and scattered in fear as invisible foes ripped open Eld throats and chests, parted heads from shoulders, and cleaved mailed soldiers in two. Only the Fey’cha were visible, flying without cease, outpacing Eld arrows four to one.

Without the dead Mage’s Azrahn to keep it open, one side of the Well doorway began to collapse. The apprentice Mage holding open on the other side gurgled as a red Fey’cha buried itself in his throat. He toppled over and was shredded and consumed before he could hit the ground. The doorway fell in upon itself, closing rapidly.

Primage Keldo leapt forward and channeled a concentrated burst of Azrahn to keep the Well open. Even as he did so, he flung a shield around himself and fired deadly globes of Mage Fire at the unseen attackers. “Get the girl into the Well!” he shouted. Fey’cha bounced harmlessly off his shields.

A dozen Eld converged on Rain and Ellysetta—and died. Their bodies dropped like autumn leaves.

Rain hauled Ellysetta into his arms and bolted away from the Well. Huge, furious balls of Mage Fire rolled past Rain on either side. He smelled the stench of seared flesh and heard the thud of ruined bodies falling to the ground as some of the Mage’s shots hit the invisible rescuers. Rain kept running. His
seldor
-bound magic was useless, and Ellysetta’s life was in danger. He had to trust the Fey to do their job.
“Fey, ti’Feyreisa!
” he shouted. “Fey, to the Feyreisa! Protect her! Shields up!”

A fiery hammerblow punched Rain in the back of one leg, sending him sprawling. The smell of scorched ozone filled his nostrils. He fell to his knees, and his elbows slammed so hard into the ground that his teeth rattled. He’d been struck by Mage Fire, and only the power of his golden war steel had saved him the loss of a leg. He released Ellysetta and rolled to his feet in time to see another of the Primages advancing on him, more Mage Fire blazing.

Half a dozen Fey materialized directly in the Primage’s path. Another half dozen shimmered into visibility in a loose ring around Rain and Ellysetta. Mage Fire roared towards them. In the hands of the Fey, magic blazed to life, huge, powerful ropes of it forming a five-fold weave. Earth. Air. Water. Fire. Spirit.