David Farland - The Wyrmling Horde

The Darkling Glories filled the heavens. The emir imagined that with his endowments, he was running sixty miles per hour. But even on the wing the Darkling Glories could not keep pace. They were falling behind.

Forty or fifty miles per hour, he realized. That is all they are doing. The creatures were flying slowly, searching the ground methodically.

After what seemed to be a run of six hours, they came upon the site of Rhianna s slaughter the day before, and chased off a few wolves they found feasting upon wyrmling carcasses.

"I ll get the forcibles," Rhianna said. "Stay here."

She leapt into the air and sped off, winging to the west. In moments she was lost from sight as she sped just above the treetops.

Every eye in the group kept peering back to the north, toward the flashes of lightning that flickered beneath the starry sky. The company had pulled ahead of the Darkling Glories. But soon the emir knew that the heroes would have to veer east, and then the Darkling Glories would gain on them.

Talon paced about near the handcart watching over the child, who had Fallen asleep. Talon looked like a nervous wreck.

She has never been tested in battle, the emir realized. If she were one of my men, I would go whisper words of encouragement.

He went to her, took her hand. Talon stopped pacing, and her eyes riveted on his.

"The girl is safe now," the emir said. "I think she has not slept in days. We ll be all right. Your friend Rhianna will be back soon. She knows how much is resting upon her."

Talon didn t answer. Instead she threw her arms around him, hugged long and hard.

"This war isn t over, is it?" she said. "It s hardly begun."

"No," he said, unsure what she was getting at. "It isn t over."

"You can t give back your endowments. Your people need you. You re as trapped as Fallion is."

Then he understood what she was saying. She was rejoicing that he was alive, that he would be forced to stay alive for a while longer.

She kissed him, and he held her and kissed her in return. He felt guilty for taking his daughter s endowment, for being forced to keep it. He felt lucky to be alive and to have won Talon s love.

They broke apart for a moment, and the emir caught Fallion watching them.

What does the boy think of me? he wondered. I am an old man, holding and kissing his little sister.

But there was no disapproval in Fallion s eyes, only pain from the torments he suffered. Fallion flashed him a small smile, as if in gratitude.

He spoke something in his own tongue. The emir s few lessons in Rofehavanish were not enough to let him translate.

Talon translated for him, "He said to me, I have often wondered if there would ever be a man in the world worthy of you. At last you have found love, Little Sister. Congratulations."

The lightning drew closer, and the mass of darkness beneath the stars was growing uncomfortably close by the time that Rhianna returned, lugging the forcibles-four chests, small but heavy. She had to flap her wings furiously, and sweat was coursing down her face when she landed. She gently laid the forcibles into the back of the handcart.

With the Darkling Glories looming near, there was no time to waste.

The company headed south for another fifteen miles, then Rhianna turned onto an older trail that climbed into the hills, a road that had been built by the folk of Caer Luciare ages ago, and most likely would lead into ruins.

"Are you certain this road goes where we need it to?" Talon asked.

"Yes," Rhianna replied. "I saw it from the air."

So they raced up into the mountains, heading due east for fifteen miles. The Darkling Glories were rushing southward like a storm front, growing ever closer.

But as the company ran east, it became obvious that the vast majority of the Darkling Glories were heading south, following the road.

From the peak of a hill, the companions were able to peer east and see the murder of Darkling Glories now drawing even to their course. There were two or three hundred of the creatures following the highway.

Suddenly the whole flock came to a halt and began diving to the ground, as if to attack something unseen.

"What are they after?" Daylan wondered. "The horse-sisters?"

The emir wondered.

"No," Talon said hopefully, thinking aloud. "We warned them to hide well by night. There must be some other threat abroad in the land."

Rhianna grinned wickedly. Horns began to sound, bursts long and deep of throat. "Warlord Bairn, from the Courts of Tide, those are, his horns. I told him that a mountain of blood-metal was on the road north of here. He must have come looking for it. Too bad for him. If hadn t tried to kill me, perhaps he would not have met such a miserable end."

The heroes turned their attention elsewhere.

Farther to the north, spanning in every direction, were smaller storms where single Darkling Glories searched. Time and again, the emir could see them dipping to the ground or rising up, like fireflies among the bushes.

They re hunting, he realized, dropping down to check out every empty farm cottage, every pile of stone ruins.

Daylan pointed to the front, to the murder. "They re going to Caer Luciare!"

"To get blood metal," the emir said with conviction. "Despair will have thousands of pounds of it before dawn."

The emir s heart thrilled with battle hunger. He felt the urge to fight back, and glanced at the others.

"Maybe I can stop them," Rhianna said. "I can outfly them. I m faster."

"Can you outfly the lightning bolts that they ll rain down upon you?" Daylan asked. "Don t even try."

"We can t let Despair get those forcibles," Rhianna said.

"We can t stop him," Daylan said. "Let it go. Let it go."

Rhianna peered to the south, toward Caer Luciare. "Look," she said, "here come the Knights Eternal!"

The emir peered hard, but could see nothing. He didn t have the endowments of sight to match Rhianna s.

"Where?" he asked.

"There, about thirty, maybe forty miles to the south."

He squinted, but in the starlight could see nothing but hills and forests and barren patches of grass on the treeless plain.

"Well, at least we know now why Vulgnash has not been on our trail," Daylan said. "Most likely, he was fetching more blood metal for his master."

Luck, the emir thought. It is only by luck that we are still alive.

"Vulgnash flies swiftly," Rhianna said. "In half an hour, he ll reach Rugassa. Ten minutes after that, he ll be on our trail."

The emir calculated. The Darkling Glories had to stop to search every nook and cranny where the company might hide, and so they did not present an imminent threat. But Vulgnash had mastered arcane spells known only to the Knights Eternal. He would find them, eventually.

Our only choice may be to flee this world forever, the emir thought.

With that, the company dropped from the crown of the hill, down into the shelter of the deep woods, and raced for a time quickly, peering over their backs again and again.

In a few minutes they were out of the trees and onto a starlit plain. The road here was nonexistent. Grasses had grown over it, tall and golden.

The bent grass will give away our trail, the emir realized. It will make a road for the enemy to follow.

The others saw it too. "Quickly now!" Talon shouted. "There is no time to waste!"

Twenty-seven minutes later, Vulgnash reached Rugassa and met Lord Despair upon the parapet outside of his room. Vulgnash landed and dropped a chest of forcibles at his master s feet.

Despair smiled grimly. "Vulgnash, my friend," he said, "Fallion and his companions have escaped. I want you to retrieve him for me."

"Escaped?" Vulgnash asked.

"They will not elude us for long," Despair said. "Fallion Orden is one of my chosen. I know precisely where he is headed-toward Castle Coorm, and the One True Tree."