Mercedes Lackey - Elvenbane

Mero wasn't waiting for her in the sitting room...which was probably not surprising. He was in the bedroom, of course, and given his romantic nature he had probably left the lights turned down low, and perhaps had perfumed the air with incense...she sniffed, and thought she detected the faint scent of flowers.

She slipped towards the bedroom, and eased the door open...

"Shadow..." she whispered, then stopped, puzzled.

The bed was still made up, the room undisturbed, and both were empty.

What ...Now entirely perplexed, she pushed the door completely open, and walked normally into the bedroom.

Nothing.

Not a sign of life.

He's hiding behind the door, and he's going to jump out and catch me ...

But he wasn't. He wasn't anywhere in the suite.

She turned, slowly, unable to believe that someone might make an assignation with her and then not appear for it. And as she turned, she saw the small square of paper pinned to the pillow.

She reached for it, and opened it.

Amateur , it said, in neatly formed script.

Nothing more.

It took a moment for her to understand what he meant...but the moment the meaning dawned on her, she was so startled that her mind went blank...

And by then, it was too late.

As she stood there, frozen with shock, someone reached out a magical "hand" and ripped her power from her, wrenching it away from her with a force that was physical as well as magical.

Ancestors ...

Her knees gave; she stumbled, then fell onto the bed. She tried to call for help, but could only gape like a stranded fish.

The only "sound" was the one of the spell that took her power, a jangle of discordances like the music of mad minstrels.

Who ...she thought, desperately trying to make her body work again. How ...

But that magnificent creation that had served her so well for all these years was not responding. Her legs would not move; she could barely move her arms. As the last of her power bled away from her, and she began to black out from weakness, she tried to reach out with one hand for the bell to summon a slave.

Her vision narrowed, and sparks danced in front of her eyes.

She could feel the end of it...she almost had it...

Then... sound , overwhelming...the roar of an avalanche...the crash of thunder...

The transportation-spell?

And with that, she dropped into darkness.

FEAR...

Shana's stomach lurched and twisted; she was disoriented, dizzy. Was she falling?

Fear...the growl of thunder ...

Sound, an unending roar, a cacophony, overwhelming, surrounding her...

... where am I ...

Nothing...not blackness, nothing ...all around her.

Dizzy...sick...thunder pounding the senses ...

She panicked; couldn't remember where...what...

...and dropped with a bump that tumbled her rump-first down to the ground onto the lawn of the Citadel cave. The others apparently had no better luck with their landings than she did; when her head stopped spinning and she could look about, she saw them sprawled in varying degrees of disorientation beside her.

She coughed, and cleared her throat. In the near distance, where the Citadel bulked against the back of the cavern, there were shouts. Surprise, alarm, confusion; the entire Citadel had been aroused.

"I...didn't claim it was a quiet spell," she said weakly, as people poured out of the building.

Valyn had the presence of mind to cancel the magic that made Shadow look full-elven, and to cast a hasty illusion of halfblood appearance on himself; she saw the features on both of their faces blur and reform at the same moment. In the general disturbance as the transportation-spell's effects died down, she doubted if anyone noticed the light breath of music that came with his magic.

Right now she didn't want to even think about casting another spell. No wonder the old ones didn't do this often . She had known this would be more difficult than the simpler version she and the others had used to steal goods from the elven overlords...but she had not anticipated anything like this.

Zed reached them first, running as if his feet were on fire. When he saw who was sprawling all over the grass, he slowed, then stopped beside Shana, a strange mixture of surprise, apprehension, and wry amusement on his face.

"Well, Shana," he said, looking from her to Valyn and back again, "you certainly know how to make an entrance."

I don't believe it. The one time I do something I'm sure is right and it turns out to be completely wrong .

Shana buried her head in her hands; Keman sat down on the bed beside her, and patted her shoulder sympathetically.

She couldn't believe what a mess she'd made. She just couldn't believe it. She'd turned the entire place on its ear and undone hundreds of years of secrecy in one afternoon. How did she do these things?

"Hey," said Zed. She looked up, and he handed her a cup of hot tea. "Look, it could be worse," he continued, squatting on his heels next to her. "So, you didn't know the transportation-spell can be traced...so what? There was no reason you should know that...and I'd be willing to bet it was only a matter of time before the elven lords learned where the Citadel was."

"But I'm the one who broke the disguise," she said miserably. "It wasn't chance, or fate, it was me...doing something stupid."

"So?" Zed didn't look terribly worried. "There were a lot of us who wanted to face the elven lords straight on; now there's no choice. We fight, or we get wiped out."

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it doesn't," she told him sourly.

He grinned. "We're not exactly helpless, you know...and anybody who's afraid to fight can pack their things and head into the wilderness or the desert." He paused a moment, then added, "Besides, even though they won't tell you this, I will. The elves only know where we are in general. They don't know the exact location of the Citadel. That gives us a really good tactical advantage when they move into the area to try and find us."

"But that wasn't what I wanted," she protested unhappily. "I didn't want to force anybody into anything." She glanced sideways at Shadow and Valyn, who occupied the room's only chair and the top of her little chest. "All I wanted was to get myself and my friends to someplace safe."

Zed shrugged. "So it didn't work out that way. Despite what anyone else says, I think we're ready to take the elven lords on. Provided we aren't taking on all of them at once."

At that, Shadow looked up. "I've been keeping track of the Council through the lovely Triana," he said, "just in case the wizards decided they weren't going to tell us anything. They're divided on it. In fact, it's business as usual. Some of them think this is a trick by one of the others, some are certain it isn't serious, and some just want to play games of politics with the situation. And of the ones that want to come wipe us out, most think that there isn't more than a dozen of us. That lot is arguing about who's to be in charge, and who is to report to whom...where the troops are supposed to come from...who's going to supply them. It's funny, really. While they're debating, Dyran, Cheynar, and a couple of others are stealing a march on them and coming after us."

Shana was surprised; first, because she hadn't known that Shadow's reach was that far, second, because of the elven lords' behavior. It seemed so ridiculous...

But Zed nodded. "That was what I thought would happen. Back during the Wizard War they were united. Nowadays they're so used to betraying each other that it's second nature to them. That's the weapon that is going to win this one for us."