Mercedes Lackey - Winds Of Change

By false dawn he knew that one of them was the young Outland woman he had wanted so badly to take for his own. By true dawn, he knew that the other was the fool called Darkwind, and that the girl still carried her artifact.

By then, he could not withstand the temptation to attack any longer.

He had not lived this long by neglecting an opportunity when it was given to him. And he would not botch this chance by holding back, or making testing feints.

He gathered all of his power together, prepared his weaponry, and attacked.

Darkwind would die; then the girl and the sword would be his.

There was no point in being prudent or cautious now! Not with this prize in his grasp! He rained blow after blow upon them, heedless of the expenditure of power, heedless of anything about him. Elation held him like a powerful drug, making him laugh aloud with every shred of shielding burned away, giving him an elation he had not felt in decades. He held his arms high and power crackled between his hands, power from his network made of the death-energies of his mages. He was draining that network, but it did not matter, for in moments he would have her, and the Bird-Fool's power as well, and there would be nothing standing in the way of his revenge and his glory.

And then, just before he was to strike the blow that would take them both- Gryphons!

The sight of them in his scrying bowl struck like a physical blow, driving the breath from him.

They dove down out of nowhere, interposing themselves between him and his quarry; taunting him, flaunting themselves at him, flying as if they thought agility alone would protect them.

Gryphons!

He snarled with overwhelming rage. How dared they step between him and his prey?

Anger and hatred filled him, granted him a strength far beyond anything he normally possessed. They thought to confuse him, did they?

They thought he could only strike one of them at a time.

They would learn differently-in the few heartbeats it took for all of them to die!

He gathered his powers-readied the blast to destroy that entire section of his borderlands Nyara took three deep breaths; focused herself.

There is no future. There is no past. There is only now, and the target.

There is no fear. There is only balance. There is only myself and the task.

She slipped through the false wall in the back of the wardrobe and slid soundlessly into the room. Her eyes focused quickly as she swept them from left to right, once, to orient herself.

There. The target. Yes!

She took two steps, raising Need high over her head to give additional momentum to her swing-And brought the mage-blade down squarely on the huge crystal-cluster that Mornelithe Falconsbane had invested and anchored with all of his power-a crystal that cried out to her of death and pain, and even now was glowing with internal fires of red and angry yellow as he drew upon itdrew upon it to destroy her friends.

NO!

Sword crashed down upon crystal-and crystal exploded.

Falconsbane brought his hands up, rage a hot taste of blood in his throat.

Then-What-A fractional instant of something wrong; no more than that. an instant of disorientationsearing pain-pain, engulfing every nerve, every fiberout of the pain, the void, rushing upon him like the open mouth of a giant to devour himand then, oblivion.

Elspeth picked herself up out of the huge drift of snow she had landed in, slowly. One moment they had been running for their lives, and the next-Gwena!

She scrambled to her feet, flailing in the deep snow, trying to get herself turned around.

"It's-all right. I'm fine. Mostly." Elspeth stopped trying to flail her way out of the snow and relaxed.

Thank the gods. Oh, thank the gods. Although Gwena's mind-voice sounded-odd. As if: I feel as if I have a hangover," the Companion replied. "I-think I may be sick." The overtones of nausea that came with the thoughts almost pushed Elspeth into sickness herself.

She got herself back to her feet and turned around, her head pounding, her stomach heaving along with Gwena's. The Companion was on her knees in another snowdrift, sides heaving as her breath hissed between clenched teeth.

"I will-never again-mock you-when you are-wine-sick," Gwena managed, closing her eyes as if the sun hurt her.

Elspeth staggered to her side. "Eat some snow," she urged, holding a handful up to Gwena's muzzle. "Do it; I think this might be reactionsickness, and eating snow will help."

"If you-think so-: Gwena opened her jaws gingerly and accepted a bite of snow, swallowing it quickly. The nausea subsided, and she took another bite "That helps. Thank you."

"It's not going to help the headache though," Elspeth warned, squinting against the pain in her own head. We're all alive, I think-A shadow loomed beside her; Darkwind, leaning on Brytha. He smiled wanly, and the joy that flooded her almost made her forget her pounding head. She would have jumped up, if she could; as it was, he simply let go of Brytha's shoulder and fell into her arms.

"What happened?" she asked, holding him, being held, and ignoring the chill of the snow penetrating her clothing.

"I think he must have had something ready to hit us with when Nyara destroyed his focus," Darkwind replied unsteadily. "Most of it aborted, but there was enough left to knock us all head-over-hind. I hope Treyvan and Hydona-"

"Were out of range, thank you." The hearty mind-voice made her wince, and snow blew up in all directions as the gryphon backwinged to a landing." Arrre you unwell, childrrren?" he continued, folding his wings and cocking his head to one side. Vree landed beside him, imitating his pose in a way that would have been funny if Elspeth's head had not hurt so much.

And not only her head. It felt rather as if someone had been beating her with blunt clubs all over her body.

"I sssee," the gryphon said, although none of them had replied. "Wait a moment." He walked over to a little sheltered area amid a cluster of bushes.

Within a few moments, he had the earth scraped bare and overlaid with pine boughs. "Herrre. I have made you a nessst," he said, turning back to them. "Go and wait therrre, all of you. I ssshall brrring back sssome help. Meanwhile, eat ssssnow." With that, he launched himself into the air again, vanishing into the bright sky in a few wingbeats.

"Well?" Elspeth said to Darkwind. He shrugged.

"I can't go any further," he replied. "And Brytha's not feeling much better than Gwena. Let's let someone else take charge for a change."

"Good idea," she replied, and the four of them collapsed together into the "nest" that Treyvan had made, to share the heat of their bodies and await their rescuers.

Nyara prowled the complex of three rooms, study, library, and workroom, and found only the destruction of a whirlwind in the workroom; Need went quiet for a moment.

"He was here. Kitten, this was mad; he meant to anchor the proto-Gate partially in himself. He's gone now-pulled right into the void, along with half of the stuff in this room."

"Can he return?" she whispered.

"Don't know. But if he does, he won't be the same." She shivered and started back to the hidden passageway. The sound of people murmuring on the other side of the door made her hurry her steps. They might welcome her as savior-but more likely, they'd welcome her with the points of blades. Mornelithe's servants were steeped in suspicion and fear. Time to go.

You did great, kitten. I was impressed."

The Vale had never looked better, and Elspeth felt as if she would like to drink tea and stay in bed for a week. The tea she got, but she wasn't allowed to seek her bed yet. There were a number of people waiting for all of them, chiefest of whom was Firesong.

Firesong actually looked chagrined. Elspeth had never seen that particular expression on his face before and had not ever thought that she would.