Thomas Reid - The Fractured Sky

The cambion expected to crack his head upon the bole of the tree he had been chained to, but instead, he found himself falling through a magical portal. Both he and Aliisza tumbled through the doorway, but the two hound archons were a step too slow.

The portal winked out, leaving his guards and the angel behind.

"Hurry!" Aliisza hissed softly, scrambling to her feet. She shifted from the image of Micus back into her natural form as other hands struggled with the bonds that still held Kaanyr.

The cambion looked up to see Tauran and Kael crouching over him, working frantically to free him. He saw that the four of them were in a small hollow surrounded by short but steep ridges. The moonlight made the still-heavy mist glow, creating a veiled backdrop to their hiding place.

When Tauran managed to slip the brank harness from Kaanyr's mouth, the cambion let out a soft groan. "Thanks," he said, and he meant it. "Throw that thing far, far away."

"Keep your voice down," Kael said, working to slip one of the leather bags free of Kaanyr's hand. "Micus and his coterie are not far off."

The cambion nodded. "I'm surprised you came back for me," he whispered. "That was a big risk, by all of you." He shifted his gaze from one face to the next. "Why?"

Tauran cocked his head to one side. "I gave you my word," he whispered back. "It was the only thing to do."

Kaanyr thought on that for a moment. It was hard to wrap his mind around. He shrugged and nodded. "Well then, I thank you for keeping your word. I'm not so used to people doing that."

Tauran gave him a quick nod in return.

When the other three finally had him unbound, he sat up and stretched aching muscles. "What's the plan?" he asked, rising to his knees. "Where now?"

Tauran pointed to something out of sight beyond the nearest ridge. "Micus and a patrol are guarding the passage through to the World Tree just over there," he said. "They are hiding, setting up an ambush. Of course, the camp will get word to them very quickly that we've managed to free you, so we have to get through there now, before they're alerted."

"How do you propose we slip past them?" the cambion asked as the four of them crept to the crest of the ridge and peered over. Kaanyr could see nothing but trees and mist.

"The same way we got you out of there," Aliisza whispered.

"We don't have much time," Tauran said. "Once that doorway opens on their end, they're going to know what we're trying to do. They will do everything they can to block us from escaping. You and Aliisza are more vulnerable to Micus's divine magic, so you're first. Don't look back, just run."

Kaanyr opened his mouth to query the angel on a few more points, but a light appeared in the misty gloom a stone's throw away.

"Lantern archon," Tauran said, "coming to inform them. Time to go."

Nodding, Kaanyr saw Aliisza turn and summon one of the red-tinged doorways directly in front of them. A shout arose from the direction of the enemy before Kaanyr even had a chance to step through it.

"They see the other end!" Tauran said. "Go!"

Kaanyr reached for Burnblood and the Scepter Malevolous as he stepped through. He only realized once he was on the other side that he no longer had his enchanted weapons. Lamenting their loss, he took a couple of paces forward and spotted a narrow tunnel directly ahead of him. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Aliisza come through the doorway right behind him. Beyond her doorway, past the mouth of the tight canyon in which they stood, he could see the glow of lights and could hear more shouting.

"Go!" Aliisza urged him, pushing him forward. "Into the tunnel!"

Kaanyr hated leaving his treasures behind, but he knew it was a fool's errand to try to retrieve them at that point.

I'll be back for them, he vowed, then he ducked into the cramped tunnel and fled.

Micus stood in the middle of the clearing, surveying the area. The archons had performed suitable funeral rites upon the bodies of the elves and ghaeles and were almost finished freeing Tekthyrios's corpse from the jagged tree. The angel watched it all, his heart heavy.

"Explain what happened, Garin," he said.

The other angel standing beside him exhaled. "She came in disguise, appearing as you," he said. "She acted a bit peculiar, but not so much that I was suspicious, at least not at first. When she insisted that you had caught the other three and were ready to take them all back to the Court, I freed him enough to allow her to escape with him. By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late to stop them. I'm sorry, Micus."

"No, my friend," Micus said. "Do not apologize. The fault is mine. I should have expected some trickery from them." Then he added, half to himself, "Even from Tauran." The angel scuffed his foot in the dirt. "He has fallen so far in such a short time. I should never assume that any part of our doctrine is still sacred to him. I was the fool."

"What are you going to do now?"

"That is not for me to decide. I must report my failure to the High Council."

"Your heart is heavy, Micus," Garin said. "You have experienced setbacks before in your quest to bring goodness to the cosmos, and I've never seen you so grim. What is troubling you?"

Micus sighed and weighed his next words carefully. "There is a part of me that regrets all of this, Garin," he said. "There is a part of me that thinks Tauran might be right, and that he's the only one who can see the truth of the matter."

"Truly?" the other angel asked, surprise clear in his voice. "You honestly believe that?"

"It doesn't change a thing," Micus said. "I still have my duties. But yes, I suspect we're all in for much more grief."

"And that's why you're sad?" Garin asked. "Because you dread what is to come?"

"Partially," Micus answered. "But also because, even if he's proven right, Tauran is lost to us. He has betrayed everything we stand for. And I grieve for him when he realizes it."

"How are you certain Zasian came this way?" Kaanyr asked. The cambion trudged along behind Tauran, who was leading the group. Aliisza followed Kaanyr, and Kael brought up the rear.

As they hiked, the alu surveyed the surrounding terrain. To her, it seemed like they followed the crest of a great ridge that stretched on indefinitely in each direction, swallowed up in the odd, silvery haze that surrounded them. To either side, the ridge became a gentle slope dropping away. The path they followed passed through largely open ground, spotted in places with the occasional copse of trees or scrub. No sky showed through, nor any sense of the direction of the sun. Everything seemed isolated, enclosed in the mist.

"There are really only two ways they could have gone," the angel said over his shoulder. "And this path leads to other places. If we had followed the other direction, we would eventually find ourselves on the tip of this great branch, at a dead end."

"How can you even be sure he walked?" the cambion retorted. "For all we know, Zasian magically transported himself in an instant. I've seen the kind of divine power he wields. I know his methods."

"For the same reason we can't just fly to where we want to go," Tauran replied. "It's too easy to get lost in the Astral plane if you leave the branches. The World Tree has bizarre properties; geography doesn't work on it the way you think it should. He didn't whisk himself away magically."

"We never even determined who else was with Zasian when he passed from the House," Kael said as he trudged along behind Aliisza. "Those other sets of bootprints continued right into the passageway we took to escape. I checked."

"You could see prints on the ground, in the dark, while running," Aliisza said. It was more of an incredulous statement than a question.