Dave Gross: Lord of Stormweather

Since passing through the gate, he appeared completely healed of his wounds. Tamlin had enjoyed a similar anodyne, but both Shamur and Cale still bore the wounds of the battle atop Castle Stormweather

"I feel it, too," agreed Tamlin.

"Not that I feel ungrateful," said Cale, nodding at his injured shoulder, "but perhaps she could lend my lady and I a little aid."

"Sorry, old chap," said Tamlin. He was beginning to enjoy being the one who knew more than everyone else around him. "We've always loved you like an uncle, but you aren't actually blood now, are you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" said Shamur.

"No, he's right," said Thamalon slowly, as if gradually coming to understand the nature of the place. "Neither of you is an Uskevren."

Shamur began to sound impatient. "Would one of you please explain-Look out!"

She crouched low and whipped her sword from its sheath.

"Don't worry," said Tamlin. "That's just Talbot's old pal Chaney."'

Chaney waved and sketched a poor imitation of a bow.

"Sorry, my lady," the ghost said, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"But he's dead," Shamur protested, refusing to address the spirit directly. "Isn't he?"

"Aye, a ghost," said Tamlin, "but that's nothing. Wait until I tell you about some of Talbot's other friends. But never mind that for now. I have to go pull the children out of a spot of trouble."

"We'll come with you," said Shamur resolutely.

"No," said Tamlin and Thamalon together.

Shamur looked ready to argue with her son, but then she turned to her husband, surprised at his complicity.

"I… I still feel weak from the passage," Thamalon explained. "I would only hinder you. Cale, go with him."

"My lord," nodded Cale.

"Shamur," Thamalon added, almost timidly. "Would you remain with me a while?"

"But…" Shamur hesitated, torn between her desire to return and help her children and the lure of her husband's curious tone. "Of course," she said.

When she reached for his hand, Thamalon withdrew.

A terrible understanding chilled Tamlin's body as his gaze met his father's. Through their green eyes, they forged a wordless bond.

Not yet, they said. This is our secret.

"Father," said Tamlin. "We will return for you."

Thamalon stepped forward as if to embrace his son before thinking better of it.

"Hurry," he said.

Tamlin kissed his mother and led Cale to the base of the strange hall, where he lifted a trapdoor. When he saw the bright radiance surge up from its aperture, he stepped back before its magic could draw him through.

"You were right!" said Chaney, hovering just beside his shoulder. "Now that you're whole, you can return."

"See you on the other side?" asked Tamlin.

"I don't know," said Chaney reluctantly. "Back there I was bound to that miserable beggar. It's boring here, but at least I'm free of him. I don't know whether I should take the chance that I'll be stuck to him again."

"All right, then," said Tamlin. "We'll likely do well enough without your help. I'll tell Talbot you're safe."

"Bastard," muttered Chaney. "All right then. I'm in. What do we do? Just jump in?"

"I think being close is enough," said Tamlin. "Just in case, take my hand."

He did, as well as a ghost could, and so did Cale. Together they stepped toward the portal.

The white rush and thunder took them, and they tumbled out of the world and into the one they knew. They emerged in the deserted, excavated cellars of Stormweather Towers.

"Chaney?" Tamlin called. "You here?"

Tamlin no longer saw the ghost, nor did he hear a reply. He hoped the trip between the planes hadn't dissipated the spirit. He'd been hoping for some supernatural assistance in the fight ahead. He moved toward the stairs.

He flew beside Cale, soon passing him. He rushed out of the cellar steps, into the grand foyer, and up the grand stairway. There he turned west, toward the solar and the sound of battle.

The once fine double doors had been smashed to flinders and shards. Inside, countless paths had been torn through the foliage, and two of the trees had been knocked completely over. One of the towering stones from the waterfall lay upon the ruins of a row of shelves and the crushed flora they once held.

Tamlin heard only the sound of running water and heavy breathing. He followed the latter sound to its source. Before he reached it, he found the slumped bodies of three of the house guards. He frowned at the sight of them and continued to find the source of the panting.

Tazi lay back against the remaining half of a huge, crushed pot. Her left jaw was already blackening, and blood streamed from her nose and mouth. She held her left arm close to her ribs.

When she saw Tamlin, her eyes widened.

"Ruh!" she whispered, slurring her words through puffy lips. The blow that blackened her face must have made her bite her tongue as well. "He things you deh!"

Tamlin heard a small choking sound deep within Cale's chest. The tall man knelt beside Tazi, cradling her head in one arm while holding a blade in the other.

Tamlin felt his bravado dissolve once more into fury. He struggled to contain the wild emotion as he stroked his sister's battered cheek and falsified a smile for her.

"Don't worry, little sister. This time, I'm here to rescue you."

"No," she insisted. "I thing he kill Dal alrea'y. Ruh!"

The practiced smile trembled and fell away from Tamlin's face. He looked to Erevis Cale and said, "Guard her."

"With my life," promised Cale.

Tamlin flew up off the ground and soared across the ruins of the solar. He saw no sign of movement until he heard a low growling in the far corner. There, making a round trail of bloody footprints on the floor beneath the sun window was a black wolf the size of a pony. It bled from a dozen wounds and held its hind leg up protectively. Nearby, a maimed guard cowered from the beast, trapped in the corner by his own fear.

"Malveen!" bellowed Tamlin. "Where is he?"

The guard looked up at him with mingled hope and fear. Still too cowed to speak and draw the wolf's attention, he pointed with his chin toward the pond.

Tamlin flew back to the waterfall, careful not to come too close to the obscuring clumps of foliage. Water sprayed in an arc over the carpet, where a colossal blow to the fountain had uprooted its plumbing. Its cascade left ripples across the water, which remained murky with blood.

Tamlin flew closer, seeing a figure lying beneath the surface of the water, unmoving. Cautiously, he approached.

It was Radu Malveen, his mask shattered during the fight with Tazi, Tal, and the house guard. Fragments of porcelain still clung to his cheeks, attached to posts bonded through his flesh to his skull.

The reflection of another face rippled in the water above Malveen's. It was Chaney, waving frantically and mouthing words. Tamlin had no talent for lip reading, but he peered closer to make them out.

"What are you saying, man?" said Tamlin. " 'He… is… faking…!'"

Tamlin flew up to the ceiling just as Radu Malveen surged out of the water, his sword extended fully and pointed once more at Tamlin's heart. The point pierced Tamlin's leather jacket, pricking his chest just above the nipple as Radu's leap carried him high. Just before Tamlin's back hit the ceiling, the inhuman assassin fell back into the pond with a crimson splash. There he crouched for an instant, preparing for another leap.

"Anabar!" shouted Tamlin, thrusting his hand at his enemy.

The lightning formed a thick column all around and through Malveen, cascading down into the pond and leaping back up into his body, its power spread and magnified by the water. For an instant, Tamlin saw the man's skeleton, black against the white outline of his flesh. Jagged spikes protruded from the face of his skull and the bones of his right arm.