Barb Hendee: Through Stone and Sea

Wynn quickly threw her crystal to the other side, filling the cavern with more light, and the black figure turned toward her. Every time she saw it—him—her stomach wrenched like that first night in the streets of Calm Seatt. It was nothing but black robes and cloak, sagging faceless cowl, and cloth-wrapped hands that weren't truly whole and real.

"Chuillyon, get them out, now!" Cinder-Shard yelled.

The wraith lurched around, turning every way.

All six Stonewalkers shifted among the columns and the still, stone forms of the dead as they circled inward. Those who'd just arrived joined the others in the thrumming chant, doubling its volume. Wynn still didn't understand their utterances as they raised their palms outward.

The wraith pivoted back to fix upon her.

His hiss seemed to form into words she couldn't quite catch—and he rushed straight at her.

Shade lunged out as Chane reversed, grabbed Wynn's arm, and thrust her aside before she could speak. She spun into a column, tripping on its wide sloped base, and he stepped straight into the wraith's path.

"No, get to cover!" she shouted.

The wraith never slowed.

Shade backpedaled, hopping aside with a failed snap at it, as Cinder-Shard shouted, "Balsam, cut it off!"

The Stonewalkers' rhythmic chant faltered the instant Chane collided with the black spirit.

The wraith dissipated like smoke on a wind gust, and Chane stumbled through, nearly collapsing.

Those shredded black vapors coalesced again with a hoarse scream. At first, both the robe and cloak trailed wisps of black dust or smoke in the air—as if the wraith struggled to regain its presence.

Then it rushed on. Wynn had barely gained her feet when its black-cloth-wrapped hand swiped at her.

She flopped back against the column, rolling around it, out of reach. The wraith's hand closed on her staff, just below the crystal. But the staff passed straight through those clutching fingers.

For an instant, Wynn thought she saw the glow of Chuillyon's crystal behind the wraith—through it.

The wraith seemed weakened—it couldn't solidify even a hand. With a soft hiss, it whirled, its cloak's wing passing straight through the column. Wynn ducked away from the flailing, ghostly fabric.

The wraith went straight at the duchess.

"Get her out!" Wynn shouted, raising the staff again. "Shade, go … attack!"

Chuillyon didn't move, not even when Shade wheeled, her claws scrabbling on stone. He stood there, eyes closed, lips silently moving. Reine backed against him, eyes wide in shock, though she had her saber out. The captain lunged in front of her, straight into the wraith's path.

Something wide and dark came at them from the side, near the cavern's back.

Balsam reached around a column and latched onto the captain's wrist.

Wynn thought she saw the woman's face change. It darkened, glittering like the column's stone. But Balsam never had an instant to pull the captain aside.

The wraith swung as Tristan slashed with his sword. A black hand whipped down through Tristan's face and chest as his blade passed straight through the cloak and robe.

The captain flinched, eyes widening, and that was all. Nothing happened to him.

The wraith halted, frozen in place, and Shade closed from behind.

Rising on rear legs, she snapped her teeth through its wrist, and they both screeched. The wraith slapped down at Shade, but she wheeled out of reach. Wynn pulled her glasses out of her grip upon the staff, trying to get them on her face.

The wraith crouched, flattening its hand against the floor.

Chuillyon's soft laugh startled Wynn.

The elf's eyes opened, his left arm wrapping around the duchess and holding her close. He peered down at the wraith's wavering form.

"Oh, no … Sau'ilahk ," he whispered.

The wraith snapped to full height at its name.

"No tricks for you !" Chuillyon added with a slow shake of his head. "Not again."

Balsam reached out for the wraith. Her other hand was fastened around a column, and the wraith retreated in a gliding rush, searching in all directions.

Wynn finally shoved the glasses over her eyes. But the wraith began to fade, becoming a pale shadow in her sight as she grew frantic. Then the Stonewalkers' thrumming chant rose again, and it instantly reappeared.

It appeared to shudder, its fingers twitching before its chest.

"Chane … cover up!" Wynn shouted, tilting the sun crystal outward.

In her mind, she formed the outlines of shapes, each one appearing within the last as the pattern overlaid her sight of the long crystal. Circle then triangle, another triangle inverted, and a final circle.

"Mên Rúhk el-När …" she recited— From Spirit to Fire …

The sagging cowl's empty pit whipped toward her—then the wraith rushed straight at Balsam.

Balsam faltered in her chant. Before Wynn could even shout a warning, the female Stonewalker slapped her palm against a column.

The wraith slammed through her and onward, and it vanished through the cavern wall.

Wynn's frustration choked off her voice, though she heard Chuillyon cursing in Elvish over the growl of Cinder-Shard.

Sau'ilahk groped through stone. Despite Beloved's demand that he not further expose himself, the entire settlement might be alerted to his presence.

And they had learned his name. There was only one way that could have happened.

Wynn Hygeorht had seen the texts.

He was failing, yet the sage had touched the very things he desired. And he had sensed a difference in Chane, leaving no doubt—that one was a vampire. But too many opponents had appeared, and he was so weak that he had not even manifested one hand. He had failed to snatch the staff and shatter its crystal once and for all.

At each more desperate tactic, he had been hindered or halted. The Stonewalkers' chant somehow barred him from dormancy, even to blink elsewhere. One had shielded the tall captain with her connection to stone, and again the white-clad elf had interfered with his conjury.

Sau'ilahk tried to call his remaining servitor, but it never came.

He arced through rock, groping toward one long passage glimpsed beyond the duchess and the elf. The passage's far side suddenly appeared, and he instantly withdrew. Only his cowl's opening protruded as he listened to shouts and whispers among his enemies.

"Malhachkach thoh! " snarled the elf.

"Where?" a dwarf shouted. "Where did it go?"

"Through the wall behind me," another returned. "Master, I am sorry … I should not have—"

"Quiet!" another barked like cracking stone. "None of us knew what it would do."

"Stay away from the walls," Wynn called out. "Everyone get between the two crystals, so we aren't blocking their light."

"Do as she says—now!" the elder Stonewalker shouted. "All of you, face outward and watch!"

Sau'ilahk fumed as he listened to them repositioning to spot him the instant he tried to attack. Behind all of the voices he could hear the wolf rumbling and mewling in agitation.

"Reine, stop!" the elf shouted.

"Let go of me!" she commanded. "I have to get to—"

"Silence!" he commanded.

Sau'ilahk grew attentive, but all he heard was the wolf snarling. What had the duchess been about to say?

"It's gone!" she cried out. "It could be anywhere … even in his—"

"No, it is still here," someone rasped.

Sau'ilahk knew Chane's maimed voice but puzzled over how the vampire could sense him. Throughout his time trailing Wynn, only the wolf reacted when he drew too close. And the duchess had said "his" … his what? Of whom was she speaking?

"Listen to Shade," Wynn called. "She knows."