Barb Hendee: Through Stone and Sea

There was only one way to halt it—to give it what it wanted.

"Sau'ilahk!" she shouted, snagging Shade by the scruff. "I know what you want … I know where they are!"

This was a lie; she didn't know what the wraith sought in the texts, let alone where they were.

"What are you doing?" Chane asked in alarm.

Between his pulling, and Shade wanting to lunge, Wynn held her ground.

Even if the wraith took her bait, tried to make her answer, she couldn't reveal where the texts were hidden. But if it had to deal with only her, the others might escape.

The ceiling's black stain began to drip—to slowly drizzle downward like twisting smoke. Vapors swirled into a column as others took the shape of a cloak's wing.

The wraith stood before Wynn in the tunnel.

It remained too still compared to other times she'd seen it. No invisible breeze lifted its cloak to climb the curved walls. She glared into its cowl's pit.

"Take me!" she challenged. "And I'll show you."

"No!" Chane snarled, and his other hand clamped across her mouth.

Wynn lost her hold on Shade as Chane jerked her back. The dog lunged forward as Wynn's eyes widened.

Still clutching the staff with one hand, she tried to pull Chane's hand from her mouth without dropping the cold lamp crystal. Suddenly she was spinning away, her feet barely touching the tunnel floor. Someone grabbed her before she hit the tunnel wall.

Captain Tristan hefted her up. He tried to advance and join Chane, but Wynn blocked him with the staff, and then …

"Did you believe it was that easy to evade me?"

Wynn glanced at Chane's back as he stood with Shade before the wraith. But the voice she'd heard wasn't some hiss of wind. It couldn't have been the wraith.

"I cannot move from place to place at a wish," it went on, calm and light, almost mocking in tone. "But neither will you."

Wynn took a step, raising the cold lamp crystal as the wraith twisted away toward the tunnel beyond it.

Around its black form, a flash of white showed up the tunnel. Chuillyon stood no more than a spear's reach beyond the wraith, the barest smile upon his thin lips.

Chane lurched back toward Wynn as something came out of the wall beside him.

Cinder-Shard's boots barely hit the tunnel floor before he lunged at the wraith's exposed back. Another Stonewalker, the older female, came through the tunnel's other side. Chane grabbed Shade, startling a snarl from the dog, and heaved her back.

Wynn saw Cinder-Shard's thick fingers catch in the wraith's cloak and she heard Chuillyon speaking softly.

"Chârmun … agh'alhtahk so. A'lhän am leagad chionns'gnajh. "

The wraith's hiss turned to a shriek.

Wynn rushed in behind Chane. His right hand gripped his sword hilt in reflex, the same hand that he'd used to hold her waist. It was seared.

She wasn't certain what to do, or whether to just stay out of the way… .

And yet another Stonewalker appeared. Their chant began drumming along the tunnel as the wraith tried to swipe back at Cinder-Shard. The elder Stonewalker snatched its wrist.

"I'll make you a tomb, you dead dog!" he shouted. "Let Kêravägh try to find you then!"

Wynn couldn't believe it would work. Too many times the wraith had slipped away, even from Chuillyon and the Stonewalkers. She couldn't let it happen again, and jerked on Chane's cloak.

"Take Shade and get the duchess out," she whispered.

Cold fury glowed from his colorless eyes. "No!"

"Do it … please!"

She didn't want him here when the sun crystal ignited again. She would burn it longer this time, and Chane had shown too little regard for his own safety.

Wynn grabbed Shade's face, shoving the dog back.

"Go … guard!" she ordered, pointing at the duchess.

Shade went mad, snarling and snapping as she tried to get in front of Wynn.

Chane reached down and grabbed the dog, half shoving and throwing her back. He paused only an instant, glancing once toward the wraith and then at Wynn. He turned and ran, grabbing a shocked Reine around the waist before Tristan knew what was happening.

The captain ran after Chane and Shade.

Wynn shoved her glasses on and dropped the cold lamp crystal at her feet.

The wraith thrashed, swinging wildly in Cinder-Shard's grip. Its one free black-cloth-wrapped hand passed through the master Stonewalker like shadows of no substance.

Chuillyon stood beyond them with hands clasped and his head slightly bowed as if in prayer. The other Stonewalkers' chants built, and Cinder-Shard surged forward, pressing his captive into the tunnel's floor.

"No!" Wynn shouted. "Lift it up!"

He glared once over his wide shoulder, the creases of his face deepened by fury. Wynn thrust out the sun crystal, already forming the shapes in her mind.

Cinder-Shard rose up, heaving the thrashing wraith high overhead.

Wynn finished brief utterances in thought only. She poured all of her will into those words as she thrust the sun crystal upward. Its light erupted—then winked out as it sank into the cowl's dark space.

Her breath caught as sunlight exploded in the tunnel, and the glasses' lenses blackened to shield her eyes. The Stonewalkers' chant broke as several barked startled exclamations. The lenses began to clear as a shrieking wind filled the tunnel.

Wynn saw the long crystal burning brightly at the staff's top. She stood fast, willing the wraith to die … and its form began to waver.

The shrieking wind grew louder.

The wraith's cowl burst.

Its black cloak began to shred apart in Cinder-Shard's great hands.

The shreds turned into smoke.

The thinning ring of smoke spread out around the crystal, dissipating as it splashed against the tunnel's walls.

Everything went silent.

"Enough," Cinder-Shard growled.

He'd retreated to one side, shielding his eyes, as had Chuillyon out ahead. Wynn quickly wiped the pattern from her mind, and the sun crystal went out. The glasses were too dark for only the cold lamp crystal at her feet. She pulled them off, and it took a moment before her eyes adjusted.

Chuillyon lowered his hand from his eyes. Likewise, Cinder-Shard stared up into the air where he'd held the wraith but a moment ago. Both had managed to hold it in place so it couldn't escape.

Wynn gazed up wildly, her heart beating fast.

There was nothing to see in the air above the master Stonewalker. Had she finally done it? She'd burned the wraith from within, but had she finished it this time? Was it gone for good? She looked to Cinder-Shard.

He scowled, eyeing the staff's crystal, and stepped to the spot where the wraith had appeared.

"Well?" Chuillyon asked, closing on him.

Wynn waited anxiously as Cinder-Shard turned about. He ran his hands down both walls, across the floor, and even looked to the ceiling.

"Nothing," he whispered absently. "I … feel … nothing but our own honored dead."

Chuillyon heaved deeply, letting out an overly dramatic sigh. "Well, that's that … finally."

It seemed so—Wynn hoped so—though she saw no pride or victory in Cinder-Shard's face.

"Where is the prince?" he asked flatly.

Wynn faltered in guilt. "Gone," she answered weakly. "Gone … with the sea people."

Chuillyon's old eyes widened as he sucked in air and then choked it out. He cringed, closing his eyes, and shook his head so slightly that his cowl didn't shift.

Cinder-Shard's cracked face, full of suppressed rage, seemed to break. He sagged in weariness, or loss, his gaze wandering. But then his eyes raised, glaring at Wynn as he pointed straight at her.

"Get out!" His loud voice echoed in the tunnel. "Leave … leave the seatt … and do not return!"

His manner struck Wynn harder than his words. She'd helped them destroy the wraith, and this was his response? But what should she expect, for all the damage she'd done? It was unlikely she would ever see the texts again.