Barb Hendee - Through Stone and Sea

Reine backed against Chuillyon, shoving at him. Try as she might, she couldn't force him into the passage.

Sau'ilahk watched with glee as Stonewalkers scattered. But holding conjured fire upon wet stone while keeping his thin bond to his servitors became too much. His remaining energy was quickly draining away.

He savored only an instant of satisfaction as Chane abandoned the staff and ran to shield Wynn and the wolf. Frustration followed as the tall captain kicked the staff aside. Flames caught in his cloak. As he ripped it off, another guard was hit full on by the fire. That one cried out in pain, steam and smoke rising from his damp pants and boots.

But the white-robed elf just stood there.

He pulled the duchess back, calmly closing his eyes. His lips moved, but whatever he spoke was too soft to hear.

Sau'ilahk was sick of the unknown, from mystical dwarves and Wynn's two companions to some white-robed dabbler with the duchess. With a clear line of sight to his target, he jerked his hand from the cavern floor, releasing his hold upon the fire. He rose, preparing to blink across the cavern and snatch the duchess, for the others would trade anything for her.

Sau'ilahk halted with a shudder of disbelief.

Wynn pushed at Chane, shouting, "The staff! It'll burn!"

"Be still!" he said, holding her tight. "Stay beneath my cloak."

Wynn bumped against Shade as she craned her head halfway around Chane's shoulder. She saw the captain kick the staff aside and then gasped as fire raced over his other foot. It struck another guard dead on. Then the twisting snake of flames shot toward the duchess.

The staff lay not far from the captain's smoldering cloak.

Wynn shouted in Chane's ear, "Let me go!"

His body felt like an immovable wall.

Wynn watched Reine cringe against Chuillyon, pushing on him. The tall elf foolishly held his place with eyes closed. There was nothing Wynn could do but shout at them, "Get out!"

The fire ended in a sudden splash.

Barely a yard before the duchess, flames fanned into the air, and Wynn couldn't help a small gasp.

Fire licked and crawled, but it advanced no farther. Red-orange flickers spread over some unseen barrier. Where flames danced, they vanished, as if eaten away into nothing, until the fire's trailing end rushed in.

It fueled one last surge and then dissipated in the air, and the cavern dimmed instantly. All that remained were heated drifts of steam rising from wet stone as the burned Weardas lay gripping his legs and moaning.

The staff lay free and clear in sight.

Wynn stiffened at a loud hiss filling the cavern. Before she looked for the wraith, a dark hulk leaped out of the far wall past the captain.

Cinder-Shard landed with a thud in the dead fire's steaming path. His eyes fixed toward the cavern's center as an eager grimace spread on his wide face.

"Make me a path, you bothersome trickster!" he growled.

Wynn didn't know whom he meant until a soft laugh pulled her attention. Behind the stunned duchess, the elf in white smiled openly.

Chuillyon's large amber eyes focused toward the cavern's heart. He lifted his hand from Reine's shoulder and spread his fingers.

Wynn felt the air turn chill as it gusted suddenly, and she sucked in a frightened breath. As Chuillyon's brow wrinkled in puzzlement, and Cinder-Shard straightened in shock, Wynn knew what had happened.

She'd felt that same shift of air twice in the night streets of Calm Seatt. The wraith had vanished, but not for long.

"Where is it?" Cinder-Shard shouted, looking around wildly.

"It's coming!" she whispered sharply in Chane's ear. "Get me some time!"

Wynn pushed around Chane, charging for the staff, as she dug in her pocket for the glasses. She finished only two steps.

Coiling darkness, like black smoke, thickened on her right as two Stonewalkers came out of the walls.

The wraith materialized directly before Reine.

Sau'ilahk held the main entrance in his thoughts as he winked through dormancy. He instantly reappeared to see the duchess's face flushing white with fear.

But he was more than an arm's length away.

That was not right. He should have awakened almost atop her. Something was pressing him back, as if he had become partially physical.

Sau'ilahk stared over the duchess's head into large amber eyes.

The tall elf merely glared back, a soft smile upon his pressed lips.

A saber slashed through Sau'ilahk, but he did not look at the duchess, only at the elf who somehow impeded him. He needed a hostage more than ever and pushed against the resistance, reaching for Reine as he called his servitors.

Kill the white one!

Sau'ilahk heard snarls, and he felt teeth burn through his incorporeal leg.

The wraith coalesced before the duchess as Chane pivoted away from Wynn. One moment was all she needed, though he hoped she gave him warning before igniting the crystal—and that his damp cloak would be enough to protect him if he crouched beneath it.

Then Chane saw the duchess swing her saber.

It passed through the black figure as Shade scrambled in from behind. Shade's jaws clacked through the wraith's robe.

Chane rushed in on the dog's tail. Shade yelped—in unison with a wail from the wraith—but as Chane closed, the side of the entrance bulged in a fist-size lump.

A red glow swelled within that moving nodule of stone.

One burning eye, like a lump of molten glass, erupted from rock. It leaped out of the stone. The spindly-legged thing arched straight for the elf's head. The wraith reached for the duchess, but its movement was so slow, as if it struggled to get to her.

Chane senses widened as he swung at the wraith's back side.

His hand passed through the black cloak, and cold like a thousand icy needles ran up his arm as the thing with the burning eye became clear.

That fist-size stone insect, with four legs ending in barbs, shattered in the air a forearm's length from its target. The light of its eye suddenly died, and dull pieces of stone rained down. The elf stiffened as these struck his head and shoulders.

A gravelly voice shouted from behind, " Maksag, choyll-shu'ass Kêravägh! "

Shuddering in pain from striking the wraith, Chane felt someone grab his cloak's collar and jerk him aside.

Wynn snatched up the staff. The captain spotted her as she saw something break apart in the air above Chuillyon. Whatever the thing had been, it broke apart, showering down upon the elf, as Chane and Shade assaulted the wraith.

Cinder-Shard rushed by, shouting in Dwarvish, "Out, you dog of Kêravägh."

His last word baffled her as she shoved the glasses over her eyes. Then she faltered for one breath.

Cinder-Shard grabbed Chane's cloak collar and tossed him away as if throwing a rag.

"Chane, cover up!" Wynn shouted.

The wraith whirled around, and Shade dodged out of its reach. It froze, its dark-filled cowl centering on her as she leaned the staff's crystal out.

Someone grabbed Wynn from behind.

Strong arms forced hers down, dragging the staff as well. About to thrash and shout, Wynn stiffened at an unbelievable sight.

Cinder-Shard's large hands clenched the front of the wraith's robe.

Horror filled Sau'ilahk, as he had not known in centuries. The bristle-bearded dwarf wrenched him sideways toward the cavern wall.

"We must drive it out—banish it!" another Stonewalker shouted.

"No!" roared the one clutching him. "This mongrel of the Nightfaller is mine! I will finish it now!"

Sau'ilahk clawed at the elder Stonewalker's grip. But regardless that this one somehow held him, his own hands slid through the dwarf's thick arms, touching nothing. Fear overwhelmed him. He could not think quickly enough.