Barb Hendee - Through Stone and Sea

Hinder those outside the door! Distract them!

The dwarf's staff whipped through him as his own fingers slashed through a helmet and wide face. The dwarf yelped, and Sau'ilahk blinked out.

All it would take was just one reaching the bell rope to warn of his presence. A thrust of incorporeal fingers could put down a human, but it would only weaken a dwarf. He materialized instantly before the bell rope as the other five dwarves spread out, closing from all around.

Sau'ilahk saw his tactic would not work.

Not one had even hesitated as the first slumped against the wall. They were willing to die so that one could get to him. It would take only one to grip the rope as the last fell. Sau'ilahk had to leave this place in silence, no matter what it cost, but he had so little to expend. Barely one life taken, and now he would lose even that. Why had he not reawakened in the underworld?

He raised his arms, robe sleeves sliding down over limbs wrapped in black cloth.

Sau'ilahk began to conjure, more strength draining away.

Wynn followed Balsam until the Stonewalker stopped at the final passage and pointed onward. She rushed on alone with her regained journals clutched in her arms. Shade sprang to all fours, barking excitedly as she lunged forward from the archway. Wynn hurried straight past, looking about the landing for her pack.

Chane was slouched beside their belongings with his eyes closed.

She was surprised to find him still dormant. Bulwark had said night was upon them. Was Chane's hunger becoming too great? Had he slipped into some other kind of unconsciousness?

"Chane?" she said in alarm.

His eyes opened as he sat upright, but he appeared disoriented. "Wynn?"

In relief, she dropped to her knees, dumped the journals, and began pulling everything out of her pack.

"When did you return?" he asked, blinking. "Where did you get those?"

Wynn didn't answer. She didn't know whether the duchess had ever seen the texts or knew of the old journals among them. She wasn't about to find out. Pulling out her tightly folded robe and spare shift, she reached for the pile of journals.

Chane grabbed her wrist. "What have you done?"

"They're mine!" she shot back. " My journals … from the Farlands!"

She jerked free and shoved them in the pack's bottom.

"What if their absence is noticed?" he asked. "At least portions of the texts are taken to the guild each day."

"These journals hold everything that happened to me. Every detail of what I learned … and they're mine. I don't care who finds out, because no one will get them back!"

She began stuffing her belongings on top. Chane craned his head, looking over her and out the archway.

"Hurry!" he urged. "If you are here, others will come soon." He paused as if remembering something, and pointed at a bag on the floor. "There's food and water."

She hadn't eaten all day, hadn't even thought of it. She finished lacing her pack closed and hurried over, helping herself to water and a torn hunk of bread. Then she felt suddenly guilty.

Nothing here would sate Chane's hunger.

He stood up, bracing against the wall, and his other hand clenched into a fist. He stepped into the archway, watching down the passage.

"Did you learn anything?" he asked.

Shade pressed in, nosing Wynn's cheek. Still chewing, Wynn wrapped her free arm around the dog's neck. Then she began recounting what little she'd uncovered.

Chane crouched before her, listening intently, and then he glanced out the archway.

"What is it?" she asked.

Shade pulled from Wynn's arms, her pointed ears rising.

Duchess Reine, Chuillyon, and Captain Tristan strode down the passage toward the archway.

Wynn stood up beside Chane. Without even thinking, she took the staff and held it firmly, fearful it might be taken again.

"What have you learned?" the duchess demanded, still a few strides off.

Did she wish to hold this discussion from the passageway?

Chane wrapped his near hand around his sword's sheath, just below the cross guard. He pocketed the ring, freeing his sword hand if needed.

Why had he taken the ring off? If the Stonewalkers, especially Cinder-Shard, could sense the wraith as an undead, would they sense him without the ring's protection?

Chuillyon slowed, almost falling behind the other two. He arrived three steps after the duchess and the captain, eyeing Chane.

"Well?" the duchess asked more sharply.

"A little," Wynn returned in kind. "Master Bulwark interrupted me too soon. I need more—"

"Do not play me!" The duchess took two rapid steps closer.

Wynn forced calm, though one bitter thought escaped. "It's regrettable you were less interested back in Calm Seatt. Several people might still be alive."

"Enough!" Chuillyon said, pulling back his cowl.

The passage's orange light accentuated the lines around his eyes. Wynn couldn't help wondering at his age.

"Please continue," he instructed.

Wynn knew she had to share her meager findings but still hoped for more time with the texts.

"I didn't uncover the wraith's specific goal … yet," she said. "But I believe I have his name … and something of the part he played in the war."

"The war?" the duchess echoed with disdain.

"What name?" Chuillyon demanded.

"The Ancient Enemy had three distinct groups of followers," Wynn began. She briefly recounted the Children, the Eaters of Silence, and lastly the Reverent, a religious caste. She left out what little she knew of a bargain with Beloved, adding only …

"His name was—is—Sau'ilahk, high priest of Cinder-Shard's so-called Nightfaller."

Chuillyon's large eyes lost focus. His gaze dropped, staring at nothing, and then shifted erratically. Wynn wondered what thoughts came so quickly, one overwhelming the next.

"Liar!" Reine accused, pulling Wynn's attention. "I'm sick of your schemes. To suggest that this mage has been around since—"

"Silence!" Chuillyon ordered.

The duchess spun on him. "You cannot possibly believe—"

"I have told you there's no time to cling to disbelief!" He turned back to Wynn. "You learned nothing more … of what it wants … how to deal with it?"

Wynn hesitated at Chuillyon's so quickly accepting her words without a shadow of the duchess's doubt. She'd been dismissed so often, so few believing a grain of what she said, that his acceptance made her more suspicious. She had a very disturbing sense that he was looking for untried tactics, which would only mean …

Had he tried others, sometime before … in facing this monstrous spirit?

And there was one other thing the wraith might be searching for, just like her.

"It may be searching for—"

"The last locations of others among the Children," Chane cut in.

Wynn regained her senses in shock. He never spoke to anyone but her of such matters. When he glanced down, she caught the slightest, almost imperceptible shake of his head. She'd told the duchess and Chuillyon nearly everything pertinent—except Sau'ilahk's bargain for eternal life. She still wasn't certain of her conclusions on that, and it would've only aggravated the duchess even more. So what else was there to hold back? Only one thing …

Chane wished her to keep silent about Bäalâle Seatt.

"Nothing more?" Chuillyon asked again.

"No," Wynn answered. "I had too little time. Translation is painstaking work."

"But it thinks you know something." The captain's sudden words were almost as out of place as Chane's.

"Pardon?" Wynn asked.

"It must believe you know of what it's after," the captain said, calm and cold. "Or it wouldn't have followed you." He turned to Chuillyon. "She offers nothing of use, so we must fall back on Cinder-Shard's plan. Let the Stonewalkers trap it … using the sage as bait."