"Listen, about the other night," he said, "you
have to understand, out here, my men come first."
She nodded. "And you must understand that out
here, my land and my people come first."
"Perhaps when we get out of here we could come
first," he said, hoping the driving rain drowned out the squeak in
his voice. "I kind of enjoyed it when it was just the two of
us."
"So did I," she said, stepping closer.
"Perhaps we won't have to wait until we are out of here. Rallie and
I have been talking. I think you and I have more in common than I
thought. We both want the same things." She reached out a hand to
touch him, then stopped, her fingers just above his chest. "I will
do all in my power to protect you and this regiment. Please, get
rid of it."
Konowa hung his head, but the rain sluicing
down his collar quickly forced his head up again. "I really
wish—"
The sound of an explosion drifted up from
belowground. And then the shouting and screaming started.
Alwyn saw yellow, then white, then black. An
acrid wind blew past him, followed by clods of dirt, and he turned
his head away from the open hole. When he dared to look again,
thick, dark smoke was roiling out of the mound in a dozen different
places.
"Yimt?" he called. There was no reply. He had
opened his mouth to yell again when black shapes began darting out
of the smoke.
"Bats!"
The cry went up everywhere as hundreds then
thousands of the night creatures flew up from the mound and into
the smoke and rain. They formed a growing cloud of whirling wings
and high-pitched screeching as they circled the mound.
They moved like a big school of fish in the
sky, darting this way and that.
Then they dove.
Alwyn barely had time to switch his grip on
his musket and use it as a club when the first of the bats
screeched toward him. Their eyes bulged white and milky and their
fangs glistened with saliva.
Alwyn swung hard, knocking two bats out of the
sky. A dozen more swarmed over him. They screamed and darted around
his head, beating their wings in fury against his arms as they
tried to get at his face. Everything was a blur of black leathery
wings, white eyes, and wicked-looking fangs.
"Put me down, you buggers!"
Alwyn swatted three more bats to the ground
and turned toward the sound of Yimt's voice. The bats, dozens of
them, were trying to carry Yimt away.
Alwyn took a few steps toward Yimt, but was
stopped as more bats began swarming around his legs. The thought of
one of these creatures flying up his caerna gave new energy to his
tiring arms, and he swung his musket like a scythe. Blood and
gristle covered his face and hands and made holding the musket
difficult.
Musket fire crackled to life somewhere to the
left, but Alwyn couldn't imagine it would have much effect. The
regiment didn't have enough musket balls to kill all the bats.
"Lie down!"
It sounded like the witch, Miss Tekoy. Alwyn
dove to the earth, curling his legs up underneath him. A moment
later, the air thrummed with energy and for the second time in as
many minutes his vision was filled by first yellow, then white,
then black.
The air went eerily silent. Then it began to
rain bats.
Alwyn scrambled to his feet as the creatures
began tumbling to earth, their leathery bodies smashing to the
ground with sickening wet sounds.
Jir bounded into view and began leaping into
the air to grab the bats as they fell, as if it were a game.
Several soldiers were doing much the same, only they were trying to
catch the falling bats on their bayonets. Alwyn shook his head and
turned back toward Yimt, who was struggling to pull a bat out of
his beard. A quick snap of the neck ended the bat's struggle and
Yimt held it up by a wing.
"So what do we do now?" Alywn asked.
Yimt looked at the bat in his hand, then back
at Alwyn. "Dinner."
Visyna knew she hadn't had a choice in killing
the bats, just as it had been with the faerangs, but it still made
her ill. This was nature perverted. The bats had been driven by far
more than anger and hunger. She headed for the grove of trees while
the soldiers ran around like little boys. It didn't bother her that
the troops were acting like little boys as they did this, she told
herself. What did bother her was Konowa. He refused to recognize
the danger of carrying a piece of the Shadow Monarch's mountain
with him, even as he tried to be more understanding of her
concerns.
Life thrummed through the land here, a
cleaner, more wholesome energy than what had coursed through the
vine-covered plain, but it was clear that Elfkyna was sick. Nothing
felt the way it should, and it was getting worse. Her concern about
Konowa's affections suddenly struck her as utterly foolish. He was
a soldier for an Empire that had subjugated her people and land.
She chided herself; she would not succumb to passion when the world
she knew teetered on the edge of oblivion.
Her pace quickened and she walked briskly to
the edge of the grove, then stopped and looked around. Soldiers
milled around several fires and even Rallie was occupied, having
accepted the Prince's invitation to dinner in Visyna's place. She
stepped through the trees and onto a thin strip of grass that ran
around the edge of a small pool of still water as black as the sky
above it. She sat down and began to seek.
It was easier this time. Her fingers traced
filigrees of light in the shadows before her, creating silvery
skeins that spread out through the web of natural life, calling.
The pool's surface roiled in response to her efforts, scattering
shards of light and shadow like daggers about the grove, but none
penetrated beyond the trees, for shadows had filled the spaces
between until anyone looking from outside the grove would have seen
nothing but darkness within.
"He is a
threat."
The grove of trees contained the voice,
amplifying it so that it resonated within her body. She shuddered
and looked away from the brilliant emptiness of the light as she
stood up.
"Konowa means well, but he is confused about
the right thing to do." The words came out in a rush, as if saying
them fast mitigated the guilt she suddenly felt.
The light refracted into the blackness and the
earth moved beneath her feet. It felt as if the very ground was
dissolving beneath her.
"He must be
stopped."
There was tenseness to the voice Visyna had
never heard before. She started to tell the Star of the power
Konowa now possessed, but for some reason she couldn't bring
herself to say it. "He is stubborn and a fool, but his desire is to
protect the Iron Elves. I understand that desire."
"As you did on
the plains."
It sounded like a rebuke. "I respect all life,
but my loyalty remains to my land, my people, and our rightful
heritage. I will do everything in my power to see that you are
returned to the elfkynan, but I see no reason that others should
die needlessly to achieve that goal."
"Your lack of
vision is disturbing. She will bend him to Her will, and I am not
strong enough yet to stop it. It is why you were
chosen." There was a long pause, and then the
Star spoke again. "Perhaps a woman
is too weak for this task."
Visyna bristled at the thought. "I will not
fail. When the time comes, I will do what is necessary."
"The time is
closer than you think. Another will aid you in your
task."
Before Visyna could protest, the image of the
Star disappeared within a collapsing brilliance that seemed to suck
the very vision from her eyes. She reached out a hand to steady
herself but could find no tree to grab. She blinked several times,
and seeing a faint source of light, took a step toward it. Her foot
splashed down into water and she would have tumbled into the pool
but for a hand that grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. Her
scream was muffled by another that covered her mouth, and then
gently withdrew. Visyna rubbed her eyes then opened them, and the
grove and light from the campfires was visible again. She was
finally able to look at the owner of the hand still on her arm.
"Private Kritton at your service, my lady,"
the elf said.
