Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule, #2)(172)
He materialised in the whiteness, grabbed her arm and yanked her in another direction. They emerged on a great flat plain of white spikes, from the size of her littlest finger to ones as large as towers. Those she landed on broke and rolled under her feet. She managed to stop the young man falling onto them, suspending him in the air.
The sorcerer still held her arm. It was the handsome one. The one the mechanical insect belonged to. The one who’d given Valhan the idea of how to resurrect himself. He stared at her face intently. He was breathing heavily.
“If you want… to escape… trust me,” he panted.
She gaped at him, then closed her mouth. What choice did she have?
“Wait a moment.”
She brought the young man closer. He was semi-conscious. She gathered him in her arms, where he slumped, an awkward weight. Then she nodded to the sorcerer.
“Go.”
They travelled fast–as fast as Valhan had taken her. After she lost count of the worlds she concluded that he must be keeping his word.
“Why are you helping me?” she asked when they reached the next world.
To her surprise he smiled, but with sadness. “Because you are right.” He nodded at the young man. “It is wrong, what they want to do to him.”
She looked closer, seeking the truth. “I can’t read your mind!”
“No,” he replied. He sounded as if he wanted to say something more, but a woman walked out of a door nearby and froze, staring at them.
The sorcerer closed his mouth and propelled them onward.
How can I be sure he’s truly helping me? What if he is taking me in circles until Dahli catches up?
“Stop!” she demanded, as they reached another world. They stood on the soft sand of a wide, undulating beach.
“What?” he asked.
“Where are you taking me?”
He shrugged. “Away from the Raen’s friends.”
“Have we lost them?”
“I think so. I told Dahli I would pretend to save you. Then we’d have a chance of persuading you to reconsider.”
Her heart froze. “You… pretend…”
“I was pretending that I would pretend,” he said. His mouth twisted to one side. “I know that sounds confusing. I didn’t have much time to come up with a plan. I think I will find you somewhere safe to hide and then go back and say that I lost you.” He frowned. “Hmm. Dahli said you couldn’t travel between worlds, so how can I explain losing you? Though he was wrong about that, so maybe he would believe me.”
She shook her head. “I learned… very recently. He’ll know I can’t do it well.”
“I thought so.”
“So… where are you taking me?”
He grimaced. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“You don’t have to. Let me go on from here.” She stared at him, challenging him to refuse. “Go back. Tell him I tricked you, or I had help.”
“But… I ought to make sure you find somewhere safe to hide.”
“Then you’ll know where I am, and I’d rather you didn’t.” She winced at her own bluntness. “Though I am grateful for your help, it would be safer for us.”
He looked at the young man, who was twitching and tossing his head from side to side. I have to wake him up soon, Rielle thought. Get him out of the nightmare.
“Do you know where you are?” the sorcerer asked.
“No.”
“There’s a world of healers near here. People in this world know of it and can give you directions. They might be able to heal him. Just go through the—”
“Now you’ve told me,” Rielle said, “I won’t be able to go there.”
The sorcerer gave her a long look. She stared back. He lowered his eyes, nodded and let go of her arm. “Avoid worlds that have no paths in or out,” he advised. “Especially out. Those are likely to be dead worlds.”
She nodded. “I know.”
He took a step back, then–still watching her, still frowning–faded from sight.
When he was gone, she travelled through another three worlds. The young man grew more twitchy, so she stopped in a field and gently let him slump to the ground. As she saw his face for the first time she froze.
He had Valhan’s colouring, but his face had the roundness of a boy reaching the physical change to adulthood. She wondered if the pattern shifting hadn’t been permanent, after all, and the first change back to his original pattern was a reversion to the boy’s true age. Or had the pattern automatically settled into the age of the boy? Or had Valhan been this age when he’d become ageless?
His expression held a torment she had never seen on the Raen’s face.
He moaned and his eyelids fluttered.
“Soon,” she said. “Just a few worlds more then I’ll wake you up properly.”
Taking the young man’s hand, she pushed out of the world.
PART TEN
EPILOGUE
TYEN
Familiar, elegant handwriting spread across the page. Tyen smiled. He had missed Vella a great deal. Long stretches of time had passed among the rebels when he had no opportunity to talk to her safely. Now he was free to converse whenever he wanted.