Lord's Fall (Elder Races #5)(50)

As Pia peered around Dragos’s arm, Ferion gestured and the Elves lowered their bows. Dragos’s hold relaxed, and she stepped around to his side. She said, “You too, Eva.”

To Captain Psycho’s credit, she didn’t try to argue, nor did she look at Dragos. Instead she said, “Ease up, kids.” The other Wyr relaxed and unloaded their crossbows.

“Spread out,” gritted Ferion. “Comb the area for survivors.”

“Go help them,” Pia told Eva. At that the other woman did hesitate, turning to face her. Pia said telepathically, You’re not needed here at the moment.

Eva’s gaze flickered to Dragos. She said to the group, “You heard her. Let’s go.” The unit joined those who were gathering at one end of the clearing and after a quick consultation, the whole search party dispersed into the Wood.

Ferion stayed with Calondir, along with another tall, Powerful Elf. They bristled as Dragos strode forward. Pia followed more slowly, concerned about further confrontation and taken by the differences between Dragos and the other males.

Dragos’s Power was a roaring inferno that eclipsed the others. Calondir and his two companions were some of the most muscularly built males she had seen among the Elves, but they looked willowy against Dragos’s broad bone structure and raw solid strength. They would need an army to even think about trying to take Dragos down, and at the moment they didn’t have one. Also, as Calondir said, they didn’t have time. She let herself relax slightly.

Dragos stopped several feet away from the other three males, his hands planted on his hips. Ignoring Ferion and the other Elf, he said to Calondir, “Who was it this time?”

For the first time since Pia had seen him, the High Lord looked vulnerable as he took a deep breath and straightened, visibly bracing himself. “Amras Gaeleval, one of the Guardians that closed the Numenlaur passageway after the war. He came with two others.”

His voice heavy with sarcasm, Dragos said, “And you just thought they wanted to catch up on old times so you invited them in.”

Ferion snapped, “They came to us asking for help. One of them was suffering from an old wound that would not heal. Our best seers scanned them, but no one sensed that Amras possessed one of the Machines until he wielded it tonight.”

Pia chewed her lip as she listened, and something else slipped into place.

“I might have sensed it,” she muttered. Dragos swiveled to face her, his expression growing intent. “I picked up on something odd at supper, and I went to tell Beluviel about it earlier this evening, but something stopped me. There were several people present along with this one man who caught my attention. I’m pretty sure he messed with my head. I remember thinking he was one of my best friends when I know I’ve never met him before. He was in my dreams too.” Scorching gold eyes turned murderous. Dragos put a hand on her shoulder, gripping her tightly as she finished, near to tears. “I didn’t say anything to Beluviel that I had originally intended. I just remembered that.”

Calondir, Ferion and the other Elf were watching her closely as well. Calondir said, “Amras is one of our ancients and adept at persuasion, along with other arts. Do not take the burden of this onto your shoulders. It does not belong there.”

The muscles in Dragos’s body had coiled dangerously tight, but his hand was very gentle as he touched her cheek. She felt the brush of his Power along hers, sliding hot and possessive along her cooler energy. Coming up next to the reality of him was an intense shock to the system after the slightly unreal dreams they had shared. It felt like a feast after she had starved for days.

“I do not sense any lasting influence,” he murmured. “But I would like to check more deeply later.”

She could see out of the corner of her eye that all three of the Elves were staring at Dragos as though he had sprouted two spare heads. She had grown used to seeing that expression on other people, and she chose to ignore it. Instead she focused only on Dragos just as he focused on her, and for one fleeting, enchanted moment they shut out the entire world.

She told him, “I dreamed that I went to look out the window and saw that stars were dying. He was there and he said ‘nothing shines forever,’ along with something about paving a way to some kind of new age. This is what the Oracle prophesied, isn’t it?”

Dragos smoothed a strand of her hair back. “It sounds like it.”

It was possible that the search parties would find many more survivors than she believed they would. But even if they did, the Elves had suffered a devastating blow. More people had been asleep than had been awake. The number that might be able to cross over with Calondir and do battle to recover those who were taken would be pitifully small. They prepared for a suicide mission, and she could tell by the High Lord’s expression that he already knew it. Then those that remained would be lost, along with Beluviel and so many others.

And while the concept of the Deus Machinae was new and strange to her, barely more than a passing story, she was pretty sure that it wasn’t a good idea to let one stay in the hands of someone who could willingly cause so many deaths.

She took Dragos’s much larger, harder hand in both of hers. “You know we have to help them, don’t you?”

He turned his hand and curled his long fingers around hers, squeezing lightly.

He said, “I have already summoned the Wyr.”