Lord's Fall (Elder Races #5)(70)

They scrambled to either side of him, and he strode after Calondir and the others.

This time the trees weren’t burning. The stone itself in the passageway was on fire, fueled by the Power in the God Machine. The flames roared thirty feet tall, and they threw off a ferocious heat. Of course the heat didn’t bother him any more than the cold did, but mindful of Pia riding on his back, he took care to get no closer than Calondir and the others had.

Pia and her group had done just what he had told them to do. They had crossed over in the middle of the warriors.

It was a good thing they had. Those Wyr and the Elves who had been the last to cross over had been carried off to one side and were being triaged. Several suffered from burns. A few of them were severely injured and still screaming.

He sensed Pia’s intention to go help those who were injured as she lifted one leg to sit sideways on him, preparatory to sliding down the outside of his front leg.

“No,” he said to her.

But I can help them, she said. She didn’t try to jump to the ground, although her telepathic voice throbbed with unhappiness.

You said you were prepared for how ugly this could get, he said ruthlessly. Well, the ugliness has started. There will be too many people for you to help. There already are. Not only would you expose yourself but you would spread yourself too thin.

Her breathing hitched, but after a moment she shifted back in place astride him.

Calondir approached. The Elf Lord looked incandescent with fury. He asked, “Can you put this fire out too?”

Dragos lowered his eyelids as he probed the magical blaze curiously. It was more resistant to him than the forest fire had been. “Probably,” he said at last. “But I’m not going to waste time and energy doing it. Gaeleval wants to trap us on this side. Well, so be it. We don’t want to leave. In the meantime, he has an entire army he has to control, and this fire is taking up more of his Power and concentration. There is a limit to what he can do. I say we help him reach it.”

Calondir’s chest moved as he sucked in a deep breath. The Elf glanced at the wounded, his face tight. He said between teeth, “Very well. Just see what you can do to keep something like this from happening again.”

“You are mistaken about the purpose of my presence,” said Dragos. “I am not here to do what you tell me to do, nor am I here to defend you. I’m here to attack him.”

“Dragos,” murmured Pia.

He twisted his head around so that he could scowl at her. She said nothing, just gave him a steady look.

He bared his teeth and growled at the High Lord, “But I’ll see what I can do.”

He had his sufferance rewarded, as she patted and stroked his neck. Calming down, he supposed it hadn’t cost him all that much to promise to do what he could.

• • •

The temperature plummeted as the day began to fade.

Pia’s armor had kept her comfortable earlier. After the sun set, she was constantly on the tense side of a shiver, and as a result, her muscles were tired and achy.

Dragos had relaxed enough to let her get down off his back. He set the Wyr to setting up camp around the magical blaze, which continued to burn steadily, the stone of the passageway glowing bright red.

“It’s going to get cold tonight,” he told them. “And Calondir’s home on this side of the passage has been destroyed as well. We should take advantage of the warmth Gaeleval is giving us. Besides, if we’re not going to engage him right away, I’d better stay close so I can keep an eye on this and make sure it doesn’t spread.”

Then he had returned to the cliff, along with Calondir, Elven and Wyr mages, his sentinels, and Carling, to study Gaeleval’s “army.”

Pia had gone with them but she hadn’t stayed long. After she took one long, horrified look at the tragedy in the valley below, she pivoted on her heel and walked away.

She understood now why Dragos had said there were already too many people for her to help. A lack of attending to basic bodily needs, along with exposure and neglect, had taken its toll on the enthralled Numenlaurians. She could scent gangrene and other whiffs of disease on the wind, and she didn’t trust herself to control either her emotional response or her impulse to vomit. Everybody was busy dealing with their own reactions. Nobody needed to be inflicted with hers as well.

Already strained from the events of the night, the fighting spirit of the Elves had been broken. She could see it in their faces. Calondir, Linwe, Ferion and all the others were the walking wounded, the expression in their eyes heartsick.

This whole nightmare leaves the Wyr in an even more awkward position, Dragos told Pia telepathically just before she had walked away. If the Elves themselves can’t face the reality of fighting their own kin or possibly having to cut down an obviously sick Elven child that attacks them, they certainly aren’t going to be able to handle it if the Wyr go alone into battle. When Calondir and I talked, he asked for my oath that we work in partnership on this, and I gave it to him. At the moment our goddamn hands are tied.

They’re in a terrible position, Pia said as she wiped her eyes. I don’t know how they can endure this. Something has to be done to break that maniac’s hold.

If I could locate Gaeleval, I might be able to stop him, but he has his army wrapped around him like a shield, Dragos said, his voice tense with frustration. I can’t just go hunting for him on my own. If the Wyr can’t go alone into battle, I certainly can’t kill any more Elves. Whatever we decide to do, Calondir and I have to stay united and do it together. Either that or we run the risk of becoming even worse enemies than we were before.