“Come!” Ceredon shouted. He grasped Aully and took off.
He swerved through the turmoil, his feet moving with a survival instinct all their own. The gap between him and the huddling pair was crossed in seconds, and Ceredon and Aully both reached down, helping them to their feet, then shuffling them toward the tree line. Aully bathed Kindren in kisses, and the young prince reciprocated her affections, oblivious to the horror going on around them. Tears cascaded down both their cheeks.
Another riderless horse came hurtling toward them. Ceredon shoved the three frightened elves away and dashed for it, reaching at the reins. He snared them, though just barely. With the reins firm in his grip, he dug his heels into the ground. The horse’s momentum yanked him off his feet, but it had obviously been well trained. At the pulling of the reins, the beast slowed and then stopped, shuffling nervously in place.
Ceredon stood up, his knees shredded from being dragged across the stony earth. “Aully, Kindren, now!” he shouted, bringing the two young elves running. Ceredon helped them into the saddle, Kindren in front and Aully behind. “Now go. Follow the soldiers.”
“But Mother!” yelled Aully.
“I will care for your mother. Now go!”
He whacked the horse on its flank as hard as he could, and the beast took off, disappearing with its precious cargo into the surrounding forest. Ceredon quickly made his way back to Audrianna.
“Come now, Lady Meln,” Ceredon said to her. “Take my hand.” The dazed woman’s fingers wrapped around his palm and he lifted her. She clung to him as if her life depended on it. He began to trudge forward as fast as he could, Audrianna quivering in his arms. When he glanced behind him, he saw that Darakken had finished its treetop feast. The demon crashed down to earth, shaking the ground beneath Ceredon’s feet. Its blazing red eyes stared hungrily at the fleeing elves. Its trumpeting howl sounded once more, and the beast lurched forward.
Lady Audrianna screamed in Ceredon’s arms, her body quivering like jelly. He lugged her into the shelter of the forest, the demon closing in from behind. It batted aside trees with its tusks, its hoofed rear legs tearing through the underbrush. He could almost feel the evil creature’s rank breath on his back. All around him dashed Dezren elves and human soldiers, forming a bulging line as they fled from the beast.
I did not come this far for nothing! In the seemingly endless days since Darakken had resurrected itself, he had spied on the beast as it learned to be alive once more, constantly trying to lure it away from Stonewood until finally, the day before, it had turned around and started headlong for the forest. If I had simply come here as I’d planned, we could be far away by now.
Too late for regrets now, he knew. So he just kept putting one foot in front of the other and prayed Lady Audrianna wouldn’t stumble and fall. If that were to happen, they would end up food for the demon.
Somehow the Lady of Stonewood kept her footing as they tramped over vines and roots. Even when they slipped on a thatch of slick leaves, all it cost them was a momentary stumble. The demon continued to track them somewhere off to the right, the sound of its feet striking the forest floor like a constant, raucous drumbeat. Trees broke and splintered. Ceredon’s arms grew weary and his legs, numb. Breath was hard to come by. Lady Audrianna suffered the same way; she’d stopped her screaming and now simply wheezed.
He glanced to the side and saw Darakken’s slick, scaly hide flash between the foliage, much too close. The thing then lurched to the left, colliding with a thick elm. The roots tore free from the ground and the tree toppled over. Ceredon squeezed Lady Audrianna and forced his feet to move faster, running diagonally, knocking over a fleeing soldier in the process. The tree landed behind them with a whoosh, crushing the soldier and a group of unfortunate elves. His mind was awash with both fear and confusion. Darakken was acting oddly, running alongside them like a shepherd’s dog, threatening, but not attacking, as if penning them in.
When he finally exited the thick wood, running at full speed, Ceredon discovered that’s exactly what the evil thing was doing.
Darakken had forced the fleeing masses to the southwest, where Stonewood Forest pressed up against the Corinth River. A two hundred yard stretch of flat, rocky grassland spread out before him, leading to a sheer cliff that dropped to the mouth of the river below. To the south was a line of thick trees that abutted the cliff; to the north, a slender patch of land with an upward slope. Those who fled had been hemmed in, trapped between the forest and the river. A large contingent of panicked elves attempted fleeing along the slender northern corridor, but Darakken burst through the trees, snapping a few of them up in its jaws. Other elves fell off the cliff screaming.
Then the demon disappeared back into the forest.
Ceredon took a deep breath, squeezed Lady Audrianna, and set his feet in motion once more. He hurried to the edge of the cliff, where at least two thousand elves and soldiers lurked, looking around as if they didn’t know what to do next. Those on horses galloped back and forth across the center of the clearing as if their options might change each time they swiveled around.
“Aully, Kindren!” he shouted as he swerved around the horsemen.
“Here!” Aully’s voice hollered back. The sprite emerged from the throng, dragging Kindren behind her. Kindren held the leads of the horse they’d ridden, struggling to make the beast match his strides. Ceredon rushed up to them and released Lady Audrianna.
“Let the horse go, Kindren. Then all of you get back,” he said. “And don’t fall.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, instead hastening along the mass of panicked elves and humans. He spotted the familiar, beautiful woman he’d seen earlier, still sitting astride her horse, her wavy dark hair like onyx threads. She appeared supernaturally calm, her shoulders thrown back while she squinted toward the forest, tracing the demon’s movements behind the trees.
“You!” Ceredon shouted when he drew near.
The woman glanced down at him and stared. On one side of her was a young soldier with a forked blond beard, and the odd, redheaded man in the bright green robe was on the other.
Ceredon stopped running and bent over, hands on his knees, as he panted. “Do you lead the soldiers?” he asked in the human tongue.
“I do,” she replied.
“We haven’t much time. Gather your men. Horsemen on the flanks, foot soldiers in the middle. Anyone else of use, have them line up in front of the cliff. We’ll assault the demon with all we have.”
The woman nodded. No argument, no questions. A human with a solid head on her shoulders. Ceredon opened his mouth to say more, but he was silenced by the shattering of trees on the far edge of the forest. The demon emerged howling.
Whatever meager plans they had made would have to do.
The Darakken had come to feast.
CHAPTER 44
Laurel hid beneath a mound of stinking hay that was heaped in the back of a wooden cart. Lyana was beside her, dressed in civilian rags this time, dagger held firmly in her hand. They waited for the soft sound of marching feet to pass them by before pushing aside a few moldy strands of hay to peek out into the city beyond. They could see nothing.
“All clear,” whispered a man’s voice. “It’s safe to come out now.”
With a sigh, Laurel pushed herself out of the heap and dropped to the cobbled road. Lyana did the same. They stood there for a few moments, brushing hay fibers from their clothes while keeping a vigilant eye on the empty streets. The sky was growing dark, and there was no sign of anyone else approaching. That meant the two women were either the last to arrive or the only ones who would.