It would be a tight fit. “I’ll try. You go first and I’ll hand Gaven through.”
Gaven’s broad shoulders had trouble, and Ashara winced as the rock scraped the skin of his chest. But then he was through. Ashara staggered under Gaven’s weight but let him down as gently as she could on the ground beyond.
“You’ll never make it,” she said, her brow creased.
“Stand back.”
Ashara obeyed, and Cart pounded his fist against the edge of the rock. The adamantine plating on the back of his hand was harder than the stone, and soon chips were falling free and the gap grew wider. On his third try, he made it through and found himself in the smooth stone chamber, the temple where they’d found the worgs before.
“I thought we collapsed this chamber,” he said.
“Kelas refused. Make of that what you will.”
A week ago, that news would have surprised him. Now that he’d seen what Kelas was capable of, it made perfect sense.
“Now rest a moment and let me see to Gaven, then I’ll help you.”
Cart dropped to his knees then eased himself down on the ground. Ashara crouched beside Gaven, murmuring softly and touching a wand to the half-elf’s wounds. Cart watched skin knit itself together at her command, blackened flesh fade to angry red and then its normal tanned color, the lines of pain slowly disappear from Gaven’s face. Before she was finished Gaven opened his eyes, started at the unfamiliar face and then smiled as the healing washed through him. When she was done, he looked better than Cart had seen him since his first arrival at the canyon.
Ashara turned her attention on Cart then, putting away her wand and laying her soft hands on him. He could feel her coaxing his substance back to wholeness, weaving him together. Her touch was a soft caress, gentle and cool. She called him friend. He reached out to run a finger along the line of her jaw, as soft a stroke as his clumsy hand could manage.
She looked up, startled.
“I’m sorry, Lady-”
“No, no.” She seized his hand before he could pull it away, and cupped it to her cheek. “You surprised me, that’s all. I don’t mind.”
Cart’s hands looked like armored gauntlets, but they could sense touch like the rest of his body. His fingers were not very sensitive to details of texture, but he could distinguish hot from cold, tell a sharp blade from a dull one, discriminate between rough and smooth or soft and hard. He could tell that her face was warm, smooth, and soft, as were the hands that held his in place. He had never felt anything like it before-it was warmer than silk, and softer than the hands of a dying soldier clutching his to hold back the pain.
Her eyes were moist and bright when she finally released his hand and turned her attention back to his wounds.
CHAPTER 40
Lake Galifar is to the west, the Blackcaps to the south,” Aunn repeated to himself. He turned the directions Marelle had pointed-first west, then south. The forest seemed thinner to the south, so he walked that way.
His mind felt addled. Marelle had brought him from the western edge of the Towering Wood to the south of Aundair-they must have traversed nearly a thousand miles in a matter of moments! He tried to review the night’s events, but his memories of them were shrouded in fog. At some point, he reasoned, the eladrin must have shifted him between worlds, drawing him in to the Faerie Court of Thelanis and dropping him back in a different place. How long had he really been gone? Nursery stories warned of travelers disappearing into the Faerie Court and emerging a hundred years later, convinced that only a week had passed.
A thorn-studded thicket marked the edge of the forest. Aunn pushed through and found the morning sun, then turned west to get his bearings. There was a shimmer on the horizon that might have been Lake Galifar, farther away than he’d hoped. The tip of the Blackcap range also jutted up just to the south of west, and he followed the line of mountains around to the south.
There was a storm over the Blackcaps-a very strange storm. For miles around, the sky swirled with black clouds, but beyond that vortex it was bright and clear. At the center, lightning flashed in a roiling mass of red and violet cloud, brilliant bolts striking down to the ground every few seconds. That could not be a natural storm.
It has to be Gaven, he thought.
Having found a destination, he set off as quickly as his legs would carry him.
In his office the next day, Kelas leaned over his glowing crystal. Nara was smiling this time, a smile that reminded him of when she’d first taken him under her wing as a new recruit. He was pleased to bring her good news-very good news.
“Queen Aurala has agreed to send troops into the Reaches. A full force.”
Nara laughed, a cackle of raw delight. “So all Thuel’s talk of peace is undone, and I am vindicated at last.”
The mention of Thuel made Kelas’s face fall. “Thuel is having me watched,” he said. “It’s getting harder to move around.”
“Stay where you are, then. Do you still have agents you trust?”
“I’ve never trusted an agent,” he said, echoing her teaching from so many years ago. Even as he said it, though, he thought of Haunderk. Reliable as the orbit of the twelve moons-but trustworthy? “Never. But I don’t think any of them are reporting back to Thuel.”
“Use people outside the Eyes for anything important. But make sure the agents have things to do as well, or a traitor might report back that you’ve grown suspicious.”
She wasn’t telling him anything he hadn’t already put in place, but it was comforting to hear his old mentor confirm his judgment.
“And all is running smoothly at the forge?” she asked. “The dragons?”
“The dragons are still cooperating. Their king is studying the shard while it’s not in use, but so far he seems content to stay and observe the situation as it develops.”
“Why? If you’re giving him access to the shard, what’s to stop him from taking it and going back to Argonnessen, taking his dragons with him? Then we have no forge, and Aundair has no weapon.”
“If he decides to take the shard, there’s little we could do to stop him in any case. I think he’s staying because he wants to see what happens. He’s very interested in what the Prophecy has to say about all this, and he’s going to stick around to see it all come true.”
Nara frowned. She didn’t like being told there was nothing to be done-she wanted plans and backup plans constantly prepared. Kelas had some ideas about what to do if the dragon-king did leave with the shard, but he was confident it wouldn’t come to that.
“What about the excoriate?”
“The Thuranni is keeping him in a great deal of pain.”
“Better to kill him. He must not escape, Kelas. You know that.”
“Yes.” Gaven was physical proof of the power of the Dragon Forge. The Cannith heirs at the forge were already under close watch, as the people most likely to have qualms about their work. Jorlanna went along with the plan despite serious reservations. If Gaven escaped to show the dragonmarked Houses what Kelas was doing, the Dragon Forge would be leveled in a matter of days as every resource the Houses could muster was brought to bear against it.
“When will Jorlanna and Wheldren go to the queen?”
“In the morning. If all goes well, they’ll bring the queen to the forge the day after tomorrow for a personal demonstration.”
“I think you should accompany them for the demonstration.”
“Me?” Kelas said. “Why?”
“I want to hear the queen’s response from your mouth, first of all. And it will bring you to the queen’s notice.”
“That’s exactly what I was hoping to avoid.”
Nara grinned. “One of Thuel’s subordinates taking such initiative without his knowledge or approval-it makes Thuel look bad.”
“Does it matter?” Kelas asked. “Queen Aurala’s opinion won’t be important for much longer.”