She glanced up. «The darkwand?»
He nodded. «The King of the Silver River came to me in a fever dream while I was flying north in search of Pen. In that dream, he told me that demons from the Forbidding had manipulated Shadea and her Druid allies. Their purpose in helping Shadea had nothing to do with getting their hands on Grianne, their purpose was to release a demon into our world. That demon’s mission is to destroy the Ellcrys and tear down the Forbidding.»
He felt her fingers dig into his arm. «Let me finish. Pen can stop this from happening. He can send the demon back through the Forbidding. The purpose of the darkwand is not only to bring Grianne out, but also to send the demon back. But Pen has to find it first. It is a changeling, and it will be in disguise.»
« What if it reaches Arborlon before Pen gets back?» She looked at him as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.
He shook his head. «The Elves guard the Ellcrys day and night. Arborlon has defenses to keep anything from getting close. We have to hope that’s enough. There’s only so much we can do.»
He put his hand over hers. «Now, listen to me. I don’t know what will happen once Grianne and Pen reappear in the Four Lands. We are all at risk. But whatever happens, you and Pen have only one concern. You have to find that demon. Escape back through the secret passageway and get outside Paranor’s walls. Then go after it. TakeSwift Sure. Use the Elfstones to track it down and then send it back into the Forbidding.»
He paused. «Pen doesn’t know about any of this. You might have to be the one to tell him, if Rue and I can’t. If so, make sure he understands what he is supposed to do. He can’t worry about us or about what happens here. You know the way out; you have to make certain he uses it.»
She stared at him doubtfully. «He won’t want to leave you. I don’t know if he will listen to me.»
Bek took her hands and held them. «He will listen to reason. You will find the words.»
He wished he had something more to offer. But what he had just given her was the best he had.
Twenty–Six
On the wide night–shadowed plains of the Pashanon, Grianne Ohmsford stared in shock as the approaching figure came into the light and its features were revealed.
It was a boy.
At first, she thought she must be mistaken, even though she had been told the boy would come for her, even though she had been looking for him all this time. It was the unexpectedness of his appearance that gave her pause, the way he simply materialized out of the receding night, the ease with which he had found her in the middle of nowhere. But it was more than that. She had just left a killing field, a slaughterhouse of the Forbidding’s creatures turned to stone. She thought the figure must be something come out of that madness. She thought she was seeing a ghost.
« Shades,” she whispered, and stopped walking altogether.
At her side, Weka Dart growled. «What is it, Straken? Who is this creature?»
The boy approached as if there were no hurry, as if he had all the time in the world. He looked haggard and beaten down. He looked to her, she thought suddenly, as she must look to him. His clothing was ragged and his face dirty and careworn. He walked in a way that suggested his journey had been long and hard, and indeed, if he had come from her world, from the world of the Four Lands, it must have been. Though he was clearly young, everything about him was dark and weathered.
Except for the odd staff he carried, which was made of a wood that was polished and smooth and glowed red with bits of fire.
He walked right up to her and stopped. «Hello, Aunt Grianne.»
It was Penderrin. Of all the boys she might have imagined, he was the last. She couldn’t say why, but he was. Maybe it was because he was Bek’s son, and it would never have occurred to her that Pen would come for her rather than Bek. Maybe it was just her certainty that if a boy was indeed coming, he would be extraordinary, and Pen was not. He was just an average boy. He lacked his father’s magic, he lacked his mother’s experience. She had met him only a couple of times, and while he was goodhearted and interested in her, he had never seemed special.
Yet there he was, come to her from a place no one else could have come, there when no one else was.
« Penderrin,” she whispered.
She stepped forward, placed her hands on his shoulders, and looked into his eyes to make sure. Then she hugged him to her, holding on to him with a mix of disbelief and gratitude. He was the one, just the fact of his being there was confirmation of what the shade of the Warlock Lord had foretold. She felt his arms come around her as well, and he hugged her back. In that instant, they were bonded in a way that could only have happened under the circumstances of that improbable meeting. Whatever befell her, she would never feel the same way about him again.
She released him and stepped back. «How did you find me? How did you get here?»
He smiled faintly. «It might take a while to explain that.» He held up the glowing staff. «This is what brought me and what will take us both back, once we return to the place I came in at. The runes carved in its surface glow brighter when it gets nearer to you. I just followed their lead.»
She shook her head in disbelief. «I had no idea it could be you. I was told that a boy would come for me, but I never thought it would be Bek’s son.» She gave him another hug. There were tears in her eyes, and she wiped them away quickly. «I am so grateful to you.»
Weka Dart was standing off to one side, a mix of emotions mirrored in his feral features, suspicion fighting with curiosity and hope. She glanced at him, and then turned Pen about to face him. «This is Weka Dart, Pen. He is an Ulk Bog, a creature of the Forbidding. He calls this the world of the Jarka Ruus—the banished ones. What you should know is that he is my friend. He, alone, of all the creatures I have encountered, has tried to help me. Without him, I would be …»
She trailed off. «I don’t know where I would be,” she finished quietly.
Weka Dart beamed. «I am honored to have served the Straken Queen,” he announced, and bowed deeply. He looked up again quickly. «If you are her savior, then perhaps you will be mine, as well. I wish to continue to protect Grianne of the kind heart and powerful magic. I have pledged myself to do so for as long as she needs me. Can you help me? Are you a Straken, too?»
« No,” Grianne said quickly. «Pen is family. He is not a Straken, Weka Dart. He comes only to take me home again.»
« And take me, too?» the Ulk Bog pressed.
« What do you mean?» Pen asked, and then looked at Grianne. «What is he talking about?»
« Leave it alone for now. I have to know more about what you are doing here. I don’t understand why you’ve come instead of your father. Is he all right? He hasn’t been harmed, has he?»
She listened then as he told her everything that had happened since Tagwen had appeared in Patch Run to seek his father’s help. He told her of the little company that had come together in Emberen to start the quest for the tanequil. She learned of the death of Ahren Elessedil and of the dark creatures that had been enlisted by Shadea to hunt Pen down. He told her of the fate of theSkatelow and the Rovers who crewed her and of star–crossed Cinnaminson’s transformation into one of the aeriads. He told her of brave Kermadec and his Rock Trolls. He told her of the tanequil, of its dual nature and of the shaping of the darkwand. By listening, she came to understand how desperate the struggle had been to reach her and how much had been sacrificed so that Pen could find a way to bring her back into the Four Lands.