He worried about it as he finished pulling on his boots and found a fully dressed Lariana standing in front of him, waiting. “Ready?”
To do what? But he didn’t ask. Instead, he simply nodded, rose, and followed her from the bedroom to the central living quarters of their underground lair, where Arcannen was waiting for them.
“They were here last night, testing to discover if we were in residence, and apparently they decided that we were. They believed themselves quite clever, coming at us from the ocean side, thinking I would not bother putting up wards on that approach. So they tripped them, as I had intended they should, but they don’t realize we know this.”
He moved close to them, his eyes intense. “Now listen carefully. These are dangerous men, and they will not hesitate to kill any of us if they have the chance. I am quite certain they’ve killed before and more often than once. They know exactly how to carry out an assignment of this sort, and they are probably confident that we will not be able to stop them. But their confidence is misplaced. They are overmatched here. We will show them a quick finish.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone!” Reyn blurted out in dismay. “You promised me!”
Arcannen took a moment to study him. “I know what I promised. And I know how to keep my promises. I will do what needs doing to rid us of these vermin. But remember, boy. Sometimes things don’t work out as you intend. No matter how good your intentions, they aren’t always enough. Promises can get you only so far. If one of these men gets past me or behind me, what are you going to do? Stand there and let him kill you? Or worse, kill me?”
He waited for Reyn’s answer. The boy shook his head. “No, but I don’t want it to come to that. If I don’t stop hurting people now, I probably never will.”
The sorcerer sighed. “How confident are you that you can control your magic? Is your confidence solid enough to tell me you can? No exceptions or excuses?”
“I can control it.”
“Good. Then I have a plan. But it depends on you being able to make your magic work the way you did last night. Can I depend on you?”
Reyn nodded. “What sort of plan?”
“A simple enough one, really. Simple plans always work the best. You will create images and bring them to life. A series of them, if you can manage it. You will point your creations against these intruders to distract them, and while they are busy fighting off shadows, I will dispatch them. You needn’t do anything to help with that.”
He turned to Lariana. “I want you to remain here, inside. This fight isn’t for you. You would distract the boy, and he doesn’t need that. What you can do is keep an eye on the rear entry, just in case one of them finds an opening and comes through behind us.”
He handed her an arc flash, one of the newest of the new breed of handheld flash rips. She took it, studied it a moment, and looked back at him.
“Can you use it?” he asked. “Do you know how?”
She nodded. “But I think I should go with Reyn. He’s used to me being there when he uses the wishsong magic.”
“That may be true, but it is also true that you cannot always be there. Especially in situations like this when you would be at as much risk as he will. So you will remain here. Are we clear?”
“He’s right,” Reyn told her. “I would feel better knowing you are safely away from whatever’s going to happen outside.”
She gave him a look, but nodded wordlessly. He could tell she was upset and worried, but he didn’t want her with him when he left with Arcannen. He looked back at the sorcerer. “Where are these men now?”
Arcannen tightened his cloak about his shoulders and gave him a wink. “Let’s go find out.”
They departed the room through the heavy protective door and stepped into the hallway that led to the outside of their safehold. Arcannen took the lead, moving swiftly and confidently. No trace of concern over what might happen was evident from his face. When they reached the outer door, he extinguished the smokeless lamps at the opening and turned to Reyn.
“I will leave this door unlocked. If things go wrong or become too dangerous for you to remain outside, come back through here. Throw the locks on this door and the one leading into my home. If I don’t appear within the hour, take Lariana and go out through the rear door. Make your way south to the village of Corrin’s Kirk. It’s no more than five miles down the coast. Don’t bother looking for me; I won’t be coming.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Reyn said at once.
“You will if I tell you to, and I am.” The sorcerer’s face was carved in stone. “Don’t argue with me; I am better able to make these decisions than you are. I don’t think any of this will happen, but you need to be prepared if it does.”
“Lariana won’t leave you, either.”
Arcannen smiled. “She will do what you ask of her; just as you will pretty much do what she asks of you. I see what’s happening between the two of you. A blind man could see. So do what I say. Go, and take care of each other afterward.”
Reyn shook his head. “I don’t like it.”
“You don’t need to.” Arcannen stepped over to the door, drawing the boy after him. “The weather warmed during the night, and the rains stopped. The mist is so thick you can barely see your hand in front of your face. I don’t know what we will find out there. I don’t know how many of these intruders there are or where we will encounter them. So it would be better to keep moving rather than staying in one place. We may become separated. I will try not to let that happen.”
He paused. “Just remember. If you get in trouble and I can’t reach you, don’t panic. Use your wishsong. Do whatever you must to protect yourself. I don’t like having to ask this, but life doesn’t always give us the choices we would prefer.”
The boy hesitated. “When this is over, will you continue to help me learn about the magic and not give up on me?”
“Give up on you?” Arcannen laughed softly. “I never had any intention on giving up on you. Never. No matter what happens, I will be there to see you through this.”
He gripped the boy’s arm and pulled him close. “Are you ready?”
Reyn nodded.
Arcannen raised the heavy crossbar and threw the locking bolts on the door leading out. A wall of heavy gray fog, thick and swirling, greeted them as they went through.
Elsewhere in the nearly impenetrable soup, Mallich was leading his hunters in their search of the ruins. He paid no attention to the wards that might be in place now, made no effort to hide their arrival. The plan was simple–find their quarry, corner it, and kill it. With the oketar doing the tracking and the crince given over to The Hammer’s care (it mostly required sheer strength to control the beast), the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Arcannen, Mallich believed, would try to escape rather than stand and fight. That effort would fail because the animals would find him wherever he went, corner him, and bring him down. Even if they couldn’t, the men would be there to finish the job. Simple enough.
Usurient wasn’t so sure.
He trailed the others, doing what he had promised himself he would do–hanging back to let his companions manage the killing so he would be free to clean up the mess when things were over and done with. He was far less convinced than the others about how easy this would be or what their chance of success was. The others were confident in their strength and experience as predators, but the Red Slash Commander was equally convinced of Arcannen’s uncanny ability to survive. He had seen it before, when the odds were far greater than now. The sorcerer had a gift for detecting traps and turning them back on those who set them. He was not at all sure it would be any different here.