As she bent over his body, she felt the tingling return. The beasts were coming in fast, much faster than she had ever seen. They had evidently tired of playing with the agile elves and intended to end it once and for all. Glissa dodged away from her fallen friend and sprinted toward another tree just as twin bolts of lightning slammed into the ground behind her.
She had no idea how long until the next bolts would come and hoped she could reach the tree. The flyers gained on her with each step. She could hear their wings flapping behind her. They were ten feet back … eight … six. As Glissa reached the tree, she could feel the tingling build on the back of her neck. The blasts were coming.
Glissa jumped high into the air. Behind her the beasts spat bolts of lightning. She grasped a low-hanging spire and swung her legs up from their path. Her momentum carried her around the spire. She pulled her legs in to gain speed, then kicked them back out as she came around. Her feet slammed into the backs of the flyers, sending them careening toward the ground.
Glissa dropped and ducked behind the tree as both flyers hit the ground and exploded. She could hear glass shattering against the trunk. Her arms and legs quivered as the released energy washed past her. She peeked around the tree to make sure both creatures had crashed, then jumped up and ran back to Kane, picking up her fallen sword as she went by.
As she approached Kane’s prone body, all the missed opportunities of her life flashed through Glissa’s mind. Kane had been her best friend, the only person outside her family she remembered after her first rebuking ceremony. Over the past hundred cycles they had grown even closer. Now she might have lost him without telling him how she truly felt. A hole opened in her heart.
As she approached, Kane moaned and grabbed his head with both hands. Glissa smiled broadly and wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks. She ran to his side and hugged him as he tried to sit up.
“What the flare was that for?”
“I thought you were dead,” said Glissa. “I’m … I’m just happy you’re okay.”
“We’ll see about that,” he grunted. “My head is throbbing.”
Glissa helped Kane to his feet, then smacked his cheek. “Well, it should hurt, you thick-headed elf!”
“Ow,” said Kane. “You … Oh, never mind. What were those things?”
“That was the power Strang sold us out for,” said Glissa. “Constructs. Tools of my enemy. They attacked me once before and dogged me all the way back to the Tangle. I saw two of these things with a robed figure Chunth called a vedalken-some evil race that wants me dead. And no, I’m not being paranoid. That’s who Strang sold us out to. Look, I doubt he only sent four of them. We should get back to the Tree of Tales. Can you run?”
“I think so,” said Kane. He looked around. “My sword!” he cried suddenly. “What happened to my sword?”
“What almost happened to your head. Come on. We’ll get you a new one. You’re lucky that’s all we have to replace.”
* * * * *
As the two elves ran back through the Tangle, Kane asked the questions Glissa had been asking herself. “Who are these vedalken? Why do they want you dead?”
“I wish I knew,” said Glissa. “But I intend to find out.”
Near the Tree of Tales, Glissa slowed and grabbed Kane by the shoulders, pulling him behind a tree. He opened his mouth, but Glissa held up a finger.
“Do you hear anything?” she asked.
“No. It’s quiet.”
“That’s what worries me,” said Glissa.
Kane thought. “It’s still pretty early.”
“Yes,” she replied, “but if there were more of those constructs attacking Tel-Jilad, we’d hear sounds of battle. If not, don’t you think there would at least be some commotion over Chunth’s death?”
“Maybe,” said Kane. He looked unconvinced.
“Humor me,” said Glissa. “Let me check this out. You stay here-and be careful this time.”
“Okay,” said Kane. “I’ll watch your back.”
Glissa hesitated. After everything that had happened in the last few days, she didn’t want to wait another moment before telling Kane how much he meant to her. But now was not the time. She needed to concentrate on staying alive. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“What the flare was that for?”
“That was for later,” said Glissa, smiling.
She slipped around the tree, sword drawn, and surveyed the small clearing in front of the Tree of Tales. There were no guards at the main entrance. Kane should have been missed by now. The council would have reinforced the entrance with a squad of Tel-Jilad Chosen or troll Elite Guards. Something was definitely wrong.
Glissa crept toward the entrance, her sword in front of her. She waited for the tingle in her neck to announce the approach of the silver-winged constructs but felt nothing. The Tangle remained quiet save for the dull sound of her own footsteps. Midway across the small clearing she stopped and listened again. Something rustled above her, but it could have been the wind moving through the spires or a vorrac racing along a terrace.
The elf scanned the trees and spires, watching and waiting. She was just about to call Kane from his hiding spot, when they appeared from behind the Tree of Tales. A dozen or more globe-headed flyers swarmed from either side of the great tree. They must have been clinging to the trunk out of sight, waiting for her to return. Glissa ran for the entrance.
The flyers swept around the tree, two curved lines of death winging their way toward her. The tingle ran down her spine as the air around the silver birds began to crackle with building energy. One after another, they unleashed blinding arcs of lightning. Glissa dodged back and forth as bolts slammed all around her. She dropped to the ground as one bird screamed right at her. She rolled twice, then pushed off to the side as another bolt tore a hole in the ground where she had been.
The agile elf landed on her feet in a dead run and zig-zagged toward the entrance to Tel-Jilad. She leaped through the open doorway just as three more bolts hit the tree around her. Inside, Glissa rolled to the side and put her back up against the wall. A single silver bird flew through the opening. Glissa whipped her blade straight up, slicing through the beast’s wings and spine.
The blue globe continued on, slamming into the back wall of the entrance chamber. Glissa shielded her eyes from the resulting explosion. Dropping to one knee, she leaned around the edge of the entrance to see if any more would try to enter the Tree. What constructs she could see were heading from the little clearing.
Preparing for another attack run, thought Glissa. She’d seen their tactics and knew it would take them a few moments to turn around for their next assault.
“Kane,” she called out. “Move it now! Before they return. You can make it!”
He raced from behind the tree. Glissa was ready to run out and distract the silver birds if they came back. What she saw instead made her shudder with fear. A robed figure stepped out from behind another tree. It raised an ornate staff and pointed it at the Chosen guard. Glissa screamed, but with a quick flick of his wrist the mage sprayed azure energy that streamed toward the running elf.
The bolt slammed into Kane’s back and enveloped him. He screamed in agony and dropped to the ground. As Glissa raced from the Tree toward him, she could see his face twisted in pain. The muscles in his neck bulged, and his arms flailed uncontrollably as the energy cascaded up and down his body.
Glissa stopped, horrified. The metallic parts of his body-his arms, thighs, and shoulders-were melting away! Glissa dropped to the ground next to his writhing body. She was afraid to touch him as the energy continued to crackle across his body and could only watch. Now half the warrior’s body, had turned to liquid, pooling around the remaining flesh. Kane stopped screaming, but his body continued to twitch until there was nothing left but his head and a bloody torso.