But now his quiver was full. The endowments had stopped coming an hour ago, though he could still see Talon growing in power from moment to moment.
They raced now along a broken road. In the binding of the worlds, the old human highway had crossed through the wyrmling wastes. The road was here, and it was serviceable for the most part. But in many places rocks had risen, creating a nasty path, and thorns and thistles burst up through the ground everywhere. Still, it had been beaten down some. It was rife with wyrmling sign. Troops had marched over it recently.
So the company raced through open fields in the lowlands, and over wooded hills, each of them running with superhuman speed.
The Cormar twins took the lead, sprinting side by side. They moved like dancers, each stepping forward with the left leg at precisely the same time, each swinging the right forward the same.
Yet their movements were too choreographed. They weren t dancers. They were marionettes, moving to a single will. The sight of it was somehow profoundly disturbing. The strangeness of it only seemed to grow.
The group stopped for a brief meal just after noon. There was little in the way of formal plans. They hoped to meet up with Rhianna, find out what news she might have to tell. But if they did not, so be it. Their assault would continue today, as soon as Talon and the Cormar twins finished getting endowments vectored to them.
So the five stopped at midday and set a small fire, a gleaming gem of heat and light that beckoned to the emir as always, and they prepared to cook some meat. It had been easy enough to come by. As they had run through the woods, a pair of grouse had fluttered up at their sides.
With his endowments of speed, time seemed to have nearly stopped, and the emir watched them-fat and ponderous and tempting-as they sought to escape.
He altered his course in midstride, leaping into the air, and harvested the pair of them, and now after pulling off the skin and putting them on a skewer, he went down to wash his hands in a nearby brook.
Talon squatted beside the stream among some willows and splashed water under her arms, then ran it over her face and neck as best she could.
The emir was downstream from her a pace. He washed off his own hands quickly, scrubbing them with coarse sand from the bottom of the stream, then let the dirty water glide away for a moment. He then cupped his hands and took a long draught, unconcerned that the water might be mingled with Talon s dirt and sweat.
It wasn t that he didn t notice her muddying his water. But he was used to fighting in skirmishes with small bands of men. He was used to tight quarters and a lack of privacy.
The emir leaned back on his heels, and sighed. "I thank the Powers that be that I have lived to see this day," he said, glancing over to Talon. "Finally, I hope to free my brother, Areth Sul Urstone."
Areth Sul Urstone was not his brother by blood, of course, only a brother-in-arms. They were as close as two men can be.
"It is a great day," Talon replied.
"Hmmm…" The emir signaled his agreement, then peered at Talon inquisitively. "It is said that you knew Areth s shadow self?"
"I did," Talon agreed. "We called him Gaborn Val Orden, the Earth King."
"I have never known another man like Areth Sul Urstone," the emir said. "Never could there be a better friend. He was not just generous. Some men can share what they have. But Areth was the kind who would give you all that he had and regret that he did not have more to give.
"It was not that he was courageous. Many men can go into battle with little fear. But Areth had a kind of courage that went deeper than that. He had the courage to stick to his principles, regardless of the consequences.
"It was not that he was honest, it was that he was unwavering in his faithfulness. Areth Sul Urstone s word was stronger than flint.
"Tell me," the emir asked, "is that the kind of man that he was on your world, too?"
Talon thought for a moment, as if trying to decide how to frame her answer. "He was all of that and more. He was a man of such deep compassion that it became a vice. He loved others too much for his own good."
"Aaaah," the emir said. "I have always believed that of Areth, too. He suffers when others are hurt. Many times I have thought,
I should gather a band of men, break into Rugassa, and set him free. Yet I knew what it would cost. Even if we managed to free him, the backlash would have been unbearable. The wyrmlings would have struck so hard, Caer Luciare would have been destroyed-and Areth would never have been able to be at peace with that. Indeed, I think that he would rather have rotted in his cell for an eternity, knowing that others lived with some degree of peace and prosperity, than to be set free.
"That is why I captured the wyrmling princess. I hoped that by taking her, I could buy his life."
"And do you think he is even still alive?" Talon asked. "I mean today-now that the wyrmlings have got their princess back?"
"I hope so."
"And if he is alive, is he still the man that you knew fourteen years ago?"
The Emir Tuul Ra did not answer quickly. He lowered his head in thought. Talon knew that men could be broken. With enough pain and deprivation, even the strongest men turned into craven animals. And the tormentors of Rugassa had turned the breaking of men into an art form.
"I can only hope that my brother is alive, and that there is something left of what he once was. I intend to set him free, and if the people will accept him, I hope to see him sit upon the throne. No man is more deserving."
"He is fortunate to have you as a friend, and an ally," Talon said.
The emir did not like compliments. He never quite knew what to say.
"Now," the emir said, "I must ask you of this Fallion Orden-the son of his shadow self, the son that, in my world, at least, he never had. What kind of man is he?"
"He is a young man," Talon said. "I have followed at his back since I could crawl, and so I know him well, perhaps as well as anyone alive…"
"So I have heard," the emir said.
"Everything that you have said about the father, is doubly true of Fallion…" Here she hesitated.
"But?"
"Everything but the compassion," she admitted at last. "The Earth King s compassion was the stuff of legend. He loved his people so much that in the end he gave his life for them, and went traveling the world, seeking out good and humble folk, and bestowing his blessings upon them. Even long after the threat was over, he kept traveling the world, never able to rest."
"Perhaps," the emir said, "he could not rest because he knew that the war was not over. My father said that sometimes when a war is coming, you can smell it far off, years or decades in the brewing. Other times it is thrust upon you at a moment s notice."
"Yes," Talon said. "I suppose that could be. Anyway, Fallion is not like his father. He loves, but not indiscriminately. He is a man of… tremendous discipline."
Talon seemed not to want to say more, but the emir said, "He is a flameweaver, is he not? It would take tremendous discipline for one like him to lead a normal life, to take on the responsibilities of a home and family, wouldn t it?"
"Yes," Talon said. "Yet you manage it, don t you?"
"I have never given myself to the flames," he said after a long moment. Then he glanced back toward his pair of roasting grouse.
The fire licked their flesh, and their fat dripped into the flames and sizzled, sending up a sweet-smelling smoke.
"It s time," he said. "I ll be facing Vulgnash, a Knight Eternal, a flameweaver of considerable power."
I should have begun this instruction years ago, he thought.
"Wait!" Talon said.
The emir turned to her.
"You re a generous man, too," she said hesitantly. "You re planning to end your life when this is over, give back your endowments-aren t you?"