Blindly, he reached up with his right hand and tried to grasp the sunstone, but he missed it-or seemed to. His hand bypassed the stone, but in that instant the light seemed to flash in response to his need, and a stream of fire as golden as a wheat field flared from the stone.
The sunstone was so hot that Talon dropped it, her hand smarting from a savage burn. It left a white welt on her fingers. But the fire streamed out of the stone and into Fallion, and he took no harm.
He opened his eyes, coming awake in an instant. Flames seemed to be dancing in them, and they were full of light. He peered up at Talon and Rhianna, obviously invigorated. Yet there was no relief in his face. His cheeks and brow were haggard, lined with pain.
Rhianna finished unbinding him, and now she used the guards keys to unlock his shackles, then went racing to another cell. Iron doors began to creak open in rapid succession. She called out to the emir, Daylan, and the wyrmling girl.
She came back an instant later. "I can t get anyone else to wake," she said. "They re barely breathing."
Fallion had risen to a sitting position, but he moved with infinite slowness, like an old man burdened by the years. "What s-what s going on?"
"Daylan Hammer and the emir are here with us," Rhianna said before Talon could get a word out. "They were touched by wights."
Talon was still holding her own right hand. She couldn t feel her fingers, and she worried that at any moment she would faint.
"I see," Fallion said. He thought for a long moment, as if he were still partly dazed, and said, "There are some wounds that only Fire can heal."
He took the sunstone from Talon, raised it in his palm, and began to draw a bright steady flame from it. Suddenly light seemed to burst from his every pore. The light filtered through the whole room. He turned into a glorious being, and he peered deep into Talon, then took her wounded hand.
Talon looked into Fallion s eyes, and felt as if she had never really seen him before. There was so much compassion in his face, so much sorrow. And here he stood ministering to her, shining like some Bright One out of a legend.
He s one of them, she thought. He s more than a mortal man.
Talon had always thought of him as a brother, a child that she had wrestled with, and played with, and worked beside. She d never seen him like this before. She d never imagined that he could be like this.
She felt herself warm. It began at her heart, which had felt cold and often skipped a beat. She felt a mellowness in her chest, as if beams of summer sun shone upon her naked bosom, and her heart responded by beating more easily. Then the sense of vigor and well-being began to move down from her heart, to her extremities. In a matter of twenty seconds, the warmth spread to her shoulder, then down her arm, until even her hand felt warm.
Fallion finished ministering to her.
Then he just held her eyes for a long second, as if peering into her, seeking other hurts to mend.
When he was done, he turned away, went stumbling into the other room. Talon followed and found him still shining brightly, the sunstone raised in his hand like some talisman, as he bent over the emir.
The sunstone flared again, casting a soft golden glow through the room, a glow that was softer than the pure white light that issued from Fallion.
He stood above the emir, simply shining over him, and the glow centered on the emir s chest. Talon began counting, to see how long it would take to rouse the man, while Rhianna rifled through keys and unlocked his manacle.
It was a full three minutes before the emir suddenly coughed and reached up in the air, scrabbling as if to grab something.
Fallion stood over him, growing brighter. "He took a sore wound," Fallion said, intent on his healing.
The emir coughed again and climbed to his elbows. He was half in a daze as he gazed around the room, trying to regain his bearings. "What happened?" he croaked.
"We got caught," Talon said. "Rhianna came for us."
"We have to get out of here soon," Rhianna said, peering toward the doors. "I got in here without killing anyone, but I hear bells tolling. The wyrmlings will be on my trail."
Talon listened. She couldn t quite hear the bells. She translated Rhianna s warning for the emir.
"Tell her to take Fallion and go," the emir said. He tried to climb to his feet, but he staggered and staggered and lost his balance. He looked up, saw them all sitting there. "Go!" he demanded. "I ll be along. He s the only one who matters."
"He s not the only one," Talon said. She knew what the emir was doing. He wanted to give his endowments back to his daughter. He hoped to die nobly.
The emir glanced up at her. "Of course not," he said, peering around. "We must also get Daylan out, and the wyrmling girl."
Fallion went to Daylan s cell, and began ministering to him. The emir climbed unsteadily to his feet, jutted his chin toward Rhianna. "Your winged friend here is the fastest. She has the best chance of escape, and her charge matters more than we do. Please, tell her to go. I cannot save the father, but perhaps we can help save the son."
Talon translated the emir s thoughts. By the time that she was through, Daylan Hammer was sputtering and moaning in the other room.
But suddenly the golden glow of the sunstone faded, its light all but dying. Fallion came from the room. Twisting the stone around, Fallion studied it. It shone like a dull ember. "The fire is all but gone from it. Do you have another?"
Rhianna looked to Talon. Rhianna s had been destroyed, and Daylan s and the emir s sunstones had been taken.
"That was the last one," Talon said.
"Go," Talon told Rhianna. "Take Fallion with you. He can do no more good here, and we ll just slow you down. We ll follow you out as soon as we can."
"It won t be easy to carry the wyrmling girl," Rhianna warned. "Perhaps we should leave her."
"I can t," Talon argued. "Besides, we d have to carry her regardless. Without endowments, she s nothing but dead weight."
Rhianna hesitated, as if trying to think of a sound reason to stay with them, but reluctantly she nodded her agreement. She d take Fallion. "Remember, kill no one. So long as we pose no threat, their false Earth King will not know where we are."
"That may be easier said than done," Talon argued.
Then Talon rushed into the wyrmling girl s cell and lifted her gently. With Talon s eight endowments of brawn, the girl seemed bulky, but not too heavy to bear. Talon s real concern wasn t that she would tire, but that under so much weight one of her bones might snap and she would be left hobbling about, unable to bear her charge.
She left Daylan Hammer and the emir to help one another.
So they began their journey, racing as fast as they could through the labyrinth, toiling up the winding stairs. The emir led the way, followed by Rhianna, who had Fallion clinging to her back. Without endowments of metabolism, he couldn t even begin to keep pace with the others.
The distant tolling of bells must have called the wyrmlings out. The company met them in the corridor at nearly every turn. Each time that they did, Rhianna would simply roar at them like a Knight Eternal sounding a battle cry. With her flawless memory, she knew the call well. With her endowments of voice, she could mimic it perfectly.
The emir shoved aside those who did not get out of the way. With his speed and brawn, the smallest push sent the wyrmlings toppling.
And as they moved through the hot corridors, Fallion began to recover his strength completely. He drew heat from air, channeling it into himself so that he glowed brightly. The wyrmlings roared in pain at the sight of him and backed away.
Rhianna reached the top landing, and charged down a wide corridor. Talon could hear the toll of the warning bell clearly now.