Something wide and dark came at them from the side, near the cavern's back.
Balsam reached around a column and latched onto the captain's wrist.
Wynn thought she saw the woman's face change. It darkened, glittering like the column's stone. But Balsam never had an instant to pull the captain aside.
The wraith swung as Tristan slashed with his sword. A black hand whipped down through Tristan's face and chest as his blade passed straight through the cloak and robe.
The captain flinched, eyes widening, and that was all. Nothing happened to him.
The wraith halted, frozen in place, and Shade closed from behind.
Rising on rear legs, she snapped her teeth through its wrist, and they both screeched. The wraith slapped down at Shade, but she wheeled out of reach. Wynn pulled her glasses out of her grip upon the staff, trying to get them on her face.
The wraith crouched, flattening its hand against the floor.
Chuillyon's soft laugh startled Wynn.
The elf's eyes opened, his left arm wrapping around the duchess and holding her close. He peered down at the wraith's wavering form.
"Oh, no … Sau'ilahk," he whispered.
The wraith snapped to full height at its name.
"No tricks for you!" Chuillyon added with a slow shake of his head. "Not again."
Balsam reached out for the wraith. Her other hand was fastened around a column, and the wraith retreated in a gliding rush, searching in all directions.
Wynn finally shoved the glasses over her eyes. But the wraith began to fade, becoming a pale shadow in her sight as she grew frantic. Then the Stonewalkers' thrumming chant rose again, and it instantly reappeared.
It appeared to shudder, its fingers twitching before its chest.
"Chane … cover up!" Wynn shouted, tilting the sun crystal outward.
In her mind, she formed the outlines of shapes, each one appearing within the last as the pattern overlaid her sight of the long crystal. Circle then triangle, another triangle inverted, and a final circle.
"Mên Rúhk el-När …" she recited—From Spirit to Fire …
The sagging cowl's empty pit whipped toward her—then the wraith rushed straight at Balsam.
Balsam faltered in her chant. Before Wynn could even shout a warning, the female Stonewalker slapped her palm against a column.
The wraith slammed through her and onward, and it vanished through the cavern wall.
Wynn's frustration choked off her voice, though she heard Chuillyon cursing in Elvish over the growl of Cinder-Shard.
Chapter 23
Sau'ilahk groped through stone. Despite Beloved's demand that he not further expose himself, the entire settlement might be alerted to his presence.
And they had learned his name. There was only one way that could have happened.
Wynn Hygeorht had seen the texts.
He was failing, yet the sage had touched the very things he desired. And he had sensed a difference in Chane, leaving no doubt—that one was a vampire. But too many opponents had appeared, and he was so weak that he had not even manifested one hand. He had failed to snatch the staff and shatter its crystal once and for all.
At each more desperate tactic, he had been hindered or halted. The Stonewalkers' chant somehow barred him from dormancy, even to blink elsewhere. One had shielded the tall captain with her connection to stone, and again the white-clad elf had interfered with his conjury.
Sau'ilahk tried to call his remaining servitor, but it never came.
He arced through rock, groping toward one long passage glimpsed beyond the duchess and the elf. The passage's far side suddenly appeared, and he instantly withdrew. Only his cowl's opening protruded as he listened to shouts and whispers among his enemies.
"Malhachkach thoh!" snarled the elf.
"Where?" a dwarf shouted. "Where did it go?"
"Through the wall behind me," another returned. "Master, I am sorry … I should not have—"
"Quiet!" another barked like cracking stone. "None of us knew what it would do."
"Stay away from the walls," Wynn called out. "Everyone get between the two crystals, so we aren't blocking their light."
"Do as she says—now!" the elder Stonewalker shouted. "All of you, face outward and watch!"
Sau'ilahk fumed as he listened to them repositioning to spot him the instant he tried to attack. Behind all of the voices he could hear the wolf rumbling and mewling in agitation.
"Reine, stop!" the elf shouted.
"Let go of me!" she commanded. "I have to get to—"
"Silence!" he commanded.
Sau'ilahk grew attentive, but all he heard was the wolf snarling. What had the duchess been about to say?
"It's gone!" she cried out. "It could be anywhere … even in his—"
"No, it is still here," someone rasped.
Sau'ilahk knew Chane's maimed voice but puzzled over how the vampire could sense him. Throughout his time trailing Wynn, only the wolf reacted when he drew too close. And the duchess had said "his" … his what? Of whom was she speaking?
"Listen to Shade," Wynn called. "She knows."
"Highness, please," the captain demand. "You must remain—"
"Stand off, Tristan!" she ordered. "If the mage can't be contained, I will not leave him alone."
Sau'ilahk fixed upon those words. The duchess feared for someone's safety—someone elsewhere in the underworld. But his own fears were growing.
In the next day's dormancy, he would be alone with his Beloved. His impudent disobedience would bring suffering amid failure to serve his own need. Could he find a way to appease his god and lessen his punishment? Beloved's cryptic warning filled his thoughts.
When chance comes … sever the kin from the sea!
Whom did the duchess fear for above all others?
Sau'ilahk suddenly understood the possibility stretched between duchess's slip and Beloved's demand.
Another Âreskynna was in the underworld, one of true blood.
"Follow me," the duchess shouted. "Obey me!"
Quickened footsteps followed.
"Duchess, please don't," Wynn called.
"Get out of my way!" the duchess snarled.
"Remain where you are! All of you!" the elder Stonewalker countered.
They were breaking in chaos and fear, and Sau'ilahk slid into the passage.
Light diminished and shifted beyond the passage's opening, as if the two crystals were being moved. Illumination faded toward the cavern's far side, where he had first entered. Was Wynn, or even the duchess, on the move? Then he spotted Chane and Shade as they rounded a far column.
The wolf wheeled, staring straight at him, and its bellow pierced the air.
Sau'ilahk flew into the cavern as the crystals' light vanished. The only adversaries remaining were all six Stonewalkers, and they circled around him.
"Seal it in!" shouted the elder.
Sau'ilahk could not allow them to interfere with his task, his salvation from Beloved's wrath. And he still had hope of stealing Wynn or the duchess to learn of the texts.
The Stonewalkers raised their hands, their palms out… .
Sau'ilahk blinked through dormancy to the cavern's far side and fled.
Wynn raced through the passages after Reine and the captain, with Chuillyon obscuring a clear view of them. She knew where they were headed and glanced back once. Chane was close behind, and she heard Shade's scrambling claws farther back.
But it all felt wrong.
Intuition and reason told her that Chane's awareness and Chuillyon's warning were both right. The wraith was still near. After all it had done to follow her, it would not give up so easily. If Stonewalkers couldn't stop or hold it, even slow it, there would be only one defense left for a dead prince.