Wynn saw Cinder-Shard's thick fingers catch in the wraith's cloak and she heard Chuillyon speaking softly.
"Chârmun … agh'alhtahk so. A'lhän am leagad chionns'gnajh."
The wraith's hiss turned to a shriek.
Wynn rushed in behind Chane. His right hand gripped his sword hilt in reflex, the same hand that he'd used to hold her waist. It was seared.
She wasn't certain what to do, or whether to just stay out of the way… .
And yet another Stonewalker appeared. Their chant began drumming along the tunnel as the wraith tried to swipe back at Cinder-Shard. The elder Stonewalker snatched its wrist.
"I'll make you a tomb, you dead dog!" he shouted. "Let Kêravägh try to find you then!"
Wynn couldn't believe it would work. Too many times the wraith had slipped away, even from Chuillyon and the Stonewalkers. She couldn't let it happen again, and jerked on Chane's cloak.
"Take Shade and get the duchess out," she whispered.
Cold fury glowed from his colorless eyes. "No!"
"Do it … please!"
She didn't want him here when the sun crystal ignited again. She would burn it longer this time, and Chane had shown too little regard for his own safety.
Wynn grabbed Shade's face, shoving the dog back.
"Go … guard!" she ordered, pointing at the duchess.
Shade went mad, snarling and snapping as she tried to get in front of Wynn.
Chane reached down and grabbed the dog, half shoving and throwing her back. He paused only an instant, glancing once toward the wraith and then at Wynn. He turned and ran, grabbing a shocked Reine around the waist before Tristan knew what was happening.
The captain ran after Chane and Shade.
Wynn shoved her glasses on and dropped the cold lamp crystal at her feet.
The wraith thrashed, swinging wildly in Cinder-Shard's grip. Its one free black-cloth-wrapped hand passed through the master Stonewalker like shadows of no substance.
Chuillyon stood beyond them with hands clasped and his head slightly bowed as if in prayer. The other Stonewalkers' chants built, and Cinder-Shard surged forward, pressing his captive into the tunnel's floor.
"No!" Wynn shouted. "Lift it up!"
He glared once over his wide shoulder, the creases of his face deepened by fury. Wynn thrust out the sun crystal, already forming the shapes in her mind.
Cinder-Shard rose up, heaving the thrashing wraith high overhead.
Wynn finished brief utterances in thought only. She poured all of her will into those words as she thrust the sun crystal upward. Its light erupted—then winked out as it sank into the cowl's dark space.
Her breath caught as sunlight exploded in the tunnel, and the glasses' lenses blackened to shield her eyes. The Stonewalkers' chant broke as several barked startled exclamations. The lenses began to clear as a shrieking wind filled the tunnel.
Wynn saw the long crystal burning brightly at the staff's top. She stood fast, willing the wraith to die … and its form began to waver.
The shrieking wind grew louder.
The wraith's cowl burst.
Its black cloak began to shred apart in Cinder-Shard's great hands.
The shreds turned into smoke.
The thinning ring of smoke spread out around the crystal, dissipating as it splashed against the tunnel's walls.
Everything went silent.
"Enough," Cinder-Shard growled.
He'd retreated to one side, shielding his eyes, as had Chuillyon out ahead. Wynn quickly wiped the pattern from her mind, and the sun crystal went out. The glasses were too dark for only the cold lamp crystal at her feet. She pulled them off, and it took a moment before her eyes adjusted.
Chuillyon lowered his hand from his eyes. Likewise, Cinder-Shard stared up into the air where he'd held the wraith but a moment ago. Both had managed to hold it in place so it couldn't escape.
Wynn gazed up wildly, her heart beating fast.
There was nothing to see in the air above the master Stonewalker. Had she finally done it? She'd burned the wraith from within, but had she finished it this time? Was it gone for good? She looked to Cinder-Shard.
He scowled, eyeing the staff's crystal, and stepped to the spot where the wraith had appeared.
"Well?" Chuillyon asked, closing on him.
Wynn waited anxiously as Cinder-Shard turned about. He ran his hands down both walls, across the floor, and even looked to the ceiling.
"Nothing," he whispered absently. "I … feel … nothing but our own honored dead."
Chuillyon heaved deeply, letting out an overly dramatic sigh. "Well, that's that … finally."
It seemed so—Wynn hoped so—though she saw no pride or victory in Cinder-Shard's face.
"Where is the prince?" he asked flatly.
Wynn faltered in guilt. "Gone," she answered weakly. "Gone … with the sea people."
Chuillyon's old eyes widened as he sucked in air and then choked it out. He cringed, closing his eyes, and shook his head so slightly that his cowl didn't shift.
Cinder-Shard's cracked face, full of suppressed rage, seemed to break. He sagged in weariness, or loss, his gaze wandering. But then his eyes raised, glaring at Wynn as he pointed straight at her.
"Get out!" His loud voice echoed in the tunnel. "Leave … leave the seatt … and do not return!"
His manner struck Wynn harder than his words. She'd helped them destroy the wraith, and this was his response? But what should she expect, for all the damage she'd done? It was unlikely she would ever see the texts again.
Wynn went numb.
Dawn would come soon. Chane and Shade were waiting. And there were more preparations to make. Even more secrets than before waited to be unearthed.
Cinder-Shard turned away up the tunnel.
"See to the honored dead," he told the others. "Return peace to their rest."
He didn't look back at her as he stepped through the tunnel's stone wall. All of the other Stonewalkers followed likewise—all but one.
Ore-Locks stood just beyond Chuillyon, watching Wynn intently. Then he too vanished into stone.
Wynn was left alone with the tall, duplicitous elf, who stepped quietly toward her.
She stood her ground, waiting for whatever half-truth he might try this time. She was too weary and hollow to put up with anything from him. Everything had ended in loss. Even this final moment had come and gone so quickly.
Chuillyon merely passed her by, heading down the tunnel's faint slope.
"Are you coming?" he asked.
Wynn picked up her cold lamp crystal and followed him toward the ocean shore.
Chapter 24
A whole day passed, and the sun had set.
Wynn climbed the boarding ramp of a two-masted Numan ship in Sea-Side's lower port. The ship would leave at dawn and round the point below Dhredze Seatt into Beranlômr Bay, for the short journey back to Calm Seatt. She dropped all three packs near the rail.
So much had happened since Wynn had left the guild. Only bits and pieces lingered in her exhausted mind. She tried to push even these aside, to gain a moment's respite from worries, mysteries, and guilt. But her thoughts slid back to the previous morning.
They had all stumbled from the tunnel's mouth, wet and exhausted, with dawn approaching. Chuillyon offered passage to Calm Seatt. He seemed the only one to openly acknowledge that the duchess's life had been saved by Chane's decision to flee and Wynn's hand in finishing the wraith.
But morning was not far off, and they headed quickly down the rocky shore toward the port.
Wynn had been forced to tell another lie, while asking Tristan to hold the ship another day. She had to get Chane inside as soon as possible and see to his hunger. Even a voyage belowdecks during the day wasn't possible yet. She'd used the same excuse of a skin reaction to harsh sunlight as they had with the wagon driver on the way to Dhredze Seatt.