He held them within the vacant space between his arms, and the cavern's air began to shift.
Wind raced in through openings as if the cavern sucked it in. It built into a whirling core within the half circle of Sau'ilahk's arms. The elder dwarf faltered, slapping at hair whipping across his bony face. He growled unintelligibly and charged.
Sau'ilahk clapped his hands together.
A crack shook the cavern as churning air exploded outward. The elder Stonewalker skidded back, and his heavy body slammed into a joined stalagmite and stalactite. The column shattered under his bulk, chunks scattering all about.
The brief hurricane died just as suddenly as it came. Not one fold of Sau'ilahk's robe had been ruffled, but the elder dwarf lay prone and still in the column's rubble.
Sau'ilahk glanced aside in growing fatigue. The younger one was gone from the far opening, perhaps flattened as well. Satisfied, he slid toward his unconscious victim.
The elder rolled over. Shaking off shattered stone, he heaved himself up, not even bleeding.
Sau'ilahk halted in frustration.
At a clatter and scuffing of boots, the younger dwarf clambered back into the far opening.
"Hold!" the elder shouted. "The others are coming!"
An eerie wail rolled into the cavern.
Sau'ilahk peered at every opening, searching for its origin. He knew that sound, and hope drained like his strength. He had been detected. If the black wolf was here, so was Wynn. How had she found her way into the underworld? Had she learned the location of the texts, or even beaten him to them?
Something moved beyond a wide-based stone cone to his right. It was neither of his opponents. It slipped around that tall and broad stalagmite, taking shape in the wall crystals' orange light.
A third Stonewalker, a female, watched him with unblinking pellet eyes.
Sau'ilahk's hiss shifted to a moan. He did not have the reserves to engage three. All he need do was to sink into dormancy and vanish. But he had come so close to his desire.
Another form rushed out of the wall behind the gray-blond, bony-faced elder.
It shot from solid rock like a broad shadow and landed on heavy boots, sending vibrations through the cavern floor. This fourth Stonewalker seemed vaguely familiar, with black hair streaked by gray, and a beard of steely bristles.
Sau'ilahk slowly rotated, tracking his four opponents as they shifted about the cavern. Again he should have fled. But the texts were here, containing secrets he needed—for the means to regain flesh.
The black wolf rushed in beyond the two elder Stonewalkers.
Another warning to flee, but Sau'ilahk's long suffering smothered him.
He would not let that whelp of a sage steal the texts, steal his hope, no matter what it cost him.
Wynn stumbled out of the main passage into a long, low-roofed cavern filled with twisted light. One Weardas bodyguard shoved her against the side wall, and, as the others came through, she looked frantically about for Shade. The dog had bolted ahead, wailing her alarm, so she must be here somewhere.
Shade reappeared, circling back to a protective stance before Wynn, and her eerie wail lowered to a snarl.
Small dwarven crystals spread pockets of wispy orange amid the walls' dim yellow-green glow. Shadows multiplied into a forest of dark silhouettes between the glistening wet columns. Some of those shadows moved.
Wynn spotted two, no, at least three dwarven shapes. One passed into the light of a nearby crystal.
Cinder-Shard stepped into view as all four Stonewalkers faced toward the cavern's midpoint. Wynn followed their attention, and her stomach tightened.
A black figure floated there, garbed in a flowing robe and cloak that shifted and swayed upon a breeze she couldn't feel. It raised one arm, and its sleeve slipped down, exposing its forearm, hand, and fingers all wrapped in black cloth strips.
Wynn had believed Shade and had known what they would find. But to actually see it made her choke.
The wraith slowly turned, watching the Stonewalkers. Shade suddenly lunged at a break between the dwarves.
"No!" Wynn shouted. "Stay!"
Shade halted short but didn't retreat.
The wraith's cowl turned at her voice, its opening darker than any cavern hollow.
The captain shoved Chane aside, and the second Weardas took his place as guard. Wynn tried to remember what the captain had called that one. Was it Danyel?
The captain dropped the sun crystal's staff and stepped out.
"We're here!" he shouted.
"Stay back!" Cinder-Shard returned. "Keep your people out of our way!"
The wraith's cowl cocked slightly, fixing on Wynn.
"The staff!" she shouted, and tried to step out for it. "Give it to me!"
The captain cast her a hard glare and set his boot on the staff. The third Weardas shoved Wynn back, pinning her to the wall with one hand. She heard a guttural rumble, but it hadn't come from Shade.
Chane's face twisted in his own snarl. The guards had taken his sword, but he could fight without it. His colorless eyes shifted from Wynn's assailant to the captain's exposed back.
Reine ignored Wynn and stood staring beyond Tristan and Cinder-Shard at a tall, black-robed figure. She'd heard scant details of a "mage" who'd murdered sages for translation folios. Through all of it, Wynn had insisted that it was something else… .
What had she called it—an undead?
Reine hadn't read Captain Rodian's final investigation report, but she'd been told that he claimed the perpetrator had died. Yet here was a likeness that could be no other. The culprit lived and was here in the underworld.
Wynn Hygeorht's follies mounted by the moment. She'd repeatedly muddled Rodian's investigation in trying to get access to the texts. There was only one way this interloper could've found the underworld.
Reine's fright turned to anger.
Wynn had led a murdering mage into the place of Frey's safekeeping.
Sau'ilahk fixed on Wynn; then his attention shifted again.
Beyond the black wolf, a tall royal guard in a helm and red tabard had dropped the staff and now held it down with his boot. Its upper section was enclosed in a leather sheath.
Sau'ilahk knew it even with its crystal hidden. That crystal had nearly burned him into oblivion the last time he had hunted Wynn. But she was pinned against the wall, and her ignorant new companions would not let her have the staff.
He took a fleeting instant of joy before spotting another small woman.
The duchess stood with saber in hand before an overly tall, white-robed figure. Though an Âreskynna only by marriage, she was still a royal. If the elder gray-blond dwarf could make the other Stonewalkers as impervious as himself, killing so many would be impossible, let alone taking one to torture for information.
Sau'ilahk's attention shifted erratically between Wynn and the duchess.
Could he seize someone more susceptible, someone he might even exchange for the texts? Tormenting Wynn would please him most, but even if she knew the texts' location, would the others sacrifice her and move the texts as a precaution?
He lost his train of thought as all of the Stonewalkers became still. They spread their arms wide and began a low, guttural chant in unison. It thrummed throughout the cavern as they stepped inward, closing around him.
Sau'ilahk did not know what they attempted, but their lack of fear concerned him.
Then Chane lashed out at one Weardas.
Sau'ilahk knew Chane would fight to get the staff into Wynn's possession. Too many sides were coming at him at once. He wanted to screech in frustration at more lost strength as he crouched and solidified one hand.
Sau'ilahk slammed his palm against the cavern's floor.