The wraith materialized directly before Reine.
Sau'ilahk held the main entrance in his thoughts as he winked through dormancy. He instantly reappeared to see the duchess's face flushing white with fear.
But he was more than an arm's length away.
That was not right. He should have awakened almost atop her. Something was pressing him back, as if he had become partially physical.
Sau'ilahk stared over the duchess's head into large amber eyes.
The tall elf merely glared back, a soft smile upon his pressed lips.
A saber slashed through Sau'ilahk, but he did not look at the duchess, only at the elf who somehow impeded him. He needed a hostage more than ever and pushed against the resistance, reaching for Reine as he called his servitors.
Kill the white one!
Sau'ilahk heard snarls, and he felt teeth burn through his incorporeal leg.
The wraith coalesced before the duchess as Chane pivoted away from Wynn. One moment was all she needed, though he hoped she gave him warning before igniting the crystal—and that his damp cloak would be enough to protect him if he crouched beneath it.
Then Chane saw the duchess swing her saber.
It passed through the black figure as Shade scrambled in from behind. Shade's jaws clacked through the wraith's robe.
Chane rushed in on the dog's tail. Shade yelped—in unison with a wail from the wraith—but as Chane closed, the side of the entrance bulged in a fist-size lump.
A red glow swelled within that moving nodule of stone.
One burning eye, like a lump of molten glass, erupted from rock. It leaped out of the stone. The spindly-legged thing arched straight for the elf's head. The wraith reached for the duchess, but its movement was so slow, as if it struggled to get to her.
Chane senses widened as he swung at the wraith's back side.
His hand passed through the black cloak, and cold like a thousand icy needles ran up his arm as the thing with the burning eye became clear.
That fist-size stone insect, with four legs ending in barbs, shattered in the air a forearm's length from its target. The light of its eye suddenly died, and dull pieces of stone rained down. The elf stiffened as these struck his head and shoulders.
A gravelly voice shouted from behind, "Maksag, choyll-shu'ass Kêravägh!"
Shuddering in pain from striking the wraith, Chane felt someone grab his cloak's collar and jerk him aside.
Wynn snatched up the staff. The captain spotted her as she saw something break apart in the air above Chuillyon. Whatever the thing had been, it broke apart, showering down upon the elf, as Chane and Shade assaulted the wraith.
Cinder-Shard rushed by, shouting in Dwarvish, "Out, you dog of Kêravägh."
His last word baffled her as she shoved the glasses over her eyes. Then she faltered for one breath.
Cinder-Shard grabbed Chane's cloak collar and tossed him away as if throwing a rag.
"Chane, cover up!" Wynn shouted.
The wraith whirled around, and Shade dodged out of its reach. It froze, its dark-filled cowl centering on her as she leaned the staff's crystal out.
Someone grabbed Wynn from behind.
Strong arms forced hers down, dragging the staff as well. About to thrash and shout, Wynn stiffened at an unbelievable sight.
Cinder-Shard's large hands clenched the front of the wraith's robe.
Horror filled Sau'ilahk, as he had not known in centuries. The bristle-bearded dwarf wrenched him sideways toward the cavern wall.
"We must drive it out—banish it!" another Stonewalker shouted.
"No!" roared the one clutching him. "This mongrel of the Nightfaller is mine! I will finish it now!"
Sau'ilahk clawed at the elder Stonewalker's grip. But regardless that this one somehow held him, his own hands slid through the dwarf's thick arms, touching nothing. Fear overwhelmed him. He could not think quickly enough.
"Into stone … with you!" the dwarf growled at him.
Sau'ilahk heard Wynn and one of the Weardas shouting. But he was so weak, so depleted. Everything vanished from sight as he was pushed into the cavern wall.
He felt his form turn corporeal, almost as if he were flesh once more. Bone and sinew began to harden, like the instant he had pierced the first Stonewalker with his hand and that one had stepped back into the wall.
Sau'ilahk released a hiss but heard nothing within stone.
Terror broke his will, and exhaustion dragged him down.
He vanished into dormancy.
Chapter 19
Wynn ceased struggling against the captain's hold. Shade paced before her, alternately snarling at the captain and staring where the wraith had vanished. The burned Weardas was down, moaning in pain, and Danyel's nose was bleeding. Sword held out, Danyel stood angrily over Chane, who was conscious but still on the floor where Cinder-Shard had thrown him.
Wynn stared at Cinder-Shard's arm penetrating stone. He'd somehow gripped the wraith, as if it were whole and solid. Realization set in. Any doubt concerning the texts' movements was gone.
The Hassäg'kreigi—Stonewalkers—could pass through solid stone and earth. They were carrying the texts in and out of guild grounds.
Cinder-Shard jerked his arm from the wall, and Wynn's numbed mind reawoke.
"Did you kill it?" she asked wildly. "Is it finished?"
He stood looking at his hand in bewilderment.
"Master?" a familiar voice called.
Ore-Locks stepped into sight, closing quickly on Cinder-Shard.
Another Stonewalker pushed past them and ran his broad hand over the rough, damp wall. Gray-blond hair hung around his bony face of jutting brow, cheekbones, and chin. His hand stopped, thick fingers tensed, and a seething grimace twisted his features. He shook his head at Cinder-Shard.
Wynn sagged in the captain's grip. Whatever the master of the Stonewalkers had tried, it had failed—the wraith had escaped.
Cinder-Shard stepped straight to her and jerked the staff from her grip. Before he said anything, another voice shouted out.
"You … miscreant!"
Wynn's gaze shifted instantly.
Reine stood before Chuillyon, saber in hand, shuddering in fright or rage, or both. She took a step toward Wynn, but Chuillyon restrained her. Chane immediately regained his feet.
"Who was that?" the duchess demanded.
"The wraith," Wynn answered hoarsely. "An obscure myth … the only one that fits it."
Reine's eyes closed in a scowl.
"It killed sages … for the folios," Wynn insisted, "likely Hammer-Stag, too. I thought we'd destroyed—"
"You led a murderer here!" The duchess's voice cracked with strain.
Wynn fell silent, unable to deny this. The only way the wraith would've come to Dhredze Seatt was by following her. It hadn't given up any more than she had. But if the sun crystal hadn't destroyed it in the streets of Calm Seatt, then what chance did she have now? Why did this thing seek the texts with such vicious determination?
Reine's gaze lifted slightly, perhaps to the captain. "Lock them up!" she ordered.
Chane inched forward, and Danyel pressed a sword's point to his chest as a stocky female Stonewalker pulled a wide dagger and flanked him.
"Chane!" Wynn warned, and shook her head.
The sun crystal was still their best way to hold off the wraith, and Chane's blindly assaulting Stonewalkers and royal guards wouldn't help. Even if they regained their belongings and eluded capture, they had no way out. The sea people blocked the tunnel, and warrior thänæ guarded the domed chamber above the lift.
Wynn had to prove herself indispensable before anyone here would want her help. As always, the texts seemed the only chance to find answers.