We were crouching under the radio tower one instant, the next we were on top of a raised platform surrounded by dark trees, tents, and three armed guards. I didn't wait for the head spinning disorientation to pass. I just charged straight for the guard with pointed ears, all my misgivings and fears instantly transformed into lethal rage!
As I raised the axe, his wide, shocked eyes found mine and... he didn't even have time to be properly scared before... Well, the last expression on his face was surprise. And just as we'd planned, one of those three guards was with Skor's group. She took the other guard, and both of them died before they had a chance to understand what was happening, let alone fight back. That left the rebel slave, Faolin, and me alone with the corpses. That can't be it, can it?!
A quick three-sixty survey satisfied me that there were no other threats in the immediate area, and I took a deep breath and began to collect myself. Then I caught sight of the dark, ragged hole in the side of the sylvan's head, felt the warm, sticky blood spattered across my face and seeping through my gloves, and a tsunami of revulsion and self-loathing overwhelmed me. I leaned forward and puked my guts out.
"Dammit," I muttered when my mouth was clear. That was... so easy. I spat out some of the nasty bile and tried to stand up straight, but my insides heaved again when I saw my axe's dripping head. I wasn't squeamish about blood. That wasn't the problem. It was just the crimson proof of my own actions, of the person I just killed. The image was searing itself into my memory like a white-hot brand to join those of contrails lacing around fireballs, screaming silhouettes wreathed in flames, and burnt flesh on blackened bone that already haunted me. This time was worse though, and I thought I knew why.
I swiped the blade back and forth on the ground to wipe the bits of flesh and most of the blood off. This isn't the time or place! Get a grip! I took a deep breath and stood back up. I had a job to do. I would deal with the questions of guilt and morality swirling through my head, but I'd do it later! Carefully avoiding the sight of the ruined bodies at our feet, I turned to our contact.
"Sorry. Where are they keeping the samples?" As the rebel eyed me critically, I realized I recognized her. This was the same green-skinned woman who'd taken my collar off, and then led me and Faolin out of the camp last night.
"Are you fit to do this?" Sil asked. "You cannot get recaptured." I spat again and longed to take a pull from my new canteen to rinse the vile taste out of my mouth. Priorities. Get moving first.
"I'm fine," I lied. I was anything but fine. I was on the verge of shock, but I could hold myself together if I could just focus on the mission. "The All has to know he's dead. We need to move now. Where are we going?"
"Central complex," she answered, all business again. "In the big tent, somewhere in the Transfiguration School's partition. That's all we could find out." I gulped and regretted it as the taste clinging to the roof of my mouth almost made me gag again. Sil wasn't giving us much to go on, but it was all we were getting. As soon as she said the last word, the rebel slave turned on her heel and dashed away from the scene of the carnage.
I wondered if Skor meant something by assigning that same woman to both of these rebellious tasks, but then I remembered she was apparently the only person besides himself in his little group who had any understanding of English. Of course she had to be the one to deal with us humans. In a few minutes, she'd free Steel and every other prisoner from their collars. More importantly, she'd show them how to do it themselves.
After that, Steel and the others would tear through the human section of the camp, beating the shit out of any guards they encountered and freeing every willing human they found to join them. They'd be loud and violent, and they were going to hold the All's attention long enough to ensure I could keep my end of the bargain with Skor. I took a moment to hope the Sylvan never learned what Sil was about to do, then I shook my head and dismissed the distraction.
"Faolin, you have that Anchor?" I asked, spitting again as I grabbed my canteen.
"Got it," he replied, waving the plum-sized globe at me. I noticed he was free of blood splatters. It had been me and the rebel who'd done the dirty work, not him. "We should go." We went, leaving the bodies where they lay. If anyone arrived to investigate, we hoped they wouldn't notice the missing Anchor before Steel and his cohorts got their party started.
Faolin took the lead, as he'd been free to explore the newly erected camp for a short while before he'd been confined. He knew its general layout and would be able to get us to the big tents in the center. We dashed away from the scene of our attack until I couldn't hear the voices of the humans in their section anymore, then we paused to steal a couple of sylvan cloaks hanging on a clothes line strung between a few trees. With the cloaks on and the hoods up, we could pass for a couple of random sylvan as long as no one got too close. When we set out again, we adopted a casual stroll and did our best to stick to the shadows without being obvious about it.
It was a relatively calm and quiet moment in our mission, the sort of time when my thoughts tended to wander. I couldn't allow that. I had to stay razor sharp and focused if we were going to accomplish anything besides killing those two hapless guards. Only two steps left! Find and smash the samples. Get out with Steel. Find and smash... and that was when I recognized the next big problem.
"Hey," I muttered to Faolin, "Tell me you know where the 'Transfiguration School' is in that big tent."
"No," the sylvan breathed. He was barely whispering, but I of course could hear him just fine. "I have no idea." I froze in place, stunned that I hadn't considered something so obvious. This was where my lack of experience with ground operations could ruin everything!
"Then how the hell are we supposed to find those samples?!" I hissed, jogging a few steps to catch up. We might have time to quickly sneak in and search a few rooms. We probably didn't have time to randomly stumble around that entire circus tent in the dark, hoping to find one tiny box of vials by sheer luck.
"Calm down," Faolin advised. "And keep your voice down too. If someone hears you and comes over to investigate, they'll realize very quickly we aren't present in the All like every sylvan here should be. Now, I don't know where they set up the temporary Halls for that School, but I can easily find out. I just need to ask one of the ogern there. They won't question a sylvan. They're here to serve us."
"Unless they recognize you," I whispered back. Faolin shrugged, but continued on in silence while I glared at his back, fuming. If he was recognized, he'd have to pull us back through the Anchor. How could he just shrug off that risk?! Unless... he wants to get recognized... Was I wrong to trust you? It was way too late to be asking that. I'd made my call, and my fate was in Faolin's hands now. As we passed one of the few parts of this camp I recognized, the giant tent the Sylvan were using as a barn for their gryphons, I did my best to ignore the paranoia and nervousness eating away at me. The time for worry and planning was over. All that was left was executing the plan in motion and adapting to whatever went wrong.
The underlying buzz of the All grew stronger as we crept closer and closer to the heart of the Sylvan camp. Then, just as we started catching glimpses of a clearing shortly ahead, the call we'd been waiting for rang out. "Ogern patrols! War packs! Assemble and rally to the human encampment at once! The resisters have escaped, and a riot is in progress!" More voices took up the call, and the echo quickly spread out throughout the camp all around us.
Faolin kept right on walking, projecting a total lack of concern, and I tried to imitate his manner even as a few dozen of the armed slave-warriors charged right past us back the way we'd come. We didn't step aside. The slaves parted around us just as Faolin had said they would. We weren't supposed to acknowledge them at all, but I couldn't resist a quick glance over my shoulder as my guts roiled with guilt and concern. Sil had been successful, and Steel was now free and leading the rioters. That was most if not all of the 'ogern' guards assigned to this part of the camp, heading off to restore order. They were now out of our way and unable to prevent us from destroying the samples. But that was an awful lot of muscle heading Steel's way. I just had to hope his people were as pissed off and eager for a fight as he'd claimed. They had to avoid capture until we arrived with the Anchor.
Unfortunately, some of them were probably screwed regardless. Faolin and I were only back here because of my bargain with Skor. I'd been certain some kind of big distraction would be needed to give me an opening to do what I'd promised. The disgraced sylvan had agreed to get as many of the rioters out as he could after we were done with the samples, but with the camp already on high alert, there just wouldn't be time to evacuate everyone. Anyone left behind would certainly face reprisals from the Sylvan, but that was the price of sabotaging their research as Skor expected. I didn't like it. Steel hadn't liked it. But he'd agreed that it was a price worth paying if it meant gaining allies in the Sylvan's own ranks as well as getting some of our people out. He'd even talked about staying behind himself, except that someone with military standing would be needed to give the report about the Sylvan credibility, and I'd assured him that person wasn't going to be me. He'd liked that even less.
This well-trodden line of thought flashed through my head in less than a second, then I turned back toward our goal. The quicker we found those samples, the more people we'd be able to save. We passed through the two rings of tents surrounding the central one, bringing the main entrance into view. It stood completely unguarded.
"Oh..." Faolin muttered, coming to an abrupt halt. "The steward isn't there. If he was also called to arms, this could be a problem." I suppressed a frustrated snarl, along with the urge to draw one of the weapons hidden under my cloak.
"What now?" I whispered instead, glancing around the area. "Any better ideas than random searching?" There were a few other sylvan going about their business in the vicinity, but none nearby us. Faolin took a deep breath and turned to face me.
"Only one," he said, a slight shake in his voice. "Maybe I c-can find out what we n-need from the All-"
"No!" I hissed. "That is a horrible idea! You can't let-"
"You d-don't understand. The All doesn't announce my presence and thoughts t-to everyone. It would be aware of me but-"
"Yeah, and if someone's paying attention, they'll know won't they?!" Faolin didn't respond, and after another second, I realized he had his eyes closed. He was already doing it! "Hey!" I snapped under my breath, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Knock it off!" I ordered, shaking him.
He just kept his eyes closed and his face mostly neutral, aside from his lips pursing and his ears flattening toward the sides of his head in a sign of annoyance. I was debating whether to try slapping him when that ominous buzz filling the air began coming from him as well, just as he began to shudder and shiver. His breathing became ragged, and the blood drained out of his face. Only a few seconds later, the buzzing from him stopped, his eyes snapped open, and he wobbled on his legs as he continued to pant. I kept my hold on his shoulders, watching and steadying him until he regained his composure.
"Well?" I asked. He'd taken the risk. There wasn't any point yelling about it now. Faolin took a deep breath and nodded.
"I know where to look." He inclined his head toward the entrance to the big tent, and I followed warily. I had no way of knowing what he'd really done just now. I couldn't even be sure it was the All he'd contacted. I took a furtive look around and felt my blood run cold as I noticed one sylvan was standing still just outside one of the other tents. He seemed to be watching us. I didn't let my own gaze linger, but as I casually scanned the area one more time, the figure was still there. Still apparently watching. A massive pit of emptiness and regret opened up in my stomach as my misgivings about Faolin returned tenfold. I think I fucked up.
He could have contacted any of the sylvan in his range just now and told them to arrange an ambush while he kept me distracted. If that was his plan, then I was as good as caught already, and the likely deaths of Anea's hatchlings were on my head. And Faolin's. He knew why I needed to be with her now, and he could have just refused to help me if he had a problem with the setbacks I wanted to cause his people. Lying to me to lure me back here would mean he'd never given a damn about those kids. He'd only feigned sympathy to garner some trust and hope in me, and it had worked. I was back here, in his people's reach. Now he would only need to save his own skin. He surely knew that once I realized his betrayal, I'd do my best to burn him right back. Well, I'd just have to stick close to him then. If he insisted we split up, that would just about settle it for me. Who knows? If he's that much of a sneaking coward, maybe threatening him will be enough to make him take me back...
I followed Faolin through the threshold and down the dimly lit middle corridor. The partitions that stood in for walls only went up to the ceiling around the edge where it was still low. Further in, the 'rooms' were made up of freestanding walls about ten feet high. The main tent looked like it was at least one hundred and fifty feet wide, which left plenty of space for dozens of the small rooms. Faolin briskly led the way down the main corridor, then we took a left and a quick right.
"One of these," he breathed, waving his hand to indicate the five door flaps within the alcove. "Offices of the Transfiguration Masters," he explained. "Getting more specific information might have aroused attention." He ducked into the first room on the left, and I followed close behind, determined not to let the sylvan out of my sight.
The 'office' was nothing special. A chair and a rough looking desk rested in one corner, and a number of crude shelves lined the walls. The shelves were stuffed with books, scrolls, crystals of all shapes and sizes, calipers, tongs, tweezers, rulers, and a number of other, much more exotic and obscure looking equipment. There were no drawers, and only a few boxes that might have held what I was looking for. After about two minutes of ransacking through the shelves, we still hadn't found the samples and wordlessly agreed to move to the next room. We left the office in total shambles.
This was basically a burglary. I didn't care if the Sylvan realized what we'd done, as long as it happened after we were gone. The second room was much like the first, and we again didn't find the vials on any of the shelves or inside any of the smaller containers tucked in among the assorted papers and instruments.
The third room was much larger, and on the floor next to the heavy desk there was a small chest with two dimly glowing crystals fixed to its lid. "That might be it," I muttered. Faolin nodded, and we cautiously approached the chest. But as we reached it, I noticed a sound, nearly hidden by the constant low buzz of Sylvan telepathy surrounding us. Hurried footsteps. Coming closer!
My fists and fire lung clenched. I only had time to spin back toward the entrance and draw my axe before the flap we'd just come through burst aside! And in rushed a familiar sylvanni with long silver hair and a disheveled white robe. Vaa'len!
"Not you!" I choked, appalled that the one sylvan who'd shown me a shred of respect, the only one who'd immediately recognized me as a person like her, was leading the force to capture me. I only managed to keep my grip on the axe handle and raise it despite my horror and dismay because of the memory of my exchange with Anea. The eggs are shaking! I won't be captured again! Vaa'len's dark eyes went wide and began shining violet at the sight of the weapon, but then they shifted to my face. The glow vanished as the sylvan woman gasped out the word that saved her life:
"Adrian?!" It wasn't hearing my name that made me hesitate. It was the utter shock and surprise with which she said it. She wasn't expecting me. And as the entry flap to this office partition fell shut, I realized that she wasn't leading anyone else. She was alone. For now.
"What are you doing back here?!" Vaa'len demanded, her voice hoarse and rasping. I didn't know how to answer that, so I didn't. Axe still raised, I took a threatening step forward, and Vaa'len took a small step back, raising her hands in front of her in a placating gesture. "Wait! Wait! Whatever you've returned for, I will not stop you! I just- You need to get out of here! Fast! Before Os'tarell learns you're back!" I took another step forward.
"Like he doesn't already know?!" I hissed. "You're Linked with the All. Everyone knows now-"
"I cannot-" She took a quick breath, steadying herself. "I cannot understand what you're saying, but I can guess. I never spoke English myself; I told you that knowledge came from the All, and I'm not Linked with the All now. Never again. Not after what I discovered." She let her hands go down to her sides and gave me an appraising look. "If you came here of all places, it must be for the same reason as me. This riot is your doing too. Is it done?" Her eyes left mine to scan the room behind me.
"Is what don-"
"Then what are you waiting for?" She snapped, bravely brushing past me toward the chest on the ground. Astounded, I turned to watch her as she crouched down to open it, but she did a double take when she finally noticed Faolin standing beside her. She met his eyes, and he recoiled, shaking his head and gasping raggedly. "Oh!" Vaa'len gasped. "My apologies. Trying to Link... that was merely habit." She stood and looked Faolin up and down. "You are... that scout. Your name escapes me. The one who was damaged when you tried to Link with Adrian." She glanced back toward me.
"Faolin," he muttered behind her, getting his panic attack under control.
"So you did help him escape?" Vaa'len asked, turning back to him. I met Faolin's eyes, and he gave a sigh of disgust and nodded.
"Yeah. Sure. He couldn't have done it without me." I felt a pang of guilt for my recent suspicion of him. Vaa'len had already turned back to the chest and pried it open, releasing a breath of cold fog. She reached in to retrieve the box containing the vials of blood and skin samples, then placed it on the table. Replacing the axe on my belt, I stepped up to the table and watched closely as Vaa'len opened the box. There were five vials present. Three filled with blood and two with small strips of skin. My stomach lurched in shock.
"One's missing!" I gasped. I hadn't considered this possibility. Vaa'len shrugged, then dumped the vials out onto the table.
"One's missing," Faolin repeated, translating for me.
"Another researcher must have it for study. It doesn't matter," she turned to me. "Smash the vials with that axe, then burn them. Then you get out of here, and I'll destroy the other when I find it." I drew the axe to do as she declared, but I paused as a thought occurred to me.
"Why should I believe you?" I asked. "How do I know you aren't hiding the last vial, and this isn't just a trick to save your research?" Vaa'len shook her head impatiently and turned to Faolin.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked more tactfully. Vaa'len heaved a sigh tinged with anger. As she spoke, her face darkened and she began to vibrate with a deep, potent rage.
"That is a longer story than you have time for. Suffice to say, I found out what happened to that little human girl you asked me about. She's dead. Slaughtered on Os'tarell's orders."
WHAT?!! My breath left me like Vaa'len had punched me in the gut! I knew who she was talking about; you don't forget the look of desperation on the face of a parent missing their child. I'd only expected her to be callously placed with another family in an example of the dismissive, neglectful cruelty I'd seen from the Sylvan. I'd never imagined they'd be capable of something like this! Neither had Vaa'len by the look of her.
"I don't understand why," she quickly continued, "but I am certain that Os'tarell is a crazed maniac who by rights should be executed. I am not powerful enough for that, so I want to at least keep him from gaining any more power." Her furious demeanor fell away all at once, revealing the shaken, terrified person hiding behind it. "The All isn't what we were always told, Faolin. It has secrets. It can lie. I learned that last night. I couldn't have been happier to find you and Adrian had escaped this morning and put Anea's spell out of our reach. Now please: do what you came here to do, then be gone!"
I raised the axe and smashed the flat butt down on each of the glass vials. We had spent enough time here already. Skor would have to be satisfied that I'd done my best to keep up my end of the bargain. And for what it was worth, I believed Vaa'len. As the blood spilled across the table, it released the same acrid steam as before. I took a few short breaths, opened my mouth, and then closed it when I noticed Vaa'len leaning forward eagerly to watch. I looked at her, and Faolin stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder and gently draw her backward.
"Trust me, you don't want to stand too close to this," he advised. Once they were safely behind me, I drew a breath and tried releasing my venom without the usual accompanying shout, but it didn't work.
"Come on," I whispered. I sucked in another lungful and heaved it out with as much force as I could manage, but it still didn't work. I rolled my eyes and sighed. If we hadn't already been heard, then this was certainly going to do it. "YAAHH!" I shouted from my belly, and the fire lung spasmed and sent a stream of burning venom out from the back of my throat. I turned my head left and right, and the liquid flames splashed all across the table, completely engulfing the shattered vials and their contents. There was no sense of triumph though. This wasn't over until that last vial was destroyed too. And I had no idea where to find it. A hand dropped onto my shoulder as I stared into the fire for a few seconds too long.
"We have to go," Faolin said. "Someone will have heard that."
"Yes, we did." NO!! The icy voice hit me like a bolt of lightning, and I whipped around toward the door, fire lung clenching to burn the Sylvan Speaker! But before I could complete the turn, a white light flashed, and something like a thin, razor-sharp wire closed down around my neck! The hood of my cloak slid limply off my head, cleanly severed from the cape, and I froze to avoid beheading myself.
Holding rigid, I strained to see the trap or weapon with just my eyes. I couldn't see what was wrapped around my throat, but I could at least feel that it was applying barely any pressure. If it did... I could already feel a few searing drops of blood trickling down the side of my neck from where the wire had nicked me just resting there. To my left, I could see Faolin standing stock still as well, eyes wide and ears pinned in terror, and a paper thin line of glowing white traced in a circle around his neck. We're fucked!
"Drop that weapon and face us!" Os'tarell commanded. I obeyed his order, unclenching my fist to let the axe thunk down to the ground and turning slowly. I breathed deeply as I struggled to hold in the venom from my clenched fire lung until-
"Do not try it," he warned, and the entire ring burned as the wire moved just the tiniest bit, like a shaving razor slipping sideways. Except this razor was wrapped all the way around my neck! Most of the shallow cut didn't even bleed, but it did drive the point home. "We need you alive. We have no such need for any of the escaped detainees currently wreaking havoc. Attack us, and our orders may change from subdue to eliminate." A chilling dagger of fear for my friends pierced through my fury, and I gulped as I redoubled my efforts to control my fire-breath.
My fire lung clenched on its own when I finished the turn and saw the Speaker, but I just managed to avoid releasing any venom. Something told me it wouldn't work anyway, not this time. He stood just inside the office partition, his white robes unruffled, his expression hard and livid. The door flap still swung gently behind him from when he'd burst past it. His eyes held only the faintest yellow glow, but the crystal in his staff shined like a star. He said nothing for a moment as he looked the three of us over, then gave each of us a long, penetrating glare.
"Traitor," he declared, eliciting an anguished whimper from Faolin as he turned to me. "Oath-breaker," he called me, the judgment stinging more than he could possibly have intended. Deserter... "And you..." Vaa'len emitted a fearful squeak as the Speaker turned to her, but I could see from the corner of my eyes that she didn't yet have a circle around her neck. He stared at Vaa'len for much longer than Faolin or me as the fire continued to blaze on the table behind us. "What exactly did you think you would have accomplished if you had succeeded tonight? We should have suspended the positions of the High Masters who were lost in the Collapse. You were not ready for the responsibility! For the hard realities sylvan and sylvanni of special trust must grapple with! Tell us, was the chimera's original disappearance also your handiwork?"
"She didn't- yeaaaaaahhh!!" I interrupted myself with a panicked shout as another band of white light seared through the tip of my left glove's ring finger and closed down around the first joint of that digit.
"We did not ask you a question," the enraged sylvan snapped, glaring cold fury at me. "Interrupt us again, open your maw again, and we will start shortening your fingers. We need you alive. We do not need you whole." I closed my mouth and held my breath as my fire lung spasmed repeatedly. I will kill you!!
He kept his eyes on me, alert for any moves he didn't like, but his next words were not for me. "Do you truly not understand, Vaa'len? The key to ensuring that ritual, which so offended your sensibilities, is never required again is standing right here. This one is no innocent! He lied to you, promising to cooperate in exchange for perfectly reasonable terms whilst plotting this despicable attack on our people! Those same humans you are so concerned about, who we have gifted with protection, shelter, and food in their hour of need, are ransacking our refuge and savaging every sylvan and ogern they can catch! WE DO NOT EVEN NEED TO HARM HIM!! You have seen the alternative to the task you were assigned! We now live in desperate times. We need more power than we can muster ourselves if we are to survive in the years to come. We can take this opportunity that fate has placed in our laps and once more transcend our limits as Sylvan, or we can continue to make use of the unsavory methods that have kept our people safe since long before your grandparents' parents were children."
Vaa'len took a shaky breath beside me, but I barely heard it over the blood pounding in my own ears. She'd been completely right. This man was a maniac! That little girl Vaa'len had told us about had been sacrificed for power for the Sylvan. I had no clue how that was supposed to work, and I didn't care! All I knew was that Os'tarell had just confessed, and he had also declared he was willing to do it again. And again. As many times as he needed to. He needed to be stopped. He needed to die!
As I prepared to spend my life on the attempt, Vaa'len looked up and spoke. "Speaker, I... I had not considered that. I did not understand the ritual I discovered. It was... for the purpose of strengthening the All?" Os'tarell's eyes left mine for a fraction of a second before snapping back, but they never fully turned away from me. That was fine. But the instant he looked away, I was burning him. After that... Well, it would depend on whether my venom worked as I hoped.
"In a manner of speaking. The point is, it was for the good of all sylvan. In particular, all of the survivors of the Nineteenth Haven. It was ghoulish and reprehensible, but it was also necessary. Do you now understand why unraveling the spell that Transfigured this human is well worth the risk?"
"I do," I gasped in horror and turned to glare at Vaa'len. How can she..? Is she actually falling for this?! "Speaker, I beg your forgiveness! I acted rashly, and relied on my own limited judgment. I was merely shocked by what I saw. I am no Disparate!" She shot the word at Faolin on the other side of me. "If it can be allowed, I will continue my work with this... chimera. I will work under supervision if that is required, but I believe I am still the best person for the task." My stomach twisted itself into a tighter and tighter knot with every word Vaa'len spoke. Os'tarell was a confessed monster! I'd feel only satisfaction ending him, but I was certain Vaa'len was just misguided. If she tries to stop me... I turned back to Os'tarell, hating him all the more for what I might have to do in a few moments. I hated myself too.
"You are the best person from our Haven. That has never been in question. You will of course be relieved of your temporary post of High Master of Transfiguration. Someone else can be tasked with overseeing the day-to-day administration of that School."
"Very well," Vaa'len nodded. "That will free me to focus on this vital task." Os'tarell's eyes flicked away again, but this distraction had left me unready, and my window closed as the eyes returned to me in less than a second.
"You will also immediately reopen yourself to the All. While you seem to have recognized your mistake, your judgment is still in question until you allow it to be examined and assessed. As you said, this is a vital project, and we must be certain it is handled only by those who prove they are worthy of significant trust."
"Word into Being," Vaa'len nodded again, and she closed her eyes. I kept Os'tarell fixed with a predatory glare, my breathing steady and deliberate as I kept careful control of the knot in my chest, waiting for my moment. Vaa'len began to emit the familiar buzz of her telepathy. Help me! It took every ounce of self-control I possessed to avoid jumping and giving away what the sylvanni was doing.
If this is a trick-
It's not! I want to help you! I know what I must do, but I lack the courage to do it. Lend me yours! Please, don't fight the Link, or we're all doomed! The feathery touch of her thoughts across the surface of my mind suddenly hard and sharp, and it pushed. If she was trying to be gentle, it didn't work! Pain blossomed behind my eyes, and I tasted a tiny drop of my venom on the back of my tongue. My saliva neutralized it instantly, thank god, but I wasn't going to be able to keep quiet and still for long!
Get out! That fucking hurts, you-
I'm sorry! I felt her regret, her intentions, and her hardening resolve. And I'm done. Don't focus on me! You'll know when to act. Despite her warning, I couldn't help but pay attention to the throbbing intrusion in my thoughts. A constant stream of foreign impulses and memories tickled at the raw edge of my awareness, growing more distinct by the instant. NO! She screeched in my skull, terrified and desperate. You'll drag us together, and I won't be able to stop you! Stay you! Focus on your surroundings! What you have to fight for! Os'tarel's evil! Rescuing Steel! Returning to Anea! The- Vaa'len gasped beside me and opened her eyes!
"The eggs," I whispered, then Vaa'len screamed and a nova of violet radiance burst forth from her! The blast of magic slammed into Os'tarell- No! It was being blocked by a translucent white shield of some kind! But raising it had distracted the Speaker! The sharp bands around my neck and finger vanished, and the next instant, I bellowed with righteous fury and unleashed the most intense burst of fire I'd ever produced! This wasn't just a simple stream! It was a roaring torrent of brilliant flame like the breath Anea used! And it was also deflected by Os'tarell's shield.
"You're a fool and traitor, Vaa'len!" The Speaker shouted over the noise. I felt her determination waver, and as I loosed another blast with no effect, my own panic began to return.
We've got to finish him fast! I'm going to run out of venom!
He's too powerful! Oh gods, what have I- Then Faolin, who had also been freed, came at the Speaker from behind with Sil's knife! He slashed Os'tarell's arm before he could react, then he snatched the staff away from the weakened grip! The Speaker dropped to the ground and curled himself into a ball, his shield pulsating as it changed to a sickly, yellow-green color like bile. But it stayed up, and when Faolin stabbed at him again, his knife glanced off the shield as well!
"GO!" Vaa'len shouted, both aloud and in my mind. "Run! I'll hold him as long as I can!" I was shocked. Run? This fight wasn't over yet, but we were winning! Why would- He's drawing strength from the All! He'll either overwhelm me or call for aid, I don't know which! You have to leave, now! Get back to Anea and the hatchlings! Don't let him capture you again!
You're dead if you stay here! Come with-
If I don't hold him, no one makes it out! Go! Now! My mind was blank with indecision for a split second, then I gulped, nodded, and paused only long enough to snatch up my axe before following Faolin out the door. My Link with Vaa'len rapidly weakened, but it was still clear enough for me to feel both her deepening fear and the growing strain of keeping up her onslaught.
Thank you. You know, what you're doing takes a world of courage, and I don't think you're getting half of it from me. You're a lot braver than you think.
And you have much more to lose than I do. Just don't waste this! And with that, she severed the Link. I gasped in relief as the head-splitting pain of the intrusion vanished, then redoubled my efforts to outrace Faolin.
We burst out from the exit of the central tent seconds later and made for the trees beyond the two rings. There were several sylvan standing around between the tents, but none of them made any moves to stop us. They didn't even seem to notice us; they all seemed fixated on the smoke, lights, and noise coming from the central tent behind us. It made me suspicious, but as long as they let us pass, I would take it. Maybe Os'tarell had told them to stay out of his way. Maybe they were all focused on aiding him against Vaa'len. We passed into the deep shadows of the trees beyond the clearing, then after another minute of running, we slowed down to avoid attracting any more attention. After a few dozen steps, Faolin looked around to be sure we were alone, then he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to a stop.
"Alright. It'll take them a minute or two to find us now. That's enough time," he whispered, dropping the Speaker's staff so he could dig through his pockets.
"Time for what?" I demanded, irritated that he was wasting precious time! We had to get to Steel and the others! I didn't think Vaa'len would be able to hold for long. Faolin produced the Anchor he was carrying.
"To go through and be sure the other Anchor is destroyed." he stated, kneeling down to set up the device. "We need to cut our losses. We failed to destroy all the samples, and the last vial is going to be heavily guarded from now on. The Speaker himself knows you're here, and any second now, every person in this camp is going to start looking for us. We have to go. Now."
"No!" I snapped, shaking my head vehemently. "We are not abandoning Steel and the others! We stick to the plan!" Faolin didn't move. "Put that damned thing away and let's get moving!"
"You can't abandon Anea either," he declared, meeting my eyes as his began to glow. "I won't let you. I'm not making another mistake tonight." He was about to do what he damned well pleased, whether I agreed or not!
"Listen here," I hissed, stepping back and watching for him to lunge at me with the anchor like Skor had. "I didn't take the risk of coming back here just to smash some damned vials! I came back here to rescue my friend! You still want refuge in Anea's territory, don't you?!" The glow left Faolin's eyes. That had gotten his attention. "If we don't even try to get to Steel, then good luck convincing her on your own." Faolin's nostrils flared and his ears pinned back against his skull. I'd made him angry. That was good. It meant he was taking me seriously again.
"There's little time-"
"I know!" I cut him off, shoving him. "Get up and get moving, or there won't be any! I swear, if you waste any more time on this stupid argument, I will stand back and watch whatever Anea decides to do with you!"
I had him. His only way out of this mess was back through the Anchor to that radio tower, and going back to Anea's territory without me would be suicide for him. He knew that, and now he also knew I'd make him pay if he dragged me back with him before I was ready. Shaking his head, the sylvan rose to his feet and strode off at a determined but not obviously rushed clip toward what I could only hope was the human section of the camp and the ongoing riot. On an impulse, I grabbed the staff he'd dropped then followed.
"This is idiotic," he muttered, knowing full well I could hear anything he said, no matter how quiet. "You know what will happen if the Speaker has the ogern there alert for us. We're taking an enormous risk!"
"So are Steel and the others," I hissed back, catching up to him. It pained me to walk instead of run, but we couldn't afford to draw attention to ourselves. Not yet, anyway. "They deserve for us to try!"
"Rrrrgh!!" He snarled. "Fine then; we try! And you will tell Anea that you made me allow this risk." We went on in silence for a few more minutes, and I strained to hear the sounds of the riot. "You need to know something," the sylvan suddenly whispered. "Or at least, I need to tell you so you'll know I'm not hiding things from you." He took a deep, bracing breath. "It was my fault, what just happened back there. Os'tarell finding us." I glared at him and waited for him to explain. I'd just watched him try to kill the Speaker, so I knew whatever he was talking about, it wasn't betraying me.
"You said using the All to find those samples was a bad idea," he went on. "You were right. The All didn't take special interest in my return, but someone else did. Tohnaal. He must have been somewhere nearby, because I felt him for half an instant. It was just a flash of recognition, and I wasn't even certain it was real. Not until the Speaker arrived. Tohnaal must have been somewhere nearby, and when he felt me, he must have alerted the Speaker. There's no other reason he should have been there when there was a crisis to deal with elsewhere." He shook his head. "If we'd waited for a minute, we would have seen Vaa'len heading inside, and we could have just followed her to the samples." He sighed again, and his voice started breaking. "Oh damn... she was already going to destroy them herself! We didn't need to go in there at-" I realized what he was doing.
"Shut up," I interrupted his spiral of self-recrimination. "Focus on now. We're still in danger, and you're letting yourself get distracted by what if's. You took a risk. You made a call. You can't change it now. Just focus on what we need to do. We can worry about what went wrong when this is over." Wide, shocked eyes meet mine, and a resounding crack reaches my ears as a jolt runs up my arm from the axe. I followed my own advice and shut out the sickening flashback. I was starting to pick up faint hints of shouting in the distance. "We're close. I think we're done trying to be stealthy." I tossed Os'tarell's staff back to Faolin and readied my slingshot, holding the first steel ball and my axe in the other hand. Faolin got the message that we were keeping the staff, and he kept it in his good hand. He placed the Anchor in his other one, and his eyes began to glow. I glared at him for a second, then nodded. "Just don't get jumpy. Only if we're about to lose." Faolin nodded back, his face white and his lips tight. Then we charged for the tell-tale sounds of pain and violence.
Faolin slipped behind me, following my lead now. The voices that greeted me as we approached were frantic and chaotic, and they were interspersed by frequent screams of agony and cries of terror. Orders flew back and forth, insults rang out, aid was pleaded for, and death was threatened and promised. I didn't hear Steel yet. He knew he had to keep talking so that I could find his voice and make my way to him. I just had to hope nothing had happened to him.
The orange glow of raging fires outlined the trees and tents before us. As we raced forward, it wasn't long before we started seeing the silhouettes of people. First we brushed past large clusters of people being shepherded away from the scene of the violence by individual guards. I veered off the paths and wound through the tents instead, and the guards only shouted at us as we blew past them. There weren't enough of them for any to break off and chase us, which told me they didn't know who we were. I had no doubt my capture would be Os'tarell's only priority, and I breathed a silent thanks to Vaa'len for holding out so long.
Past the last column of people, the camp stood empty aside from a few patrols double-checking tents. I slowed us to a determined jog and trusted Faolin's glowing eyes to prevent them from stopping us. He was a sylvan, and ogern stayed out of a sylvan's way. As I took the time to catch my breath, I paid closer attention to the voices ahead and eventually pieced together a rough idea of the tactical picture.
Steel and the others seemed to have carried out their part more or less according to plan. The rioters were supposed to ambush as many patrols as they could in order to steal their weapons, then stir the human camp into a panicked frenzy by knocking over tents and setting fires. They would have freed every human they could, recruiting any who would fight alongside them and making the rest flee. But the Sylvan had responded quickly. Now that reinforcements were here in strength, almost all of the humans still wearing collars had been subdued and cleared, along with most of the rioters who'd gotten too isolated. The rest, still over a hundred pissed off people, had bunched up and made a semi-organized push for the edge of the camp, but that's where they found most of the reinforcements.
The ogern had formed their main line at the edge of the camp to prevent anyone from escaping, and now they were steadily marching inward, closing a noose around the remaining fighters. The rioters were engaged with that line now, throwing everything at the effort to break through and flee into the surrounding forest. There were still many patrols ranging through the mostly empty section of camp, searching for any other stragglers and harassing the rioters on their flank, but there were no organized forces in our way. We had to hurry! Faolin and I just had to get past a few more patrols and reach the rioters' rear lines, and then we could start the evacuation!
The sylvan kept right on my heels as I sped up to a full tilt sprint again. I was worried we might still be too late. If the rioters either broke through the defenders' line or lost their nerve and scattered, then we'd only be able to get a few people out. I couldn't tell which was more likely. From the screams it sounded like the humans were putting up a good fight, but it was costing them. The situation was precarious, and almost all of the voices I could tell for sure were human were tinged with varying degrees of panic. Then a call went up, and I heaved a sigh of relief as I finally heard the one voice I needed to.
"Listen up, people!" Steel called out. "We can't get pinned down here or we're finished! Disengage! Pull back! If they're so determined to keep us here, let's push back in and keep being bad guests!" A chorus of ragged voices repeated the order, then they took up a common battle cry. A minute later, just beneath the cacophony of shouting, I started to hear the sound of wood clacking together and a few sharper cracks that might have been bone breaking. Those were real sounds! We were close!
I peered through the dark trees bathed in distant firelight, trying to see the fighters somewhere in the dancing shadows ahead. I was so eager to lay eyes on our goal that I nearly missed the trio of ogern guards who'd spotted Faolin and me! They had hard shells of armor on their chests, forearms, and shins, and wide helmets without visors on their heads. The gear wasn't shiny like metal, and the helmets looked more like modern combat helmets than anything from medieval times. They also brandished stocky batons for beating people into submission, and most importantly, they'd decided we were targets and were charging toward us!
I tried the slingshot even though I doubted it would work against someone with armor, then I drew in a breath as my stomach began doing flips. I couldn't take three of these guys with my axe, and Faolin wasn't going to be much help either. I expected that quick thinking sylvan had already decided we were outmatched. He'd be reaching for me with the Anchor any second, so I was forced to do the only thing I could that guaranteed a win.
Trying my damnedest to mean it, I squeezed my fire lung and shouted, sending a short jet of liquid flames toward the onrushing guards. They yelped in surprise and flung themselves bodily to the sides, crashing to the ground as they tried to dodge the flames. At least one of them got hit by some of my venom, but I only knew that from the screams. As soon as they were on the ground, I turned to sprint for the sounds of the main battle raging just out of sight.
"The fire breather!" one of them shouted. "Martial! The fire breather and the traitor are here!" My stomach clenched again in a mix of dread and disgust, and I spat out the mouthful of bile that rose in my throat as the screams of terror and agony from the burning guard continued behind us.
There were shouts and screams ahead of us too, and in only a few more steps, we spotted the ragged front line of rioters pushing back into the camp between the trees ahead! They were currently swarming two other small squads of ogern that must have been patrolling around here before Steel ordered the rioters to reverse their push. Those fights were going bad for the guards without my help, so I jogged warily around them as I continued toward the front line. I fervently prayed that someone who knew the plan was close.
Soon we were spotted, and several people shouted at us. Twin bolts of pain shot inward from my ears at the words, and I grimaced as I remembered my... impairment. "What did they say?" I growled to Faolin under my breath, belting my weapons and then digging into a pocket for the earplugs I'd picked up in Pineda. I wasn't going to be fighting any humans, and if a group of ogern showed up and these people left us to them, then it was time to leave anyway.
"Orders to freeze right here and drop my stick, several threats on my life, and one auto-erotic suggestion," he muttered back. "Calm them down, or I'm pulling us through right now." A group of a dozen people with clubs, spears, and torches broke off from the main advance and closed in on us rapidly. I waved one hand at the group as I yanked the earplugs free with the other.
"Woah-woah! Wait! He's good! He's our ticket away from here! Where's Captain Walker?" I stepped between Faolin and the approaching mob, searching their faces for any sign of recognition or belief. The firelight dancing across their hard, angry faces only revealed a pack of determined predators with their eyes fixed on a fresh target. Shit. "STEEL!! I'm back!!" I shouted as I jammed the earplugs in. "Get over here and talk your people down, or you're gonna miss your window!!" Faolin stepped closer to me, but just as he began whispering for me to touch the globe, a short man with a spear rushing past with the rest of the mob stopped and gawked at the deteriorating scene.
"Holy shi- You came back!" His voice was familiar, and he clearly recognized me. "Hey! You idiots! Back off! Let him through! These are the two we've been waiting for!" He started laughing, near hysterical with relief. "You did it, you slick bastard! We're actually getting out of here!" I could understand what he was saying, but it was difficult and still kind of painful. I twisted the foam earplugs a little further in, then snapped a finger beside my left ear. The sound was muffled, but I did hear it. I sighed, then focused on the immediate issue.
"Listen to him!" I pleaded to the gaggle of armed people still blocking our way. They'd stopped and were now muttering uncertainly to each other, but they still had their weapons pointed at us and weren't about to let Faolin and his glowing eyes come any closer. I looked at the short man again, and as someone with a torch jogged by, I got a good look at his face and sandy hair. "You're Chris aren't you? Where's Steel? Go get him quick! We don't have time for this!" Chris nodded and darted off, leaving Faolin and me in the infuriating standoff. Each beat of my racing heart stuck me like a punch in the chest as precious seconds ticked inexorably away.
"You can pass," one of them, a middle aged, dark-haired woman with a club finally said. She smacked the club into her other hand. "Not the Skinny. Come on now, before more of those greenskins show up."
"Oh my god, please just take us to Captain Walker! This man," I emphasized the word, "and that little ball he's holding are your ticket out of this shitstorm! You know you can't win this fight, and you can't escape! Heading back into the camp was a delaying action! Steel was buying time for us to get here!" The group started arguing again, but in the midst of their indecision, Steel's voice bellowed out again.
"People! Stop here! Pack in on me! Our way out is here! Hold them off for a few more minutes and we're home free!" It took only a few seconds for his order to be echoed out to the fringes where these clowns finally heard it, and most of them drew sheepishly aside. Only four still glared at us, and they were easy enough to dodge around. They shouted at Faoin and me as we rushed wide to the left, but the rest of the group grabbed them and kept them from cutting us off, then the entire group fell in close behind us as we caught up to the main body of the rioters. They had been widely dispersed, but now they were pulling inward as Steel had ordered, packing in close enough to all be within earshot. We spotted each other at about the same time, and he instantly barked more orders.
"Make a hole, people! This is it! Keep a watch out for the greenskins! They've been waiting for their chance to surround us, and they'll take it soon! You!" he pointed at Faolin. "Get over here! Get the kids and the wounded out first!" Faolin took a deep, shuddering breath beside me, then went to meet the group Steel had indicated. I turned to go meet Steel, but Faolin grabbed the cape I was still wearing and stopped me.
"No," he whispered, "You stay with me. If we run out of time, you must not get left behind. Think what could happen if Anea finds us where you disappeared, and you aren't with us." I gulped and nodded, waving at Steel to follow us. Once Faolin was sure I was coming with him, he shoved Os'tarell's staff into my hands and darted forward. He cleared out a spot on the ground among the people Steel had pointed to, then quickly explained what little they needed to do for him to transport them. Steel made his way to me, the people clearing out of his way to make a path for him. We met a few feet away from where Faolin crouched and clasped hands. He looked as harried and relieved as I felt, and we pulled each other in for a quick embrace.
"Took you long enough," he muttered as he stepped back, his voice hoarse from all the shouting he'd been doing.
"We ran into trouble," I explained, shaking my head. "We're lucky to be here at all." There was a flash of light on the ground, and a general shout of alarm and fear went up around us. I glanced down to find Faolin shaking his head and panting heavily, and the first group of people he'd been sitting among already vanished.
"It's alright!" I raised my voice, trying to make sure everyone could hear. "They're at the other Anchor now! At a radio tower on a mountain top miles and miles from here! They're safe, and you'll see for yourself soon!" A thought struck me, and I snapped my mouth shut as I crouched down beside Faolin. "You did tell them to stay away from Bird, didn't you?!" I hissed. The sylvan sighed in disgust and shook his head.
"No," he admitted. "Forgot all about that blasted beast."
"Bird?" Steel asked, confused. He smiled and waved at the next group, encouraging them forward. There were two more men and one woman with obvious injuries, and they stepped forward with four kids. None of the injured people had bad wounds that would keep them from moving on their own, and these looked like the last of the children too. "Is there something we should know?" I nodded and raised my voice again.
"Alright, don't laugh. There is probably a gryphon somewhere near the radio tower. It's pretty docile and shouldn't be dangerous, but it's definitely got the size and the claws to kill you if it wants. Just leave it alone until I get there, and it will leave you alone." All eyes were on me for a few seconds, displaying a range of reactions from fear to disbelief to incredulity. None of them were good. Then Faolin sent the last group of children and injured along with another flash of silver, and the crowd forgot me and my words. Instead, they all began shoving in toward Faolin, every person desperate to be the next out. Faolin instantly hopped up and grabbed me, pressing the Anchor to my face.
"Listen!" he shouted, his eyes flaring. "Anyone I haven't called needs to stay back and leave me room to work! If you can't do that then we're gone! I'm working as fast as I can here!" I growled under my breath. When people were shouting and I could hear their words through the earplugs, it took a lot of focus to understand what they were saying. These earplugs were clearly not the best quality. Steel put a hand on Faolin's other shoulder and waved the mob back.
"People!" He bellowed. "Keep your heads on! Spread out and let him breathe! Whoever's furthest out, keep your eyes open for more guards! Everyone's getting their turn, but only if we keep this guy safe!" He met my eye, and whispered something he knew only I'd hear over the dismayed shouting. "I'm the only one they'll all listen to. If I'm not last out, whoever's left will probably panic." Indeed, even though no one was happy, the crowd did listen to Steel and backed up to leave Faolin with about an eight foot circle to work with. Some of the braver ones even made their way to the outer edge, swapping for better weapons from people more keen to escape as soon as possible. I stayed at the inner edge near Faolin, nonchalantly removing my gloves as he pointed out the next six people he would send through.
Although there was a lot of grumbling and shouting, no one tried to stop them or sneak into the group out of turn. I was impressed and heartened by that as Faolin directed the six to cluster up and each place a bare finger on the globe of the Anchor. These people weren't soldiers, and many of them had likely never met before tonight. They had plenty to be terrified of: what Faolin was really doing to the people who were vanishing, where he was really sending them, and of course, what awaited them if the ogern attacked and captured them before we all escaped. But rather than give in to panic, they were choosing to hope instead, at least enough that they would still trust Steel, who'd freed and then led them through this fight tonight. The six vanished with another silver flash, Faolin picked out the next group as he caught his breath, and Steel turned to me with a tentative grin. He was also starting to hope we had enough time. I didn't have that luxury.
"There's an assault coming," I breathed to Steel. I could still hear the ogern fighters in the distance. They'd recalled all their patrols once they saw us cluster up and stop, and they'd just finished organizing together for their next attack. "They know where we are, and they're coming."
"How many?" He mouthed back, his grin banished. I swallowed, my guts clenching up as passing along what I'd heard made it real for me.
"Fifty, no less," I reported, near silent. "They're coming for me. They're ordered to capture me at any cost." Steel went white, and I knew he'd figured out that the ogern had been acting with restraint so far. According to Os'tarell, they'd been operating under orders to subdue and recapture the prisoners. If they'd been fighting to kill, this riot would have been over before it had gotten started. The next group vanished with a silver flash, and Faolin apologized and said he needed a few seconds to breathe.
"This is harder to do when I'm not going through myself," he explained as the crowd around him shifted nervously. Maybe a quarter of them had been evacuated now, but that also meant there were less people here to fight off another attack by the ogern. Steel took a breath to reign in his own fear, then he raised his voice again.
"People, I want us moving," he announced, trying to keep his voice just loud enough for everyone to hear without carrying to any ogern watching and listening nearby. He caught my eye with a questioning look, and I nodded in the direction I thought the phalanx was coming from. "That way," he ordered, pointing in the other direction. Once the group got moving, he quietly told Faolin that he needed to be sure some specific people got out, and that they'd be the next group. Faolin was looking pretty ragged by this point. The strain of all the magic he was performing was clearly getting to him, so he just nodded as Steel sent six of the people who'd been sticking close to him to jog along with Faolin. Steel himself stayed close to me. "Every instinct I have is telling me to stay here and let someone else get out. We're not letting them capture you, but they don't really care about me-"
"The hell they don't, Captain!" a woman jogging close by spat as she overheard him. I recognized her as one of the resisters I'd been confined with, but I didn't know her name. "And even if they don't yet, they will! You've been leading this riot. If they capture you, they're sure to make an example of you."
"That's not the point," Steel insisted, but I cut him off before he could continue.
"We talked about this, sir. You have to escape too. You need to report all of this to Big Air Force."
"No I don't!" he spat as the silver light flashed again, and Faolin stumbled in front of us. We caught and steadied him as we continued forward, and Steel shot me a cold look as we half-carried the slight sylvan until he got his breath back and shook us off. "You're just as good a person to bring the word as me, and you have to leave anyway. You can't make me abandon anyone who has to stay. These people are my responsibility, and what you're asking isn't necessary." I took a deep breath. The eggs are shaking. There was nothing Steel could say to change my mind.
"It's never gonna happen. Our evac point is on the edge of Anea's territory, and she's already expecting me. Even if I wanted to leave, there's no way she'll let me. It's you or no one." Steel glared at me, more angry than I'd ever seen him, but the fury passed in barely a second. In its place was... something else. Pity? Regret? He turned away before I could figure it out.
"Fine," he spat darkly, "I'll go when you do. I'm guessing you're determined to be the last out."
"Yeah," I answered cautiously. "I don't trust Faolin to keep this up if I'm not here. He won't leave me behind, but he's only pulling anyone else through because he needs me to put in a good word for him with Anea."
Faolin rallied his flagging strength enough to send one more group through the Anchor on the run, but this was taxing him much more than doing it while we were staying in one place. The count was thirty-something evacuated, some seventy to eighty left. I was starting to doubt Faolin was capable of sending every person through the Anchor, even if we had a whole hour for him to do it in. He'd told me several times he wasn't really that good at magic. Not for one of his people, anyway. The ogern force tailing us had gone silent after they'd begun moving. I suspected they were either using hand signals or telepathy to coordinate. That meant I'd lost track of them. It felt wrong to stop now, with no idea how soon they'd be upon us, but Faolin explained we didn't have a choice. He didn't know how many more groups he'd be able to send through if we were standing still, but he was positive he could only manage one more if he had to do it on the move.
When Steel called the halt, about half of the group kept on running anyway. Steel and I had been overheard, and the sense of panic was cropping back up among the people still here. No one was about to die keeping the ogern from getting to me, and the people who fled had decided their best bet was to drop their weapons, get away from me, and find ogern or sylvan in the direction we'd been heading to surrender to. The ones who stayed were more afraid of being captured, and they had me worried. If... when the ogern arrived, they were sure to swarm Faolin in a desperate terror as they tried to escape.
To delay that, Faolin asked if any parents of the children he'd sent through were still here, and he told them they had priority now. Most of the others got out of these people's way without protest, and they restrained anyone who didn't care. It was possible some of the 'parents' had lied, but there wasn't time to do anything about it if they had. Faolin squeezed eight people through with his next effort, though that also cost him, and he said he couldn't do more than six again. That would be enough to get the rest of the parents out with his next group. Or it would have been, if a clear voice filled with icy fury hadn't rung out through the trees at that moment, freezing Faolin with terror.
"Human rebels!" Os'tarell called, his unnaturally amplified voice filling the night air. "You have betrayed our hospitality and sullied the faint hope of trust between our peoples! You are now surrounded and alone! Drop your weapons and submit, or face death!"
"RAA!! OOM RAA!!" A chorus of loud deep voices chanted together from every direction at the end of Os'tarell's demand. Not really words, but a display of unity and determination. And it confirmed we really were surrounded. Faolin looked back at me, panic all over his face, but I jabbed my finger at the Anchor!
"Send them!" I snapped. Faolin gulped and closed his eyes to concentrate, then he opened them seconds later with a brilliant flash of silver that lit up the tree canopy above and everyone standing around him. Faolin was alone when the light faded, and I grabbed Steel and dragged him with me to crouch down next to Faolin. "Now us!" I ordered as the mob rushed in to squeeze toward the Sylvan, jostling and shoving for a spot on the globe to touch. Part of me wanted to spit a glob of burning venom to keep them at bay, but I reigned that fearful urge in. "Everyone who can fit!" I shouted. "You said it's easier when you go too!"
"WHAT?!!" Os'tarell screeched, even as I wrapped my thumb and forefinger around the base of the Anchor, pressing one of Steel's fingers against the talisman under my grip. "AN ANCHOR?!! CHARGE THEM NOW!! DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!!"
The press of bodies crushed in around us, people screaming and crying as they all tried to reach the globe for this one last chance to escape! Faolin still had some contact with the sphere, and his eyes began to glow again. But at the same moment, the crystal in the staff we'd taken from Os'tarell, which I'd brought along as a piece of hard evidence Steel could use to prove his story, also began to shine brightly.
There you are!! Os'tarell's cold, malignant voice announced in my head. But it wasn't just his voice. His was the loudest, but a choir of voices thousands strong spoke his words in unison with him. You achieve nothing but delays and suffering!! The voices spat as an overwhelming wave of pressure washed into my mind and smothered my thoughts. You will not escape!! LET IT GO!!!
And as Faolin closed his eyes one more time, my grip on the Anchor slackened. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't even protest. Os'tarell and the All had the force of thousands of wills, and I was powerless to resist them. But before I could be shoved out of the way by any of the dozens of other hands jockeying for a spot on the Anchor, the finger underneath mine jerked away, and a fist seized my hand and wrapped around the globe!
Mine and a scant few others were pressed to the globe beneath the fist, but wails of shock and dismay went up from everyone else who was suddenly cut off! NO!!! Os'tarell screeched, his fury lashing out through my skull and down my spine like clouds of whirling knives! YOU! WILL! NOT! TAKE! IT! FROM! ME!!!! And then a wave of cold spread out through my body from the fingers touching the globe, there was a brief sensation of falling, and Os'tarell's presence in my thoughts vanished between one instant and the next.
There was only white nothingness in my head, and I couldn't move or open my eyes as pain lanced back and forth through all my nerves. As my awareness faded, only one thought echoed through my skull again and again. Words sung by an endless medley of voices, all blending perfectly together so no one stood out among the chorus.
Well done...