He could kill that wizard!
Nemeth’s stomach rose toward his throat, and a sick taste filled his mouth as he recalled the burned bodies that had fallen at his touch. He had done enough killing. Naturally everyone wanted the Great Book, but it was his!
He forced himself to calm down. He must not retaliate. He had not been raised to behave like that.
His life before the book had been unimpeachable. He had been ethical. He was only a seer, only a seer … but the book had put unlimited power into his hands. The voices were talking again. They wanted the book. He must frighten them off, frighten away the mage who had broken through his protection, send them back where they came from. He did not want to do again … what he had done before. No, they must be driven back.
If he could not break the link, he must make use of it. It extended in both directions. Nemeth would make use of it. He would see who had done this seeking to spy upon him, and bring down upon them a warning. He did not have to know where the pursuers were. The book provided him with several models of beasts of terrifying mien that existed throughout the world. They would come into being where the wizard was. If he would not retreat, they would drag him into nonexistence. It wouldn’t be Nemeth’s responsibility if the wizard did not take the warning. If his deterrents did not work, then … death to them! No one would stop him from accomplishing his aims.
Carefully, he sent his sight back through the fine line, and began to draw new runes.
R
in trotted up the slope of a hill, then paused on a muddy patch to wait for Captain Teryn’s horse to make the final jump up to the crown. The broad, green meadow was wet. The horse’s rear hooves scrabbled slightly, scattering clods of earth before disappearing among a cluster of slender saplings. Rin gathered herself and made a single measured leap, landing easily on the grass among star-shaped meadow flowers that smelled sweetly when bruised by her hooves. Tildi’s bottom bounced several times on the striped back. She was glad of a firm handhold on Rin’s mane. Teryn glanced back, then continued on her way, glancing down now and again at the map in her hand.
“I wish that she would let us lead,” Rin grumbled, settling her saddlebags more firmly on her hips. “I am faster, and more surefooted.”
“I think she’s happier if she is ahead of us,” Tildi said. With the map guiding them toward their goal, she had been able to tuck the precious leaf away in her belt pouch with the other family treasures she cherished. “I feel safer with her and Morag to protect us.”
“Bah. I do not need a human to defend me. Besides, I think that the wizard we are pursuing will be too much for them. It would be better for Edynn and Serafina to prepare. And you are more likely to know when we are close, aren’t you? What do you feel now?”
Tildi thought about it. “I know that we are moving in his direction, that is, the book’s. I have felt it more strongly since last night. Rin, I am afraid of facing … him … but I can’t wait to see the book. In my vision it was so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Rin snorted. “It’s only a book.”
“Curse you, Melune!”
There was a crash behind them, and the peddler’s sturdy little horse bounded up the hill by itself. Rin trotted to a halt. Lakanta appeared shortly, her cheek and hands muddy, her braids askew, shaking her fist at Melune. The errant horse cantered up to Rin with her ears set at a saucy angle. Tildi and Rin laughed. Lakanta stumped toward them.
Tildi felt a wave of warmth. Suddenly, white mist rolled up out of her belt pouch, blinding her. She batted at it, trying to clear the fog away. Tiny hands reached through the cloud and clawed at her fingers. Tildi cried out. Her voice was answered by a thousand shrill shrieks. Scaly, pale-gray creatures swarmed out of the mist. They dove at Tildi, teeth and claws aiming for her face. Tildi swatted at them. They raked her
skin with their talons. She ducked and threw her hands up before her face, but they attacked her ears and hair.
“I’ll help you, Tildi!” Lakanta bellowed, making a two-handed grab for one of the creatures. “Ow! They’re fast little monsters! Something bit me!”
Rin snatched at the gray demons flitting above her head. They dissolved and re-formed just out of her reach, then zipped back to rake her skin with their needlelike talons.
“Guard!” shouted Rin. Teryn’s head flew up at the warning in the centaur’s voice. The captain thrust the map into her saddlebag and drew her sword in one swift motion. She galloped back to them and began striking out at the pale mist, grunting in frustration. Tildi flattened herself on Rin’s back as the gleaming blade whipped over her head. From the rear, Morag came pelting toward them on his horse. He sprang down and stabbed at the creatures. They danced out of his range, shrieking louder.
“Get to safety,” Teryn gritted, driving a half dozen of the fiends back. They gibbered and screamed at her. “Take the smallfolk out of this! I will overcome these beasts!”
“They are attacking
her
,” Rin said. “What are they?” She took the whip off her belt and began to crack it at the creatures. They eddied back upon the air, then zipped in to claw at her face and neck. “What is this? I cannot hit them!”
Tildi crouched on Rin’s back with her arms over her head. “Nature guard me while I sleep, From all who fly or walk or creep, Ward the earth and guard the sky, may I wake safely by and by,” she muttered to herself. The simple words of protection were like throwing a glass of water onto a forest fire. The midge-demons stopped biting for one second, then began diving in again. She tried the words of the simple lullaby again. It had always protected her against childish nightmares, but it wasn’t strong enough to stave off these. The pain of hundreds of scratches and gouges made her eyes blur with tears.
“Ano chnetegh voshad,”
Edynn’s voice rang out over the hillside, and Serafina’s joined it.
“Voshte!”
The silver symbol for “protect” appeared before Tildi’s face. She was ashamed. She
knew
what to do. Master Olen had taught her how to drive away malign magic. She promptly sat up and began to draw her own wards upon the air with her knife, making them big enough to guard both her and Rin. Lacy walls of magic issued forth from the curling
runes, spreading out to surround them completely. She sealed the last stroke. There, perfect! Those ought to keep out any evil.
To Tildi’s horror the scaled beasts paid no attention to them. They zipped straight through her wards and Edynn’s as if they did not exist. They almost
laughed
at her, as they took turns nipping and clawing at her. Tildi could see their runes in the center of their scaly foreheads. Something about them struck her as wrong, though she couldn’t put a finger on why. She flung another ward at them. This time they did laugh, their shrill voices piercing her eardrums. Tildi was so furious that tears burned in her eyes.
“Crotegh mai ni fornai!”
Serafina commanded, pointing her staff at the cloud. Wards sprang up before the little monsters, who swooped and dove around the lines in the air like linnets flitting through a trellis. She swept a hand at one. Her hand passed right through the fiend, which turned in midair and attempted to bite her.
“I deny you!” Serafina said. The fiend gnashed its pale jaws, and dove at her again. Several of its companions swept away from Tildi and the others to attack her. The young wizardess sat in the center of a whirling mass of beasts, unafraid. Her horse danced and whinnied, rolling the whites of its eyes, but she was unperturbed, and unharmed. “They’re not substantial, Tildi! Close your mind to fear. Drive them back. They cannot follow. They are only seemings.”
Edynn had come to the same conclusion. “They can only hurt you if you believe they can. Steel yourself. I know you can do it.”
“Hah, is that all there is to it?” Rin demanded. She clicked her fingers at the swooping beasts and sneered. “Nightmares. They are for small children.”
The gray creatures zoomed at her. They passed straight through her body and out the other side.
“See!”
Unable to affect Rin, they dove at Tildi. The first one bit her on the ear. Tildi knew that Serafina was right. She forced herself to think she was seeing nothing but clouds tumbling. They just
looked
like dangerous little monsters with teeth and claws. Ow! One closed those teeth on her thumb. She had to think harder, she realized, sucking the skinned knuckle.
Clouds
, she thought firmly, staring at the demons.
No power.
“You cannot touch me,” she said.
The creatures shrieked and flew at her. Tildi braced herself, but the expected pain did not come. Tildi crowed with triumph. The monsters
tried again and again. Soon, they realized they had no more power over her. It was almost funny how frustrated they became.
Teryn got herself under control with the speed to be expected of a seasoned soldier and trusted officer. She stopped flailing at the insubstantial monsters with her sword, never having managed to hit one. She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the diving beasts zoomed straight through her.
The same was not true of Morag. No amount of cajoling by the others could persuade him that the fiends were not real. He slapped at them, growing more frantic. His eyes changed from their muddy brown to a gleaming blue.
“The madness is on him,” Teryn said, alarmed, galloping to his side. “Morag, close your eyes. Close them now! That’s an order! They can’t hurt you if you don’t look at them. Close your eyes.”
The soldier did not seem to hear her. He waved his arms frantically. The spear fell from his hand and clattered on the ground. The fiends dived at him, laughing shrilly.
“They’re everywhere!” he cried. “Help me! They want to kill me!” With a wild yell he wheeled his horse, and set spurs to its side. The animal leaped as if stung, and started galloping frantically over the rise. The packhorse, still tethered to Morag’s war steed, was forced to run alongside. The cluster of demons swirled, gibbering, around his head.
“Morag, stop!” Teryn shouted. She swung into her saddle and cantered after him. The others followed.
Edynn aimed her staff at the fiends, chanting one spell after another. A beam of light burst forth, and one of the creatures burst apart in a puff of smoke. “That’s done it! I understand their form now.”
Tildi held fast to Rin’s mane as they strove to catch up with the fleeing horses. Rin’s muscles bunched and unbunched as she galloped faster and faster. Teryn, leaning low over her horse’s neck, hurtled side by side with them. She glanced over, and the two exchanged a nod. They parted to overtake Morag on either side. Rin reached out and snatched the reins.
“Hold tight,” she warned Tildi. All at once she leaned hard back on all four hooves, hauling back on the leads, pulling Morag’s horse sharply to the right. It screamed and danced. Teryn, on the other side, put an arm around the struggling man. The flying creatures continued to bite at him, and their voices hurt Tildi’s ears.
“Stop it, soldier!” Teryn commanded, her voice strained with worry. “They are but a dream. A dream, Morag!”
The white lights lanced around them, snuffing out one demon after another. Edynn and Serafina descended upon them like twin whirlwinds, robes fluttering, circling until the threats were gone. Morag sat with his head bowed, muttering to himself. Teryn spoke to him in low tones that seemed to soothe both the troubled soldier and the two panting horses. Soon, she gave a nod and drew them back toward the rest of the group.
“My goodness,” Lakanta said, riding up last. She went a few yards past the group and looked down. “Just in time! If you hadn’t stopped him, he would have gone flying right over the edge of the bluff.”
Tildi glanced in the direction the little peddler was pointing. Her heart leaped into her throat. They were on a steep escarpment that overlooked a river far down below.
“My thanks, honorables,” Captain Teryn said stiffly. “Princess.”
Morag murmured something that sounded like thanks. He could scarcely look up.
“I am glad to assist,” Rin said graciously.
“This is my fault,” Edynn said, sadly. “Our thief has detected us, and is using our own spell against us. I am out of practice in strategy. I would not have made this mistake in past years.”
Serafina was businesslike in settling her mother’s cloak about her shoulders. “Mother, it is not our fault. He is wilier than we suspected. We will be on guard against him now. I can set a trap upon the link so any more fiends he sends us will rebound again.”
“But who knows if he will make a deadlier attempt upon us next time?” Edynn turned to the smallfolk girl. “This wizard has sent us a warning to withdraw. I cannot believe that he is incapable of more deadly spells and sendings. I cannot undo the connection between your leaf and the book, but I won’t send you into greater peril for simple convenience’s sake. We know in general which way he has gone. Let us withdraw to the nearest city and send you back to Olen. Others will assist me in the pursuit. The risk is too great for you to continue.”
“He knows we are here behind him,” Rin said grimly. “We must continue to follow.”