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TAMARYL DREW THE BORROWED cloak more tightly about him, flattening his wings to minimize their telltale shape. He hesitated in the shadow of the alley and glanced at Maru. “More.”
Maru looked distressed. The uneven protrusion shifted beneath the cloak, but one knobbled angle still showed. He could not draw his broken wing any closer.
Tamaryl felt a quick flash of renewed anger for Maru’s injury. “Do what you can,” he whispered harshly. “Maybe they will think we carry packs beneath the cloaks.” He knew even his own wings marred the shape of his back, filling the cloak from the back of the stretched hood to the ground. He looked something like a hunchbacked troll in a children’s tale.
He flexed his fingers about the broken piece of crystal, reflecting the warmth of his hand. “We have to be quick. No hesitation, or we’re lost. Are you ready?”
Maru nodded tightly.
Brave Maru. He carried as much risk on this venture, but without even a small pool of power to protect himself if they were discovered. Tamaryl gave him a hasty smile. “Let’s go.”
They hurried through the streets, keeping to the edges and lees, holding the ill-fitting cloaks close. There was not enough power between them to betray them to a mage sentry, but anything more than the most casual glance could reveal them.
But Tamaryl had traveled these streets a thousand times, a slave unworthy of notice, and he led Maru through the same paths and in the same humble manner, and somehow they arrived at the Wheel undiscovered.
Maru pressed close to a sheltering wall and released a long, quavering breath. “Safe thus far.”
Tamaryl nodded. “This way. Stay quiet; there’s nowhere to hide in these corridors.”
They set off down the curving corridor, moving quickly past the closed workrooms. Only a little further until the stairs to the cellar...
A figure in violet robes came around the bend, her head bent over a small book, and Tamaryl’s heart quickened. Maru seemed to hesitate mid-step, but then he slid closer to the wall and kept moving. Tamaryl glanced away, as if the weight of his eyes could alert the mage, and he held his breath.
The figure in violet was nearly abreast of them when she raised her head. “Good evening,” she commented, and then her eyes widened. “Who—dear Holy One—!”
Tamaryl formed a barrier and pulled Maru behind him as her power flared. He felt the cursory attack fail and bolted, hurrying around the curve before she could form a more powerful blow. “Ryuven!” the mage shouted behind them. Power billowed about them as she turned to pursue them. “Ryuven, here!”
Maru looked at him, fear shining in his eyes. Tamaryl slid to a halt. “I’ll hold them off. Go and—”
“No! Ryl, no!”
“Go! I’ll join you, I swear.” He pushed Maru. “The next arch, the stairs down. Make the exchange—hurry. I’ll come.”
Maru gave him a steady, meaningful gaze. “Don’t stay here.”
Tamaryl shook his head. “I’m coming with you. But I’m covering our escape. Now go.”
Maru ran, leaping into the archway as another mage came about the bending corridor. Tamaryl whirled with a flourish of cloak to draw the eye away from Maru and ran. She’ll be here... she’ll be here...
He reached the black door as Ariana tore it open. She stared at him. “Tamaryl—”
He lunged and seized her arm, pulling her to him. “Come with me,” he said gruffly, turning her and holding her close. “I need you as a hostage.”
“A hostage?”
“You’re surety for our escape.” He pushed her toward the stairs. “They can’t kill us if you’re our shield.”
Any answer she made was lost as they suddenly faced two mages, Gold and Amber. Upon seeing Ariana they checked their arcane assault and hesitated. “Let her go!”
“I’m afraid I dare not,” Tamaryl answered curtly. “Down the stairs, my lady mage.” He descended first, keeping Ariana between himself and the following mages.
There was a faint tremor in the air about him—Maru’s work. The distracted mages, focused on him and Ariana, did not seem to notice.
Tamaryl reached the base of the stairs and backed into the wide room, pulling Ariana with him. “Stay back!” he warned. “It would be tragic indeed to lose the Black Mage to one of the Circle’s own.”
There were more mages now, hurrying down the stairs and slowing as they saw Ariana held tightly to Tamaryl’s chest, shielding him from any sort of arcane bolt. Tamaryl felt his cloak slipping but it no longer mattered. He had nothing to conceal now. He needed only a moment.
“The Shard!”
They had seen Maru behind the glossy crystal. He ducked behind it as the Amber Mage raised his arms. “No!” shouted another. “Not toward the Shard!”
Someone dashed into the cellar, light robes swirling, and Tamaryl swore. But it was neither silver nor white. He jerked Ariana nearer the Shard.
“How did they come here? How did they penetrate the shield?”
“Ariana, get out of the way!”
Tamaryl held her tightly. Only a moment.
But then another dark figure swept down the stairs, shoving aside mages as he charged to the front. Shianan Becknam glared across the cellar with blazing eyes. “Let her go!”
Tamaryl caught his breath. Becknam alone would guess Ariana was not in real danger. Still, he would not risk her... “Stay back, my lord commander.”
Becknam leveled his sword toward Tamaryl’s eyes. “I’m telling you to let her go.” He started forward.
Tamaryl took a quick step backward, jerking Ariana with him and putting a hand to her throat. “Back! I’m not in a position to barter, commander. I need a shield of my own.”
Becknam hesitated. “You wouldn’t...” Tamaryl saw him hesitate, saw him realize he could not call Tamaryl’s bluff without betraying Ariana’s treason.
But Tamaryl had no need to protect Becknam’s secrets. “I know what she is to you, and you know what you are to me. Keep well back.”
Becknam paled. The mages were fanning about the room, but they still could not risk attack, not as long as Tamaryl and Maru kept Ariana and the Shard of Elan close.
Shianan Becknam stopped moving, but he kept his sword ready. “You snake-tongued dog,” he snarled. “This has nothing to do with her. It’s me you want dead. Come for me, then.”
Maru shifted uneasily behind the Shard.
“Come on! Or can’t you? Is the great Pairvyn ni’Ai reduced to hiding behind a girl?”
For a moment Tamaryl almost pitied the commander’s position. His only hope lay in taunting Tamaryl into abandoning Ariana and fighting, and of course Tamaryl would not be so foolish.
“Pairvyn ni’Ai,” the mages muttered. “How...?”
“Leave her, forget these mages, and face me. Champion against champion, without interference. It’s me you want to hurt, not her.”
“Shianan.” Ariana’s voice was nervous, uncertain. “Shianan, don’t.”
“I’m one man, Pairvyn! One man—not even a mage! Surely you can’t fear me?”
“I’m leaving, my lord commander,” Tamaryl said evenly. “I have no reason to fight you here.”
The shield cracked invisibly, something shifting between Shard and fractured fragment, and the mages jumped and looked around as the magic wavered. That did not matter; if the shield fell for a few moments, that was a simpler escape for them.
Tamaryl turned his face toward Ariana’s ear, breathing in the warm scent of her. “We’re going, Maru and I. We’re going now.”
She did not hesitate. “Take me with you.”
“What?”
“Take me with you!”
Tamaryl could not answer. He did not have the strength to carry both her and Maru, and there would not be a second chance. Why did she ask?
Power began to stream from the failing spell, making iridescent shifting ribbons in the air about them like translucent smoke. Shianan Becknam rushed through the pale colors, his expression murderous.
Tamaryl threw himself backward and twisted. “Shield!”
The blade sliced toward Ariana’s throat, now where Tamaryl’s shoulder had been. She flinched as her invisible barrier deflected the blade with a faint ring of steel. Ariana stared wide-eyed at the commander. “Shianan, no!”
He recoiled, horrified, and staggered backward.
More people crowded the stairs now—members of the Circle, grey mages, soldiers. Someone shouted and guards swarmed about one man, pushing him protesting up the stairs and out of sight. Someone important, Tamaryl guessed, someone too valuable to risk near Ryuven. But he could not spare the attention.
Shianan was shaken by his near miss of Ariana, but he still faced Tamaryl determinedly, his sword ready. “Coward. Filthy lying treacherous coward.”
And then the last of the shield faded, and there was nothing but glorious freedom between them and their home. Tamaryl’s heart leapt.
“Stop them!” shouted several voices. “Stop them, no matter what!” Magic hummed.
“No!” howled Shianan, half-turning toward the mages.
“Ariana, down!” ordered Mage Parma, and power roared about her.
Maru turned toward Tamaryl, and Tamaryl pushed his feeble power toward the crystal and its reflected energy, fueling his own ability and preparing to leap the void.
“We have no choice! Sacrifice—”
“Wait!” Magic snapped through the cellar, disrupting Tamaryl, and Ewan Hazelrig shoved his way through the mass, panting for breath. “We can stop this! We can find an agreement—”
And then energy rolled through the cellar like rumbling thunder, resonating in Tamaryl’s chest, and Ariana winced in his grip. With a whipcrack of displaced air, Oniwe’aru appeared.
Tamaryl caught his breath. That they would notice so promptly when the shield failed—
For an instant, no one moved, stunned at the appearance of the great Ryuven. Oniwe’aru swept the cellar with his gaze and smiled. “Nicely done, Pairvyn ni’Ai.”
Ewan Hazelrig stepped forward, his face solemn. “May I—”
Oniwe’aru gestured. Energy shattered the air and lashed across the mage. Hazelrig reeled and fell.
Tamaryl stared in horror as his friend collapsed. He realized too late that Ariana was screaming, that she had torn free and rushed forward. Oniwe’aru easily deflected her bolt, which sparked into the gaping mages, and turned almost leisurely to face her—
Tamaryl shaped an inversion well and flung it about Ariana, bracing himself instinctively. Power from Oniwe shocked into the well’s conduit and scorched through him. The room blurred about him as he took what should have killed Ariana.
Maru shouted distantly. “Hurry!”
Something struck Tamaryl—a magical blow, but this one from a human mage. They were attacking in force now, and he was far too weak for this. He blinked his vision clear.
Shianan Becknam was nearly upon him, his sword whipping forward. Tamaryl cupped magic in each hand and threw the first bolt, catching the commander in the chest. Becknam was lifted into the air, arcing backward with the force of it. Tamaryl hit him with the second bolt, and the commander jerked as if kicked, knocked aside mid-air.
Tamaryl heard Ariana screaming, and he reached desperately for her as with the last of his power he leapt the void.