Ainya stepped to the balcony railing. She lifted her hands and chanted words that sounded to Dally as melodious as death.
Edlyn murmured, “We hear words not spoken for a thousand years.”
A crown appeared upon Ainya’s head, with a stone of emerald fire at the center of her forehead. Her entire being glowed, brighter and brighter, until the village and meadow and thorns and forest and cliffs were all burnished by her light.
Then the stars turned green and began to fall from the sky.
At least, that was how it appeared to Dally. One after another descended to earth, a graceful display of silent power.
But wherever they touched the earth, the ground was blasted by green fire.
The fiends were taking terrible losses. And still the arrows fell.
From the forest came a low moan, a wordless howl that went on and on. Those beasts still standing turned as one and raced back toward the forest.
Then the thorn wall burst into flames.
The light was blinding, an intense green inferno that rimmed the village on all sides. As far in every direction as Dally could see, the thorn barrier was ablaze.
And through the flames stepped the Elven army.
Shona called, “Archers cease firing!”
Both the arrows and Ainya’s rain of destruction ended. The village’s barricades were cast aside so that Shona’s troops could attack, joining the Elves. Together the armies flung themselves at the beasts.
The assault turned into a rout.
Edlyn walked to Dally and said, “It is time, my dear. I want you to search without reaching out. I know that sounds impossible. But just the same, you mustn’t make yourself . . .”
Even before Edlyn finished, Dally knew the answer. She ran to the railing and pointed at the darkest point in the forest. “There! He is there!”
Edlyn stepped up to her right, Ainya to her left. “Dally, raise your wand! On my mark, one, two, and fire!”
Dally only had the one spell. And she had never applied that with the wand in her hand. She had no idea what to expect.
The blast catapulted her backwards, but not before she saw a sheet of tightly focused fire stream out from her wand. Dally struck her head as she fell, and the last thing she saw was the final traces of her rainbow-colored fire streaming straight up—a fountain rush aimed at the stars. Then the night went blank.