Chapter Thirty-Two

 

She had taken the time to insulate herself from her own emotions. Even so, when Mithrais screamed, the sound almost shattered Telyn’s carefully constructed detachment. Keeping her from sheer panic was the understanding she alone gave him the magical strength he needed to defeat this evil. She played with an intensity she’d never known, vigilant on the unfolding battle between Mithrais and the elemental.

The shield around him dissolved. The King’s guards formed another tight ring to protect their monarch but wavered in Telyn’s peripheral vision, as if they would run. Even the Tauron Wardens backed away.

The magelight faded. Mithrais’ body convulsed and then relaxed into stillness. Deirdre started toward him as the cold terror of dark, unknown things drained from the campsite.

“Not yet! Don’t touch him!” Telyn warned, and the Eastwarden stopped in her tracks. She never ceased playing and opened her heartspeaking senses. She waited for the sign, although each second without it proved agonizing.

Beneath the familiar sense of her own magic, she felt it at last: the pulse-like beat of power welling up from the fount in the Wood. It proved Mithrais had taken control of the entity, and with it negated the elemental’s null effect on the flow of magic.

She set the harp aside, her heart thudding. She moved with caution and laid her palm against his forehead. The absence of their connection proclaimed his first goal complete. Unexpected tears of loss threatened to rise, so accustomed had she become to their union of thought at the slightest contact. His chest still moved with shallow breaths. Ragged at first, they soon evened out as if her touch reassured him of her presence.

“Bind him, quickly.” She motioned for Deirdre and the wardens to come forward and they bound his wrists and ankles with the strong cord they’d found in one of the wagons. “A stronger restraint than you have ever made.”

“Why are we doing this?” The King and Prince Keir watched from the other side of the fire.

“Because if he wakes up before it’s light, it may not be Mithrais.” She sat cross-legged on the ground and kept her hand on his forehead to watch for any change in his consciousness while the wardens knotted the heavy cord. Deirdre helped shift her lifemate’s upper body so Telyn might cradle his head in her lap. “He’s trapped the elemental inside himself. All that can kill it is sunlight, and he plans to keep it from leaving him until dawn. Once the sun is up, he will cast it out and it will be destroyed.”

Emrys edged closer. “And you? What do you have to do?” His voice, higher than normal, betrayed his concern for her.

Telyn shuddered as her own fear threatened to break through the walls of her discipline. She kept one hand on Mithrais’ forehead, and the other against the rise and fall of his chest. “I’m here to call him back when the time comes.”

 

* * * *

 

The confines of his own body were alien. Incorporeal in its native form, the elemental only held a human-like shape by virtue of Mithrais’ own skin. The very strangeness of this perception made it difficult to maintain the effort.

The being he controlled fought back and screamed in silent rage. Pushed into a metaphoric corner, there was little it could do. The skills Mithrais used were his heartspeaking senses, not magic. With his new comprehension of how to direct others’ talents, he’d found a chink in the creature’s armor. It knew how to winnow its way into the mind, to siege the fortress of personality with weapons of fear and self-doubt. And now Mithrais possessed this knowledge, like an oily memory of the taste of metal, a shadow in his thought-self. He could never forget it.

The thing lived without a body, born of dark magic and violence. It was magic in its purest form, elemental at its core...but fused with a mind once like his.

Pieces of its past were still caught in the blackness, bits of crystal flashing in moonlight. Echoes lingered of a spell gone wrong, so many centuries ago as to be nearly vanished. Enough remained to know the caster paid the ultimate price for attempting to bind to his will a creature that fed on the fear of others. There were traces of former victims caught in the net of energy, something gleaned from each person it inhabited. A memory, an emotion, these were fleeting bits of a familiar life amidst the otherness which drew him closer. He lost his sense of time, with no idea how long he perused this reliquary of forgotten souls.

In the end, that was how it tricked him.

 

* * * *

 

The burning stars seemed never to move. The play of moonshadow told Telyn time did pass. Her hand flat upon Mithrais’ chest to note the rise and fall of breath, the steady, slow beat of his heart beneath her left palm reassured her. The absence of his presence in her mind was as sharp as a blade. She found herself bargaining silently with the Fates when light began to grow in the east without any sign of a change in him.

Deirdre, vigilant beside her, waited for a hint she might be needed. The other two wardens had long ago moved the dusty remains of the fallen guard and Eirion and wrapped them in blankets at the edge of the campsite. They stood not far away, unease evident in their reluctance to move closer.

Emrys came and sat beside her for a time. “What is happening?”

“I’ve no idea. We weren’t certain what to expect.” Telyn raised her head. The sky paled on the horizon, the blue-white brilliance that comes minutes before dawn. “Something has to happen soon.”

But she was not prepared when Mithrais lurched beneath her hands to sit upright. A snarl emerged from his throat unlike anything she’d ever heard. She scuttled back as Emrys pulled her away with his good arm. Her cramped legs refused to let her rise immediately, and Deirdre took up a defensive position in front of them, bow ready.

Mithrais examined his bound hands and feet and laughed. Gooseflesh rose on her skin: this was a stranger regarding the Eastwarden from the corner of his narrowed eyes.

“Telyn?” The King’s voice rose on a question.

“It isn’t Mithrais. I can’t sense him at all.” Telyn lurched to her feet.

“Heartspeakers.” The thing wearing Mithrais’ body rolled its eyes, eschewing any pretense. “He’s not at home. Sentimentality is a dangerous thing in a warrior. I expected more from him.”

“Where is he?”

“He made a mistake and opened a doorway between us. Doors go both ways.” It grinned. “I am him, and he is me.” Deirdre pulled the bow, and Telyn held up a frantic hand.

“By all means, shoot me. There’s still time before the sun rises to kill all of you, even if I have to inhabit you each by turn until the last one falls.”

She knew enough to realize it taunted them, for if Mithrais died, it would be able to escape. “Then why aren’t you using his magic?” She refused to believe there wasn’t any hope.

“Complications.” A frown. “He’s preventing us both from reaching for magic with my own power. In retrospect, I never realized it could be a problem. But, it seems I can still cast him out at will. When the sun rises, he’ll be the one to die.”

A shadow erupted behind him like a dark sunrise, and Telyn caught a breath of horror. She could sense Mithrais now, his anger and confusion. It reached out with questing tendrils, the same appendages that had brought death in its wake before. The party condensed as they moved back. Only Telyn stood fast although her heart raced in fear.

“Telyn!” Emrys, frantic, beckoned her to flee.

“If it’s telling the truth, he won’t hurt me.” She believed it with all her heart and mind. She could feel Mithrais’ presence in the dark shadow, an absence of malevolence in this form that had once brought terror. The chance she could be wrong was ice in her veins, but she forced herself to stay in place and trusted her heart. She raised her hand to meet the strand of darkness and flinched when it twined around her fingers. His presence flooded through her, and tears burned in her eyes. “It is Mithrais.”

“What do we do?” Deirdre asked. Urgency cracked her voice.

Telyn shook her head as panic took root. “I don’t know.” The chaos in her heart was deafening. The horizon caught fire, yellow-white with the approach of sunrise. A sob shook her. On the ground, Mithrais’ compromised body shuddered in delight at the confusion and despair gripping the band of travelers.

“Ah...” It breathed a sigh outwards. “Now that’s what I need.” It flexed Mithrais’ arms in a powerful motion, and the cord binding his hands parted with a snap.

It fed on their fear, even inside Mithrais’ body.

Telyn stepped back, horrified, and the dark shadow followed her. A tendril wrapped around her wrist, and it settled against her back, a weightless cloak made of night. She felt that Mithrais’ arms held her, his comforting presence telling her not to be afraid. She opened her mind, trusting him.

“Don’t let it escape!” The words were not hers but Mithrais’, spoken with her voice. She looked at Deirdre and the two wardens, who wavered in fear and confusion. “Hold it down. Subdue it by any means necessary, but don’t allow it to leave. It can’t use magic yet.”

The wardens hesitated a moment as the creature inhabiting Mithrais pulled at the cords that bound his feet together. “Now!” Telyn commanded them. They tackled him just as he rose. He fought them with unbridled violence; Mithrais’ considerable strength augmented by the energy the creature had fed upon.

“I need more men!” Deirdre shouted. The guards hesitated. It was the King who shoved through his men and strode forward to pin Mithrais’ shoulder to the ground with his knee. Emboldened by their sovereign’s action, more guards moved to assist.

Telyn cried out with sudden agony as the sun began to peek over the horizon. It wasn’t her pain. It belonged to the dark shape holding the essence of her beloved, reacting to the rays. She knew what she had to do. She opened mind, heart, and body to the darkness that held Mithrais’ essence and drew him in to protect him from the light.

The sensations were excruciating as he settled inside her. Fire burned in her nerves and muscles. She heard his mental voice again, and a cry of pain and laughter burst forth in relief from her lips.

Oh love, I’m sorry. Hold fast. Remember how you taught me to call on your magic before the covenant?

The pain befuddled her thoughts, but she did. The first Bard’s Rune...

I need your magic now. Help me call on it.

“Ah-Ma, the crescent moon,” she gasped aloud.

Baen, the ring of promise made. He spoke the rune with her silently.

“Cil-Reth, the string in tune.”

Dar: the fire. And Es, the blade!

Her magic leapt to his call. In her mind, Telyn felt his chest against her back, his arms melded against the outside of hers, his palms flat against the back of her hands. She made a motion that channeled power into a shape she’d never used before. It tingled with a static prickle against her palms and waited for discharge.

“When I say release him, do it immediately,” she managed to say aloud. Those who held the snarling, struggling body down indicated they understood. She waded into their midst and threw herself on top of him.

“Release!” They jumped back and she brought both hands down on his chest. The possessed body convulsed even as it lunged for her, the charge of magic shorting nerves and synapses long enough to stun. The King, who hadn’t withdrawn his knee fast enough, yelped when a crackle of lightning jumped from Mithrais’ shoulder to his leg.

She brought her mouth down against his now-slack lips in a bruising kiss. The torrent of darkness poured between them, protected from the sun’s light as Mithrais returned to his body. The battle for repossession began. The invader resisted his assault. Telyn didn’t break the connection between them, moving her hands to the sides of his head while his body writhed. She willed her strength and magic to aid her lifemate. He went limp and a shift took place in her mind. Beneath her Mithrais stirred, his arms going around her and his mouth moving on hers in a sharp, passionate kiss of relief.

“Thank you,” he breathed against her lips, and Telyn rolled to the side as he sat up.

He knelt on the earth to face her. His entire body quivered with exhaustion. “I need your help. I’m tired, and this will take both of us.”

She settled beside him in haste and held out her hands. Mithrais gripped them tightly; their palms touched and fingers locked around each other’s wrists. Their empathic connection was reestablished but a second presence in his mind shrieked and pummeled the shields Mithrais held fast by strength of will alone. That strength would soon fail. She had no time to be afraid.

What do I do?

It can’t disrupt the flow of your magic. Lend me your strength, love, one more time.

Song magic filled her with unexpected power at his bidding. He directed her gifts without the catalyst of music or rhythm, and it rushed to their combined effort. Together, they imposed their will upon the creature maintaining an unwelcome foothold in Mithrais’ mind. The black threads entangling his thought-self with insidious purpose were torn loose, like a vine with roots set into stone. It wrung a sharp cry of pain from him as they snapped one by one. Telyn shuddered with the shared sensations. She clasped his wrists tighter, knowing he held to the reality of her touch.

With a hoarse shout of defiance, Mithrais used his last ounce of strength to cast the elemental into the space between them. It writhed in vain to escape their control and the rays of the sun.

Terror rode in daylight; cold fear the last weapon of a desperate creature that knew it was defeated. A high-pitched ringing sounded in her ears. The black shape, dense as night, thinned out and grew opaque in the sunlight. It faded to grey tatters. Pieces detached and dissolved in the morning light until nothing remained between Telyn and Mithrais but their clasped hands, drained bloodless from the intensity of their grip on each others wrists.

They both collapsed to the earth, drained from the effort. Mithrais managed to lift his hand in affirmation for their hesitant comrades. They rushed forward and Emrys threw himself down beside Telyn, his face creased with worry.

“You’re all right?” His anxious inquiry made her smile despite being bone-weary.

“I think I will be, after a week’s sleep.”

King Amorion knelt at Mithrais’ side, his brow furrowed. “Is there anything we can do to help you?”

“As Telyn said, we need to rest, but we can move on in a few hours.” Mithrais passed one exhausted hand over his eyes, the other still linked with hers.

“It’s less than half a day’s journey to Belenus, and it’s been a sleepless night for all of us. I think we will all rest better now that it’s daylight, and the threat of this creature is past.” The King scanned the horizon. “But what about bandits?”

“It’s too open and flat for cover or ambush. I believe we’re safe,” Deirdre reassured him. “We will take the first watch.”

Telyn turned her head to smile at Mithrais, but when he returned it, it didn’t reach his eyes. She thought she saw a shadow of darkness behind those pale green irises. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just very tired.” She sensed this to be a lie, the connection still open between them, and he knew it. He gently disengaged his hand from hers, brought his fingers to the back of his head, and winced. “My head feels as if a smith were hammering from the inside.”

“Close your eyes and rest.”

He did so, and his breathing changed almost at once as he succumbed to his exhaustion. Telyn watched him a few moments, troubled, before her own weariness insisted she surrender.

 

* * * *

 

Mithrais didn’t remember falling asleep where he lay. He woke in the shade of a canopy, hastily fashioned from a cloak and tree limbs, and remained there for some time, unable to muster the energy to move. At last, he rose with caution, his head on fire as if he’d shared half a flask of Rodril’s elixir.

The sun neared midday. Activity within the campsite suggested the party was prepared to leave, and he glimpsed Telyn readying her mare for travel. Deirdre and the other wardens stood with the captain of Amorion’s guard and talked among themselves. No one approached him.

After a moment’s privacy, Mithrais moved stiffly to the edge of the stream at the rear of the campsite and crouched there. He splashed cool water on his face and neck in an effort to regain some clarity of thought. His reflection in the still pool of water, hollow-eyed and drawn, stared back at him.

Inside his head, something moved and shifted behind his eyes as he stood. He staggered, putting out a hand to steady himself, a metallic taste in his mouth.

He was not free of the elemental.

Despite his best efforts to cast it out, the dark entity had left a piece of itself behind. Like the fragments of memory and emotion by which he’d become ensnared, the shadow remained in his mind and sapped body and soul of strength. Mithrais leaned against one of the scrubby trees lining the brook, while his headache rose to a pounding drum of war. He was unable to raise the strength to call out to Telyn.

Prince Keir made his way to the thin copse of spindly trees lining the stream. “How are you, Mithrais? Are you ready to leave?”

When he raised his eyes to meet Keir’s, the prince stepped back in shock. “Forgive me for saying so, but you don’t look well. The Eastwarden assures me she expects no further trouble between here and Belenus. If you need more time to rest...”

The rest of Keir’s statement disappeared in the black haze moving across his vision. Voices and light faded. His last coherent thought was of Telyn as her mind brushed his. He tried to answer but couldn’t respond. Everything slid away in the grip of the blackness that poisoned him.