DragonCrown Saga - The Grand Crusade Part 36

"If we need to." Resolute patted him on the shoulder. "We just want to move fast. We get Will, we get out."

"But if things go badly, I can cast spells as I see fit?"

"Yes, Kerrigan, I trust you."

The Grey Mister piloting the ship brought it toward a dock and the word was pa.s.sed to ship oars. The Vorquelves hauled them in, then began to gird themselves for battle. Trawyn and her handful of survivors had full coats of mail and, as the ship sc.r.a.ped along the dock, they went over the side with cables to secure the ship. Aside from a dozen Vorquelves designated to remain with the ship and Oracle, the rest of the company ran down the dock and to the sh.o.r.e.

Kerrigan, with Qwc in a converted wineskin strapped to his body, ran toward the head of the pack, behind Resolute, Banausic, and Trawyn's people. Magarric ran beside him, and Bok behind the both of them. He'd left Rymramoch's box back on the ship, warded with enough spells to deal with legions of Aurolani. Behind came the Grey Misters.

He could feel eyes on him, watching him. All of the buildings, though wrapped in the scarlet weed and furred with the black growth, did not seem abandoned. The s.p.a.ce behind doors and windows might be dark, but he just knew Aurolani lurked there.

"Resolute, they are waiting for us."

"I know."

"How?"

"Logic. Scrainwood was present when Oracle said Will was waiting for us in thecoruesci. Chytrine's tried to get in, but couldn't."

"It was the dreamwing." Magarric winced and hissed his words. "They sought me, but dreamwing changed my essence enough to elude them. Had they killed me, it would have fallen."

Kerrigan ran a bit faster to come abreast of Resolute. "If you knew they were waiting, that this was a trap, why did you let us fall into it?"

"Kerrigan, think for a moment."

"Yes?"

"You once lifted a ship out of the sea and smashed it."

"I remember."

"So, how difficult will it be for you to reach out and crush a tower full of gibberers?"

The youth hesitated for a moment. As rotten as they were, the effort would beas nothing.To kill that easily... He shivered.But if it saves my friends...

"You could have told me that was your plan."

Resolute laughed as they rounded the last corner in the road. "Had I thought you needed preparation, I would have."

The company moved into the courtyard before thecoruesci. Some of the thornbushes had grown up from between cobbles and red vines wrapped themselves around the bases of columns. The mildew clung to stones, but thinned as it neared the building. The Aurolani plants stopped ten yards from the coruesci, and as Magarric walked forward through the Loquelves, the very building glowed as if a ray of light had burst through the clouds to illuminate it.

The building itself looked akin to a bit of tree root that had grown up out of the ground. A thin bark covered it save at the round portal door. The edges had thickened as if the tree were growing around a lopped limb, and the wood within the circle alternated rings of pale and dark wood.

Magarric paused in front of the doorway and closed his eyes. His chest rose and fell as he took deep breaths, and a sweet scent entered the air. The door itself appeared to be sweating, or covered with dew. The droplets began to run down the wood, which slowly evaporated.

The Vorquelf entered the portal, then turned slowly and spread his arms. "Welcome, all of you, to the coruesciof Vorquellyn. He you seek awaits within." Magarric turned and waved them after him as he pa.s.sed into the elven hall.

His jaw slack, Kerrigan entered thecoruesci. Beyond the door was a broad, crescent-shaped landing that led to a score of stairs. They descended to the floor of a long hall. The columns supporting the roof were all thick oaks, growing there inside the building as if they were outdoors. The roof rested upon their canopy of leaves, all of which displayed brilliant autumnal colors.

Magarric all but skipped down the stairs. When his foot touched the main floor, the two nearest trees began to change. Their leaves flooded with green, beginning at a light spring color, then deepening to a dark color rich with life. The ancient elf moved with no signs of pain at all, and almost seemed to regain his youth as he moved deeper into thecoruesci.

Kerrigan started after him. Halfway down through the columns, he spotted one tree that had not recovered its lively colors. It remained red and gold, and fallen leaves surrounded it. In their midst he also spotted something black and anomalous, but until he was almost on top of it he couldn't tell what it was.

A stone forearm had thrust itself up through the floor's woody flesh. Thick fingers clawed at the air. The hand was far too huge to be Will's, but Kerrigan knew Will was in there nonetheless.

"Resolute, what do I do?"

"Get him out."

"I know that. How?"

A rippling crack of thunder came from the landing, snapping Kerrigan's head around. A dozen draconetteers-turekadine, it was easy to tell by their size- had shot into the last of the Grey Misters heading down the stairs. The shots that did not hit Vorquelves gouged splinters from stairs, walls, and floor. Magarric cried out and dropped to his knees, but Kerrigan didn't turn to look at him. He knew none of the draconettes could have hit him at that range and, besides, they had a greater problem than Aurolani sharpshooters.

The front row ofturekadineparted and withdrew to reload. Up through their ranks came a tall, slender elf with flowing golden hair, bearing an emerald staff. Pale, as Trawyn had once been, the elf would have been beautiful save for her empty eye sockets. Kerrigan could still feel a cold gaze sweep over him.

"That's asullanciri?

Resolute nodded. "Quiarsca."

She descended a step as another rank of draconetteers came up behind her. Around them came the frog creatures Trawyn had callednyressanu. They bore axes and leaped down the stairs. They brandished their weapons at the swiftly retreating Grey Misters, then hacked at the dead and dying on the stairs.

When the axes bit through bodies, or missed altogether and just hit wood, Magarric jerked and cried out.

Thesullanciriopened her arms. "Fret not over how you will free the Norrington. We will do that. Thank you for opening the way to us."

"Resolute, what do I do?"

"Get him out."

"We've gone around this once already.How?."

"I don't know. Just do it while I go kill asullanciri." Resolute drew Syverce, then motioned the Grey Misters aside. "I am going to kill you, Quiarsca."

She laughed almost melodically as he began to trot toward her. "Ah, Resolute. Always so determined.

You might want to kill me, but I won't let you get that close." Quiarsca pointed at him. "Shoot."

Draconettes came to shoulder and hammers were c.o.c.ked back. Theturekadinetook aim, tracking Resolute as he came. They waited as each one of his long strides ate up the distance. Already he'd gotten within their range. Every step brought him closer to them, closer to her, and closer to death.

Norright now! Kerrigan gestured, using the very spell to which Resolute had alluded before. It was the telekinesis spell he'd learned long ago, which allowed him to lift a ship, or would allow him to crush a tower. He could have just swept them all out of thecoruesci, and likely that would have been a more effective way of using the spell, but something in Resolute's words resonated inside him.

Icouldcrush towers. Kerrigan smiled, and made his goal much more modest, but equally devastating.

One of theturekadinegrowled an order and fingers tightened on triggers. Hammers fell, touching the burning embers of match cord to the fine firedirt that primed the weapons. A thin jet of white smoke marked successful ignition. From the pan the fire raced into the barrel, where it started other firedirt burning. The powder combusted swiftly and the hot gas it created expanded quickly. The lead ball and cloth patch clogging the barrel began to move forward, racing faster, as the fire and gas pushed it along.

In the blink of an eye it would go from standing still to blasting through Resolute's chest.

Or would have save for Kerrigan's efforts.

Instead of crushing towers, he'd just pinched the draconette barrels shut. The shot hit the closed end of the weapon and, in two cases where Kerrigan's effort had cracked the metal, the barrels exploded and sprayed Quiarsca and somenyressanuwith hot metal fragments. With all the other draconettes, the pressure in the barrel continued to build and sought the easiest route out. That turned out to be the joint between the fire chamber and the barrel. The draconettes exploded, driving the fire chambers or lock mechanisms back into the faces of theturekadine.

Trawyn screamed a war cry in ancient Elvish and sailed forward at the head of her group. Grey Misters rallied and flew after them. Moreturekadinewith conventional weapons appeared at the head of the stairs, and thenyressanuleaped into the battle. Calmly, as if she were out for a stroll, Quiarsca descended, then stopped and drove the pointed base of her staff into a step.

Magarric howled as if he'd been stabbed.

Kerrigan whirled and saw the elf writhing on the floor. His hands and face were covered with little cuts.

Small dottings of blood spotted his shirt.He created thecoruesci.He is linked to it, and it to him. Kill him and it dies, but damage it and you damage him. Kerrigan looked down at the stone hand clawing its way up through the floor.Of course.

Kerrigan deliberately faced away from the battle and knelt beside Magarric. He grabbed the old elf by the shoulders, spun him around, and dragged him into a hug from behind. Magarric thrashed as more draconettes shot and the echo of Quiarsca stabbing the floor again filled the building. Kerrigan hung on tightly and forced the cacophony of screams and explosions from his mind.

He opened himself to the flow of magick and quickly sought a current full of power and purity. He reached out and captured it, then directed it into a healing spell. He cast it on Magarric but, try though he might, he could not escape being dragged into the vortex of pain that filled the old elf.

For Kerrigan it was all but unimaginable. Magarric had been alive before Spritha and Men entered the world. He had lost kin and friends; he had loved many times and known heartbreak many more. The creation of Vorquellyn had been joyous, but the knowledge that something greater was being destroyed to give it birth tore at him. He had seen so much, had lived so many lifetimes, then had his realm taken from him, despoiled, and left to fester in corruption.

The human fell into the elf's life and felt his attention being dragged in all directions. Kerrigan fought to keep himself together, but he felt like oil poured on an infinite sea. He might calm the water, but he was being pulled to the point of transparency.

He focused on healing Magarric's wounds. The cuts from the axes, the pinp.r.i.c.ks from the draconette b.a.l.l.s, and the vicious stabs that Quiarsca continued to inflict, all drained life from Magarric. She drove the staff into his flesh-into our flesh-and twisted it. Tendrils of pain flooded through them-us-and the part that was yet Kerrigan struggled to repair the damage. He sought out every other anomaly and malady. He pushed the encysted stone from his chest, found even more ancient scars, and repaired them.

Kerrigan plunged through the center of Magarric's being and into thecoruesciitself. He could see all that was happening from every angle, all at once. The Loquelves had driven into theturekadine, but had been surrounded. Some of the Aurolani creatures raced past them and engaged Grey Misters. One of the turekadinebroke free and sprinted, with a b.l.o.o.d.y sword upraised, toward Kerrigan's back. The youth knew the sword would just bounce off the armor, so wasn't concerned.

Resolute, dueling with aturekadine, and Bok, blastingnyressanuwith spells, never saw theturekadineget loose, though Quiarsca did. She laughed triumphantly, driving her staff deep enough to crack an entire step.

That stab shook Magarric. Kerrigan could feel the damage penetrating to the elf's heart. One more strike and she would kill him. She knew that; he could read it on her face and in the slow, deliberate way she pulled the staff free and raised it for one final thrust. No one was near enough to her to stop her.

Except me.

Kerrigan sought inside himself quickly and pushed a spell out through Magarric and into thecoruesci.

Quiarsca's staff came down. The glittering, needle-sharp point sped toward the crack in the wood. The wound already wept with golden sap. The staff would gouge deeper than before, through to the heartwood. It would kill Magarric, kill thecoruesci, and complete the subjugation of Vorquellyn with one swift stroke.

Only the staff came apart in Quiarsca's grasp. Fashioned from a single emerald crystal, the staff shattered as dragonbone armor rose to shield the wound. Sharp slivers of green crystal pierced her hands, face, torso, and thighs. By reflex she raised her hands to her face, further shredding her flesh. She screamed, blood flowing from the empty eyes.

Magarric's consciousness flooded through Kerrigan.What have you done? You gave your armor to us.

You are defenseless.

Kerrigan closed his eyes and waited for theturekadinesword to split him crown to waist.Youmustlive.

Distantly, as if from a thousand leagues away, he heard Resolute scream his name. Closer he heard the turekadine'slabored breath. He could feel the thunder of the footfalls. He braced for the hiss of sword through air and that initial crack, as the sword shattered his skull. He half wondered if he'd hear the pops of parting vertebrae. With his last conscious thought, he shoved Magarric away so the blow would not kill him, too.

The blow seemed to take forever to land. Kerrigan half wondered if that was because the legends were true: that in the moment of death your life flashed before your eyes. With so long a wait he'd have enough time, he thought, to watch Magarric's life, too.Hurry, now, be done with it!

He expected a hiss and a crack.

He got a squeal and a gurgle.

Kerrigan spun and rolled onto his back as the sword that would have cloven him in two dropped to the ground with a clatter. There, a good twelve feet in the air, theturekadinestruggled. Its legs thrashed. Its eyes bulged. Its tongue protruded from its mouth, rapidly turning purple. It clawed at the hand wrapped around its throat, but those efforts weakened quickly, then its hands went limp.

Standing there, facing away from Kerrigan, was a man-shaped thing of stone. It was the same obsidian of the hand that had been sticking out of the floor.That was the rock I pushed out of Magarric. The figure had to be at least eight feet tall, and far broader than Will had ever been.Broader even than Dranae.

Kerrigan scrambled to his feet and slapped the figure on the back. "Don't worry, Will, we'll get you out of here. There has to be a way. Thank you."

The creature turned its head toward him. It had no ears, no nose, no mouth. It had no eyes per se, though two spots on its face glowed red-gold, as had the lava that had consumed Will. It regarded him for a moment, then its head swiveled back and faced the battle, with the deadturekadinestill dangling from its upheld hand.

Kerrigan looked toward the entrance just in time to see Quiarsca scrambling up the bloodied steps. She was trying to escape, blindly clawing her way along on hands and knees. She did her best to move swiftly, but the very wood seemed to impede her. Her hands rose with difficulty, and her robe stuck to the steps.

Magarric chuckled. "That which does not kill us makes us very testy. She is going nowhere."

Resolute slashed his way past the lastturekadine, then bounded up the stairs to where thesullanciri struggled. She turned to look at him, and her left hand came up as if in supplication. She rolled onto her back, her hair caught in the sap that had risen at Magarric's bidding.

With a simple thrust, Resolute drove Syverce through her heart. She stiffened at once and, though her muscles then slackened, her body hung there on the steps, trapped. More sap flowed, welling up around her, slowly encapsulating her corpse.

Elsewhere Bok burned the life from the last of thenyressanu. Trawyn knelt beside one of her company and closed his eyes. Wounded Grey Misters looted the bodies of theturekadine, several of them brandishing draconettes. Resolute, at the top of the stairs, pointed toward the doorway.

"You've closed us in."

"I've closed them out." Magarric strode forward. "Let those who are wounded smear their hurts with the sap from the stairs. It will speed healing. For the dead I can do nothing but offer my tears."

Kerrigan ran after him and caught him by the shoulder. "What about Will? What can you do about him?"

Magarric turned. "Who is Will?"

Kerrigan pointed at the stone figure still holding up the deadturekadine. "That is Will. Will is in there. We have to get him out."

Trawyn, Bok, and Resolute reached Kerrigan and Magarric as the ancient elf shook his head. "You did not come for Will. You came for theNorrington. There he is."

Kerrigan's stomach collapsed in on itself. He stumbled back and would have sat down hard, but Resolute's hands steadied him. "What?"

"Oh, Kerrigan, we didn't listen."

"What do you mean? I don't understand!"

Resolute's voice tightened. "Oracle said the Norrington was waiting for us. She never saidWill. Will died on Vael, b.u.t.the Norringtonsurvived."

Tears began to blur Kerrigan's vision. "How?" He began to sob. "How can that be? I didn't save him then, and I wanted to save him now. How..."

Resolute shifted and hugged Kerrigan tight. "I don't know, Kerrigan, but I can guess. Will wasn't really Will, you know."

"I know. His name was Wilburforce. He told me."

"Well, maybe Will was just part of the Norrington. The part of him that had to get to a point where he could change. And somehow he knew it. Just like his father and grandfather had changed, so would he.

We lost Will on Vael, but here we find the Norrington."

Something fluttered against Kerrigan's stomach. Qwc struggled free of the cloth-and-leather coc.o.o.n, then flew straight toward the obsidian figure. Qwc circled him once, then landed on his right shoulder.

The Spritha cupped all four hands to its mouth and whispered where an ear should have been.