Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (54 page)

She felt the split-second hesitation while Dael caught and held fast to his courage, then he brought his horse so close to hers that they were almost touching. ‘All right,’ he said.
‘What do we do?’

‘First I’m going to use a spell to take a firm control of the minds of our horses, and make them utterly oblivious to what’s going on here, otherwise they’ll never be
able to stand being so close to all this magic.’ Iriana cast the enchantment even as she spoke, and felt the trembling animal grow calm beneath her. ‘I want to stay mounted so that we
can be mobile, but—’

Then it happened. Suddenly Hellorin found a chink in the defences of the tiring Archwizard. Like a hammer blow his magic smashed through, and Cyran reeled, then came crashing down like a mighty
tree, transfixed through his heart by a gigantic spear of ice. Even as he fell, he shrank to normal size, and before he hit the ground, he breathed no more.

The agony of the Archwizard’s death, intensified by its closeness to Iriana, almost sent her toppling from the saddle. She doubled over, her head swimming, her every nerve jangling from
the shock of such intense pain – then Dael’s hand grasped her arm, giving her an anchor point to cling to as she mastered the torment and pulled herself back under control.

‘Die, Cyran,’ Hellorin howled in triumph. ‘Die as your Wizardfolk will die, crushed like insects by the might of the Phaerie.’

Then he turned, and his eye fell on Iriana.

‘You!’ he roared. ‘And with no Windeye friend to help you this time. Prepare to meet your fate, Wizard filth. Nothing can save you now.’

The Wizard took a deep breath and got her turmoil of emotions – the grief and anger at Cyran’s death, her dread at the damage Hellorin was causing to the area around him and her fear
of the half-crazed Forest Lord – under control. Suddenly calm, she dipped into the leather pouch round her neck and took out the Fialan, holding the glowing green stone aloft. ‘Not even
this
?’

Her words were a challenge flung into Hellorin’s teeth, and in her hand the Stone of Fate flared with fierce, blinding brilliance, as if recognising its old enemy. She saw the Phaerie Lord
flinch, saw the flicker of dread and doubt in his eyes – then he mastered himself. Through Dael’s eyes, Iriana saw the slight straightening of his stance, saw his eyes and mouth harden
in determination – and so was ready when a split second later a great bolt of utter blackness came hurtling at her.

At her command, the Fialan in her hand flared even brighter, surrounding the Wizard and Dael with a sphere of emerald radiance. The dark missile splattered against this shield and burst into a
thousand jagged black shards. As it hit, Dael flinched and looked away.

‘Keep your eyes on him!’ Iriana snapped.

Dael straightened in his saddle, looking abashed, and in gentler tones the Wizard added, ‘You’ve got to trust me, Dael. I can protect us – but only if I can see him.’

The Forest Lord, however, was looking at the mortal through narrowed eyes. With a chill, Iriana realised that she had given away her one point of weakness. It was imperative that she act before
he did.

Quickly, she strengthened the shield around her friend then, without waiting for Hellorin to strike again, she hurled a streak of dazzling white light – the first spell she contacted in
the Fialan’s memory – at him. As it hit his shield it turned into a gigantic, ice-white serpent that wrapped itself around him, tightening its coils around his shimmering silver shield
with increasing pressure. Its vivid cyan-blue eyes glinted dangerously, and its great fangs, each longer than Iriana was tall, glittered like diamonds with the Cold magic of the glacial Taku as
they scraped against Hellorin’s silvery magical barrier, seeking a weak point.

Iriana’s heart leapt to feel that the powers of her dearest friend among the Evanesar were on her side. The serpent’s coils tightened still further, and Hellorin began to shiver,
trying to cringe away from the searing, deathly chill that the Cold magic wrought. Iriana smiled a grim little smile to herself. The magic of the Wizardfolk was one thing, but the powers of the
Evanesar were something that Hellorin would never have expected to meet. Then she noticed something that wiped that smile from her face. Because of her spell, the flickering circle of unreality
around Eliorand had expanded a little further, and she realised to her dismay that every time she used her powers, the destruction to the fabric of space and time would be increased.

She had to finish this quickly, before the instability spread too far and too fast to be contained – but there was no more time for thinking. Hellorin suddenly turned into a tornado of
wildfire, a spinning column of flame that melted Iriana’s serpent into a hissing cloud of steam. Two long tentacles of fire snaked out to snatch at the Wizard and her companion and drag them
from their saddles.

Iriana reacted instinctively. Extending her arms in front of her, palms up, she threw them up into the air. ‘Earth Rise!’ she commanded. A broad section of the forest heaved like a
shaken quilt and rose up in a gigantic, cresting wave of soil, rocks and trees, that broke over Hellorin and came crashing down on top of his fiery tornado, smothering the flames.

Iriana slumped over her horse’s neck, panting and shaking with weariness after such a gargantuan effort, but there was to be no respite. The mound of earth that had covered the Forest Lord
erupted, exploding outwards in a shower of missiles that thundered down on the Wizard’s shield, and there stood Hellorin in the form of a gigantic wolf whose body seemed to be made up of
savage black storm clouds, with blue-white lightning crawling all over his massive form. His eyes burned with a fearful red light as his fanged jaws opened in an ear-shattering snarl loud enough to
echo halfway round the world.

Before Iriana had time to act he sprang at her – but this time Dael kept his eyes fixed resolutely on the horror. The Fialan pulsed like a beating heart in the Wizard’s hand, and out
of it soared a colossal eagle with outspread wings made of scintillating light. ‘Aurora!’ the Wizard gasped. Again and again the great bird struck at the wolf, its beak and talons
extended, tearing great chunks out of the storm-wrought hide that bled lightning like rivers of searing blue-white fire. The great wings beat at Hellorin’s storm wolf, producing blinding
lightning flashes that forced him back until, unable to hold the spell together against such an onslaught, the Forest Lord changed again and stood there in his own gigantic form, exerting all his
powers of the Old Magic to shield himself against the eagle’s attack.

Though hope leapt in Iriana’s heart, she knew the battle was far from over. She had him on the defensive now – but how much longer could she contain the power of the Stone of Fate?
It burned and blazed throughout her body, wracking her with increasing pain as its power rose to meet the challenge of every spell and counterspell. Her entire body was being devoured by the
Stone’s blazing emerald nimbus – how long could she hold herself together under such strain? Chill fear ran through her. Now she was fighting a battle on two fronts: to meet and counter
the Phaerie Lord’s attacks, yet still stay strong enough to act as a conduit for the Fialan’s power.

Then suddenly a hand reached out, firm and steadfast, and grasped her own. Iriana felt some of the pain subside as part of the surplus energy drained away into Dael.

He mustn’t do this!
Frantically, Iriana tried to pull her hand away. The last time Dael had handled the Stone he would have died, save for the intervention of Athina. But there
was no going back now. The power of the Fialan linked them, and the tie could not be broken until the battle was done.

Events were at a stalemate. The great eagle that represented Aurora’s magic had now been joined once more by Taku’s serpent of ice, but Hellorin was concentrating all his power on
his shield, and even their conjoined spells could not penetrate the barrier. Iriana wondered if she could finish the fight with one sharp, concentrated blow, but that would leave her exposed and at
Hellorin’s mercy if she failed. The risk either way was tremendous, for if she simply stood her ground, she risked burning out not only herself but the weaker mortal at her side.

The Wizard had been concentrating so hard on her struggle with Hellorin that there had been no chance to watch the patch of instability that was spreading inexorably out from Eliorand. She
reached a decision and gathered in all her will for one tremendous strike at the Forest Lord – and at that moment the circle of unreality reached them, engulfing both Lord of the Phaerie and
Wizard in its shimmering wavefront.

For an instant, Iriana was overcome by nausea and disorientation. She felt as if she were about to fly apart. Then suddenly the Stone of Fate seemed to pulse in her hand, and quite clearly she
heard the mighty voice of Denali. ‘Fear not, little friend. This is
my
moment now. At last I can deal with the upstart Hellorin and his Phaerie folk.’

Like a roaring torrent, the power of the Great One surged out of Iriana, engulfing Hellorin in blazing green light and spreading beyond him to encompass Eliorand and all its inhabitants. Then,
as if the torrent had reversed direction, the massive magical force turned back and poured in the opposite direction – back through the Stone of Fate. Iriana felt herself expanding, diffusing
into the great nimbus of emerald light that became a portal, a gateway into the realm of the Evanesar. Now she could feel the colossal power of Denali working through her, reaching out to Hellorin
and his Phaerie realm, drawing them through her, back into the Elsewhere. Then suddenly the torrent was gone, the portal closed – and reality reasserted itself.

Utterly drained, limp with exhaustion, Iriana looked through Dael’s disbelieving eyes at the place where Eliorand, the heart of the Phaerie realm, had stood. Now there was nothing save a
great, craggy, tree-covered hill that reared proudly above the surrounding forest – the only remaining memorial to a lost civilisation.

Then suddenly everything went dark. Dael’s hand slid limply out of her own, and Iriana felt him slip from the saddle and heard the muted thump as he hit the ground. All through the
staggering transition that had just occurred, he had been linked to her by the power of the Fialan, and, as she had feared, the power had proved too much for the frail form of a mortal to bear.

Aghast and stricken with grief, Iriana switched her eyesight to that of her horse. Unaccustomed to this close rapport it fought her, but the Wizard was so desperate to reach her fallen companion
that she was in no state of mind to be gainsaid. Ruthlessly imposing her will upon the animal, she used its vision to guide them both down to where Dael lay, limp and broken, on the ground.

~

B
efore Iriana began her desperate battle with Hellorin, Aelwen found Taine by searching the area of the forest’s edge near his trapped horse.
Even with all her years of equestrian experience and skill, it took the Horsemistress a long time to persuade her terrified mount to come anywhere near the horrifying conflict that was taking place
between the Archwizard and the Forest Lord, but finally she managed to coax the frightened creature up to the tree where Taine lay across a sturdy branch. He was moving slightly, much to her
relief, and therefore still alive, but his face was grey and contorted with pain.

Aelwen brought her horse up close to hover at his level, wondering with a flash of concern just how long Corisand’s flying spell could last without the Fialan to bolster the
Windeye’s powers while she was in her equine form. Still, it was pointless to wonder, and she had other matters to concern her at present. ‘Taine?’ she asked urgently. ‘How
badly are you hurt? Can you move?’

He turned his head and glared at her. ‘I told you to get away.’

‘And I ignored you.’ A little of Aelwen’s relief at finding him alive evaporated in irritation. ‘Which is just as well for you, as far as I can see. Now can you
move
?’

Taine tried to hoist himself up astride the branch but his cloak was caught on a splintered snag above him. He collapsed back into his former position with a gasping curse, sweat running down
his grimacing face. ‘Broken a rib or two,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘Might need a little help here.’

‘Wait, I’ll bring your horse. His bridle caught in a tree, or he’d be halfway to Tyrineld by now, but he looks all right apart from a few scrapes and scratches.’ Aelwen
had to raise her voice over the detonations accompanying the battle between Hellorin and Cyran, though the details of what was happening were obscured by the trees. It was difficult to untangle the
trapped animal and harder still to calm him down once he had been released. She was forced for her own safety to take him down to ground level, and had only just managed to get the creature under
control when she heard Cyran’s death scream, and saw the trees whip back and forth as the earth shook with the impact of his fall.

Taine’s strangled dry of anguish brought her out of a frozen moment of shock. She leapt back onto her own mount, then, leading the other, hurried back to where her lover was still trapped
in the tree. As she reached him she was shocked to see tears running down his face, but his voice was steady as he spoke. ‘Quick! Get me out of this bloody tree. Now that Cyran’s gone,
there’ll be no stopping Hellorin.’

‘Don’t worry. Iriana’s dealing with it,’ Aelwen said absently, as she disentangled the tattered remains of his cloak from the splintered spike of bough.

‘WHAT?’ There was a loud ripping noise as Taine wrenched himself free of the encumbrance and hoisted himself upright, oblivious now to the pain. ‘Why in perdition didn’t
you tell me? We have to help her.’

‘We have to get away,’ Aelwen panted as she helped him pull himself awkwardly into his saddle. ‘The Wizard is dealing with Hellorin. She has the power of the Fialan to draw on,
but there’s nothing we can do against his magic, or I would help her with all my heart.’ Her voice took on a new urgency as she saw the stubborn tightening of his jaw. ‘Taine, she
came back to buy us time – at least, that was one of the reasons. Don’t let this opportunity go to waste.’