Return of the Sorceress (30 page)

The kender blinked and looked at Davyn. “Sorry, Davyn. I guess I needed to rest, but I feel better now.”

“Good.” Davyn shoved the Daystar into Sindri’s hands. “This thing is supposed to be able to counter magic spells. Do you think you can use it to banish Asvoria’s spirit from Nearra’s body?”

Sindri gazed down at the sun-shaped medallion and ran his fingers over its surface. “I’m not certain …”

Davyn looked over his shoulder. Raedon, who’d climbed all the way onto the top of the tower, had wrapped his tail around the scorpion’s to hold its stinger at bay. But the monster had clasped the dragon’s neck in its pincers and was squeezing as hard as it could. Elidor was hacking away at Kuruk with a dagger, but the undead elf ignored the blows. He reached out and touched Elidor’s chest. Elidor cried out and slumped to the ground, shivering as if caught in a terrible wintery blast. Catriona fended off the Shiriki’s sword with her dragon claws. Ayanti used her hooves to lash out at Oddvar.

Finally, Sindri said, “I think I can do it, Davyn.”

Davyn helped Sindri to his feet and the kender held the medallion in his left hand while raising his right. His eyes took on a rainbow-colored cast and tendrils of mist curled from the fingers of his left hand to wrap around the Daystar.

Asvoria turned in the kender’s direction as if she sensed the release of his magic.

“By Takhisis’ dark soul!” she swore. The sorceress gestured and suddenly the bone-griffin clattered to life. It lunged toward Sindri and Davyn grabbed his friend and dove out of the way of the monster’s slashing talons. Sindri and Davyn slammed down on the tower’s stone roof, the medallion flew out of the kender’s hand, and the mystic tendrils vanished.

The Daystar slid toward Kuruk. The elf was crouching over the shivering Elidor as if about to deliver a death stroke. But when he saw the medallion, Kuruk leaped for it and snatched it up.

Asvoria laughed in triumph as Kuruk hurried over and offered the Daystar to her.

“For you, my mistress,” he said.

The sorceress’ eyes shone with greed as she grabbed the medallion out of Kuruk’s hand. She then favored her servant with a triumphant smile. “You have done well, Frostclaw. As a reward, I release you from my service.” She gestured and Kuruk’s body stiffened.

Tendrils of a black shadowy substance drifted from the elf’s mouth and nostrils. The darkness rose rapidly into the air above the tower, where it coalesced into the silhouette of a dragon. The great beast hovered above the keep for a moment and then it flapped its dark wings. The motion caused the shadows that formed the dragon-spirit to disperse, streaking away in all directions until they were gone.

Kuruk’s body remained upright for another few seconds before it went limp and collapsed lifeless to the tower roof, like a puppet whose strings had been severed.

“No!” Shiriki shouted. She ran toward Asvoria, tears streaming down her face, sword gripped tight in her hand.

“Spare me,” Asvoria said. She pointed a finger at the attacking elf, and a gout of flame burst forth.

Just as the fire-bolt was about to engulf Shiriki, Elidor leaped forward and knocked her aside. The two elves tumbled to the roof, unhurt, as the flames struck only empty stone several feet away.

Shiriki sat up and looked at Elidor in amazement. “You saved me. Why?”

Elidor shrugged, still trembling from the frigid touch of the dracolich. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

Shiriki smiled wryly. “My hero.”

“You people don’t seem to understand who you’re dealing with,” Asvoria said, her face twisted into a mask of fury. “I am Asvoria, one of the most powerful wizards this world has ever seen. And I do not take kindly to interference of any sort. When I try to kill someone, I expect that person to die. End of discussion.”

The sorceress pointed at the two elves and released another blast of flame.

Elidor took hold of Shiriki’s hand, obviously intending to pull her to safety, but she shoved him away from her as hard as she could. Elidor flew backwards just as flames engulfed Shiriki. For an instant, she gazed into Elidor’s eyes with an expression of gratitude and perhaps even love.

Being of magical origin, the flames burned out quickly, leaving behind only a blackened, smoldering husk.

Elidor and the others stared in shock at what was left of Shiriki.

“Enough of this foolishness,” Asvoria said. “Ophion, to me!”

The scorpion released Raedon without hesitation and turned toward its mistress. As it went to her, it shifted form once more, becoming a giant eagle. Ophion flapped its wings, took Asvoria by the shoulders, and carried her aloft. The bone-griffin launched into the air and flapped its leather wings as if obeying an unspoken command to follow.

Asvoria was escaping and she had the Daystar.

Davyn felt despair well up inside him. It’s over. We’ve failed … and I’ve lost Nearra forever.

He almost gave up then, and he would have, if it hadn’t been for one thing: he loved Nearra, and he would sooner die than fail her.

Davyn ran to Raedon.

“Can you fly?”

“I can glide,” the dragon said. “But I don’t know how long I can remain airborne.”

They couldn’t pursue Asvoria then. Davyn thought fast. There had to be another way.

“Catriona, get on Raedon’s back! Raedon, go after the griffin and do your best to get underneath it!”

The dragon looked as if he was going to ask why, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded.

Catriona didn’t hesitate. She dropped her dragon clawsand leaped onto Raedon’s back. The copper dragon ran to the edge of the roof and jumped into the air. Catriona held tight to Raedon’s scaly neck as he began to glide after the eagle and the griffin. Even wounded, Raedon began to close the distance between them.

Davyn wished he had his bow, but the goblins had taken his weapons from him earlier. He ran to Elidor. The elf was still staring at Shiriki’s remains, tears glistening in his eyes.

“Quick, give me your bow!”

Elidor looked up at Davyn and frowned, not comprehending at first. But then he reached for his bow and handed it to his friend. Davyn plucked an arrow from his friend’s quiver, then ran to the edge of the tower. The young ranger nocked the arrow, and took careful aim.

Forgive me, Nearra, he thought, and released the arrow.

The feathered shaft shot through the air and thunked into Asvoria’s hand—the hand that held the Daystar. The sorceress
screamed and she released her grip on the Daystar. The mystic medallion plummeted toward the ground.

“Ophion!” Asvoria shouted, cradling her wounded hand against her stomach. “The Daystar!”

Ophion banked and descended toward the falling medallion, but it was slowed by the weight of its mistress. Before they could get halfway to the Daystar, Raedon flew beneath and Catriona snatched the Daystar out of the air.

Asvoria screamed in rage and Ophion continued flying toward Raedon, but the copper dragon opened his mouth and shot a stream of acid at the giant eagle. Ophion managed to dodge most of the acid, though a few drops landed on his wings and singed the feathers.

As Raedon banked and prepared to return to the tower, the bone-griffin streaked toward the copper dragon. The undead creature lashed out with its claws, striking Raedon’s injured wing. Blood and pus burst from the wound and the dragon shrieked in pain. Raedon lurched and dropped half a dozen feet, nearly dislodging Catriona, but the warrior held on. Just as it looked as if Raedon would plunge to the ground, taking Catriona with him, he managed to stop his descent and came gliding unsteadily back toward the tower.

“Look out!” Davyn shouted.

Elidor, Ayanti, and Sindri moved to the edge of the roof, and Davyn, against his better judgment, pulled Maddoc’s unconscious form out of harm’s way.

As Raedon approached the roof, the copper dragon held out his legs in preparation to land, but before he could touch down, his wounded wing gave out, and he fell. Catriona leaped off Raedon’s back in time to avoid being crushed as the dragon slammed onto his side, his injured wing taking the brunt of the impact with a sickening snap of breaking bone.

The dragon slid to a halt and lay still, moaning in pain.

Catriona held up the Daystar. “We got it!” she shouted.

Davyn looked up into the night sky. “It’s too late,” he said in a hollow, defeated voice. “She’s out of range.”

Davyn stepped to the tower’s edge and watched as the sorceress flew eastward on the back of a gigantic eagle, the bone-griffin following behind. The ranger clutched the top of a stone crenelation with a white-knuckled grip and struggled to control the rage and sorrow seething within his heart.

He continued to watch until Asvoria was swallowed by the night and he could see her no more.

    D
avyn sat in Maddoc’s study, staring at the tapestry that depicted Asvoria. The fireplace held only ashes, and a single candle resting on the side table near the carved wooden chair provided the sole illumination for the room. The lack of light kept the tapestry shrouded in shadow, appropriately enough, Davyn thought.

He heard the door open, but he didn’t turn around to see who it was. He didn’t care.

“How are you doing?” Ayanti asked.

He looked away from the tapestry and into the concerned face of his childhood friend. But she hadn’t come alone: Elidor, Catriona, and Sindri stood with her, and they all looked just as concerned as the centaur.

He turned away from his friends and looked back up at the tapestry. “What does it matter?” he said. “We’ve failed. Nearra’s gone and Asvoria’s free to work her evil upon the land.”

“We stopped Maddoc,” Sindri pointed out. “That’s something.”

Davyn shrugged. “And how is my ‘dear father’ doing?”

“Resting in his room,” Catriona said. “He’s weak as a kitten but I think he’ll live.”

“You didn’t tie him up?” Davyn whirled around. “Are you crazy? He’ll kill us all!”

Catriona put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Maddoc claims he’s lost his powers. And I believe it. He actually tried using his magic when we were taking him to his room and he couldn’t. He could barely walk. He said the battle had taken everything out of him.”

“We’ll see about that,” Davyn muttered. “What about Oddvar?”

“We searched the grounds for his body,” Elidor said, “but we found no sign of it.”

Davyn turned to look at his friend. “Are you telling me he somehow survived a fall from the top of the tower?”

“I’m telling you only that we couldn’t locate his body,” Elidor replied. “Perhaps some predator made off with it. Though I must admit, I saw no evidence that such a thing occurred.”

“Oddvar is one of the most devious beings I’ve ever met,” Catriona said. “He’s far too sneaky to die from something so simple as a fall.”

“So he’s still out there somewhere,” Davyn said. “What about the goblins?”

“Gone,” Elidor answered. “They fled during the battle with Asvoria, and it appears they continued running until they’d abandoned the keep altogether.”

“Maddoc’s other servants fled as well,” Catriona added. “I don’t know why. Perhaps they were glad to be free of their master at last or perhaps they were afraid of what we might do to them. At any rate, they’re all gone.”

“And Raedon?” Davyn asked.

“He managed to crawl down the side of the tower and into the courtyard,” Ayanti said. “I made a bed for him out of straw there and he’s resting. He’s badly injured. His wing was completely
shattered when he landed on the tower’s roof. Worse, an infection seems to have been released into his bloodstream. He’s going to need quite a bit of care if he’s to have any hope of recovering.”

“I tried to use my magic to help him,” Sindri said, “but whatever the true nature of my powers are, it seems that healing is beyond them.”

Davyn raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you’re not tired after using your magic.”

“I feel fine,” Sindri said. “Every time I cast a spell, it gets easier. Now I feel tired only for a few moments afterward. I hope that soon I won’t feel any aftereffects at all.”

“That’s good,” Davyn said, though in truth he had no idea whether it was or wasn’t. There was so much they didn’t know about Sindri’s mysterious new powers.

“So what do we do next, Davyn?” asked Catriona.

“What do you mean?” He stood and turned to face his friends. “Don’t you get it? We
lost!
There is no
next!
It’s over!”

“I understand how you feel, Davyn,” Elidor said.

“No, you don’t!” But then Davyn saw the sorrow in his friend’s eyes and he realized that Elidor did understand. Davyn had lost Nearra to Asvoria and Elidor had lost Shiriki to the sorceress’ flames.

He put a hand on Elidor’s shoulder. “Sorry. I forgot.”

Elidor smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It’s been a long night for all of us. The question now is what can we do to get Nearra back?”

Davyn removed his hand from Elidor’s shoulder and gestured toward the tapestry.

“Even if we could find a way to track Asvoria, how could we hope to defeat her? She’s too powerful.”

“I don’t know,” Elidor admitted. “But we have the entire keep at our disposal, all of Maddoc’s spell books and magical items.
There must be
something
here that we can use. Maybe Maddoc would even help us?”