The Elf King (68 page)

Then everything shifted,
tilting downward. Xtalt was hit in the right wing and they were
spinning out of control. The ground became a blur as they sped
towards it. The last thing Tane thought of was of his
brother.

Q
enn staggered along through the choking tunnel feeling
lightheaded and dizzy. He was hot, sweating through his clothing,
struggling to keep a steady pace. He blamed it on the air, or the
lack there of. He slowed, resting his narrow frame against the
stone wall. Staring down at the hundreds of footsteps in the dirt,
he realized that he could hear something moving towards him. It was
powerful enough not to be concerned at all about hiding its
approach. Steadily it came. Closer. Closer.

Qenn pressed himself tight
against the wall in an attempt to hide. But even doing so, he knew
he would be found and the evil lurking would attack him without
pause. His heart was pummeling his chest. He was terrified. Wide
eyes stared, waiting. When it became close enough to see, he would
use the staff. He saw no other way around it. Just enough to
destroy what was coming after him; no more than what was
needed.

As he thought about it, he
found it strange how he did not feel the staff urging him. The
tight orb of light around the staff reassured him that it was ready
for his signal. But he did not hear it. Or did he? There was
something whispering to him softly, just out of reach. It had been
there for so long now that he had simply grown used to it. Thinking
of that made him realize that he felt something else as well.
Something dark was in his midst. In the shadows just out of the
light? Running towards him, or waiting for him to move closer? Its
presence was unmistakable; it was dark and formidable. He felt it
against him, as if it were a coat he was wearing. But he saw
nothing. Qenn pressed his body harder against the stone and dirt
wall, but doing so only made the strange feel become more evident.
He became mad that he could not locate the source of the intrusion,
mad that it felt like everything was slipping out of his control,
mad that he was alone. Then the whispering grew louder, bitter and
malevolent. And then he realized it was the magic. The tunnel was
laced with it. And now he was.

Qenn panicked then. He
brushed his hands against himself in a frantic fashion to wipe off
the evil clinging to him. But that was not enough. It was in the
air. It was in his lungs. It was making him dizzy. It was making
him nauseous. He was cold, sweating chills.
How did things get so far wrong?
But
he was right. The magic in the tunnel was taking control of him. He
felt insignificant, small and vulnerable. Leaving Kandish had been
a mistake, he sadly realized.

What have I
done?

Then the footsteps were so
close that he had to fight off his urge to jump out of hiding
prematurely. It would kill him. Everything in the tunnel would. It
would do anything to make sure he did not use the
LifeWaters’
power. Act
fast, he thought. Don’t hesitate. Don’t give it a
second...

Then he saw it out of the
corner of his eye. Qenn’s stomach was rolling in nervousness; he
could not take it anymore. He quickly jumped out in front of it
with the staff pointed, already loosening the reins, finally
letting go of everything that bound the magic to the staff. He
screamed in vengeance, cutting all restrictions, sending the magic
in the staff bursting free. White light erupted, filling the
tunnel, smashing into Qenn’s attacker.

Qenn saw his enemy
engulfed in a brilliant white fire and felt relieved. The release
was such a wondrous feeling, it put his nerves at peace. Then he
saw something. He blinked in confusion. His eyes focused sharper
into the blinding light.
Kandish? Could it
be? Wait!
He was so disoriented that he
did not fully understand what was taking place until he felt the
staff go cold, the light dying. As the staff emptied out, he stared
dumbfounded.

The magic struck Kandish,
holding her fast, binding her motionless, pouring into her with
abandoned mercy. She screamed painfully before her voice died away,
lost within the humming of the magic consuming her.

Kandish’s body was coated
in the
LifeWaters’
power. Her body held the light for a second, then it absorbed
in her, vanishing beneath her skin. Before Qenn could do or say
anything, she fell to the ground.

“
T
ake my hand!” Ern shouted,
staring down at the man on the ground. The bandage wrapped around
his right thigh was damp with blood. But Ern showed no sign of
pain.

Tane was dizzy as he looked
up to see a set of determined eyes and an outstretched hand. As the
dizziness washed and he remembered what had happened, Tane looked
around for Slina and Xtalt. He found them a few yards away. Slina
was checking over Xtalt, which was making a high-pitched groan.
Slina was moving gently. But it looked like they were fine. Using
his right arm to reach Ern’s hand, Tane accepted the help. Ern
pulled him to his feet.

“
Are you alright?” Ern
shouted.

“
Yeah, I think so.” Tane
extended his hand, Ern shook it hard. “Thank you.”

Slina raced over to them
then. She told them that Xtalt had suffered minor injuries and
simply needed to rest. It had cloaked itself and would not be seen
by anyone. When it was ready, it would find her. “No one will ever
find him. So don’t worry.”

Wails of terror swept
across the Shyl then, instantly followed by a thunderous eruption
that shook the ground beneath them. Tane paused, dropping to one
knee cautiously. Ern and Slina followed as they watched a fireball
smolder the ground yards away from them. Then they saw
Takers
sweeping through
it. A line of axe men came rushing towards the
Takers
, swinging valiantly. But
the
Takers
were
too much for them. One by one they died.

“
We’ve got to help them!”
Ern screamed, already moving towards the fight.

But as they began to run,
Tane stopped. His head turning in every direction.

“
What is it?” Slina asked,
noticing the worried expression.

Tane shook his head. “I’ve
lost the sword.”

“
Take these!” Ern shouted,
handing Tane a set of daggers.

Tane shook his head,
passing the daggers to Slina. “You don’t understand. I need
that
sword!”

Ern saw the worry in Tane’s
eyes, but he didn’t have time for insecurities. One sword was as
good as another. Then Ern saw something in the grass behind them.
It was an axe. He raced to it, pulling it out of the dirt, then
thrusting it into Tane’s hand.

“
Here! Let’s
go!”

Without waiting for a
reply, Ern charged forward into the swarm of demons. Tane ran
beside him, Slina next to him. Her slender form moved effortlessly,
her delicate hands held Ern’s daggers. Tane could not shake the
feeling that he had just handed over victory to the
Takers
. The sword was
lost. There was no time to find it.

Then Ern was attacking,
swinging his sword rapidly into the nightmares sweeping their magic
in a frantic attempt to destroy him. But Ern was faster, slicing
and stabbing his way through their midst in a madness unchecked.
Then Tane and Slina were fighting beside him.
Takers
attacked them from every
angle. Soon they were circled.

Tane felt his fingers begin
to tingle. It was happening again, he thought.

“
Tane!” Slina cried,
watching him fight. “What is it?”

Before Tane could make
sense of her question, he felt the axe grow hot. Looking up, he
watched it turn a shade of red. It was the magic. Astonished, he
turned back to his attackers rushing in quickly. Red fire was
already burning the air between them. Red fire coiled around the
axe, shooting an arc around the
Takers
. As the light touched them,
they exploded in a shower of burning ash. Tane spun then, sending
his fury in a circle around them, spreading out into the oncoming
threats. Slina and Ern stood motionless, watching in awe as the
magic destroyed the
Takers
like light in the darkness.

“
What was that?” gasped Ern
Dwull. “You have magic!”

Then red fire slammed into
Tane’s weapon as several
Takers
advanced from behind them. The shock sent the axe
hurtling out of Tane’s hands. Another volley slammed into the
ground at his feet. Tane lost his footing and fell, toppling
backward, his left hand landing on a broken arrow. It pierced his
flesh and he began bleeding. As Ern and Slina stood protectively
around him, Tane saw his hand brighten. He stared in disbelief.
Tiny beads of fire trickled out of his skin where the arrow
scratched him. Tane panicked, wiping his palm with his fingers,
spreading the fire further across his hand.

“
This can’t be,” he
whispered to himself. “What have they done to me?”

He ignored Ern’s pleas for
him to rise and fight, he was too overwhelmed by what he discovered
and what it meant.

“
They are coming!” cried
Slina. “Tane, get up!”

Red lights flashed by Tane,
slamming into the ground beside him, showering him with soil. Then
Ern was yanking at him, screaming at him to rise or he would die.
As Tane brought his attention to the present emergency, he saw his
hand turning redder, as more blood covered it. He swallowed
hard.

Then the ground exploded
underneath him. Everything went black. In the few seconds it took
for him to hit the ground, he saw Slina and Ern screaming as they
were sent toppling backwards, lost in the charred earth shower.
Tane hit the ground hard; the air in his lungs disappeared, leaving
him gasping for life. As he lay on his back, a set of red eyes
towered over him. Then another. As Tane realized what it meant, he
watched their fingertips burn red.

“
No!”
Tane screamed. He had no weapon. Ern and Slina were elsewhere,
maybe dead. As their hands brightened, readying their magic to
devour his life, Tane scrambled to his feet to flee. But in the
rush to do so, he accidentally brushed his bleeding hand against
the leg of a
Taker
. As he felt his hand hit the
cloak then the leg, he looked up in surprise. The blood from his
hand ignited the
Taker
in a flame that melted it into nothing. It happened so fast
that Tane barely saw it take place.

But the other
Takers
did not miss
it.

Takers
shrieked anew as Tane’s bleeding hand began to radiate with
flames. Tane stood to his feet. Immediately they shot their energy
at Tane, but they were too slow. Red and yellow light spewed from
Tane’s hand in a wide arc, devouring the evilness circling him.
Tane felt the sensation run through him, watching it unfold as
though it was happening to someone else. But there it was, his own
hand, burning with a light that the
Takers
could not withstand. In
seconds the land was cleared.

For a hundred yards around
him nothing moved. Ern and Slina rose from their bellies and came
to his side. Their faces mirrored Tane’s own wonders.