Rendel, the remnants of his cloak wrapped around him, started to sit again. It was not clear whether he desired to continue with his pointless laughter, but Dru knew that listening to that much longer would drive him insane.
“There may be a way back… if you’ll listen to me.”
“There is no way back!”
Dru stepped closer. “I crossed to the shrouded realm and back again. It’s possible.”
For the first time, hope crossed the Tezerenee’s scarred visage. Dru wondered what he had gone through over in the other domain.
“Possible?”
“It is.”
Drawing himself straight, Rendel managed a shadow of his old, arrogant self. “Then we can still win.”
Rendel’s widening eyes told Dru that the Tezerenee had finally noticed Xiri, who had joined them. A strange look crossed the battered figure’s face for the merest of moments. “Who is that?”
“Xiri. My friend and companion.” The description sounded inane and inefficient to Dru, but he was not about to attempt to define his growing relationship with Xiri at this time, not when he himself was not certain in what manner it had grown. “She’s an elf. We met on the other side, when both our lives were in danger.”
“An elf.” Rendel looked her over as one might look over a prize pet. “I had forgotten there were elves.”
“We have not forgotten the Vraad,” she returned, her voice chilling.
“So I see.” With each passing second, Rendel was becoming more and more his old self. Dru wondered if he had made a mistake.
His worries lessened a bit when the pale-haired Vraad turned back to him and asked, “What about this way across? How did you find it? Can we get there easily?”
“It found me.” Dru described his involuntary crossing and went into vagaries about how he had returned. Rendel’s eyes lit up at talk of the founders and the news that the golems’ purpose had been usurped made him smile.
“Father must have been furious.”
“I suppose.” Dru tried to remain unsuspicious. “I would have thought you’d have come across Barakas and the rest.”
“Circumstances separated me from where they were to arrive.” Rendel would say nothing more about the subject. Taken with what the Tezerenee had said during his less lucid moments, however, a specter of the truth began to form. It was not a truth Dru appreciated.
“Well.” The other Vraad crossed his arms. He still wore his tattered outfit, but no longer looked like one of the walking dead. His bearing was that of a man fully in control of his life. “What now?”
“We have to find whoever is left here. We all have to cross. I have this feeling that Nimth will be cut off at some point soon and left to rot. I don’t want to be left here to rot with it.”
“No, neither do I.” Rendel growled. His anger, it seemed, was for someone else, likely the guardian who had delivered him back to the dying world. “I have a suggestion, however.”
“What might that be?” Xiri asked, moving close to Dru, as if to show Rendel that the two of them were a united force. Neither Dru nor his companion wanted the Tezerenee to become the dominant partner. Their trust hardly ran that deep.
“Instead of seeking them out, let them come to us.”
“Why should they come to us?” Dru rubbed his chin. “They came here once, expecting to begin a new life, and were betrayed. Why should they come here again?”
Rendel uncrossed his arms and indicated himself. A wry smile spread across his face. “Tell them that you have a Tezerenee, myself in particular, and they will come with the speed that only the hunger for revenge can give them.”
He was offering himself as bait, in a ploy that could end in his slow, nigh-marish death. Dru had to admire his daring, if nothing else.
“They will blame everything on you,” the elf remarked needlessly.
“Concerned, little one? Let them, if it pleases them. They will forget when we show them there is a true path, one which would ensure they were never in debt to my father.”
“Only to us. Only to you,” Dru added.
“They might feel some debt to you, outsider, but not to an elf-whom you had better protect-or from me. From me it will only be a balancing of scales.”
“He is correct, Dru.”
“I know.” He did not trust Rendel, knowing there was too much that the Tezerenee had not told them. Yet, the plan had merit. Further argument would only waste time they might not have.
“The only question remains,” the other Vraad interjected, “is how to contact the rest. It will be a long task, I think. My own power works haphazardly, as yours likely does.”
Dru looked down at Xiri, who returned his gaze with a smile, too. “We have a way around that.”
Rendel glanced from one to the other, openly puzzled. “Do you really?”
It would have been impossible to perform the spell and keep their new companion from discovering the truth. Any attempt to hide their secret from Rendel would have only further weakened the bond they had forged. Dru wanted no trouble from the Tezerenee and admitted to himself that, of all other Vraad, it was Rendel who had the most knowledge concerning the shrouded realm, knowledge they might still need before all this was over.
“Step back.” The curious Tezerenee obeyed without question. Dru and Xiri sat, the better to concentrate fully on their new task. Alone or with another Vraad, Dru doubted the summoning could have been performed with so much chance for success. Even Rendel’s clan would have found themselves hard-pressed at this point. Oh, their summoning might have gone out, but not so clearly or so far. Besides, would anyone believe Dru if they knew that his supposed prisoner was aiding him in the spell?
Though much more complex due to the area that they were forced to cover, the spell proved far more willing than the last. What was sent out was not so much actual words, but images and sensations that repeated and repeated. Dru had intended on sending out an actual message, but it was Xiri who had performed that part of the spell and she had followed elfin ways. It really mattered little so long as what they desired was clear, but the end results reminded the sorcerer too much of the method by which the Seekers had communicated with him.
A glance at Rendel’s suddenly chalky features made him wonder how well the Tezerenee knew the avians.
Dru had hoped that Sharissa would be the first to respond, but as the minutes passed, his daughter made no attempt to contact him, though she had to have noted the message. Instead, when the first response did come, it was as if the maelstrom that he had been eyeing anxiously had finally let loose with a rage intended to tear Nimth apart.
What was left of the tallest tower shook as if coming to life. Several fragments broke loose and struck the battered courtyard. A blue fire spread across the northwest edge of the city, burning solid rock as if it were dry kindling. A ferocious wind threatened to topple one of the smaller, outer towers. Cracks formed in the earth. Rendel had a grim smile on his face, well aware that whoever was coming wanted his head. Dru kept his eyes focused in the direction of the source of the attack, waiting for the Vraad to reveal his or her identity.
It was not one Vraad who finally materialized before them nor was it two. Dru almost wanted to laugh. If there was one other motive than survival that could band life enemies together, it was vengeance.
A full score and more faced them down. Dru was certain he counted at least three dozen, most of them the strongest among the Vraad, and leading them was one with a special hatred for the Tezerenee, a Vraad who should have been dead.
“Silesti,” Rendel hissed. “Where is Dekkar, do you suppose?”
Dru stirred, realizing that the Tezerenee did not know about the patriarch’s command that both Dekkar and Silesti finish their feud. He was certain that both of them had died, but if the black-garbed figure was truly who he appeared to be, then Rendel faced an added danger. Silesti was one of the deadliest sorcerers, his millennium-old feud having honed his skills. Nimth’s situation had apparently not caused him much difficulty, if his entrance was anything to go by. It was evident that he had brought the others with him.
“Dru Zeree.” Silesti dipped his head in formal greeting. “I had thought the reptiles had done away with you.” His eyes were wide and bright. He wore the same darkly elegant bodysuit that he had been clad in the moment
