He stood up and stared grimly back at the gaping crater that was all that remained of the wolves. “I’d rather not think about it. Let’s hope there are no more of them.”
“We should leave here,” the elf said. She did not want to have to face more of those obscene creatures if they could avoid it. “But where should we go?”
Dru was still pondering the familiars and whether Melenea had truly wanted them to kill him. He would have thought her too possessive to let others, even bits of her own personality, do it for her. That was verification enough that she was not here.
“She could only be in my lands… as I said earlier. Where best to humiliate me and take from me everything I care for than my own home?”
“She must have loved you deeply at one time,” Xiri whispered in a hesitant manner.
He was stunned. How could she think that? “Melenea loves no one. I thought that was obvious.”
“Then why has she such a marked interest in you? I gather many have known her over the centuries.”
“We’re wasting time!” Dru barked, taking Xiri’s hands a little more tightly than he had planned. She remained passive, knowing his anger would fade… and knowing it was aimed at himself, not her.
Behind them, Melenea’s stronghold started its final collapse within itself. Melting yet not melting, it looked like a water-soaked drawing rather than an actual castle. That such power was now unchecked…
If it was a sign, neither of them wanted to know. They closed their eyes and were, a heartbeat later, at their destination.
XX
The disconcerting image of one land imposed upon another was possibly the most refreshing vision that Dru had experienced in some time. The shrouded realm was a victim of paradox; its presence was one of the few stable things that the sorcerer could still recall. Where everything else was suffering chaotic change in one manner or another, the region where he had made his accidental pilgrimage to the Void and beyond was nearly the same as it had been at that time.
“This is… beautiful.” Xiri brushed a hand through several blades of ghostly grass. “Like seeing the spirit of the forest and the field.”
“But not enough.” The realm beyond the veil was too vague an image, too much like so many others he had investigated early on. Even from where he stood, he could see that the rift area was only a vague shadow of its once-mighty self. He could not say whether the spectral land would fade to nothing or strengthen until it was more real than the piece of Nimth it was displacing. Whichever, it was evident that for at least the time being, they would find no accessible path to the founders’ world. Perhaps later, but not now.
Dru imagined several thousand vengeful faces and shuddered at what sort of reward Vraad imagination would create for him if his promises proved as transparent as the woods in the distance.
“I do not see him.”
He did not have to ask who it was she meant. Rendel would have known after a few moments that there was no escape using this place. Dru had not expected to find him here, though he had scanned the region with care, just in case. The Tezerenee was none of his concern, however. Rendel had chosen to go his own way.
The sorcerer shifted, anxious to be gone from here. He had fulfilled his duties to the other Vraad; it now was necessary, not just for his own sake but theirs as well, that he return to his domicile. That his concern presently centered more on Sharissa than the fate of his race did not disturb him.
He sent his mind out, seeking the link.
Sirvak?
Xiri watched, both interested and anxious. He had explained earlier about Sirvak and how the familiar, like Cabal, protected the pearl edifice from outsiders.
Dru frowned. Sirvak rarely took so long to respond. The link between them was strong… or had been until now. Concentrating harder, he discovered only the barest thread keeping his mind in tune with the creature. Sirvak’s end was a complete mystery. There was a fuzziness, as if the familiar was not quite there. Dru grew more uneasy. He called to the familiar again, this time pressing to the limits of his will.
After another long, nerve-twisting silence, a distant, tentative voice filled his head. Masterrr?
He knew that Xiri was aware of his success by the look of relief she flashed at him. Likely the same expression was plastered over his own. Sirvak! What happened to you? Why didn’t you respond? Is Sharissa all right?
Masterrr. There are troublesss! You must come here!
“What about Sharissa?” Dru realized he had shouted, so frustrated had he become in the few seconds since contacting his creation. Why was Sirvak acting so upset? Why would the familiar not answer a question concerning Sharissa? I’m coming! You will wait for me by the entrance to my work chamber!
Masterrr, no! Danger! Let Sirvak guide you in! Will explain when you are safe!
Very well! Just do it! Dru broke the link, confused and very angry. He reached out to his right and took Xiri’s hand. “My familiar will teleport us into my home. It seems quite agitated.”
“Something to do with your daughter?”
“It must be. Sirvak wouldn’t say a thing concerning her, but kept speaking of trouble. I-”
Nimth was no more. Dru suffered a brief period of total chaos where he floated in a dark limbo. He had lost his grip on Xiri, somehow and realized that he had never brought her up to Sirvak. Had the familiar left her outside?
His feet touched the cold, hard surface of one of the castle’s floors.
“Sirvak? Xiri?” His eyes refused to focus. “Sirvak? What kind of spell was that? What happened? Xiri?”
After a moment, a delicate hand touched his. “Hush, Dru. I’m right here.”
He blinked, slowly making out vague shapes. The shapes tightened until they were actual forms… walls, doorways, torches, and, to his left, his elfin companion.
“How are you feeling?” she asked in concern. Her eyes were bright, as if she had actually enjoyed the transfer.
“Better than I did when I first arrived. Didn’t you feel the disorientation? A sensation of being held in place for a moment or two?”
“A little. Perhaps it didn’t affect me as much since I’m an elf.” Xiri said the last with a touch of amusement in her voice.
Dru was unable to see the humor. He turned around and looked for the gold and black form of his winged familiar. Sirvak was nowhere in sight.
Sirvak?
Masterrr?
Where are you? Dru let his rising anger wash over the disobedient creature.
I come. The great reluctance with which the familiar responded caught the spellcaster by surprise. He would have questioned Sirvak then, but Xiri chose that moment to desire his attention.
“What is that in there, Dru?” She had drawn closer to him, nearly clinging to his arm. To his surprise, he felt uneasy rather than pleased with her nearness. Stirring himself, he followed her finger, which pointed at the doorway to his work chamber.
“That’s our destination. That’s where the key to crossing the ghost lands into the realm beyond waits. It should-” He broke off and stretched a hand out toward the unimpressive-looking doorway. “It’s open!”
“Of course it is.”
“That’s not what I mean! Sirvak!”
There was no response from the familiar. With a new fear stirring in the pit of his stomach, Dru raced through the unprotected entrance. He had improved on the magical barricade surrounding this, one of the most important of his chambers, and left it active prior to his last departure from the castle. By rights, only he and Sharissa could have entered and neither of them would have removed the spell, even with all the other defenses implanted throughout Dru’s domicile. Did this have anything to do with the dangers that Sirvak had mentioned in his ravings? Where was the familiar? Where was Sharissa, the only other person who had access?
