But at last he lost the strength for even that.
'WE'RE across.'
The pain ebbed, a little. Just a little. Just enough for Kellen to understand that the unicorn had stopped moving. 'We're across,' Shalkan repeated. The unicorn staggered to a stop and stood splay-legged, swaying.
Kellen opened his eyes. Either it was dusk, or his vision was failing. He closed them again, and tried not to move.
Something was pulling at him, dragging him from the unicorn's back. In his mind, Kellen struggled wildly, but his body had no more left to give. He tried to see his attacker, but it was too dark, or his vision was gone at last. He felt himself being pulled upright, away from Shalkan. His feet brushed the ground and he cried out, a hoarse cawing sound, as pain lanced upward from his ankle to the crown of his head, making the world flare lightning-bright for a brief moment. Then the oblivion he had been fighting against all day swept over him in a sudden wave.
And then nothing.
He roused again at the touch of cool patient hands. He was lying down somewhere dark and shadowy, but he could tell nothing beyond than that. He blinked, trying to force his eyes open, but he couldn't make them focus. All he saw was a vague shape, dark against dark.
'Rest,' a soothing voice told him. 'You're safe here.'
Kellen was too tired to disbelieve. He lay back, letting the hands and voice do as they wished.
'Drink.'
There was a cup at his lips, and Kellen was terribly thirsty. It was cool, and only when he had drained the cup did he realize that it wasn't water, but something foul-tasting and bitter. He choked and tried to push it away, but it was too late, and he was far too weak to fight. The darkness was back, carrying Kellen away with it.
KELLEN DREAMED, AND his dreams were anything but pleasant.
There was no sun nor moon, but somehow he could see everything clearly.
He looked around, and saw without surprise that he was back in the canyon, but the lush woods in the distance had been replaced by the lifeless, shattered corpses of trees, and sere grasses tufted the ground beneath them. This time, he was alone.
When he looked up, the sky was a swirl of ugly colors, the red of drying blood, and bruise-purple, and the sickly green of an infected wound. It glowed; the strange dim light of the foxfire found in rotten stumps. The breeze carried the scent of carrion.
The Hounds were coming; he saw them plunging among the blasted remains of the trees, hard, shining claws tearing up great clots of dead turf as they ran. Their eyes glowed, the furnace'red of embers. He could see them swarming toward him, not dozens this time, but hundreds, and as they came closer, they began to change. They sprouted long curling yellow horns, their tails became long and barbed, and their smooth granite skins bubbled and erupted until they were covered with scales. And at the last, leathery wings burst from their shoulders and unfurled in an obscene parody of butterflies emerging from a cocoon.
With a shock, he recognized what they had become. They were Demons, just as Lycaelon had promised. He'd summoned them with the Wild Magic, and they'd come.
They reached for him with their clawed hands, dove at him from above on their leathery wings. They were all around him now, circling around him, laughing mockingly. His sanctuary was gone.
'Wildmage—you summoned us with your magic—Wildmage—'
He swung at them with his club, but it changed in his hand into another Demon, writhing around and sinking its fangs into his arm.
He flung the club away and ran.
HE was back in the City, at Perulan's house in the Artists' Quarter. Kellen's heart leaped with hope as he ran up the steps and hammered on the door. There was still time. He could warn Perulan not to leave, not to go down to the docks—
Perulan opened the door. He was wearing his favorite red tunic, smiling as he saw it was Kellen. But as Kellen watched in horror, the cloth became tight and shiny, spread quickly all over the writer's body and turned to scales, as Perulan became taller, fanged and clawed and winged. 'I was waiting for you, Wildmage. Come in…' The Demon lunged, laughing. Kellen turned and ran.
