Behind him, Vestakia choked out a laugh, then gagged and began to cough.
“Let me make this known to Redhelwar. Any information is better than none,” Isinwen said.
“Yes.” Kellen stopped while Isinwen moved back through the line to find a runner to carry the message. “Vestakia, are you all right?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Vestakia said, sounding breathless and a bit irritated. “I don’t know what you mean about things being not quite right here. They certainly feel normal to me—all wrong!”
Isinwen returned, and they continued.
Vestakia grew weaker the deeper they went into the mountain, until Kellen wondered if she would actually be able to lead them the entire way to the village. Her breathing now was punctuated by strangled whimpers of pain, and Idalia was all-but-carrying her.
But she never faltered, giving them their directions in a clear—though shaking—whisper each time the path became confused. Her courage was as true as a sword blade. If there was a single Elf in the entire army who still doubted her— after today, that doubt would be gone.
“There,” she said at last, in a voice so faint Kellen had to strain to hear it. “Look… ahead… to the left…”
“Wait here,” Kellen said to Isinwen.
They stood at the entrance to a huge cavern. By now Kellen had lost all sense of time; without Vestakia’s guidance, he would have been certain they’d been wandering in circles. He left the others and crossed the cavern, senses alert, looking for any exit to the left.
He nearly missed it. The opening was small and narrow, as Shadowed Elf passageways tended to be, but when he looked cautiously through it he could see—at the bottom of a short series of shallow terraces—the glowing firepit that marked a Shadowed Elf village. And though it was too dark to see clearly, in the cavern beyond, he sensed Life in abundance.
And the sense of wrongness he’d felt before came back again, stronger.
But still no clearer.
He saw no traps.
For a moment Kellen considered retreating. Adaerion was in charge of the assault, but he was certain Adaerion would listen to him if he said they should leave.
But no. There was something down there. Even if it didn’t turn out to be Shadowed Elves, they needed to either kill it, rescue it, or talk to it. Their job was to find out which—just as soon as Vestakia was safe.
He returned quickly to the others.
“That’s it. Get her out of here,” he said to Idalia. “Go with her. Tell Redhelwar… something’s not the way it’s supposed to be. I can’t figure out anything more.”
“I’ll tell Jermayan, too,” Idalia said. “Maybe he can help.”
—«♦»—
THE cavern outside the entrance was large enough for them to gather a good portion of their assault force there as they waited for the others to get back to the surface. Kellen tried to bring his sense of foreboding into sharper focus, but could not. Something was not right. That was all he knew.
“Kellen, you must go first,” Adaerion said. “If it is an ambush, you will be able to tell us at once. After you, all those with Artenel’s shields. We shall surround the village if we can, and… do what we must.”
Kellen and the others nodded. None of them liked the necessity that lay before them but it had to be done.
—«♦»—
AT last it was time. Kellen hefted his shield and stepped through the doorway.
