quietly. «Iridia has disappeared.»
She looked over in surprise. «How long ago?»
« Several days, at least. She simply vanished. Sen Dunsidan doesn’t seem bothered, though. That leads me to believe he may have had something to do with it.»
She nodded, thinking that Sen Dunsidan couldn’t have gotten rid of Iridia on the best day of his life. It was far more likely that her Gnome assassins had been more successful than she had believed, even if they hadn’t gotten word back to her yet.
They reached her door. «Find that girl,” she repeated, turning to face him. «And anyone else she might have brought with her into Paranor. Tell Pyson to have his Gnome Hunters sweep the Keep again—every passageway, every room.»
She paused. «And double the guard on the sleeping chamber. I have a feeling that Grianne Ohmsford is about to reappear. I want to be sure we are ready for her when she does.»
She saw the stricken look on his face and smiled. «What’s the trouble? Don’t you think we are a match for her? We dispatched her once, we can do so again. Only this time, I intend to make sure she won’t ever come back.»
She turned away. «I need to rest. Wake me when something happens.» She glanced back at him. «And make sure that something happens soon.»
He was still standing there in the hallway when she closed the door.
Bek was sitting next to Khyber in the darkened passageway off the sleeping chamber of the Ard Rhys. They had slept for several hours, and now Tagwen and Rue were sleeping. Bek wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Not that it mattered; there was nothing they could do but wait. He found himself wondering how long that might be. They couldn’t wait indefinitely. Sooner or later, someone would find them. They would need food and drink, as well, although they had brought a little of each with them into the Keep. He guessed that the waiting would end either when Grianne and Pen reappeared out of the Forbidding or Paranor fell to Kermadec and his Trolls.
He wondered about the chances of the latter. The Trolls were formidable, but no one had taken Paranor since it had been betrayed to the Warlock Lord in the time of Jerle Shannara. The Druids were a powerful order, even if dissatisfied with their leadership and their present situation. Their command of magic gave them an edge that no one else possessed. Bek hoped that Kermadec was right when he said that most of them would not support Shadea a’Ru, but he had a feeling that if faced with an assault on Paranor, they might.
But he couldn’t do anything about that. He could only do something about the things he had control over.
He leaned close to Khyber. «There is something I have to tell you,” he whispered. «About Pen and the staff.»
She glanced up. «The darkwand?»
He nodded. «The King of the Silver River came to me in a fever dream while I was flying north in search of Pen. In that dream, he told me that demons from the Forbidding had manipulated Shadea and her Druid allies. Their purpose in helping Shadea had nothing to do with getting their hands on Grianne, their purpose was to release a demon into our world. That demon’s mission is to destroy the Ellcrys and tear down the Forbidding.»
He felt her fingers dig into his arm. «Let me finish. Pen can stop this from happening. He can send the demon back through the Forbidding. The purpose of the darkwand is not only to bring Grianne out, but also to send the demon back. But Pen has to find it first. It is a changeling, and it will be in disguise.»
« What if it reaches Arborlon before Pen gets back?» She looked at him as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.
He shook his head. «The Elves guard the Ellcrys day and night. Arborlon has defenses to keep anything from getting close. We have to hope that’s enough. There’s only so much we can do.»
He put his hand over hers. «Now, listen to me. I don’t know what will happen once Grianne and Pen reappear in the Four Lands. We are all at risk. But whatever happens, you and Pen have only one concern. You have to find that demon. Escape back through the secret passageway and get outside Paranor’s walls. Then go after it. TakeSwift Sure. Use the Elfstones to track it down and then send it back into the Forbidding.»
He paused. «Pen doesn’t know about any of this. You might have to be the one to tell him, if Rue and I can’t. If so, make sure he understands what he is supposed to do. He can’t worry about us or about what happens here. You know the way out; you have to make certain he uses it.»
She stared at him doubtfully. «He won’t want to leave you. I don’t know if he will listen to me.»
Bek took her hands and held them. «He will listen to reason. You will find the words.»
He wished he had something more to offer. But what he had just given her was the best he had.
Twenty–Six
On the wide night–shadowed plains of the Pashanon, Grianne Ohmsford stared in shock as the approaching figure came into the light and its features were revealed.
It was a boy.
At first, she thought she must be mistaken, even though she had been told the boy would come for her, even though she had been looking for him all this time. It was the unexpectedness of his appearance that gave her pause, the way he simply materialized out of the receding night, the ease with which he had found her in the middle of nowhere. But it was more than that. She had just left a killing field, a slaughterhouse of the Forbidding’s creatures turned to stone. She thought the figure must be something come out of that madness. She thought she was seeing a ghost.
« Shades,” she whispered, and stopped walking altogether.
At her side, Weka Dart growled. «What is it, Straken? Who is this creature?»
The boy approached as if there were no hurry, as if he had all the time in the world. He looked haggard and beaten down. He looked to her, she thought suddenly, as she must look to him. His clothing was ragged and his face dirty and careworn. He walked in a way that suggested his journey had been long and hard, and indeed, if he had come from her world, from the world of the Four Lands, it must have been. Though he was clearly young, everything about him was dark and weathered.
Except for the odd staff he carried, which was made of a wood that was polished and smooth and glowed red with bits of fire.
He walked right up to her and stopped. «Hello, Aunt Grianne.»
It was Penderrin. Of all the boys she might have imagined, he was the last. She couldn’t say why, but he was. Maybe it was because he was Bek’s son, and it would never have occurred to her that Pen would come for her rather than Bek. Maybe it was just her certainty that if a boy was indeed coming, he would be extraordinary, and Pen was not. He was just an average boy. He lacked his father’s magic, he lacked his mother’s experience. She had met him only a couple of times, and while he was goodhearted and interested in her, he had never seemed special.
Yet there he was, come to her from a place no one else could have come, there when no one else was.
« Penderrin,” she whispered.
She stepped forward, placed her hands on his shoulders, and looked into his eyes to make sure. Then she hugged him to her, holding on to him with a mix of disbelief and gratitude. He was the one, just the fact of his being there was confirmation of what the shade of the Warlock Lord had foretold. She felt his arms come around her as well, and he hugged her back. In that instant, they were bonded in a way that could only have happened under the circumstances of that improbable meeting. Whatever befell her, she would never feel the same way about him again.
She released him and stepped back. «How did you find me? How did you get here?»
He smiled faintly. «It might take a while to explain that.» He held up the glowing staff. «This is what brought me and what will take us both back, once we return to the place I came in at. The runes carved in its surface glow brighter when it gets nearer to you. I just followed their lead.»
She shook her head in disbelief. «I had no idea it could be you. I was told that a boy would come for me, but
