They reached the end of the barrier. Arr peered around the corner to find that Beze had fallen unconscious and now lay floating in the air, her arms stretched over her head and her legs twined together in a distinctly tail- like braid. The eight Shadovar-all that had escaped Tuuh's spell-remained trapped between the blade barrier and Arr’s wall of fire.
The tall Shadovar saw her looking and raised his hand to cast a spell. Arr pulled back in time to avoid the dark bolt that came streaking past the end of the barrier, then dropped to a knee and sent a fork of lightning crackling back in her attacker's direction. It caught him in the chest and knocked him off his feet, then dissipated harmlessly against his spell-guard. The warrior pointed at Beze and sent his followers rushing in her direction.
A stream of silver-white flame streaked over Arr's head, blasting through the Shadovar's spell-guard and engulfing him in flame. The sight made Arr wince inside. The spell was one of her finest, and though she had willingly shared it for the sake of her plan, it still pained her to see another phaerimm using it.
Arr glanced up and behind her at Tuuh's bearded face and said, 'I hope that*s the first time you've used my spell here.' Because the Chosen could unleash the real silver fire just once every hour, she had instructed her companions to use her spell only one time. 'My plan won't work if they realize-'
'It is the first time these Shadovar have seen me use it' Tuuh said. 'That is all that counts.'
He raised a hand and uttering a single syllable, wagged his fingers. Beze rose above the heads of the Shadovar and started to float in their direction. Several warriors cocked their arms to hurl their swords. Throwing up her hands and crying out something that might have sounded vaguely spell-like, Arr brought a swarm of fiery stars crashing into existence and sent it sweeping across the shadow blanket.
It roared into the Shadovar before they could turn their heads to see what was making the sound. Those who had no spell-guards simply vanished in an eruption of smoke and flame. The others were hurled across the shadow blanket, back through the wall of fire Arr had raised earlier. Judging by the screams and the greasy smoke rising from the other side, it seemed unlikely their protection magic had withstood the trip.
'A little quick for a human, don't you think?' Tuuh brought Beze to their side. 'But you saved Beze.'
'Well, send her somewhere,' Arr ordered, 'before she dies and ruins my plan.'
Behind them Ryry, speaking in Winds, said, The fate of your plan has already been decided. The Shadovar are gone.
Arr turned to find Ryry and Yao standing behind the rolled blanket, staring out across the empty melt basin. In the frigid cold of the High Ice, the cloud of rising steam had already turned to ice and dropped back to the ground, and the slushy water through which they had been wading just a few minutes earlier had frozen into a jagged blue plain. The only sign of the Shadovar princes who had attempted to surprise them from the rear where the soot-smeared craters where they had been hurled into the basin walls by phaerimm spells.
'I am a genius,' Arr said. 'When we work together, none can challenge us!'
'That will be a great comfort to Beze's ghost,' Tuuh said.
Arr looked back and found Beze reverted to true form. She was sinking to the ground, her tail and four arms hanging limp, her mouth open and pouring blood.
'Tuuh, did I not tell you to send her somewhere?' Arr asked. 'There still may be spies.'
Tuuh touched Beze, and a small tear opened in the air and sucked the corpse out of sight. Judging by the drone of insects and the stench of offal that lingered behind, Arr guessed that he had sent the body to the second or third of the Nine Hells.
Once the portal closed, Arr dismissed the magic walls she had created and was pleased to see the shadow blanket littered with dead Shadovar. There was no sign of Escanor, or of those who had used their own bodies to put out the flames engulfing him.
'I see no wounded,' Ryry sounded disappointed. 'Where are the wounded?'
'hi Shade, by now,' Arr said. 'The Shadovar took them, I'm sure.'
'Truly?' Ryry looked at Arr as though she had hidden the wounded and was keeping them all for herself. 'Why?'
Tuuh shrugged and said, 'What does it matter? Many two-legs do it, when they can.'
Ryry studied him doubtfully, then finally seemed to accept what she was seeing.
'If you say so.' She turned back to Arr and asked, 'What now?'
'Finish the job,' Arr said as she returned to the blanket roll and clambered over it That is what the Chosen would do.'
CHAPTER FOUR
15 Flamerule, the Year of Wild Magic
Galaeron and the others had been waiting all morning when the muted crackle of a translocational spell finally sounded out in the heart of the courtyard, and their guest appeared in swirl of silver hair, a faint stench of gore and brimstone trailing after her. She was tall even for a human-and especially for a human woman-with a slender build and striking figure. Though her face was a bit rough-featured by elven standards, she was nevertheless a stunning beauty, with twinkling eyes, high cheeks, and a full-lipped mouth.
Ruha poured a goblet of Cormyrean wine-the finest available, though that was not saying much after the ravages of the Goblin War-and went out to meet her. Unsure of the greeting he would receive, Galaeron trailed a pace behind. Aris remained hidden in his sleeping arcade, lest he startle her before she recovered from her teleport afterdaze.
Ruha stopped at the woman's side and said, 'Welcome to Arabel, Storm.' She pressed the goblet into the woman's hands. 'Thank you for coming.'
The sound of a familiar voice seemed to bring Storm out of her daze. She quaffed the wine in one long gulp, then made a sour face.
'That's the sourest swill I've had in years.' She pressed the goblet back into Ruha's hands. 'But I'll have another. I've been trading spells with thornbacks and eyeheads all morning, and the thirst I have could drain the Moonsea.'
'Perhaps you'd care to sit?' Galaeron suggested, waving at the table they'd set in the shade of the house-a house they'd bought with the proceeds of the sale of one of Aris's statues. 'We can bring out some food, if you're hungry.'
Storm eyed him warily, but followed him toward the table. 'Sitting is good, but I won't have any food. The battle's not done, and fighting on a full stomach doesn't agree with me.'
As they took their seats, Aris emerged from beneath his arcade and came to join them. His grim face looked even more somber than usual. When he sat down beside them, he let his body drop so heavily that the mugs rattled on the table.
Storm craned her neck and looked up into the giant's plate-sized eyes.
'If s good to see you, Aris. You're looking better than the last time we met.'
Aris forced a smile and said, 'I've been waiting for a chance to thank you properly for saving my life, lady.'
The giant reached inside his tabard and brought out a three-foot sculpture of Storm kneeling on the ground. The likeness was perfect, of course, with an expression that was at once angelic and fiercely protective. It struck Galaeron that she looked very much like a human version of Angharradh, the elf goddess of birth, protection, and wisdom.
'Please accept this as a small sign of my gratitude.'
Storm took the piece with a gasp.
'It's… it's… Aris, it's beautiful!' She set it on the table, then rose and studied it from all angles. Too beautiful to be me… or any mortal woman.'
'Not at all. That is the face seen by those you help.' Aris glanced in Ruha's direction, then added, 'Ruha helped me track down some of them, so I know.'
Storm tore her eyes-glistening with unshed tears-from the statue and went over to him. Even sitting on the ground, the giant towered over her, and she ended up embracing the side of his arm.
