The archmage didn't even slow down. 'What is it?' Though the pain was starting to subside, being slung across Storm's shoulders was doing nothing to put the air back in Galaeron's chest
The… caravan!' he said. 'If s… it's being shredded.' 'Yes, and it's our fault,' Khelben said. 'Very unfortunate.' 'I think Galaeron is asking if you couldn't do something,'
Ruha said.
Dove glanced over at Galaeron and asked, 'You really aren't asking if we could slay those little lizards, are you?' 'This is no time for ridiculous questions,' Storm added.
'Maybe you've noticed we were taken by surprise?'
'I noticed,' Galaeron replied. Either his breath was returning, or his rising anger was giving him strength. 'We can't just let them die.'
Khelben stopped and said, 'I thought you wanted to destroy Shade.' His voice was sharp with impatience, but there was a softness in his expression that seemed to indicate he understood what Galaeron was asking-and why. 'I thought you wanted to save Evereska.'
'I do,' Galaeron said, 'but you can save those people, too.' Seeing that he had finally recovered his breath, Storm dropped him to his feet Khelben stepped over, eyes burning with anger, and glared down at him.
'The Chosen cannot save everyone on Toril.' His tone was as anguished as it was resentful, as though it pained him to state this obvious fact. He waved a hand in the direction of the screaming caravanners and continued, 'You chose, elf.
Those few, or the thousands in Evereska and the dozens of thousands across the rest of Faer?n who will perish if we reveal ourselves and your plan falls.'
'But it's our fault,' Galaeron said. He was beginning to feel very small and naive. 'There must be a way without you revealing yourselves.'
'If there was, don't you think we would have done it?' Storm demanded. 'You insult me, elf. I wouldn't do it again.'
She turned and started through the woods, more or less toward the last place Galaeron had seen Aris.
Khelben lingered long enough to explain, 'The deed itself would betray us. How many caravan guards do you know who could defeat Malygris and two old blues?'
'None.'
'That is the problem,' Khelben said. 'I assume you are choosing Evereska?'
With the screams of the distant caravanners ringing through the trees, Galaeron could barely bring himself to nod, but he did.
'I thought as much.'
Khelben cast a last glance in the direction of the road, then turned and started after Storm. Dove motioned Ruha after him then took Galaeron by the hand and followed.
'It is a hard lesson,' Dove told him, 'but one you must learn if you ever hope to live with the power you carry.' Though they were running at a near sprint and taking care to do it without rustling leaves or cracking twigs, Dove's words came as easily as if they had been strolling in the gardens of her house on Evermeet. 'Babes may be born into this world innocent as rain, but they have blood on their hands 'ere the end of their first year. We all do.'
'A comforting… thought,' Galaeron said. Though he was as accustomed to running long distances as anyone, he had to concentrate to remain silent in both breath and step. 'Are you trying to make me glad I have no children?'
'I am trying to help you. Even if you eat only fruit and never set foot on the ground, you cannot live without killing. Something dies that you may live, even if only the worm that will never hatch in the apple you ate.'
'I understand the laws of nature,' Galaeron said. 'I am still that much of an ell'
'But not a wise one,' Dove replied. 'And wise you must become, lest you smother Faer?n in evil through your good intentions.'
She could not have distracted Galaeron more had she sank a dagger into his chest. He caught his foot on a root and crashed to the ground, causing the entire group to stop and whirl around. Khelben cocked his brow, Storm scowled and shook her head, and Galaeron could not read Ruha's expression behind her veil.
'I beg your leave,' Galaeron said as he scrambled to his feet The others resumed their run, and he grabbed Dove's hand to hold her back. 'I am listening.'
Dove's expression turned to one almost of pity.
'And still you do not hear,' she said as she squeezed his hand until something popped inside. His whole arm erupted into pain. 'You have a lot of blood on your hands, Galaeron. The powerful always do.'
Galaeron raised his throbbing hand. Though he had not seen Dove cast any spells or felt her use any magic, it had turned the color of an open wound. He was so shocked that he barely noticed the broken bone sticking up under the skin behind his index finger.
'I…' Galaeron did not know quite what to say. He was still too confused to be angry, and even his shadow seemed too stunned to react 'I don't understand.'
'No?' Dove shrugged, then started after the others, adding, 'When you do, the hand will heal.'
Galaeron took a moment to set the break then, bones still throbbing, he set off after the others.
The injury proved a useful distraction. As he grew accustomed to the pain, his ire began to rise, and with it his shadow. It took only a dozen steps before he grew so consumed fighting the darkness inside that he no longer heard the screams coming from the road. The thought occurred to him that this was what Dove had intended, though he doubted the pain of a simple broken bone could ever make him forget the anguish of those they were abandoning.
A few hundred steps later, they came to a small stream where Aris was waiting with Alustriel and Laeral. The two sisters had filled five small vials with water and set them out on a flat boulder along the bank. Four of the vials were already gleaming with a silver aura of magic, and Alustriel was saying a spell over the last. Khelben and the rest of the Chosen went to the boulder and waited for Alustriel to finish. Aris noticed the way Galaeron was holding his hand and frowned in concern.
'You hurt yourself. Maybe I can-' 'Quiet!' Dove hissed. 'The dragons are coming.' Aris peered up into the forest's darkening canopy and said, 'I don't see-'
Ruha held a finger to her veil and whispered, 'Listen.' Aris fell silent. Galaeron listened and heard nothing but the distant murmur of panicked caravanners crashing through the dusky woods. It took him a moment to realize that Dove was talking about what they couldn't hear. There were no chirping crickets, no hooting owls, no more screams from the road.
A faint rustle drifted down through the treetops. Galaeron thought at first that a breeze was coming up, but the rustle continued to grow and soon became the distinct hiss of air rushing over scales. A dragon-shaped darkness appeared to the north and came sweeping through the woods toward them. Galaeron and most of the others scrambled for cover, Alustriel lingering to complete her spell and Aris kneeling beneath the boughs of a great oak. The hissing grew louder, and the darkness came nearer, meandering back and forth, as vast as a lake, swallowing everything in its path.
Alustriel finished her spell in a hushed whisper, then took up the last vial and lay down in the shadows along the stream bank. Galaeron kept his gaze turned upward, but the canopy was too thick for him to see anything except a tiny smear of sky and a handful of the evening's first stars. The hiss swelled to a whooshing, then the edge of a wing blocked even that small light
They were plunged into darkness, and Galaeron waited in frozen silence, the throbbing of his broken hand forgotten. He counted one heartbeat, two, a dozen, then two dozen. Finally, the rushing faded to a hiss, and the darkness swept away to the south. He started to breathe again without realizing that he'd ever stopped, and a lone cricket began to chirp somewhere beyond the creek.
Khelben emerged first, going straight to the boulder to pick up a potion. By the time the others had arrived, he already had the cap off and was raising it to his lips.
Before he could drink, Alustriel caught him by the wrist and said, 'Hold there.' She took the vial from his hand and passed it to Laeral. 'Perhaps you have no care whether you drink a man's potion or a woman's, but we do.'
Khelben raised a brow. 'There's a difference?'
Alustriel nodded and said, 'A pair of bosoms would look as strange on you as a beard would on me.'
