Takari cursed his human weakness, set the point of her arrow on the big central eye of the nearest beholder, and let fly. She watched only long enough to see her shaft pass beneath Kuhl's sword, then she dropped back into the tangle of boughs… and heard a sickly thump behind her.
A howling wind tore at the trees, and Takari knew before she turned to look that Kuhl had not thrown at her, but that he had found the phaerimm she had been hunting.
Ears still ringing, Takari scrambled out the back of the bough tangle and found the phaerimm lying motionless on the ground, opened down the center where Kuhl’s tumbling darksword had split it open. The sword itself lay a few paces beyond the dead thornback, so coated in gore it was barely recognizable.
Takari stretched her hand out, preparing to call the dark-sword to her grasp. She thought of Kuhl, and waited. He would need the sword to meet the second beholder behind him, and if he had to fight her for it… but the sword did not fly to his hand. It did not even rise, or wobble.
Go ahead-it's yours now, the dark voice inside whispered. The beholder is coming.
'Be quiet!' Takari hissed.
She turned her palm up and called the darksword to her hand.
With the beholder coming, what choice did she have?
CHAPTER TWENTY
2 Eleasias, the Year of Wild Magic
The grim expressions on the high mages' amber faces as they examined the tattered hem of Hanali Celanil's stone cloak told Galaeron all he needed to know. The phaerimm had undone too many of the mythal's ancient spells for his plan to work. Before they could proceed, the circle would have to repair the damage-provided they were willing to make the sacrifice for a city that was not even their own.
Not waiting for the high mages to announce the conclusion themselves, Galaeron turned to Lord Duirsar and the others waiting with him in the shadow of the great statue, and said, 'Milord, the phaerimm have done too much damage.' To make himself heard over the battle roar coming from the slopes below, Galaeron nearly had to shout 'The high mages need time to do a high casting, and that means we must be prepared to defend them.'
'If time is all we need, we have this battle won already,' said Kiinyon Colbathin. Like Lord Duirsar and every other Evereskan in the courtyard, Kiinyon was dressed in a full suit of much-dented battle armor that-by the smell of him- he had not shed in the better part of a tenday. 'Young Lord Nihmedu's plan has proven an excellent one. We have only to send the Long Watch down the slope, and we'll have the enemy trapped.'
'For how long?' asked Storm. She was standing behind Lord Duirsar, towering over his shoulders with Khelben and Laeral. 'Any victory here will be short-lived until we repair the mythal. The phaerimm have tens of thousands of their mind-slaves scattered across Evereska, and I'd bet my hair that most of them are on their way here right now.'
'All the more reason to move swiftly,' Kiinyon replied.
He turned toward the back of the courtyard, where the Long Watch was forming into battle ranks as they emerged from Laeral's teleport circle. He summoned the company commander forward, then turned back to Storm and said, 'Once we seize the breastworks, it will not matter how many mind-slaves the phaerimm send against us. Galaeron's plan is an excellent one, and I'm confident we can hold long enough to see it through.'
'Yes,' Lord Duirsar said, making a point of casting an approving nod in Galaeron's direction, 'you may well have saved us.'
'Not so easily as Master Colbathin suggests, I fear,' Galaeron said. 'The mind-slaves below are not the danger.'
'They are,' Kiinyon declared. The commander of the Long Watch-a young Gold elf female named Zharilee- arrived at his side, and he turned and spoke to her. 'When the Cold Hand drives the mind-slaves out of their entrenchment, they will have no place to retreat but here. The Long Watch will prevent that, descending through the forest to fall on them from behind. The enemy will be trapped between two of our companies, and it will be a simple matter to seize the entrenchment for our own use.'
He nodded and waved Zharilee away to execute his order. Galaeron bit his tongue to keep from calling Kiinyon-a former commander who had spent two decades making Galaeron's life as a Tomb Guard as miserable as possible-a fool.
Instead, Galaeron said, 'If s the phaerimm I'm concerned about. They can teleport into the courtyard as easily as we can.'
'Didn't you say that they wouldn't do that?' asked Storm. ' 'Without their leader, they'll be too disorganized and busy thinking of themselves to counterattack.' I'm sure you said that'
'I did.' Galaeron felt the heat come to his face but continued in a sure voice, 'And without their leader, that would be so.'
Khelben winced, closed his eyes, and said, 'Don't tell me-'
'The leader survived.'
Galaeron did not explain what had happened, in large part because he didn't know. Takari might have ignored his order and gone straight after Kuhl's sword, or she might have gone around the tree to finish the leader off and discovered that he was already gone.
'But it was injured?' Laeral asked.
'Yes,' Galaeron said. 'Very badly. It was unconscious for a time.'
'Then it won't return,' Kiinyon said. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded approvingly as the Long Watch filed down the hill. These phaerimm are cowards at heart. Hurt them once, and they run for cover.'
'Normally, yes.'
As he spoke, Galaeron's mind was racing. With Kiinyon having committed the Long Watch to battle, any attempt to recall them would be noticed by the enemy, and it wouldn't take the phaerimm long to puzzle out why. If Galaeron wanted to foil the counterattack, he would have to find a more subtle way.
'This one was the leader,' he continued. 'It will have too much at stake to give up. It'll be back with all the help it can muster.'
Kiinyon shook his head and started to chide Galaeron for contradicting him, but Lord Duirsar raised a silencing hand.
'How can you know this?' he asked Galaeron. 'You speak as though you've lived among the phaerimm.'
'Not exactly,' Galaeron said.
Though he knew the dim view his fellow Evereskans were likely to take regarding the source of his information, he explained without hesitation how Melegaunt had passed on his knowledge before dying-and how he had been forced to yield to his shadow before he could retrieve it The tale evoked an expression somewhere between revulsion and pity from Lord Duirsar and plain revulsion from Kiinyon Colbathin.
'So you're telling us your information comes from the Shadovar?' Kiinyon asked. The last of the Long Watch was disappearing into the forest, and the sound of their first attacks could already be heard rolling up from the far side of the courtyard. 'Milord, Galaeron's intentions have always been good, but his naivet? has made him a pawn of the Shadovar from the start'
Khelben started to defend Galaeron, but Lord Duirsar cut him off by speaking directly to Kiinyon.
'Master Colbathin, did you not say just a moment ago that Lord Nihmedu's plan was an excellent one?'
Kiinyon scowled but nodded.
'Then I suggest we listen to him.'
'Thank you, milord,' Galaeron said. Though the relief he experienced was for Evereska, he did not try to hide the triumph he felt. 'I'm sure Master Colbathin will find he was correct in his first assessment of my plan.'
'I wouldn't be too impressed with myself,' Kiinyon said. His eyes looked as dangerous as those of any beholder. 'Ill recall the Long Watch.'
Galaeron caught him by the elbow. 'It's too late for that'
