half-feigned effort, Corvis craned around further to glare at the figures beside his apprehensive daughter.
An unconscious Nenavar, bloody head lolling limply on his neck, sat awkwardly before Khanda, propped up by one of the demon's hands. Khanda himself, still wearing Kaleb's shape, knelt upon the floor, chanting Selakrian's invocation without interruption even as his words resounded in Corvis's thoughts.
/Did you know,/ Khanda asked conversationally as the incantation progressed, /that it was Nenavar who helped Audriss awaken Pekatherosh? Small world, isn't it? You ought to be standing in line to kill the old stick, not working with him./
Corvis mumbled something, spat out a mouthful of dirt and sticky, half-dried blood.
/Where is old Pekky, anyway? You didn't send him back to hell-I was waiting-and I know you didn't free him from that silly little jewel./
'Safe,' Corvis rasped.
Silence for a moment, and then Khanda began to laugh uproariously-mostly in Corvis's head, but even his physical body convulsed, his mouth bending around a smile that almost, almost mangled the next syllables of the spell.
/Oh, Corvis, you really never change, do you? You stuck him back in the cave on Mount Molleya, didn't you? 'Just in case,' yes?/
'It held you well enough all those years,' Corvis said with a painful shrug.
/So it did, so it did./
Far more quietly, gathering all that remained of his battered will to ensure that none of his words reached Khanda's awareness, Corvis whispered, 'Can you do it?'
'Not yet,' came the equally quiet reply. 'He's far too focused. I need him distracted.'
Corvis nodded. 'How did you find us?' he asked, raising his voice once more.
/Didn't have to. You've always been predictable, Corvis. As soon as I dropped 'Master' Nenavar's name, I knew you'd come here eventually. All I had to do was watch the place./
'I can't believe the idiot didn't have teleportation wards on his own home.'
/Oh, he did, more than you'd ever imagine. But he'd attuned them to admit me. He so enjoyed summoning me to him at every whim, and after all, I couldn't possibly hurt him, could I?/
Another nod. And of course, he'd have been able to carry Mellorin as well-or at worst, teleport her nearby and then physically open the door from within.
'Khanda, please…'
/Eh?/
'Let her go.' He hadn't known he was going to say it until the words were out. 'She's taken Nenavar out for you, done what you needed her to. This is between us. Let her go.'
/Why, Corvis, that's so sweet, I could just cry. Actually, I'd rather make someone else cry. It's so much more fun./
'Khanda…' Just keep talking, you bastard. With every second, he could feel the pain of his wounds lessening, his strength growing…
/I'm keeping her, Corvis. She really wanted to be here for this. Besides, I think I've grown attached to the little lady-rather like a pet. I want her around to see what happens to you, and you to see some of what I'll be doing to her. It's not good for family to have secrets from each other, you know./
Corvis choked, fire roaring in his mind. And as it had before, his concentration wavered.
/Corvis…?/ Not merely the demon's tone, but the set of his shoulders, bespoke a sudden suspicion. /Corvis, what are you doing?/
'Damn it!' If Khanda had sensed the slow spring of magic flowing through their bodies, mending their hurts, they could wait no longer. 'Are you ready?'
'No!' that voice insisted. 'Corvis, I need more time!'
'Then I,' he growled, tensing muscles that should have been too weak to move, 'need the Kholben Shiar.'
Beneath Corvis's cloak and tunic-and, too, beneath the soil exposed by the rents in the floor-unseen things began to move…
'What? Where are you-?'
'Probably nowhere. You've just got me paranoid now. I want to make sure nobody's following-that Mavere didn't somehow manage to signal anyone.'
'Paranoid indeed,' Jassion said. 'But probably wise,' he acknowledged, riding on ahead.
Corvis wheeled his mount in a tight circle and galloped back the way they'd come, straining to keep one eye on the sky, the other on the road. As soon as he was well and truly out of sight of the others he reined the beast to a halt and raised an arm out before him.
Having been waiting for just that, or so it seemed, one of the crows circling above plummeted to alight upon his wrist. It was a bedraggled, sickly-looking thing, with drooping feathers and weeping eyes.
'I see you brought some friends,' Corvis said.
Wings rose and fell in what was probably meant as a shrug. 'They followed me,' the crow told him. 'Probably figured I knew something they didn't. Or maybe they were curious about me.'
'Or maybe they're just birds, and gods know why they do anything.'
'Or that, yes.'
Corvis lowered his wrist so she could hop onto the pommel of his saddle. 'I was afraid I'd never see you again, Seilloah.'
'You almost didn't,' she admitted.
'I'm sorry I-'
'No, Corvis, I'm sorry. Of course finding Mellorin and stopping Khanda take precedence. I don't like it, but I understand it. It's just-it hurts so much, you've no idea how much…'
'I understand,' he told her softly.
'You don't. Not really.'
'No, not really. Seilloah…' He swallowed, reached up to wipe away tears he refused to shed. 'Seilloah, if you want, I could-I could end it. Make it quick.'
Corvis didn't understand how, but he swore he saw the beak flex into a sad smile. 'No, dearest. Thank you-I know how much you didn't want to offer that-but it's not necessary. If I want to end it, all I need do is stop fighting. Let the spell lapse. It'll be over in seconds.'
'Then why…?'
'I thought about it. More than once, especially in the past few weeks, I very nearly did. But I couldn't, not yet.'
'Why not?'
'Khanda. Corvis, I think I know how to beat him…' CORVIS ROLLED TO HIS FEET, his companions-all save Salia Mavere, whom Seilloah had not thought worth the effort to heal-following only seconds after. A small crow stuck its head out from within Corvis's tunic, and from beneath the exposed soil erupted a squid-like array of roots and tendrils, drawn through the earth from the surrounding gardens and hedge. With uncanny speed they lashed out, some knocking Khanda and Nenavar aside, others wrapping like whips about Mellorin's wrists. She cried out, and the Kholben Shiar plummeted earthward.
Even more tendrils intercepted them, flinging them hilt-first across the room. Seilloah dived from Corvis's clothes and fluttered toward the cracked ceiling as he snagged the weapons in mid-flight. Sunder he clasped in his left fist, spinning it in an upright grip even as it shifted into its familiar shape. But Talon-Talon he whipped back behind his head and hurled back across the chamber. It tumbled end over end, forming into an axe not unlike Sunder itself, and struck…
Not Khanda, for the demon had not been Corvis's target, but Nenavar. The old wizard's body spasmed as his head split under the axe's caress, and then lay forever still.
Everything went silent as death. Slowly, Khanda rose from where the writhing plants had flung him. With an angry grunt, he shoved Nenavar's body off him, small gobbets of his former master's brain and skull clinging to his face. Corvis spun Sunder smoothly through the air before him, ready for any response.
Except, perhaps, for Khanda to simply stand gaping at him, jaw moving silently. In all the years they'd known each other, in all the forms the demon had worn, Corvis had never seen him at a loss for words.
