her retreating soldiers. From his vantage point Biner could immediately see the grave error the demons had made. The error Leiria had been counting on.
As the enemy warriors rolled down the hill they suddenly found themselves milling about in a small valley-a dip in the terrain their officers had no way of knowing about. It looked like a bowl from the airship, a bowl quickly filling up with confused enemy soldiers who had only one way to go and that was straight up the hill to where Leiria stood her ground.
Leiria reformed her line and began firing arrows into their ranks to block the advance.
Biner waited until the valley was nearly brimming over with soldiers, then turned to Arlain and the others.
'Showtime folks!' he said. 'Showtime!'
Leiria and her men were down to their last few arrows when the flaming crates and barrels came tumbling out of the sky.
'Get down!' she shouted, and everyone leaped for cover.
Just then the first crates struck and the ground was rocked by explosions. More immediately followed, a fast series of
Iraj watched his panicked soldiers pour back through the gateway, crushing fallen comrades beneath their feet in their desperation to escape. His spell brothers were knotted around his traveling throne, stunned by the rout.
'I wouldn't call that a glorious first effort,' he said dryly.
'It was merely a probe, Your Majesty,' Prince Luka said, quickly trying to diminish the size of the defeat. 'To feel out the enemy's defenses.'
Iraj sneered at him. 'Now we know,' he said. 'And the answer does not inspire my confidence in you.'
'Pardon, Majesty,' Kalasariz said, 'but I don't think we should be too hard on our brave prince. Or make too much of what just happened. After all, how many times can Lord Timura withstand our assaults?'
'Kalasariz makes an excellent point, Majesty,' Fari said. 'Even now our wizards are preparing a spell that nothing can withstand. Not even Lord Timura.'
Their gradually hardening unity disturbed Iraj. He had to get this over with before they discovered what he was up to. He had to get into that valley immediately. He had to defeat Safar. But he had to do it quickly so he could cast the spell that would free him from his spell brothers forever.
'Do it now,' he said to Fari. 'Get your wizards into that tunnel and do it now.'
'But, Majesty,' Fari protested. 'We won't be ready for at least another-'
'Do it, Fari!' Iraj thundered. 'Do it!'
Leiria surveyed the results of her victory. It was not a moment to savor-the valley had been turned into a enormous blackened grave, heaped with smoking bodies.
Behind her, she heard Seth and some of the other young men choking on the horror. She glanced up and saw the airship floating closer to the ground, the circus performers crowded along the rail looking down on the scene with haunted eyes.
Renor pushed up to her, his face pale and many years older than before.
'I hope I never have to see such a thing again,' he said.
Leiria got herself under control. 'You won't,' she said. 'Because next time it won't work.'
She regretted the remark when she saw Renor's shock. He really hadn't had time to consider what they still faced.
'We'd better get ready,' Leiria said. 'I don't know how much time we have.'
Just then she heard a familiar shout. She turned, heart leaping with joy when she saw who was riding to meet her.
It was Safar!
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
The moment their eyes met Leiria thought something was wrong. Safar was smiling, laughing, genuinely glad to see her, but he seemed withdrawn-as if he were hiding something. Even Palimak was strangely subdued, hesitating when she embraced him, then suddenly hugging her tightly as if he were afraid.
Then the soldiers and circus performers were crowding around shouting and babbling nonsense and the sense of wrongness was swept away in the happy reunion that followed. But the pall of death from the nearby battleground soon penetrated their happiness-a grim reminder that there was little time for such things.
Safar pulled everyone away, quickly explaining what had to be done next while he led them down to the field where the airship waited, straining at its cables.
'We have to move fast,' he said, 'before Iraj sticks his ugly head through that hole again.'
Biner forced a grin. 'And won't he be surprised when there's not a blessed soul waitin' for him.'
Arlain shivered. 'Thurprith?' she said. 'What could thurprith a … a …
'It's Dario's surprise I'm thinking about,' Renor said with a small laugh. 'Imagine his face when he sees we're still alive. He probably thinks we're dead by now.'
There was weak laughter at this, but there was a hard bite of hysteria to it. Safar put everyone to work stripping the airship of all unnecessary weight so they could board the ship and flee.
The sense of wrongness returned when Safar pulled Leiria aside.
'Walk with me,' he said, taking her elbow and guiding her to a path that twisted down to the river.
Palimak walked next to her, still silent and oddly subdued. Khysmet plodded patiently behind, reins looped over the saddle horn.
Safar told her what had happened-about the distance-collapsing magical portal that waited on the other side of the mountains to carry them to Caluz, about the ships he'd hired to take them to Syrapis, and the agreement he'd made with Coralean.
Finally they reached the river bank, where Safar stopped. They were just a few hundred yards downstream from the peninsula where the Turtle of Hadin churned out its mechanistic magic.
When he stopped Leiria knew what was wrong. Especially when Palimak clutched her hand.
'You're not coming with us,' she said-a statement, not a question.
Safar sighed. 'I was getting to that,' he said.
'But
'There's no other way,' he said. 'I've already discussed this with Palimak. Ask him. He'll tell you-much as he dislikes admitting it.'
Palimak's head dropped and he said, low and forlorn, 'Father's right. There's no other way.'
'But we're finally almost free of Iraj!' Leiria protested. 'All the villagers-your family, your friends, everyone-are so far into the mountains now that he'll never catch them. In a few minutes we can join them, thanks to the airship. And then we're off to Syrapis with no reason ever to look back.'
Safar shook his head. 'I have to stop the machine,' he said. 'If I don't it will be the end of Esmir.'
Leiria felt as if she'd just been clubbed. When she heard Safar's reason she knew there was nothing she could say or do-even if she had a tongue that coined only words of silver and a thousand years to argue in-that would change his mind.
Still, she had to try. 'To hells with Esmir!' she said. 'We were leaving here anyway.'
'You don't understand,' Safar said. 'Actually, I didn't myself until after I spoke to Hantilia and got Asper's
