There was a time when Brianna would have turned the firbolg away in contempt, perhaps even struck him, but the joy she felt now was more powerful than any fear he had ever inspired. She could not condemn the seer for what had been an act of conscience-and ultimately one of kindness and concern as well.
Brianna took Galgadayle’s hand and urged him to his feet. “There’s nothing to forgive. You may have frightened me half to death in the silver mines, but it was better that you were chasing us than the fire giants-and they would not have been so kind to their prisoners,” she said. “Fate has a way of pursuing its own course; all you or I can do is follow our consciences and hope for the best”
“You are more generous than I deserve,” Galgadayle replied. “But I thank you.”
Basil cleared his throat. “Now that all’s forgiven, perhaps we should turn our thoughts to leaving before Lanaxis comes back. As bad as he’s wounded, I doubt the titan has given up.”
Brianna felt her joy changing to hot tears. “That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier! I can’t leave the palace. The titan’s magic is too strong!”
“By my brush!” Basil gasped. “That’s what he meant!”
“What?” Tavis asked. “He said something?”
“As he was slipping down the hole into Twilight,” Galgadayle confirmed. “I believe it was, This is not done, not done at all.’ ”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tavis said. “I can cleave even the titan’s magic.”
“But I can already see your bones!” Basil objected. “At most, you can use the axe twice before it destroys you-perhaps only once.”
“I’ll have to take that chance,” Tavis said. “And if I fade, Galgadayle can… he can always…”
“What’s wrong?” Brianna asked.
Tavis stepped toward the seer and raised his axe menacingly. Galgadayle wisely lowered his gaze and retreated.
“He can’t have Sky Cleaver!” Tavis shouted. “I’ll never give it up! I’m the One Wielder!”
“Of course you are,” the queen replied. She stepped back and motioned for Basil to do the same. “We all know that.”
This seemed to calm Tavis, and they all stood in silence, considering their options.
At last, Brianna said, “Running won’t do us any good. One way or another, we’re going to end this thing tonight.”
Tavis shook his head. “We’ll lose. I can’t beat Lanaxis-and the rest of you can’t even touch him.”
“Don’t worry about your sight,” Brianna said. “The goddess still favors me. I can repair your eyes, at least.”
“My eyes aren’t the problem!”
Brianna frowned. “What’s wrong? I know your concern can’t be for yourself.”
“Oh, I’m frightened enough for myself.” Though Tavis’s skin was so transparent that it was difficult to tell his expression, he seemed unable to raise his cloudy gaze from the floor. “But my first concern is still for you and Kaedlaw. I’m just not strong enough to best Lanaxis.”
“Perhaps you could go into Twilight and slay him while he rests,” suggested Galgadayle.
“He’ll expect that,” Brianna said. “Besides, the only time I’ve ever seen him rest was when he got caught in daylight. Twilight restores his strength.”
“Then it’s better to wait for him here,” Basil said.
Tavis clutched the axe to his chest. “He’ll steal it from me!”
“Steal it?” asked Galgadayle. “If Lanaxis gets close enough to grab it-”
“Not grab-call,” Tavis said. “How do you expect me to outshout a titan? He almost stole it before!”
“That makes no sense,” said Basil. “The bond between Sky Cleaver and its wielder is an emotional one. Even Lanaxis shouldn’t be able to call it simply by shouting.”
“Of course he should!” Brianna said. “Lanaxis is mad with power-lust. Tavis’s anger is no match for that.”
Galgadayle sighed heavily. “Then we are finished.”
Brianna shook her head. “Perhaps not. There are plenty of emotions mightier than power-lust.” She turned to Tavis. “When Lanaxis tries to call Sky Cleaver away, fight him with a stronger emotion. Call it back with compassion in your heart, and you will win.”
Basil shook his head. “That won’t work. How can Tavis fight while he’s trying to be compassionate?” the runecaster demanded. “He’ll never kill the titan that way!”
Brianna let her eyes drop to her son’s cherubic face. “Of course not, Basil.” She kissed Kaedlaw on the brow. “We can’t defeat Lanaxis by killing him.”
Fools. Watch this.
A gloomy hand appeared first, as they knew it would, rising from the pit as the ashen afternoon darkened into twilight. Tavis stood on the boulder, Sky Cleaver in hand, with Basil and Galgadayle to either side of him. Brianna, unable to leave Bleak Palace, stood beside Kaedlaw at the end of the demolished portico.
Waiting was the hardest part. The queen’s plan called for the One Wielder to attack last, but he wanted nothing more than to leap now and finish the battle. They had made their plans and completed all their preparations. He felt as though the combat had been fought already and they were only awaiting news of the victor.
The arm climbed slowly, filling the pit so completely that it seemed to drag the edges of the hole up with it. The limb continued to rise until it loomed above the boulder to twice Tavis’s height, then tipped toward Bleak Palace and lay flat as a fallen tower. The hand wedged its fingers into the broken plain and pulled. An enormous, gloom-cloaked shoulder appeared in the hole.
“Now, Galgadayle!” Tavis urged. “Before he can call to Sky Cleaver.”
The seer stepped forward and threw a glowing dagger. The blade sank deep into the titan’s flesh, illuminating his shoulder in a brilliant halo of light.
If Lanaxis felt the weapon’s sting, he showed no sign.
Basil attacked next, rushing forward with a javelin-sized knife stolen from the palace kitchen. For once, his flat feet made no sound as they slapped the ground, for he had painted runes of silence upon his boots. The runecaster lowered his weapon as though it were a lance and drove the point deep into the titan’s clavicle.
Basil’s legs were still pumping when the tenebrous arm abruptly dissolved into wisps of purple murk. He plunged forward. The verbeeg’s mouth opened in a silent scream. He flailed his arms, dropping his weapon into the dark pit where the titan’s shoulder had been a moment earlier.
Tavis leapt off the boulder and grabbed Basil’s arm, pulling him away from the hole before he followed his knife into what remained of the Twilight Vale.
“It was an illusion!” Galgadayle continued to stare into the pit as he spoke.
“Then he’ll be returning from someplace else.” Tavis spun toward Bleak Palace, expecting to see the titan’s looming figure charging across the demolished portico.
There was only Brianna, standing at the edge of the lowest step, with twilight rising around her like a ground fog. Tavis turned slowly and saw the purple gloom seeping up all across the plain.
No, not across the entire plain. To the east, a blanket of damson light was falling from the sky to cover the ashen snows. Twilight did not rise from the ground, not on a tableland as vast as the Bleak Plain.
“Watch yourselves!” the high scout yelled. “He’s coming up under-”
Four purple talons burst from the ground and seized Tavis, crushing his arms to his sides. Sky Cleaver popped free and tumbled away. The shadowroc’s foot closed only tightly enough to hold the high scout motionless, as though the bird thought he still had the axe and feared squeezing too tightly would trigger the weapon’s defenses.
The shadowroc was emerging upside down. As its enormous breast rose from the plain, both Sky Cleaver and Basil tumbled off. The runecaster hit first, with the axe’s enormous heft falling across his chest.
The verbeeg’s baggy eyes grew as round as plates. His thick-lipped mouth fell open, and he glanced up at Tavis. When he found the high scout still locked helplessly in the raptor’s enormous claw, he raised his sagacious eyebrows in apology. He looked away and wrapped both arms around Sky Cleaver’s ivory handle.
