As the elementals fled with their charges, Raomar stepped free of the portal to find himself just below the ramparts of Deverath’s outer wall. The South Gate lay a half mile to his left, but the shadow fey had chosen a ripple in the earth that was shrouded in both mist and the good, clean dark of the night.

  As soon as he was free of it, the portal snapped shut, leaving him and his companions hidden by the best nature had to offer. After the unnatural horror of the temple, Raomar welcomed it.

  He dropped into a crouch and looked for the others, only to have Brianda creep from the dark to kneel at his side. Grunwol dropped down beside him a heartbeat later.

  “Will we make it?” the Northman asked.

  “We will try,” Raomar promised. “I must see Alessia safe.”

  He flinched as Grunwol laid a heavy hand on his shoulder.

  “I am sure she’ll be fine,” the Northman told him, and Raomar bit back a reminder that nothing could be guaranteed to go to plan.

  “Then, let’s go,” he said, instead, ducking low and using the cover of the hollow to by-pass the first of the fields. Once clear of the walls, he led them through the fields, occasionally glancing back toward Deverath to use the South Gate’s oblong shadow as a reference for their path.

  He remembered the route the witch woman had taken.

  This time, though, they’d have to avoid the road as much as possible for, just as the early morning travelers had provided camouflage for their passage, so the absence of travelers would make them stand out as clear as day.

  They slipped across the shallow stream spanned by the first bridge, but were forced to halt at the second. The river it spanned was too broad and ran too fast to cross. Drawing them into its shadow, Raomar glanced back at the city walls, noting how the darkness that was the Old One’s presence still hung low over the city.

  The sight of it made him shudder, but he forced his concentration on the South Gate. He breathed a soft sigh of relief when he saw it was still closed, and that no extra lanterns were gathered at its base. There was nothing to show the presence of riders being sent to search the countryside…at least, not yet.

  With another glance back, and one more to check the bridge and road remained clear, he led Brianda and Grunwol up in preparation to cross it. They followed him, uncertainty mixing with determination on their faces. They knew the risk and accepted it. There was no alternative; none of them could fly.

  Raomar paused, once, before hurrying across the bridge and then down the embankment on the other side. When the others joined him, he led them into the shadows beneath the bridge and gazed back toward the city. Only when nothing moved at the gates, or on the road, did he turn his eyes to the sky.

  Above the city, the Old One’s smoky black presence remained, thickest in the city’s north and east. The bulk of it had not moved from above the temple. As he watched, Raomar saw the cloud’s surface explode, as though something tore its way out of it.

  A second explosion followed the first, and then a third.

  The witch and her elemental companions? he wondered, knowing it was possible.

  Tendrils of cloud followed each explosion, arcing upward and outward as they broke clear. Raomar frowned. It looked like parts of the cloud were chasing something not visible to the naked eye.

  Beside him, he heard Brianda draw a breath of shocked surprise when one of the smoky tendrils blew apart and faded to nothing. The cloud below the destroyed tendril grew darker and boiled with sudden fury, but Raomar couldn’t see why.

  Mesmerized by what must be a battle he could not completely see, he noticed a sparkle of yellow play across the circle of cloud. Another spark followed it, illuminating the silhouette of a woman being carried by nothing more than air.

  The body of the woman dropped and wove, as though evading an attack, and then it took off through the sky until it was no longer silhouetted by the sparkling golden lightning that flared against the cloud.

  In the moment following, Raomar was sure he heard a wail of despair tear through the night—as though the wind mourned a great loss. When the wail ended, the night was filled with the ominous rumble of thunder.

  The golden lightning sparked again, before glowing so brightly it revealed a net stretching between the Old One’s dark presence and the sky beyond. Instead of flinching away from the net, the cloud below pressed against it and Raomar saw darkness writhe and swarm against the golden binding until, with a flare of blinding light, the net snapped and faded into dying rags of gold.

  The spectacular display was followed by a roar that shook the heavens, and stirred him to his feet.

  “Hurry!” he cried, as wind roared low overhead, and he caught a glimpse of a young woman flying past.

  He turned to run after it, Brianda and Grunwol mirroring the movement, but the ground shook beneath their feet, and they staggered to a halt as five elementals of earth and stone rose to block their path. The trio skidded to a stop, drawing their weapons at the new threat.

  The elementals shifted back, again unbalancing them by rippling the earth beneath their feet, and they registered that, while these creatures might resemble the monster that had guarded Alessia’s cell, their hides were smooth and they lacked the look and stench of corruption.

  As they regained their balance, one of the creatures spat a ceramic flask to the ground in front of Raomar. When he stared at it, and didn’t move, the creature bent its head and nudged the flask toward him, making an odd burble of sound as it did so.

  When he still didn’t move, it nudged the flask a second time, and burbled again. Raomar stared at it, but Brianda stooped to pick up the flask and hand it to the kevarag.

  “I think it wants you to drink some,” she told him.

  As though it understood, the creature bobbed its head, and grunted approvingly.

  Keeping a wary eye on it, Raomar accepted the flask and uncorked it, then, before Grunwol could do more than reach to take it from him, he took two hearty swallows. As soon as he had, the creature gave an enquiring rumble.

  “Can you understand us, now?” it asked.

  “Yes.” Raomar let his uncertainty color his tones.

  “There is enough in the flask for the other two,” the earth creature told him. “They should also understand.”

  Understand them speak, Raomar concluded, and passed the flask to Grunwol.

  “Drink,” he ordered, “And leave enough for the spy.”

  Ignoring Brianda’s scowl, Grunwol drank, passing the flask to the young woman when he was done.

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  “Drink,” he instructed, and she glared at him.

  “I heard.”

  The elementals waited patiently until she, too, had taken two hefty swallows, and then the earth elemental spoke, again.

  “We have come to take you to Wildejun,” it told them, continuing as Raomar opened his mouth to protest. “After we collect your companions.”

  “We will take you to the Meld,” one of the other creatures added, “For if we do not, you will not escape.”

  “And that is something that must not be,” a third put in.

  A dull thunk echoed across the fields drawing their attention to the city. The South Gate had opened and a small company of riders emerged. With lanterns swinging, they moved swiftly from a walk to a gallop.

  “Already the king moves to block all ways from Toramar,” the third elemental observed. “And he summons twisted versions of creatures like us to do his will.”

  “You saw them do battle over the palace,” the second elemental reminded them.

  It paused, it’s body emanating sadness.

  “Someone was lost?” Raomar asked.

  “Alessia?” Grunwol asked with an anxious look toward his friend.

  The elemental shook its head in swift denial.

  “No, but the oldest of those sent was killed, and one of the youngest. The elder protected the one bearing the apprentice known as Sindra so that she might be brought safely out. The youngest…” It stopped, turning its head to gaze at the roiling cloud, before continuing. “We could not prevent the apprentice he carried from being found.”

  “Who?” Brianda demanded, her voice hard.

  “The one known as Xanthia,” the elemental replied, and waited until their soft words of denial died away. “We must go.”

  “We must return to save her,” Brianda stated.

  “We must leave,” the elemental corrected, adding softly, “I am sorry, but we have so far upset the Old One’s plans enough that he cannot free himself from his prison, and now, in his rage wastes time and energy trying to reacquire you.”

  “But…” Grunwol began.

  “Your gods cannot act in person.” One of the stone elementals spoke for the first time. “The laws of their creation forbid them, brought into being as they are by the needs of the races who believe in them.”

  “You must ask protection from those who have chosen to aid you in the battle ahead,” the first earth elemental added. “It is the only way they may act on your behalf. The single avenue they have to intervene.”

  “Come,” the second elemental repeated. “You have but a little time to escape the net he is casting.”

  “What do you—” Raomar began, only to have the third elemental cut him off.

  “They are coming and your delay increases the danger for all.”

  Glancing toward the city and the riders silhouetted against its walls, Raomar turned to it.

  “What… What do you want us to do?” he asked, and the creature rolled closer, turning side on to him.

  Its body formed a ball, which then opened to reveal a hollow within.

  “I will carry you inside,” it explained. “There will be nothing for the horsemen to find and track from this point on.”

  Raomar eyed the hollow, before swallowing his doubts and stepping into tit. He didn’t wait to see if Grunwol or Brianda would copy his example, but let the earth elemental seal him inside. A moment later, he felt it sink into the ground, and heard the soft sound of soil moving around him, even though his space remained clear.

  It was unnerving, but also comforting in its own way, which didn’t alter the relief he felt when the elemental rose and its side opened to release him to the open air and the sanctity of the crone’s clearing.

  He stepped onto the path in time to see a flurry of sparks fly from the cottage’s chimney, just before the door opened. The girl who emerged to stand on the threshold, raised a mug of something hot to her lips.

  She had just taken a sip, when she registered Raomar’s presence on the path. Her eyes took in his multi-hued skin and straw-colored hair and the cup fell from her hand.

  “Kevarag!” she screamed, stepping back into the cottage. “Kevarag!”

  The elementals surged forward to provide a barricade between Raomar and his companions and those inside the cottage, and having been safely delivered, Grunwol and Brianda stepped up to flank him. Raomar laid a hand over Brianda’s preventing her from drawing her blade.

  “Give them a moment,” he told her. “Of all the secrets Alessia kept from her apprentices, my race was one of the hardest.”

  A child’s treble of defiance reached them, and the door swung open, Ghost hurrying onto the path and skidding to a halt when she saw the elementals. For a heartbeat, terror shook her features, and she backed up to the cottage door, collecting her courage.

  Raomar saw the moment she decided to ignore the creatures in favor of finding him, and wondered if he should be proud or wring her neck.

  “Master?” she called, standing on tip-toe to look over the elementals’ heads. “Are you all right?”

  The door opened behind her, just as the first earth elemental moved forward rumbling a greeting. Alessia’s voice rose in a scream of fear from beyond it, and the crone’s met it with annoyance.

  “Calm yourself!” she snapped. “Call yourself a wizardess when you can’t tell the difference between an elemental and an abomination? Come here and see!”

  A few moments later, the wizardess came to the door and looked out. Once she had, the crone stepped forward and greeted the elementals.

  “Did they come?” she asked, and the creatures parted, clearing the path.

  “We did,” Raomar allowed, moving forward to greet them.

  He’d moved no more than two paces before being wrapped in two sets of arms.

  “Roamer! You came,” Alessia said, her voice muffled as she pressed her face to his chest and held him tight.

  “Harrumph! We could not keep him away,” the crone complained. “Now, hush. You must all go. The Old One hunts you and these are here to take you out of his reach.”

  “They are?” Sindra asked, coming to stand in the doorway.

  “They are,” the crone confirmed. “You will ride inside them, and the Old One’s searchers will not find you.”

  Alessia lifted her head at the old woman’s words. Still clinging to Raomar, she turned to look at the crone.

  “But…I can’t!” she said, looking from the crone to Raomar, desperation in her eyes. “You know I cannot!”

  The elemental rumbled something to the crone, and Raomar placed a reassuring hand on Alessia’s arm.

  “They say you can ride outside, also,” he told her, “Although it will not be as fast, or as comfortable. Could you do that?”

  “I could try,” Alessia allowed.

  The earth elementals moved to the clearing’s center, changing their shapes to create deep saddles in their backs and growing four legs so they more resembled horses than snakes. Watching them, Raomar felt Alessia relax against him.

  “Yes,” she murmured. “That I can do.”

  Pushing herself away from his side, but taking his hand, she walked tremblingly forward.

  Raomar followed the draw of her hand, guiding her into the dip closest to the earth elemental’s head, before sliding into the dip behind her. Only then did he notice the small shadow that had followed him across the clearing.

  “Ghost,” he acknowledged, resting a hand on the child’s shoulder, and looking over her head to where Grunwol and Brianda waited a few paces away. Her face lit up.

  “Master,” she acknowledged, and her joy at his recognition drew a smile to his lips.

  “Go with Grunwol,” he instructed the child, then looked over at the cottage door where Alessia’s other apprentices were slowly emerging. “Brianda, take Zarine. Varan, ride with Sindra.”

  He watched as Grunwol and Ghost approached the next elemental in line. Made of stone, it made oddly soothing rumbles to them as they mounted. He saw Brianda take Zarine’s hand, her mouth tightening at the girl’s half-stifled cry of fear, as though holding back a rebuke.

  The spymaster’s-apprentice-turned-thief gave the girl a moment to get used to the idea, and then tugged gently on her hand and guided her onto the earth elemental’s back. Seeing them safely mounted, he switched his attention to where Varan and Sindra approached the next elemental, a gravelly creature of mixed earth and stone.

  The pair had come to an abrupt halt when the creature turned its face toward Sindra and made an inquiring rumble. Brianda noticed the small tableau, and slid from her mount. Crossing quickly to the young woman, she reached out and took Sindra’s hands in her own.

  “They’re our friends,” she told the girl. “There is no corruption on them. See?”

  She indicated the waiting creature, who lowered its head, rumbling gently in its throat.

  Sindra’s eyes widened and her throat worked as though she was swallowing a scream. She tensed as the elemental edged closer, pulling at Brianda’s grasp when the elemental stretched its head toward her and muzzled her arm.

  The creature rumbled again, and blew out a soft breath, sliding cautiously alongside the trio, and kneeling so it was easier to mount.

  “Come on, Sin,” Varan chided. “You always said you wanted to explore what magic had to offer.”

  He reached up and stroked the elemental’s stony hide.

  “And this is pretty magical, don’t you think?”

  The elemental rumbled, again, but Sindra took a breath and managed a watery smile.

  “Y…yes…” she managed, and swung herself carefully into the saddle the creature had made in its back.

  Varan slid quickly into place behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head against her back as though attempting to comfort her. Raomar thought he saw tears reflected in the light from the crone’s upraised lamp, even though Sindra made no sound, but the elementals were prepared to wait no longer.

  With a snorted grind of farewell, the earth elemental carrying him and Alessia, bowed its head to the crone, and she returned the gesture, stepping back to the shelter of her cottage door. As the other elementals repeated the bow, she raised a hand by way of farewell, and the creatures turned, taking their riders back through the witch-woman’s grove and into the forest beyond.

  Raomar thought he heard her voice raised as they left and the bushes slid back to block the cottage from view. Her words came to him, anyway, carried on a whisper of wind for his ears alone.

  “The answers lie at the Wildejun Meld,” she told him, and he found a small measure of comfort in them, even as he pulled Alessia close to his chest.