The Hidden Relic (The Evermen Saga, Book Two) (32 page)

"This way," Shani said, turning the horse down a side street, and they left the scene behind. "I know a shortcut."

They took one street, and then another, each taking them higher above the city. Ella couldn't escape the feeling that they didn't belong here. They were in Tlaxor — Tlaxor! The capital of Petrya! The horse heaved and puffed out of its nostrils as it leapt up the long sloping path that lay in front of them, occasionally taking a series of steps as they constantly gained height.

"We need to go up that path," Shani said, pointing to a narrow set of stairs rising through the gap in a wall beside an area of rocky gardens. "The horse won't make it."

"Shouldn't we wait for the prince?" Ella asked.

"We can't risk the High Lord getting away," Shani said. "He's crafty, filled with cunning. If he wasn't he wouldn't have lasted so long."

The pair dismounted from the horse, where it stood blowing, flecks of foam at its lips. "You've done well," Ella said, patting the horse on its flank.

Shani led the way as the two young women climbed the steep steps, taking them two at a time. By the time they reached the summit Ella was truly exhausted, but they still weren't at the Poltoi Palace.

"Where is it?" Ella asked. They were once again on a sloping road, wide enough for two carts to pass each other.

"At the top of this road, can you see the iron fence?" Shani said. "On the other side of that fence lie the grounds of the Poltoi Palace."

"More climbing," Ella said.

Shani ran up the road, Ella close behind her. When they came to the fence, Shani didn't halt — she simply gathered a fireball, and in an instant there was a hole in the fence, the iron bars melting around the hole.

Shani dashed across the grounds at Tlaxor's very summit towards the palace of red stone and dark wood that gazed out at the sky-blue expanse of Lake Halapusa below.

Shani reached the palace itself, pausing at an ornate set of double doors only long enough to grab a handle.

"Shani!" Ella called. "Wait!"

Recklessly Shani heaved open the door.

A man in red robes waited on the other side.

Ella screamed her friend's name as Shani was instantly bathed in fire, the flames pouring out of the doorway in a roiling cloud.

After the red dissipated, Shani crumpled to the ground.

Rushing forward, Ella felt something hit her from behind. She experienced the familiar surge of heat as a fireball scored a direct hit on her body, knocking her face forward onto the ground.

Ella looked up at Shani's motionless form, smoking on the doorstep. An elementalist stood over Ella's friend, a fireball dancing in the palm of each hand. The man looked up at Ella and smiled.

Ella tried to get up, but she felt the pressure of a boot on her back. She could see two more men in red robes, moving to stand between her and Shani, yet the pressure on Ella's back didn't let up.

Four elementalists — maybe more.

Ella looked at her green sleeve, noticing how the runes on her enchantress's dress had dimmed. She was certain she couldn't withstand another onslaught of fire. Burned alive, she thought. She hoped it would be quick.

As Ella waited for the end she heard singing, an eerie, sonorous sound, completely incongruous in the setting. The voice was surprisingly rich, a male tenor, clear and growing steadily in volume.

Impossible as it was, the realisation came to her.

Ella suddenly heard a squelching sound, like a knife slicing through a piece of fruit. Lying on her stomach, she couldn't see behind her, but she saw a spray of red and the pressure of the boot on her back fell away, followed by the thump of a body hitting the ground.

A shadow moved through the air, flickering and dancing, and this time Ella saw the flash of white-hot metal as it took one of the elementalists in front of her from neck to waist in a fountain of blood.

The next elementalist spoke some words in quick, harsh syllables. Three balls of fire left his hands in rapid succession to strike the shadow, smashing against it again and again, coating it in flame.

The singing grew louder to compensate, and even as the shadow blackened and charred it wavered, finally displaying a man in green, a fiery sword held in his hands. As he sang he leapt forward, and a single blow tore through his red-robed assailant, sending a wave of gore splattering onto the ground.

The elementalist standing over Shani's smoking form launched the two balls of fire he carried in the palms of his hands, and then gestured wildly as he screamed a stream of words, powerful activations that turned the cuffs at his wrists purple.

A wall of fire rose up between the elementalist and the swordsman in green. The flames crackled, sending forth a furious wave of heat that drove the swordsman back. The elementalist then put his wrists together and pulled them slowly apart. In between his wrists, connecting the cuffs, there was now a single line of purple fire, too bright to look at.

The elementalist looked down at Shani. He started to crouch down, ready to drive the line of fire across her neck.

"No!" the single word came from the swordsman. He leapt through the wall of flame, his song forgotten, completely disregarding the danger. Once on the other side he spoke a sequence and flung out his arm, pointing his blade at the elementalist. A bolt of pure energy left the point of the sword and struck the Petryan in the throat.

The elementalist toppled over, his eyes already sightless as he hit the ground.

"You women are a lot of trouble," Bartolo said, before he too, fell to the ground, his blackened armoursilk flickering as the magic left it.

34

A
FTER
a short time that felt like an eternity, Ella finally rushed back to the Poltoi Palace with healers. Fortunately, no more surprises awaited the prince's men, and the palace was soon secured. While Shani and Bartolo were under the care of two Hazaran elders and Ella paced outside, Prince Ilathor came to her to confirm the battle was over.

Tlaxor was taken, yet High Lord Haptut Alwar had somehow escaped.

The prince tried to talk to her, but Ella left him and walked back down to the city's gate, looking down at the splashes of blood on the ground. It was over now, she thought, still dazed, realising she was lucky to be alive.

She looked out the gate and over the frozen lake at the shore. She had enabled this city to be taken. It was a strange feeling.

A Petryan suddenly rushed up to the gate, staring out at the lake, soon joined by another. The prince's men stirred and kicked their horses into motion, coming over to where a growing crowd of Petryans stood looking out the gate.

"What is it?" Ella asked.

"It's Haptut Alwar," the Petryan said, pointing. "I would stake my life on it."

All thoughts of confrontation forgotten, the Hazarans and the Petryans stood side by side looking at the man walking on the expanse of frozen water.

The solitary figure moved across the ice, richly dressed, a chest in his arms.

"We'll catch him," one of the Hazarans said.

"Will you put him on trial?" said one of the Petryans.

"If that's what you want," a voice to Ella's side spoke, and turning, she saw Prince Ilathor beside her.

"No," the Petryan said, his words tinged with venom. "Trial would be too good for the man whose favourite method of execution was to boil a man in the lake."

"Or a child," said another Petryan.

"Or a woman," said another.

"You might have your wish granted," Prince Ilathor said.

Ella looked at the lake, and realised what she had been staring at but was too dazed to realise.

Steam rose from the ice.

"I thought you said a full day, Ella?" said the prince.

Ella looked out in the direction of Torlac. A thin trail of smoke curled up from the area of the town. She hoped no one had been hurt. The cellars under the barracks were far from the homes of the locals.

"It looks like I was wrong," Ella said.

"It's good to know that's possible." Ilathor smiled.

When Haptut Alwar, the tyrant High Lord of Petrya, was half-way across the ice, he suddenly stopped.

"How long will it take to change?" Prince Ilathor asked.

"At a guess? The sheet on top is the last of it. Underneath, it's already boiling hot."

The richly-robed figure took one more hesitant step. By now, a large crowd of Petryans had gathered, all watching the drama unfold, everything else forgotten.

On the shore, close to where the crowd stood, Ella could see the water bubbling and boiling as Lake Halapusa returned to its natural state.

High Lord Haptut Alwar took three more steps.

Then, with a blood-curdling scream, the Petryan High Lord fell through the ice.

~

E
LLA
left when the Petryans and Hazarans started to take bets on how long he would take to die. Haptut Alwar thrashed and cried, moans of anguish coming from his throat as he tried to swim through water that grew hotter with every passing second.

It was even better than it would have been before, the Petryans said, with the water slowly heating up. The longer he lasted, the better.

Ella returned to the Poltoi Palace as singing and dancing started in the streets. The High Lord's most fervent supporters were rounded up, and she tried to ignore their screams as they, too, were thrown in the lake. Ella was glad the Petryans saw it as liberation, rather than conquest. She hoped the future would now be brighter for these passionate people.

"Salute, enchantress," the Hazaran guard said when Ella approached the chamber where the healers had taken Shani and Bartolo. The man rose, a strangely bashful expression on his face. "I'm sorry, but you cannot go in there."

"Why not?" Ella demanded. "Are they all right? I want to see my friends."

"They are fine," the guard soothed. "Please, come back another time."

"What's wrong?" Ella said. "Are they badly hurt?"

Ella pushed forward, and the guard tried to stop her, grabbing onto her wrist, but she spoke a word and he snatched his hand away with a yelp.

Ella turned the handle of the door and opened it. "Shani? Bartolo?" she called. "Oh…"

Ella stepped back and immediately closed the door. She knew her face must be bright red.

"I tried to warn you," the guard said.

"I see," Ella said. "Well… I'm glad to see they're well and recovering, both of them."

"It seems that way to me." The guard grinned.

"Good night," Ella said.

Ella walked back out of the Poltoi Palace and onto the terrace where Bartolo had saved her and Shani's lives. A bladesinger and an elementalist — who would have thought! She knew they would be good for each other, and most of all she was happy for Shani. Love came from the strangest of places.

She could hear singing and warbling music wafting up from below, carried on the warm, moist breeze. Looking out, Ella saw that the sun was about to set. Ella was again taken by the view from the top of the tiered city. It had been a long, eventful day.

"Always I come to you, and always you leave me," a male voice, smooth as silk, came from behind her.

Ella turned and caught Prince Ilathor's smile, even as the sun fell behind the crater's edge and the stars came out. "Does it seem that way?" she said.

Barely visible in the rapidly fading light, she saw the prince shrug. "It seems that way. The first time was in the desert, when I thought you were Evora Guinestor, High Enchantress of Altura. The second time was high in the tower above Torlac, when I again felt the connection between us. The third time was just now, by the gate of this city. Here I am. Please don't leave me a fourth time, Ella."

"Everyone is celebrating," Ella said.

"But not you?"

"I'm tired. I don't even know where I'm sleeping tonight."

"It's all been taken care of. Just down the hill from the Poltoi Palace is the house of a merchant, a man kind enough to put his rooms and servants at our disposal. I do not know if house is the appropriate term, his manse is nearly as big as this palace."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"No, Enchantress Ella. Thank you." He paused. "For today, I mean. You were… amazing."

"I think I'm going to lie down," Ella said. She reached out and squeezed the prince's hand. "Good night, Your Highness."

Prince Ilathor didn't let go of her hand. Ella could feel his cool, dry touch, her hand enveloped in his larger one. His thumb ran over the skin on the back of her hand, sending a tingle travelling up Ella's arm and down her spine.

"At least let me walk you down," Prince Ilathor said.

Before they left Ella took one last look at the view from the terrace outside the Poltoi Palace. Once again the moon was out, but this time the shimmer on Lake Hapalusa was closer, and even the sparkling stars were reflected on the water. Ella's hand was still held in the prince's, but she didn't let go; she'd seen so much horror and death this day that his touch held a strong affirmation of life.

The prince spoke as they walked. "I received a message today," he said. "Something I have been saving for you."

Ella turned her head sharply. "What message?"

"The allied army of Alturans and Halrana has crossed the Sarsen into occupied Halaran. Your brother, the Lord Marshal, led his men to a great victory. They have salvaged many Halrana constructs and they have a thousand of the small hunters with them."

"Dunfolk," Ella said. Could it be true?

"Yes, Dunfolk," the prince said, squeezing her hand. "Not only do they have Dunfolk archers with them, but they have Alturan archers of their own, carrying a new weapon they call a rail-bow. These weapons have proven to be decisive, and the Lord Marshal is penetrating deeper into Halaran. Some say he is heading directly for Ralanast."

"Truthfully?" Ella said. "Do I have your word?"

"Ella, do you need to ask?"

Miro! Ella felt tears come to her eyes at hearing her brother was not only alive and safe, but actually pushing the enemy back. "That's… That's wonderful news." Ella said.