The Lore Of The Evermen (Book 4) (40 page)

She walked over to the entrance.

Where the last passage had been walled, this tunnel was rough and jagged, as if naturally formed. Golden light welled from inside, and with each step forward Ella found herself feeling strangely at peace. This tunnel didn’t turn and twist, it continued on straight ahead, but with all the outcrops and hanging formations, she couldn’t see what lay ahead.

Ella heard the sound of masculine breathing, back the way s
he’d com
e.

She stopped in her tracks and looked fearfully back behind her.

The man appeared from between the rocky walls. Where he walked the golden light changed to darkness, and every footstep filled the
tunnel
with shadow. He brought the shadow with him, and Ella knew that if he swallowed her in that darkness, she would never see light again.

Ella began to run, her chest once more heaving. She opened her stride and dashed through the passages, taking cuts and scrapes from the sharp stone. The man ran with her, chasing her, and Ella’s spine crawled at the thought of her unprotected back.

Ella heard her name, and someone suddenly stood in front of her, barring the way.

She saw it was a small woman with ruddy skin and crinkled features. She was nonetheless pretty in a way, and she had a bow in her hands, pointed past Ella’s shoulder. A soft mantle of white fur rested on her shoulders.

“Get behind me,” the woman said. “I will keep him from you.”

Ella rushed to reach safety behind the small woman and turned to look back. The man growled and sneered as he stood in the
shadows
where the golden light couldn’t reach him. He didn’t come any closer.

Ella realized she knew the woman’s name.

“Layla,” Ella said. “What are you doing here?”

“You summoned me,” Layla said.

“How?”

Layla shrugged, even as she kept an arrow drawn on the
bowstring
, sighted at the man. “I was enjoying myself, hunting, climbing,
swimming
, sharing laughter with my people, and then I was here.”

As Ella watched, the man drew away, taking his shadows with him. Layla lowered her bow.

“I’ve missed you,” Ella said. She met Layla’s green eyes, and Ella felt tears well at the corners of her own.

“You need to take better care of yourself,” Layla said. She ran her eyes up and down Ella’s body and raised an eyebrow. “Your hair. Is that a new fashion among your people?”

Ella laughed, though it hurt. “No.”

“I have missed you too. But do not blame yourself. We are each responsible for our own actions.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Ella said.

“If you want to keep running, then that is your choice. I will guard here, and I will keep you safe.”

“What lies ahead?”

“Your destiny.”

“Can I wait here with you?”

“No, Ella. I do not have the power to stay here long. If you choose to run, then you must go now.”

“Will I see you again?”

“You will always see me. If you want to be close, come to the Dunwood, and visit my tree. But I will be everywhere. I will be in the wind that moves through the trees, and the water flowing through the rivers. The clouds will bear my name, and I will be
carried
down with the rains to continue the cycle. Now go.”

Ella opened her mouth.

“Go,” Layla repeated.

Ella reached forward to touch her friend, but her grasp caught only air. Layla smiled at Ella sadly, and Ella left the Dunfolk healer behind.

The golden light grew stronger the further Ella wandered down the tunnel. She once more felt the sensation of peace, and with it came a feeling of being tired. Ella wanted to sleep, and she knew that when she did, it would be the sweetest sleep she’d ever had. She was weary. Soon, she would rest.

The tunnel narrowed and Ella passed through the close walls to see the tunnel widening once more, forming another cavern.

Ella raised a hand to shield her eyes. An arched opening at the cavern’s end shone with radiant light. The feeling of tiredness and tranquility was now so strong she could no longer resist it, and Ella knew it stemmed from this arch.

She stepped into the cavern and walked through the center, ignoring everything else as she approached the light.

When she was directly in front of the arch, she felt an
incredible
sensation of peace. It surged through her body, sending a tingle through her limbs, and Ella realized the pain was gone. While she looked at the light there was no more agony, only joy.

“Ella,” she heard behind her.

Ella turned in surprise as she heard the voice. For the first time her gaze took in the entire cavern. Jewels of all colors sparkled from the rocky ceiling, reflecting the golden light. A beautiful
centurion
tree with glistening green leaves stood over a wooden bench, branches drooping down.

Ella drew in a sharp breath.

An old man in a sky-blue robe sat on the bench, and Ella’s eyes widened as she saw he had a little girl on his lap, her hair pale blonde and her eyes sparkling emerald. He set the girl off his lap and rose to his feet as he once more spoke her name.

His white hair was flecked with ginger, and his soft beard was dotted here and there with red. His intensely blue eyes looked at Ella with the utmost kindness and compassion as he stepped toward her.

“Evrin,” Ella whispered. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here because you’re here,” Evrin Evenstar said.

Ella looked down at the little girl, whose hand was clasped in Evrin’s. “Who is she?”

“She’s you,” Evrin said.

Ella’s senses reeled, and suddenly she was the girl, the girl was she. She looked out through the little girl’s eyes, and then Ella closed her eyes and opened them, and the girl was gone. Evrin’s hands were now empty.

“I remember,” Ella said.

“That is good. But tell me, my dear,” Evrin said. “What do you remember of lore?”

Ella spoke with a trembling voice. “Runes are drawn with essence. Different runes combine to give objects properties they didn’t possess before.”

“What makes someone a master of lore?”

“Learning,” Ella said. “Experience. Wisdom.”

Evrin shook his head sadly. “You never did understand, though you came close to the source three times.” He came forward and put his finger at Ella’s breast, close to her heart. “Power comes from within. Only when you realize this, will you become the master of yourself, and then you can become what you’ve always wanted
to be.
”

Ella saw Layla enter the cavern to stand by Evrin’s side.

“She knows it,” Evrin said, indicating Layla. “But then again, her people were always close to the truth.”

“What truth?” Ella said.

“You’ve always believed everything should have a rational
explanation
, and you’ve struggled to explain the things you don’t understand. You can’t explain away love, my dear, it doesn’t work like that. Nor can you explain intuition, or the strength to go on even through the darkest struggles.”

“I don’t understand,” Ella whispered. “Why can’t you just
tell m
e?”

“Because these things are for each of us to learn on our own. They can’t be taught or explained, which is the point of what I’m trying to say to you.”

Ella turned to look at the archway of golden light. Once more the feeling of restful peace came over her.

“You can go that way, yes, and you deserve it, that is true.”

At the other end of the cavern, from where Ella had come, the entrance darkened with shadow. The man stood at the cusp of the cavern, watching and waiting, filled with menace.

“Or you can fight,” Evrin said. “It will mean discovering the source of your strength in the face of utter darkness. You will either find yourself, or you will perish.”

“We must go,” Layla said to Evrin.

Evrin nodded. He turned back to Ella. “I have faith in you, my dear. But when you make your choice, remember: if you choose to fight, the battle will be more difficult than any you’ve ever faced before.”

Evrin and Layla both turned to the light-filled tunnel, and as they walked, they began to fade. They became translucent with each step, and the centurion tree and wooden bench also faded.

“Don’t go,” Ella pleaded.

“Trust in yourself,” Evrin and Layla whispered together.

Evrin looked one last time over his shoulder back at Ella, and then he and Layla walked through the archway, into the light.

The man in black now stepped forward into the cavern,
half-filli
ng it with shadow as he snarled, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Ella looked longingly at the light, and then at the darkness.

She chose to fight.

54

Tiesto Telmarran stared white-faced down at Seranthia as the rumbling horn blast sounded the call to arms from behind the city walls.

It was time.

Smoke rose to cloud the battlefield, rolling up from the mass of heaving enemy warriors below. They pressed against the stone wall and swarmed up ladders, seemingly oblivious as the dirigibles
emptied
their last loads of orbs, their pilots desperate to keep the assault parties clear from the tall heights.

Fear threatened to overwhelm Tiesto as the responsibility pressed down on his shoulders. He kept his back straight, forcing himself to breathe, and he promised himself he would rise to the task. The clarion meant it was time to engage the enemy. Tiesto had to lead his men to victory. His task was to defeat the savage revenants below.

It was midday and the sun blazed with fierce heat. The revenant horde clustered up against the Wall, scrabbling madly,
heedless
of the raining destruction. In complete contrast, the second force waited in front of the gate in disciplined ranks, ready to charge when their opportunity came.

The enemy commander’s strategy was simple: to open a breach, either by climbing up to the city using their long ladders or by pounding at the gates with their iron-tipped battering rams. Where a strong breach opened, the infantry square would follow.

As the clarion blast hung in the air, Tiesto scanned the hills behind him to see his army ponderously making its way up to the crests of the hills. He cursed every second that passed. Returning his gaze to the city, he saw the handful of dirigibles taking fire from muskets below. The pilots finished releasing their deadly hail and returned back to the city, but not before a dirigible suddenly fell into a spiral, plummeting to the ground and crashing in a shower of sparks.

A gust of wind blew the stench of the battlefield up to the hills, and Tiesto momentarily recoiled. As the summer sun took its toll, the rotten bodies that fought the natural order of things to keep moving were falling to putrefaction.

“Ugh,” a nearby bladesinger said, putting his hand to his mouth.

Couriers in brown, green, blue, purple, and orange ran in all directions, fetching orders and making reports.

“The grenadiers need more time to come forward.”

“High Lord Grigori reports his men are ready.”

“The Legion awaits your command.”

“Do you want my infantry up front?”

“Yes! Hurry!” Tiesto said.

“We can’t wait much longer,” Dain Barden said, standing nearby.

“I know,” Tiesto muttered.

“It’s madness, charging the infantry square and ignoring the revenants at the walls.”

“Enough,” Tiesto said, surprised at his own ability to voice down the huge Akari warrior. “We have our orders.”

Looking down at the infantry square, sizing up those he would soon be fighting, Tiesto saw a cluster of enemy warriors in black-and-white-checkered uniforms at the front of their ranks. Narrowing his vision, he thought he could see a warrior in a
three-corne
red hat.

“Gorain,” Dain Barden said, noting the direction of his gaze. After the space of ten heartbeats he spoke again. “We’ve been
spotted
.”

The warrior in the hat waved an arm, and the revenants under his command began to turn to face the threat from the hills.

Tiesto swore.

He’d lost the advantage of surprise. Gorain waved his arm again, and the ranks of revenants wheeled.

“Why aren’t we attacking?” someone cried.

“Miro also said to wait for the light,” Tiesto said.

“We need to charge now!” Dain Barden urged.

“We wait!” Tiesto turned and glared at the huge warrior.

Dain Barden grumbled but backed down. His eyes continued to rove over the battlefield. “Ah, there he is.”

“Who?” Tiesto asked.

“Renrik.” Tiesto saw Dain Barden point toward a gray-robed necromancer on the left flank of the infantry square.

“So many of them,” someone said.

“I don’t see any light!” someone else muttered.

“On your command, High Lord Tiesto. We’re ready.”

“Good,” Tiesto said.

But he still waited for the light Miro had promised him.

Disciplined order came to the revenant army as Gorain and the necromancers formed them into a longer line, more of a rectangle than a square. As he waited, Tiesto counted along the files until he’d passed one hundred. He then repeated the same process as he counted the ranks.

“I count ten thousand, give or take,” Tiesto said.

“This won’t be easy,” said the Dain.

Tiesto shaded his eyes from the glare as he waited for the
promised
signal. Surely Miro wouldn’t let him down?

A sudden pinprick of light sparked at the base of the Wall, on the extreme right-hand side of Tiesto’s vision. The light grew brighter and brighter until it outshone the sun, though it was
midday
.
Tiesto’s
heart began to hammer. A second horn blasted from the city, as if responding to the light.

Tiesto tore his gaze away from the light and instead focused on the force formed up in ranks in front of him. The emperor had been clear: Tiesto was to concentrate on this enemy above all else.

“Let’s do this,” the Dain said.

“Send word.
We attack!
” Tiesto roared.

Heralds sounded the advance, and the huge army moved relentlessly forward, tired men pushing down their fear and instead summoning their reserves of strength to make this last surge for Seranthia.

Tiesto led from the center while the other high lords and
marshals
each commanded a formation of warriors: Tingaran legionnaires, Louan grenadiers, Halrana pikemen, and Alturan heavy infantry. Beside Tiesto, the Dain took the huge two-headed hammer from his belt, an almost eager look on his face, and two nearby Halrana muttered prayers as they advanced.

The thud of marching footsteps turned to thunder as the allied army picked up momentum. Tiesto felt both the thrill of the charge and the fear of death overwhelm him in equal parts, but soon even those feelings were replaced by something more primal, the raw emotion of a man charging into battle.

The space between the two formations grew smaller, and now both forces were running at each other, revenants charging the
soldiers
of the Empire, the men of Tiesto’s army charging back.

The two forces hit.

Everything fell into chaos.