Free Stormed Fortress by Janny Wurts Page A

failed? Dharkaron avert the cold hand of necessity! That girl ' s got a lead of sixty-five leagues, too far to hope we can help her. '
    ' Not if we chase her, ' Elaira agreed. ' She ' s ahead of her enemies. She may outwit them. If not, the trackers will haze her into West Halla. '
    ' Straight into the swords of the Alliance ' s muster, by now choking the trade-routes through Pellain! '
    As Sidir loosed his grasp, lashed frantic, Elaira captured his sleeve. ' Wait. There ' s more. '
    Restrained at the edge of explosive impatience, the Companion still listened.
    ' Jeynsa ' s bearing a talisman, ' said Elaira, aggrieved.
    His sharp wit took stock. Then why didn ' t Eriegal decide to tell us, since he saw her off back in Halwythwood? '
    Elaira met that probing dissection with silence, reluctant to suggest a conspiracy. Since the man at her side would shatter himself in a doomed attempt to best fate, she strove to avert suicidal disaster.
    ' I know you ' re loath to rely on my trust. But, Sidir, if you ask, I can hasten our journey. Snag a ride on the deck of a trespassing barge, and my resource can buy a swift passage. From Daenfal, we could fare southward by river. '
    ' You could disguise my origins? ' The clansman ' s bleak glance mapped that prospect, displeased. ' Perish the thought! Far more than my life will reside in your hands. '
    ' I know. ' Elaira withstood the balked heat of his rage. ' Dharkaron ' s revenge strike me dead if I ' m false, since I don ' t see a more hopeful recourse. '
    ' On your head, then, ' snapped Sidir, his staunch courage proof of his iron-heart character.
    No use, to pretend that his stakes were not desperate. For every step taken to speed their pace to Melhalla, the Light ' s call to war would raise obstacles. The inns and the roads would be seething with troops. Each officer bearing a stamped requisition would be clamouring for transport, alongside contingents of Sunwheel priests, with the eyes of their zealot examiners. Should her power of arcane concealment fall short, or should her Prime Matriarch ' s fickle interests command Sidir ' s betrayal, he would be condemned. Clansmen caught inside town precincts were granted no trial. She asked Rathain ' s most loyal liegeman to run the risk of a death that began with public dismemberment.

 

     
     

    Late Summer 5671
    Three Riders
    A fast galley from Jaelot docks at Varens, with the Light ' s avatar rushed ahead down the trade town to Tirans bearing the shocking news: that the Spinner of Darkness has dared to strike at Etarra ' s high council by sorcery, and that the s ' Brydion duke at Alestron has betrayed the Alliance in liaison with Shadow; therefore, the citadel and its corrupt defenders must be destroyed for rightful cause and by force of arms . . .
     
    Galled from exhaustive days in the saddle, the Mad Prophet spurs through the town gates of Darkling amid the Skyshiel pass, only to find the spectacular demise of the Light ' s cult-tainted priest has ignited the troop muster ahead of him, with no horse, no cart, and no transport available to hasten his urgency to reach the Eltair Coast. . .
     
    Beset while reforging Scarpdale ' s torn grimward, Asandir kneels beside his dying stallion, torn for his dread choice: to consign the burden of his unfinished mission back into Sethvir ' s taxed hands, and not leave the beloved horse ' s left shade to be subsumed by ravaging chaos; in mourning, he voices the Name for Isfarenn, binding the freed spirit under secure ward for return to Athera ' s continuum . . .

 

     
     

    Late Summer 5671

    II. Recoil
    On the day that event struck the anvil of fate, the ambassadorial courier from Varens rode into the trade town of Tirans. He came in the company of four mounted men and passed under the northern gate of the teeming, walled rise that guarded the industrious hub of East Halla ' s peninsula. Amid summer haze, the carnelian brick watchtowers arose, sturdy and square, gold-rimmed against an egg-shell