Bones of the Empire (74 page)

Raeln charged, knowing even Feanne would not last forever. He slammed into the rearmost Turessian and kicked the legs out from under another. Ducking and weaving through their line as fast as he could, he hoped to do plenty of damage before they realized they were under attack from both sides. He worked his way toward where Feanne was using a young Turessian man as a shield against the magical swords of another. From the edge of his vision, he saw Alafa picking her way after him, avoiding as much attention as she could manage.

“Wildlings!” Turess shouted the instant Raeln reached Feanne and slapped away the hand of a Turessian who nearly grabbed her from behind. “Get behind me!”

Spinning, Raeln caught Alafa and threw her toward Turess as Feanne tumbled away. Raeln barely managed to leap clear when the ceiling collapsed where he had been, sealing off the passage and burying the Turessians.

“It will not hold them long,” Turess warned, pulling Raeln to his feet and eyeing Alafa with a touch of surprise. Turess was covered with sweat and looked near ready to fall over. Almost as an afterthought, opened his other hand to reveal a smoking broach. “Estin is alone in courtyard. We need to hurry before he is spotted. Last item I hid here is almost out of magic, so this becomes more about you and less about me, I am afraid. Raeln…what happened to your face?”

Raeln smiled and touched his tattoos. “Long story for another day. Glad you learned our language, Turess.”

Feanne did not wait for the rest of them. She took off at a dead run that Raeln knew he would be hard-pressed to match. He did what he could, running after her, with Turess and Alafa right behind him. He was not about to let Feanne fight alone.

They reached a section of the hallway where the left-hand wall opened into a massive courtyard. There, a single Turessian ran to Estin as Raeln watched, slamming him to one of the temple’s supporting pillars with both hands on his throat.

“Never bring that beast’s name up again!” shrieked the Turessian at Estin. “She’s dead! Gone! She went to her fate screaming like an animal!”

“I heard what he said,” Turess whispered, stopping beside Raeln. “Let me get his attention. You are faster than I, and might live to reach him. Do not come back for me. Only worry about Estin now. My brother may kill me, but does not matter. If my death gets you chance to strike, let it happen.”

As they spoke, Feanne inched along the shadows trying not to draw too much attention. She had slowed and moved more cautiously once Estin’s life was on the line.

Stepping into the daylight of the courtyard, Turess said, “I had wondered. Kharali…Kharalin to her people. Karreln to the southerners, with their horrible pronunciation of our words. Two thousand years is not a stretch to think her name has become Kerrelin. Was this part of your mockery of my life, or a bit of humor fate has thrown at you that stings even your wounds? Do tell me, brother, did my wife abandon me or did you play a part in this? What really happened?”

Raeln put the pieces together. Kharali had been Turess’s wife, from what little On’esquin had spoken of it. The god of the wilderness was nothing more than a handed-down story about Turess’s wife. Deep down, a piece of Raeln’s hope crumbled.

At the far end of the courtyard, Yoska stumbled into sight, limping slightly, with Mairlee—back in her elven form—at his side. They gave Raeln a pointed stare and moved toward Estin and the Turessian.

Outside the temple, several roars in unison shook the foundations of the building. The four dragons raced past, visible through the upper spires. Farther out, whirlwinds of mists pursued, unable to get close enough to touch the dragons. Those whirlwinds ripped across the temple spires, sending shards of stone flying.

The Turessian in the courtyard did not immediately react to the newcomers. Instead, he whispered something to Estin and then threw him to the ground. The Turessian turned in place, smoothing his robes, and looked at Turess. “Let us see what you have learned, brother.”

“That is not Dorralt,” Turess said over his shoulder to anyone listening. “His mind, yes, but not his body. This is one of his puppets. We need to find him in truth. This will not end until we do. He is stalling us.”

Raeln lifted his claws and examined the blood that still coated them, dried to a black sheen. Moving up closer to Turess, he said, “Don’t worry about him. Alafa figured out how to fight them.”

Turess turned the other way and gave the deer a skeptical stare before turning back to Dorralt. “You’ve lost the temple, brother. All of us are safe here, now. More troops enter every minute. End this stupidity.”

“Stupidity?” Dorralt asked, giggling. He slowly turned in place, spreading his arms as he looked over the people in the courtyard. “Why would you think this wasn’t part of my plan? Only those in the temple are worthy of surviving into the next age. Everyone outside—including my children, both Turessian and corpse—will die in the mists. Those few who survive will beg us to recreate the empire, as they did back in our day, brother. I am doing nothing different than you did all those years ago. I am completing what you failed to do and reclaiming what was yours. The throne belongs to you, if you will take it. You may rule over all of this, including those who want my blood. Those you brought with you will be the first of your new army.”

Feanne slid along one edge, and Raeln moved to the other, opposite her. With luck, one of them could get close enough to Estin to pull him away.

“The mists were an accident,” Turess yelled back, advancing into the courtyard. “Thousands died by my mistake. Every life lost is one I have mourned.”

Dorralt laughed and shook his head. “It was no mistake. It was brilliant. Savages all over the world demanded you rule them. This time will be no different, except that I will not let you cast the world into chaos again. Everyone who has come to the temple is exceptional. They deserve their lives. We will all live out the next year or two in the temple, while the world burns around us. I have supplies for those of you who require food. Never did I intend to be inhospitable. You cannot really do anything but wait this out. I cannot die, and your only other option is to leave the temple and perish in the mists. That includes you, mother dragon. Fighting me did not prove very successful the last time.”

Mairlee’s hiss of anger surprised Raeln more than a little. She had moved to the middle of the courtyard and looked nearly as feral as Feanne, if not more so. Mairlee was baring her teeth, making her resemble the undead in some ways, as she fanned her fingers like claws. If she were to change, she would likely crush them all. Raeln now understood Feanne’s fears of changing into her own monstrous shape in confined spaces.

“Stop this now, brother,” Dorralt pleaded, holding his hands out as though offering to be manacled. “Those in the temple are the only ones with any hope of surviving the mists. Do not allow more to throw their lives away. These people have earned their lives. I ask for none of them to die, aside from Estin. Him I owe a special debt to.”

“You know I will fight until my last breath for a friend,” Turess replied. He stopped walking once he reached the middle of the courtyard, giving him plenty of room to move if Dorralt tried to attack him.

Groaning and rolling his eyes, Dorralt said, “Still the faith in the wildlings. They abandoned you as you lay dying, and yet you continue to expect them to work with you. How many of them must die before you realize that only your own family will stand at your side?”

“Did they abandon me, Dorralt? Tell me where my wife’s remains are and we can discuss who betrayed who. I know you have the power to bring her spirit to me to answer for her actions.”

Raeln reached the next entrance into the courtyard from the outer temple and almost ran into a group of werewolves. They snarled and nearly attacked him, but managed to restrain themselves. Eyeing him skeptically at first, they soon gave soft grunts of acknowledgement. They fell in alongside him, moving farther up the edge of the courtyard to get closer to Dorralt.

“Enough of this.” Dorralt waved dismissively at Feanne, hurling her across the room into one of the pillars. He quickly repeated the gesture toward the werewolves, smashing one against the back of the hallway and scattering the others outside the courtyard. Raeln barely avoided being caught in the spell’s blast. He forced himself not to look back at the sound of the werewolf’s body cracking and breaking on the stone walls.

Before Turess could complete a spell of his own, Dorralt put a finger to his lips. Turess stopped what he was doing, staring in confusion at his hands.

“Two thousand years I’ve had to study, Turess. Think of all you learned in less than forty years of life. I am so much more than you could ever have become in all your years. Even the hundred years the clans had me trapped underground, unable to move a single muscle, I spent learning how to kill those I knew would come for me. You can barely manage the most basic of magic. It’s shameful.”

Humans, Marakeer, elves, dwarves, and any other race Raeln had heard of or seen filled the outer halls of the temple, advancing to the entrance of the courtyard. At a gesture from Dorralt, translucent walls appeared in those openings, cutting off all reinforcements. That left Raeln, Feanne, Estin, Turess, Mairlee, Yoska, and Dorralt in the large courtyard.

“I chose my last stand,” Dorralt told them all, stepping back until he was over Estin. “This place may be my tomb, but I will take all of you with me if it is within my power. Call this off, Turess. I do not want war with you. I want you at my side. Bring these people to heel and they can serve us…serve you.”

Closing his eyes, Turess raised his hands. A flash of energy around him seemed to shatter the air, causing flaming shards to fall into the snow around him. He cleared his throat and tossed aside the melted remains of the broach Raeln had seen him holding earlier.

“You are not so strong as you think,” Turess mused, smiling grimly. “If the clan heads could contain you a hundred years, I will find a way to contain you for a thousand. I will find a way to live forever, if it gives me the time and power to stop you from hurting a single person.”

“That is more like the brother I remember!” Dorralt cackled as he reached down and patted Estin’s muzzle to jar him awake.

Raeln inched forward, listening to the unending growls from the werewolves behind him. Past Dorralt, he saw Feanne struggling with whether to charge or hold her ground. It was possibly the first time he had seen her indecisive, especially when it came to Estin. Raeln stopped, waiting for Feanne to make her choice before he rushed in.

“Mortals,” Mairlee called out, standing near Turess. “Time is short. He has trapped most of our allies outside the barrier. The barrier hides Dorralt from the mists, and they can only see our allies. I will not allow this delay to kill my remaining kin. If you will not attack him, I will.”

“Thank you for the warning,” Dorralt replied, grinning as he bowed. The air all around him wavered the way Raeln would have expected over a stone on a hot day. He knew that shimmer from his fight with Liris. It covered both Dorralt and Estin. They were cut off from leaving or getting close to Dorralt.

“Now! We have no time left!” Raeln shouted at Mairlee, who nodded at him. “Liris tried to kill me in one of those. Estin will run out of air!”

Immediately, Mairlee hurled a bolt of lightning at Dorralt, which scattered across the wall and faded.

Dorralt laughed manically, grinning at Raeln. “Liris never was any good at keeping surprises to herself. The wolf is right. Your time to either join me or kill me has been shortened to an hour. How long will you wait before kneeling, knowing that your dear lemur will suffocate and die before your eyes? I suspect our lovely Feanne will be the first to grovel. When she does, I will mercifully spare Estin, and the two can suffer through their last days together.”

Letting out a guttural roar, Mairlee’s next barrage of magic lit up the courtyard, melting all the snow and making Raeln’s fur sizzle. Flames tore at the barrier, making it glow like the sun. Dorralt responded by holding up his own hand, pushing the flames back inch by inch without dropping the barrier. Using that moment of inattention, Raeln got himself to the edge of the dome. On the opposite side, Feanne was frantically clawing at the barrier, trying to tear through it with brute force. Neither flames nor claws did anything to the magical wall.

“Oh, you silly, silly dragon,” Dorralt yelled. The flames continued to push back toward Mairlee, despite her efforts. “I may not have taken any of your brood as one of my children, but I saw enough of your son’s mind in the seconds before he tried to contain the mists. I am far more than a match for you. I got what I wanted, Mairlee. I got all of the woken dragons in one place. Living or dead, you will serve me before I claim the world, or you will die with the rest of the mortals. There will be none of the old so-called gods to stop me from rising as the ruler of Eldvar. Your son drove off the elemental lords, and they will not look to our world for generations. Only my brother can prevent this by choosing to stand at my side as the rightful master of the lands.”