Joint Intentions (Book 9) (13 page)

"But he can stop you from teleporting. He did with me."

Holli almost took an arrow from her quiver, but she could not ignore the disclosure or the potential powers of the apparition.

"What are you saying?" she demanded.

"I've been in this town before, you know that. Before I lost my core, I was told to stay in Burbon for my own protection. I thought of leaving, but I couldn't. He wouldn't let me. He prevented it. I don't know how, but as long as I was here, I couldn't teleport away."

Neltus' claim held more than just a shred of accuracy. Holli faced the ghost to determine Sy's abilities, as well as his intentions.

"Can you prevent me from teleporting to the desert?"

Sy nodded.

"Will you?" the elf asked with dread clearly in her voice.

The ghost nodded again.

"This is madness! Enin will die without Linda's aid. Do you wish that to happen?"

Sy shook his head.

"Then let us proceed!" she demanded.

A voice called out from further down the street.

"He can't," Captain Klusac shouted as he rushed toward them. "Sy promised Ryson he would protect his wife. He is committed to that oath."

Holli's gaze narrowed on the human soldier running down the street.

"You are the captain who can speak to Sy's spirit?" she demanded.

"I am," Klusac heaved with a heavy breath as he raced past Neltus and stopped before Holli. "He called to me. I heard his voice in my head. He told me why you were here. He will not let you take Linda Acumen from her home. He will protect her, even if it means battling a friend and ally."

The admission staggered the elf. She had fought beside Sy Fenden many times, helped defend his town, even avenged him by killing the massive goblin responsible for his death. She could not comprehend his unyielding position.

Holli bit back any rage and spoke directly to the warrior spirit.

"Sy, Enin is my responsibility and I have failed in that regard. He is in grave danger. We have determined a way to save him, but we require Linda and her immunity to magic. If you prevent me from taking Linda back to the Lacobian, it will mean more than an extension of my previous failure, it will mean Enin's death."

She did not take her gaze off the spirit, but she expected to hear a response from the human captain.

Klusac was silent, but only for a moment. He then repeated the words only he could hear.

"Sy said that all is not as it seems. There are dangers in the desert beyond the dathit. He cannot break his oath to Ryson Acumen. Since he cannot protect Linda once she leaves the borders of Burbon, he cannot allow Linda to go with you."

"Ryson is aware of my intentions," Holli responded, still staring at the ghost captain. "He has already agreed to let me come here and obtain Linda's assistance. He knew my intentions. You are freed from any oath in that regard."

"Ryson does not know of all the dangers he faces, at least not yet."

"What are these dangers?" Holli demanded. "We were told Linda would be safe."

There was a long silence. Klusac eventually answered, even as he did not completely understand the response.

"Sy said he's confined. There are limits to what he knows and what he can reveal, boundaries he must not cross. If he is to remain Burbon's defender, he must abide by those limitations. The dangers which await you are beyond these walls. They are not his province, but he knows they are there."

Holli finally turned toward Klusac and released a portion of her fury upon the human captain.

"Then why is he using these unknown dangers to keep me from saving Enin?! I cannot accept that Sy would fight me in order to save Linda from dangers he cannot divulge... thus allowing Enin's death!"

"Linda is under his protection," Klusac replied without backing down. "Regardless of what the delver might have said to you, Ryson entrusted Linda to Sy's care. To allow her to leave would mean failing in his duty."

Holli cringed, but she quickly returned her attention to the spirit with a question requiring an answer. Duty was something she understood all too well. It was the very reason she remained so determined to face the pit demon.

"I swear to you I will not let danger of any kind befall Linda. I will uphold your oath as if it were my own. I am not asking you to disregard your duty. I am asking you to understand mine. Will you allow me to protect Linda and still save Enin?"

Klusac almost stepped back as Sy's voice boomed in his mind. The captain quickly recovered and repeated the message for all to hear, but in a more controlled tone.

"He says he cannot pass his responsibilities on to another. They are his own and he shall hold to them."

The declaration astounded the elf guard.

"Is this arrogance in a spirit?"

Sy shook his head but offered no further explanation.

"So you will allow me to fail? And you will allow Enin to die?"

Sy finally looked to Klusac and offered a response.

"You have not yet failed," Klusac repeated the ghost's words, "but you will if you bring Linda into the desert. He says we will all fail. As for Enin, his fate is not in your hands."

"I am his guard... his protector! His fate may not be in my hands, but his safety remains my responsibility!"

Klusac paused one last time, listened intently to Sy's every word, and then repeated them with a sense of both sorrow and resolve... emotions matching those of the ghost from which the message came.

"You will not save Enin in this manner. You will only manage to doom Linda to absolute torment. He will not allow that. If he has to, he will do whatever is necessary to stop you."

Holli hoped to avoid a confrontation, but she would not surrender. She attempted one last tactic, a move of shifting combatants on the battlefield.

"Is this not ultimately Linda's decision," the elf demanded. "She has stated she wishes to hear from Ryson. He is in the Lacobian. Will you allow her to leave so that she may speak with her husband, or will you hold her hostage?"

Klusac glared at the elf, first in disbelief and then in clear annoyance. It was a tactic he believed was beneath the elf, beneath warriors of honor. He was about to reveal such sentiments, but the ghost whispered more tactful words into his mind. Klusac repeated them with a challenging tone.

"Sy states she is not a hostage, but she remains under his protection. It was Ryson who placed her there. If the delver wishes Linda to accompany him in the desert, he suggests you return to the Lacobian and teleport him back to Burbon. Let the delver speak directly about his wishes... and let him hear about the possible consequences."

"I can't bring him here. He must stay in the desert to keep watch over the dathit!"

"Then we seem to be at an impasse," Klusac replied, responding based on his own considerations as opposed to Sy's. "Sy won't allow you to teleport Linda out of the town, and I will not let you physically take her through the town gates."

Until that point, Linda had watched and listened silently, but she found the discussion about her welfare nearly insulting. Her situation was being debated right in front of her, as if she had no say, and she decided she would not be ignored

"And am I supposed to just accept whatever decision you all make for me?"

Klusac was quick to respond.

"No, ma'am, you do not have to accept any decision. If you wish to leave, I will allow it, but it must be by your own accord and not at the demands of another. Are you truly willing to disregard your husband's last known wishes? I was there when Ryson asked Sy to protect you."

"She has already agreed to leave with me," Holli intervened again.

"Is that still the case? Sy claims there is a danger of which Ryson is unaware. Sy remains certain it would be a horrible mistake for her to venture into the desert. She would not only be putting herself in danger, but Ryson as well. Is she willing to take that risk?"

"You can't do this to me!" Linda shouted. "You're all pulling me in different directions and I don't even know what's going on. First you tell me Ryson wants me in the desert, but now I'm told it could hurt him if I go."

Neltus finally saw his opportunity and lunged for it as if he was a starving man searching for a crust of bread.

"Let me save Enin!" Neltus offered loudly.

"You?" Holli and Captain Klusac questioned at the same time.

Neltus was not daunted by their obvious surprise.

"It's the only answer. And you don't have to torture Linda anymore."

"You are the one who teleported us into the desert," Holli growled. "Your reckless act is as much a cause for this catastrophe as my own carelessness."

"Which is even more reason for me to fix it."

"What can you possibly do? Even if you had another dozen enchanted items, you would be helpless against what we face. This is a dathit!"

"No, I don't want to use an enchanted item. And I realize it's a dathit. That's exactly why I can save Enin. It's a pit demon. It sinks to the bowels of the land. Mine was the crimson magic. If anyone could force the demon to release Enin, it's going to have to be a wizard with complete power over the desert."

"You lack that power."

"It can be restored! Tell the spirit to give me back my core. Make that request of him. With my core restored, I can pull the energy from the land in any fashion you desire. If you wish to bend the magic away from the land, I can accomplish that, especially with the help of Jure. There are other ways to battle the dathit as well, ways to use the land as only I could."

The request shocked Holli, almost as much as Sy's refusal to allow Linda to leave. While the elf could not argue with the basis of Neltus' offer, she could not ignore certain underlying facts that led to the coreless wizard losing his power.

"Return your core? Never! Not to save Enin, not to save all of Connel, not even to save the elf camp in Dark Spruce! You would be a danger to everyone and everything! Your core was removed for the same reason Enin's was. Reiculf once controlled your magic. He could do so again."

Neltus was prepared for that very charge.

"No, not really. I was deemed dangerous because Reiculf could use me to capture Enin, but now that Enin doesn't have a core, that danger no longer exists."

Holli remained defiant.

"Through you, Reiculf can extend his influence into Uton. I cannot risk that."

"But it's not a risk. We're fighting a pit demon, not Reiculf himself. How is Reiculf going to get me? We're not going to Demonspawn. We're going to the Lacobian."

"You are careless! With your core restored, it would only be a matter of time. Reiculf is the embodiment of evil. He would find a way to trap you."

"Time? What time? I go to the desert, free Enin, and then we all come back here and Sy takes my core away again. I'm no longer a threat, and Enin is freed."

"You think I will trust you in that regard?"

"Trust? You don't have to trust me. Even with my core back, this ghost can keep me from teleporting away from here. So I can only go where he lets me go. You teleport us back to the Lacobian. Once we're there, surely you and Jure will be able to make certain I do what I promise. Do you think I can escape Jure?"

For one moment, Holli considered the proposal. If his core was restored, Neltus might have been able to overpower her own magic, but the elf guard knew he could not escape Jure. The elder wizard could cast spells to counter anything Neltus might attempt. With Enin's core gone, Jure was the most powerful spell caster known in Uton.

Despite Jure's abilities, Holli was still reluctant to embrace the plan. She remained convinced Linda was the key to success. She looked to the delver's wife, and unfortunately, saw uncertainty in her eyes, not so much over Neltus' claims, but about what she should do. Too many unknowns were casting shadows over any decision yet to be made.

Still, as an elf guard, Holli was trained to avoid indecision. The crux of her dilemma remained with Sy. She turned to the ghost spirit and demanded a clear and concise response.

"Yes or no, will you allow me to teleport Linda to the Lacobian?"

Sy shook his ethereal head.

"You leave me no other choice. I will not place the burden on the delver's wife and force her to decide. Instead, I will risk perhaps everything and request that you return Neltus' magical core. Once Enin is freed, we shall return him to Burbon for you to remove it once more."

Sy looked to Burbon's current captain of the guard. His expression revealed nothing as he communicated his message.

"He will do as you ask," Captain Klusac finally revealed, "but you must remove him from Burbon the instant his core is returned, and the act must be yours. He will not allow Neltus to determine his own fate. Where he goes must be your decision. Once he leaves Burbon, he will be in your care. Sy understands your need to do this, but he insists there are dangers in the desert which he cannot divulge."

"If he cannot divulge them, then I must face them."

"Very well."

Sy, without expressing disappointment or exuberance, finally moved away from the Acumens' doorstep and toward Neltus. He did not glare at the coreless wizard in anger or wave a finger of warning. He looked past the ex-wizard's expectant expression and into the hollow of Neltus' essence.