Osha stiffened at Brot'an's order, but the others didn't listen.As Sgaile turned his determined attention back toward Leesil, Magiere thrashed around on the grass.
Leesil saw her irises flood black.
"No," he whispered, panic-stricken. "Not now…"
Magiere kicked into the back of Sgaile's leg.
Sgaile buckled, dropping to his knee. Frethfare and En’nish’s two companions descended on Magiere. Leesil tried to rush in.
En’nish dodged in his way, a long-bladed stiletto in each hand.
Anxiety overwhelmed Most Aged Father. The little human woman had reached Cuirin'nen'a. When Leshil and the others arrived, all his careful plans evaporated.
He heard Cuirin'nen'a's repeated refusals to come away with Leshil and grew even more frustrated. Her words would only make Leshil lose hope, and without that, he would become more difficult to manipulate. It was clear that Cuirin'nen'a wouldsacrifice any tie to her son to protect him.
Most Aged Father writhed as the means to ferret out her confederates shriveled before him. She was a cunning one. He had hoped long isolation might make her desperate enough that Leshil could be used against her. Or his attachment to his mother could be used against him.
The only relief came at Sgailsheilleache's urgent attempt to remove Leshil from the encounter. The longer Leshil faced his mother's denial, the greater the risk he might turn from any lingering desire to free her.
The pale woman grabbed for the back of Sgailsheilleache's cloak.
Most Aged Father's frail heart began to race.
Magiere's eyes locked on Neina the moment she stepped into the clearing. Less than a year past, Leesil had told her of Neina and Gavril. How many years before that had he drank himself to sleep, hiding from nightmares of a past he couldn't bear and a guilt he couldn't escape?
And here was Nein'a, finally, yet she offered little welcome to Leesil. Magiere barely heard what was said as she waited for the easing of Leesil's pain.
It never came.
Leesil deserved more than this. It didn't matter what he'd done. There had to be more than the denial of a cold-blooded mother.
The low thrum in Magiere's body, whichshe'd held down for days and nights, began to make her shake. When Sgaile closed on Leesil from behind, it lunged up her throat like hunger and filled her head.
She snatched Sgaile's cloak from behind.
Her throat clenched when he struck. She fell back and lost sight of everyone.
She hit the ground, and hunger devoured the pain in her throat. The sun blinded her for an instant when her vision widened. She writhed around to glare at Sgaile's back, his hair now brilliant white in her sight. Then she saw Leesil's glimmering amber eyes fill with anguish. He stared right at her.
Magiere kicked the back of Sgaile's knee as the first tear ran from her burning eyes.
No one was taking Leesil from here until he got what he came for.
Her jaws began toache the instant Sgaile buckled. When she slapped her hand to the ground to get up, someone pulled it from under her. Anger mounted as her face struck the moss and she lost sight of Leesil.
Magiere twisted on the ground and a flash of gray passed above her. Chap slammed into Freth with a snarl, and Magiere's wrist jerked free of the woman's grip. She pulled her feet under herself as one of En’nish’s companions came at her. Magiere lunged from her crouch and slammed her hand into his midsection.
Her hardened nails bit through his tunic, and she grabbed his collar with her other hand. Turning, she dragged him in an arc as she rose. Gray-green fabric tore in her grip as she flung him into the clearing's border trees.
Where was Leesil?
Urgency shivered through her and she wanted to rend anyone who touched him. The bright sun made the world burn and blur in her expanded sight. Something struck her lower back.
Moss tore under Magiere's boots as she ground her feet in resistance. What was it-this thing that tried to stop her from finding Leesil? Magiere turned on it.
She saw a gray-green cowl around an astonished tan face. Her anger turned manic as it backed away. She lunged at it.
Leesil twisted aside as En’nish slashed her right blade at his face. Her left stiletto thrust instantly for his gut.
He speared his hand downward and slapped away the blade, and it passed harmlessly off his side. Her lunge brought her close. Leesil twisted sharply right, driving his left elbow at her face.
En’nish ducked, and her parried stiletto slashed across Leesil's midsection.
He heard it skitter across the rings of his hauberk. He felt its tip catch in one laced ring at his left side.
She shifted behind the blade to thrust with all her weight, and Leesil spun quickly, trying to turn out of her path.
The tip held and tore through. Leather split.
Leesil felt no burn of pierced skin, but he heard the tinkling of metal. One of his hauberk's steel rings dangled against the round guard of En’nish’s blade.
Leesil grabbed En’nish’s wrist below that dangling ring, and his gaze caught on her amber eyes so close to his face.
Another time and place-another woman with a knife-had looked at him with the same desperation. All because he'd killed someone she loved.
He raised his other arm on instinct, and En’nish’s free blade slashed his forearm.
Leesil shifted weight into his rear foot, prepared to throw a shoulder into En’nish and take her to the ground. His rear foot jerked from the mossy ground and a soft-booted foot struck his hip.
Without footing, Leesil flipped sideways. A grunt erupted from him as his back hit the ground. When he rolled to his feet, Brot'an stood in his path. But the scar-faced elf wasn't looking at him.
"Enough!" Brot'an ordered."Both of you!"
He held a wide and low stance with his right palm out at arm's length.But not toward Leesil. A half dozen paces beyond Brot'an's hand lay En’nish.
She was curled on the lawn, holding her chest and gasping for breath. One of her long stilettos lay at Brot'an's feet.
Chap ground his forepaws in Frethfare's stomach as he snarled into her face. The woman went rigid on her back staring up at him. But Chap faltered at Magiere's hissing screech.
She lunged into one of En’nish’s companions. Tears ran from her eyes around a mouth wide with sharp teeth and fangs.
Magiere had lost all control in front of the Anmaglahk.
She sank hardened fingernails into her target as Sgaile closed on her back.
The other majay-hi circled away from the conflict, but the pack elder lifted his grizzled muzzle. He stared intently at Magiere, and his jowls wrinkled.
Chap grew frantic. He had no more time to keep Frethfare pinned.
Lily paced behind the elder, looking into the trees where Magiere had flung her first opponent. That anmaglahk had not gotten up.
Chap could not turn from Frethfare to touch heads with Lily. All he could do was reach forher own memories. He dipped into Lily's mind, calling up her sight of Frethfare standing before Most Aged Father's massive oak, and added the memory she had shown to him in fear-the dark opening in that tree. He repeated these in an alternating flurry and hoped she understood.
The pack elder charged at Magiere with an eerie howl, and Chap bolted toward Magiere and those closing on her.
Magiere rushed the anmaglahk drawing his blades and drove one hand at his throat. Instead of slashing at her, he ducked into the brush beneath the closest birch. Something snagged Magiere's hair, jerking her head back. Her legs buckled under someone's whipping leg.
Her knees hit the ground. With her head pulled back, she looked up to see Sgaile, his grip tangled in her hair. He sucked a sharp breath at the sight of her face.
Magiere swung a hand upward to claw his astonished features, but Sgaile fell away beneath a snarling silver-furred bulk. Magiere toppled sideways as Sgailes grip tore from her hair. Her hand slapped firmly against the base of the birch.
Shock ran through her and every muscle clenched tight.