Ellonlef could not look upon Varis, so great was the light and heat pouring from him. And more, she feared that simply looking on him would destroy her. As he raged, Ellonlef got to her feet and ran. Keeping her balance over the uneven ground was difficult with her hands still bound, but desperation kept her upright. The tremendous luminosity and force of Varis’s being seemed to propel her along after her shadow.
A keening wind rushed in from the desert, culminating on Varis. Ellonlef bowed her head against the gale, trying to maintain her pace, but she was slowing. She passed small stones rolling and bouncing along back the way she had come, and she knew it was only a matter of time before whatever Varis was doing would drag her back, into the burgeoning vortex of his … transformation.
She had to find shelter.
In the ever brightening light, Ellonlef cast about, eyes squinted against flying grit. A hundred paces off, the plateau’s sharp edge showed itself, and she headed that way. Every step became a struggle, but Ellonlef pushed on, fighting now to keep the very breath in her chest. What had looked like a single edge along the plateau became more like a giant’s staircase. Without hesitation, she leapt from the first and dropped a full ten feet before hitting a slope of smooth sandstone. In her terror she felt no pain, but the jarring landing rattled her bones, and sent her into a forward tumble off the next precipice.
Gasping for each breath, trying to hold back tears of absolute panic, Ellonlef knew she could go no farther. As the world around her grew brighter than ever, and the keening winds became a sound like a great waterfall, she found an overhang littered with sandstone slabs, and made for them, staggering along. Her last step ended in a headlong dive, and like a bug trying to get under a rock, she wriggled and squirmed and kicked until she had lodged herself deep within a crevice. All the world became blinding white, and she buried her face in the crook of her arm to find comforting darkness.
Ellonlef did not know how long she stayed that way, but guessed she must have fainted in fear or exhaustion, for when she opened her eyes and turned over, the world looked the same as it had before she made her escape. Yet, it was not the same. An unnerving still hung in the air, as if all that lived had been swept from the face of the world. She did not have long to think on this before she detected the sound of feet stealthily scraping over sandstone. It was Varis, Ellonlef knew, and he was coming.
Weary as she was from desperation and the aftermath of terror, she forced herself to sit up in the cramped niche. She found a sharp-edged stone and used it to saw through the bindings on her wrists. She had just cut through them, when Varis moved before her pathetic sanctuary and crouched down.
Ellonlef gasped at the changes that had fallen over him. No longer did he look like a walking corpse. Rather, his flesh shone as polished bronze, and his eyes shimmered like pearls. Ellonlef tried to scrabble backward, but there was nowhere to flee. While he appeared to be a living idol, his palpable menace oozed over her like a thick and poisonous oil.
He peered at her for what felt like an eternity before speaking. “I must thank you, Sister, for revealing to me Peropis’s treachery.” His was the resonant voice of a god, and Ellonlef fought against the awe in her breast. “Of course, I knew she had deceived me already, but I was ignorant of the extent of her lies. It took you to show me the truth. In return for your gift of knowledge, I intend to let you and Kian go your way. Of course, if I ever see either of you again, I will make your suffering so great that women will sing your names as a lament for a thousand ages of men.”
“Is it graciousness that compels you,” Ellonlef grated, striving against the inherent need to fall on her face before him, “or is it your fear that Kian will destroy you?”
Varis laughed. “He is but a man, Sister, flawed in the way of all mortal flesh. I am no longer a man, but a god-truly a god, now. Whatever infinitesimal power he holds matters not anymore. I grant you, left to his own devices, he will try to kill me, if for no other reason than vengeance for annihilating his pathetic band of mercenaries. If you have any desire to see him live-and I sense that you do-you will convince him to abandon such foolishness. Make him heed my warning, Sister, and send him off to Izutar, or wherever else he may wish to flee.”
Despite his unreadable gaze, there was a shine of maliciousness when he added what could be no less than a challenge posed as a threat. “Tell Kian when he comes that if he obeys me, I will spare his wretched homelands until he has been long in the grave. That same vow holds for you and your Isle of Rida. Take my offer and, whether separate or together, you can live out the whole of your lives in peace. Refuse, and I will force you to watch the unspeakable ruination of all that you hold dear.” Speaking no more, he tossed a plump waterskin at her feet, and then departed.
An hour passed before Ellonlef dared to scoot to the edge of her shelter and look out. Varis was gone, but his words repeated in her mind. She tried to deny her complete loss of hope, but as she knew she must tell Kian of Varis’s vow, she also knew Kian would not let the prince’s obvious threat stand untested. In facing the challenge, he would surely perish.
Chapter 29
A hitch in his horse’s stride made Kian cringe. He hoped it was a stumble, but over several miles, the animal’s gait grew steadily worse, forcing him to halt on the low side of a broad plateau. The road, more a pair of ancient ruts than a true road, stretched far to the Ulkion Mountains, both under a blood-red sky that spit fine ash over the blasted landscape.
The scene looked as if it should be hot, like a Madi’yin’s vision of the Thousand Hells, but instead the air had grown ever colder for several days now. At dawn, a thin frost and new layer of ash had mingled together into a dirty blanket to cover sand, stone, and bush.
Kian dismissed the weather, and all else that had befallen the world. Instead, he focused on finding Ellonlef. Her fate gave him purpose, drove him farther and longer than his endurance had ever been tested.
Hazad and Azuri reined in, each man looking as weary as Kian felt. The extent of that weariness was illustrated by Azuri’s indifference to the grime coating every inch of him. Their spare horses, taken from the Bashye that had attacked Ellonlef, were filthy and flecked with ash and dirt, as well, but the sturdy desert mounts were holding up.
“I know what my eyes tell me,” Hazad said slowly, glancing at the wide swath of trampled ground on either side of the road, “but such an army, marching on foot, could not have traveled so far so quickly. Ba’Sel must have been mistaken about these tracks.”
“He made no mistake,” Kian muttered, eyeing something dark lying on the ground some distance from the road. “In all the world, there are no better trackers than the Asra a’Shah. If Ba’Sel said this is evidence of Varis’s army, then I believe him.”
Though futile, he wished Ba’Sel and the other Geldainians had remained with them. He did not know what he would find in Ammathor, but in uncertain times, having such deadly warriors as the Asra a’Shah about was desirable. In a way, he envied the Geldainian mercenaries for they, at the least, were making the attempt to get home.
Kian dismounted and struck off in the direction of the darkish lump. A part of him wanting nothing to do with what waited ahead, but he pressed on. Hazad and Azuri joined him. As he came closer, the reek of corruption seemed to reach out and clutch his throat. With the smell came the drone of flies. Unconsciously, the trio slowed their pace, but kept on until they stood over a tabard and chainmail covered with a gruesome mess. Azuri took up a stick and unfolded a darkly stained bit of cloth. Despite the boil of maggots and putrid wetness, the embroidered silver fist of House Racote was plain. “Do you still have doubts that we follow Varis?”