When Takari didn't see anything else of interest, she turned her thoughts inward and activated her helm's sending magic by picturing Lord Ramealaerub's stern face.
"Lord High Commander," she said.
The image in her mind grew more substantial, assuming the scowling visage of a sharp-featured Gold elf with a dagger-thin nose and eyebrows arched as sharply as ship keels.
Moonsnow, the Gold elf said, his words echoing in her mind. I was beginning to think something had happened to you.
"I was at the shadowshell, milord." Takari glanced at Wagg and rolled her eyes. Ramealaerub was a typical Gold, full of himself and the way things ought to be. "Looking for those mind-slaves Khelben warned us about."
Ramealaerub's expression grew impatient.
And?
"I couldn't see a thing, Milord." Annoyed by his attitude, Takari was not going to make anything easy on him. "That was before the shadowshell fell. Everything was too dark."
The shell is not dark now, Ramealaerub said.
"But now I'm back with my company." Takari's tone was innocent. "Didn't you call us to arms?"
A storm cloud came over Ramealaerub's face. Irritated, he said something to someone beside him then composed himself and turned back to Takari.
Moonsnow, the Lady of the Wood and I agreed that the wood elves would serve as the army's reconnaissance company. Though Ramealaerub's eyes looked as though they were about to pop free of their sockets, he spoke in a deliberately patient tone that suggested he did not realize how Takari was playing with him. Would you be kind enough to take your elves and see if there is any sign of the enemy?
"Of course-all you had to do was ask." Takari was beginning to worry that Ramealaerub truly did not understand that she was playing a game with him. If so, that did not bode well for the elven army. "But I can tell you already they know we're here."
You can see them?
He was worried.
"Not exactly," Takari said. "It's the trees."
The trees?
"A few shouldn't be here, this close to the sand," Takari explained.
At least Ramealaerub was enough of an elf to understand what that meant.
He grew thoughtful, then asked, Which ones?
"The soapleafs," Takari said. "They're the-"
I know what a soapleaf is, Moonsnow.
He looked away and spoke to someone else, then returned to her.
We have a few here, but not enough to slow us down. They're probably just sentries.
"Probably," Takari said, "but with the phaerimm, you can never-"
That's why you need to secure our flank, he said. We'll be going in fast and hard, but once the shadowshell comes down there's no telling how long it will take the phaerimm to regain their strength. You must stay ahead of us-and let me know when you run into problems.
"Oh, is that what a reconnaissance company does?"
/ mean it, Moonsnow, Ramealaerub said. Toy with me if you like, but not with your mission. You know better than any of us how quickly this can turn into a disaster.
Maybe this Lord High Commander did have more sense than Evermeet's previous generals.
Takari gave him a coquettish smile and said, "Lord Ramealaerub, I can't imagine why you think I've been toying with you."
She glanced toward the shadowshell and, seeing that it had faded to transparent shimmer, she said, "Well cross over as soon as we can. If you don't hear from me every quarter hour… consider that an alarm."
Very sensible, Ramealaerub answered. And Moonsnow, do try to avoid getting yourself killed. You're the only scout who really knows this part of the Shaeradim.
Ramealaerub's image vanished from her mind, and Takari turned to find her company waiting at the gathering circle. Though all of the rangers had fastened their battle cloaks and strung their bows, not one had donned the gaudy war helms sent by Evermeet Most of the helms lay tossed on the ground, and some were being used as footrests or stools.
Takari tapped her own helm and said, "Put 'em on."
"But they're ugly," complained Jysela Whitebark.
"And heavy," added Grimble Oakorn.
Takari shrugged and said, "Suit yourselves, but tell me now what you want done when the phaerimm make mind-slaves of you. Would you rather be killed or let them stick you with an egg?"
There was a scramble for the helms. Takari waited for them to go on, then explained their mission and led the way along a well-beaten trail to what had been the shadowshell. No sign of the barrier remained. The path just ended, and few paces later the rocky slope of their ridge emerged from the sand and began to rise in a jumble of boulders and barren ground toward the distant peaks of the High Shaeradim.
Takari dug into the sand until she found a pebble. Half-expecting it to vanish in a flare of darkness as had the hundreds of others she had tossed through the shadowshell, she threw it as hard as she could.
The stone clattered to the ground thirty paces up the ridge.
She studied the pebble for a moment, not quite able to believe that it had actually landed in the Shaeradim, then turned to her company. They were standing together looking nervous and a little frightened.
"After all this waiting, I guess expected something more somehow."
"I'm just happy it didn't melt or something," Wagg said.
As Wagg spoke, Takari began to speak in fingertalk, her hands issuing silent instructions that were being studied much more attentively than her deputy's ramblings.
"From what you've said about these Shadovar," Wagg continued, "I didn't think it would just disappear. I was sure it was going to explode or something and kill us all."
"Then I thank Rillifane Rallathil you were wrong," Takari said. Her fingers continued to weave commands, warning her warriors to be wary of other things aside from soapleafs. This job is harder than I bargained for as it is."
Now! she signaled.
Nocking arrows as they moved, the company scattered and loosed. The shafts flew over Takari's head with a low droning whistle, and the slope behind her erupted into pained squeals and strange gurgling howls. She turned.
Where the soapleafs had been a moment earlier, she found half a dozen illithids collapsing to the ground, their bodies peppered with arrows and their mouth tentacles writhing in anguish.
The rest of the slope remained as still as before.
Nocking an arrow in her own bow, Takari dropped into a crouch and rushed forward. Taking cover behind the first boulder she came to, she scratched the surface with the tip of her arrow to make certain it really was a boulder, then looked left and right down the foot of the ridge. Camouflaged as they were by the magic of their battle cloaks, it took a few moments to find the nearest members of her company hiding behind boulders similar to hers. She did not attempt a head count. With the company spread across the width of the entire ridge, she would have been hard-pressed to find them all even had they been standing on tiptoe and waving their arms.
She envisioned her company waiting in the gathering circle a few moments earlier, then whispered, "Reconnaissance company, anything to report?"
When no reply came, she breathed a sigh of relief, then reported their progress to Lord Ramealaerub. He congratulated her on her success, informing her that the moon elves protecting the other flank were advancing as well, then reminded her that the main body of the army would start its advance in five minutes and urged her to keep moving. Takari bit back a sour reply and gave the order to ascend the ridge in two waves, each covering the other as it advanced.
Grimble Oakorn-her partner in this tactic-emerged from behind a boulder thirty paces to her right and raced another thirty paces ahead before ducking back into cover. Takari quickly left her own hiding pace, and weaving erratically to make herself a difficult target, ran sixty paces before finally kneeling behind the big trunk of a dead smokethorn. It was hard work, especially with the hot Anauroch sun beating down on the heavy helm she wore. Sweat began to trickle over her brow.