"That's a stupid question, Tarrin," she said chidingly. "Of course nobody saw me. I was invisible, you ninny!"
"You know what I mean," he said tartly.
"Then say what you mean," she replied impudently.
"This had better go quickly," Sapphire noted. "I don't think I would like being in her company for very long."
Tarrin mirrored that notion. He didn't mind the Faerie's acidic comments and constant badgering, but Sapphire was not the sort to harass. He'd like to get those two separated before Sapphire did something unpleasant to the Faerie.
But Sarraya seemed to take the hint. She fell silent, and Tarrin was silently thankful that the Faerie wasn't going to be her usually obnoxious self. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait for much longer, for he felt the probing tendrils of a spell reach into the room. They moved very quickly, so fast that only Tarrin could sense and track them, locking into a space on the far side of the room. They enveloped that area like a coccoon, and then the spell triggered, exchanging everything in that space with everything on the other side of the spell.
To the others, in a wavering flash, three people appeared on the far side of the room. Jenna, and what looked like Allia and Tarrin, complete in every detail, all the way down to the clothes they were wearing, but Tarrin's new closeness with the Weave let him actually see beyond the Illusions, behind them, to the people beneath. One was obviously Auli, and the other was a human man with strong Ungardt features. He was as tall as Tarrin, the result of Triana's tampering, and he moved with a stiffness that demonstrated how unpleasant that had to have been for him. He had a strong jaw and a slightly larger nose than Tarrin, and his hair was red and eyes green. Redheads were quite common among Ungardt.
"Alright, we're here," Jenna said quickly. "Think they look the part?"
"Dar had to have done that," Allia said critically, looking the two of them over. "It is absolutely perfect."
"Who else would we turn to when we need a convincing Illusion?" Jenna smiled.
"Sir Tarrin," the human said with a nod. "I hope I can act as good as this supposedly looks."
"Just act like everyone annoys you, and you'll do just fine," Jenna told him seriously.
"Well, I'm looking forward to this," Auli said in Sha'Kar with a bright smile. "A chance to get out from under mother's eye. A chance for a little honest adventure, not the stuff we made up around here!"
"I'm sure they'll do their best to make it everything you hope it'll be," he told her.
"Who cares?" she said with an honest grin. "I've never been on a ship before, and I've never been anywhere that wasn't under mother's rigid control," she said with notes of vast irritation in her voice.
"This is not your chance to go wild, Auli," Tarrin told her disapprovingly.
"I know that, Tarrin. I'm just saying I'll be glad to go out and do something new and exciting, that's all."
"Remember, it is my honor you are borrowing, Sha'Kar," Allia warned in a very dangerous tone. "If you dishonor me, I will repay you for it threefold. Do I make myself clear?"
Auli swallowed, and then nodded with with an anxious look.
"Good. I am glad we understand one another."
"I'll do my best to keep her under control, Sir Tarrin," the human said in flawless Sha'Kar, which surprised Tarrin a little. Triana had obviously prepared him in other ways.
"Be careful of this one," Tarrin warned him. "You may think you're controlling her, but she'll end up controlling you. She's a dangerous one."
"Well thank you for warning him!" Auli snapped at him waspishly.
"It's only fair he understand just what he's getting into," Jenna said with a sly smile. "Darvon told me that you're quite a sneaky little devil, Fox. I think you and Auli are going to get along very well. Being sneaky is what she prides herself on."
"Oh, is that so?" Auli asked with a sudden bright smile, looking at the Knight Cadet hopefully.
"Not when I'm carrying Sir Tarrin's honor, it's not," he said grimly. "I admit, I have my share of fun when it's harmless, but this is serious. It's not the time or place for it."
"You could learn from this one, Auli," Tarrin told her with a steady look.
"Time is pressing, little friend," Sapphire reminded him.
"You're right, we can't be in here too long without it looking funny," he nodded. "We have to go, Jenna. Keep everything nailed down around here, and tell everyone that missed me I said goodbye."
She stepped up and hugged him warmly. "I'll do that. You be careful out in the desert, and make sure you tell me what's going on. The Heart isn't exactly empty anymore now that the Sha'Kar are back, but it's private enough for us to talk without it going any further."
"I'll send word through Jesmind or Jula whenever I need to talk to you," he said. "Their amulets are linked to mine in a way that won't allow anyone to eavesdrop."
"That'll work," she nodded, then she turned and embraced Allia. "Keep him safe, sister," she said.
"Always," Allia answered as Sapphire stood up. "Be careful, little sister, and remember that help is but a call away whenever you need it."
"Good luck, Tarrin," Auli smiled. "I'll miss you."
"May the hammer of Karas sweep your troubles clear, sir Tarrin," the human Fox said gravely.
Tarrin nodded to them and motioned Allia and Sapphire to draw close to him. Jenna stepped back as Tarrin set his will against the Weave and began the spell, weaving it on his side and sending the probes far to the west, to that ruined Dwarven city. The place he wanted to go was the empty square of sorts where Faalken's tomb now stood, for it was a place with which he was very familiar, and it was open enough to let them see everything around them as soon as they arrived. He didn't want to appear right in front of a hungry kajat. That would not be a good thing. The probes found where he wanted to go, and they wrapped around the space on that side. Tarrin completed the spell from his side, and the flows of the Weave surrounded them in a blindingly fast display, weaving and twisting together even as they enveloped the four of them. When they finished their intricate pattern, enclosing them, the weave discharged its energy, and then it exchanged everything in the space enveloped in one side of the weave with everything enveloped in the other side.
In the blink of an eye, Tarrin, Allia, Sarraya, and Sapphire were transported thousands of longspans to the west, appearing in a windswept ruin of such antiquity that perhaps not even Sapphire could remember it.
Faster than the span of a heartbeat, the four of them were in the Desert of Swirling Sands, and as soon as he felt the heat of the noontime sun beating down on his uncovered head-the desert was further east of Suld and as such it was later in the day there-and saw the sandy ruins, he knew they had arrived.
And for the first time in a very long time, he felt safe.
To: Title EoF
Chapter 10
Everything was even in the same place.
This was the only place in the desert where to which he was absolutely sure he could Teleport, and seeing it again made him go through all the memories anew. It was the broken arena in the Dwarven city that Jegojah had called Mala Myrr, with the collapsed tower on one side and the clear field on the other. Tarrin and Jegojah had fought in this arena, the grandest of all battles it had ever seen, a duel of sword and staff, magic against magic, cunning against cunning. Tarrin had won that battle, and in the course of it had freed both Jegojah's and Faalken's souls of the Soultraps, devices used to imprison them and make them do the bidding of Kravon. Tarrin had spent days memorizing this arena, coming to know intimately where every single pebble was located, to give him every possible advantage in his fight with Jegojah. That exacting familiarization was more than enough to allow him to Teleport back to this place. Since he wasn't very close to where he wanted to go or couldn't see it, it meant that he had to have a good knowledge of the place in order to Teleport there.