"Well, by this afternoon, we'll know," she told him sedately. "Let's move, brother. We're wasting valuable travel time."
"We'll find out now," he said bluntly, setting his feet. "I'm not about to wandering around up there unless I'm sure of things."
"How do you propose we do that?" Allia asked.
"Easy." He put a paw to his amulet. "Ariana."
"I forgot about that," Allia chuckled.
There was an interminably long pause. "Ariana," he called again.
"Tarrin?" came the startled reply. "Is that you?"
"Would it be anyone else?" he asked archly. "Where are you?"
"At home," she replied.
"Good. I'm about twenty longspans northeast of you right now. Why aren't there any Aeradalla in the sky?"
There was a long pause, then her laughter reached him. "What are you doing in the desert?" she asked brightly.
"That's not important right now," he told her. "What's going on?"
"It's the imbralla," she told him. "A religious observance. For one ride we don't fly unless we're hunting or moving from tier to tier. We do it memory of our distant past, when we had no wings and couldn't fly. After the imbralla, we have a grand holiday to honor Shaervan and the gift he gave us. You're just in time for it, my friend," she laughed. "The imbralla ends the day after tomorrow."
"Do you think we'd cause much of row if me and a friend or two come up?" he asked.
"Not at all," she replied. "I think you'd be the only outsider we'd allow in. Andos hasn't forgotten what you did for him, you know. Neither have I. Do you know I'm the richest merchant in Amyr Dimeon now?" she asked with a laugh. "I also just happen to be the Queen," she added with a smug little smirk in her voice. "I'll tell Andos you're coming, and if he doesn't allow you to come up, I'll do the allowing for him."
Allia smiled, and Sarraya laughed. "She hasn't changed," she snickered. "That's the same girl we saw flatten the nose of a fresh patron in that bar."
"From barmaid to queen. What an interesting turn of events," Tarrin chuckled.
"I'll tell you all about it when you get here. Do you need me to come and get you?"
"I can get up on my own."
"I rather thought you could. I've seen you fly before in Suld. Remember where the palace is?"
"One of those four buildings on the top tier surrounding the obelisk, right?"
"Just so. It's the one facing north. I'll tell the guards to expect you."
He was about to reply, but a power of staggering greatness suddenly broke in between them. "Tarrin, come back immediately!" it was Ianelle's voice, and she sounded frantic. Almost panicked. "Tarrin, you have to come back right now!"
"Ianelle?" he asked in confusion.
"There are Demons on the grounds, honored one! We need you!"
Tarrin was shocked, and Allia and Sarraya both gasped. Demons on the grounds! No wonder things had been so quiet! They were going to lure him back by attacking the Tower, because that's where his mates and children were!
Well, it was going to work. "I'm coming right now!" he said quickly, letting go of the amulet.
Demons on the grounds! The horror of the battle of Suld rose in him again, but this was a different kind of horror. The guards and Knights would have no way to fight against Demons, and only someone with an extensive knowledge of Sorcery could fight against them. Tarrin and Jenna had that knowledge, and she would need him to help her.
Everything was out the window now. They were attacking the Tower, and it held many things that were precious to him. The Goddess, his sister, his mates, his children. So much of his life tied up there, and he could not turn away, no matter how dangerous it may be to go back.
Without a thought, without even a warning, Tarrin enveloped the four of them in the weaves of Teleportation, and they vanished from the desert, within sight of the goal they had decided upon when they arrived, within sight of a goal they did not reach.
So close, yet a world away.
To: Title EoF
Chapter 11
Because he had no idea what was happening or where things were taking place, Tarrin Teleported them back outside the towers, in the sand-filled area where the Knights trained their cadets. It was the one place that he knew would be empty at that moment; if there truly were Demons on the grounds, then every body that could swing a sword would be fighting against them.
He felt it the instant he arrived. The Weave was literally thrashing around the Tower as he felt several powerful Circles scattered through the grounds, all of them wielding High Sorcery. Even from that distance, he could feel what they were doing, and he was a bit startled at their ingenuity. Sorcery could not harm a Demon, since it was a part of the world. Only things not of the world could harm one. Since they couldn't use Sorcery, what they were doing was sucking all the Wizard and Priest magic they could get their hands on out of the Weave. Because both forms of magic were other-worldly in origin, and therefore could do injury to a Demon. At that moment, Tarrin seriously doubted that any Wizard or Priest anywhere on the entire planet could cast any spells. If he tried, the power of the Sha'Kar and the katzh-dashi were intercepting the power before it could reach them, pulling it back to the Tower grounds, and then unleashing it as raw, magical force. They couldn't shape the Wizard magic because they weren't Wizards, and the same applied to the Priests. They had to use both types of intercepted magic in their primal states, but that primal state was more than enough to do significant damage to anything it struck. Raw magic was a destructive force, not a benign force. The power they could unleash in the real world wasn't even a fraction of what was in the Weave; Tarrin realized that doing what they were doing was horribly inefficient, and only a small portion of the magical energy they drew actually managed to manifest in the real world. They had to draw vast amounts of energy to form an attack with enough power to kill. That was why they hadn't already wiped out all the Demons.
Tarrin had never thought to try that before, but it was more than possible. The power of both forms of magic travelled through the Weave, and while it was in the Weave, it was subject to the power of a Sorcerer. Since it was not a spell, it was more of a trick, it was not one of the things he'd picked up when he was turned.
Tarrin swept a weave of Mind through the entire grounds, searching. They were everywhere. Demons literally surrounded his position, nearly two hundred of them. He couldn't tell what type they were, only that they were Demons.
He moved swiftly, drawing his huge black-bladed sword out of the elsewhere. "Allia, show me your swords," he told her quickly. Without a word, she drew them from under her loose shirt and presented them to him. He worked with what he was feeling from the Weave, reaching into it and suddenly pulling, pulling at any Wizard or Priest magic he could find. There was always that kind of magic in the Weave, either active or faint traces left behind when the spells finished their journey. Like a vast broom, Tarrin raked his power through the Weave, collecting up every tiny bit of that dormant energy he could find within his reach. And he had a much greater reach than the Circles formed around the grounds. A vast resevoir of Wizard and Priest magic was drawn in by his power, and he summoned the power of High Sorcery. His paws exploded into Magelight, and he touched each sword with a glowing finger, building an intricate semi-weave that mimicked a strand into both of her swords, then poured that energy into them. It acted like a temporary vessel for the magical power, lasting as long as the matrix of the tightly as he'd woven the seven strands around the metal of the blades kept its integrity. But the weaves, anchored to the metal, extended just out of it, making the swords glow with a brilliant light. The edges of that nimbus of trapped energy was razor-thin, giving the swords a lethal cutting bite.