Death of the Dragon - Ed Greenwood [4]
Tanalasta pulled away before he could touch her. "You are not risking it-and don't you dare teleport me without my permission. You have told me what the king commanded, but there are things he doesn't know."
Sarmon's eyes betrayed his surprise at her commanding tone, but he nodded and said, "Of course, Majesty."
The tower guards returned with four long ropes. Tanalasta instructed the sergeant to secure the lines to the merlons and drape the ends over the wall, then appointed four of Filmore's burliest dragoneers to help the tower guards hoist her companions. The lionar assigned the rest of the company to battle the ghazneth when it came over the wall.
A loud crack sounded from the gate, followed by a muffled round of guttural cheers. The wizards in the gatehouse unleashed a tempest of lightning bolts and blasts of fire even greater than before, and again the tempo of the battering ram slowed. Tanalasta glanced over and wondered if her friends would be any safer inside the citadel. A large vertical split had appeared in the gate, and even Sarmon's war wizards seemed unable to repel the attack.
An anxious murmur broke out beside Tanalasta. She turned to find the cloud of insects swirling up the slope behind her companions, who were finally breaking into the cleared area near the rear wall. There were only ten of them, and three of those were being carried by others. At least Owden and Alaphondar seemed to be all right.
As Tanalasta watched, one man stopped and kneeled at the edge of the woods. He placed the man he was carrying on the ground, then pulled off his black cloak and slipped it over the fellow's shoulders. A second man stopped beside them. He placed a second figure in the arms of the first and pointed toward the corner where Tanalasta stood. The man in the cloak managed a weak nod, then he and his companion simply vanished.
A sharp noise sounded between the princess and Sarmon, and in the next instant two men, stinking of blood and gore, appeared. The pair collapsed in a heap of flesh and armor and lay groaning on the stones, their faces so swollen and blotchy that Tanalasta recognized only the one in the cloak-and even then only by the sacred sunburst hanging around his neck.
"Owden!"
Tanalasta dropped to her friend's side. The man in his arms was already dead, his throat ripped out and his steel breastplate dented by the ghazneth's claws. Owden himself was in little better condition, with a fist-sized wound in his left side and two ribs protruding from the hole. One elbow was coiled around his burden's leg so that he could reach the weathercloak's magic escape pocket. Tanalasta pulled the arm free, then allowed a dragoneer to drag the dead man from the priest's arms.
"Owden, can you hear me?"
The priest's only reply was a muffled groan.
Tanalasta motioned to Sarmon's assistant and said, "Teleport this man to Arabel at once. His life is to be saved, and I don't care if the queen must order the High Hand of Tymora himself to resurrect him." When the wizard hesitated, Tanalasta added, "I think you should hurry. This was the last man to see Vangerdahast alive."
"Alive?" demanded Sarmon. "What do you mean?"
"I thought you would have heard by now," Tanalasta said. "After the loss at the Farsea Marsh, the royal magician vanished."
Sarmon eyed Tanalasta as though she had been trying to besmirch Vangerdahast's reputation. "There was nothing in Her Majesty's message to imply Vangerdahast might be dead. The queen said only that he had disappeared while giving chase to one of the Cormaeril traitors."
Tanalasta felt the heat rise to her face but resisted the urge to make a sharp reply. "Not all Cormaerils are traitors," she said mildly. The wizard could hardly have meant to offend her, for he could not have known about her recent marriage to Rowen Cormaeril. The ceremony had been performed deep in the Stonelands, and so far her trail companions were the only