High druid of Shannara_ Jarka Ruus - Terry Brooks [142]
The Dwarf’s face darkened. “I am a better man than you, Ahren Elessedil. I am no cat’s paw, underling fool in league with a monster. I am no tool at the beck and call of a witch!”
“Are you not?”
“I’ll say this once, Ahren Elessedil. I got tired of the Ard Rhys — of her disruptive presence and her self-centered ways. I got tired of watching her fail time and again at the simplest of tasks. She was never right for the position. She should never have assumed it. Others are better suited to lead the Druid Council to the places it needs to go. Others, who do not share her history.”
“A full council vote might have been a better way to go. At least that approach would have lent a semblance of respectability to your efforts and not painted all of you as betrayers and cowards. Perhaps enough others on the Druid Council might have agreed with you that all this would not have been necessary.” The Elven Prince paused. “Perhaps it still might be so, were someone of character to pursue it.”
He made it sound so reasonable, as if treachery could be undone and made right, as if the conversation was between two old friends who were discussing a thorny issue that each hoped to resolve. “Is it too late to bring her back?” he asked the other.
The Dwarf’s face darkened. “Why bring her back when she is safely out of the way? What does it matter to you, in any case? You have been gone from the council and her life for years. You are an outcast from your own people. Is that why you think so highly of her — because she is like you?”
“I think better of Grianne Ohmsford than I do of Shadea a’Ru,” the Elf replied.
“You can tell her so yourself, once we are returned to Paranor.” Terek Molt came forward another step, black cloak billowing. One hand lifted and a gloved finger pointed.
“Enough talk. I have chased you for as long as I care to; I am weary of the aggravation. You might have gotten away from me if those Rovers hadn’t stranded you in this swamp and then betrayed you to us. Does that surprise you? We caught up with them early yesterday, trying to slip past us in their pathetic little vessel. That Captain was quick enough to tell us everything once he saw how things stood. So we knew where you were, and it was just a matter of waiting for you to show yourselves. Using magic was a mistake. It led us right to you.”
Ahren nodded. “Unavoidable. What have you done with the Skatelow and her crew?”
The Dwarf spit to one side. “Rover vermin. I sent them on their way, back to where they came from. I had no need of them once they gave you up. They’ll be halfway home by now and better off than those who so foolishly sought to use their services.” He looked past the other now to Pen. “I am done talking. Bring the boy. No more arguments. No further delays.”
Ahren Elessedil’s hands had been tucked within his cloak. Now he brought them out again, balled into fists and bright with his magic’s blue glow. Terek Molt stiffened, but did not give ground. “Do not be a fool,” he said quietly.
“I don’t think Pen should go with you,” Ahren Elessedil said. “I think you intend him harm, whether you admit to it or not. Druids are meant to protect, and protect him I shall. You have forgotten your teachings, Terek Molt. If you take one step nearer, I shall help you remember them.”
The Dwarf shook his head slowly. His gloved hands flared with magic of his own. “You are no match for me, Elessedil. If you test me, you will be found wanting. You will be destroyed. Step aside. Give the boy to me and be done with this.”
They faced each other across the short stretch of mud and shallow water, two identically cloaked forms born of the same order but gone on separate paths. Elf and Dwarf, faces hard as stone, eyes locked as if bound together by iron threads, poised in a manner that suggested there would be no backing down and no quarter given. Pen found himself tensed and ready, as well, but he did not know what he would do when doing something became necessary. He could not think