Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [90]
Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Ivae marat vand Cormanthor,” Anorrweyn chanted softly. “Mythal selen mhaor kenet. Qu’kiir vand tir t’nor.”
Anorrweyn’s hair and gown fluttered gently, as if stirred by a soft breeze. “Qu’kiir vian ivae, qu’kiir nethmet,” she repeated, this time more loudly.
Kestrel shook off the words’ hypnotic effect to edge closer to Ghleanna. “You speak Elvish, don’t you?” she said just loudly enough to be heard above the roar of the wind. “What does she say?”
Ghleanna leaned close, but never took her eyes off the priestess. “The words are ancient, so my understanding is limited,” she responded. “But roughly: Binding gem, awaken your light. Dance the weave of the Mythal. Bind it to me that I might drive corruption from our home.”
Anorrweyn reached the end of the verse once more. “Qu’kiir vand tir t’nor.” Another thunderclap boomed, much closer than the first. Without pause, she began again.
“Qu’kiir vian ivae, qu’kiir nethmet.” The priestess tossed back her head, entirely given over to the incantation. She chanted the mystical words in a clear, strong voice that rose above the wind’s howl. Her hair streamed behind her now, as if the natural forces of this plane finally touched her.
An enormous crack of thunder rent the air. Kestrel nearly jumped out of her skin as the echo reverberated through the night, but Anorrweyn never ceased in her chant. She shouted the words heavenward. “Qu’kiir vand tir t’nor!”
Slowly, Anorrweyn rose into the air as if drawn up by some unseen hand. When her fingertips touched the emerald, deep green light burst forth. The radiance spouted beyond the protective field and into the night sky, where it diffused into a wavery mantle of prismatic light that extended as far as the eye could see.
Kestrel gasped. Surely they gazed upon the Mythal itself.
The great Weave coursed with power beyond mortal comprehension, yet it was also a thing of overwhelming beauty. Strands of every hue interlaced in complex knot-work patterns that overlapped so tightly as to form an unbroken blanket of light and energy. The mantle enveloped the city as lovingly as a mother’s arms encircle her child.
Yet as they watched, an oily blackness-darker even than the night sky-stole into the fabric of the Weave, oozing between its strands. The taint spread, appearing to open up gaping holes in the sacred shield. Beyond lay not the stars of the heavens, but nothingness.
Suddenly, bolts of black lightning arced through the mantle. They converged into a single charge that raced straight down into the emerald. Kestrel instinctively backed up, expecting the gem to explode into a thousand pieces. It pulsed and shook under the assault.
But it held.
Instead, Anorrweyn absorbed the electrical feedback. The force violently wrenched the spirit out of contact with the emerald. She flew backward, between two of the spires and beyond the circle. The wind abruptly ceased as the gem dropped onto the stone floor. Above, the vision of the Mythal evaporated.
“Priestess!” Faeril rushed after the ghost. “Priestess! Where are you?”
Anorrweyn was gone.
* * * * *
They left the circle and searched furiously, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ghost behind one of the spires, but no sign of her remained. Corran regarded the others soberly. “I fear that blast destroyed her.”
Faeril choked down a sob and turned her face away.
“What do we do now?” Durwyn asked.
What, indeed? Kestrel fought back despair. It sickened her to think that Anorrweyn Evensong’s spirit had been obliterated. The gentle priestess had touched a part of Kestrel’s soul she hadn’t known existed-had awakened in her the fledgling desire to do the right thing with no thought of personal reward.
Now she was gone. Apparently, that’s where altruism got you in this world.
Damn this whole mission anyway. Misfortune dogged their every step, throwing new obstacles in their path before they could overcome the known ones. Now their path lay shrouded in more darkness than ever without the light of Anorrweyn’s goodness to aid them. What had the