Realm of Light - Deborah Chester [9]
Caelan was still studying the disk, turning it over and over in his hands. Elandra was afraid of it, afraid of Kostimon’s suddenly revealed powers, afraid of the way he dared utter the shadow god’s unspeakable name.
“I shall wear no emblem of the darkness,” she declared fearfully.
“Don’t be a fool,” Kostimon said. “You—”
“It’s a warding key,” Caelan interrupted, his voice full of amazement. “Choven made.”
“Give it to the empress,” Kostimon said. He kicked his horse in Caelan’s direction. “She must be protected—”
“Her cloak and gloves do that,” Caelan said. “The protection spells are different. They cannot work together.”
“Give it to her, I say!”
Shrugging, Caelan handed up the disk to Elandra.
“No!” she cried, backing her horse away.
Behind them, the shyrieas shrieked. Ahead of them, a tall figure in long priestly robes suddenly appeared in the bestial mouth of the doorway. He beckoned, and several guardsmen cried out a warning. Panic ran through the air, hot and sour.
“Majesty!” called the priest. “Come quickly.”
“It is safe, men!” Kostimon tried to assure the soldiers. “On my honor, I swear to you that it is safe. It is a secret way of Gault.”
Caelan was also staring at the priest. “It’s not Sien,” he said as though to himself.
Elandra heard him, and relaxed slightly in relief. She never wanted to see the high priest again.
“Captain Vysal,” Kostimon ordered, “send the men through at once. We cannot afford delay.”
Vysal’s voice rang out, tighter and more brusque than usual, and the men reluctantly spurred their shying, frightened horses toward the exit.
“Majesty, come!” the priest called with more urgency than before. “Your Majesty must be the first one through the portal, if the others are to follow where you go.”
The emperor swore, using dark, ancient words that rang in Elandra’s ears. “Never mind your instructions!” he shouted back. “I know what to do. See that you get the cup ready. Hurry!”
Elandra stared at him in wonder, trying to understand what was happening.
He glared at her. “Take the disk and come with me. We must go through first. There’s no more time.”
No matter how great her fear, she could not disobey his direct command. With great reluctance, she reached out her hand and let Caelan give her the disk.
Again, sparks flashed between her glove and the disk. A numbing jolt went through her hand, and the disk went flying.
“I cannot hold it,” she said.
Kostimon swore again. “Ela, stop fooling about or I shall lose you forever. Take off those damned gloves and—”
“The magic she has is stronger than this, and older,” Caelan said, interceding. “She is safe as she is.”
“Nonsense!” Kostimon snapped. “Nothing is stronger than Choven-forged—”
“Women’s magic,” Caelan replied. He glanced at Elandra with his brows lifted, as though for confirmation. “Penestrican?”
“Mahiran,” she answered.
Scowling, Kostimon opened his mouth as though to argue further, but a dreadful screech from the first, and largest, shyriea filled the cavern. Lifting itself into the air with strong flaps of its wings, it flew at them.
Elandra screamed.
Shouting a war cry, Kostimon drew his sword and brandished it aloft. “Choven steel!” he shouted defiantly. “Come and eat it, you harpy of the devil!”
Beside Elandra’s shying horse, Caelan gripped her stirrup and raised the warding key in his hand. He shouted something in a language she did not understand—Trau, perhaps. The sound of the words made her feel dizzy and strange.
The disk in his upraised palm glowed and came to life. Light flashed in a ray from it to the disk pinned to Kostimon’s cloak to his sword. As though in response, Elandra’s gloves and cloak also glowed with light until the combined radiance was blinding.
The shyriea swooped at them from overhead, only to wheel back, screaming. She realized it could not harm her or these two men under their protection spell.
As for the light around her, it grew ever brighter. She felt as though she were being burned up, and yet the fire that blazed through