Storm of the Dead - Lisa Smedman [40]
Baltak reached for the kiira. Q'arlynd jerked the box aside. "Eldrinn will do it, this time."
Baltak's feathers lifted slightly from his scalp, but he otherwise hid his irritation well. "As you say," he rumbled.
Carefully, Eldrinn lifted the kiira from the box. Q'arlynd had never allowed him to touch the lorestone before; he'd been worried that it might trigger memories. But given their imminent departure, that was a risk Q'arlynd was willing to take. If the boy did remember something, it might even prove helpful.
He watched Eldrinn closely, but the boy's expression didn't change.
"Press it to the chitine's forehead," Q'arlynd instructed. "But not until my signal. I want to make certain I'm deep inside its mind before we begin."
Eldrinn nodded. He walked to the chitine and stood, the lorestone carefully cupped in his hands.
Q'arlynd raised his hand. "Link your minds with mine."
One by one, the other wizards activated their rings. Faerie fire sparked from their foreheads, the varied hues blending as they drifted through the room. Q'arlynd felt Baltak shoulder into his mind like a bear. A heartbeat later, Eldrinn stepped in. Piri lightly touched Q'arlynd's mind with his own, hesitated, then slid in partway. Zarifar drifted in last. His mind traced an imaginary pattern between the bodies of the five wizards, a complex spiral of overlapping ovals.
Q'arlynd closed his eyes and thrust his awareness deep into the chitine's mind. For several moments, the creature's rage held him at bay. Then he pushed past it. Viewed through its multifaceted eyes, Q'arlynd and the other wizards appeared as looming giants-a multitude of them.
Q'arlynd flicked his raised hand: the word now in silent speech.
Through the chitine's eyes, he saw Eldrinn reach forward. He saw-and felt-the kiira briefly touch the chitine's forehead, but then the lorestone fell away. Q'arlynd's eyes opened just in time for him to see the precious crystal clatter to the floor. Eldrinn scrambled to recover it, a horrified expression on his face. Q'arlynd felt Piri tense and heard Baltak's derisive snort and his mental sneer-fumblehands-overlaid by the chitine's cackle of wild laughter.
Q'arlynd choked the laughter off by mentally slamming the creature's jaw shut. That, at least, he could control.
Eldrinn rose, the kiira in his hands. "It's not broken," he said in a relieved voice. He glanced at the chitine. "It's the greasy skin. The kiira wouldn't stick to the chitine's…" Suddenly, his eyes grew as distant as Zarifar's. "Grease," he said slowly. "On its head." One hand drifted up to touch his own forehead.
Q'arlynd broke his mental connection with the other wizards. He knew that look: Eldrinn was struggling to remember the events that had transpired on the High Moor. Q'arlynd let a hand drift behind his back, where the preliminary motions of his spell wouldn't be seen by the others.
"What is it, Eldrinn?" he asked softly.
An intense frown creased Eldrinn's forehead. "It's… I feel as if…" Then he gave a frustrated grimace. "I can't remember."
Q'arlynd watched him a moment more, decided the boy wasn't lying, and let his spell dissipate. He plucked the kiira from Eldrinn's hand and gestured at the chair in the corner. "Sit down, Eldrinn," he suggested. "You don't look well."
Eldrinn nodded. He sat down, picked up his spellbook, and began leafing through it, as if hoping to find the answer there.
Baltak frowned at Q'arlynd. "What just happened?"
"The feeblemind spell," Q'arlynd explained smoothly. He was embarrassing Eldrinn, but it couldn't be helped. The others needed an explanation. "Eldrinn sometimes has… relapses. I was worried it might impair our concentration, but he's over it, now. We'll start again."
Baltak glared at Eldrinn, who was refusing to look up from his spellbook. "Maybe Eldrinn shouldn't be-"
Q'arlynd pressed