The Queen of Stone_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [107]
He’s shifting between planes, Steel whispered. Any attack or spell may pass through him, and if he needs to, he can slip away through solid matter … walking through a wall while he’s on another plane.
“I don’t want to kill you, Nyrielle,” Drego said, and his voice was warped by the spell, rising and falling. “When the sun rises, this will be inevitable, and we’ll be able to fight on the same side. But I can’t let you stop it.”
“It’s not up to you.” Thorn charged forward, spinning on her heel and aiming a kick for Drego’s temple. By the time the sun came up, it would be over, one way or the other. Though they came from different nations, relied on different skills … she felt a bond to Drego. Somehow, whatever it was, she didn’t want to kill him.
He blinked out of existence just before she struck him, and her foot passed through empty air. He reappeared a few feet away, holding his hand toward her. The air rippled as a field of energy took shape in the form of a giant hand. By the time she knew what it was, it was already wrapped around her, pinning her limbs with iron strength.
“It’s over,” Drego said. “I’ll have to bind you, I’m afraid. As for your companions, the medusa is supposed to be dead already. And as for Stormblade—if he is truly who he appears to be, I’m sure that Thrane could use another champion.”
“My sword belongs to Galifar.” Perhaps Thorn had distracted Drego; perhaps it was an indomitable will finally breaking its bonds. Harryn Stormblade was striding toward Drego Sarhain, and lightning crackled around his greatsword.
Drego grinned. “If that’s true, shouldn’t it be broken?” His next word struck Thorn’s ears with physical force. She felt a moment’s pain, but the impact on Stormblade was far more severe. His armor rattled, but his sword was the target of Drego’s spell. The metal shivered and shook, and for a moment it seemed like it would shatter. And then the moment passed.
“That’s quite a sword,” Drego said. The blade flashed in Harryn’s hands, but once again, Sarhain vanished just before the blow landed. He returned a few feet away. “Let’s try again. I’ve got time.”
All the while, Thorn was struggling against her bonds, but to no avail. The ghostly hand might as well have been made of stone. Her muscles simply couldn’t match the magic. All she could do was watch the battle between Drego and Harryn, the sorcerer and the knight.
Then, as she watched, she saw another battle. Another knight. An armored warrior with Drego’s face. How will history remember you, I wonder?
With that thought, power flooded through her, fire blazing through every tendon. She flexed, and the silver hand holding her shattered into a thousand pieces and was gone. Steel was already in her hand as she charged forward. Drego flickered back and forth, slipping away from Stormblade’s blows. But Thorn could sense the motion of the air. She could feel the currents shifting away from where Drego had been and the place he was going to be. She tried not to think; she let her instincts guide her, and the spy appeared just before the point of her blade. He was looking away from her when the blade passed along a rib and into his heart. But she heard his voice, faint and bloody.
“Well done … Sarm …”
He never finished the last word. Thorn had barely pulled Steel free when she felt his flesh harden beneath her touch. His doublet of black silk became black marble. Thorn knew what had happened even before she heard the hiss of Sheshka’s serpents.
It had to be done. Thorn knew it was necessary. Her mission was to retrieve Harryn Stormblade and to protect Breland. But as she turned toward the long shadow, she saw a pair of laughing, familiar eyes in her mind, and for one moment, she hated her job.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The Crag’s Shadow
Droaam
Eyre 20, 998 YK
Sheshka and Stormblade had heard everything. Drego’s spell had paralyzed their muscles, but it had done nothing to their ears. Harryn said nothing. Thorn guessed that he was dedicated to the mission, and that for the moment everything else was secondary … even the state