The Shield of Weeping Ghosts - James P. Davis [54]
Neither did she. The Nar were being subtler than she had expected. She was bothered by something, a scent or perhaps just instinct, but the air felt thick with magic. Duras joined Syrolf at the stairway, waiting for Thaena to make a decision on their next move.
A steady noise drew her back to the first chamber. She turned back into the central corridor. Edging closer she made out a labored breathing and recalled the noise she had heard in the entrance hall-the disembodied breath and the whispering of the Shield's shadowy spirits. Peering into the room from the darkness of the hallway, she watched in horror as a robed woman staggered into view from outside.
The woman was dressed in the furs and leathers of a Creel, her face a pale white, her eyes and lips shocking shades of blue.
Thaena held onto her spell. The Creel woman seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
Noise erupted behind her, and Anilya screamed. Thaena felt the Weave twitch as Anilya cast a spell. Sounds of battle echoed from the walls. Still watching the Creel, Thaena prepared a spell herself, heart thumping in her chest as the attack they had expected arrived. She whipped her head back, seeing only a chaos of moving forms and bright lights, then returned her attention to the strange newcomer.
Coughing and stumbling, the woman's eyes bulged as weak puffs of steam escaped her lips. She fixed her stare on the ethran, hatred in her eyes, but helplessness in her expression. The skin on her forehead split and burned, revealing a pale scar in the shape of a strange sigil. She fell to her knees in the center of the room and leaned back, screaming as white light burst from her mouth and eyes.
Thaena fell back in horror, her spell lost as the woman's body tore apart in a thunder of energy that shook the walls. A wave of frigid air and ice chased the concussive force of the blast, knocking the ethran onto her back. Dazed, the sound of cracking stone roused her and she crawled toward the ice slick that had formed close to the explosion. The woman was gone, the floor a crumbling ruin that dropped away into darkness. Dust and snow drifted in the open space between Thaena and the bridge that had brought them here-the bridge from which they were now cut off.
Staring at that span of stone her eyes were drawn to a figure standing at its edge. His white hair flowed in the howling wind and his sunken eyes regarded her with a gaze that passed straight through her. Ivory skin matched the ancient armor encrusted with snow and ice. She was lost in his stare, a glare of purpose that sent chills through her body, numbing her senses. Before he turned away, Thaena noted the design on the man's breastplate-a leafless black tree on a circular red field, the standard of Dun-Tharos.
He disappeared into the snow and mist. "Thaena!"
Duras's voice broke the odd trance in which she found herself, her head aching and her ears whining from the blast. She pushed herself to her feet and leaned against the wall for a moment before rushing back to her guardian and the others.
Duras met her at the balcony, his large frame silhouetted against a wall of glowing ice. The torches on the other side of the chamber provided the glow. Anilya, shaking out her hands and flexing her fingers, had apparently provided the ice. Safe for the moment, Thaena took in the scene and considered their options.
"How many are there?" she asked, striding forward to glare at the ice wall that separated them from their attackers.
"Not many," Duras answered. "Some archers on the higher balcony. A few others along the opposite stairs."
"They have a wizard," Anilya said.
A heavy rattling sound reverberated through the chamber, shaking the floor and walls as a large shadow reared behind the ice. Long and sinuous, it slid over the ice wall like a lamprey seeking a soft patch of skin. The shadow receded, growing smaller for a moment before rushing toward them. It cracked against the ice wall, shaking the room again and creating weblike cracks around the point of impact.
"And that?" Thaena asked, wide-eyed.
"Bones,"