And then, at last, the Gatehouse came into view, a shadowy, massive tower lifting out of the trees and mist.
Morgan was dimly aware that something was wrong.
“Get through the door!” Padishar Creel cried frantically, shoving at him so hard he almost fell.
Together they sprinted for the door—or where the door should have been, for it was unexplainably missing. No light seeped through the opening they had left; the stone wall was black and faceless. Morgan felt a surge of fear and disbelief well up in the pit of his stomach.
Someone—or something—had sealed off their escape!
With Padishar a step behind, he came up against the Gatehouse wall, against the massive portal that had admitted them into the Pit, now closed and barred against their re-entry. They heaved against it in desperation, but it was fastened securely. Morgan’s fingers searched its edges, probing, finding to his horror small markings all about, markings they had somehow overlooked before, runes of magic that glowed faintly in the graying mist and prevented their escape more certainly than any lock and key ever could.
Behind him, he could hear the Shadowen massing. He wheeled away, rushed the night things in a frenzy and caused them to scatter. Padishar was hammering at the invisible lock, not yet aware that it was magic and not iron that kept them out.
Morgan turned back, his lean face a mask of fury. “Stand away, Padishar!” he shouted.
He went at the door as if it were one of the Shadowen, the Sword of Leah raised, its blade a brilliant silver streak against the dark. Down came the weapon like a hammer—once, twice, then again and again. The runes carved into the door’s iron surface glowed a deep, wicked green. Sparks flew with each blow, shards of flame that screamed in protest. Morgan howled as if gone mad, and the power of the sword’s magic drew the last of his strength from him in a rush.
Then everything exploded into white fire, and Morgan was consumed by darkness.
Par lifted himself out of the Pit’s murky blackness to the edge of the ravine wall and pulled himself over its spikes. Cuts and scrapes burned his arms and legs. Sweat stung his eyes, and his breath came in short gasps. For a moment, his vision blurred, the night about him an impenetrable mask dotted with weaving bits of light.
Torches, he realized, clustered about the entry to the Gatehouse. There were shouts as well and a hammering of heavy wood. The watch and whoever else had been summoned were trying to break down the bolted door.
Coll came over the wall behind him, grunting with the effort as he dropped wearily to the cool, sodden earth. Rain matted his dark hair where the hood of his cloak had fallen away, and his eyes glittered with something Par couldn’t read..
“Can you walk?” his brother whispered anxiously.
Par nodded without knowing if he could or not. They came to their feet slowly, their muscles aching, their breathing labored. They stumbled from the wall into the shadow of the trees and paused in the blackness, waiting to discover if they had been seen, listening to the commotion that surrounded the Gatehouse.
Coll bent his head close. “We have to get out of here, Par.”
Par’s eyes lifted accusingly. “I know! But we can’t help them anymore. Not now, at least. We have to save ourselves.” He shook his head helplessly. “Please!”
Par clasped him momentarily and nodded into his shoulder, and they stumbled ahead. They made their way slowly, keeping to the darkest shadows, staying clear of the paths leading toward the Gatehouse. The rain had stopped without their realizing it, and the great trees shed their surface water in sudden showers as the wind gusted in intermittent bursts. Pars mind spun with the memory of what had happened to them, whispering anew the warning it had given him earlier, teasing him with self-satisfied, purposeless glee. Why hadn’t he listened, it whispered? Why had he been so stubborn?
The lights of the Tyrsian Way burned through the darkness ahead, and moments later they stumbled to the edge of the street. There were people clustered there, dim shapes in the night, faceless shadows that stood mute witness to the chaos beyond. Most were farther down near the park’s entry and saw nothing of the two ragged figures who emerged. Those who did see quickly looked away when they recognized the Federation uniforms.
“Where do we go now?” Par whispered, leaning against Coll for support. He was barely able to stand.
Coll shook his head wordlessly and pulled his brother toward the street, away from the lights. They had barely reached its cobblestones when a lithe figure materialized out of the shadows some fifty feet away and moved to intercept them. Damson, Par thought. He whispered her name to Coll, and they slowed expectantly as she hurried up.
“Keep moving,” she said quietly, boosting Par’s free arm about her shoulders to help Coll support him. “Where are the others?”
Par’s eyes lifted to meet hers. He shook his head slowly and saw the stricken look that crossed her face.
Behind them, deep within the park, there was a brilliant explosion of fire that rocketed skyward into the night. Gasps of dismay rose out of those gathered on the streets.
The silence that followed was deafening.
“Don’t look back,” Damson whispered, tight-lipped.
The Valemen didn’t need to.
Morgan Leah lay sprawled upon the scorched earth of the Pit, steam rising from his clothing, the acrid stench of smoke in his mouth and nostrils. Somehow he was still alive, he sensed—barely. Something was terribly wrong with him. He felt broken, as if everything had been smashed to bits within his skin, leaving him an empty, scoured shell. There was pain, but it wasn’t physical. It was worse somehow, a sort of emotional agony that wracked not only his body but his mind as well.
“Highlander!”
Padishar’s rough voice cut through the layers of hurt and brought his eyes open. Flames licked the ground inches away.
“Get up—quickly!” Padishar was pulling at him, hauling him forcibly to his feet, and he heard himself scream. A muddled sea of trees and stone blocks swam in the mist and darkness, slowly steadied and at last took shape.
Then he saw. He was still gripping the hilt of the Sword of Leah, but its blade was shattered. No more than a foot remained, a jagged, blackened shard.
Morgan began to shake. He could not stop himself. “What have I done?” he whispered.
“You saved our lives, my friend!” Padishar snapped, dragging him forward. “That’s what you did!” Light poured through a massive hole in the wall of the Gatehouse. The door that had been sealed against their return had disappeared. Padishar’s voice was labored. “Your weapon did that. Your magic. Shattered that door into smoke! Gives us the chance we need, if we’re quick enough. Hurry, now! Lean on me. Another minute or two . . .”
Padishar shoved him through the opening. He was dimly aware of the corridor they stumbled down, the stairs they climbed. The pain continued to rip through his body, leaving him incoherent when he tried to speak. He could not take his eyes from the broken sword. His sword—his magic—himself. He could not differentiate among them.
Shouts and a heavy thudding broke into his thoughts, causing him to flinch. “Easy, now,” Padishar cautioned, the outlaw’s voice a buzzing in his ears that seemed to come from very far away.
They reached the ward room with its weapons and debris. There was a frantic pounding on the entry doors. Their iron shielding was buckled and staved.
“Lie here,” Padishar ordered, leaning him back against the wall to one side. “Say nothing when they enter, just keep still. With luck, they’ll think us victims of what’s happened here and nothing more. Here, give me that.” He reached down and pried the broken Sword of Leah from Morgan’s nerveless fingers. “Back in its case with this, lad. We’ll see to its fixing later.”
He shoved the weapon into its shoulder scabbard, patted Morgan’s cheek, and moved to open the entry doors.
Black-garbed Federation soldiers poured into the room, shouting and yelling and filling the chamber with a din that was suffocating.
A disguised Padishar Creel shouted and yelled back, directing them down the stairwell, into the sleeping quarters, over this way and out that. There was mass confusion. Morgan watched it all without really understanding or even caring. The sense of indifference he felt was outweighed only by his sense of loss. It was as if his life no longer had a purpose, as if any reason for it had evaporated as suddenly and thoroughly as the blade of the Sword of Leah.
No more magic, he thought over and over. I have lost it. I have lost everything.
Then Padishar was back, hauling him to his feet again, steering him through the chaos of the Gatehouse to the entry doors and from there into the park. Bodies surged past, but no one challenged them. “It’s a fine madness we’ve let loose with this night’s work,” Padishar muttered darkly. “I just hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us.”
He took Morgan swiftly from the circle of the Gatehouse lights into the concealing shadows beyond.
Moments later, they were lost from sight.
XXIV
It was just after dawn when Par Ohmsford came awake the first time. He lay motionless on his pallet of woven mats, collecting his scattered thoughts in the silence of his mind. It took him awhile to remember where he was. He was in a storage shed behind a gardening shop somewhere in the center of Tyrsis. Damson had brought them there last night to hide after . . .
The memory returned to him in an unpleasant rush, images that swept through his mind with horrific clarity.
He forced his eyes open and the images disappeared. A faint wash of gray, hazy light seeped through cracks in the shuttered windows of the shed, lending vague definition to the scores of gardening tools stacked upright like soldiers at watch. The smell of dirt and sod filled the air, rich and pungent. It was silent beyond the walls of their concealment, the city still sleeping.
He lifted his head cautiously and glanced about. Coll was asleep beside him, his breathing deep and even. Damson was nowhere to be seen.
He lay back again for a time, listening to the silence, letting himself come fully awake. Then he rose, gingerly easing himself from beneath his blankets and onto his feet. He was stiff and cramped, and there was an aching in his joints that caused him to wince. But his strength was back; he could move about again unaided.
Coll stirred fitfully, turning over once before settling down again. Par watched his brother momentarily, studying the shadowed line of his blunt features, then stepped over to the nearest window. He was still wearing his clothing; only his boots had been removed. The chill of early morning seeped up from the plank flooring into his stockinged feet, but he ignored it. He put his eye to a crack in the shutters and looked out. It had stopped raining, but the skies were clouded and the world had a damp, empty look. Nothing moved within the range of his vision. A jumbled collection of walls, roofs, streets, and shadowed niches stared back at him from out of the mist.
The door behind him opened, and Damson stepped noiselessly into the shed. Her clothing was beaded with moisture and her red hair hung limp.
“Here, what are you doing?” she whispered, her forehead creasing with annoyance. She crossed the room quickly and took hold of him as if he were about to topple over. “You’re not to be out of bed yet! You’re far too weak! Back you go at once!”
She steered him to his pallet and forced him to lie down again. He made a brief attempt to resist and discovered that he had less strength than he first believed.
“Damson, listen . . .” he began, but she quickly put a hand over his mouth.
“No, you listen, Elf-boy.” She paused, staring down at him as she might a curious discovery. “What is the matter with you, Par Ohmsford? Haven’t you an ounce of common sense to call your own? You barely escaped with your life last night and already you are looking to risk it again. Haven’t you the least regard for yourself?”
She took a deep breath, and he found himself thinking suddenly of how warm her hand felt against his face. She seemed to read his thoughts and lifted it away. Her fingers trailed across his cheek.
He caught her hand in his and held it. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I was drifting in and out of nightmares about last night.” Her hand felt small and light in his own. “I can’t stop thinking about Morgan and Padishar . . .”
He trailed off, not wanting to say more. It was too frightening, even now. Next to him, Coll’s eyes blinked open and fixed on him. “What’s going on?” he asked sleepily.
Damson’s fingers tightened on Par’s. “Your brother cannot seem to sleep for worrying about everyone but himself.”
Par stared up at her wordlessly for a moment, then said, “Is there any news, Damson?”
She smiled faintly. “I will make a bargain with you. If you promise me that you will try to go back to sleep for a time—or at least not leave this bed—I promise you that I will try to learn the answer to your question. Fair enough?”
The Valeman nodded. He found himself pondering anew Padishar’s final admonition to him: Trust her. She is the better part of me!
Damson glanced over at Coll. “I depend on you to make certain that he keeps his word.” Her hand slipped from Par’s and she stood up. “I will bring back something to eat as well. Stay quiet, now. No one will disturb you here.”
She paused momentarily, as if reluctant even then to leave, then turned and disappeared out the door.
Silence filled the shadowed room. The brothers looked at each other without speaking for a moment, and then Coll said quietly, “She’s in love with you.”
Par flushed, then quickly shook his head. “No. She’s just being protective, nothing more.”
Coll lay back, sighed and closed his eyes. “Oh, is that it?” He let his breathing slow. Par thought he was sleeping again when he suddenly said, “What happened to you last night, Par?”
Par hesitated. “You mean the wishsong?”
Coll’s eyes slipped open. “Of course I mean the wishsong.” He glanced over sharply. “I know how the magic works better than anyone other than yourself, and I’ve never seen it do that. That wasn’t an illusion you created; that was the real thing! I didn’t think you could do that.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Well?”
Par shook his head. What had happened indeed? He closed his eyes momentarily and then opened them again. “I have a theory,” he admitted finally. “I came up with it between sleep and bad dreams, you might say. Remember how the magic of the wishsong came about in the first place? Wil Ohmsford used the Elfstones in his battle with the Reaper. He had to in order to save the Elf-girl Amberle. Shades, we’ve told that story often enough, haven’t we? It was dangerous for him to do so because he hadn’t enough true Elf blood to allow it. It changed him in a way he couldn’t determine at first. It wasn’t until after his children were born, until after Brin and Jair, that be discovered what had been done. Some part of the Elf magic of the Stones had gone into him. That part was passed to Brin and Jair in the form of the wishsong.”
He raised himself up on one elbow; Coll did likewise. The light was sufficient now to let them see each other’s faces clearly. “Cogline told us that first night that we didn’t understand the magic. He said that it works in different ways—something like that—but that until we understood it, we could only use it in one. Then, later, at the Hadeshorn, he told us how the magic changes, leaving wakes in its passing like the water of a lake disturbed. He made specific reference to Wil Ohmsford’s legacy of magic, the magic that became the wishsong.”
He paused. The room was very still. When he spoke again, his voice sounded strange in his ears. “Now suppose for a moment that he was right, that the magic is changing all the time, evolving in some way. After all, that’s what happened when the magic of the Elfstones passed from Wil Ohmsford to his children. So what if it has changed again, this time in me?”
Coll stared. “What do you mean?” he asked finally. “How do you think it could change?”
“Suppose that the magic has worked its way
back to what it was in the beginning. The blue Elfstones that Allanon gave to Shea Ohmsford when they went in search of the Sword of Shannara all those years ago had the power to seek out that which was hidden from the holder.”
“Par!” Coll breathed his name softly, the astonishment apparent in his voice.
“No, wait. Let me finish. Last night, the magic released itself in a way it has never done before. I could barely control it. You’re right, Coll; there was no illusion in what it did. But it did respond in a recognizable way. It sought out what was hidden from me, and I think it did so because subconsciously I willed it.” His voice was fierce. “Coll. Suppose that the power that once was inherent in the magic of the Elfstones is now inherent in the magic within me!”
There was a long silence between them. They were close now, their faces not two feet apart, their eyes locked. Coll’s rough features were knotted in concentration, the enormity of what Par was suggesting weighing down on him like a massive stone block. Doubt mirrored in his eyes, then acceptance, and suddenly fear.
His face went taut. His rough voice was very soft. “The Elfstones possessed another property as well. They could defend the holder against danger. They could be a weapon of tremendous power.”
Par waited, saying nothing, already knowing what was coming.
“Do you think that the magic of the wishsong can now do the same for you?”
Par’s response was barely audible. “Yes, Coll. I think maybe it can.”
By midday, the haze of early morning had burned away and the clouds had moved on. Sunshine shone down on Tyrsis blanketing the city in heat. Puddles and streams evaporated as the temperature rose, the stone and clay of the streets dried, and the air grew humid and sticky.
Traffic at the gates of the Outer Wall was heavy and slow-moving. The Federation guards on duty, double the usual number as a result of the previous night’s disturbance, were already sweating and irritable when the bearded gravedigger approached from out of the backstreets beyond the inner wall. Travelers and merchants alike moved aside at his approach. He was ragged and stooped, and he smelled to the watch as if he had been living in a sewer. He was wheeling a heavy cart in front of him, the wood rotted and splintered. There was a body in the cart, wrapped in sheets and bound with leather ties.