Chapter 20
“Belemeriath!” Finnegaff hailed his little friend from his running horse. “How far to Blackmane’s Point?”
“Over that hill!” Belemeriath pointed to a slight rise two hundred yards away. The darkhounds were close behind, very close indeed. Fear drove the horses on. The darkhounds growled and yipped as they ran. Carameth tried to fire a few arrows, but he nearly lost his balance. Mia’s horse was wet with sweat and beginning to slow.
Sure enough, as they crested the hill, there in their path was a fortress. Neither plant nor rock over two inches in height was to be found for two hundred yards in any direction from the moat surrounding Blackmane's Point, affording no cover for enemies attempting assault on the compound. Mia’s Stand entered the open ground with the darkhounds nipping at the heels of their horses.
A drawbridge was extended on the side facing them, and from it poured a dozen Centaurs armed with bows and broad swords. As soon as the darkhounds spotted the man horses, they made every attempt to turn and flee, but the momentum they’d developed prevented their escape from the fierce Centaurian guard.
Finnegaff held his staff high. “HOOO!” he yelled as he reigned in Grinnolle. The party halted some few yards from the drawbridge.
“That was close!” Romessee gasped, out of breath from the ride. By the time they’d turned to witness the fate of their adversaries, the Centaurs had chased the darkhounds over the hill. Three lay upon the ground, slain, yet no others could be seen.
Mia dismounted and hit the ground a little too hard. Her knees almost didn’t hold her. She grabbed the saddle horn to hold herself up. Rosielle’s breathing came hard. The horse nervously sidestepped. Mia took her reigns and stroked her jowl. “It’s okay now,” she told her horse. “It’s okay,” Mia’s breath was ragged. “Man!”
The rest had dismounted. Carameth ran to Mia’s side. “Are you okay?” he asked, ready to catch her should she fall. She grabbed his forearm and nodded, unable to speak.
“We gotta be more careful,” Finnegaff remarked to no one in particular as he wiped his sweating hair from his forehead. “That was a little too close. Everyone okay?” He looked to each of them and received nods confirming their wellbeing.
Two Centaurs approached from the fortress, one male, and one female. They stopped half way to discuss something while surveying the party. They stood there for a few moments. By the time they continued their approach, all had regained their breath and relaxed, if only a bit.
"Great day, travelers!" the male called to them when they were within twenty yards. “That be a peculiar escort you do bring!”
"Great day, Fasthoof! Great day, Mare Starrelocke!" Finnegaff tipped his hat. Starrelocke's eyes widened. She smiled with a hand to her mouth. Fasthoof, son of King Stronghoof, Prince of Centauria and first contender to the throne looked at this old man who had run out of the woods from the desolate plain, pursued by savage darkhounds, who happened to know him by name. He squinted, trying to get a better look at Finnegaff as he came up on him. Then it struck him.
He threw up his arms and his eyes went wide. "Lord Finnegaff! It do be a delight!" Fasthoof clenched forearms with his old wizard friend. "How grand to see you!"
"Sir Fasthoof, you look as lean as ever!" Finnegaff told the Centaur, which, as everyone knows, is a very complimentary thing to say to a Centaur, but only if it's true.
"Me dear Finnegaff!" Starrelocke nearly sung her greeting. “I do be pleased you did outrun the dog men!”
“So are we,” Mia mumbled.
“I were a wee bit concerned meself,” Fasthoof added.
“And I'm glad we were close to the fortress when we ran in to them,” Finnegaff said. “Thanks for your help. ”
“The scent of war do linger on the wind,” Fasthoof said. “We knew not that the enemy were so close in.”
“Aye,” agreed Starrelocke. “Alert is our must need.” She smiled at the wizard. “Me dearest Lord Finnegaff!” They clasped forearms. “It do be a pleasure!”
"Mare Starrelocke! As beautiful as ever! What are you doing keeping company with this farm horse?" he thumbed in Fasthoof's direction. Finnegaff already knew the answer, had heard the news at the Meeting of the Wizard's Council, but wanted Starrelocke to tell him herself. Being not one for Mare talk, Fasthoof glanced away with crossed his arms. He saw where Finnegaff was leading the conversation, for he knew that wizards did that sort of thing.
Starrelocke ignored the gesture. "Guess, friend Finnegaff, what it is that Fasthoof and I hath done!" Her human half was agitating about the spine, her right hand held to the side of her pretty smiling face. Her long, nearly white blond hair glistened as it half hid her darkly tanned face. She was showing off the beautiful marriage bracelet fashioned of silver with fine bits of inlaid turquoise she had upon her wrist.
Finnegaff looked right at her. Puzzled, he shook his head. "Uh...you joined the Royal Guard?"
"No, silly! We be already enlisted to the Royal Guard!" She shook her right arm with the bracelet on it.
"You won the three legged race at the annual royal picnic?"
Starrelocke dropped her right arm to her side and looked up into the air. Fasthoof was laughing at her, but she was too involved in playing her guessing game with Finnegaff, who she believed at times to be a little slow to notice certain things. She acted as if she were brushing her hair from her face with her right hand. She held the bracelet inches from Finnegaff's face.
"Why, Starrelocke!" His eyes followed the bracelet. "What's this on your wrist?! Where did you get that? You...you and Fasthoof?!"
"AYE!" she yelled, arms outstretched. Finnegaff embraced her warmly. Starrelocke had to bend considerably to reach to hug him.
"My best wishes for you both!" He released the mare. Briefly the Centaur filled them in on the highlights of their marriage.
"Kind Centaurs, I would like you to meet Romessee, Carameth..." Finnegaff began introductions.
"Carameth we do know," said Fasthoof. "Great day, fair Prince of Elves!
"Great day, most kind Prince of Centauria!" Carameth grasped forearms with Fasthoof. Mia noted that Centaurs did not have any aversions to handshakes.
"How fares thine herd?" Fasthoof asked.
"We do well, sir Fasthoof. And your father?"
"An unending thorn in me side that I would allow nay the Creator himself remove!"Fasthoof had a few differences with his father, King Rockheart IV of Centauria, perhaps more than a few. Yet in spite of these disagreements, their love harbored deep respect for one other.
"This is Miagaff and Romessee," Finnegaff said. Starrelocke, for all her absent mindedness, was the first of the two to realize their mission.
"Thou wouldst be the Carrier of the Book of Life!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah. Uh, Yes, that's right. Great day, Mare Starrelocke! Pleased to meet you!" Mia extended a forearm for the Centaur to grasp. Starrelocke took the outstretched arm in a warm, soft, very firm grasp. Mia could feel an amazing strength through the gentleness of the mare Centaur's grip; Starrelocke could crush the bones in her arm with one abrupt squeeze had she so desired. Starrelocke got down on her knees, a practiced flowing motion of uncanny grace for a being so large. She bowed her head, still holding Mia's arm.
She looked up at Mia. "Me bow is at your service, honored one!"
"And mine be as well!" said Fasthoof, bowing gracefully.
"Uh, thanks!" Mia said.
It was a rare occasion indeed that Belemeriath was holding his tongue, yet he did, for he knew the importance, the honor, and the significance of this meeting.
Starrelocke cocked her head and cupped Mia's chin in her hand. "Miagaff! As pretty as a spring day! I would love to prim thine hair!"
Mia had noticed the intricately woven delicate white and lavender flowers gracing four thin braids, two on each side, of Starrelocke's blond hair. The soft curls accented the lines of her face. Complicated bows of light pink ribbon held it all together. It was, indeed, a work of fine art like n
one Mia had ever seen. “I would be honored, Mare Starrelocke!"
"Oh, call me Starre!" Starrelocke batted a hand at her. "What of thee, fair Romessee?" She looked at the Mumbwe. "Such beautiful hair have you been bestowed!"
"I'm down!" She replied.
"Oh, I do regret!" Starrelocke frowned.
"Oh, no!" Romessee said. "That means I'm down for it, like put me down on the list!"
Starrelocke thought about it for a second, then brightened. "I see this meaning! How clever!" She giggled. "Let this be a day to prim hair, me ladies!" Starrelocke spun on a dime and off they went, Starrelocke babbling without pause as she led Mia and Romessee and their horses noisily across the drawbridge.
"I'm coming too!" Belemeriath said. Unable to resist the company of ladies, off he went. He hovered before them, right where he was sure they would see him.
"Uh, wait a minute!" Finnegaff said with an extended arm. They didn't hear him. Or perhaps they ignored him completely.
Finnegaff, however, heard Starrelocke, who thought she was out of earshot. "I believe Finnegaff would never have taken clue to me wedding bracelet had I not shown it so forward! Me sometimes wonders how it is that he be head of the Wizard's Council!" She threw her arms into the air. Mia and Romessee looked at each other, then back at Finnegaff. He winked at them.
Fasthoof clapped a hand on Finnegaff’s shoulder. The two watched the girls go their way. Fasthoof's look was one of pride for his beautiful bride, despite his shaking head. “There be nay stopping that mare when it comes to her vanity, friend Finnegaff! Believe me, for this I do know!”
Finnegaff laughed with the Centaur. "Yes, your majesty, I'm sure you do! I'm sure you do!"
Some time later, Finnegaff, Fasthoof and Carameth were having Mia's horse Rosielle fitted for a shoe that had been thrown during the chase. Mia and Romessee walked with Starrelocke, a very happy, hyper fairy zipping around them, to meet them at the livery. The two girls appeared entirely different from what they had several hours ago. Mia's hair, having grown to better than the middle of her back in the last two months, was braided in part, about a quarter of it, into half a dozen thin twists, the remainder loosely curled in tidy symmetry. The braids adorned dainty white flowers with light purple leaves. Her face had been washed as well, of which it was badly in need. Romessee's hair had but two braids along the back, each braid of five strands. Her braids were wrapped about her head, the ends neatly tucked. Light blue flowers were intertwined with a silver thread woven within the braids that lay in stunning contrast against her blue-black hair. Not a single hair was out of place on either of them. Light shades of blue accented their eyes, each having chosen the same color of eye shadow, a compliment to the color of their eyes, which was nearly identical. Starrelocke beamed with pride for the two beautiful young ladies, for they wore her craft with great appeal. Indeed, Starrelocke had managed to reveal features on the girls that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Finnegaff could not force his eyes from them. "Why, Mia! Romessee! You look..." he wanted to say 'too grown up'. After seeing the prideful look on Starrelocke's face, he decided the better of it. "You look absolutely stunning!" And that they did. A little too stunning for his fatherly spirit. He looked to Carameth, who stood holding Rosielle's reigns. His mouth hung open and he stared shamelessly at Mia. Finnegaff turned again to Mia. Her eyes were locked on the young Prince. Starrelocke stood, hands clasped before her, swiveling about her torso, smiling, indeed, glowing.
Finnegaff cleared his throat and looked at Carameth. "Ahem!" The elf did not so much as flinch. Finnegaff added a little body language to the interruption. "AHEM!" he cleared his throat again, much louder than before, and added an elbow to Carameth’s shoulder.
Carameth blinked and shook his head. "Oh! Ah, Mia! Romessee! You look...uh...very nice!" Carameth tripped over his words, few though they were.
"They look stunning, cousin!" Belemeriath flew to the star struck elf. "Stunning! Just like Finnegaff said!" He began circling Carameth. "Guess who picked the flowers for them?" As if anyone there had any doubts. "I did! I did! They're beautiful, aren't they?"
"Yes, cousin Belemeriath," Carameth said. "They're the most beautiful flowers I've seen in some time!" He was staring again.
"No! No!" Belemeriath circled him with a speed that would make one nearly noxious if they tried to follow his path, then halted between the elf and Mia, blocking Carameth's line of vision, demanding attention. "The girls are beautiful, cousin!"
"Yes, that they are!" Carameth moved his head slightly to adjust his line of sight around the insistent fairy. Belemeriath moved to again hover in his line of sight. Carameth again leaned to see around him. His facial expression switched from charm to alarm in less than a heartbeat as Mia appeared to nearly faint. She would've fallen had Romessee not caught her. She had gone suddenly pale, right before his eyes, rocked a few times, then collapsed.
"MIAGAFF!" He dropped the horse's reigns and rushed to her side, then gallantly lifted her to a waist-high workbench.
A torrent of warmth flooded Mia's mind, in fact her entire soul, causing the collapse. Not that it was disliking or hurtful. It was the suddenness, the completeness, the strength of the voice of Saa that caught her off guard. She knew this phenomenon to be Saa; she knew to what Saa guided her.
"Strongwind!" she said, pointing at the blacksmith. The Centaur shoeing her horse ceased his task and placed aside his hammer and set. Almost as if guided by a will other than his own, he approached Mia. He dropped to his knees.
"I swear thee service of me hammer and arrow, chosen one!" He took her hand in his and gently kissed it.
Finnegaff had mentioned not a word to the blacksmith of their task, of Mia being the Carrier of the Book of Life. "Miagaff,” he said. He had felt the unexpected, sudden and strong power of Saa when it hit her.
She confirmed his suspicion. "It was Saa. I had the feeling." Carameth still held her steady. Romessee was on her other side. "I'm fine," she told her friends. "It was just so sudden!" The rest awaited her. "I was told by Saa that Strongwind, that's you, right?" She pointed at the Centaur. He nodded once. "That you’re to go with us. You get to join our Stand!"
"Yes. I felt Saa. Yet," Finnegaff pointed at Strongwind, "how did you know?"
Strongwind told his story. "‘Twas nay fifty year ago that to I, Saa did speak. I were but a wee colt then. On a spring morn did Saa speak to me, after the fashion that Saa do speak, by a stream I were to pick motherberries. I were given that an outworlder lass, fair haired and human and young, should be come unto me, and I would know when it were by the eyes of Saa. It be with this lass, I were by the grace of Saa been told, that I should be of company, and that I should at the Reading of the Book of Life be present. Return did I to me mother, who asked for what reason do I come home empty handed, for I had forgotten me task and fetched not a single motherberry. Nay did I tell her of why, for Saa had forbid that I speak to another of the vision until now."
All eyes turned to Starrelocke, who was crying outwardly. She noticed the draw of attention to herself. "’Tis all so very beautiful," she squeaked as she wiped away tears with long, delicate fingers, "as be a babe in her mother's arms!"
Finnegaff rolled his eyes. Indeed, she was mare throughout. "Well, yes. I guess you're going with us." He smiled at Strongwind.
"There be more," Strongwind said. "The Carrier...what be you called, honored Carrier of the Book of Life?" He leaned his head to one side. Finnegaff laughed at this, prompting a gentle backhand on his arm and a look of reprimand from mare Starrelocke. He stifled his laugh.
"I be, I mean, I'm Mia. Miagaff!"
"Ah! Miagaff it be, then. I am to bear ye as need be!"
Until now, Prince Fasthoof had been silent. His eyebrows raised in surprise. "Surely you mean not!" Starrelocke broke into another joyous round of tears, savoring each moment of passion of this historic event.
At times, a man might ride a Centaur as one would a horse. But rare indeed were those times
, for as it is well known (and accepted by all races), Centaurs are not beasts of burden. Not that they abhorred the idea, not at all; it simply was not their role. In situations demanding of them, Centaurs would take riders, perhaps when speedy travel was of the essence or when trouble might be afoot. Clearly they did not mind work or use of their great strength, nor would their strong sense of duty inhibit cause. But for a Centaur to commit to a rider was nearly unheard of! Certainly this would only have happened by the direction of Saa.
"What about Rosielle?" Mia was now standing, and had moved next to her horse. She pet the beast’s jowl. "She's going too, isn't she?"
Strongwind placed a hand on Rosielle's head, the manner Centaurs employed when they "spoke" to horses. All awaited his response. "Our friend mare Rosielle would ask that she be permitted to stay here amongst the Centaurs," he said. "She said she do be getting old, and the trail now do be hard for her. And," he paused. They all looked to him. Strongwind was abruptly quiet. He looked away from them, particularly Mia. He acted as if he did not want to complete the translation.
"And what?" Finnegaff asked.
"And..." Strongwind hesitated.
"Silly manhorse!" Starrelocke gently pushed the big Centaur to the side. "Must we mares always be tasked such?" She sighed heavily as she placed a hand upon Rosielle’s jowl.
"Oh!" Starrelocke gave a small giggle. "She do believe that Miagaff be in need of riding lessons!" The silence was broken by Finnegaff's laugh, followed by the rest of the attendants, except Carameth, who had a hand to his mouth as he turned away from Mia's line of sight. Mia glared at him as Rosielle whinnied. Carameth was laughing at her! Even her own horse was laughing at her! She crossed her arms with a huff.
Finnegaff set the butt of Lebethtro Larra firmly upon the ground. "We bear witness to a marked event in history!" He spoke in his most regal wizard's voice. "Let an historian pen this time as community among the Centaurs and Mankind, a moment of unity for cause and honor! A living testimony to tradition between the races!" He smiled. Mia knew what was coming. "Let us celebrate this addition to Mia's Stand by showing honor to tradition for the, uh, choosing of the Centaurian representative for the eighth Carrying of the Book of Life!" He looked all too serious for the motivation of his speech. He raised his arms, staff erect in his left hand, the grandeur of his mannerism only for show, being wholly unnecessary for the invocation of Saa. "Lorusa pon shomos...” His spell was interrupted when a nearby bell rang out a low, loud peal, followed by the answer of horns. Long, mid-range steady notes echoed from all corners of the fortress. Several Centaurs ran by the livery at full speed, some donning bows, others drawing swords as they hastened to their posts.
"Blackmane's Point be under attack!" exclaimed Strongwind as he took his bow, his quiver of arrows and his huge broadsword from where they were mounted on the wall. He strapped them securely about his shoulders with the ease of a finely trained soldier. Carameth, always with bow ready, followed Strongwind toward the ramps accessing the parapet of the fortress. Six Centaurs, well drilled for the moment, applied harnesses to themselves, three to a side and chained to the huge ropes that drew the drawbridge. With practiced cadence, the six powerful manhorses chanted aloud in time with their gait: "Up! Up! Up! Up!" Up came the forty-foot long bridge. From where Mia stood she could see darkhounds along the shore of the moat, only seconds too late to catch the rising bridge. Six other Centaurs readied a stout log that acted as a bar for the gate. Within moments the bridge became the stronghold door to the fortress. High on the parapet, archers were already loosing arrows over the wall.
"You two go to Starrelocke's stall and stay there!" Finnegaff took up his staff. Romessee raised a hand to protest. Too late. Finnegaff spun on his heel and walked briskly to join the forces on the parapet.
Romessee turned her protest to Mia. "I am a competent archer!" she proclaimed, "and I know honor and duty!"
"Rom, there's a war going on out there!" Mia said.
"Yes! I know!" she replied, then ran from the livery. She shot a beckoning glance at Mia. Certainly not wanting to be left alone and not knowing what else to do, (everything was happening so fast!), Mia followed Romessee toward a ramp in the other direction from the one Finnegaff was destined. They dodged alarmed Centaurs, soon to arrive at the base of the ramp before Mia thought to look up. More than an occasional arrow was coming over the wall. She actually saw a Centaur take an arrow in the shoulder. The Centaur glanced at the arrow protruding from his flesh. The manhorse ignored the wound and continued his assail of arrows.
Mia paused. "Crap!"
"C'mon!" Romessee yelled. "Keep down!"
"It's darkhounds! It's darkhounds!" Belemeriath had streaked from who knows where. He hovered excitedly three feet in front of the girls.
"Belemeriath! What are you doing here?" Mia didn't mean it the way it sounded.
With eyes closed, he plunged his little thumb into his puffed out chest. "I'm gonna protect you!"
By now the three had reached the parapet and crouched behind the wall. Mia had a burning desire to risk a peek despite the increasing rain of arrows.
"You're gonna protect me?" she asked the fairy.
"Yeah! Watch this!" he shouted as he twinkled into a point of light. Up he shot into the air above them, alive with rival arrows. In a second he had intercepted an arrow in mid flight. Belemeriath heaved to the left. The arrow answered to the change in forward motion by speeding off in another direction. Before the arrow could reach a mark, the little fairy brought it to a halt. He grasped the arrow in unseen hands, flew like a rocket to the nearest Centaurian bowman and held the arrow before him. The startled Centaur snatched the arrow from Belemeriath. With a slight, quick nod of gratitude to his little friend, he knocked the arrow and sent it back from whence it came. Belemeriath bee-lined to where Mia was still crouched behind the wall. In one motion, he skidded to a stop and twinkled back into fairy form.
"See? See?" Belemeriath hovered beside her, his arms extended outward.
Mia had an idea. "I wanna have a look at what's going on."
Belemeriath flew above the edge of the parapet. "Go ahead!" he shouted, and blinked into a pinpoint of light. Mia hesitated a moment, then sneaked a peek over the battlement.
The land for half of the distance between Blackmane's Point and the surrounding forest two hundred yards off was packed with mostly darkhounds and a few Slagg men. Fallen bodies were only occasionally visible through the mass of soldiers. Arrows were broken where the surviving soldiers trampled the corpses. Some of the enemy had managed to cross the moat by employing long ladders and now scaled the walls of the fortress, but were not getting far, for the Centaurs rained arrows on the assailants or cut the climbing ropes once the ropes were full. Many of the enemies held shields above their heads to deflect the Centaurian arrows. Out of the corner of her eye Mia saw Belemeriath dart from his waiting position. He snagged an arrow out of the air that was headed right for her. Belemeriath released the arrow. It planted with a solid thwack! into the wood a few feet from Mia's head. That was enough for her. She decided to reposition and sat with her back to the wall, knees up. Belemeriath changed form and flew to her.
"See?!" He landed on her knee, hands on hips, smiling. She looked across the compound just in time to see a Centaur fall off of the parapet and drop many feet to the ground. He was not the first. A dozen or more lie randomly about the fortress, arrows having found a fatal mark. She had the horrible feeling that she was somehow responsible for what had befallen them.
She sighted Finnegaff not more than a few yards away, who invoked Saa for a Centaur, the invocation averting oncoming arrows from the manhorse. Finnegaff could not, for reasons Saa only knew, shield more than one of them at a time.
He caught sight of Romessee, who paid him little heed other than a grim nod as she continued to fire on the adversary. Finnegaff threw both hands into the air. "Youth!" He laid his staff on Romessee’s shoulder. “Meske! Eshemal nah eme!" (Arrow miss this one!). Mia co
uld feel the power of Saa in the air.
"Thank you!" Romessee said. He turned to Mia and was about to say something. She never learned what it was. A loud distant crashing came from the other side of the wall. Finnegaff stared and slowly dropped his arms. Arrows mostly ceased their assault from both sides. Mia couldn’t resist. She stood to see what demanded such attention. Whatever it is, she thought, it couldn't be good. She gaped at the gruesome black terror.
From the trees crept a black cloud, yet not a cloud. It had more depth, was more substantial. The fifty-foot diameter, ten-foot high angry black mass was amoeboid in shape and crawled quickly along the ground, changing the profile of its perimeter without gaining or losing mass. Dead or dying darkhounds that were in the path of the nightmare sizzled for a brief moment, then burst instantaneously into black flame as the monster consumed them. It rapidly approached the gate, incinerating even the unharmed soldiers that either were not fast enough to yield it a path or were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their brief, chilling screams were very audible, for the beast made no sound of its own.
"A shadowrought!" Finnegaff's arms shot into the air, Lebethtro Larra raised before him. “Kereele! Ansopiarn ah maasa llame!” (Shadowrought! Be gone to your home!). Mia felt Saa in strength. She had her eyes locked on the Shadowrought. She saw the creature recoil and begin to shrink away, but instead of disappearing, it grew back to its normal size and then some, then immediately continued the rampage from which it had been interrupted. It crossed the moat as if it were solid ground and in seconds was upon the gate. The thick wooden drawbridge caught fire, melting and burning wherever it came into contact with the black menace.
Finnegaff grabbed Mia by the shoulders. "Miagaff! Help me out with this! Use Saa! Tell it to go home!"
Mia drew on Saa. The magic boiled up inside her as it never had before. She held Dielielle outward and combined her invocation with Finnegaff. They shouted at the top of their lungs in unison. “Kereele! Piar llame!" (Shadowrought! Go home!)
The shadowrought buckled and shriveled at the edges, then drew inward from the top, appearing as a gigantic raisin. The center of it dimpled and began to rotate faster and faster in a whirlpool until it was rotating at impossible speeds. It spiraled inward as the last of the black mass was sucked into the vortex. Inside of five seconds, not a trace remained of the shadowrought except for the charred ground over which it had oozed.
Fires smoldered in small patches everywhere on the battlefield. The gate had been breached, yet the enemy made no attempt at further offense. Not a sound could be heard from either side, an eerie silence overcoming all. Seconds that seemed like hours passed when a single darkhound sounded a long, drawn howl. It finished only to be joined by a chorus of darkhounds howling and yelping as they fled into the woods in retreat. With a loud crash, the remains of the gate lowered, enough of it intact to allow passage of three Centaurs abreast. Many Centaurs left the fortress in pursuit of their aggressors, brandishing lances, swords and bows. Mia had a bird's eye view of the chase. She had a strange feeling that the scene was one she felt she needed to witness. She learned just how quickly a darkhound, a frightened and fleeing one, could run. She doubted that the Centaurs would catch many of them.
Mia looked up at Finnegaff with her chin tucked to her chest. "What," she pointed to the place where the Shadowrought had vanished, "in the name of Saa was that?" Her eyes were wide and her finger trembled. She was sweating from the exertion of having invoked such a large amount of Saa.
Finnegaff stood holding his staff, the other hand on his hip as he looked to the battlefield. He, too, was spent, his hair wet with perspiration. "That was a Shadowrought," he told her. "I'm glad you were here, even though," he turned to the girls, "I told you to, well..." he held a finger in the air. He looked to each of the girls in turn. “Uh...” They awaited his reprimand. His eyes met each of them several times in rapid, nervous succession. "I told you to...I...both of you...” he lowered his hand to his side as he shook his head. “I guess it couldn't be helped." The girls exchanged knowing glances. He redirected his gaze to the scene of the shadowrought, then redirected the conversation to a topic at which he was more graceful. "The shadowrought are not always so easily defeated."
Mia knew she had been crucial to the shadowrought's termination; she felt it, felt the huge rush of the power of Saa. It even exceeded the power of the Saa which had, through herself, healed the stable boy Theramon at Marigaff's Farm a week or so ago.
"Wow! Did you see what happened to that shadowrought?" Belemeriath said, hovering between the two girls. "You did that! You did that! Wow!"
Mia held a hand over her mouth. "Carameth!" She exclaimed. "Where's Carameth?"
"I assure you he is alive and well and somewhere nearby," Finnegaff said.
"How do you know?” Mia fired out.
"Nahaya," he said.
"Whatever." Mia knew the concept, that after the Reading of the Book of Life she, too, would know this sense. "Let's go look for him anyway!" She was anxious to see him safe for herself, personally assure that he was unharmed. Her eyes swept the interior grounds below for signs of the elf. As if drawn, and perhaps she was, she found him. He was with two Centaurs, who were standing over two Centaurs that lay on the ground, wounded or worse.
"There he is!" She pointed in the direction of Carameth.
Finnegaff took a hard look at what Carameth was doing. He said not a word as he spun around and strode down the ramp at a pace that made the girls have to hurry to follow. It was not long before they had covered the distance across the fortress to where Carameth stood. Mia froze in her tracks mere yards from Carameth and threw both hands to her face in alarm, for there lying on the ground were two Centaurs, one being Starrelocke. A spear was buried deep in her chest. Several arrows protruded from her back. The other Centaur was Fasthoof, but he was unharmed. He held Starrelocke in his arms. Starrelocke had sustained mortal wounds; she was dying.
Mia remembered Theramon. She raised Dielielle, tears streaming down her cheeks. With all her being, she called upon Saa. “Sheme na eme!” (Heal this one!) She spoke as clearly as she could. She felt Saa flow through her as she lowered the staff to touch Starrelocke's neck. Starrelocke looked to her. A tremor went through the wounded Centaur, then resided.