"Lucivar!"
He shot to his feet, responding to the grief and anger in Falonar's voice. He paused at the door, looked back. "May the Darkness embrace you, Mother."
Falonar was waiting for him in the kitchen.
"Palanar?" Lucivar asked.
Falonar shook his head. He didn't need to ask about Luthvian. "I saw that." He pointed to a folded sheet of paper on the table.
Lucivar stared at the paper that had his name on it. He didn't recognize the handwriting and felt an instinctive revulsion against touching it. Using Craft, he unfolded the paper, read it, and stormed out the door.
"Lucivar!" Falonar shouted, running after him. "Where are you going?"
"Get back to the eyries," Lucivar said as he strapped the fighting gauntlets over his forearms. "You're in charge now, Prince Falonar."
"Where are you going?"
Lucivar rose to the killing edge, felt the sweet, cold rage wash through him. "I'm going to get my wife and son away from those bitches."
12 / Kaeleer
The attack started the moment Falonar returned to the eyries. His Sapphire shield snapped up around him a second before an arrow would have gone through his back. He called in his longbow, nocked an arrow, added a bit of Sapphire power to the head, and let it fly.
He took a moment to probe the area and assess the enemy. Then he swore viciously. There was a full company of Eyrien warriors out there. None of them wore a Jewel darker than the Green, so his Sapphire Jewels would balance the odds a little, but his own warriors were far outnumbered. Every man would go down fighting, but that wasn't going to save the women and children.
"The communal eyrie!" Hallevar shouted as he herded women and children in that direction. "Move! Move!"
Smart move,Falonar thought approvingly as he let another arrow fly. It was big enough to hold all of them and give his warriors one concentrated battleground instead of scattered ones.
His shield deflected a dozen more arrows. Having risen to the killing edge, he embraced the cold rage and fought with a mind cleansed of emotions.His arrows found their targets.
Someone screamed. Looking to his left, he saw Nurian struggling with an Eyrien Warlord. He started to turn, but before he could draw his bow, another warrior rushed at him with a bladed stick. Vanishing the bow and arrow, he called in his own bladed stick and met the attack. As he danced back and looked for an opening, Nurian screamed again.
Screw honor. This was war. When his adversary came at him again, he met the blow with a dirty, nasty maneuver he'd recently learned from Lucivar that dispatched the enemy with a vengeance.
Even as he turned, expecting to be too late to save the Healer, he heard Jillian shout, "Down, Nurian!"
Hearing Jillian changed Nurian from helpless woman to apprentice warrior. She kicked viciously at the Warlord's groin at the same time she threw herself backward. The kick didn't land solidly, but it was enough to startle the man into letting go of her, and the unexpected move threw him off-balance. As he tried to right himself, an arrow whizzed through the air and buried itself in his chest.
Jillian was already nocking another arrow and taking aim while Nurian scrambled to her feet and ran, hunched over to stay out of the line of fire.
He threw a Sapphire shield in front of Jillian just in time to stop the arrows that would have gone right through her. "Retreat!" he shouted, ready to foam at the mouth when Jillian calmly sent another arrow flying. "Damn you, warrior,retreat !"
That startled her, but it was Nurian's shout that made her run.
Ready to cover their retreat, Falonar glanced back—and swore every vicious curse he knew. Nurian was now standing braced to fight with nothing but an Eyrien stick. Not even abladed stick. What in the name of Hell did the woman think she could do with that? Did she think a warrior was going to come at her barehanded? Fool.Idiot.
He backed toward her, always watching for the next attack. "Retreat," he snarled at her—and then noticed that Jillian, instead of running all the way to the communal eyrie, had stopped halfway there to take up a rearguard position. "Disobey me again and I'll personally whip the skin off your backs.Both of you. Nowretreat !"
They responded the same way any Eyrien warrior would have—they ignored the threat and held their positions. Sohe retreated, forcing them back with him.That they were willing to do. Lucivar must have been out of his mind to think awoman would obey a sensible order. Which made Falonar extremely grateful that Surreal wasn't there. The Darkness only knew how he could have heldher back in this fight.
When they got close enough to the communal eyrie, Hallevar grabbed Jillian and Kohlvar practically threw Nurian threw the doorway. Falonar was the last one in. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he filled the doorway with a Sapphire shield so that they would be protected but still have a good view. Some of the men had taken up positions at the shielded downstairs' windows. Others had gone to the upper rooms. The women and children were all huddled in the main community room.
Hallevar joined him at the door. "You think they're regrouping?"
"I don't know."
Behind them, he heard Tamnar say a bit resentfully, "Well,little warrior, looks like you made your first kill."
He and Hallevar both turned and blasted the same message at Tamnar. *SHUT UP!*
The boy flinched, looked shocked at the harsh reprimand, then slunk over to the window Kohlvar guarded.
Jillian stared at them, her normally brown skin an unhealthy gray. "I killed him?"
Before Falonar could phrase a cautious reply, Hallevar snorted. "You just scratched him enough to let Nurian get away."
Some of the tension drained out of the girl. "Oh. That's... Oh."
"You take a backup position over there," Hallevar said, pointing to a far corner of the room.
"Okay," Jillian said, sounding a little dazed.
Falonar turned back to look out the doorway. "She put that arrow right through the bastard's heart," he said, keeping his voice quiet.
"No reason for her to know that right now," Hallevar replied just as quietly. "Let her believe she just nicked him. We can't afford to have her freeze up if it comes down to that."
"If it comes down to that," Falonar said softly as he settled in to wait.
13 / Kaeleer
Saetan prowled the corridors of the Keep, too restless to stay in one place, too edgy to tolerate being around anyone.
Lucivar should have been backhours ago. He knew Lucivar had slipped out of the Keep late that morning to find out what was delaying Marian's and Daemonar's arrival, but the afternoon was waning, and there was no sign of any of them.