LITMIR.BIZ

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her face, wanting badly to kiss her, but knowing full well that although Buttercup tolerated Penn as she did no other horse, there were limits to what she considered her personal boundaries. Instead he squeezed Allegria’s hand and said simply, “There is one who is strong enough to wield the power of Kiriah. Indeed, if what Queen Dasa said is true, he has long sought it.”

      “Who—oh.” Allegria looked thoughtful. “But Nezu is a god, himself. Why would he covet Kiriah’s power when he has his own?”

      “A power that is limited in scope,” he pointed out.

      “Now that he’s off Eris, you mean?” she asked.

      “Being bound to Eris was what kept him from accessing power, not the reverse,” he gently corrected her. “Did you not hear the queen discussing what she’d learned of her time with Racin?”

      “Before we sailed, when you and Lord Israel were closeted with her? If you recall, that was the morning Quinn decided Ella’s upper story was sufficient to be worthy of his notice, and she stabbed him in the thigh with a fork. I had to intervene before things got too out of hand, so I missed everything the queen said, although you told me it was nothing of great importance. Were you wrong?”

      “No. Yes. Possibly,” he said, first shaking his head, then shrugging. “The queen said Racin—or Nezu, as I suppose we should call him now—was banished to Eris by the twin goddesses. The fact that he was able to leave Eris to travel to Genora proves he had greater mastery over the chaos magic than I suspect they realized.”

      Allegria seemed to chew that thought over. “That’s why you think Kiriah has withheld her power from me, leaving me a lightweaver with no light? So that Nezu can’t get it? I don’t think I understand how he could take from me a magic granted by the goddess.”

      “He’s a god,” Hallow pointed out with another little shrug. “He managed to break his exile. I doubt stripping Kiriah’s magic from you would be impossible for him.”

      She was silent, her fingers withdrawing from his. He wanted to take her into his arms, to breathe in the sun-warmed wildflower scent that seemed to cling to her no matter how long she spent in the saddle, and reassure her that all would be well, but he knew she had been greatly troubled by the loss of her connection to the goddess she served. She needed time to consider this new thought.

      His concern for Allegria was shoved aside when the road curved and twisted its way to the ruins of the once brilliant Kelos. Hallow paused, hearing faint sounds lifted high on the air. He listened intently for a few moments, the entire company halting when Deo, in the lead, reined in his horse and lifted his hand in warning to the others.

      Instantly, the chaos magic inside Hallow burned to life, but he was prepared for that, and pulled hard on the power of Bellias, filling his being with arcany. Its familiar sensation gave him the strength to harness—at least temporarily—the insidious red chaos that demanded so much.

      The others—Ella, the little vanth Dexia, and Quinn—all halted, obviously catching the distant sound as well.

      And then Hallow was flying forward, leaning low over Penn’s neck, his hands drawing symbols even as he heard the sound of hoofbeats behind him, the shout of “Come on, Buttercup!” telling him that Allegria had gotten the jump on Deo.

      Ahead, the crumbled outer wall spilled into the road with spiky fingers of stone that had once been smooth and white, but were now dusted with the gray grime that coated everything in Kelos. Half-standing walls dotted the area, with sharp remains of columns that had once been decorated with stars and moons, now stood as a sad reminder that even a place as venerated as Kelos could fall. Penn leaped one of the fallen columns when Hallow, with his eyes on the figure that flickered back and forth just beyond a pile of rubble, started murmuring spells. He was off Penn, and flinging arcany at the figure. At the same moment he heard a twang, and felt the air next to him ripple as an arrow sailed past and hit the figure just as his arcany peppered it with a dozen little holes of purest starlight.

      The Eidolon—and Hallow had no doubt that the now-corporeal being with white, wispy hair flowing around his head like water was indeed one of the warrior race that had inhabited Alba before the coming of the Starborn and Fireborn—shrieked. It turned toward them, but its form melted into nothing, the strain of retaining a wounded corporeal form too much.

      The spirit who had been fighting the Eidolon was one of the members of the guard that kept the other spirits in line. He turned a grateful look on Hallow, panting as he made a bow, his voice breathless when he spoke. “Master of Kelos, you are a sight most welcome to my eyes. The captain has been awaiting your—”

      The man stopped when a sword was thrust through his chest. He stared down at it in surprise for a moment, then looked up to Hallow, his face filled with regret even as his form dissolved into nothing.

      Another arrow split the air, catching the Eidolon who had impaled the guard in the throat. He snarled and yanked it out, stalking forward, a massive sword held in one hand, obviously prepared to cleave his enemies in two.

      A roar sounded behind him even as Hallow rained down arcany on the Eidolon, melting him where he stood.

      “Eidolon!” Deo bellowed, jumping onto the fallen column to quickly assess the situation before leaping off it with a cry that Hallow knew full well expressed unbridled joy.

      There was nothing Deo liked more than a reason to fight.

      “To the left,” Allegria said, firing two more arrows before following Deo.

      Kelos was originally laid out in a series of concentric rings, the center of which was the sole intact structure, the Master’s Tower, where he and Allegria resided. Normally, a hush lay over the ruins, the grey ground muffling all but the sharpest of sounds. Now, however, the entire north side was filled with bodies as the spirits who resided there, once arcanists and learned men and women, fought two dozen of the biggest men Hallow had ever seen. They weren’t huge, like the Harborym, but tall and thin, and all of them wore the armor of an age long past, their long white hair whipping around them as they spun, slashed, and stabbed.

      Hallow didn’t pause to consider the irony of spirits fighting other spirits—he simply ran when Allegria slid off Buttercup, nocking another arrow. “Hallow! That’s the thane over by the armory.”

      He ran, gathering up arcany from the skies above and the ground below, the power of life from all living things surrounding him.

      Allegria paused long enough to yell back instructions to her apprentice. “Ella, keep to the fringes and watch Quinn’s back. Quinn?”

      Quinn nodded, gripping the scimitars he favored. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

      Dexia, the being of dark origins who appeared to be nothing more than a girl child of approximately ten summers, dashed past Hallow, showing a mouthful of extremely pointed teeth, and with a shriek, flung herself on a spirit that was about to cleave Deo’s head from his body. Her hands and teeth shredded the form of the spirit before he even knew what was happening.

      Reddish gold light flowed around Deo when he slammed magic into another Eidolon, causing the warrior to burst into a shower of silver rain. Hallow sighted the thane, one of the three kings who ruled the Eidolon, fighting a familiar ghostly form.

      The captain of the Kelos guard was doing his best to keep up with the thane, but even as Hallow watched, the captain was cleaved in two, from his shoulder down to the opposite hip.

      Anger roared to life in Hallow. Ever since Hallow had assumed his role as Master of Kelos, the captain of the guard had been nothing but a burr in his side, but the captain was his burr, and no one else had a right to smite him. He allowed the chaos magic to slip out of control just a little, sending out a wave of the sickly red energy that destroyed everything it touched. Unfortunately, the thane had seen Allegria and, obviously remembering her visit to his crypt, yelled an oath and charged toward her.

      Hallow spun around to help Allegria, but another Eidolon leaped forward, slicing at his leg, cutting deep into his thigh and making him stagger to the side.

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