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Sable barked distantly, just out of sight.
“I offer you a deal.” The barely hidden sneer in the man’s tone and expression did nothing to calm my nerves, though he apparently thought it would.
“Let me reach my husband, and I will listen.” The sword lay tauntingly close.
The magus’ gaze narrowed as he studied my face. “You can’t help him. He is dying. Blight spells kill shadow elves, and quickly, too.”
The sudden lack of movement outside the barrier drew my attention to the elves. Illeron stood at the edge of the barrier, his hands raised in what appeared to be the beginnings of a spell. His brother was at his side, shadow magic writhing around him as he seethed at the magus. But it was Merlon’s face that caught my full attention. He had taken the position nearest Emrys and directly in my line of sight. Utter devastation drained his features of all color and tears filled his eyes as he watched Emrys struggle to breathe.
My husband was dying. The healer’s reaction confirmed it. Panic tightened my chest. It took all my concentration just to keep breathing regularly.
The elves outside responded differently. Casimir attacked the barrier, blades out and magic flashing. Illeron abandoned his spell, whatever it had been, and ordered the surrounding elves. Within moments, they were all attacking the barrier. The magus chanced a wary glance at the sizzling spell as it spat and hissed but remained solid.
Taking advantage of the man’s distraction, I took a step toward Emrys and the sword.
“No!” The magus’ magic slammed into me, like a solid wall, and shoved me backward so hard that my feet made trenches in the grass. I collapsed to the ground, the breath knocked out of me and my skin stinging from contact with his spell. “Stay,” he ordered as though I were a dog.
Sable arrived just then. With a growl and a crackle of something powerful, she swelled to twice her size. Tails and head low to the ground, she circled the containment spell, pacing on the side closest to the magus. She snarled, and a bolt of lightning struck the top of the spell, making everyone jump.
As I gasped for air and muscled past the pain, I studied my adversary.
Distracted by Sable’s arrival, he was momentarily preoccupied with trying to maneuver so he could see Sable and me at the same time. Beneath his bravado, wrinkles appeared as his brows lowered. Around us, the barrier spat and hissed as more elves attacked it. Even I could feel the magic wavering. But from the way Emrys was breathing, its collapse wouldn’t be soon enough.
“Call your dog off,” the magus ordered.
“Can you stop the spell killing him?” I asked.
The magus turned to face me once more. His grin returned. “I can.” His tone made me suspicious. I glanced at Alora.
Bound as she was, she couldn’t move to face her brother, but she had twisted her head painfully to the side so she could glimpse him out of the corner of her eye. Her lips were moving but emitted no sound.
“Alora, does he speak the truth?”
She glanced at me long enough to nod ever so slightly. Then her attention returned to her brother.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded of the magus as I eased up to standing again.
Sable snarled, but the magus didn’t bother glancing at her this time. His attention had fixed on me, a gleeful light filling his features.
My ribs ached and my head swam, but Emrys was running out of time. His ragged breaths were coming further apart. Soon they would stop. The tightness in my chest twisted.
“Eat this.” The magus lifted the fruit he had produced before. Blood red, the smooth skin glinted in the light of the flaring magic around us.
Merlon’s eyes widened in horror. Clearly, he recognized it. He paled.
I ignored his reaction. Emrys was dying. His people needed him. “If I do as you wish, will you release the spells on the king and his sister?”
The magus grinned so hard his cheeks strained unnaturally. “With pleasure.”
With the full realization that I was probably agreeing to my death, I nodded. “I will do it if you bind yourself with a geas so that you will release them with my first bite.”
The magus opened his mouth to protest, but I didn’t let him stall. Emrys didn’t have time. Merlon needed to reach him. The spell must break. I had to act. “The elves are going to break through at any moment,” I pointed out.
Sable’s snarl brought another bolt of energy that caused the spell to sizzle madly.
Emrys’ chest had stopped moving. I took a step toward the magus. “If the king is dead, then you are going to follow him to the grave. Geas or nothing.”
Indecision flickered in the thin man’s features as his eyes flashed from me to Emrys to the attackers.
