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“The magic is a trap, but it’s a gift, too, if you use the power correctly. Wield your magic with hate in your heart, and you’ll be marked by darkness, but wield such power to protect the ones you love, or to save an innocent…and who knows what will happen.” Her face flickered with emotion before she schooled it into a blank mask.
“Remember that, Anaria. Never cast your magic with hate, or you will become that which you despise most.”
“You have no idea what I despise.”
Torin’s smile grew sad. “Oh, but I do, because I despise her as well.”
Torin disappeared—just vanished—and so did the Oracle, seconds before Tavion leapt, jaws snapping on nothing but air before he landed on the other side of the drive.
I felt every bit of his frustrated, rumbling snarl as Raz reined his horse toward the narrow trail that led down to the flatlands.
* * *
I didn’t speaka word of Torin’s warning as our horses carefully picked their way down the dangerous rocky path, Tavion’s wolf leaping from one rock to another with enviable ease. Not until we were well out of earshot did I dare voice the questions churning inside me.
“What are hunting hounds?” I asked Raz quietly, keeping my eyes on the steep path in front of me.
“Not really hounds at all. More like…like Tavion without the fur and the charming personality.” Raz’s lopsided grin was supposed to make me feel better, but I couldn’t shake the guttering dread in my stomach. My hand slid into my pocket where the stone was hidden.
Why had Torin given this to me? What had she seen that was so terrible that she’d risk defying the Oracle to help us?
“And these mages?”
His grin disappeared. “The Fae King keeps all manner of creatures at his beck and call.” We watched Tavion make an impossible leap over a narrow chasm, and the chatter of rocks tumbling down into the deep pit below had me gripping the reins tighter.
“The High Mages are magical assassins, trained to use their power to inflict death. One touch of their magic can stop your heart, turn you to ice, or burn you to cinders.” He nodded at the silver wolf now ahead of us. “Tavion would be the expert since he was the High Commander of those forces for years. If he’s decided his wolf form is better equipped to face this threat, then we are in serious trouble.”
“Or he just doesn’t want to talk to us,” I muttered, breath shuddering in my lungs when the path dropped off in front of us.
One wrong step and our steeds would break a leg or send one of us tumbling over the edge where we’d snap our necks on the jutting rocks below. The foothills were close. Another few minutes then we’d be in a full-on gallop toward the Caverns. If the Caladrian army sprang their trap before we were able to intervene…I blew out an unsteady breath.
“What will we do when we get down there?” I swallowed as the flatlands came into full view, the black swath of the Shadow King’s army marching steadily in our direction stretched almost as far as I could see.
“I’m working on a plan.” Raz jerked his head at the approaching forces. “Stopping that army is first on the list.” He reined his horse in, and I did the same as he pointed to our right. “The Caverns are there, filled with hounds and supposedly fifty mages.”
Tristan indicated the elevated hill beyond Zor’s army. “If I was in charge, I’d station the archers there. The bluffs are just high enough to send volley after volley of arrows into the army, forcing Zor to move his forces in this direction, until they’re out of range.”
“Which would bring them into reach of the mages and the hounds,” I murmured, seeing everything all too clearly from up here, fear swallowing up everything else as I realized how deadly this trap would be.
“Zor will focus on getting his men out of range of the arrows,” Tristan added, a hint of grudging respect on his face. “Not on a hidden threat.”
“Most of the Caladrian foot soldiers must be hidden in there, hunkered down among the trees, waiting for Zor to come into range.” Raz indicated the vast, dead forest spread out to our left. “Zor will be trapped between the three forces. The mages will have the cover of the cavern to protect them, the soldiers in the forest can use the dead trees and rocks.”
“And the Solarys army will be out in the open, with nothing to hide behind,” I murmured, fear turning into something sharp and desperate.
“Zor will be right out in front, won’t he?” I couldn’t turn, couldn’t stand to see the truth that would be etched so clearly on Raz and Tristan’s faces.
“We’ll get to him in time, Anaria,” Tristan said quietly, and for once, there was no trace of anything in his face except for sympathy. “We’ll stop him.”
Down on that field, Zorander would be their main target. Maybe their only target. Take out the leader, and the rest of the army would fall.
The Oracle was right; today would be a slaughter.
I doubted a small white stone was going to save any of us today.
Or ever.
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