Lil!

The cry was faint. It barely pulsed through her brooch, but she had heard. Still clasping her brooch, she raised her horn to her lips and sounded the Rider call. She pulled on Karigan, on her brooch, the brooch that made them one. Wild magic might allow Karigan to travel, but now it had to be Lil’s influence that determined to when.

She strained to pull Karigan through time, like a fisherman with a huge swordfish hooked on his line. It was hard drawing her forward. When she had been in the past, Lil’s own corporeal form had been an anchor. But not now, since her corporeal form did not exist in the future.

She strained till she thought she must consume all her essence. Would there be nothing left of her with which to aid Karigan?

Before she saw them, she felt their presence, Karigan and Mornhavon both. Karigan’s was a tiny particle of life, surrounded by the murk that was Mornhavon. Her body appeared, curled into a fetal position on the forest floor.

The forest subtly responded to Mornhavon’s presence. The trees and plants seemed to thrum and bend toward Karigan.

The plan had worked, this far at least. Karigan had instructed Lil to abandon her in the future if Mornhavon would not leave her mind. Lil believed she deserved better.

I’ve nothing to lose, Lil thought, except the niceties of the heavens should I be made to dwell in the hells. There was also the possibility that Aeryc would banish her from existence altogether.

She used the brooch, used it as Karigan once had in the past upon Kendroa Mor, so they could merge.

When she did so, she found Karigan’s presence diminished by Mornhavon’s seething hatred. And what was with all the snow?

She blinked through the flurries, and saw him, a dark silhouette. He saw her, too.

YOU.

The world that was Karigan’s mind quavered at the force of his voice.

Be gone, Lil replied. You are not fit to occupy this space.

I do as I wish.

How like a spoiled child he sounded. Lil glanced about through the snow, but saw no sign of Karigan, nor any spark of awareness. This did not bode well, and she supposed it called for drastic action. She didn’t waste time.

She clasped her brooch and willed herself to occupy Karigan, to merge totally, mind, soul, and body. From Karigan’s memories, Lil knew that the previous bearer of her brooch, F’ryan Coblebay, had done this to help Karigan overcome an opponent during a swordfight.

Her essence flowed through Karigan’s body, through her limbs and to the tips of her fingers and toes. She expanded in Karigan’s mind, shielding it to restrict Mornhavon’s influence. For Lil, it was like drawing on a warm cloak, though Karigan’s body was cooler than it ought to be.

She smelled loam and felt it beneath her cheek. A fern tickled her neck, and there was the warmth of sunlight gently blanketing her. For one who had walked in the spirit world for so long, this sensory awakening was ecstasy.

Mornhavon attacked her shield, chipping away at it, and Lil knew she couldn’t hold it indefinitely. She made Karigan sit up, open her eyes, and draw her longknife. That gave Mornhavon pause.

She turned the knife so the bladetip was touching Karigan’s ribs, below her breast. She gripped the hilt with both hands.

You wouldn’t, Mornhavon said.

“How do you know?”

You bluffed often enough in the past.

“But I wasn’t always bluffing, was I?”

Mornhavon did not answer, he was thinking it over. She couldn’t give him the time.

Adjusting her grip on the knife hilt, she hoped Karigan would forgive her, and she jerked the knife into her flesh.

Pain! Lil had forgotten about pain, of how it felt when cold sharp steel tore through flesh and muscle. She gasped in disbelief, and wished urgently to flee Karigan’s body, but she could not. Not yet.

The forest around her raged with a sudden maelstrom. Trees were shorn of their limbs, and one was uprooted and fell over behind her.

Lil’s ploy had been a success. Mornhavon had left Karigan’s body, fearing to lose his own hold on life should Karigan die. Lil withdrew the knife, blood spreading across Karigan’s shirt.

Mornhavon had been deposited in the future, and now it was time to return to the present.

As she traveled, Mornhavon called after her, You cannot stop the wall from falling!

AVENUE OF LIGHT

The groundmites tore Tierny from her horse and she vanished beneath flailing clubs that fell with sickening thuds. Soldiers who were without horses stood their ground in formation, back to back, hacking at their wild attackers. Yates was helping Dale to stay in the saddle with him, using his legs to guide his horse, and slashing at groundmites beside him.

Garth couldn’t seem to get mounted, for the groundmites swarmed around him, as though attracted by his size. Instead, he faced the enemy and fought, his sword in one hand and his longknife in the other. Chickadee guarded his back, a hoof cracking a groundmite skull.

Laren whirled Bluebird around, blood streaming from her saber. Since the groundmites did not wear armor, they were, in a sense, not difficult to kill. It was just their sheer numbers that posed the problem.

So much for a retreat, she thought. They just couldn’t break free.

The wraith watched from its place near the breach. It did not engage in battle, but stood there as an ominous presence, a silent general over barbaric soldiers.

Laren carved into the wrist of a groundmite, its howl echoing against the wall. Its club tumbled against Bluebird’s hocks, and he bucked, scattering others from around him.

More soldiers fell. Justin was hauled off his horse, and he fell victim to bloodied clubs. Yates screamed, torn between getting Dale out of harm’s way, and hacking his way to his friend’s side.