Cymrian reached down and pulled the coins from Sora's pocket, casting them across the table. "There. We are even. Give back the seed."

The man looked down at the coins and shook his head. "I don't want the money. I want the seed. I bought it. It's mine."

"You have no right to it!" Arling shouted, her voice shrill enough to make Aphen flinch. "It was sold to you by someone who didn't own it! You have to give it back. You don't understand what's at stake!"

"Arling," Aphen said quietly, making a calming motion. "They don't need to know everything."

One of the men standing behind the pair seated at the table started to reach beneath his cloak. Aphen gestured, snapping her fingers as she did, and the man dropped to the floor, writhing in excruciating pain. The knife he had been reaching for clattered on the wooden floorboards.

The men at the table backed up, muttering and looking left and right at their fellows. They clearly anticipated doing something, but were undecided as to what that should be. Their leader kept watching Aphen, making no move to interfere. She didn't like the look on his face. He was enjoying this.

"Let's be fair about this," he said, not sounding as if he intended to be fair at all. "You." He pointed to Sora. "You sold me the orb for a fixed amount and I paid that amount. Isn't that so?"

Sora nodded reluctantly. "That's so."

"Did you steal it from them?"

"I ... It sort of just dropped out of the girl's pocket while we was helping her. I actually saved it from being lost."

"So it's yours, after all. You see?" He smiled at Aphen. "Your claim is suspect. But if you want it back-orb, stone, seed, whatever-I'm willing to negotiate. Pay me four times what I gave up. Wait, five times. Then you can have it."

Aphen stepped forward, eyes fixed on the man. "Take out the pouch and set it on the table. Do it right now."

The man shook his head. "I don't take orders from anyone. Especially Elves. I don't care who you are or what sort of tricks you can do. A word from me, and you and your friends will be cut to-"

He never finished. Aphen's fingers made a curious twisting motion, and the man's words choked in his throat as he was lifted out of his chair by invisible hands and hauled across the tabletop. He thrashed momentarily, but could gain no purchase, and his efforts at calling for help failed. The men with him backed against the wall, then broke and fled toward the doors. Cymrian moved quickly to the second man seated across from Sora and put him down with a single blow to the temple. Sora tried to run yet again, but he was hemmed in on all sides by the Elves.

Shouts rose from the other patrons, but Arling wheeled on them and screamed at them to be silent. The force of her words was enough. The room went absolutely still.

Aphen flipped the man she had ensnared with her magic onto his back without touching him, her wrist twisting slightly to complete the task. Then she reached inside his robes as he flopped and thrashed like a fish out of water and took back the pouch with the Ellcrys seed.

She leaned close. "I ought to kill you and be done with it. You deserve no better. But men like you should to live out their lives until the misery they cause to others comes back to find them-as it surely will in your case."

She cast him away as if he weighed nothing. He flew off the table and onto the floor, collapsing in a motionless heap.

Aphen and Arling were already moving toward the tavern door. Cymrian was a step behind, hauling Sora along by his collar, shoving him forward. A few angry mutterings rose from the tavern patrons, but no one tried to stop them.

Moments later they were outside, trudging down the road toward the end of the village. Rain sheeted down, soaking them through. No one spoke. Cymrian released his grip on Sora, but the latter made no attempt at running away again. He simply kept pace as if this were the only choice open to him.

"I'm finished here, you know that?" he said to Aphen without looking at her. "Finished and done. I can't go back. Not to those men. They'll blame me for this."

"You should have thought of that before you stole the seed," she snapped at him.

He went silent for a moment. "Aquinel didn't have anything to do with this, you know. It was all me. I took it when she wasn't looking. I just wanted to sell it and give her something nice, something more than what I've been able to for all these years she's stuck with me." He trailed off. "You just need to know. It wasn't her fault. She's a good woman."

Aphen wheeled on him and shoved him up against the side of a building. "Then take her and leave. Now. Pack a few things and go before they come for you. It will take them a day or so to muster the courage. Go somewhere far away, but get out of here!"

She reached in her cloak, brought out a handful of coins, and shoved them into his pocket. "Take these. Consider the matter of the seed settled. But don't forget what happened here. Don't try stealing from anyone again."

She pulled him away from the wall and pointed him down the road toward his cottage. "She's waiting. Look after her."

She stood watching as he stumbled down the road and disappeared into the rain. She wondered if he would do what she had told him. She wondered if he would heed her advice about stealing.

She wondered if there was any hope for these people.

Then she grabbed Arling's arm and, with Cymrian trailing, started back down the road toward the waiting Sprint.

CHAPTER Twenty-two

Seersha and Crace Coram flew their two-man north through the remainder of the day, making sure they kept well east of the Straken Lord's army. Neither Dwarf had ever seen an army of this size, so massive and sprawling that it seemed to have no beginning or end, blanketing the countryside for as far as the eye could see. It let them better understand why the Federation army in Arishaig had been unable to defend the city. The Elves would be no more successful in trying to defend Arborlon.

"An evacuation is the only answer against a force of this size," the Dwarf Chieftain insisted within minutes of surveying the onslaught below them.

"The Elves won't give up Arborlon," Seersha replied at once. "They won't leave their home city. They won't abandon the Ellcrys. They will stand and fight."

"Which is madness," her companion hissed in dismay.

"Maybe. But that's the way of it. And it's why I am setting you down outside Tyrsis as soon as we sight her. I need you to get word to the Border Legion. Let them know what's happened, if they don't know already. Tell them the Elves will need their support. Then fly on to the Dwarves and bring them, as well. Use the flatbeds for transport-as many as you can manage. No arguments from the other Chieftains. There's no time for it." She paused. "Can you do it, old dog?"

He scowled at her. "The 'old dog' will need three days to get reinforcements to Arborlon. Can you give me that?"

She grinned and nodded, and suddenly they were laughing. It was insanity, all of it hopeless, and there was nothing for it but to stare it down and laugh in its face. You did what you had to in a situation like this one. You did what your heart and your sense of right and wrong told you was needed.

They flew past the ocean of creatures serving the Straken Lord and continued north. It was close to midnight when she dropped him just west of the city of Tyrsis, the fortress settled high on the massive plateau overlooking the grasslands of the Streleheim. He would make the gates well before sunrise and do what he must to try to help her. She, in the meantime, would snatch a few precious hours of sleep, then go to the Elves and see if she could manage to open their eyes. Or, more particularly, the eyes of Phaedon Elessedil, who would most probably want her clapped in irons and locked away the moment he saw her.

But she was a Druid first and always, and a warrior to boot-a planner and a tactician. She would not give him the chance to do what he would like. She would find a way to turn his rage and obstinacy against him.

The hours were long and the tension high as she steered a course safely beyond the demonkind while keeping a sharp eye out for Elven craft, as well. But she reached the Valley of Rhenn by midafternoon and sailed through the shadow of its cliff-walled gap, giving a wave to the sentries-a sign of friendship that she hoped would be enough to keep them from trying to stop or engage her. Her hopes were realized when no aircraft moved to intercept her and no challenge was issued to stop her passing.

She moved on quickly from there to the outskirts of Arborlon, choosing to land at the Elven airfield where she believed she might be lucky enough to find a friendly face. In fact, she found several. A handful of the Elven Home Guards she had been training with were working on a skiff nearby when she landed and wandered over to see what had brought her back.

"I thought you might be missing me," she answered with a laugh. "Any warrants or postings out on me?"

She said it jokingly, tossing it off, watching them carefully for signs of uneasiness, but the Elves just shrugged.

"Who would bother with something like that?" one asked.

"Well, your new King wasn't exactly friendly toward me when we parted," she said.

"I wouldn't spend my time worrying about that," said another, pulling a face. "Our new King is too busy trying to find his backside with both hands to be bothered with the likes of Dwarves or Druids!"

"Unless he thought Dwarves might do a better job of finding it than he could, them being smaller in stature and all," said another.