Part 49 (2/2)
Friard saluted and beckoned two of his men up onto the dais. They seized hold of the Inquisitor and started to drag him down from the dais.
”You fools!” Visant cried. ”You'll live to regret this. I am all that stands between you and the darkness!” He went on shouting as the Guerriers dragged him away.
”Sire, I really must object-” began Donatien, but Enguerrand turned on him.
”I am ashamed that my guest, the Emperor, has been forced to witness this barbarous display on his first visit to Francia.”
”The-the Emperor Eugene?” Donatien stuttered, his face changing color from pasty white to a dark, choleric red.
Alienor found her voice at last. ”Enguerrand, what have you done?”
”What have I done?” Enguerrand echoed. ”If Celestine is not set free, this darkness will never lift. She is the only one who can heal the Rift.”
”Make way! Make way for the duke!” The sound of raucous shouts and the clatter of horses' hooves filled the darkness.
Enguerrand scanned the Place du Trahoir. Armed hors.e.m.e.n had appeared at the far side; at their head rode a grizzled, broad-chested warrior. The banners they carried, flapping in the swirling wind, were russet, black, and gold-the colors of Provenca. The last of the crowd scattered as he led his retainers on, urging his charger straight up toward the dais.
”Raimon?” said Alienor querulously. ”What does this mean?”
”I've come to support my future son-in-law,” announced the Duke of Provenca, letting out a rumbling laugh.
Aude had been riding behind her father; she jumped down and ran up onto the dais to Enguerrand's side. Oblivious to his mother's presence, Enguerrand kissed her.
”I've never been so humiliated in my life.” Ilsevir came forward, his Rosecoeur captain close behind him. His voice shook, but whether with rage or terror, Enguerrand could not be certain. ”Perhaps I should remind you all that I was crowned king of Francia but a short while ago. Am I to be ignored?”
”My dear Ilsevir,” said Eugene, taking him by the arm, ”you and I need to talk.”
”We got you down just in time, Lieutenant!” Jagu found himself surrounded by his triumphant Guerriers. One handed him a water bottle and, gratefully, he poured the cold liquid down his seared throat until he choked. He stood, wheezing and hacking, as they slapped his back and cheered.
”Thank you, lads,” he managed to say, between coughs. ”I owe you; every one of you.” But now that he had got his breath back, he gazed up into the churning sky. ”Which way did he take her? Which way did the Drakhaoul go?”
Celestine opened her eyes. She was clasped in the arms of the dark Drakhaoul as tenderly as if she were a little child being carried home by her father. And they were flying; she could feel his body shudder with every powerful wingbeat, she could feel the dark air on her face. Her eyes and mouth stung with the smoke that she had inhaled and her throat and lungs felt as if they had been seared by the pyre flames. But she was alive. Unless this was another dream...
And then she remembered.
”Where is Jagu?”
There was a little public garden below, shaded by acacia and willow trees; Rieuk could even hear the splas.h.i.+ng of a fountain. He alighted and set her gently down on a bench.
She was still coughing from the smoke she had inhaled, so he went to the fountain and brought her water in his cupped hands. She gulped it down eagerly, so he brought her more.
”Father?” Celestine heard the Faie's voice issuing from her own mouth. And suddenly she was filled with Azilis's yearning to be reunited with her lost father. At the same time she felt her love for her own father surge up within her, mingling with the Faie's feelings until she could no longer distinguish what she felt. Celestine heard the Faie's voice issuing from her own mouth. And suddenly she was filled with Azilis's yearning to be reunited with her lost father. At the same time she felt her love for her own father surge up within her, mingling with the Faie's feelings until she could no longer distinguish what she felt.
”Azilis, my dearest child.” The Drakhaoul clasped her to him again, enfolding her in his arms. The Drakhaoul clasped her to him again, enfolding her in his arms. ”I've found you at last.” ”I've found you at last.”
The magus's mark gleamed ever more brightly in the gloomy alley as Jagu, bare feet slipping on the muddy cobblestones, forced himself to follow the Drakhaoul's trail. He was certain that there was a connection between his magus and the daemon that had rescued Celestine. And the more his marked wrist throbbed, competing in intensity with the constant dull pain of his crushed hand, the nearer he reckoned he must be to finding them both.
But why had the daemon taken her? He was certain that he had heard the Drakhaoul cry out a name as he came soaring down out of the darkness. And that name was ”Azilis.”
”Could it be?” he muttered. ”Could it be that your guardian spirit is the Eternal Singer, Celestine?”
The ironwork gates to a public garden lay ahead. And the mark on Jagu's wrist burned so fiercely that it felt as if it had been painted on his skin with acid.
He pa.s.sed through the ornamental gates and saw a glimmer of white ahead, through the swaying trees, their slender branches still tossed and torn by the unruly wind. He was so tired by now that he could hardly find the strength to struggle along the gravel path. But he wanted answers. And above all, he wanted Celestine.
An ornamental fountain lay ahead; stone dolphins spouted a constant flow of clear water into a wide curving basin. The sound of the flowing water soothed his jangled nerves. But, with a shock, Jagu saw the Drakhaoul standing on the far side of it, Celestine clasped in his arms, his dark head resting against hers. As Jagu limped closer, the Drakhaoul raised his head and stared forbiddingly at him through cruel, slanted eyes seared with scarlet fire.
”I won't let you take her from me.” And, unfurling his powerful wings, he took to the air. And, unfurling his powerful wings, he took to the air.
”Celestine, are you all right?” Jagu's breathing came hard and fast and his ribs still ached from coughing.
Celestine seemed to be in a trance. But at the sound of his voice, she stirred and moved her head.
”I have to go to Ondhessar...” The cold wind howled through the trees, shredding the tender new leaves.
”Ondhessar? B-but it's so far away,” Jagu stammered, crushed.
”I have to take Azilis to the shrine,” she called down. ”It's the only way to stop this darkness leaking from the Realm of Shadows...”
”And how are you going to get back?” But the Drakhaoul was winging slowly away across the rooftops and Jagu's question hung in the air, unanswered. He dropped to his knees, distraught. After the ordeal they had just been through, it was more than he could bear to lose her again.
CHAPTER 13.
”So Nagazdiel is going back to Ondhessar?”
Jagu turned around to see Kaspar Linnaius walking slowly toward him along the neat gravel path. ”M-Magus?” he stammered.
”I have to follow Nagazdiel to Ondhessar. I too have some unfinished business at the shrine. I have to make sure that nothing goes wrong this time.”
Jagu had no idea what Linnaius was talking about, but he was determined to go after Celestine. He got to his feet. ”Then take me with you.”
A dry, hot wind, tinged with a breath of dusty spice, brought Celestine slowly back to herself.
Nagazdiel was making a slow descent. No stars shone in the dark sky, yet the dull glitter given off by the scales encrusting his powerful body left a s.h.i.+mmer in the air as they flew downward.
”Where... are we?” she asked drowsily.
”Ondhessar,” said the Drakhaoul, his voice soft, yet darkened with an aching sadness. said the Drakhaoul, his voice soft, yet darkened with an aching sadness. ”This is where you were born, my daughter, the only child of a forbidden love. The love I bore for your mother, Princess Esstar of Enhirre.” ”This is where you were born, my daughter, the only child of a forbidden love. The love I bore for your mother, Princess Esstar of Enhirre.”
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