Part 60 (1/2)

resignation of the prince, he steeled himself into inaction.

Time dragged slowly by. For what seemed like eons, Elezar did not move. Occasionally a soft wheeze escaped from his lips. With each one, the glow in his eyes dimmed even further.

Finally Kestrel could be still no longer. He stirred uncomfortably from where he had slumped against the wall. The inward sloping curve pressed against the base of his head and gave no support to his back. He glanced at Elezar, sitting in regal quiet on the cus.h.i.+on, and scowled.

With each pa.s.sing moment, his agitation had grown, but he did not know what to do about it. Hours must have pa.s.sed since the prince lapsed into silence, and even though Astron had said that the flow of time was not quite the same between different realms, surely he would have appeared by now. He glanced again at Elezar's crumpled form. Even if wounded, he thought, could a prince be persuaded to carry a single man to the lair of-

”Caspar, Caspar, the prince of lightning djinns has observed my pa.s.sage!” A sudden shriek cut into Kestrel's thoughts. He looked up to see the devil that had transported Phoebe and Nimbia twitching with spasms on the landing just outside the entrance to the lair.

”Grab control of your stembrain, or I will do it for you.” Elezar suddenly sprang to life. ”Speak with coherence. I, your prince, demand it.”

”He observed my pa.s.sage to Palodad's lair, and upon my return, forced upon me where you were. I, I am-”

”Silence,” Elezar thundered. ”The risk was worth taking. If you have failed, there is no point now in lamenting what might have been. Into the sky with you, a.s.semble all that remain from their hiding places, and draw them here.” The prince looked about Astron's artifacts and smiled. ”Yes, here at the den of a mere cataloguer. For a final battle it is most fitting.”

”If Caspar has defeated you before, what hope do you have now?” Kestrel sprang to his feet. He felt his apprehension tighten like an alchemist's vice. Everything was cras.h.i.+ng down, just as Astron had feared from the first. Even Elezar seemed resigned to his fate, and Kestrel and

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his friends were in the middle of it, with little hope of

escape.

”Do not give up,” Kestrel said. ”Get help from the other princes.”

”More than half have thrown their lot in with Caspar,” Elezar said. ”The rest cautiously await the outcome before they declare. No, none in the realm of daemon dare light their domains to aid the one who is golden.”

Elezar stopped speaking and, for a long moment, seemed to look past Kestrel into the stone wall behind. ”At least it will not be surrender to the great monotony. The few weavings of energy I have saved for the last will give Gaspar as much pain as he plans to inflict upon me.”

”If not your own kind, then from the other realms,” Kestrel said quickly. His thoughts spun. He would have to come up with a plan as he had never before. ”From the archimage, the fey, the skyskur, and the reticulates as

well.”

Elezar's eyes narrowed. He eyed Kestrel specula-lively. ”The denizens of other realms regard my kind either with fear or loathing. What would make them want to enter into a struggle not their own?”

”Let me handle that,” Kestrel said. ”First the archimage, and then we can appeal to the others. Contact any wizard in the realm of men and state that you have news of the woodcutter and female wizard. I heard Alodar ask to be informed, just as we vanished into the universe of the fey.”

Elezar was silent for a moment. ”Your words disturb my stembrain,” he said. ”I was prepared to meet Gaspar even on his own terms if there proved to be insufficient time to unravel the riddle. Now you give me one more tendril of matter to grasp. Even for a prince, there comes a moment when he must finally put aside the last of foolish hopes.”

Kestrel waited without daring to speak again. Heart beats of time throbbed away. But finally a cloud seemed to lift from Elezar's face. The fading spark in his eyes glowed with a new life and he nodded.

”Tell each that you contact that they must first attempt to bridge through the flame,” the prince commanded the devil just as he was about to leave. ”Get the

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message of the woodcutter to the archimage so that he in turn will try to contact me here.”

The devil shuddered a final time. Then with a trembling beat of his wings, he fluttered away. Kestrel saw pinpoints of light in the distance behind him a.s.sembling into a precise row and Elezar followed his gaze.

”Each one is a lightning djinn,” the prince said. ”They are forming a barrier between me and Palodad's lair. Soon they will move forward to attack us here. Your tongue must not only be glib but quick as well.”