looked down at her, eyes bright.
“Is aught amiss, lady?” the wizard asked.
“I don’t know,” Amy replied. She felt no need to explain her misgivings. “I just don’t feel very good.”
“Ah, certes, you’d be home, I’ll wager. Well, methinks this parley is near its end, and we’ll soon be sending you hence.” Elani’s motherly smile suddenly dimmed. “Or be it more? Have you the Sight, lady? Is danger at hand?” She raised her head and lifted a hand.
Amy started to protest, then stopped.
If Elani wanted to check for danger, it might not be necessary, but it couldn’t hurt.
* * * *
“An they summon you home,” Raven said, “’twould be simple courtesy that I call for volunteers ’mongst your men.”
“My men are under my orders,” Lieutenant Dibbs insisted loudly.
“Ah, but you’ll see that you might soon be under my orders, an your superiors so state—true?”
“Yes, sir,” Dibbs agreed, “but until I get orders to that effect, I’ll just do as I think best. And if we’re ordered home, we go home. Thorpe, any word yet?”
Prossie shook her head. “They’re still talking,” she said. “I think they’re planning to go on, but they haven’t settled the details.”
“They’ve said naught of who’s to command?” Raven asked.
“No.”
“Have you inquired?”
Prossie hesitated.
“Lord Raven,” she said, “I’ve told Carrie that we need to know who’s in charge, but she can’t just interrupt a general and an undersecretary, she can’t make them listen to her. They’ve got what they consider more important matters to settle first. If it’s any help, the Under-Secretary wants to put you in charge, but General Hart says you should be in an advisory capacity, since you’re not only not in the military, you aren’t even an Imperial subject.”
“Ah…” Raven turned away angrily, spat on the ground, then turned back. “You’ve no doubt of that, lady? That lying scoundrel Hart would have me play the native guide, and no more, and his promises that I’d command are no more than devil’s smoke?”
“I’m afraid so,” Prossie said.
“In my own land, he’d have me a mere servant to this ill-born stripling?” Raven gestured toward Dibbs with the three bandaged fingers of his left hand.
Prossie nodded.
“I’ll not have it,” Raven shouted. “I will not and I shall not!”
“So what are you going to do about it, then?” Dibbs demanded.
The rightful lord of Stormcrack Keep turned his attention from raging at the treetops to defending his right. “Silence, fool,” Raven commanded. “Hast forgotten that thy Under-Secretary would place me above thee? Durst address thus one who shall perhaps shortly hold thee in thrall?”
“I’m a freeborn Imperial citizen, sir, and I’ll speak as I please,” Dibbs retorted.
Raven grabbed at his swordless belt in frustration, and cast a glance at Susan. The revolver was no longer aimed directly at Valadrakul’s head, but it was still held securely in the lawyer’s hands.
“’Tis all…” he began.
“Raven!” Elani cried, interrupting him. “Shadow!”
Pel, who had been sitting nearby and listening to the debate, started; he looked about wildly, but saw only the downed spaceship, the cluster of people, the surrounding trees and underbrush.
“Damn!” Raven said. He, for one, clearly did not doubt Elani for a moment. “Valadrakul, wards!” he called. “Elani, where away?”
Elani pointed upward and to one side, past the spaceship’s nose.
“We’re under attack?” Susan asked, turning the gun away from Valadrakul.
“It’s a trick, lady,” one of the soldiers called. “He’s just trying to get the gun!”
Susan started, and her grip on the pistol tightened, but none of the natives of “Faerie” were paying any attention. Raven was looking about for cover, glancing every so often at the sky; Stoddard was shading his eyes and looking up at the treetops; Elani and Valadrakul were both muttering and gesturing, preparing spells.
Pel got slowly to his feet, not sure just why, or what he hoped to do; he was unarmed, and had no way to fight if Shadow’s creatures really were approaching.
“Aye,” Elani called, in a pause between mumbles, “Shadow’s creatures draw nigh. Hellbeasts, carried by another, one that flies—they approach, yonder—a score, perhaps, aboard the flyer!”
The Earthpeople and the Imperials stood, baffled, or milled about in confusion; the natives were more alert. “Shelter in the ship?” Stoddard asked, nodding toward Christopher.
“Nay,” Raven replied, “an we might be trapped within and besieged, or the vessel crushed and us thereby.”
Stoddard nodded an acknowledgment; Pel, who had been heading for the door of the ship without realizing it, stopped dead in his tracks.
A better means of escape occurred to him. “Elani,” he called, “can you get us out of here? Open a portal?”
Amy had gotten to her feet, as well, and was standing close beside the little wizard; she added her own voice, saying, “Please, Elani?”
The sorceress shook her head. “We’ve not the time,” she said.
“Look!” one of the soldiers called, pointing upward.
Something big and black was moving, up above the trees, blocking the sunlight and plunging them into shadow. Pel, watching it, thought it resembled a blimp passing overhead. Did Shadow use airships?
“All right, men,” Lieutenant Dibbs called, “form up, two lines, helmets on, weapons ready.”
“No,” Raven shouted, “flee! Take shelter, wherever you may!”
“These are my men…” Dibbs began.
“Sir,” a soldier said, cutting him off, “our blasters don’t work here.”
Dibbs froze for a second, then said, “Damn. All right, then, we’ll take cover—but in proper order. We aren’t running away. Shelby, you take that end, and the rest of you form up, we’ll move over there, under the starboard vane.”
“Lieutenant…” another man began.
“Move!”
For a moment, no one spoke; leaves rustled, boots stamped,
