Chapter 14

Chapter

Fourteen

A shot of determination raced through Marieke as Rissin spoke. The elves had captured them far too easily the day before. Not this time.

As Zev moved in front of her, she bent down, snatching up a rock the size of her palm. Now she was paying attention, she could sense the faint pulse of magic coming from the object Rissin was raising above his head. She didn't want to know what it did.

Drawing her arm back, she sidestepped around Zev, took aim, and released the rock. She'd been aiming for Rissin's head, and it instead hit his torso, but she still considered it a success. Taken completely by surprise by the mundane, non-magical attack, Rissin toppled backward into the rocky slope behind him.

"Come on!" Marieke grabbed Zev's arm and began to sprint along the ravine, still moving eastward. She stumbled on the uneven ground and almost fell, but Zev's hand was suddenly there, steadying her.

A screech of anger behind them told her that Rissin had recovered himself, and she knew his companions couldn't be far away.

"Got a plan?" Zev asked as he ran beside her.

"There!" Marieke pointed to a fissure in the canyon wall ahead and to their right. "Could that be the staircase?"

"I think it's too soo—" Zev's words were cut off in a hiss as a blade pinged off the rock beside Marieke's arm. "They're aiming for you!" he said, sounding furious.

Marieke didn't reply, instead grabbing his arm and diving into the fissure. It opened into a small cave, and she ran across it, her eyes trying fruitlessly to see into the dark corners.

"It's a dead end," Zev said. "This isn't the staircase."

Marieke's heart was pounding in her throat. She didn't want to accept that she'd led them into a corner they couldn't back out of. She went all the way to the back of the cave, feeling frantically along the wall. Zev was right. There was nothing.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, as Zev appeared alongside her.

He had no chance to answer. At that moment, a small form appeared in the patch of light that marked the entrance, followed by two more.

"You big oafs," Rissin said venomously. "How dare you throw rocks at me?"

Marieke ignored his words, trying desperately to think of a way out. She'd believed Trina when she said they didn't want to find themselves in Rissin's hands. She believed it doubly now she'd managed to enrage the little elf. Her instinct was to reach for the magic of the land in defense, and she started to do so before her mind had time to recall that her voice was blocked.

To her amazement, she felt the magic pool in response. She was vaguely aware that it wasn't moving in the normal way, but anything at all was better than nothing. Hoping for the best, she opened her mouth, fiercely delighted when song was released.

Rissin let out a cry, obviously not having expected her to regain her voice. He lifted the talisman he'd almost used on them earlier, but he wasn't quick enough. Marieke's enchantment hit him first.

In defiance of Rissin's outrage, Marieke's song had directed the magic to do the first thing that came to her mind—to throw rocks at him. Prompted by her songcraft, stones lifted from around her and flew toward him. They weren't large stones—she was limited to those sitting loose on the cave floor—but they were enough to make him throw his arms over his head.

Marieke ignored his shriek, trying to keep focus on her song while also formulating a plan for how best to use magic to get them out of their fix. With her training in agricultural song, her first thought was often to use the terrain itself. But to do so effectively, she'd need knowledge of the landscape in question. She'd had no time to do any kind of analyzing song, and while she had the training to get some sense of the terrain through the magic itself while she channeled it, that training was failing her. The magic of the canyon was so erratic that trying to grasp it was like trying to keep her hold on a slippery fish intent on escaping her grip.

On the other hand, the magic was powerful. Stronger than what Oleandan terrain usually yielded. When Rissin lowered his arms with murder in his eyes, Marieke continued her song, changing its strategy so that the magic was focused on the rocks beneath the elf's feet. Ripping up the ground required more power than lifting objects already loose. But power wasn't the problem. There was enough force in the magic gathering in response to her song to crack the cliffside open. The problem was getting that magic to respond to her direction .

She was relieved when she felt a shoot of magic race toward Rissin, making a jagged shard of rock erupt right next to his feet. It caused the nearest ground to tilt, sending Rissin and his companions toppling.

It bought them another moment, but it wasn't enough. The elves would be back on their feet soon, and Marieke wasn't confident the magic would obey her again. She needed a better plan, but she couldn't seem to make her mind cooperate.

"You can do this." Zev's voice was low and even in her ear, surprising her with his proximity. He gripped her arm, his hold more steadying than any words. "I know you can."

Energy surged into Marieke with his words, and it wasn't just because of his confidence in her. As he neared her, she realized what was off with the magic. It was erratic, but not totally unpredictable. Usually, when she sang, magic pooled to her, gathering around her feet before rushing up into her body. But although she could feel the magic moving in response to her voice, it wasn't pooling around her. It was pooling around Zev. She'd been managing to coax some of it into her to be molded, but it wasn't a direct supply. Once Zev grabbed hold of her, however, so much magic rushed to her that she could barely channel it. She felt lightheaded, saturated with too much power to properly wield. It took all her training to grab hold of only a small enough amount for her to actually manipulate.

It was still more magic than she'd ever drawn in before, with the exception of when she'd fought the fire. And it was all rushing into her at once, not being drawn in bit by bit like it had been on that occasion.

It was both intoxicating and terrifying.

As soon as she was confident she had control of it, she thrust the power outward, her voice growing hoarse as she continued to sing with all her might. She sang of the hardness of rock and stone, trying to work her songcraft around the unyielding nature of the terrain. She'd intended to dislodge more rocks to barrage the elves enough to let them escape, but the magic didn't respond quite as she expected. It was a strange sensation as it flowed through her and out, not like the enchantments she usually molded. It wasn't just the power in the ground that was eager to respond to her—it was the land itself. For a moment she thought she was experiencing an earthquake, her mind misreading what she was feeling and telling her that the ground was surging beneath her feet. Alarm raced over her, the sensation reminiscent of the time the ground had fallen away underneath all the singers in the delegation.

But before she could give in to panic, she realized that it wasn't the ground surging this time—it was magic. The fractured magic of Sundering Canyon, writhing and twisting and racing toward her. It wasn't all coming up and through her, either, as magic usually did. It was pooling around her and Zev, but much of it was shooting straight toward the elves, remaining in the ground.

Trying to think on her feet and adapt her songcraft to this new phenomenon, Marieke changed the words of her song. The blessing Zev had spoken over her when they'd first parted flashed through her mind.

May the land be firm beneath your feet and gentle under your touch.

Marieke turned the words on themselves, singing an invocation to the land to rebel against the attacking elves, to be unstable underneath them and sharp as knives to their hands.

She felt the magic churning forward, eager in its response. It felt like she held a roiling, surging patch of rapids in her mental grasp, and as it raced toward the elves, the ground surged as well. The cave floor where she and Zev stood remained solid, but the strip of stony ground between them and the elves moved like a bedsheet shaken out in the wind. It rose and fell in a rhythmic motion, more unnatural and targeted than any earthquake.

Marieke heard cries of shock from the elves as the ground under their feet cracked and shifted. They darted for the outside of the cave, trying to escape the path of destruction caused by the roiling magic. Shards of rock were lancing upward, and one of the elves let out a horrible, gurgling scream. A shaft of stone, sharper than a blade, had jutted up from the ground and impaled his hand.

Her stomach clenching, Marieke changed her song, continuing to sing her inverted version of the blessing, but leaving out the part about the land being sharp as knives. She'd never imagined the result would be so literal as well as so powerful.

The shard broke away at the base, the rock falling back to the ground and leaving the elf with a bleeding hand. And simmering rage, judging by the look he cast at her.

"Come on!" Zev called over the top of Marieke's song, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the entrance of the cave, which was now clear.

Struggling to maintain awareness of her surroundings while singing furiously, Marieke stumbled after him, focusing her physical senses on just the firm grip of his hand and trusting him to guide her while she gave the rest of her attention to her magical sense.

The ground stilled under their feet, the patch where they ran not only holding steady, but clearing a path before them from the debris caused by Marieke's song.

When they emerged into daylight, Marieke's song petered out. As she tried to catch her breath, she saw Rissin picking himself up from the ground nearby. Unease washed over her as she realized that his eyes glittered as much with greed as with anger. He knew as well as she did that something remarkable had just happened, magically speaking. He would be doubly eager to get his hands on the pair of humans now. Marieke saw with alarm that Rissin's talisman from earlier lay nearby, only just out of the elf's reach.

Fortunately, Zev had also seen the situation, and his energy wasn't depleted by the song like Marieke's was. He lunged forward as Rissin scampered toward the metal disc.

Remembering what Kaine had said about combat singers using songcraft to strengthen the attack of other fighters, Marieke raised her voice once again. To her relief, the canyon hadn't stolen her voice again—she was still able to sing. The words of her song were simple. She declared Zev's feet to be swift and his arm to be strong, and before her eyes, they became so. Zev reached the elf with dizzying speed, and his fist connected with the little creature's jaw with enough force to send Rissin flying.

Zev kicked the disc hard, sending it skittering out of reach as he turned back to Marieke.

"Are you all right?" he asked urgently.

Marieke didn't answer, once again letting her song die for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. What Kaine hadn't had time to teach her was that using magic to power another person's movements apparently took significantly more energy than using it to affect natural elements around her. It made sense, given that any magical attempt to counter someone else's freedom of movement meant that the singer was battling against that person's will, which was a deep and complex struggle. Not that she was attempting to counter Zev's freedom of movement—that would have depleted her completely, quite apart from being highly illegal. She was enhancing the movements of his own choice, which was perfectly acceptable. It just made sense that it also required significant energy.

There wasn't time to explain any of this to Zev, of course. With her academy training, this analysis flashed through Marieke's head in a moment, but she could see that the elf with the injured hand and the third elf were moving toward them with purpose. Even Rissin was starting to stir on the ground. They probably had more talismans on them, and they would be willing to use whatever force necessary to bring her and Zev in now.

"Come on," she gasped, gathering her voice and her energy. She had to make one final effort to get them out of there.

"Do you have a plan?" Zev asked, following her as she scrambled away from the elves, back down the canyon in the direction they'd come.

"Yes, but it's very risky," she panted, glancing behind her. The uninjured elf was already chasing them, and the others were rummaging in a pack on the ground behind him. "Do you trust me enough to take the risk?"

"Of course." There was no hesitation in Zev's reply.

Marieke's eyes scanned the cliffside on their left, on the southern side of the canyon. "Then start climbing."

She took a deep breath after the words, commencing a new song. Inspired by what had happened in the cave, she sang of smooth paths and gentle climbs. She was barely aware of Zev's hands boosting her up as she grabbed at the stone in front of her. To her delight, the sheer cliff face shifted, surfaces evening out slightly, and the incline changing—only subtly, but enough to mean it was sloping outward a little as they climbed, rather than going straight up.

Zev climbed just below her, encouraging her to keep going any time her voice flagged. At one point her foot slipped, and his hand was on it at once, pinning it in place as she pushed herself up to the next foothold.

"Don't look down," he told her firmly, when her head started to turn. "Don't worry about the elves. Just keep singing and keep moving. I've got you, Mari."

Confidence swelled inside her, and she pushed her ragged voice on with determination. The ground rippled before her every time she paused for breath, becoming momentarily more treacherous. But as she once again raised her voice, it yielded beneath her hands. Her arms were straining with the effort of climbing hand over hand, and she dug deeper within herself, calling on her training to try to add nuance to the raw power she was wielding.

With her mind and magical sense still directing power to disperse through the ground under her hands, she introduced a new strain with her words. She sent a puff of magic into the air, swirling it through the breeze blowing past her and redirecting the wind.

The chaotic magic of the canyon responded to her more and more readily, and soon a steady wind was blowing up from the ravine, cushioning them as they climbed and urging them onward.

"Keep going, Mari!" Zev encouraged from behind her, his voice again raised over her continued song. "We're out of reach of the elves now. The cliffside is becoming sheer again behind us. They can't follow."

She nodded wearily, fighting the urge to close her eyes for a moment. She needed the use of all her senses. She was glad they'd left the elves behind, but she was still keenly aware of the danger they were in. Sundering Canyon was unpredictable. Last time, when it had taken her voice, it hadn't given it back until she was safe on solid, Aeltan ground at the top. At any moment her song might stop, and then they would be stuck, halfway up a sheer cliff face. And even with her song in play, they were a long way above the ground. If either of them missed their step and fell, the magically enhanced wind wouldn't be enough to stop them plunging into the gorge.

It was tempting to glance down and see just how far they would fall if that happened, but she took Zev's advice and kept her gaze pointed upward. She had a handle on the magic now. It still felt slippery and powerful, but it wasn't like an escaping fish anymore. It was more like a huge rope, one with more strength than she could fully control, but which was traveling through her hands in a predictable direction, not trying to yank to one side or the other. As long as she kept her hold steady, it would continue to pass through her guiding grip, responding to her direction even if not fully in her control.

With that in mind, she dropped the volume of her voice. It was a natural instinct to sing loudly when trying to wield magic more powerfully, but it wasn't actually necessary. In fact, if a singer had sufficient training to handle the magic with the finesse needed, it was much better to sing quietly. It would help the actual voice endure for longer before physical exhaustion forced the song to stop.

Marieke's whole world narrowed to the sound of her own voice, the feel of the magic passing underneath and through her, and the steady presence of Zev following her. Those three things were all her mind could comprehend—she had to just trust her body to do the actual climbing from instinct. The climb felt interminable, her energy depleted long before she could admit it to herself. But eventually, the edge of the cliff came into view above. Marieke's voice wobbled with relief, and she had to remind herself to hold steady. For some time, she'd been feeling the sheer power of the magic lessening gradually as the chaotic canyon floor drew further away. It wasn't a problem. In fact, the smaller volume of magic was a more familiar tool, and easier for her to control. But she'd still like to reach the top before there was a more significant drop.

To her immense relief, her song was still holding steady when her fingers grasped the very top of the cliff. She pulled herself up the incline, getting a final burst of energy that brought her knees up and over the lip. Zev pulled himself up behind her, his clothes filthy from climbing on his belly up the whole height of Sundering Canyon.

Marieke's voice wobbled again, but she kept singing feebly as she crawled further from the edge. Zev followed her, and only once they were a few yards from the drop did she let her voice go silent. It was a good thing they'd moved, too, as the rocky ground shifted a final time before their eyes, the edge of the cliff moving outward as the slope went from inclined to sheer once again.

Marieke's eyes found Zev's, reading in his gaze a reflection of both her current relief and the mark left by the tension that had led up to it.

"We did it," she whispered, barely able to hold her head up. "Do you think we're safe from the elves up here?"

Zev didn't immediately answer. As she watched wearily, he pulled himself toward her across the grass. She didn't even dream of protesting as he pulled her into his arms, pressing her securely against his chest.

She let her eyes drift closed, her cheek against the gritty fabric of his dirt-covered tunic, and her ears full of his rhythmic heartbeat. She could feel his warmth seeping into her, calming her own frantic pulse.

"Yes." His low voice sounded in her ear in belated answer to her question. "You're safe, Marieke. I'll keep you safe from everything."

She didn't doubt it. His arms around her were the strongest thing she'd ever felt, and in the safety of their circle she just let her mind drift, not trying to hold on to awareness of anything in particular, allowing her stretched senses to resettle after the mammoth task she'd just asked of them.

She didn't know what exactly had just happened. But one thing she did know. She and Zev were in it together, as entangled by the strange movement of the magic as they currently were by his arms.

And by her heart, over which his hold was becoming more irrevocable by the day.